At Home in the Arctic: The Making of Muslim Lives and Places in the Canadian North

Abstract

Abstract: How do Muslims make places in arctic surroundings? How do they feel at home where Islamic ritual practices are severely complicated by extreme geographic conditions? This article takes up the case of mosque communities in the Canadian Arctic. The construction of three purpose-built mosques in northern Canada in recent years, with a fourth currently underway, reflects aspirations for rootedness, visibility, and most importantly the desire to feel at home. The mosque thereby fulfills different functions of home. It serves as a community home for gatherings, celebrations, and educational and leisure activities, a spiritual center and safe space for individuals, and a place of interaction with the local population. In exploring these themes, this study also adopts a historical lens, considering the broader context and historiography of Muslim settlement and community-building in the Canadian north. The diversity of individual members of Arctic Muslim communities today raises questions regarding religious authority and the interpretation of Islamic traditions across various ethnicities, generations, genders, and branches of Islam. This article examines religious practice at a communal level and the intricate interplay of local and transnational influences within these highly heterogenous Muslim communities. With a stress on rural and northern lived experience of Muslims, this article addresses a significant gap in the study of Islam in Canada and the Western hemisphere in general. Employing concepts of space and place alongside frameworks from Islamic and religious studies, anthropology, migration studies, and social geography, it expands the geographical scope of the study of Muslims. Empirically, this article draws on extensive mapping efforts utilizing diverse sources such as local news outlets, social media, census data, archival sources, and semi-structured interviews with community members from Yellowknife and Inuvik.