Arij Mikati - Reclaiming Our Histories, Reimagining Our Futures by Amplifying Muslim Voices
“Nothing makes me more hopeful than people who are willing to change their minds when they get new information.” - Arij Mikati
Even if you aren’t a fan of movies from the 1980s through the early 2000s, chances are you can guess the ethnicity of the “bad guy” in most of them. Hollywood has a legacy of demonizing Black and brown-skinned folks––but an huge amount of screen villains during this period were either vaguely or expressly rendered as Muslim.
Decades of prejudicial portrayals are no match for my incredible friend, Arij Mikati. She is the managing director of Culture Change at Pillars Fund. She is out here developing programming that challenges damaging narratives about Muslims and amplifies unique Muslim voices in artistic spaces. Arij is an old friend of mine and you’ll hear how much I am pumped to celebrate Arij in the joy in our a conversation that could’ve (rightly) focused only on pain and anger.
Arij now chooses to focus on hope, but this mindset took time to nurture. Arij was born in Lebanon (which you’ll hear us both gush about because it’s one of my favorite countries) but came of age as American Muslim girl in the shadow of 9/11. While her religion offered hope for the future, the messages from the media overwhelmingly forced Muslims to operate in defense mode. As a result, Arij had to navigate shame and exhaustion around her own narrative. “There's a lot of really amazing and beautiful things that I want people to know about our community,” she explains, “and just telling them about what we're not really prevented me from owning my own narrative.”
Pillars Fund drives culture change by using storytelling to flip the script, celebrating the myriad identities that make up the Muslim community. The stories and films they’re supporting are likewise complex and tap into universally enjoyable genres: coming-of-age, sci-fi, comedy, etc. “We’re not interested in PSA after-school specials about how great Muslims are. That's not what we do,” clarifies Arij. “To be super clear, we're extremely interested in high art, high taste, and good stories that also just happen to tell the truth about us.” A Muslim western? Hell yes!
“The work I do is first and foremost for me,” says Arij, “the little girl in me who wishes she had an alternative to take as an example of how I could choose to define myself, how I could choose to tell my story.” It warms my heart to hear Arij taking care of that little girl inside her, and to see my badass friend doing some incredible things.
Joy and representation matter!
Mentioned in this Episode
GUEST CONTACT AND BIO
Arij Mikati is the Managing Director of Culture Change at Pillars Fund, where she designs and leads programming that challenges damaging narratives about Muslims in the U.S. and amplifies Muslim voices in artistic spaces. Her storytelling work seeks to change the lens through which Muslim stories are told to one that is authentic, complex, and honest.
Let’s be friends! You can find me in the following places…
