How the Antiwar Movement Views the Islamic Faith

Cotter, Maura

Permalink

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/16334 Copy

Description

Title

How the Antiwar Movement Views the Islamic Faith

Author(s)

Cotter, Maura

Issue Date

2010

Keyword(s)

• antiwar
• protest
• Islam
• Muslims
• terrorism
• Spring 2010
• AAS258

Abstract

I want to explore how the antiwar movement on the University of Illinois campus views the Islamic faith and Muslims as both religious and cultural group. I want to see if their views changed post 9/11 or if they were already informed about Islam. I also want to explore why there are so few Muslims that participate in groups such as the Campus Antiwar Network (CAN), a national student organization with a chapter on the U of I campus, and Anti-War Anti-Racism Effort (AWARE), a local community group. Since this is a native study, as I am a member of CAN, I plan to observe certain times, such as meetings, rallies, awareness events, specifically for my research. I plan to use interviews and participant observation as my main tactics of research. I want to explore the language they use while referring to Muslims and see if there is a correlation in their mind to faith and terrorism.

Series/Report Name or Number

When did Muslims arrive in the Americas? What is the history of Muslim immigrants in the United States? This course was an introduction to the study of Muslims in the United States. In examining the multiple racial, cultural, and national groups that make-up this diverse community, students questioned what it means to be Muslim in America. The course began with the first contact between Islam and America in the “Age of Discovery” and the African slave trade to think through the roots of Islam and its role in the contemporary moment. In this moment students also examined how indigenous Americans, referred to as American Indians, are conceptualized in relation to the Muslims of Europe and simultaneously racialized. In historicizing Islam students examined the communities who first arrived as crypto-Muslims to understand the place of Latinos in American Islam. Second, students examined African American Islam in its myriad formations. These two examples were then used comparatively to understand how the historical narrative of African American and Latino Muslims is related to newer immigrant populations. In large part, students surveyed Arab American and South Asian American Muslim communities particularly in urban contexts. These later two populations grew through large immigrant waves in the 19th century and the late twentieth century, particularly after 1965. In addition to the multi-racial and comparative perspective, this course examined intra-religious (sectarian) and interfaith differences and dialogues. This material was explored through an interdisciplinary approach focusing on the scholarship mainly from anthropology, history, sociology, religious studies, and ethnic studies. For many of class discussions this course used Chicago as an ethnographic site to explore the complex make-up and history of Muslim America.

Type of Resource

text

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/16334

Owning Collections