|
| |
 | | |
| | |
|
|
Melissa May Borja
Student, GRADUATE SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
History |
|
Biography
Melissa is a 2004 graduate of Harvard College, where she was an undergraduate fellow at the Center for the Study of World Religions and a recipient of a research grant from the Charles Warren Center. Her thesis, "To Follow the New Rule or Way: Religious Change Among Hmong Refugees in Stockton, California, 1975-1990," was awarded the Thomas Temple Hoopes Prize, the Coulton Prize, the Committee on Ethnic Studies Prize, and the History Department Junior Prize. In 2005 Melissa earned her M.A. from the University of Chicago, where her research focused on the Nation of Islam and its relationship with immigrant Muslims.
In all her research, Melissa examines the intersection of religion, ethno-racial identities, and migration in both national and transnational frame. In particular, she seeks to understand how religious communities articulate new identities and construct new beliefs and practices in the context of American pluralism and the modern American state.
A former sixth grade social studies teacher, Melissa is now a teaching assistant for Asian American History and a writing instructor with the Legal Outreach College Bound program. An avid musician, she enjoys performing across musical genres, most recently jazz, bluegrass, and medieval sacred music.
| |
|
|
