| FT-57607-10 | Research Programs: Summer Stipends | Loren Diller Lybarger | New World Islam: Religious Institutionalization & Generational Change among Somali & Palestinian Muslim Immigrants in the US | 5/1/2010 - 9/30/2010 | $6,000.00 | Loren | Diller | Lybarger | | | | Ohio University | Athens | OH | 45701-1361 | USA | 2010 | Religion, General | Summer Stipends | Research Programs | 6000 | 0 | 6000 | 0 |
The topic of Islam in America is poorly understood. Media reports stress terrorism while expert discussion emphasizes assimilation challenges. My project aims to enrich these discussions through a comparative ethnography of two groups: Somalis in Columbus, OH and Palestinians in Chicago. The study asks: How are U.S. Muslims adapting Islam to the social challenges confronting them? How do their differing ethnicities affect this process? My methods will include participant-observation and interviewing to assess how mosques, principally, are shaping social orientations within these groups. I seek a 2010 NEH Summer Stipend to intensify the Somali work. By the end of 2010, I hope to produce a report from the field based on my summer research for the Journal of the American Academy of Religion. I also will also address a general humanities audience locally and nationally through Ohio University's media resources and the Somali Documentation Project. |