Abstract
The Routledge Handbook of Islam and Race represents an important contribution to scholarship on racialization and Islam. This edited volume features contributions from nearly 50 scholars and covers the topic in 30 countries. The book is organized into six parts, each representing one continent. This review focuses on Part 1 “North America,” especially the sections that deal directly with Muslims in the United States, which receives the most attention in this volume.
The chapters focused on the U.S. proceed somewhat differently from most other chapters. Most countries have a single chapter devoted to them, but the United States has six (and Canada has two).
Each U.S. chapter focuses on one racial or ethnic group: Black Americans, South Asians, Arabs, Caucasians and Latinos. Using the racial group as a sort of case study, each chapter articulates the author’s perspective on a key debate or theme important to understanding the group.
For example, Sahar Aziz’s chapter explores the ways that Muslims from the Middle East and North Africa have engaged with the U.S.’s “Black-White, Judeo-Christian racio-religious hierarchy” (85). This is absolutely a key topic, and is explored well. A broader review would incorporate research on issues such as gender and religious authority.
Similarly, one of the key themes in the first chapter, which focuses on Black Americans, is naming. The chapter on South Asian Muslims in the U.S. engages with the role of trans Muslims. Aspects of these themes spread well beyond the racial/ethnic group discussed in those chapters. At the same time, there is important research on each of the groups that is not reflected within these chapters.
Because the chapters address specific issues as they relate to a given ethnicity, some do not stand alone well as introductory texts. Graduate students certainly will benefit from these chapters, as they work toward expertise within a domain. For undergraduate students, these chapters can be useful, but might require additional scaffolding from an instructor.
For scholars or religious leaders who already have a foundation of understanding about Muslims and Islam, the chapters operate at two levels. In areas and topics where we are less familiar, these can offer valuable introductions (e.g., I knew little about Islam in Jamaica before reading the chapter). Even on topics where we are already familiar, the “issue within a community” approach offers the potential for novel insights. I am sure some experts engaging with Muslims in the U.S. do not already know that American legal documents of used the term “Asiatic” to refer to Arabs (92), the relationship between Muslims and Jazz musicians such as Art Blakely (37) or any number of other interesting aspects of the topics covered by the book.
The book’s chapters can offer valuable insights to a wide range of readers, but the book should not be mistaken for a basic primer on Muslims in the U.S.
