The Battle of Identities
Non-Fiction, Social Studies / Cultural Studies
The battle against racism is a task for the human race
Hamed Abdel-Samad has experienced racism from all sides. In Egypt, he was denounced as a pale-skinned bastard Crusader, and in Germany, his skin was too dark for some and his name was too Muslim for others.
Although based on personal experiences, this book is not just a report of personal experiences. It is an analysis of a controversial topic that is being fuelled by globalization, migration and incidents in the US as well as in Europe. The ideological debate about racism, focused around identity-politics, fractures societies instead of healing them.
Abdel-Samad strives to rationalize the conflict and reveals how individualism can provide an alternative to the identity-fixated debate about communal belonging.
• Racism exists in all cultures and societies; it must be contained globally
• Books by the author have been sold to the Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Italy, Korea, Norway, The Netherlands and USA
Hamed Abdel-Samad, born in Cairo in 1972, studied English, French, Japanese, and Political Science in college. He has worked for UNESCO and held a professorship in Islamic Studies at the University of Erfurt and at the Institute for Jewish History and Culture at the University of Munich. Abdel-Samad was a member of the German Islam Conference and is one of the most profiled Islamic intellectuals in the German-speaking world. His autobiography My Farewell from Heaven caused a sensation: “His expectations for his countrymen are the same as those he has himself embraced: enlightenment through the breaking of taboos” (ZDF-Aspekte). As a result of his taboo-breaking, an official fatwa was placed on him in 2013. Since then, he has lived under permanent police protection.
The battle against racism is a task for the human race
Hamed Abdel-Samad has experienced racism from all sides. In Egypt, he was denounced as a pale-skinned bastard Crusader, and in Germany, his skin was too dark for some and his name was too Muslim for others.
Although based on personal experiences, this book is not just a report of personal experiences. It is an analysis of a controversial topic that is being fuelled by globalization, migration and incidents in the US as well as in Europe. The ideological debate about racism, focused around identity-politics, fractures societies instead of healing them.
Abdel-Samad strives to rationalize the conflict and reveals how individualism can provide an alternative to the identity-fixated debate about communal belonging.
• Racism exists in all cultures and societies; it must be contained globally
• Books by the author have been sold to the Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Italy, Korea, Norway, The Netherlands and USA