Abstract

This article critically interrogates the discourses of secularism and pluralism by analyzing their surprising effects in a 2003 dispute about the adhān (Islamic call to prayer) in Hamtramck, Michigan. Hamtramck residents advanced different understandings of how secular governance should manage religious differences, but their arguments had unintended consequences that ran counter to their stated intents. In the end, I argue, Muslims were able to make themselves heard in Hamtramck, but only if they muted that which made their voices distinct. This article uses the Hamtramck dispute to analyze the particular conditions governing Islamic entry into the American public sphere.

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