Islam in urban spaces

The residential incorporation and choices of Muslims in Lisbon

Bibliographic Data

ID3607664
AuthorsJennifer Mcgarrigle (0000-0001-9952-3431, University of Lisbon, corresponding author)
Year2016
Volume42
Issue3
Pages437-457
Publication date2016-02-19
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueNew Community (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0047-9586 • E-ISSN: 1469-9451
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/1369183x.2015.1065715
OpenAlexW2223885658
LanguageEN
Citations received12
References cited38

This paper examines processes of residential settlement and incorporation of Lisbon's Muslims arriving first in the post-colonial period and later as international labour migrants. Issues related with Islam in the city are under-researched and seen as unproblematic in Portugal due to lower levels of segregation and the contemporary narrative of Portuguese tolerance. Based on an analysis of the spatiality of Islam in the metropolitan area and the individual accounts of 102 Muslims, this paper explores processes of incorporation, residential choice and belonging. The fragmented mosaic of Muslim settlement in local communities shows the role that religion can play alongside culture in creating spaces of belonging producing multiple experiences of the city. In three different localities—the inner city, an inner suburb and on the urban margin—I investigate the ways in which the cumulative action and agency of Muslim migrants over time transform local spaces and emerging structures for consecutive migrants. This paper argues that urban diversity and temporality provide a lens through which to reconceptualise the traditional choice and constraint debate to better understand the complexity of minority residential patterns and their outcomes

Archaeology · Economic geography · Geography · Islam · Metropolitan area · Narrative · Social science · Sociology · Temporality · Diaspora, migration, transnational identity · Gender Studies · Migration, Refugees, and Integration · Socioeconomic Development in Asia