Finding Mecca in America : How Islam is becoming an American religion / Mucahit Bilici.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bilici, Mucahit, 1973- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Muslims--United States--Social conditions--21st century.

Muslims.

Islam--United States.

Islam.

Social conditions.

United States.

Physical Description:

pages cm

Place of Publication:

Chicago ; London : University of Chicago Press, 2012.

Summary:

The events of 9/11 had a profound impact on American society, but they had an even more lasting effect on Muslims living in the United States. Once practically invisible, Muslims suddenly found themselves overexposed. By describing how Islam in America began as a strange cultural object and gradually became familiar, Finding Mecca in America illuminates the growing relationship between Islam and American culture as Muslims find a homeland in America. Rich in ethnographic detail, the book is an up-close account of how Islam takes its American shape.

In this book, Mucahit Bilici traces American Muslims' progress from outsiders to natives and from immigrants to citizens. Drawing on the philosophies of Simmel and Heidegger, Bilici develops a novel sociological approach and offers insights into the civil rights activities of Muslim Americans, their increasing efforts at interfaith dialogue, and the recent phenomenon of Muslim ethnic comedy. Theoretically sophisticated, Finding Mecca in America is both a portrait of American Islam and a groundbreaking study of what it means to feel at home. Book jacket.

Contents:

Introduction : Muslim life and American forms

Cultural settlement. Finding Mecca in America : Muslim directionality and the codification of American space ; The English language and Islam : genealogy of an encounter ; Homeland insecurity : how immigrant Muslims naturalize America in Islam

Citizenship practices. Awakening citizenship : rights meet their bearers ; Seeking kinship through Abraham : Muslim interfaith activism ; Funny jihad : Muslim comedy takes flight

Conclusion : on appropriation and inhabitation.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780226049564

0226049566

9780226049571

0226049574

OCLC:

775664180