This event will spotlight the unique journeys, resilience, and successes of MENA immigrants, with a special focus on their impact within the Wayne State and metro Detroit communities.

The event is free and open to the general public. RSVP encouraged, but not required.

Panelists

Matthew Jaber Stiffler, PhD is a fourth generation Arab American. His mother's family came from Lebanon in 1900 and settled in western Pennsylvania. He was raised in a small, tight-knit Arab Christian community in PA. His work, that he has been doing for the last 15 years, is about telling the true story of the MENA community—using data as well as individual stories. Matthew Jaber Stiffler is the Director of the Center for Arab Narratives (CAN), a new national research institution of ACCESS, the largest Arab American community non-profit in the country. Matthew was previously the Research & Content Manager at the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn, MI. Matthew received his Ph.D. in American Culture from the University of Michigan in 2010, where he served as a lecturer in Arab and Muslim American Studies for 10 years. He is a former board member of the Arab American Studies Association and served on the executive board of Michigan Humanities. He writes about food and identity.

Khadega Mohammad - Khadega Mohammed is a 25-year-old Muslim Sudanese-American spoken word artist. Born in Sudan and raised in Saudi Arabia, her experiences have inspired her to explore themes of spirituality, identity, belonging, and home in the form of poetry. Khadega has been performing around the country for a decade and her work has been featured in various publications nationally and internationally, such as NPR, The Detroit News, AJ+ & AJ+Arabia. She has also taught spoken word workshops, most notably at Harvard University. Khadega's story is featured in two incredible documentaries, An Act of Worship directed by Nausheen Dadabhoy and Revolution from Afar directed by Bentley Brown. She currently resides in Michigan, where she leads community engagement work at the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn, MI.

Rewa Zeinati is an award-winning poet who grew up in Beirut and Abu Dhabi. She is the author of the poetry chapbooks, Difficult (Diode Editions, 2023) and Bullets & Orchids (Corrupt Press, 2013), and the founding editor of Sukoon magazine. Her poems and essays are published in various journals and anthologies including, The Spectacle, Nimrod, New England Review, Asian American Writers’ Workshop, Silk Road, Prairie Schooner, Guernica, The Common, Mizna, among others. With a B.A. from the American University of Beirut, and an M.F.A. from the University of Missouri, Saint Louis, Zeinati has years of advertising, curatorial, and teaching experience. She is currently the curator of public programming at the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn, and the executive director of Al Nadwa Freethinking Society. This is her second immigration cycle to the U.S.

Dr. Wessam Elmeleigi is the Director of the Center for Arab American Studies, and associate professor of Arabic Studies and Comparative Literature at the Department of Language, Culture, and the Arts, as well as the director of the Comparative Literature program, and the Arabic Studies and translation program. His research interests include literary theory, Arabic, comparative, and world literature, film, and art. He is also a graphic novelist and artist. His background is Egyptian, and he immigrated from Egypt.