Africa as Tradition in U.S. African American Muslim Identity
In this article I take up David Scott's heuristic of tradition to examine Africa as tradition in African American Muslim identity. First, I explore the structure and narrative of claims made for and to Africa by U.S. African American Muslims. Second, I ask: When U.S. African American Muslims...
Main Author: | |
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Format: | Electronic Article |
Language: | English |
Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
Journals Online & Print: | |
Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
Published: |
The Pennsylvania State University Press
[2017]
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In: |
Journal of Africana religions
Year: 2017, Volume: 5, Issue: 1, Pages: 26-49 |
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
USA
/ Africa
/ Blacks
/ Muslim
/ Tradition
/ Identity
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IxTheo Classification: | AD Sociology of religion; religious policy AF Geography of religion AG Religious life; material religion BJ Islam KBL Near East and North Africa KBQ North America |
Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) Volltext (doi) |
Summary: | In this article I take up David Scott's heuristic of tradition to examine Africa as tradition in African American Muslim identity. First, I explore the structure and narrative of claims made for and to Africa by U.S. African American Muslims. Second, I ask: When U.S. African American Muslims claim an Islamic African past, to whom are they speaking and to what ends? I contend that U.S. African American Muslims find themselves neither Muslim enough to be authoritative to non-Black Muslims nor Muslim enough to be representative of U.S. American Muslims in the U.S. American popular imagination. In this context, I also trace the genealogical claims to an Africa made through hip-hop to demonstrate how a sonic religious lineage recenters U.S. African American Muslims within the broader U.S. Muslim community. Thus, I argue that as tradition, Africa labors against the erasure of the U.S. African American Muslim as legitimately Muslim. |
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ISSN: | 2165-5413 |
Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of Africana religions
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Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.5325/jafrireli.5.1.0026 |