This webinar/​virtual gallery talk will fea­ture three highly cel­e­brated chefs in Detroit, each of whom brings a new aes­thetic, new culi­nary ideas, and a new way of pre­sent­ing halal food to new audi­ences. Chefs Omar Anani, Warda Bouguet­taya, and Mamba Hamissi will sit down with Halal Metropolis curator Sally Howell for a con­ver­sa­tion on their respec­tive projects, the role of food in their com­mu­ni­ties, and the way their work par­tic­i­pates in redefin­ing the future of Detroit.

The Halal Metrop­o­lis exhi­bi­tion, by artist Osman Khan, pho­tog­ra­pher Razi Jafri, and his­to­rian Sally How­ell, explores the facts, fic­tions, and imag­i­nar­ies of the Mus­lim population(s) in Detroit and South­east Michi­gan as viewed through his­tor­i­cal research, doc­u­men­ta­tion of cur­rent con­di­tions, and explo­rations of future desires. The Halal Metrop­o­lis is one where Mus­lims prac­tice their faith freely and con­tribute to soci­ety with all of their tal­ents and com­mit­ments. It is cre­ated dia­log­i­cally and requires Mus­lims to be vis­i­ble to one another and to non-Mus­lims. It encour­ages Mus­lims to orga­nize and speak as believ­ers, cit­i­zens, and artists.

Stamps events are free and open to the pub­lic, and we are com­mit­ted to mak­ing them acces­si­ble to all atten­dees. This event will be online using the Zoom plat­form with an auto-gen­er­ated Live Tran­script avail­able. Ques­tions may be asked using the Q&A fea­ture on Zoom. If you antic­i­pate need­ing any addi­tional accom­mo­da­tions to par­tic­i­pate, please email asbaban@​umich.​edu at least one week in advance of the sched­uled event so we can arrange for your accom­mo­da­tion or an effec­tive alter­na­tive. After receiv­ing your request, our team will fol­low up with you directly. This event can also be live streamed on Halal Metrop­o­lis and Stamps Gallery’s Face­book pages, @halalmetropolis and @umstamps.

This exhi­bi­tion is pre­sented in part­ner­ship with the Uni­ver­sity of Michigan-Dearborn’s Cen­ter for Arab Amer­i­can Stud­ies (CAAS), with sup­port from the Knight Foun­da­tion, the Doris Duke Foun­da­tion, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the El-Hibri Foun­da­tion, the Com­mu­nity Foun­da­tion of SE Michi­gan, and the Michi­gan Human­i­ties Council.