Schedule of Events

South Asian Independence from Great Britain and the Partition of India and Pakistan brought the place of Muslim minorities in India into high relief. Nationalist movements, both Hindu and Islamic, have attempted to answer “the Muslim question” with varying degrees of success and a variety of consequences. In our class, we examined moments of conflict between religious groups in this area, including those involving such nationalist groups. We then read and discussed some of the prominent theories on how cooperation can be fostered among diverging religious groups. For this project, I continue this examination by analyzing the different strategies of nationalist groups towards Indian Muslims. Through further research into the Islamic nationalist group Jamaat-e-Islami, theories of minority psychology, and psychological studies on Hindus and Muslims in India, I construct a psychological framework for how successful integration of Muslims in India might be achieved and why this goal should be the focus of the secular Indian state’s minority policies.

With the amount of negative coverage splashed across the mass media, some people may adopt tainted views of the Islamic religion, due to a lack of education in Islam. Our goal was to personally get to know Muslims and their religion by visiting their sacred place and observing their faith practices. After getting to know the individuals of the Islamic Center of Conejo Valley, we wanted to share this beautiful experience with our peers to provide a true illustration of the Islamic faith and its people. The purpose of this film was to reveal the different hats men and women of the ICCV wear in order to show the public a correct representation of the Islamic religion in a Southern California neighborhood. In order to accurately represent the people of the ICCV, we attended multiple services and events to become acquainted with the religion’s practices and beliefs as well as the center’s congregates. Among these events and services were the mosque’s open house, its Friday service and their special Eid al-Adha service. On a final visit, we asked men and women from the ICCV to answer questions regarding their faith, sacred space and role outside of the mosque. We took this footage and compiled a five-minute video comparing the current media coverage on Islam with the words from the Muslim people of the ICCV.