An Introduction

This photonarrative project is a collaboration with the Super Saturday Fajr Group that explores the everyday lives of Muslim Americans living in greater Lafayette. It is a small Muslim community, one that it is, as Salah and Lama describe, in its infancy. There is one masjid, or mosque, that serves the students at the university and residents of West Lafayette and Lafayette. Despite its size, there is a rich diversity, like other Muslim American communities, with regard to race, cultural background, length of residence, education, and faith journey. 

This project includes individuals who immigrated as teenagers, first generation Americans, and those whose families have been in America for generations. There are individuals from Algeria, Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, Chicago, Indiana, and Jordan who have lived in many places in the United States as well as the world. Muslim Americans are as diverse as America as a whole, and as Nadia points out, this diversity epitomizes the Muslim American experience.

This project collects stories of day to day life and what it was like growing up Muslim in America. Because the majority of individuals participating are students, the experience of coming to Purdue is a major theme, particularly for those who are away from their families for the first time. For many, this is the first time that they have peers to relate to and share experiences of being Muslim in America, where the majority culture is not Islamic and, for most of America, businesses stay open throughout Ramadan and Eid is just another day.
These individuals, though all in their late teens and twenties, are intentionally connecting with other Muslims who are at once similar and different in order to figure out how, as Adil puts it, “to be spiritual together” within a uniquely American context, defined by “so many different people working together” (T.). They are simultaneously distinguishing between culture and religion in their interpretations of Islam and also recognizing the importance of putting Islam into practice in the particular contexts of Purdue University and the cities of West Lafayette and Lafayette.

It is not a utopia; there are racial issues, and tensions between different practices of Islam. For example, only Sunni and Nation of Islam are represented in this particular exhibition, but there are also Shi’a and members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community residing in greater Lafayette. We do not seek to present a unified portrait of Muslims in greater Lafayette, but demonstrate a range of voices and often untold stories. The common thread is that all these individuals self-identify as Muslim as well as American and are currently residing in greater Lafayette.
Following in his footsteps sweatshirt
The individuals portrayed in this exhibit are actively starting groups like the ICAN Foundation, a youth group for girls, the equivalent youth group for boys, the Super Saturday Fajr Group, the Muslim Graduate Student group, and more informal groups where young adults can gather together to pray in their dorm rooms or study Islam together. These initiatives are not limited to serving only Muslims; there is a strong interest in community service through tutoring and feeding the homeless.

They are also reaching out to other faith-based institutes to engage in interfaith dialogue and educational outreach. There has been an increased grass-roots movement of this sort of community outreach. Individuals active in the Islamic Center and different Muslim student groups at Purdue have been working with local media and institutions to educate greater Lafayette about their Muslim neighbors through initiatives like Islam 101, presentations at local churches, and this exhibit.

In a recent national survey, “Americans are less likely to be friendly to the new family next door if that family is Muslim,” a tendency that is more pronounced in the South and the Midwest.[1] Surveys like this demonstrate just one facet of an increasing volatile political climate that has launched a wave of discrimination against Muslims because of their religion, better known as Islamophobia. Religious illiteracy, largely negative portrayals of Muslims in the media, and the stereotypical ways Muslims have been regarded historically have all contributed to the general animosity toward Muslim Americans. Islamophobia can be broken with education, interacting and building relationships across cultural and religious lines, and experiential exchange. In other words, getting to know our Muslim neighbors.

So who are our Muslim neighbors?

These are some of their stories.
 
--Ruth Smith, Community Artist and Researcher


[1] “Americans are less likely to be friendly if their new neighbors are Muslims, Purdue University poll finds.” Purdue Institute for Civic Communication. March 17, 2016.
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