This book provides insights into some of the social topics related to the homogenization and stereotyping of Muslims. It explores the experiences of Muslims in Western societies, with a particular focus not only on gender, home and belonging, multiculturalism, and ethnicity.

This book provides insights into some of the social topics related to the homogenization and stereotyping of Muslims. It explores the experiences of Muslims in Western societies, with a particular focus not only on gender, home and belonging, multiculturalism, and ethnicity.

Today, Muslims are the second largest religious group in much of Europe and North America. The essays in this collection look both at the impact of the growing Muslim population on Western societies, and how Muslims are adapting to life in the West. Part I looks at the Muslim diaspora in Europe, comprising essays on Britain, France, Germany, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Italy, and the Netherlands. Part II turns to the Western Hemisphere and Muslims in the U.S. , Canada, and Mexico. Throughout, the authors contend with such questions as: Can Muslims retain their faith and identity and at the same time accept and function within the secular and pluralistic traditions of Europe and America? What are the limits of Western pluralism? Will Muslims come to be fully accepted as fellow citizens with equal rights? An excellent guide to the changing landscape of Islam, this volume is an indispensable introduction to the experiences of Muslims in the West, and the diverse responses of their adopted countries.

In view of the growing influence of religion in public life on the national and international scenes, Muslim Diaspora in the West constitutes a timely contribution to scholarly debates and a response to concerns raised in the West about Islam and Muslims within diaspora. It begins with the premise that diasporic communities of Islamic cultures, while originating in countries dominated by Islamic laws and religious practices, far from being uniform, are in fact shaped in their existence and experiences by a complex web of class, ethnic, gender, religious and regional factors, as well as the cultural and social influences of their adopted homes. Within this context, this volume brings together work from experts within Europe and North America to explore the processes that shape the experiences and challenges faced by migrants and refugees who originate in countries of Islamic cultures. Presenting the latest research from a variety of locations on both sides of The Atlantic, Muslim Diaspora in the West addresses the realities of diasporic life for self-identified Muslims, addressing questions of integration, rights and equality before the law, and challenging stereotypical views of Muslims. As such, it will appeal to scholars with interests in race and ethnicity, cultural, media and gender studies, and migration.

This book discusses the current socio-cultural situation of North African migrants in Europe, and analyzes migration, gender, and identity in their multiple dimensions, consequences and expressions, which range from sociological approaches to culture and literature. The chapters debate the topic of migration and culture from various angles, making this volume a forum where notions of dispossession, cultural identity, and otherness are debated. It comprises contributions that range in subject matter from sociological and anthropological studies of Maghrebi diaspora and migrants in Europe to reflections on transnational literature. It is an analysis of migration with all its complex aspects, and multiple expressions of ‘exile’, ‘otherness’, and ‘pain’.

This volume brings together scholarship from two different, and until now, largely separate literatures--the study of the children of immigrants and the study of Muslim minority communities--in order to explore the changing nature of ethnic identity, religious practice, and citizenship in the contemporary western world. With attention to the similarities and differences between the European and American experiences of growing up Muslim, the contributing authors ask what it means for young people to be both Muslim and American or European, how they reconcile these, at times, conflicting identities, how they reconcile the religious and gendered cultural norms of their immigrant families with the more liberal ideals of the western societies that they live in, and how they deal with these issues through mobilization and political incorporation. A transatlantic research effort that brings together work from the tradition in diaspora studies with research on the second generation, to examine social, cultural, and political dimensions of the second-generation Muslim experience in Europe and the United States, this book will appeal to scholars across the social sciences with interests in migration, diaspora, race and ethnicity, religion and integration.

This volume brings together an interdisciplinary group of scholars from the United States, the Middle East, and North Africa, to discuss and critically analyze the intersection of gender and human rights laws as applied to individuals of Arab descent. It seeks to raise consciousness at the intersection of gender, identity, and human rights as it relates to Arabs at home and throughout the diaspora. The context of revolution and the destabilizing impact of armed conflicts in the region are used to critique and examine the utility of human rights law to address contemporary human rights issues through extralegal strategies. To this end, the volume seeks to inform, educate, persuade, and facilitate newer or less-heard perspectives related to gender and masculinities theories. It provides readers with new ways of understanding gender and human rights and proposes forward-looking solutions to implementing human rights norms. The goal of this book is to use the context of Arabs at home and throughout the diaspora to critique and examine the utility of human rights norms and laws to diminish human suffering with the goal of transforming the structural, social, and cultural conditions that impede access to human rights. This book will be of interest to a diverse audience of scholars, students, public policy researchers, lawyers and the educated public interested in the fields of human rights law, international studies, gender politics, migration and diaspora, and Middle East and North African politics.