Being Muslim: A Cultural History of Women of Color in American Islam (2018) S. Chan-Malik New York University Press.
The history of intersectionality especially as it relates to the development of Islam, Black Muslim identity in the United States and the role of women in all of the above has not frequently been the subject of wide or deep analysis by academic scholars. The narrative of Islam in the United States within communities of color is not only a story about immigration from “foreign” nations but also includes a movement of liberation, revolution and a true re-version back to the traditional beliefs of the West African peoples forcibly and inhumanely enslaved and relocated in the US many of whom were originally followers of Islam.
The strands of analysis in Sylvia Chan Malik’s Being Muslim: A Cultural History of Women of Color in American Islam include all of those untold connections and more. Chan Malik examines the unique paths to Islam for people of color in the US highlighting not only the social role of women but how Islam is represented in their lived realities across generations and situations. Chan Malik demonstrates critical awareness of the understanding of how Muslim women’s stories are also used and appropriated by a variety of forces within and outside of the Muslim community both nationally and internationally making them a weapon against their own selves.
Being Muslim is an important read for all who are seeking to more deeply appreciate the dynamic history and formation of a US based Muslim ummah with it’s varied and unique identities.
Dr. Denise Ziya Berte, PhD
The history of intersectionality especially as it relates to the development of Islam, Black Muslim identity in the United States and the role of women in all of the above has not frequently been the subject of wide or deep analysis by academic scholars. The narrative of Islam in the United States within communities of color is not only a story about immigration from “foreign” nations but also includes a movement of liberation, revolution and a true re-version back to the traditional beliefs of the West African peoples forcibly and inhumanely enslaved and relocated in the US many of whom were originally followers of Islam.
The strands of analysis in Sylvia Chan Malik’s Being Muslim: A Cultural History of Women of Color in American Islam include all of those untold connections and more. Chan Malik examines the unique paths to Islam for people of color in the US highlighting not only the social role of women but how Islam is represented in their lived realities across generations and situations. Chan Malik demonstrates critical awareness of the understanding of how Muslim women’s stories are also used and appropriated by a variety of forces within and outside of the Muslim community both nationally and internationally making them a weapon against their own selves.
Being Muslim is an important read for all who are seeking to more deeply appreciate the dynamic history and formation of a US based Muslim ummah with it’s varied and unique identities.
Dr. Denise Ziya Berte, PhD