The ‘Mainstream Muslim’ Opposing Islamophobia: Self-Representations of American Muslims
The ‘Mainstream Muslim’ Opposing Islamophobia: Self-Representations of American Muslims
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反对伊斯兰恐惧症的“主流穆斯林”：美国穆斯林的自我表述
DOI：
10.1068/a4556
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发表时间：
2012
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
A. McGinty
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
A. McGinty
本文探讨了来自美国主要穆斯林组织的美国穆斯林领导人在当地社区参与中的公开自我陈述。我认为，“主流穆斯林”和“美国伊斯兰”的普遍自我表述已经成为政治化的术语，目的是为了构建一个政治和宗教选区，以抵制猖獗的伊斯兰恐惧症表达。通过强调与美国政治和社会生活的兼容与和解，一种关于公民身份和归属感的反叙事出现了。因此，自我表现也为穆斯林作为一个少数群体如何通过挪用代表“主流”的强大概念来谈判和执行美国的归属感和包容性政治提供了重要的启示。正如任何宗教定义一样，“美国伊斯兰教”必须被理解为特定时间和地点的特定话语产物。在强调混合性和流动性，以及宗教信仰在解释方面的灵活性的同时，“美国伊斯兰”——活动家和学者使用的定义——也有本质化的倾向，忽视了美国穆斯林社区内的特定声音和地理位置。
This paper explores the public self-representations of Muslim American leaders from major Muslim organizations in the United States as articulated in a local community engagement. I argue that the prevalent self-representations of the ‘mainstream Muslim’ and ‘American Islam’ have become politicized terms in an effort to construct a political and religious constituency in resistance to rampant Islamophobic expressions. By stressing compatibility and reconciliation with American political and social life, a counternarrative of citizenship and belonging emerges. Hence, the self-representations also shed important light on how Muslims as a minority group negotiate and perform politics of belonging and inclusion in the United States through the appropriation of powerful notions of what represents ‘the mainstream’. As any religious definition, ‘American Islam’ has to be understood as a particular discursive product specific to time and place. While highlighting hybridity and fluidity, as well as the flexibility of the religious faith with respect to interpretation, ‘American Islam’—a definition used by activists as well as scholars—also has essentializing tendencies overlooking particular voices and geographies within the Muslim community in the USA.