The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, instantly transformed
many ordinary Muslim and Arab Americans into suspected terrorists.
In the weeks and months following the attacks, Muslims in the
United States faced a frighteningly altered social climate
consisting of heightened surveillance, interrogation, and
harassment. In the long run, however, the backlash has been more
complicated. In Being and Belonging, Katherine Pratt Ewing leads a
group of anthropologists, sociologists, and cultural studies
experts in exploring how the events of September 11th have affected
the quest for belonging and identity among Muslims in America for
better and for worse. From Chicago to Detroit to San Francisco,
Being and Belonging takes readers on an extensive tour of Muslim
America inside mosques, through high school hallways, and along
inner city streets. Jen nan Ghazal Read compares the experiences of
Arab Muslims and Arab Christians in Houston and finds that the
events of 9/11 created a cultural wedge dividing Arab Americans
along religious lines. While Arab Christians highlighted their
religious affiliation as a means of distancing themselves from the
perceived terrorist sympathies of Islam, Muslims quickly found that
their religious affiliation served as a barrier, rather than a
bridge, to social and political integration. Katherine Pratt Ewing
and Marguerite Hoyler document the way South Asian Muslim youth in
Raleigh, North Carolina, actively contested the prevailing notion
that one cannot be both Muslim and American by asserting their
religious identities more powerfully than they might have before
the terrorist acts, while still identifying themselves as fully
American. Sally Howell and Amaney Jamal distinguish between
national and local responses to terrorism. In striking contrast to
the erosion of civil rights, ethnic profiling, and surveillance set
into motion by the federal government, well-established Muslim
community leaders in Detroit used their influence in law
enforcement, media, and social services to empower the community
and protect civil rights. Craig Joseph and Barnaby Riedel analyze
how an Islamic private school in Chicago responded to both
September 11 and the increasing ethnic diversity of its student
body by adopting a secular character education program to instruct
children in universal values rather than religious doctrine. In a
series of poignant interviews, the school s students articulate a
clear understanding that while 9/11 left deep wounds on their
community, it also created a valuable opportunity to teach the
nation about Islam. The rich ethnographies in this volume link 9/11
and its effects to the experiences of a group that was struggling
to be included in the American mainstream long before that fateful
day. Many Muslim communities never had a chance to tell their
stories after September 11. In Being and Belonging, they get that
chance."
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