Lexington Books
Pages: 182
•
Trim: 6⅜ x 9¼
978-0-7391-4983-6 • Hardback • April 2013 • $91.00 • (£70.00)
978-0-7391-4985-0 • eBook • April 2013 • $86.50 • (£67.00)
Cristina Maria de Castro is a Professor of Sociology at the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Federal University of Minas Gerais (Brazil). In 2005 and 2007 she acted as a visiting researcher at the International Institute for the Study of Islam in the Modern World, based in Leiden, The Netherlands. In 2007, Castro was approved in a highly competitive selection process to participate in a training program for new PhD researchers in the Brazilian Center for Analysis and Planning, CEBRAP, one of the most renowned research institutions in Brazil. Articles and book chapters on religion, gender and migration, with emphasis on Muslim minorities, have been published by her in Brazil, the USA and France.
IntroductionMethodology used: comments on its limits and advantages
Chapter 1: Brief history of Islamic presence in BrazilChapter 2: The “Muslim identity” and its definition in relation to the Brazilian religious field
Chapter 3: Globalization, transnational Islamic networks and their influence in the construction of Muslim identities in Brazil
Chapter 4: The negotiation of Muslim identities inside Brazilian Muslim communities
Chapter 5: Muslim minorities in Brazil and The Netherlands: a comparative perspective
Conclusion
Written in an accessible style . . . The Construction of Muslim Identities in Contemporary Brazil will fit into university courses in Brazilian or Latin American studies as well as religious studies or the social sciences. In crossing boundaries conventionally upheld by area studies as well as the disciplines, this book will push students and non-specialists in Europe or the United States to learn of these heretofore understudied politics of religious difference across unexpected geographies.
— AJISS: The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences
In this fascinating original study, Cristina Maria de Castro presents an insightful overview of the little-known Muslim communities in Brazil and their at times precarious relationship with majority society in the years of the war on terror and increasing Islamophobia. Extensive fieldwork among these communities has given her access to many of the discussions and debates in these communities. I found her analysis of how ‘born’ Muslim women (of Arab and South African origin) and converts negotiate their gender and religious identities vis-à-vis each other and the non-Muslim majority especially of great interest. The author’s comparative research on the Muslim communities of the Netherlands adds a valuable dimension to this study, bringing out more clearly the specificities of the Brazilian situation.
— Martin van Bruinessen, Department of Religious Studies, Utrecht University and Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore