Imagining an Atlantic Crescent

Unboxing--filming and sharing the experiencing of unpacking a new product--has become a popular trend, particularly on platforms like YouTube. A marketing tactic that can boost brand awareness, foster customer loyalty, and even influence purchasing decisions, it's also gained traction among academics, who film themselves opening the box containing their first book or latest monograph.

In some ways, this edition of the LACISA Newsletter is a bit of an unboxing of numerous recent publications in our subfield.

First, we feature a review and interview with historian Alaina Morgan about her premier monograph, Atlantic Crescent: Building Geographies of Black and Muslim Liberation in the African Diaspora (University of North Carolina Press).

We also have a bumper crop of additional fresh publications to share, on the "Muslim Caribbean," love and mobility among Muslims in Mexico, art and politics between Latin America and the Middle East, the "War on Terror" in the Caribbean, and more! If you are interested in reviewing any of these publications for future editions of the LACISA Newsletter, please be in touch.

Also in this edition, we share a special call for papers from the International Journal of Latin American Religions (IJLAR).

Working with Ruth Jatziri García Linares, we are inviting original papers, communications, news and reports, as well as book reviews that help scholars rethink the interests of believers, identity and community formation, as well as the consolidation and growth of Muslim communities, with a particular focus on conversion as a sociocultural process. Other topics of interest include gender, corporeality, the institutionalization of Islam, religious infrastructures, education, dawah, philanthropy, and the entanglements and relationship of communities to the global umma, among others.

And, as always, we feature a round up of recent news stories from around Latin America, the Caribbean, and the Latinx Americas and share some opportunities, events, and other notes from members -- including a series of events on gender and Islam in Latin America, new Persian translations, and a special workshop invitation.

Enjoy the unboxing!

Adelante,
Ken Chitwood
LACISA Senior Editor