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How Latino Muslims Shape Their Identity Through the Internet? Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs ISSN: (Print) (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/cjmm20 (Dis) Connecting with the Ummah in e-Spaces: How Latino Muslims Shape Their Identity Through the Internet? Diana Carolina Zuniga Gomez & Mehmet Ozkan To cite this article: Diana Carolina Zuniga Gomez & Mehmet Ozkan (2020) (Dis) Connecting with the Ummah in e-Spaces: How Latino Muslims Shape Their Identity Through the Internet?, Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, 40:2, 302-317, DOI: 10.1080/13602004.2020.1773100 To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/13602004.2020.1773100 Published online: 06 Jun 2020. Submit your article to this journal Article views: 146 View related articles View Crossmark data Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=cjmm20 Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, 2020 Vol. 40, No. 2, 302–317, https://doi.org/10.1080/13602004.2020.1773100 (Dis) Connecting with the Ummah in e-Spaces: How Latino Muslims Shape Their Identity Through the Internet? DIANA CAROLINA ZUNIGA GOMEZ and MEHMET OZKAN Abstract This article aims to give a better understanding of the role and dynamics of commu- nities in Latino Muslims’ online lives. Latinos extensively use online spaces as a way of learning, connecting and interacting. This is not an exception for Latino Muslims. This study answers the question of how and in what form the online presence of Muslims in Latin America creates a sense of belonging as part of the Ummah; and in what way their interests are converged with those of Muslims in other parts of the world. Focusing on structure and practices, authority and hierarchy, and the broader connections with other (e-) communities, this paper argues that Latino Muslims are highly disconnected from the overall Muslim world and there should be an initiative to connect them with the Muslim world based on their needs, conceptions and perspectives. Keywords: Latino Muslims; identity; Ummah; social media; sense of community; lea- dership; e-communities; Latin America Introduction Since the invention of the Internet, most of the aspects of daily life have moved onto the World Wide Web; libraries, businesses and others have created websites, blogs, forums, films and other spaces aiming to spread and gather information.1 Spirituality is also being practiced in cyberspace, beginning with the uploading of solid texts and now going to the extent of having virtual churches with online rituals.2 Religion on the Internet has under- gone a change in what was once considered as sacred performance or space. In the last several years, there is an interesting, but highly important, development in Latin American countries: the number of Muslim converts is rising at an unusual Diana Carolina Zuniga Gomez is an independent researcher and freelance journalist-translator based in Turkey. Previously she worked at Anadolu Agency as a journalist and taught Spanish. After studying BA in Communication at Antioquia University in Medellin, Colombia, she completed her MA in Public Relations at Anadolu University in Turkey. Her study focuses on Latino Muslims, Islamic caliography and cultural studies. Mehmet Ozkan is Executive Director of Maarif Foundation USA and Non-Resident Fellow at Center for Global Policy in Washington, DC, USA. Previously he taught at universities in Colombia, Turkey, Bosnia & Herzegovina; worked as Director for Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) in Colom- bia and International Center for Terrorism and Transnational Crime (UTSAM) in Turkey. After conduct- ing research in South Africa, Sweden, India and Egypt, he completed his PhD at Sevilla University, Spain. His study focuses on comparative politics, religion and politics, Latin America, the Middle East, Africa and Turkish foreign policy. © 2020 Institute of Muslim Minority Affairs How Latino Muslims Shape their Identity Through the Internet? 303 speed.3 This trend is currently not getting any attention from both academic and political perspectives. However, this growth is not only important for political reasons, but also for the way these new communities are being developed through the use of the Internet, and their aspects as online communities based on real communities in an environment where there are almost no visible indications of Islam as a cultural or political element in society. What is the use of Facebook as a communication tool for the Latino Muslim commu- nities? This is not only an issue with theoretical, but also with practical day-to-day life dimensions. There is not a large Muslim population in Latin America. Most of the Muslims in Latin America live in distant places, far away from each other. As there are no strong face-to-face relationships, the role and importance of online communication among Latino Muslims is increased.4 By using online spaces such as Facebook, experi- ences, knowledge and information are shaped, which in one way or another help to build a sense of community. While many of the Islamic organizations have a presence online, not all of them have specialized staff in communication and new technologies and not all groups or Fanpages belong to organizations (some of them are made by the initiative of a single member). In Latin America especially, due to the lack of funding and personnel, it may even be seen as unnecessary; thus, communication inside these online communities is carried on in an empirical way. At the organization level, recognizing the failings and strong points may lead to better performance of the community in front of other organizations and the public; meanwhile at the social level, it can improve the engagement of the members inside the community and, in the case of immigrants, with other communities. The purpose of this article is to analyze the activities of Latino Muslims in online spaces and investigate how the sense of belonging is established through the use of e-spaces such as Facebook through which virtual communities are built. This study also aims to help understand the members of Latino Muslim communities and contextualize the way they interact in online spaces from a theoretical and academic perspective. Detecting and Sampling Latino Muslims in Online Spaces The Muslim community is fast growing in Latin America, and according to an estimate, each week between one and three people are becoming Muslim in each mosque; this increases the number of Muslims rapidly. In the Latin American context, the commu- nities are usually formed by mostly women converts, along with Arab Muslims who immigrated there at various times in history.5 It is hard to understand why all these people are choosing to be part of a religion that comes from the other side of the world and from a completely unknown culture. More importantly, how do they develop a sense of community, despite the geographical distance between Latin America and the Muslim world? Having in mind the lack of affinity between the Islamic and Latino cul- tures plus the fact that there is an enormous lack of knowledge in Latin America about Islam and Muslims,6 the use of the Internet is the main source of knowledge in these areas. Consequently, groups and communities on the Internet have been made to fulfill the need of belonging as well as the lack of knowledge. This e-space knowledge about Latino Muslims is available, but it is always the subject of manipulation and misinterpretation and even falsehood, due to the fact it is very diffi- cult to find up-to-date information and related statistics about the numbers of Latino Muslims, and thus about their presence online, but this does not undervalue the impor- tance and urgency of this socially developing issue for an academic study. 304 Diana Carolina Zuniga Gomez and Mehmet Ozkan There are a variety of reasons for writing on this issue and this research hopes to con- tribute to a wider society and academia in several ways, along with establishing a relation- ship between the developing Latino Muslim community and overall Islamic world in terms of understanding/interpreting the way they use e-spaces as a tool of communi- cation. As mentioned, this study will analyze e-space groups from Latin America, which meet the requirements settled on to evaluate them and analyze how online communi- cation may or may not help to develop a sense of community. The vast geographical area and disperse situation of Muslim minorities in the continent make this selection difficult. However, through a sampling design, this study made this selection based on the activeness of these groups and geographical coverage in the Latin American con- tinent. This article focuses on Muslim converts in Latin America. The geographical distance of these converts from the Muslim world and low density of the Muslim population in the continent make direct communication between the Muslim world and Latino converts very difficult.7 Therefore, using the advantages of technology, these Muslim converts resort to e-spaces as a way to communicate, share information, get to know about other Muslims in the continent and, most importantly, develop a sense of community. Latin America is far away from the Muslim world and this puts them in an environment where the challenges they face living as Muslims are very different and unique, consider- ing the Latino culture and false perceptions about Muslims among Latinos. These elements also promote the use of e-spaces. One can find many e-spaces on Facebook about Latino Muslims and there are no offi- cial lists of Latino Muslim online communities, besides the ones used in the events orga- nized with these minorities by international religious organizations. This study sought to find a representative list of Muslim communities in the continent, however, there is no official information about these communities. To overcome this obstacle, this study was carried out for Latino Muslim communities excluding Caribbean countries as well those who were not Spanish speakers.
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