Palestinian Chicago: Identity in Exile

by Loren D. Lybarger

Overview

A free open access ebook is available upon publication. Learn more at www.luminosoa.org.

Chicago is home to one of the largest, most politically active Palestinian immigrant communities in the United States. For decades, secular nationalism held sway as the dominant political ideology, but since the 1990s its structures have weakened and Islamic institutions have gained strength. Drawing on extensive fieldwork and interview data, Palestinian Chicago charts the origins of these changes and the multiple effects they have had on identity across religious, political, class, gender, and generational lines. The perspectives that emerge through this rich ethnography challenge prevailing understandings of secularity and religion, offering critical insight into current debates about immigration and national belonging. 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780520974401
Publisher:	University of California Press
Publication date:	07/07/2020
Series:	New Directions in Palestinian Studies , #1
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	284
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Loren D. Lybarger is Associate Professor of Classics and World Religions at Ohio University. He is the author of Identity and Religion in Palestine: The Struggle between Islamism and Secularism in the Occupied Territories.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations xi

Foreword by the Series Editor xiii

Acknowledgments xv

Introduction 1

Protesting "Protective Edge," Chicago, July 26, 2014 1

The Project 5

Questions and Data 7

Main Assertions 7

Contextualizing the Religious Shift 9

Key Concepts: Identity, Secularism, and Religion 17

Organization of the Book 26

1 Palestinian Chicago: Spatial Location, Historical Formation 29

Early Migration from Palestine: 1890S-1940S 30

Migration, 1948-1967: Transformations of the Exilic Space 35

The New Immigrants and "Re-Palestinianization": 1967-1980S 39

The Ascendancy of Secular Nationalism: 1967-1990 43

Suburban Transition and the Religious Turn: 1980-Present 45

Browning Bridgeview: Palestinian Suburbanization and the New Islamic Milieu 48

Expanding the Islamic Milieu: Islamic Education 53

The Christian Milieu: Key Structures 55

Conclusion: Mahjar Spaces 56

2 Secularism in Exile 58

Examining Secularism: Why It Matters 60

Palestinian Secularism 61

Constituting Secularism in Chicago: The Generation of 1948-1967 62

The Generation of 1987-2001 70

A Secular Afterword 83

3 The Religious Turn: American Muslims for Palestine 85

The 6th Annual Conference for Palestine in the US (November 28-30, 2013) 89

American Muslims for Palestine's Nakba Commemoration: Palestine through an Islamic Lens 98

Conclusion 107

4 The Religious Turn; Generational Subjectivities 108

Generational Processes of the Religious Turn 109

Alienation and Latency in the Generation of 1948-1967 110

The Generation of 1987-2001: Polarization and Sectarianization 115

The Post-September 11 Generation 120

Conclusion 132

5 Dynamic Syntheses: Reversion, Conversion, and Accommodation 133

Syncretic Secularly 134

Reversion, Conversion, and Accommodation 135

Reversion 136

Conversion 142

Accommodation 152

Conclusion 157

6 Dynamic Syntheses: Rebellion, Absolute and Spiritual 159

Syncretic Rebellions 159

Absolute Rejection 161

Spiritualization 165

Conclusion 183

Conclusion 185

Reconsidering the Religious Shift: Concluding Points 187

Religious and Secular: What to Do? How to Live? 196

Notes 199

References 225

Index 245