On the 12th May 2016 Habeeb Akande joined IHRC to discuss his new book “Iluminating the Blackness: Black and African Muslims in Brazil”.

Habeeb Akandeis a British-born writer and historian of Yoruba descent. He is an alumnus of al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt and Kingston University in the UK.

Illuminating the Blacknesspresents the history of Brazil’s race relations and African Muslim heritage. The book is separated into two parts. Part I explores the issue of race, white supremacy, colourism, beauty and affirmative action in contemporary Brazil. Part II examines the reported African Muslims’ travels to Brazil before the Portuguese, the slave military revolts in Bahia and the West African Muslim communities in nineteenth century Brazil. The author explores the black consciousness movement in Brazil and examines the reasons behind the growing conversion to Islam amongst Brazilians and shares his insights into the complexities of race in Brazil and draws comparisons with the racial histories of the pre-modern Muslim world.

An audio version of the event can be listened to here.