Maya Ghanem
Class of 2024: Public Policy Major, Education/Inequality Studies Minor
Pronouns: they/them
Current research project: Maya's aspirations center around queer Muslim research and advocacy. Their work points to how queer Muslim perspectives hold patriarchal hegemony in Muslim countries responsible, while also accounting for the harm Anglo-Western colonization has imposed on Muslim societies. Maya thus hopes that advocating for queer Muslim viewpoints can inform more nuanced approaches to global problems. For example, Maya’s ongoing thesis on “Queer Muslim Environmental Futurisms” illustrates a decolonial healing approach to environmental issues, one that dismantles queer/Muslim and human/nonhuman dichotomies in tandem. Funded by the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship, Duke Benenson Award, Duke LIFE Fellowship, the Kenan Institute for Ethics, and the Dean’s Undergraduate Research Fellowship, Maya’s undergraduate research works to honor queer Muslim experiences.
Post-Duke plans: After graduating, Maya hopes to work for a few years, then pursue a PhD related to queer Muslim studies.