In the Footsteps of the Infallibles: The Effects of Shi`a Narratives on Shi`a Political and Socilal Behavior in the United States

Abstract

This dissertation examines the effects of religious narratives on the political and social behavior of Shi‘a Muslims in the contemporary United States. It finds that American Shi‘as utilize the narratives of Shi‘ism instrumentally, in support of their already formed political and social proclivities, rather than the narratives serving an essentialist role in which they operate as primary independent variables that inform and create

identities predisposed towards particular forms of political and social action. Through surveys, interviews of Shi‘a religious leaders and political and social activists, and participant observation at ten Shi‘a Muslim communities of varied national and ethnic origins in the United States, this dissertation provides evidence of the nature and extent of Shi‘a Muslim participation in local, state, and national politics from the 1990s through the 2000s. The dissertation examines the ways quietist, accommodationist, and velayat tropes of specifically Shi‘a narratives are used in Shi‘a communities, and the effects of these tropes on Shi‘a political and social behavior. It also looks at the linkages between Shi‘as abroad (especially in Iran and Iraq) and Shi‘as in the United States, the relationship between Sunni and Shi‘a Muslims in the United States, and the nature of Shi‘a identity and political participation as a minority within a minority in the United States. In more general terms, this dissertation contributes to the understanding of the

relationship between religion and politics, and to a greater understanding of Shi‘as specifically, and Muslims generally, in the United States.