Being Muslim: A Cultural History of Women of Color in American Islam

by Sylvia Chan-Malik

2018 Outstanding Academic Title, given by Choice Magazine

An exploration of twentieth and twenty-first century U.S. Muslim womanhood that centers the lived experience of women of color

For Sylvia Chan-Malik, Muslim womanhood is constructed through everyday and embodied acts of resistance, what she calls affective insurgency. In negotiating the histories of anti-Blackness, U.S. imperialism, and women's rights of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, Being Muslim explores how U.S. Muslim women's identities are expressions of Islam as both Black protest religion and universal faith tradition. Through archival images, cultural texts, popular media, and interviews, the author maps how communities of American Islam became sites of safety, support, spirituality, and social activism, and how women of color were central to their formation. By accounting for American Islam's rich histories of mobilization and community, Being Muslim brings insight to the resistance that all Muslim women must engage in the post-9/11 United States.



From the stories that she gathers, Chan-Malik demonstrates the diversity and similarities of Black, Arab, South Asian, Latina, and multiracial Muslim women, and how American understandings of Islam have shifted against the evolution of U.S. white nationalism over the past century. In borrowing from the lineages of Black and women-of-color feminism, Chan-Malik offers us a new vocabulary for U.S. Muslim feminism, one that is as conscious of race, gender, sexuality, and nation, as it is region and religion.

Genres: Islam, Nonfiction, History, Anti Racist, Religion

288 pages, Hardcover

First published June 26, 2018

Reviews

[Greg Soden · Rating 5 out of 5]

This amazing book tells the under-examined stories of Muslim women of color in the United States from 1920 until today. I absolutely loved looking at this fascinating piece of United States history. The archival photographs alone are quite enchanting. If you enjoy reading under-appreciated or misunderstood stories in history and religion, Dr. Chan-Malik did a great job on this book. Highly recommended.

Listen to my interview with the author in episode 86 here:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/t...

[Bookworm · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've had this book on my reading list for forever but had to wait quite awhile for it to become available via the library. This book looks at various non-white women in the US who are Muslim. Chan-Malik looks at women, many of whom I would guess you had never heard of (I hadn't) and their role in Muslim history, society, culture, etc. in the United States.

It's a pretty interesting look at these women, for how they navigated being in the US. Because not only were they not white but also Muslim. So it is not only about being a minority religion in the US, but also the racism/xenophobia/etc. It is also that given the United States is a large country, what Islam may look like is different in say Texas vs. Washington state vs. Tennessee, etc.

And while it was definitely a lot to think about (I don't know if I've read any text about this specific subject), unfortunately this was pretty dull. It read like a textbook you read for class, like a bunch of academic theses put together.

I was also thinking this book would be different, in the sense it would be more of an overview rather than focusing on particular women. Which in itself is not bad, but the title was slightly misleading for me. There is definitely value in reading about these women (again, will totally bet you haven't heard many, maybe any of these women unless you're a scholar and/or Muslim who has made the effort).

Best as a library borrow but if you're only a casual reader this may be skippable unless you have a specific interest in any of these women and/or you need the reference for a paper or something. Which is not to discourage you from reading it but I lucked out at finding from the library and it might be a pricey purchase (the paperback version is almost $25 on Amazon).

[Alaa Al-Bishbishi]

بينما يكمن العيب الوحيد لكتاب دولاتزاي في قلة اهتمامه بالمسلمات السود ومساهماتهن الفكرية، فإن كتاب سيلفيا تشان مالك صحًح هذا الخلل بإيلاءهن الاهتمام اللازم، إذ أكد الكتاب على ضرورة عدم تجاهل نشاط السيدة المسلمة وأنه قد يتجلى في مواقع استثنائية، مثل التصوير والشعر والأفلام الوثائقية.
تقول سيلفيا: «إن أي وصف تاريخي دقيق للإسلام الأمريكي والثقافة الأمريكية يجب أن يؤكد على محورية حياة وتجارب المسلمين الأمريكيين السود، فإن المسلمات الأمريكيات السود -في هذه الحالة- شكلت مساهماتهن معنى ووجود الإسلام في الولايات المتحدة».
يستعرض الكتاب الصادر في عام 2018 الدور المهم الذي لعبته المسلمات الملونات في القرنين العشرين والحادي والعشرين في تأسيس الممارسات والهويات الإسلامية بالإضافة إلى تصوير كيف يُنظر للعرق والجنس في الولايات المتحدة.
كما يتصدى الكتاب للأقاويل التي تصف الإسلام بالدين الأجنبي أو المهاجر، وهي النظرة التي تُميز العرب الأمريكيين والمسلمين الأمريكيين من جنوب آسيا مع إغفال الدور الإيجابي الذي قام به المسلمون والمسلمات السود للإسلام في الولايات المتحدة. وتخلص مؤلفة الكتاب إلى أن جميع المسلمين في الولايات المتحدة مدينين بالفضل للدور الذي قام به المسلمون والمسلمات السود.

- من ترجمة تقرير للكاتبة كايلا رينيه ويلر، الأستاذ المساعد للدراسات العرقية النقدية في جامعة كزافييه بولاية أوهايو الأمريكية، نشره موقع «ميدل إيست أي» البريطاني. https://www.sasapost.com/translation/...

[Sami Ahmad · Rating 5 out of 5]

In a highly engaging style that bespeaks her creative writing chops, Dr. Chan-Malik narrates a story of Islam in the U.S.A. that enlightens by centering Muslim women of color. Namely, she demonstrates how current notions of Islam as threatening and ideologically opposed to female liberty are rooted in contrived portrayals of domestic (Nation of Islam) and international (1979 Iranian Women's Revolution) Muslim women. Chan-Malik debases these premises by linking Black women’s 20th century embrace of Islam as a means of empowerment to the experiences of their 21st century inheritors—indeed, she argues that amidst the gendered and racial violences of American Empire, Muslim women consistently form communities, pursue justice, and live authentically not in spite of, but rather predominantly through their practice of Islam. Simultaneously, though, her central thesis holds that Muslim women of color share a historical sisterhood, one characterized by existing in a perpetual state of "affective insurgency": whole mind-body resistance against degrading and otherizing cultural patriarchy. Essential reading to better understand the origin and contours of (gendered) political discourse on Islam and Muslim identity in the U.S.A.

[Karis · Rating 4 out of 5]

ambitious and impressive in scope, theme, and structure. the tussle between breadth and depth is what i wish had been cleared up further, but overall the argument she proposes (on how U.S. Muslim women have been and are negotiating impositions and expressions of race and gender through "embodied and lived practice," how Blackness and Black women are key to understanding the construction of images and practices of Islam in the U.S., and how all of this is key to exposing the limitations and anxieties of race, gender, and religion in the U.S. when these structures cannot categorize or define persons into acquiescent taxonomies) is clear and compelling. and the people's stories (the women's stories!) she highlights in order to expose and challenge the racial and sexual anxieties of u.s. cultural hegemony (and how religion has everything to do with it) are important to know.

[Mills College Library]

305.48697 C4543 2018

[Emoni · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolutely wonderful and caring (academic) book to read! I hope to be just as holistic, loving, and faithful to my religion and values in my own research someday.

[NCHS Library]

Publisher's Description: An exploration of twentieth and twenty-first century U.S. Muslim womanhood that centers the lived experience of women of color

For Sylvia Chan-Malik, Muslim womanhood is constructed through everyday and embodied acts of resistance, what she calls affective insurgency. In negotiating the histories of anti-Blackness, U.S. imperialism, and women's rights of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, Being Muslim explores how U.S. Muslim women's identities are expressions of Islam as both Black protest religion and universal faith tradition. Through archival images, cultural texts, popular media, and interviews, the author maps how communities of American Islam became sites of safety, support, spirituality, and social activism, and how women of color were central to their formation. By accounting for American Islam's rich histories of mobilization and community, Being Muslim brings insight to the resistance that all Muslim women must engage in the post-9/11 United States.

From the stories that she gathers, Chan-Malik demonstrates the diversity and similarities of Black, Arab, South Asian, Latina, and multiracial Muslim women, and how American understandings of Islam have shifted against the evolution of U.S. white nationalism over the past century. In borrowing from the lineages of Black and women-of-color feminism, Chan-Malik offers us a new vocabulary for U.S. Muslim feminism, one that is as conscious of race, gender, sexuality, and nation, as it is region and religion.