"How American Am I?": Comparing American Identity among US Black Muslims

Date
2021-10-21
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Abstract

Much sociological attention has focused on Black identity within the United States. Less attention, however, has been given to understanding how immigrant and native-born streams of US Black Muslims articulate American identity, a particularly important empirical gap given the connections among race, religion, and national identity. In this study I ask: how do second-generation American Black Muslims and indigenous Black American Muslims compare in the ways they narrate connections among race, American identity, and Islam? Using data from 31 in-depth interviews with Black Muslims living in Houston, I find that racial double-consciousness complicates American identity for US Black Muslims regardless of immigrant status. While indigenous Black American respondents critique racist US histories and structural inequities, I argue that in certain spaces Muslim identity has the potential to reinforce American identity for indigenous Black American Muslims. For second-generation respondents, however, American identity is reinforced through immigrant status. Second-generation respondents compare their own experiences living in the United States with that of their immigrant parents. This study makes a case for “triple-consciousness” to explain the way Black Muslims perceive their racial, religious, and national identities within the context of the United States and the Muslim American community. More broadly, I demonstrate how intersecting identities can fuel micro and macro processes that can shift the way American identity is understood.

Description
Degree
Master of Arts
Type
Thesis
Keywords
American identity, Black identity, Black immigrants, Indigeneity, Muslims
Citation

Ferguson, Jauhara. ""How American Am I?": Comparing American Identity among US Black Muslims." (2021) Master’s Thesis, Rice University. https://hdl.handle.net/1911/111583.

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