Dr. Amra Sabic-El-Rayess is a genocide survivor, a mother to two daughters and an Associate Professor at Columbia University’s Teachers College. She serves as Executive Director at the International Interfaith Research Lab, and is a faculty member at Columbia’s Harriman Institute for Russian, Euroasian and Eastern European Studies, as well as Columbia’s Middle East Institute. Dr. Sabic-El-Rayess has taught, researched, and published on a range of issues in education, including Educational Displacement, targeted violence, hate prevention, interfaith collaboration, anti-Muslim racism, storytelling, radicalization, othering, transitional justice, corruption, social cohesion, social mobility, and social transformation. Amra has a BA in Economics from Brown University, a Master’s in Economic and Political development from the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University and an M.Phil. and Ph.D. from Columbia University.

In 2021 Amra was awarded a finalist medal for excellence in Young Adult Non-fiction by the American Library Association, and received a “Best Book” recognition by School Library Journal, Malala Fund for her first memoir, The Cat I Never Named, which chronicles her experiences as a Bosnian Muslim during the Bosnian genocide. She is also the author of Three Summers, a story of resilience and sisterhood in the years leading up to the Bosnian genocide.

In this episode, Amra shares what her stories and research have taught her about hate, how we can eradicate it, and how we can prevent it from taking root in the first place.