Dr. Adi Saleem

Biography

Adi Saleem is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures and Judaic Studies at the University of Michigan. His research and teaching broadly focus on the intersection of race and religion, particularly among Jews and Muslims. Saleem is currently working on a manuscript tentatively titled "Jews and Muslims," which examines the genealogies of antisemitism and Islamophobia in the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries. He is also the editor of a forthcoming book titled "Queer Jews, Queer Muslims: Race, Religion, Representation," to be published by Wayne State University Press in 2024. Additionally, he is engaged in a project that explores the politics of conversion and apostasy in Islam, particularly in the contemporary French and Western context where Islam is increasingly politicized. This study aims to illuminate how various media and political actors weaponize the narratives surrounding (ex-)Muslims. His preliminary inquiry into this topic is reflected in a co-edited and contributed special issue of Contemporary French Civilization from 2022, titled "Leaving Islam in France and North Africa: Politics, Representation, and Lived Experience." Saleem was also a co-editor for a special issue of the Journal of Language and Sexuality in 2021 that discussed the Pink Dot, an LGBT movement that began in Singapore in 2009.

Research Interests