Author Kavitha Rajagopalan starts by arguing that there is no West and there is no Muslim world before delving into the stories of her book Muslims of Metropolis. While not attempting to convey a specific political message, Rajagopalan attempts to present the differing perspectives of Kurds, Palestinians and Bangladeshis living in Turkey, Germany, England, the United States and the West Bank.
Rajagopalan navigates around ideas of identity, memory, migration and Islam. The stories presented also resonate with the author who also understands herself as an immigrant, standing in both the world of the United States and that of India.
One story revolves around a Palestinian family living in London that was at least upper-middle class as the author put it, yet understood itself as being in some way of low status. Part of the story revolves around the son, a successful DJ traveling back to the West Bank to engage in social services. Rajagopalan points out how this DJ refrained from calling out to a London neighbor, perhaps due to shame because of being a Palestinian in an Israeli airport as opposed to a London neighborhood.
A second story revolves around a Bangladeshi father that moves to New York with his smartest daughter, hoping to find a successful U.S. citizen to be son-in-law/husband. Instead the daughter marries an undocumented Pakistani man who after September 11th, 2001 is deported as part of immigration sweeps by the U.S. government. The Bangladeshi daughter goes on to raise two children for a few years in Queens while being an immigration activist before returning to Bangladesh.
The third story revolves around a Kurdish woman who is from Turkey and moves to Berlin where at one point she joined a Lesbian commune and went through a period of hating men. Through this story it is possible to see how Kurds perhaps in Germany as in Turkey quite often are put under the larger umbrella of Turkish identity.Author Kavitha Rajagopalan starts by arguing that there is no West and there is no Muslim world before delving into the stories of her book ...all »Author Kavitha Rajagopalan starts by arguing that there is no West and there is no Muslim world before delving into the stories of her book Muslims of Metropolis. While not attempting to convey a specific political message, Rajagopalan attempts to present the differing perspectives of Kurds, Palestinians and Bangladeshis living in Turkey, Germany, England, the United States and the West Bank.
Rajagopalan navigates around ideas of identity, memory, migration and Islam. The stories presented also resonate with the author who also understands herself as an immigrant, standing in both the world of the United States and that of India.
One story revolves around a Palestinian family living in London that was at least upper-middle class as the author put it, yet understood itself as being in some way of low status. Part of the story revolves around the son, a successful DJ traveling back to the West Bank to engage in social services. Rajagopalan points out how this DJ refrained from calling out to a London neighbor, perhaps due to shame because of being a Palestinian in an Israeli airport as opposed to a London neighborhood.
A second story revolves around a Bangladeshi father that moves to New York with his smartest daughter, hoping to find a successful U.S. citizen to be son-in-law/husband. Instead the daughter marries an undocumented Pakistani man who after September 11th, 2001 is deported as part of immigration sweeps by the U.S. government. The Bangladeshi daughter goes on to raise two children for a few years in Queens while being an immigration activist before returning to Bangladesh.
The third story revolves around a Kurdish woman who is from Turkey and moves to Berlin where at one point she joined a Lesbian commune and went through a period of hating men. Through this story it is possible to see how Kurds perhaps in Germany as in Turkey quite often are put under the larger umbrella of Turkish identity.«
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