Reem Abou-Samra, M.A., Ph.D

Intermittent Lecturer
Reem1
College of Arts, Sciences, and Letters
Social Sciences
[email protected]
313-593-5096
College of Arts, Sciences, and Letters Building | 4901 Evergreen Road | Dearborn, MI 48128

Teaching Areas:

Arab American Studies, Political Science

Biography and Education

Reem Abou-Samra is a current intermittent lecturer in the Political Science department at University of Michigan-Dearborn. She holds a Doctorate and Master's in Political Science. Her dissertation focused on Muslim American patriotism and identity. She continues to research the culture, and history of people in the SWANA region; as well as American politics and history and its intersection with identity among different minorities and groups with regards to power and agency. Additionally, Reem holds a second Masters in Near Eastern Studies and Islam in which she conducted an exegetical study of the ummah (Muslim community) and Islamic Statehood from ancient and medieval times. 

Reem uses an interactive discussion and dialectical approach to teaching through the lens of agency and structure to help students find their own power and agency to shape their most immediate surroundings. She is the current co-chair of the Religious Studies panel at the annual Michigan Academy of Science, Arts, and Letters and the former 2022 President of the organization. 

Education

Degrees: 

  • Ph.D., Political Science, Major: Political Theory; Minors: World Politics and American Politics, Wayne State University, 2014
  • M.A., Political Science, Major: Political Theory, Wayne State University, 2012
  • M.A., Classical Modern Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, Major: Arabic and Islam, Wayne State University, 2009
  • B.A., Political Science, University of Massachusetts, 2006

Teaching and Research

Courses Taught

Research

Reem's current research involves: 1) Identity groups and their impact on the creation of multiple narratives of Islam; 2) The role of hadith authentication on modern citation; 3) The rise of Pan-Arabism during the era of decolonization and modernization; 4) The idea of patriotism in the writings of WEB Du Bois; 5) Muslim American Political Values; and 6) The Return to Culture among Muslim American first and second generation millennial women. She has presented her research at local, regional, national and international conferences. 

Selected Publications

  • Azis, A., Abou-samra, R., & Aprilianto, A. “Online Assessment of Islamic Religious Education Learning”. Tafkir: Interdisciplinary Journal of Islamic Education. Vol. 3, Issue 1., pp. 60-76., 2022.
  • Abou-samra, Reem. “DuBoisian Multi Structuralism”. Political Theory and Political History: Under Threat of Violent Erasure. National Political Science Review. Vol. 20 Issue 2. Pp39-54.
  • Abou-samra, Reem. "A Spring of Concentric Circles: Overlapping Identities in Kuwait and Bahrain and Their Effect on the Arab Spring." Pp. The Silent Revolution: The Arab Spring and the Gulf States. M. Seikaly and K. Mattar. Gerlach Press, 2014
  • Role of Islamic Hadith Authentication in Modern Citation. The Michigan Academy of Science, Arts, and Letters Annual Conference, March 2024. 
  • Islamic Exceptionalism and American Civil Religion. The Michigan Academy of Science, Arts, and Letters Annual Conference, March 2022. 
  • Islamic Exceptionalism. The Michigan Academy of Science, Arts, and Letters Annual Conference, March 2021.
  • Muslim American Core Political Values. The American Political Science Association, September 2, 2016, Philadelphia, PA.
  • Retelling the Story of Patriotism. The Michigan Academy of Science, Arts, and Letters Annual Conference, March 4, 2016, Saginaw, MI.
  • Patriotism Among Muslim American Opinion Leaders Midwestern Political Science Association, Annual Conference, April 3-5, 2014, Chicago IL
  • Concentric Identities in Kuwait and Bahrain and it's effect on the Arab Spring. Gulf Research Center, Gulf Research Meeting 2012, July 11-14, Cambridge, UK
  • DuBoisian Multi-Structuralism. Midwestern Political Science Association, Annual Conference April 12-15, 2012. Chicago IL.
  • A Weberian Analysis of Muhammad. Midwestern Political Science Association, Annual Conference, March 31- April 3, 2011 Chicago IL.
  • Femininity in St. Augustine and Euripides. Northeastern Political Science Association, Annual Conference, November 13-15, 2008, Boston MA