Mafaz Al-Suwaidan is an academic, a writer, and a film producer. She is currently a doctoral candidate and Prize Fellow in Philosophy of Religion at Harvard University’s Committee on the Study of Religion with a secondary degree in African and African American Studies. She holds a Master of Theological Study (MTS) degree in Islamic Studies, a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree in Creative Writing, and a Bachelor of Journalism. Her research interests include modern Islamic thought, Muslim movements, West African Sufism, Black Power studies, and religion in literature. Her dissertation explores the religious thought and philosophies of early 20th-century Muslim social-political movements in Egypt, Senegal, and the U.S.; reconstructing and reconsidering key elements of their thinking against a backdrop of Western liberalism.

Mafaz has a keen interest in education, both in and outside the traditional classroom. She has taught at the graduate and undergraduate levels at Northeastern University and Harvard, receiving the Harvard University Certificate of Distinction in teaching. She has served as a facilitator for intercultural dialogue at the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) conference, as a program coordinator for the World in Conversation Center for Public Diplomacy at Pennsylvania State University, and as the graduate representative on the Harvard Study of Religion’s Committee on Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging (EDIB). She has also taught Islamic Studies in community settings and has been teaching weekly classes at a Massachusetts state prison as a volunteer since 2018.

She is the Senior Producer and Writer of American Muslims, a landmark series of short documentary films that reveal and explore the untold histories of Muslims in the United States. Her journalism has been published in several outlets including the Toronto Star and McClung’s magazine; her fiction has been published in Rozlyn: Short Fiction by Women Writers; and she has written for TV/digital media such as Al Jazeera English’s Inside Story and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ Office of Information Technology.

Mafaz consults on a range of topics, including storytelling, faith, culture, history, and activism. She has worked with a broad range of organizations, including educational institutions, museums, libraries, churches, gaming companies, grassroots movements, and cultural innovation labs.