History Speaks EP10 | Between Worlds: Muslim Women and Campus Life | Roshan Iqbal with Shabana Mir

In this episode of History Speaks, I talk with Dr. Shabana Mir, Associate Professor of Anthropology at American Islamic College and author of the award-winning book Muslim American Women on Campus. Drawing from rich ethnographic research, Dr. Mir explores how Muslim women navigate elite U.S. university spaces while negotiating the pressures of visibility, belonging, and religious identity. We discuss everything from drinking culture and modesty to dating, politics, and what it means to be unapologetically Muslim in a space that often demands compromise. Our conversation is framed by a larger question: what does it mean to belong when your presence is always marked? And what can a win like Zohran Mamdani’s tell us about shifting narratives in American public life?