Invitation: Muslims of Metropolis Reading

Hey fellow Experimental Communitarians,

My very dear friend Kavitha Rajagopalan is coming to town this week to read from her book, Muslims of Metropolis, at Internationalist books - this Wednesday at 7. If you can make it, I promise it will be worth it. I'm reading the book as we speak and am utterly fascinated, and Kavi herself is brilliant, beautiful and a hell of a lot of fun.

Rather than attempt a mini-précis, I decided to beg, borrow and steal from the dust jacket. Here's some info on the book:

Muslims of Metropolis: The Stories of Three Immigrant Families in the West

"Through the microcosm of three Muslim families in Western cities, Kavitha Rajagopalan makes legible features of international migration easily obscured by questions of religion and racism. She brings to life socio-cultural alignments in the larger story of globalization that in turn illuminate those thick microcosms. This is one of the most interesting accounts I have read about the subject." - Saskia Sassen

Bio Blurb:
Kavitha Rajagopalan has worked in international development and finance, and as a journalist in India, Germany and the United States. She is a senior fellow at the World Policy Institute.

Dust Jacket synopsis:
The Muslim population globally is comprised of hundreds of ethnic, linguistic, and religious sub-communities. Yet, more often than not, the public confuses these diverse and unrelated communities, branding Muslim immigrants as a single, suspicious, and culturally antagonistic group of people. Generalizations like these have compromised many Muslim immigrants' sense of belonging and acceptance in places where they have lived, in some cases, for three or four generations.

In Muslims of Metropolis, Kavitha Rajagopalan takes a much needed step in personalizing and humanizing our understanding of the Muslim diaspora. Tracing the stories of three very different families - a Palestinian family moving to London, a Kurdish family moving to Berlin, and a Bangladeshi family moving to New York - she reveals a level of complexity and nuance that is seldom considered. Through their voices and in their words, Rajagopalan describes what prompted these families to leave home, what challenges they faced in adjusting to their new lives, and how they came to view their place in society. Interviews with community leaders, social justice organizations and with academics and experts in each of the countries add additional layers of insight to how broad political issues, like nationalist conflict, immigration reform, and antiterrorism strategies affect the lives of Muslims who migrate in search of economic and personal happiness.

Although recent thinking about immigration policy in the United States and Europe emphasizes the importance of long-term integration, a global attitude that continues to sensationalize divisions between Muslim and other communities thwarts this possibility. Integration cannot occur with policy situations alone - people must feel that they belong to a larger society. Whether read as simple stories or broader narratives, the voices in this revealing book are among the many speaking against the generalization, prejudice, and fear that has so far surrounded Muslims living in the West.