Mixing Ethnicity, Pan-Islamism, Sectarian Dimensions, and Transnational Networks: One Century of Muslim Presence in Argentina

Abstract

Based on multi-sited field work conducted in several communities throughout Argentina over the last two decades, the analysis of newly available documentary files, interviews, and participant observation, this paper addresses the inner diversity of Islam in Argentina. Focusing the dynamics of differentiation between the various institutional projects of Muslim communities, and providing a broad spatio-temporal overview this article synthesizes the main forms of imbrication between sectarianism, ethnicity, and transnationalism as produced by the experiences of community-forming among different Muslim groups. The combination between the language of ethnicity, adherence to pan-Islamism, the exaltation of notions such as the “Arab nation,” and sectarian dimensions have “produced” an identity-related diversity as well as the diversification of Islam during one century-long presence in Argentina. The study follows a timeline starting from the founding moment of Muslim presence—the first decades of the twentieth century—, to move forward through other periods and paradigmatic cases.