In a book club and starting to plan your reads for next year? Check out our 2025 picks.

Circassian Ethnic Identity and History: Background information when reading All-American Muslim Girl

Summary |  Excerpt |  Reviews |  Beyond the Book |  Read-Alikes |  Genres & Themes |  Author Bio

All-American Muslim Girl by Nadine Jolie Courtney

All-American Muslim Girl

by Nadine Jolie Courtney
  • BookBrowse Review:
  • Critics' Consensus:
  • First Published:
  • Nov 12, 2019, 432 pages
  • Paperback:
  • Feb 2021, 432 pages
  • Rate this book

  • Buy This Book

About This Book

Circassian Ethnic Identity and History

This article relates to All-American Muslim Girl

Print Review

Map of the Caucasus/Circassian regionIn All-American Muslim Girl, Allie Abraham's family is ethnically Circassian, which accounts in part for her fair, reddish blonde hair. As Allie observes, few Americans have ever heard of Circassians, so in the novel she gives a very cursory background that only begins to describe the history and struggles of this group of people. Author Nadine Jolie Courtney, née Haobsh, knows Allie's heritage well; it is her own.

Circassians originally inhabited the northwest Caucasus area, now in southwestern Russia between the Black and Caspian Seas. Historically, the Circassians populated princedoms in the rugged mountains, fighting to maintain their cultural and political independence against the Muslim Mamluk and Ottoman Empires, and then Tsarist Russia. Circassian men and women alike were prized as strong and attractive slaves by their invaders—and many, despite their slave status, cleverly manipulated their way into higher echelons of power beyond their own borders. Circassians had their own language, which, as Allie notes, is critically endangered, spoken today by only about 300,000 people worldwide.

Christianity came to the Caucasus region as early as the first century A.D. Later, torn between the Ottomans and the Russians, many Circassians converted to Sunni Islam in the 18th century. Russia initiated a genocide of the Circassians following the Caucasian War in the 1860s. Those who survived were forced into exile, fleeing to Turkey, Syria, Israel, Iraq and Jordan (like Allie's family). Some eventually made their way to the United States, where there are now about 700,000 people of Circassian descent.

Today, the majority of Circassians live in the Middle East, southeastern Europe and the northern coast of Africa. They chiefly speak two Circassian languages known as Adyghe and Kabardian, though many also speak the local languages of the regions in which they live. Circassians remain predominantly Muslim, though the extent to which they practice and perform the cultural and religious traditions of Islam varies among different regions, and of course, among different individuals.

A new awareness of the Circassian genocide arose in 2014 during the Olympic Winter Games, held that year in Sochi, a Russian city near the Georgian border. Many of the mountain sports events were held at Krasnya Polanya, site of an 1864 Russian massacre of a Circassian village, sparking protests.

Check out this video clip of some impressive moves by Circassian performers preparing to compete on the Russian version of So You Think You Can Dance:



The Caucasus/Circassian region, courtesy of Geocurrents

Filed under Places, Cultures & Identities

This "beyond the book article" relates to All-American Muslim Girl. It originally ran in January 2020 and has been updated for the February 2021 paperback edition. Go to magazine.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Top Picks

  • Book Jacket
    Something, Not Nothing
    by Sarah Leavitt
    In 2020, after a lifetime of struggling with increasingly ill health, Sarah Leavitt's partner, ...
  • Book Jacket
    A Haunting in Hialeah Gardens
    by Raul Palma
    Raul Palma's debut novel A Haunting in Hialeah Gardens introduces Hugo Contreras, who came to the ...
  • Book Jacket
    The MANIAC
    by Benjamin Labatut
    The MANIAC by Benjamin Labatut is an ambitious work that falls squarely into the category of fiction...
  • Book Jacket: Blood Test
    Blood Test
    by Charles Baxter
    Brock Hobson is a loving single father, a Sunday School teacher, and an upstanding and honest ...

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket

    Libby Lost and Found
    by Stephanie Booth

    Libby Lost and Found is a book for people who don't know who they are without the books they love.

Who Said...

Happiness makes up in height for what it lacks in length.

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

H I O the G

and be entered to win..

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.