Shaireen Rasheed, a long time Port Washington resident and a professor of Philosophical Foundations at Long Island University for 15 years, has been a visiting scholar for the 2014-2015 academic year at the Center for the Study of World Religions at the Harvard Divinity School, where she is working on her second book, which explores the ethical concept of Sexuality, Islam and the War on Terror from a phenomenological framework. Rasheed has written extensively in her area of interest, which includes issues of difference and identity in Gender and Sexuality Studies, Nineteenth, and Twentieth Century Existentialist and Continental Philosophy of the Other, Social Ethics and Cultural Philosophy, Post-Colonial Studies and Critical Feminist Pedagogy.
Rasheed received her PhD in Philosophy in 2000 from Columbia University. In addition to her book, An Existentialist Curriculum of Action (2007), Rasheed’s work has appeared in journals such as Educational Theory, Journal of Research and Practice in Social Sciences, The SACP Forum for Asian and Comparative Philosophy, Childhood perspectives in South Asia: A critical look at issues, policies, and programs, Journal of Human Rights, Minority Rights, Women’s Rights and Social Philosophy Today.
Rasheed has lived in Port Washington for 15 years and has two children in the Port Washington school district, a junior at Schreiber and a 7th grader at Weber. She is currently a member of the Diversity Task Force in the Port Washington School District. She was invited to conduct several Professional Development workshops for the district on “Integrating Difference and cultural sensitivity in the classroom,” especially for students of Middle East descent because, she said, “studies show they have been the most recent victims of bullying, racism and targeted xenophobia.” Rasheed continued, “Related to this, I conducted a day long workshop at LIU Post for administrators, educators, counselors which was funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the New York Council for the Arts.”
Rasheed stated that “Port Washington is unique in its close community feel and its nurturing environment. I have cherished my time here as it is not just conducive to being a great place to bring up kids and meet great people, but it is very committed to issues of diversity in all aspects. I cannot see myself living any where else!”
