Muslim stories find their place

A six-year university project creates province’s first dedicated archive of Islamic heritage.

Noah Johnston
Kicker

Inside the Centre for Newfoundland Studies at Memorial University, a display case holds a well-worn pair of black loafers. They sit on a small stand, delicately arranged as if to suggest they are an item of great importance. 

These shoes are one of dozens of archival donations made to the Muslim Narratives and Lives in Newfoundland and Labrador Community Project. They were worn by a Muslim woman on her long journey to Newfoundland from a refugee camp in Kosovo.

The archival project, spearheaded by religious studies professor Jennifer Selby, aims to collect and preserve the stories of Muslims in Newfoundland and Labrador with a collection of artifacts, photos, documents and recorded interviews.

For the last six years, Selby and her team have been working to collect these stories and to create the first dedicated repository of Muslim history in the province.

“It gives me comfort to know that all these seniors I had the privilege of meeting when I first came here, they are not lost.”

“In NL, we tell stories about who we are, how we came to be here, why we’re special out here in the North Atlantic,” Selby said. “Part of that story is thinking about religious diversity, not just one story but many stories that exist, and giving them a home.”

Selby worked with university archivist Colleen Quigley, community partners, and dozens of volunteers. The Muslim Association of Newfoundland and Labrador was happy to assist with making connections and providing access to materials. The collection will be preserved at the university in perpetuity.

Selby says that is a full-circle moment.

“It’s fitting, I think, given the role that the university has played in the stories of many Muslims in Newfoundland and Labrador.”

Ayse Akinturk is one of those Muslims. Originally from Türkiye, she is a post-doctoral fellow who worked as project coordinator and as a liaison between the project and the Muslim association.

Her work extends beyond the professional. She has fond memories of the women she calls her “multicultural Muslim aunties,” a group of elderly women of global backgrounds who helped her find community when she first arrived. They are women whose memories and stories are now housed in the archive.

“It gives me comfort to know that all these seniors I had the privilege of meeting when I first came here, they are not lost,” said Akinturk.

Selby and Akinturk both see the work as filling a long-standing gap in the province’s archives. Selby was surprised at the age and amount of material available. She says Muslim history in the province is something most people simply aren’t aware of. It’s important, she says, the project “can at least dispel the myth that Muslims are always newcomers.”

A book containing much of what the project collected, says Selby, will be available next year. For now, the collection is available online for free at Memorial University’s Digital Archives Initiative. 

The project is a living archive that will continue to grow as new stories are added. It’s a realization that makes Akinturk smile. It creates the sort of accessible space for history most Newfoundlanders and Labradorians take for granted.

“It is good to know that if I wish to, there is a space where I can deposit my own memories for future generations.”