Christopher A. Bail
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691159423
- eISBN:
- 9781400852628
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691159423.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Middle Eastern Studies
In July 2010, Terry Jones, the pastor of a small fundamentalist church in Florida, announced plans to burn two hundred Qur'ans on the anniversary of the September 11 attacks. Though he ended up ...
More
In July 2010, Terry Jones, the pastor of a small fundamentalist church in Florida, announced plans to burn two hundred Qur'ans on the anniversary of the September 11 attacks. Though he ended up canceling the stunt in the face of widespread public backlash, his threat sparked violent protests across the Muslim world that left at least twenty people dead. This book demonstrates how the beliefs of fanatics like Jones are inspired by a rapidly expanding network of anti-Muslim organizations that exert profound influence on American understanding of Islam. The book traces how the anti-Muslim narrative of the political fringe has captivated large segments of the American media, government, and general public, validating the views of extremists who argue that the United States is at war with Islam and marginalizing mainstream Muslim-Americans who are uniquely positioned to discredit such claims. Drawing on cultural sociology, social network theory, and social psychology, the book shows how anti-Muslim organizations gained visibility in the public sphere, commandeered a sense of legitimacy, and redefined the contours of contemporary debate, shifting it ever outward toward the fringe. The book illustrates the author's pioneering theoretical argument through a big-data analysis of more than one hundred organizations struggling to shape public discourse about Islam, tracing their impact on hundreds of thousands of newspaper articles, television transcripts, legislative debates, and social media messages produced since the September 11 attacks. The book also features in-depth interviews with the leaders of these organizations, providing a rare look at how anti-Muslim organizations entered the American mainstream.Less
In July 2010, Terry Jones, the pastor of a small fundamentalist church in Florida, announced plans to burn two hundred Qur'ans on the anniversary of the September 11 attacks. Though he ended up canceling the stunt in the face of widespread public backlash, his threat sparked violent protests across the Muslim world that left at least twenty people dead. This book demonstrates how the beliefs of fanatics like Jones are inspired by a rapidly expanding network of anti-Muslim organizations that exert profound influence on American understanding of Islam. The book traces how the anti-Muslim narrative of the political fringe has captivated large segments of the American media, government, and general public, validating the views of extremists who argue that the United States is at war with Islam and marginalizing mainstream Muslim-Americans who are uniquely positioned to discredit such claims. Drawing on cultural sociology, social network theory, and social psychology, the book shows how anti-Muslim organizations gained visibility in the public sphere, commandeered a sense of legitimacy, and redefined the contours of contemporary debate, shifting it ever outward toward the fringe. The book illustrates the author's pioneering theoretical argument through a big-data analysis of more than one hundred organizations struggling to shape public discourse about Islam, tracing their impact on hundreds of thousands of newspaper articles, television transcripts, legislative debates, and social media messages produced since the September 11 attacks. The book also features in-depth interviews with the leaders of these organizations, providing a rare look at how anti-Muslim organizations entered the American mainstream.
Kathleen M. Moore
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195387810
- eISBN:
- 9780199777242
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195387810.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
This chapter offers an overview of the exceptional circumstances that Muslims face in the United States after September 11, 2001. The concept of pluralism, as fact and theory, is discussed in light ...
More
This chapter offers an overview of the exceptional circumstances that Muslims face in the United States after September 11, 2001. The concept of pluralism, as fact and theory, is discussed in light of what the Muslim American experience has to tell us about the limits of tolerance. The situation of Muslims in the United States gives rise to both an internal struggle about what it means to be pluralistic and to an outward struggle to negotiate rights and liberties in a climate of fear that has intensified since 9/11. The chapter looks at the challenges facing Muslims in the United States, where they simultaneously seek to maintain ties with the worldwide Muslim community (ummah) and also pursue a uniquely “American” set of political and legal concerns. The chapter defines the exceptional circumstances under which the discursive construction of pluralism and Muslim American identity occur. These circumstances are characterized by the siege mentality that saturates much of the attention focused so intently on Muslims in the United States since the terrorist attacks on U.S. soil. The agency found in the slippage in the fragmented and mobile subject of “Muslim” identity is illustrated when Muslims are narrated, and narrate themselves, into the multicultural nation and state. The implications of the post-9/11 backlash for the pursuit of justice and the vicissitudes of American pluralism are discussed.Less
This chapter offers an overview of the exceptional circumstances that Muslims face in the United States after September 11, 2001. The concept of pluralism, as fact and theory, is discussed in light of what the Muslim American experience has to tell us about the limits of tolerance. The situation of Muslims in the United States gives rise to both an internal struggle about what it means to be pluralistic and to an outward struggle to negotiate rights and liberties in a climate of fear that has intensified since 9/11. The chapter looks at the challenges facing Muslims in the United States, where they simultaneously seek to maintain ties with the worldwide Muslim community (ummah) and also pursue a uniquely “American” set of political and legal concerns. The chapter defines the exceptional circumstances under which the discursive construction of pluralism and Muslim American identity occur. These circumstances are characterized by the siege mentality that saturates much of the attention focused so intently on Muslims in the United States since the terrorist attacks on U.S. soil. The agency found in the slippage in the fragmented and mobile subject of “Muslim” identity is illustrated when Muslims are narrated, and narrate themselves, into the multicultural nation and state. The implications of the post-9/11 backlash for the pursuit of justice and the vicissitudes of American pluralism are discussed.
Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad, Jane I. Smith, and Kathleen M. Moore
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195177831
- eISBN:
- 9780199850716
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195177831.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
The author presents vital issues facing Muslim women in America and provides distinct characterization of how Muslim women understand themselves as Americans and how to define themselves so as to be ...
More
The author presents vital issues facing Muslim women in America and provides distinct characterization of how Muslim women understand themselves as Americans and how to define themselves so as to be understood by their fellow citizens.Less
The author presents vital issues facing Muslim women in America and provides distinct characterization of how Muslim women understand themselves as Americans and how to define themselves so as to be understood by their fellow citizens.
Nadia Inji Khan
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195375206
- eISBN:
- 9780199852307
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195375206.003.0007
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
Just as loving parents have their children take vaccines, loving Muslim parents instill a healthy regimen of Islam for their children, hoping to safeguard their American offspring from perceived and ...
More
Just as loving parents have their children take vaccines, loving Muslim parents instill a healthy regimen of Islam for their children, hoping to safeguard their American offspring from perceived and real societal ills. This chapter investigates the various “vaccines” or burgeoning religious institutions that aim to “inoculate” young Sunni Muslim Americans with the religious background necessary to face the challenges of forming a sustainable hybrid identity. First, it looks at the various motives students may have for pursuing a religious education: whether it is for a Muslim's idea of leisure activity, the solidification of social networks, facilitating identity construction, alleviating the paucity of credible Muslim American religious scholars, or simply to know God and His will. Second, it considers models of religious education, citing specific popular institutions, their history, their organizational structure, and their target audience. It explores the physical setup of the classrooms with an eye on gender, pedagogical style, and curriculum. The chapter features models based on some of the more frequented venues cited. The institutions under consideration are generally part-time seminaries that either specifically target or attract young college-aged Muslims in the 18–24 age bracket.Less
Just as loving parents have their children take vaccines, loving Muslim parents instill a healthy regimen of Islam for their children, hoping to safeguard their American offspring from perceived and real societal ills. This chapter investigates the various “vaccines” or burgeoning religious institutions that aim to “inoculate” young Sunni Muslim Americans with the religious background necessary to face the challenges of forming a sustainable hybrid identity. First, it looks at the various motives students may have for pursuing a religious education: whether it is for a Muslim's idea of leisure activity, the solidification of social networks, facilitating identity construction, alleviating the paucity of credible Muslim American religious scholars, or simply to know God and His will. Second, it considers models of religious education, citing specific popular institutions, their history, their organizational structure, and their target audience. It explores the physical setup of the classrooms with an eye on gender, pedagogical style, and curriculum. The chapter features models based on some of the more frequented venues cited. The institutions under consideration are generally part-time seminaries that either specifically target or attract young college-aged Muslims in the 18–24 age bracket.
Ahmed Afzal
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- March 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781479855346
- eISBN:
- 9781479851638
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9781479855346.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
This book offers an engaging and insightful look at contemporary Muslim American life in Texas. It illuminates the dynamics of the Pakistani Muslim community in Houston, a city with one of the ...
More
This book offers an engaging and insightful look at contemporary Muslim American life in Texas. It illuminates the dynamics of the Pakistani Muslim community in Houston, a city with one of the largest Muslim populations in the south and southwestern United States. Drawing on interviews and participant observation, the book explores everyday Muslim lives at the intersection of race, class, profession, gender, sexuality, and religious sectarian affiliation to demonstrate the complexity of the South Asian experience. It incorporates narratives of gay Muslim American men of Pakistani descent, countering the presumed heteronormativity evident in most of the social science scholarship on Muslim Americans and revealing deeply felt affiliations to Islam through ritual and practice. It also includes narratives of members of the highly skilled Shia Ismaili Muslim labor force employed in corporate America, of Pakistani ethnic entrepreneurs, the working class and the working poor employed in Pakistani ethnic businesses, of community activists, and of radio program hosts. Decentering dominant framings that flatten understandings of transnational Islam and Muslim Americans, such as “terrorist” on the one hand, and “model minority” on the other, the book offers a glimpse into a variety of lived experiences. It shows how specificities of class, Islamic sectarian affiliation, citizenship status, gender, and sexuality shape transnational identities and mediate racism, marginalities, and abjection.Less
This book offers an engaging and insightful look at contemporary Muslim American life in Texas. It illuminates the dynamics of the Pakistani Muslim community in Houston, a city with one of the largest Muslim populations in the south and southwestern United States. Drawing on interviews and participant observation, the book explores everyday Muslim lives at the intersection of race, class, profession, gender, sexuality, and religious sectarian affiliation to demonstrate the complexity of the South Asian experience. It incorporates narratives of gay Muslim American men of Pakistani descent, countering the presumed heteronormativity evident in most of the social science scholarship on Muslim Americans and revealing deeply felt affiliations to Islam through ritual and practice. It also includes narratives of members of the highly skilled Shia Ismaili Muslim labor force employed in corporate America, of Pakistani ethnic entrepreneurs, the working class and the working poor employed in Pakistani ethnic businesses, of community activists, and of radio program hosts. Decentering dominant framings that flatten understandings of transnational Islam and Muslim Americans, such as “terrorist” on the one hand, and “model minority” on the other, the book offers a glimpse into a variety of lived experiences. It shows how specificities of class, Islamic sectarian affiliation, citizenship status, gender, and sexuality shape transnational identities and mediate racism, marginalities, and abjection.
Junaid Rana
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780823278602
- eISBN:
- 9780823280629
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823278602.003.0007
- Subject:
- Sociology, Race and Ethnicity
This chapter considers the ways in which Muslim Americans and subjectivity have been—from the outset—integral to Ethnic Studies as a distinct political, racial, and identarian project.
This chapter considers the ways in which Muslim Americans and subjectivity have been—from the outset—integral to Ethnic Studies as a distinct political, racial, and identarian project.
Mucahit Bilici
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780226049564
- eISBN:
- 9780226922874
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226922874.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
This chapter focuses on the difficulty some Muslims have in seeing America as a homeland. It first discusses the concept of home and what it means to feel at home. It then considers the cultural ...
More
This chapter focuses on the difficulty some Muslims have in seeing America as a homeland. It first discusses the concept of home and what it means to feel at home. It then considers the cultural idioms or topoi with which early Muslim immigrants and Muslims in the early stages of their immigration made sense of their presence in America. This diasporic moment and vocabulary changed over time as exposure and interaction led to a more nuanced understanding. There are also crucial juridical tools by which Muslims religiously interpret America and produce an articulation of America as “home.” The fundamental question that this chapter answers is: how do Muslims naturalize the United States in Islam?Less
This chapter focuses on the difficulty some Muslims have in seeing America as a homeland. It first discusses the concept of home and what it means to feel at home. It then considers the cultural idioms or topoi with which early Muslim immigrants and Muslims in the early stages of their immigration made sense of their presence in America. This diasporic moment and vocabulary changed over time as exposure and interaction led to a more nuanced understanding. There are also crucial juridical tools by which Muslims religiously interpret America and produce an articulation of America as “home.” The fundamental question that this chapter answers is: how do Muslims naturalize the United States in Islam?
Ahmed Afzal
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- March 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781479855346
- eISBN:
- 9781479851638
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9781479855346.003.0008
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
This introductory chapter frames this community-centered ethnographic study of the Pakistani experience in Houston over a ten-year period, from 2001 to 2011. Given the heightened U.S.-government ...
More
This introductory chapter frames this community-centered ethnographic study of the Pakistani experience in Houston over a ten-year period, from 2001 to 2011. Given the heightened U.S.-government surveillance and the racializing of Muslim Americans during the last decade, it challenges commonly held perceptions regarding the complicity of Islam with global terrorism. The book itself includes narratives that reflect the internal diversity of the Pakistani population and includes members of the highly skilled Shia Ismaili Muslim labor force employed in corporate America; Pakistani ethnic entrepreneurs, and the working class and the working poor employed in Pakistani ethnic businesses; gay Muslim American men of Pakistani descent; community activists; and radio program hosts. These narratives provide glimpses into the variety of lived experiences of Pakistani Americans and show how specificities of class, profession, religious sectarian affiliation, citizenship status, gender, and sexuality shape transnational identities, and mediate racism, marginalities and abjection.Less
This introductory chapter frames this community-centered ethnographic study of the Pakistani experience in Houston over a ten-year period, from 2001 to 2011. Given the heightened U.S.-government surveillance and the racializing of Muslim Americans during the last decade, it challenges commonly held perceptions regarding the complicity of Islam with global terrorism. The book itself includes narratives that reflect the internal diversity of the Pakistani population and includes members of the highly skilled Shia Ismaili Muslim labor force employed in corporate America; Pakistani ethnic entrepreneurs, and the working class and the working poor employed in Pakistani ethnic businesses; gay Muslim American men of Pakistani descent; community activists; and radio program hosts. These narratives provide glimpses into the variety of lived experiences of Pakistani Americans and show how specificities of class, profession, religious sectarian affiliation, citizenship status, gender, and sexuality shape transnational identities, and mediate racism, marginalities and abjection.
Stephen K. Rice and William S. Parkin
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- March 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780814776155
- eISBN:
- 9780814777480
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9780814776155.003.0019
- Subject:
- Sociology, Law, Crime and Deviance
This chapter analyzes criminal justice scholarship studies on Muslim Americans. It combines structural, sociopolitical, and codal perspectives that have dominated discourse related to Muslim ...
More
This chapter analyzes criminal justice scholarship studies on Muslim Americans. It combines structural, sociopolitical, and codal perspectives that have dominated discourse related to Muslim Americans with social psychological principles. These principles must be given a more prominent position in explaining deference, defiance, and the effective rule of law. Law enforcement scholars and practitioners must transcend the so-called “United States of Fighting Terrorism”—an orientation that blinds the system from seeing how the interpersonal and intrapsychic processes that received considerable support in explaining trust in the law among Whites, Blacks, and Hispanics must be applied to Muslims who have experienced differential treatment in the years since 9/11.Less
This chapter analyzes criminal justice scholarship studies on Muslim Americans. It combines structural, sociopolitical, and codal perspectives that have dominated discourse related to Muslim Americans with social psychological principles. These principles must be given a more prominent position in explaining deference, defiance, and the effective rule of law. Law enforcement scholars and practitioners must transcend the so-called “United States of Fighting Terrorism”—an orientation that blinds the system from seeing how the interpersonal and intrapsychic processes that received considerable support in explaining trust in the law among Whites, Blacks, and Hispanics must be applied to Muslims who have experienced differential treatment in the years since 9/11.
