Claiming Belonging: Muslim American Advocacy in an Era of Islamophobia, by EMILY CURY

Abstract

Who speaks for Muslims in the United States? And who advocates for their interests at home and abroad? These are the question political scientist Emily Cury addresses in her book, Claiming Belonging, Muslim American Advocacy in an Era of Islamophobia. The book offers an engaging overview of the advocacy and lobbying strategies of some of the major Muslim American organizations such as the Council of American Islamic Relations (CAIR), and the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC). It “looks at how Muslim American organizations engage in framing and articulating a Muslim American collective identity through their policy and claims-making strategies” (p. 11). Cury starts with a paradox: a context marked by enduring Islamophobia since 2001 has offered an unexpected structural political opportunity for Muslims to become more visible and more assertive. Her book demonstrates how, despite the context of persistent anti-Muslim bias that has informed U.S. politics since the early 2000s, Muslim organizations have productively used traditional interest groups tactics to give shape to a “distinctly liberal, inclusive, and civically engaged Muslim American political identity” (p. 150). While the book offers a compelling description and argumentation in support of that claim, the question of the type of religio-political interventions that are excluded by the focus on building an acceptable brand of liberal American Islam compatible with the American myth of civil religion remains open.