Anoka-Ramsey Community College Cambridge Campus welcomes Najla Ghazi Amundson Wednesday, April 29 to discuss her essay, “ReVEILing Identity: An Authoethnography of a Muslim Woman, Wearing a Hijab for the First Time." The reading is noon to 1 p.m. followed by a question and answer session until 1:30 p.m. The event is free, and the public is invited. 

In the fall 2007 Amundson, a North Dakota State University Ph.D. candidate and Media Relations Director, made the decision to wear a hijab for the first time  after a lifetime passing as part of mainstream American culture. Her authoethnography began to examine how the privileged communicated and interacted with her as “other.” The experience, she says, sheds light on the struggles of hybrid identity, power and privilege and issues of feminism.   

 "A colleague of mine whom I know through Communication and Theatre Association board of governors mentioned Najla’s personality, and cutting-edge experiment,” says Angie Seifert Anderson, Anoka-Ramsey Speech Communication Instructor. “Our Cambridge Campus Speech Department was looking for a spring speaker, and Najla seemed like an excellent fit--she is a Communication Ph.D. candidate and her research "unveils" the sensitive struggle between communication, culture, and identity."     

Excerpt from “Wearing the Hijab for the First Time”by Najla Ghazi Amundson

I was born and raised in Akron, Ohio, to Muslim parents from Aleppo, Syria. We lived in an upper-middle class suburb, predominately white and Christian. My parents had doctoral degrees. Dad was an engineer at a large company and mom stayed home with my younger sister, brother, and me. My parents spoke Arabic at home and we responded in English. Our family did not attend Mosque, we did not fast nor did we celebrate Muslim holidays. The women in my family did not wear hijabs. But I knew I was Muslim. My parents taught me that being Muslim was a way of life. I learned about my religion when I asked questions, when I listened to my parents converse, from the rules of our home and the choices I was taught to make. My religion was also strongly tied to my ethnicity. To be Muslim was to be part of the Arab culture.  

I grew up during the 1970s and 1980s, during the overthrow of the Shah of Iran and the Iran hostage crisis. That's when Nightline first went on the air and Ted Koppel began each show with the number of days the hostages had been in captivity. Then the oil crisis. Neighbor kids would tell me my family should go back to where we came from and ask why my Dad didn't wear a rag on his head. Just as I emerged as a new television reporter, the first Gulf War erupted. My beat was the local Air Force base. Most of my reports focused on National Guard troops being shipped off to Iraq. Then, there was 9/11 and now we have the ongoing "War on Terror" making Arab and Muslim synonymous with terrorist and anti-American.

For more information about the event at Anoka-Ramsey Community College, contact Anderson at 763-433-1802 or angie.anderson@anokaramsey.edu