Seeing and Hearing Omar ibn Said

Abstract This article will illustrate how using interdisciplinary student-faculty collaborative research can help decolonialize Islamic Studies. This article will be based on a case study of our recently completed student-faculty collaborate research project, Seeing and Hearing Omar ibn Said. Faculty members led a student-faculty research and public outreach project regarding Omar ibn Said, an enslaved Muslim man from the Senegambia region. The students’ work focused on the biographical opera Omar, which was planned for debut at the 2020 Spoleto Festival in Charleston, South Carolina. This interdisciplinary collaboration combined religious studies, history, and performance studies. The students produced outreach materials designed for public engagement and education. Ultimately this article brings to light several important topics: the pedagogy of interdisciplinary studies, giving students agency in an interdisciplinary setting, and the lack of recognition of early Muslims in America.