2025 SPE Annual Conference: Adaptations
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print this page"The Converts" - Claire Beckett & Anne Myers
Saturday, November 07 - 1:15PM to 2:00PM
With The Converts (2011-present), I explore the experiences of individuals who have converted (or reverted, as some prefer) to Islam. Pictured here are women and men who were not born into families practicing Islam, but have themselves chosen the faith. The Converts stems from ideas that have interested me in my work for years: What is the nature of American identity? How do we understand our country in relation to other nations and cultures? In a society that, however falsely, often constructs “American” and “Muslim” as diametrical opposites, what is the experience of people who have traversed this imagined line? In this project I explore how converts understand themselves, as well as the relationships that they have with their birth and adopted religions, families and communities.
This project comes from a place of using photography as an activist insofar as I was inspired by the way that Muslims in America were treated after the events of September 11, 2001. At the time it was clear to me that Muslims Americans (and those who “looked” Muslim, such as members of the Sikh religion) were often misunderstood and maligned due to their religious beliefs. With this series I have sought to create a path by which non-Muslim Americans can better understand their Muslim compatriots.
As part of my presentation, I would like to invite Muslim convert Lisa Tobias (a friend, and a participant in my project) to speak about her conversion. I think it would be illuminating for audience members to have the chance to hear directly from an American Muslim convert.
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