“By providing a broad overview of historical and contemporary dynamics…it serves as a useful scholarly resource and starting point for future research.”
— Kevin Funk, Latin American Research Review
“An important contribution to the making of a field of study, which is just now beginning to take shape."
— Thiago Henrique Mota, European Review of Latin American and Caribbean Studies
“An eye-opening book that seeks to shed light on the often-overlooked role that Muslims have played in the New World…sharing an enlightening perspective on the Muslim community’s diverse range of views through real-life stories and anecdotes.”
— Juan Galvan, Caribbean Conjunctures
“Chitwood does what all religion reporters aspire to do -- find that undertold story hiding in plain sight and pull out all its nuances. Just great!"
— Religion News Association: 1st Place, Nonfiction Religion Book
“From its rich historical contextualization to its engagement of numerous contemporary issues that overlap and problematize topics of Islamophobia, orientalism, piety, spatial flows, geographies, transnationalism, diaspora, and global Islam, this book is a must read for scholars who work on Islam at the crossroads of various intersections."
— Shobhana Xavier, New Books Network
"[Offers] new perspectives on the contribution of Islam to the culture of Latin America and the Caribbean [and also] sheds an important light on the Muslim minority [there] in the context of Global Islam."
— Atilla Kuş, International Journal of Latin American Religions
BUY THE BOOK!
(or, better yet, get your library to purchase a copy)
When I first met Imam Isa Parada at a mosque in Houston, TX, I didn’t know he was Salvadoran. I didn’t know he was part of a group called “Islam en Español.” I didn’t know he was part of a community of tens of thousands of Latinx Muslims in the U.S. with connections across Latin America and the Caribbean.
I also didn’t know that chance meeting was going to change my life.
Ten years later, and after a decade of firsthand research among, with, and alongside Muslims in Latin America, the Caribbean, and the Latinx U.S., I am excited to announce the publication of my new book: The Muslims of Latin America and the Caribbean.
The "Muslim World" is often narrowly conceived as tied to the Middle East and North Africa, or more broadly as encompassing Africa’s Sahel region, South and Southeast Asia, and parts of the Balkans. But what about Latin America and the Caribbean? This was this question that inspired me to not only get to know Isa and his story, but to expand my research to places like Cuba and Mexico, Brazil and Puerto Rico.
Inspired by individuals like Isa and the stories they shared with me, this is my attempt to trace the narrative of Muslims’ deep roots in the region, as well as the current connections among the multiple networks of people, ideas, economies, politics, and religion that extend across the Americas and beyond. Moving from claims of pre-Columbian encounters to the present day, my account aims to leave the reader with a deeper understanding of an integral, but little recognized, part of the Americas and global Islam.
Related content:
[Review] Cleo Cantone, Muslim World Book Review Essay, “Islam Unbound: Contextualising Some of the World’s Most Beautiful Treasures.”
[Review] Kevin Funk, Latin American Research Review Essay, “Globalizing Latin American Studies: New Frontiers in Latin American-Middle Eastern Exchange.”
[Podcast] Times of India, “Muharram Massacre of 1884: How Indians were Killed for Hosay in Trinidad.”
[Review] Thiago Henrique Mota, European Review of Latin American and Caribbean Studies || Revista Europea de Estudios Latinoamericanos y del Caribe
[Podcast] Islam on the Edges Podcast, “Muslims of the Caribbean.”
[Video] University of Michigan Global Islamic Studies Center, A Religion & Feminism Roundtable: Muslims, Saints, & Jewishness in Latin America & The Caribbean
[Podcast + Review] New Books Network, Shobhana Xavier Interview.
[Podcast] Maydan Podcast, “Wikke Jansen & Ken Chitwood on The Muslims of Latin America & the Caribbean.”
[Blog] “Did Muslims Discover the ‘New World'?’”
[Review] Atila Kus, International Journal of Latin American Religions
[Podcast] “Generative Friction: Learning To Love the Other,” with Quique Autrey
[Article] “Black Muslims in the Americas: An Enduring Legacy,” at New Lines Magazine
You can find the book for sale on Amazon, DeGruyter, Eurospan (official European distributors), or at Rienner.com.