Perspectiveshttp://www.meoc.us The Newsletter of the Middle East Outreach Council ISLAMOPHOBIA America’s Ongoing Struggle with Religious Pluralism The public discourse in today’s United States, crafted so clearly within a “post-9/11” framework, might lead one to believe that fear of Islam and Muslims is a reaction to the 2001 attacks on New York and Washington, DC. This historical amnesia ignores America’s long history of discomfort with religious traditions that feel “foreign” to CONTENTS the majority culture during particular periods in the country’s development. Despite Spring 2010 the intentions of the country’s founders to establish a nation that afforded every in- dividual the right to practice their religion free from fear of persecution by the state, reality all too often has shown us a very different picture. One needs only to scratch the President’s Message p. 2 surface of the historical record to reveal evidence of Islamophobia long before 9/11, or evidence of prejudice against adherents of “other” faiths (including Catholicism; The Middle East as Seen see p. 8) seen as not being native to the United States. This perceived “foreign-ness” Through Foreign Eyes p. 4 links negative associations with immigration, often with disastrous social results for immigrants, whether recent or of previous generations. As a nation ostensibly created Beyond Stereotypes of and built by immigrants, this history is very troubling indeed. Muslims in America p. 6 Now more than ever, as America remains engaged in wars in the Muslim world and as we have recently witnessed a renewed controversy over the building of the so-called Teaching about Religious “Ground-Zero Mosque,” it is imperative that we address the stereotypes and phobias Phobia in the U.S. p. 8 of Islam and Muslims that permeate our culture and reach into American homes and classrooms. The essays that follow address many of these myths and stereotypes that MEOC Member Updates p. 10 continue to plague the media, national and local politics. They also provide tools and resources for discussing some of these very tough issues with your students. Five Myths About Mosques in America By Edward E. Curtis IV Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis In addition to spawning passionate debates in the public, the news media and the political class, the proposal to build a Muslim community center near Ground Zero in New York has revealed widespread misconceptions about the practice of Islam in this country -- and the role of mosques in particular. 1. MOSQUES ARE NEW TO THIS COUNTRY. Mosques have been here since the colonial era. A mosque, or masjid, is literally any place where Muslims make salat, the prayer performed in the direction of Mecca; it needn’t be a building. One of the first mosques in North American history was A Mosque in Brooklyn, New York, serves as a provider of so- on Kent Island, Md.: Between 1731 and 1733, African American cial services to immigrant families as well as a place of wor- Muslim slave and Islamic scholar Job Ben Solomon, a cattle ship for the community. Photo Courtesy of Jonathan Friedlander. Mosques Continued on p. 3 2 MEOC Perspectives MEOC Officers/Board of Directors Jean Campell, President President’s Message Associate Director, Middle East Studies Center Portland State University Dear MEOC Members and Perspectives Readers, P.O. Box 751 Portland, OR 97207-0751 (503) 725-8566 Thank you for allowing me to serve proudly as MEOC President for two terms. It [email protected] is extremely satisfying to pass the reins to Barbara Petzen, one of the top Middle East outreach specialists in the country. She will continue to dazzle us with her Barbara Petzen, President Elect energy and to seek new and creative ways for MEOC members to reach even more Education Director, educators and students. Middle East Policy Council I am particularly pleased with the MEOC travel awards that have been implemented 1730 M Street, NW, Ste 512, Washington, DC 20036 during my presidency. A 2009 recipient summarized the impact of the award: “… (571) 246-3494 the Middle East Outreach Council is an incredible resource for teachers. I am [email protected] excited to pursue further activities with the organization, and feel fortunate for the travel grant I received. The weekend in Boston enriched my teaching and my life”. Zeina Azzam Seikaly Director of Educational Outreach, Center for This edition of Perspectives tackles a difficult challenge in Middle East outreach- Contemporary Arab Studies, Georgetown University -that of reducing persistent stereotypes. We have found countless ways to educate Washington, DC 20057-1020 about the ethnic and religious diversity in the Middle East. Yet, hateful attitudes (202) 687-6176 and negative events blur student perceptions and threaten to erase any progress we [email protected] may feel. As educators, we best fight fear and divisiveness by arming students with knowledge and understanding. Lisa Adeli, Board Member Outreach Coordinator, Center for Middle Eastern Thanks to our courageous editor and contributors for presenting these complicated Studies, University of Arizona issues and providing resources for classroom use. We hope that readers will share additional resources and teaching strategies on these subjects through the MEOC 845 N. Park Ave., Rm. 470, Tucson, AZ 85721 listserve. MEOC and you do make a difference. (520) 621-7904 [email protected] Jean Campbell Outgoing MEOC President Paul Beran, Board Member Director, Outreach Center I take on the helm of MEOC with a great deal of excitement and no little trepidation- Center for Middle East Studies -Jean Campbell has left very large (and eminently sensible!) shoes to fill. We have a 38 Kirkland Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 number of exciting challenges ahead, which we can meet largely because her good (617) 496-1002 stewardship and foresight leave us in such excellent shape. [email protected] The first challenge before us is continuing to adapt to the increasingly online and Manoucher Khosrowshahi, Board Member/ tech-savvy world around us and in the classroom. Our new website at www.meoc.us Webmaster/Travel Awards Chair offers a more interactive interface Government Professor, Tyler Junior College to users, along with great content- P.O. Box 9020, Tyler, TX 75711 -and hopefully, soon, a lot more Jonathan Friedlander, Sponsored Projects of it! The new gallery is stocked (903) 510-2279 with open-copyright images teach- [email protected] Coordinator UCLA and MEARO (Middle Eastern American ers can use in the classroom, a blog replete with new resources and Greta Scharnweber Board Member/Newsletter Editor Resources Online) 13339 Debby Street Van Nuys, CA 91401 teaching ideas, and pages for our Associate Director, Hagop Kevorkian Center, NYU institutional members to showcase 50 Washington Square South, New York, NY 10012 [email protected] all their curricular resources, study (212) 998-8872 tours and outreach events. We will [email protected] John Parcels, Treasurer (ex officio) continue to develop the site as we Executive Director, SERMEISS move forward, and welcome all Joan Brodsky Schur, Board Member 203 Bruce Drive, Statesboro, GA 30458 suggestions for making it more Social Studies Coordinator, Village Community (912) 764-9802 comprehensive and useful. School [email protected] 272 West 10th Street, New York, NY 10014 As we augment the supply side of (212) 674-6979 Chris Rose, Book Awards Co-Chair (ex officio) our outreach endeavor, we will also [email protected] Assistant Director, Center for Middle Eastern Studies address the demand side--the educa- University of Texas at Austin tors who need and use our resources. We will be working very hard to Alta Schwartz, Board Member/Book Awards Co-Chair 1 University Station F9400, Austin, TX 78712-0527 let more teachers know about what Outreach Director, Middle East Institute (512) 471-3582 MEOC and its members can offer Georgia State University [email protected] them, and bring them into closer P.O. Box 4089 Atlanta, Georgia 30302-4089 community with us and with one (404) 413-6146 Joe Stanik, Secretary (ex officio) another. At a time when knowledge [email protected] Social Studies Instructor of the Middle East and Muslims is New Era Academy High School so critical for all Americans, MEOC Melinda McClimans, Board Member/Membership 2700 Seamon Avenue Baltimore, MD 21225 will continue to provide teachers Chair/Listserve Monitor, Assistant Director, Middle (443) 984-2415 with the best possible methods and East Studies Center, Ohio State University [email protected] tools to develop it. 321 Oxley Hall, 1712 Neil Avenue Columbus, OH 43202 MEOC Board: [email protected] Barbara Petzen (614) 292-6506 MEOC listserv: [email protected] Incoming MEOC President [email protected] MEOC website: www.meoc.us Fall 2010 3 Mosques Continued from p. 1 driver, would regularly steal away to the woods there for his also white, Hispanic, Sub-Saharan African, Iranian, European, prayers -- in spite of a white boy who threw dirt on him as he Central Asian and more -- representing the most racially diverse made his prostrations. religious group in the United States. The Midwest was home to the greatest number of permanent Mosques reflect this diversity. Though there are hundreds U.S. mosques in the first half of the 20th century. In 1921, Sunni, of ethnically and racially integrated mosques, most of these Shiite and Ahmadi Muslims in Detroit celebrated the opening institutions, like many American places of worship, break down of perhaps the first purpose-built mosque in the nation. Funded along racial and ethnic lines. Arabs, for instance, are the dominant by real estate developer Muhammad Karoub, it was just blocks ethnic group in a modest number of mosques, particularly in away from Henry Ford’s Highland Park automobile factory, states such as Michigan and New York.