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Omar Rais speaks to Alyssa Ratkewitch, a third generation Tatar Muslim living in Brooklyn and the vice president of the board at the historic Brooklyn Mosque. Also joining the conversation is travel writer, journalist and broadcaster, Tharik Hussain who specialises in the Muslim heritage of the West. Together they explore the migratory roots of Brooklyn’s Tatar community, the longest serving mosque in the United States, and discuss the identity-shaping of Muslims in the West.
What we Talk About in this Episode
- The history of the Brooklyn Moslem Mosque and the Tatar community in New York
- How the role of the mosque has evolved in serving the community over the years
- 600 year Muslim history in the Baltic
- Tharik’s research on the community in the US (and in the Baltic), and how it helped shed light on their heritage
- Lack of appreciation for heritage among the wider Muslim community in the West
- Is there a lack of cooperation among immigrant community mosques in the West?
- Alyssa’s experience visiting eastern Europe for the first time, alongside other members of the Brooklyn Tatar community, to visit the towns and villages of their grandparents’ generation.
- ‘Roots’ tourism and a renewed interest in Muslim heritage tours
- Searching for ‘Western Muslim narratives’ in response to the antagonistic climate against Muslims
- How 9/11 affected Brooklyn’s Tatar community and shared its identity
People/Things Mentioned in this Episode
- Brooklyn’s Moslem Mosque
- BBC World Service radio documentary: America’s Mosques: Old Mosques with Tharik Hussain
- Brooklyn historical society project
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