Nation, Citizenship, and Belonging Muslim Cultural Politics in Canada

Abstract

TheAssociation ofMuslim Social Scientists of NorthAmerica (AMSS) held
its fifth annual Canadian Regional Conference in Waterloo, Ontario, at
Wilfred Laurier University (WLU) on 21 May 2009. The Muslim Studies
Option Program Committee and the Department of Religion and Culture at
WLU cosponsored this event, and Jasmin Zine (WLU) andMeena Sharify-
Funk (WLU) were the cochairs. The Tessellate Institute, a CanadianMuslim
think tank, coordinated and cosponsored the keynote panel.
The theme, “Nation, Citizenship, and Belonging: Muslim Cultural
Politics in Canada,” brought together academics, emerging scholars, and
community activists to explore critical questions about the space in the middle
where engaged Muslim Canadians stand. In her opening remarks,
Sharify-Funk identified that space as being located on an isthmus between
the realities of abject discrimination and the potentialities of citizenship. She
remarked that this conference sought to ask the difficult questions about
whetherMuslim Canadians can engage the challenges and move beyond the
internal contradictions that inherently shape Muslim cultural politics ...