Muslims after 9/11: Political Participation and Civic Engagement was awarded a generous grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to examine the political and civic integration of Muslims in the United States and Europe in the post-9/11 environment.
The study is being carried out under the direction of Principal Investigators Steven C. Caton, Director of CMES and Professor of Contemporary Arab Studies, and Jocelyne Cesari, Director of CMES’ Islam in the West Program and Visiting Associate Professor of Islamic Studies at the Harvard Divinity School.
The insights gained from this study have the potential to promote greater understanding of the complexity and diversity of Muslim communities. Shedding light on the dynamics affecting the promotion of civic rights and responsibilities among Muslim groups could lead to the development of more effective policies to encourage citizenship and discourage radicalization, in the United States and internationally.
The Muslims after 9/11 project is part of the interdisciplinary Islam in the West Program at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies. The mission of the program is to enhance knowledge of Muslim minorities in secular and democratic contexts in the West, assist students from different schools and disciplines engaged in the study of this subject in finding guidance and resources, assemble an interdisciplinary group of Harvard faculty members with an interest in the subject, and advance knowledge in a relatively new and increasingly important area of research.
Muslims after 9/11 adopts an international comparative approach to investigating the religious and political situation of Muslims in the West by conducting research in communities in Paris, London, Amsterdam, Berlin, and North America.
The U.S. portion of this work centers on Muslims in the Greater Boston area. Preliminary demographic analysis shows that local communities mirror the ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic diversity of Muslim immigrant communities nationwide. The main goal of the project is to identify broad global patterns in the attitudes of Muslims toward the West.
While much research has focused on Muslim immigrant populations in recent years, Muslims after 9/11 is unique in that it specifically addresses questions associated with Muslim immigrants’ integration into democratic Western societies. It further explores the degree to which the political and civic integration of Muslim immigrants is influenced by religious and ethnic identity, country of origin, generation, socioeconomic status, and transnational resources such as economic, political, or religious connections with the country of origin and the Muslim world at large.
About the MacArthur Foundation
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is a private, independent grant making institution dedicated to helping groups and individuals foster lasting improvement in the human condition. More information is available at http://www.macfound.org.