scholarly journals Muslim Identity in 21st Century America: Ayad Akhtar's Works as Autobiography

Elements ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Saljooq Asif
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
21St Century ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Other ◽  
Pulitzer Prize ◽  
Muslim Identity ◽  
American Muslim ◽  
Personal Experiences ◽  
American Media ◽  
Pakistani American

Recipient of the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Ayad Akhtar has been lauded as the de facto voice of the American Muslim in theatre and literature. Akhtar, A Pakistani American, claims that all of his works are inspired by his life and personal experiences; they are, he admits, a form of autobiography. In a post-9/11 world, however, where the position of Muslims in the United States has become increasingly scrutinized, Akhtar’s works purposely play upon American fears and anxiety in regard to Islam. Indeed, Akhtar’s works rely heavily on Muslim stereotypes in order to unsettle American audiences and gain artistic recognition. By doing so, Akhtar not only continues the clichéd depiction of Muslims in American media, but also upholds Stephen Spender’s theory on autobiography: that the perspective of the autobiographer, his Self, is forever forced to submit to that of society, the Other.

scholarly journals “Being Wholly Muslim and Wholly American”: Exploring One Islamic School's Efforts to Educate against Extremism

2017 ◽  
Vol 119 (6) ◽  
pp. 1-32
Author(s):  
Melanie C. Brooks ◽  
Miriam D. Ezzani
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Qualitative Case Study ◽  
The United States ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
Formal Schooling ◽  
Muslim Identity ◽  
Islamic School ◽  
Religious Extremism ◽  
American Muslim

Background/Context Current estimates show 2,500 Islamic State (IS) jihadists are from the United States, Australia, and Western Europe. How and in what ways formal schooling influences the radicalization process and the development of extremist worldviews is yet to be fully understood. There is little research that explores how religious schooling educates against radical thought and behavior and this article reports findings from a qualitative case study of an Islamic school in the United States that counters religious extremism through the promotion and development of an American Muslim identity in its students, an ideology that advances the idea that an individual can be wholly American and wholly Muslim without any incongruity. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of the Study The purpose of this research was to explore one American Islamic school's efforts to counter religious extremism through the promotion and development of an American Muslim identity in its students. Two research questions guided this inquiry: (a) How does one American Islamic school attempt to develop and promote anti-extremist beliefs and behaviors through their development of an American Muslim identity in its students? (b) How is this reflective of Davies’ Critical Idealism XvX Model? Research Design For this qualitative case study, data were gathered and analyzed using Lynn Davies’ Critical Idealism XvX Model, which contrasts formal education that teaches anti-extremism to education that may teach extremist worldviews. Findings/Results The findings suggested that this Islamic school's focus on American Muslim identity reflected the components and values put forth in Davies’ framework that supported anti-extremist education and thereby thwarted extremist ideologies of single-truths, silencing, obedience, utopian excellence, political ignorance, and pure identities. Establishing a “good fit” for teachers, parents, and students were essential and parents with extremist or fundamentalist ideologies tended to disenroll their children. This study also suggested that Davies’ Critical Idealism XvX Model may be a useful framework for exploring religious education. Conclusions/Recommendations The school's administrators believed in the need to re-envision the American Muslim community—moderate in outlook, resonant with American values, participative with community, and supportive and welcoming of diversity. In doing so, the school delivered an anti-extremist education that promoted social integration, democratic values, and acceptance of diversity. This moderate outlook is counter to prevailing stereotypes and thus it is imperative that research continues to explore the role formal schooling plays in educating for or against extremism.

scholarly journals Usage of humor to Overshadow Islamophobia in the World

2018 ◽  
Vol 02 (02) ◽  
Author(s):  
Farzana Kausar ◽  
Dr. Wajid Zulqarnain
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Positive Emotions ◽  
Qualitative Content Analysis ◽  
The United States ◽  
Word Count ◽  
Muslim Identity ◽  
American Muslim ◽  
The World ◽  
Linguistic Inquiry ◽  
The Impact

After the 9/11 incident in the United States, a hatred gap arose between the Americans and Americans Muslims. Many Muslim stand-up comedians started their efforts to decrease this tension through humorous performances and comic screenplays. Also, Muslim comedians are neutralizing negative social discrimination between Muslims and another world to reduce the impact of Islamophobia in the world. The purpose of the study is to examine the part of Muslim comedians and the sentiments of the listeners about their stand-up humor videos. This study is the qualitative content analysis of comments on videos of two American Muslim comedians Negin Farsad and Obeidallah Dean. For data analysis, Linguistic Inquiry & Word Count (LIWC) used to analyses the positive emotions, negative emotions, and emotional tone. Findings exhibit that Muslim comedians are playing a critical part to assist the Muslim community handle with the effect of Islamophobia. The study also investigated that Muslim stand-up comedians are contributing to lessen the stereotyping discernments and disliked comments about Muslim identity globally. It is concluded that comedy has also helped in comforting the audiences that Arab and Muslims are not unpatriotic and adversarial to the United States or to another world.

Imagining Religion and Culture at Webb

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justine Howe
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Dynamic Process ◽  
Third Space ◽  
Religious Practice ◽  
The United States ◽  
Cultural Norms ◽  
Muslim Identity ◽  
American Muslim ◽  
American Islam ◽  
American Society

This chapter examines how the Webb community imagines itself as an alternative to practices of ethnic particularism in Chicago’s mosques. In particular, the community offers a third space for participants to challenge extant visions of American Islam as practiced in mosques. Webb members reimagine the United States as an ideal site of religious practice, carrying the hope of its participants that American Islam could someday be “seamless.” The United States, they believe, holds the promise of an Islam free of racial and ethnic divisions, if only they can disencumber American Islam of its immigrant ethos and show other Muslims the value of embracing cultural norms of American society. Focusing on the accounts of seven Webb participants, this chapter demonstrates how American Muslim identity is an ongoing, dynamic process of talk and practice, which are enmeshed in complex racial, gendered, and classed dynamics.

Culturally Relevant Leadership: Advancing Critical Consciousness in American Muslim Students

2019 ◽  
Vol 55 (5) ◽  
pp. 781-811 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miriam Ezzani ◽  
Melanie Brooks
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Culturally Relevant ◽  
The United States ◽  
Muslim Identity ◽  
Design Data ◽  
Islamic School ◽  
American Muslim ◽  
Culturally Relevant Leadership ◽  
Group Interviews ◽  
School Events

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore how leaders in an Islamic school in the United States engaged in culturally relevant leadership (CRL) within a diverse school community to develop students’ critical social consciousness. Research Design: Data were collected over 4 years at an Islamic K-8 school in the United States and included the following: 12 in-depth semistructured interviews with school and community leaders; 4 phone interviews; 7 focus group interviews with teachers, students, and parents; 5 observations of classroom and school events; and documents from the Islamic center, school, and classrooms. Data specific to the school leaders were analyzed using tenets of CRL. Findings and Conclusions: This article describes how Muslim and non-Muslim leaders in an Islamic school engaged in the tenets of CRL. This study suggests that the tenets of CRL, in this context, were grounded in inter and intrafaith dialogue, cultural syncretism, and a unique focus on the development of an American Muslim identity.

THE LOCATION OF PALESTINE IN GLOBAL COUNTERINSURGENCIES

2010 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 413-433 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laleh Khalili
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
21St Century ◽  
The United States ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
The Other ◽  
Front Line ◽  
Second Intifada ◽  
French Colonial ◽  
The Military ◽  
Modern War

I begin with a pair of narratives:[Jenin] itself showed signs of the Government's wrath. It was in a shocking state, having the appearance of a front-line town in a modern war. Huge gaps were visible between the blocks of buildings and houses, while piles of rubble lay across the streets. . . . Many men had been arrested and detained, while many buildings, including shops and offices, had been demolished as a punitive measure by the military.On the fourth day, they managed to enter [the Jenin camp] because . . . this giant tank could simply run over booby traps, especially since they were very primitive booby traps. Once the army took over our street, they started shooting missiles from the air. On the fifth day they started shelling homes. A large number of people were killed or wounded. My neighbour's home was blown up by missiles . . . Close to us was a group of [detained] young men. They were handcuffed, naked, and lying on their stomachs . . . They would take each one of us and force us onto the ground, stomping on our backs and heads. One soldier would put his machine gun right on your head, and the other would tie you up.The first narrative dates from 1939, when the British finally suppressed the Arab Revolt; the second is from the Israeli counterinsurgency against Palestinians during the second intifada in 2002. What is striking about the two narratives is not only the similarity of “control” measures and the targeting of politically mobilized towns and villages across time but also the persistence of these techniques across different administrative/colonial systems. Further, these practices—house demolitions, detention of all men of a certain age, and the targeting of civilian spaces and populations—are familiar from other counterinsurgency contexts, whether British and French colonial wars in the 20th century or the 21st-century wars of the United States in Iraq and Afghanistan.

scholarly journals Competing Visions of Islam in the United States

1998 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 136-139
Author(s):  
Ahmed Hussain
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Los Angeles ◽  
Religious Identity ◽  
The United States ◽  
Muslim Identity ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
American Muslim ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Muslim Communities

Barring the initial works of a handful of scholars over the last 50 years,Muslim communities and their understanding of Islam in America have gonerelatively unstudied in relation to other religious groups. The lacuna now, however,has been partially filled by the work of Kambiz GhaneaBassiri in a concisebut complete in-way-of-issues-mentioned manner. Primarily a secondarysource, it relies heavily on the initial works produced by scholars such asYvonne Haddad, Adair T. Lummis, Earle Waugh. Aminah McCloud, and AtifWasfi. The book is the first of a second generation of work on the subjectUsing a purely sociological method and lens, the book analyzes the findings ofthe works that came before it, coupling a case study of the views, opinions, andattitudes of different constituents of the Muslim populace of Los Angeles withthe more cross-sectional approach used by the aforementioned scholars. Thework raises fundamental questions regarding the validity of studying sociologicallythe American Muslim condition; whether a truly American Muslim conditionexists; and (if it does) its characteristic features. Nevertheless, KambizGhaneaBassiri's work indexes, in a cartographic manner, the competing visionsof Islam in the United States.Within the introduction of his work, the author outlines the purpose andmethodology of his study. Departing from the writings and approach of Haddad,Lummis, Waugh, McCloud, and Wasfi, he makes his intention clear: to use surveysto examine the religious identity of Muslims in the United States by determininghow they define their role as American citizens. His already enigmaticdefinition of a religious identity, however, being an amalgam of one's "desires,""needs," "cultural and ethnic background" and "level of religious understanding,"missed certain key elements. The roles of intention and volitional acts­the main components of the textual definition of Muslim identity-outlinedwithin the Qur'an and Sunnah, more than the categories used in the study, defineMuslim identity. The lack of a clear definition of Muslim identity and the inabilityof the study to operationalize it are the work's two main weaknesses.Nowhere in the work is it scientifically illustrated or articulated that a case study ...

Working With Interpreters to Support Students Who Are English Language Learners

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (16) ◽  
pp. 15-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henriette W. Langdon ◽  
Terry Irvine Saenz
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
English Language Learners ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
English Language ◽  
First Language ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Other ◽  
Primary Language ◽  
Second Best ◽  
Support Students

The number of English Language Learners (ELL) is increasing in all regions of the United States. Although the majority (71%) speak Spanish as their first language, the other 29% may speak one of as many as 100 or more different languages. In spite of an increasing number of speech-language pathologists (SLPs) who can provide bilingual services, the likelihood of a match between a given student's primary language and an SLP's is rather minimal. The second best option is to work with a trained language interpreter in the student's language. However, very frequently, this interpreter may be bilingual but not trained to do the job.

Armed Violence in the Ideology of Contemporary Islamic Fundamentalism - Study models

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 237
Author(s):  
Laith Mzahim Khudair Kazem
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
United States Of America ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Other ◽  
Islamic Fundamentalism ◽  
Islamic Movements ◽  
Important Means ◽  
Armed Violence ◽  
Goals And Objectives ◽  
At Home

The armed violence of many radical Islamic movements is one of the most important means to achieve the goals and objectives of these movements. These movements have legitimized and legitimized these violent practices and constructed justification ideologies in order to justify their use for them both at home against governments or against the other Religiously, intellectually and even culturally, or abroad against countries that call them the term "unbelievers", especially the United States of America.

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