exploring muslim identities in europe & north america

Islam in Europe: Public Spaces and Civic Networks Spyros A. Sofos and Roza Tsagarousianou Published by Palgrave Macmillan (October 2013) ISBN 9781137357779 Islam in Europe delves into the daily routines of European Muslim communities in order to provide a better understanding of what it means to be a European Muslim today. Instead of positing particular definitions of being Muslim, this volume invites and encourages a diverse body of 735 informants from Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK to reflect on who they are and on the meaning and place Islam has in such considerations. Drawing upon extensive fieldwork and suggesting novel ways of seeing the phenomenon of European Islam and the continent's Muslim communities, Islam in Europe examines how through their practices, discourses, face to face and mediated interaction, European Muslims construct notions or identity, agency, solidarity and belonging, or how they negotiate and redefine religion, tradition, authori...

This video entitled  50+ EDL Vs 30+ Muslim Youths In Birmingham - EDL Run Out Of Brum  that has been seen 521,000 times is one of many that have appeared on YouTube over the past couple of years and document - some times even glorify - Muslim assertiveness in response to the activities of English Defense League . Such narratives of resistance are becoming more commonplace day by day and constitute part of an increasing in volume Muslim 'mythology of resistance' replete with heroes, memorable events and a geography of protest.  As we are arguing in our forthcoming book  Islam in Europe , this type of action constitutes one of the ways in which a European Muslim identity is forged, sometimes articulated to, often suppressing diverse ethnic and local identifications and experiences.  [The ways in which Muslims in Europe are represented by the mainstream or the extreme right provide] a lens through which they themselves see (and shape) their relationship wi...