Identity politics and public disputation: A Baha'i missionary as a Muslim modernist in South Africa

Abstract

This paper focuses on the Arabic Study Circle and the role of its most influential member Joseph Perdu. It shows how the public life of the organization could not continue to bear the ambiguity of the identity of Perdu. Ultimately, there were attempts to ‘expose' the ‘real' Perdu and therefore the ‘real' Arabic Study Circle. This essay raises the question of public performances of identity and their relations to private pursuits of identity. Journal for Islamic Studies Vol. 27 2007: pp. 150-172