Abdulrahman Bindamnan is a PhD student and a Fellow at the Interdisciplinary Center for the Study of Global Change at the University of Minnesota. He earned a BA in psychology and religion from the University of Miami (2020) and an MSEd in international educational development from the University of Pennsylvania (2022). Born and raised in Yemen, Bindamnan came to the United States in 2016, intending to stay only to earn a bachelors degree. The war in Yemen prevented his return and he has continued to pursue an advanced education; he is working to get permanent status. He has coined the term “zero generation” to capture the experiences of immigrants and refugees who often lack foundational literacy skills and struggle to adapt to American culture.
Bindamnan is a contributing author at Psychology Today where his blog, Zero-Generation Students, educates readers about the barriers and opportunities facing adult refugees attending institutions of higher education in the United States. His academic and professional publications have also appeared in International Journal of Educational Development, International Studies in Sociology of Education, Material Religion, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Minnesota Reformer, The Star Tribune, Psychology Today, Acton Institute, Middle East Forum, American Institute for Yemeni Studies, University of Miami Herbert Business School, and Heterodox Academy.
Bindamnan is working on two academic research projects. His doctoral dissertation investigates the linguistic and cultural development of adult immigrants as they acquire academic and professional English language on college campuses. He grounds this work in an exploration of the cultural and psychological transition from one’s native country to a U.S. campus and the move into graduate education or employment. Bindamnan is passionate about reforming Islam to recapture the Islamic era of enlightenment as practiced during the Islamic Golden Age (AD 800—1200). He focuses this area of scholarship on demonstrating how enlightened ideas first expounded by Islamic rationalists have been used by Western Enlightenment Era philosophers in developing the ideals of human rights on which the United States was founded, but are currently abandoned by Islamic fundamentalists.