Grounded

Iman AbdoulKarim
  • 5.0 (4)
  • SPIRITUALITY

Welcome to Grounded with Dr. Iman, a space where the intellectual meets the spiritual. I’m Dr. Iman AbdoulKarim, a professor, scholar of religion, and someone trying to find her footing. Each week, I bring conversations from religious studies, Black feminist thought, spirituality, and culture into everyday life, introducing you to the thinkers, questions, and traditions that have transformed how I see the world. Some episodes are personal reflections on where I’m finding grounding. Others draw from my research on religion, Black women’s spiritual lives, and alternative modes of knowing. And sometimes I’m joined by scholars, creators, friends, and listeners as we think together about intuition, critique, imagination, and what it means to live differently. This is not a space for bypassing or easy answers. It’s a space for thinking deeply, feeling honestly, and seeking rootedness together. So wherever this takes us, I’m really glad you’re here. Let’s get grounded.

  1. 5D AGO

    Ep. 12: Who Gets to Decide What Counts as Knowledge?

    This week on Grounded with Dr. Iman, I’m thinking about writer’s block, perfectionism, AI, and one of the questions that most transformed my intellectual and spiritual life: What counts as knowledge? Starting from my experience revising my first accepted journal article, I reflect on why mistakes in other people’s work have unexpectedly become grounding for me in a moment obsessed with perfection and polished performance. From there, I move into Black feminist epistemologies and alternative modes of knowing, thinking with Patricia Hill Collins, Sylvia Wynter, Zakiyyah Iman Jackson, Kara Keeling, Safiya Bukhari, and Alexis Pauline Gumbs. Together, we think about intuition, dreams, lived experience, gut feelings, whisper networks, and “what your mama said” as forms of knowledge that challenge dominant ideas about expertise, legitimacy, and truth. Chapters 00:00 Grounding in Other People’s Mistakes & Processing Feedback 06:14 What Counts as Knowledge? 09:55 Who’s Knowledgeable? 19:50 Alternative Modes of Knowing to Rely On 29:18 Closing: I’m Graduating References Mentioned: Bukhari, Safiya. The War Before: The True Life Story of Becoming a Black Panther, Keeping the Faith in Prison, and Fighting for Those Left Behind. New York: Feminist Press, 2010. Collins, Patricia Hill. Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment. 2nd ed. New York: Routledge, 2000. Gumbs, Alexis Pauline. "Prophecy in the Present Tense: Harriet Tubman, the Combahee Pilgrimage, and Dreams Coming True." Meridians 12, no. 2 (2014): 142-152. Jackson, Zakiyyah Iman. Becoming Human: Matter and Meaning in an Antiblack World. New York: New York University Press, 2020. Keeling, Kara. The Witch’s Flight: The Cinematic, the Black Femme, and the Image of Common Sense. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2007. Wynter, Sylvia. “Unsettling the Coloniality of Being/Power/Truth/Freedom: Towards the Human, After Man, Its Overrepresentation—An Argument.” CR: The New Centennial Review 3, no. 3 (2003): 257–337.

    31 min

  2. MAY 11

    Ep. 11: Why Black Women Are Suns: Burnout, Power, and Spiritual Knowledge with Tahirah

    This week, I’m joined by cultural critic, researcher, and creator Tahirah (@sincerelytahiry) for a conversation on what counts as knowledge, burnout, and why Black women are often expected to be everything for everyone. We talk about Tahirah’s own spiritual and intellectual journey into this work. The conversation is grounded in her recently published, gorgeously written, and deeply vulnerable piece, “A Dying Star,” and explores what using the sun as a metaphor for Black women’s lived experiences reveals about care, labor, and exhaustion. Our convo moves between questions at the heart of religious studies, Black feminist thought, and Islamic intellectual traditions: Are feelings a form of knowledge? What does it mean to trust your intuition? And who gets to decide what is considered “real” knowledge? Follow the brilliant Tahirah on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and Substack @sincerelytahirah and read "A Dying Star" here! Chapters 00:00 Opening & Introducing Tahirah 00:28 Where Are You Finding Grounding Right Now? 07:07 From Pre-Law to Purpose (Where it Started) 16:00 Trusting Your Intuition and Inner Voice? 26:30 “Identity Politics” or Real Knowledge? Who Gets Dismissed 39:10 The Inspiration Behind “A Dying Star” 42:54 Why Are Black Women Expected to Be the Sun for Everyone Else?

    53 min
  3. Ep.10: Why Do We Think Spiritual Growth Has to Be Stressful?

    MAY 4

    Ep.10: Why Do We Think Spiritual Growth Has to Be Stressful?

    Why do we feel spiritually stuck… even when life is going well? In this episode, I open up about something I didn’t expect to be encountering post-PhD: feeling spiritually understimulated. No books or reading, just a check-in on what happens when stillness can lead to feeling disconnected, unfocused, and even bored sometimes. Things I am thinking about… Why do we associate spiritual growth with struggle and suffering?How can routines be a means of reconnecting? Why boredom and stillness might actually be necessary for growth? Chapters 00:00 Grounding Question: Why Do We Think Spiritual Growth Has to Be Stressful? 00:30 Opening 01:11 Feeling Spiritually Understimulated

    20 min
  4. Ep. 9: Why ‘Start With Yourself’ Is a Myth

    APR 27

    Ep. 9: Why ‘Start With Yourself’ Is a Myth

    “Why ‘Start With Yourself’ Is a Myth” What if the idea that success and wealth “start with yourself” is actually a myth? This week, I'm bringing a religious studies lens to the self-help industry and break down the buzz and backlash around Emma Grede’s Start With Yourself. I use it as a case study to think about how myths work and how the American Dream continues to sell individual success as the solution to structural problems. I argue that Grede’s message reflects a gendered and racialized version of success often marketed to Black women and women of color, what I think of as the millennial-coded myth of the pick-me. From there, I turn to Black thought and the Black Nationalist Movement, specifically the Republic of New Afrika, to explore alternative visions of success beyond capitalism and self-making. I close by thinking at the intersections of the spiritual and the intellectual as I try to define what success looks like in this new career chapter I am presently in. Chapters 00:00 Opening 00:40 Grounding in My Own Version of Success 02:30 How Myth Functions 06:28 Emma Grede & the Myth of the Pick Me 15:06 A Vision of Success Beyond Capitalism References Kees W. Bolle, “Myth: An Overview,” Encyclopedia of Religion (2005) Imari Obadele, Foundations of the Black Nation (1975)

    29 min
  5. Ep. 8: What’s Divine About the Black Femme?

    APR 20

    Ep. 8: What’s Divine About the Black Femme?

    There’s so much talk about the divine feminine out there. So what’s divine about being femme?✨ This week, we turn to Audre Lorde and Ashley Coleman Taylor to get a sense of what is divine about the Black femme through a Black queer and religious studies lens. We talk about A LOT. What’s the difference between popular culture takes and social media discourse on the divine feminine and Lorde and Coleman’s theorizing about the Black femme as divine? A lot. Most of the time, the girls are not talking about the same thing. And we get into how a lot of talk about the divine feminine defines itself over and against the Black femme embodiment like that of the rap girls (Sexyy Red, Cardi B, Megan Thee Stallion, etc.). I explore how Lorde and Coleman Taylor’s work offer a beautiful and capacious understanding of the divine femme! You’ll have to listen for that! And how this definition also opens up a third option for how people answer questions about being Muslim and queerness. Chapters 00:00 Opening 00:40 Grounded in the Baddie Routine 03:34 Grounding Question: What Is Divine About the Black Femme 05:51 Who Is the Black Femme 14:02 Divine: A relentless commitment to becoming on your own terms References Coleman Taylor, Ashley. "Religio-erotic Experience and Transoceanic Becoming at the Shoreline in Audre Lorde’s Zami." Journal of the American Academy of Religion 91, no. 3 (2023): 680–697.

    28 min
  6. Ep. 7: Listener Question: What Do Muslims Mean When They Say, “I Fear No One but Allah?”

    APR 13

    Ep. 7: Listener Question: What Do Muslims Mean When They Say, “I Fear No One but Allah?”

    We’ve got another listener question! 💌 This week’s: What do Muslims mean when they say, “I fear no one but Allah?” Drawing on my research on Black Muslima thought and history, I turn to two thinkers who have given the saying meaning within the context of U.S. anti-Blackness, imperialism, and gender violence: Safiya Bukhari and Amina Wadud. I discuss how the phrase has been a rallying call to struggle against tyranny and oppression, an action-oriented understanding of what it means to be Muslim and embody Islamic monotheism. Chapters 00:00 Opening 00:40 Grounded in the Fact That It Is That Deep 04:59 Listener Question: What Do Muslims Mean When They Say, “I Fear No One but Allah?” 07:53 Safiyah Bukhari’s Escape from Prison 15:43 Fearing No One, Not Even Snakes 20:46 Amina Wadud and the Tawhidic Paradigm 26:40 Closing References: Bukhari, Safiya. The War Before: The True Life Story of Becoming a Black Panther, Keeping the Faith in Prison & Fighting for Those Left Behind. The Feminist Press at CUNY, 2010. Churchill, Ward. Cointelpro Papers: Documents from the FBI's Secret Wars Against Dissent in the United States. South End, 2002. Husain, Atiya. No God but Man: On Race, Knowledge, and Terrorism. Duke University Press, 2024. Wadud, Amina. Qur'an and Woman: Rereading the Sacred Text from a Woman's Perspective. OUP US, 1999. Wadud, Amina. “Inside the Gender Jihad: Women’s Reform in Islam.” Praktyka Teoretyczna 08 (2013): 249–262.

    29 min
  7. Ep. 6: Why Is It Important to Study Religion and Spirituality?

    APR 6

    Ep. 6: Why Is It Important to Study Religion and Spirituality?

    Why I think studying religion is a social good… Bet you thought I was gonna say something like “it helps you understand the diversity of the world.” WRONG. If you’ve been here for a while, you know DEI speak ain’t got a place here. Now that I’ve got your attention. The study of religion… Is the study of what people do and the meaning they give to those actions. And once you know that, then you begin to see how power and authority are cultivated, maintained, and resisted in this world. You understand how myths work, you begin to see how systems hold power over you by selling you fiction they market as truth. You understand how rituals work, you begin to see that the most impactful social movements and thinkers have all ritualized resistance in some way. You understand how authority works, you start moving in a way that aligns with what you think should have authority over your life, not what you’re told should have. You understand how knowledge is produced, you start producing your own and finding meaning + purpose in knowledge they’ve told you has none. The study of religion is a social good because it helps one see the world as it is and turns your attention to all the possibilities of what it could be. It’s the study of critique not rooted in despair or ambivalence. It’s the study of how the spiritual AND the material are one and the same. It’s the study of how the status quo is maintained and resisted. Chapters 00:00 Welcome 00:40 Grounding in my own answers 01:59 Why is it important to study religion + spirituality? 05:15 Myth of the Millennial Pick Me 12:04 Rituals that give the everyday meaning 15:10 Authority to move how YOU wanna move 21:25 Knowledge also comes from within References Ali, Tazeen M. The Women’s Mosque of America: Authority and Community in US Islam. NYU Press, 2022. Lorde, Audre. “Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power (1978).” Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches (2020): 53–59. Pérez, Elizabeth. “Religion in the Kitchen: Cooking, Talking, and the Making of Black Atlantic Traditions.” In Religion in the Kitchen. New York University Press, 2016. Episode 3: What’s the Difference Between Religion and Spirituality Episode 4: Listener Question: How to Make a Writing Practice (or Any Practice) Spiritual

    28 min
  8. Ep. 5: How to See the Unseen?

    MAR 30

    Ep. 5: How to See the Unseen?

    How can you see the unseen? And does it matter if you don’t “believe” in it, as a scholar of religion? This week, I’m thinking through how we, as scholars of religion (yes, that includes you if you’re listening), come to see and engage the unseen, regardless of whether we “believe” in it or can perceive it through our physical senses. I also share how I encounter and draw on the unseen in my own intellectual work and practices, and what this has taught me about a much broader, more embodied understanding of the unseen. One that goes beyond flickering lights, things flying across rooms, or haunting silhouettes. Follow me on socials @imanabdk for more of my thinking on the unseen. Chapters 00:00 Introduction 00:40 The unseen tested me 02:26 What is the unseen? 03:28 Does it matter if I believe in the unseen? 05:58 Stop trying to arbitrate the real 12:21 Beyond ghosts 14:00 My encounters with the unseen 18:50 Broadening what we consider the unseen Works referenced: Ahmad Greene-Hayes, “Hair, Roots, and Crystal Balls: Archival Viscerality, Black Conjuring Traditions, and the Study of American Religions,” Journal of the American Academy of Religion 91, no. 4 (2023): 798–819. Amira Mittermaier, Dreams That Matter: Egyptian Landscapes of the Imagination (University of California Press, 2010). Safiya Bukhari, The War Before: The True Life Story of Becoming a Black Panther, Keeping the Faith in Prison & Fighting for Those Left Behind (The Feminist Press at CUNY, 2010).

    26 min
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5
out of 5
4 Ratings

About

Welcome to Grounded with Dr. Iman, a space where the intellectual meets the spiritual. I’m Dr. Iman AbdoulKarim, a professor, scholar of religion, and someone trying to find her footing. Each week, I bring conversations from religious studies, Black feminist thought, spirituality, and culture into everyday life, introducing you to the thinkers, questions, and traditions that have transformed how I see the world. Some episodes are personal reflections on where I’m finding grounding. Others draw from my research on religion, Black women’s spiritual lives, and alternative modes of knowing. And sometimes I’m joined by scholars, creators, friends, and listeners as we think together about intuition, critique, imagination, and what it means to live differently. This is not a space for bypassing or easy answers. It’s a space for thinking deeply, feeling honestly, and seeking rootedness together. So wherever this takes us, I’m really glad you’re here. Let’s get grounded.

Information

  • Creator
    Iman AbdoulKarim
  • Years Active
    2K
  • Episodes
    13
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2026 Iman AbdoulKarim
  • Show Website
    Grounded

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