Thursday's Guest

Guest For Thursday January 20, 2005

(Originally aired 5-13-02)

DR. ROBERT DANNIN

Anthropologist / Ethno linguist

Author:

"Black Pilgrimage to Islam"

Editor:

Arms Against Fury: Magnum Photographers in Afghanistan

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More About DR. ROBERT DANNIN:

Author notes about "Black Pilgrimage to Islam" / Brief Bio / Comments about the book / Related Links

Black Pilgrimage to Islam
By Robert Dannin
New York & London: Oxford University Press, 2002
ISBN: 0-19-514734-0

I firmly believe and see that for the 90s and beyond, Islam will be a
dynamic force and alternative for many, especially the confused and
angry youth who are more and more receptive to the teachings of Islam and the self esteem, discipline and respect it provides them in
abundance not to mention the knowledge. -- Mujahid A. Al-Hizbullahi,
from Chapter 8 of Black Pilgrimage to Islam

Can Islam help African Americans overcome the legacy of slavery and decades of racial oppression? How does the strict Islamic lifestyle accommodate mainstream American values? Will fiercely independent African-American women yield to Islamic law? Why would African-Americans fashion themselves into a “double minority” by converting to Islam?

Questions such as these frame Black Pilgrimage to Islam, Robert Dannin’s sweeping portrait of the African-American Muslim community. Drawing extensively upon fifteen years of research, personal observations, rare documents, and the words of devout worshipers, Dannin provides a complete picture of the African-American Muslim community. While members of the fringe Nation of Islam have drawn most of the media attention, they are far outnumbered by orthodox Muslims. Dannin introduces the
reader to this previously-ignored orthodox majority, its personalities,
customs and conflicts.

Examining the roots of spiritual transformation in the lodge halls and
storefront mosques that are Islam’s urban face, Dannin offers a
fascinating account of the rise of Islamic conversion. He then takes the reader on a tour of the contemporary African-American Muslim scene; from the oldest continuing Muslim institution in America and a permanent Muslim village founded by four steelworkers during the Great Depression to the inside of New York's maximum-security prisons, where inmates testify to the powerful attraction of Islam's message of self-reliance and spiritual strength.

Accessibly written, filled with gripping first-hand testimony, and
featuring superb photographs by Jolie Stahl, this book offers an
unprecedented look inside the complex, often hidden world of
African-American Muslims.

About the Author
Robert Dannin holds a doctorate in ethnolinguistics and anthropology
from the School for Advanced Studies in Social Sciences in Paris. He was the director of Magnum Photos Inc. from 1985-90 and taught urban anthropology at New York University from 1993-2003. His current scholarship focuses on the consequences of 9/11 for American Muslims.

About the Photographer
Jolie Stahl is a photographer and painter with a degree from the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.

[Back cover]

“In Black Pilgrimage to Islam, Robert Dannin gives us a rare and
fascinating insight into the minds and sensibilities of black Americans
who have embraced Islam. His research is impeccable, his judgements are acute, and his prose is uncommonly graceful. This book is an important contribution to American social history.”

-- Howard Zinn, Author of A People’s History of the United States

“Robert Dannin provides a very informative and useful contribution to
the study of African American Islam. He has investigated a great range of sources, through research and personal interviews, and in this work he allows his subjects to speak first-hand about their experiences and beliefs. The result is a work that is unique both in its presentation and in its range.”

--Jane I. Smith, Author of Islam in America

“This book provides a major contribution to our understanding of the
process of conversion and its liberating influences in general and of
the power of Islamic ideas in transforming rural former African American slaves into urban activists seeking the redemption of society.”

--Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad, Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding,
Georgetown University

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Channel 34 of the Time/Warner &Channel 107 of the RCN
Cable Television Systems in Manhattan, New York

THURSDAY JANUARY 20, 2005 10:30 - 11:30 AM NYC TIME

The Program can now be viewed on the internet at the time of cable casting at:

www.mnn.org

NOTE: You must adjust viewing to reflect NYC time & click on channel 34 at site