Review of “Black Mecca: The African Muslims of Harlem” by Zain Abdullah

Authors

  • Imogen Spray University of Auckland

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.31947/etnosia.v5i1.8555

Keywords:

The African, Black Mecca, Ethnography, Muslim

Abstract

This article aims to review the book with the title of Black Mecca: The African Muslims of Harlem by Zain Abdullah. Abdullah’s (2010) Mec Black Mecca ’adds to the growing body of literature on Islam influenced by the post-modernists' challenges to neo-Orientalist Western representations of Islam (Al Azmeh 1993: 140). They are called for a historicized and contextualized view of Islam and Muslims, steering away from essentializing identity politics. Abdullah's (2010) thick ethnography, or as he describes it, "narrative style," presents a variety of anecdotes and experiences along gendered, class, and generational lines, with a common Muslim orientation towards environment and experiences.

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References

Abdullah, Z. (2010). Black Mecca: The African Muslims of Harlem. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Al-Aziz, A. (1993). Islams and Modernities. London: Verso.

Asad, T. (2009). The Idea of an Anthropology of Islam. Qui Parle Vol 17 (2): 1-30.

Ebin, V. (1996). Making Room Versus Creating Space: The Construction of Spatial Categories by Itinerant Mouride Traders. In Metcalf, Barbara eds., Making Muslim Space in North America and Europe. Berkley: University of California Press. 92-110.

McMichael, C. (2002). ‘Everywhere is Allah’s Place:’ Islam and the Everyday Life of Somali Women in Australia. Journal of Refugee Studies Vol 15 (2): 171-188.

Stiles, E. (2011). Black Mecca: The African Muslims of Harlem. American Anthropologist Vol 113 (3): 511-512.

Varisco, D. (2005). Islam Obscured: The Rhetoric of Anthropological Representation. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

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Published

2020-05-17

How to Cite

Spray, I. (2020). Review of “Black Mecca: The African Muslims of Harlem” by Zain Abdullah. ETNOSIA : Jurnal Etnografi Indonesia, 5(1), 1 - 4. https://doi.org/10.31947/etnosia.v5i1.8555

Issue

Section

Review Articles