Ifrah Magan
Assistant Professor
PhD, AM, BS
Areas of Expertise: The intersections of race, gender, religion, and class in refugee resettlement and integration; access to health and mental health services amongst Muslim refugees; national and international immigration policies; community‐centered research models; international social work; and indigenous methodologies.
Biography
Dr. Ifrah Magan currently serves as an Assistant Professor at NYU Silver School of Social Work. A qualitative researcher and social worker, Dr. Magan incorporates storytelling as a method for understanding the lived experiences of refugee and immigrant populations, particularly with regard to faith and culture. Dr. Magan takes an intersectional approach to research in vulnerable communities, focusing particularly on race, religion, gender, and class. She has extensive experience working with Somali, Rohingya, Iraqi, and Syrian refugee populations in the United States. Dr. Magan was also the Qualitative Research Lead on the MacArthur Foundation 100&Change funded partnership with Sesame Workshop and the International Rescue Committee to provide early childhood programming for refugee families in the Middle East.
Dr. Magan received a Bachelor of Science degree in Family and Community Services from Michigan State University, where she was a Ronald E. McNair Scholar. She then went on to receive a Master’s degree from the University of Chicago’s School of Social Service Administration where she received the Kathryn Davis Peace Award and served as a Child Advocate for unaccompanied undocumented children through the Young Center at the University of Chicago School of Law. She received her doctorate from University of Illinois at Chicago, Jane Addams College of Social Work, where she received the Abraham Lincoln Fellowship and the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Service Award.
Dr. Magan is fluent in English, Somali, and Arabic.
Publications
"Home Is Where Your Root Is": Place Making, Belonging, and Community Building among Somalis in Chicago
Magan, I. M. & Padgett, D. K., May 13 2021,
In : Social Work. 66, 2, p. 101-110
10 p.
On Being Black, Muslim, and a Refugee: Stories of Somalis in Chicago
Magan, I. M., Apr 2 2020,
In : Journal of Immigrant and Refugee Studies. 18, 2, p. 172-188
17 p.
"Don't wait for it to rain to buy an umbrella:" The transmission of values from African American fathers to sons
Doyle, O., Magan, I., Cryer-Coupet, Q. R., Goldston, D. B. & Estroff, S. E., Oct 1 2016,
In : Psychology of Men and Masculinity. 17, 4, p. 309-319
11 p.
Unheard voices: African american fathers speak about their parenting practices
Doyle, O., Clark, T. T., Cryer-Coupet, Q., Nebbitt, V. E., Goldston, D. B., Estroff, S. E. & Magan, I., Jul 1 2015,
In : Psychology of Men and Masculinity. 16, 3, p. 274-283
10 p.