CHAPTER 5: American Muslim Identity: Negotiating the Ummah and the American Public School System

This chapter considers the ways in which the sociocultural identities of Muslim children ( those who are or whose families are practitioners of the Islamic faith) are shaped by the tension created between the Ummah (sociocultural, religious communities) in which their families participate and the cultural expectations of the American Public School System (APSS). This work considers the use of the phrase “American Muslim,” and the problematic definition of chronological generations of American Muslims as these issues relate to identity development in contemporary Muslim children who are participating in the APSS. American Muslims have been represented as perpetual immigrants, with no historical roots in the United States (U.S.). This understanding of American Muslim identity feeds myriad forms of xenophobia expressed in times of national (American) crisis. A clear definition of a Muslim immigrant generation, and first and second generations of American born Muslims clarifies the historic and generational presence of Muslims in America. This clarification allows for the use of narratives written by and about “first” generation American Muslims in the APSS curriculum (the concept of including fiction and nonfiction texts that deal with current issues related to being Muslim in America is just beginning). These narratives provide American Muslim children currently participating in the APSS a description of the marginalization they often “feel” but cannot clearly identify. The practice of marginalization, especially in times of domestic peace, is subtle. When America is in crisis, however, marginalization often becomes outright bigotry and discrimination. This is when the presence of the Ummah is most apparent, although it is always present and working in the lives of American Muslims. Reading texts written by and about Muslims who as children participated in the APSS, in times of peace and military conflict, in a critical multicultural classroom allows American Muslim students, and their non-Muslim counterparts to recognize how both the Ummah and the traditions of the APSS exist in a state of constant conflict. This conflict need not be resolved but it does need to be managed This chapter is viewed as a beginning of the negotiations between the Ummah and the APSS, so both can provide the support needed by the children they share.