Guest Amel Ahmed ventured to college from an urban immigrant community and she spent much of her college career trying to figure out what was happening—academically, socially, culturally. She realized that she found comfort in embedding herself in the liminal spaces and really probing them, using the eye of an astute ethnographer and sleuthing historian. By the time she was ready to leave her undergraduate experience, she had a laser focus on continuing to study the Middle East and how ideals and systems of democracy could be spread there.

In her first semester of grad school, however, a professor made a comment about the very notion of democracy that took her right back to asking what was happening and how that informs the way you approach the ideas that are at your core.

In this episode, find out from Amel how asking the fundamental question of “what are we really doing here” is often the only way to know where we are headed…on Roads Taken with Leslie Jennings Rowley.

About This Episode’s Guest

Amel Ahmed is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She specializes in democratic studies—approaching the work from historical and comparative perspectives, focusing on both Europe and the United States. She is particularly interested in elections, voting systems, legislative politics, party development, and voting rights.

Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com

Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley

Music: Brian Burrows

Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com

Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com

Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley

Music: Brian Burrows

Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com

Democratic Experiment: Amel Ahmed on figuring out what’s happening

Roads Taken