Humayra Alam
Ph.D. Student, Architecture
mosques • South Asian American Sunni Muslim community • South Asian American diaspora • diasporic identity
Humayra Alam is a PhD student in the Department of Architecture at Texas A&M University. Through her research, Humayra examines how, since the passing of the 1965 Hart-Cellar Act, the spatiality of South Asian American (SAA) Sunni mosques has evolved in the diaspora of Greater Houston, Texas. The research has two major goals: to highlight the process of cultural syncretism experienced by SAA Sunni Muslims and its manifestation through spatial and visual features of mosques. The research hypothesizes that the spatiality of the SAA Sunni mosques of Greater Houston arises from not only religious, but also social, cultural, political, and intergenerational realities of diaspora, thus manifesting in ways that are hybrid and shifting in nature. This research is the first step towards the documentation of SAA Sunni mosques in the US diaspora and the narrative of SAA Muslims and their reliance on religion, culture, ethnicity, and sect for a shared diasporic identity.