Profile | Amani Al-Khatahtbeh
By Mina Afayee
Founder of MuslimGirl.com and author of her new memoir Muslim Girl, Amani Al-Khatahtbeh is more than just a fierce fashionable feminist on a mission to smash the patriarchy and break down institutional injustices that affect people of color. While Amani may appear calm and cool in interviews and during her book tour, this composure took time to finesse. Ultimately, she recognizes her influence in the public arena and utilizes her power to serve marginalized populations. Overtime Amani has found strength in her voice, hopes to kickstart an open dialogue, and above all recognizes the value of speaking your truth.
Amani’s origin story is reflective of her passion for inclusive storytelling. Growing up Amani experienced bullying due to her identification as Muslim. Amani’s family temporarily relocated from New Jersey to Jordan in 2005 to escape islamophobia. News coverage on the aftermath of 9/11 were more reactive than proactive, and were more times than not, detrimental to the well being of families like Amani’s. “It almost feels like, because of the resulting Islamophobia of 9/11, my entire life was forced to react to it, whether through the alienation I felt and bullying I experienced or this need to constantly reaffirm my humanity on campus or in headlines.” Amani encountered a rude awakening after her first visit to the Middle East as she recognized the stark contrast between the representation of the region in mainstream Western media and the reality on the ground. “It showed me the power of media in changing the way we see other human beings, as well as the power of hearing stories in people’s authentic voices. When I got back to NJ less than a year later, I tried to find every opportunity I could to change people’s misconceptions,” Al-Khatahtbeh said.
Rutgers University was a factor in her metamorphosis into a more vocal and conscious individual. “I think my experience totally changed when I got to Rutgers, because the campus is so diverse that it was the first time I could actually feel like I belong. I found a community of people from similar backgrounds and experiences that I could connect with and made friends that are still within my inner circle today,” Al-Khatahtbeh said. Her supportive network of community members and friends as an undergrad assisted in solidifying Amani’s foundation as a more audacious person; a voice that was initially shaky but a reverberation that spread far and wide. While Amani’s comfortability in her identity is not concrete, acquiring positions of power were conducive to her progression as a leader. “My election as the first Palestinian Muslim woman Opinions Editor of The Daily Targum really angered people on campus who were invested in the status quo, and I faced adversity from organizations and the administration alike in similar ways as I did in high school.” Amani’s grit and tenacity was paved by facing institutional inequalities and forces and with the support of students and faculty coming together as one.
Attending protests, rallies, and organization meetings exacerbated her commitment to tackling injustices near and abroad. More than 1,000 students, faculty and staff marched down College Avenue campus at Rutgers for #NoBanNoWall protest on January 31, 2017. Demonstrations of solidarity such as this have the power to impact national conversations about refugee rights and immigration. Amani’s activist roots hold strong at Rutgers in which she also helped lead the #NoRice campaign. “The #NoBanNoWall was the kind of ‘we can do anything together” adrenaline rush we felt when my class of 2014 organized campus-wide protests against commencement speaker Condoleezza Rice for what we believed were her war crimes in Iraq,” Al-Khatahtbeh said. The persistent dissention of some students and professors in the #NoRice protests led to Condoleezza rescinding her invitation. Despite opposition from some administration, Amani and other students brought to life the “revolutionary” slogan associated with Rutgers by contributing to the historic collective movement for social good.
Amani’s inquisitive nature and intolerance for racial and religious inequity was cultivated beyond the parameters of the classroom and is still central to her current work as an author and tech entrepreneur. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is not the only woman who is increasingly concerned about the dangers of a single story. The trope of the docile, oppressed Muslim woman has run rampant throughout cinema and various news stories. Finding your way out of the identity matrix is no simple task. Amani is deliberate with her message and utilizes public platforms such as C-Span to not only address, but also counteract the perpetuation of the narrative of the passive Muslim woman. She encourages people to be more active with their consumption of media content; to interact with the material and not be placated by simplified statements about a complex demographic. While there are more mainstream media outlets including Muslim women in stories, diversified representation is lacking. “Even in our increasing media visibility, you often only see Muslim women in the headlines who are fairly light-skinned, conventionally attractive, young, and fashion forward. That still severely limits our understanding of people who identify themselves as Muslim.” Amani has worked vigorously to build her network and following for MuslimGirl, but not without some obstacles. As she became more successful, Amani resisted being the media’s “Token Muslim Girl.” “The token hijabi fashionista is just as one-dimensional as the brown terrorist, and the key is for us to regard the human being beyond the religious identity. We can’t generalize a population of 1.8 billion people,” Al-Khatahtbeh said.
There is a saying in politics, if you are not at the table, you are on the menu. Whether important conversations are being held in the senate or in the entertainment industry, representation is powerful. There has been a long held belief, if only at a subconscious level, that there are a limited number of spaces for women at the top. Amani is not preoccupied with personal gain and recognizes the value in bringing along other woman on her journey to success; illustrating shine theory in action. Being a light skinned Muslim woman in the public sphere, Amani acknowledges her various privileges allowing her access to influential spaces. When given the opportunity, she will utilize any media platform to address pressing issues affecting women of color. But she recognizes there is more than her story to tell. “I can only speak to my own experiences, so it’s crucial to pass the mic to those who can actually directly speak to those experiences.” This statement is not only reflective of her personal mantra but also to the mission of MuslimGirl. “As a media publication, we have the unique power to amplify, so we always search for the narratives that have even been marginalized within our own religious minority. And not just women of color, but also women from a spectrum of underrepresented identities,”Al-Khatahtbeh said.
During her time at Rutgers, Amani was part of the two year cohort at the Institute for Women’s Leadership (IWL) which helped foster her implementation of feminist ideology in her daily life. Her time at the IWL not only introduced her to intersectional feminism, but also transformed Amani’s understanding of gender issues. “Having the opportunity to delve into that scholarship under the instruction of legendary feminist leaders gave me the confidence to explore feminist concepts, especially in Islam, and how they applied to my experience as a millennial Muslim woman in the post-9/11 West,” Al-Khatahtbeh said. Witnessing such powerful women at work in the Consortium resonated with Amani and impacted her work ethic and the trajectory of her career path. Al-Khatahtbeh stated, “The content on MuslimGirl.com even shifted to reflect that newfound introspectiveness and critical analysis. That education laid a foundation for me to want to carve a space for underrepresented narratives like mine in the feminist lexicon, and eventually to write my own feminist memoir in ‘Muslim Girl’.”
Amani is guided by her passion for telling stories and continuously seeks unique and more impactful ways to address one-dimensional narratives in media. “Right now I think my priority is to keep challenging myself and my team to take risks. There’s still so much more of the story to tell.” Her presence says as much as her words, and while obstacles appear in her journey, there is no stopping her once she is committed. The various challenges Amani faces fuel her desire to continue with her work. Amani and other vocal activists recognize their silence will not protect them. Amani embodies Audre Lorde’s quote, “When I dare to be powerful — to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.”
