Imagining Religion and Culture at Webb

This chapter examines how the Webb community imagines itself as an alternative to practices of ethnic particularism in Chicago’s mosques. In particular, the community offers a third space for participants to challenge extant visions of American Islam as practiced in mosques. Webb members reimagine the United States as an ideal site of religious practice, carrying the hope of its participants that American Islam could someday be “seamless.” The United States, they believe, holds the promise of an Islam free of racial and ethnic divisions, if only they can disencumber American Islam of its immigrant ethos and show other Muslims the value of embracing cultural norms of American society. Focusing on the accounts of seven Webb participants, this chapter demonstrates how American Muslim identity is an ongoing, dynamic process of talk and practice, which are enmeshed in complex racial, gendered, and classed dynamics.