Islam, identity and third spaces: a geographic study on identity and spatial constructions of Muslim communities in São Paulo

• Grant number: 12/50448-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Effective date (Start): November 01, 2012
• Effective date (End): September 08, 2013
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Geography - Human Geography
• Principal Investigator: Antonio Carlos Robert Moraes
• Grantee: Shadia Husseini de Araujo
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Since the terrorist attacks on September 11th, 2001, Islam has become highly visible in the international media. The news coverage on Islamist terrorism resulted, unsurprisingly, in an in-creasing hostility towards Muslims in many parts of the world. But the visibility led, at the same time, to a rising interest in Islam and even to growing numbers of Muslims in predominantly non-Muslim societies, as it is also the case in Brazil. In order to explain these developments, Muslim communities in Brazil have meanwhile become an important research topic, especially in Anthropology and History. This postdoctoral project sheds light on the topic from a different perspective and offers new ways of interpretation through a theoretical framework of geography and postcolonial theory. Such an approach seems to be fruitful, not only because religious identity is closely related to space, but also because postcolonial logics of society - be it the discourse of mestiçagem, postcolonial forms of racism or globalized forms of Orientalism - play a crucial part in the constitution of local Muslim life worlds in Brazil. Utilizing the concept of "Third Space", the project aims to analyze constructions of the lived, hybrid, imaged, and material spaces of Muslim identities which emerge through the encounters between ideas of Islam, experiences of migration, conversion, and local life worlds marked by postcolonial structures. Which kinds of "Third Spaces" can be revealed? How are they constituted and (re)produced? In how far do they challenge or respond to postcolonial logics of society? The case studies selected for the analysis will be carried out in São Paulo, where the largest and most diverse part of the Muslim population in Brazil lives. Interviews with members of Muslim communities, analysis of books and journals published by local Islamic organizations, participant observation and reflexive photography will be the main methods applied within the field work. (AU)