Dedicated to Getting a Better Understanding of Islam
Mission Statement
The North American Association of Islamic and Muslim Studies (NAAIMS) is an organization whose mission is to provide a forum for the production and dissemination of academic research on Islam and the diverse lived experience of Muslims. Its conferences, lectures, award programs, research activities and publications promote reflective and analytical studies about Islam and Muslim societies through the disciplines of the social sciences and humanities. NAAIMS pursues scholarship in an academic setting to provide a deeper and greater understanding of Islam and Muslims.
Goals & Objectives
The goals and objectives include, but are not limited to:
Providing an interdisciplinary forum for excellence in research and publications relating to the study of Islam and Muslim societies;
Encouraging the study of gender issues and alternative perspectives in the Muslim experience;
Providing critical, reflective and rigorous scholarship;
Approaching the understanding of Islam as a diverse and global phenomenon;
Providing a platform for academic studies to encourage discussion and debate about Islam and the experience of Muslims from an interdisciplinary perspective; and
Encouraging the study of Muslim identities and their relationship to Islamic traditions.
Academic Identity
Since all the events organized and sponsored under our former name of AMSS have highlighted topics from the social sciences and humanities, the organization has become a source of motivation for research through its annual and regional conferences, integrating academic contributions across disciplines. Papers presented by scholars at our conferences in the United States and Canada have promoted Islamic scholarship and civilizational dialogue. It has encouraged the understanding and study of Islam as a religion and a civilization without the polemics and apologetics that dominated the 20th century. The organization since its inception has focused on the study of Islam and Muslim societies from the perspective of the social sciences and humanities. With its recognized interdisciplinary professional forum encouraging scholarship on Islamic studies AMSS has invested in the promotion of critical inquiry about Islam in the academy, and with its new identity as NAAIMS, the organization could conceivably fill a vacuum in the landscape of academic organizations.