Abstract

As in other Latin American countries, Muslim presence in Argentina traces its origin to Arab migration waves in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century; most of these immigrants came from Lebanon and Syria. We can identify three historical periods; each of these stages involves different degrees of institutionalization, diversification, visibility and negotiation of recognition in the national arena. Currently, Islam is one of the religious options available in a plural religious field and, increasingly, the communities are composed of Muslim Arab descendants and converts. This paper analyze the adhesion to Islam as a dynamic process that includes conversion, tradition, return to religion and intra-Islamic transit among Muslim descendants. Using an ethnographic approach I will examine individual trajectories of converts and Muslim descendants, on the basis of these analyses I will try to establish a critical dialogue with the literature on conversion to Islam. This article also problematizes the converts/Muslim descendants’ dichotomy in order to arrive at a more comprehensive understanding of the dynamic of adhesion to Islam