Sociology Commons^™

Mosques In The U.S. And Europe: The Growth Of Westernized Islam, Thomas P. Smith

Lawrence University Honors Projects

This Honors Project is a comparative study of mosques in the Midwestern United States and two cities in Western Europe. My research was based on observations I made and interviews I conducted at three mosques in Dearborn, Michigan, one in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, two in London, England, and two in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Relying on the theories of French sociologist of religion Olivier Roy, I developed a framework to measure the level of acculturation or exculturation in each mosque. By looking at three signs of deculturation: language, the presence of women, and the retention of cultural traditions, I was able to map …