Michele Groppi

Light and Dark Michele Groppi

A mixture of journalism and scientific illustration, Light and Dark wishes to pay tribute to the Italian Muslim community, its traits, colors, people, and contradictions. The book is a recollection of interviews, stories, numbers, and from the author's journey to 15 Italian cities, asking about "everything" that could describe what it means to be Muslim in today's Italy. Heated in nature, queries ranged from racism to violence in the name of God, from identity crisis to women in Islam, from Islamophobia to attempts to Islamise society. What emerges is an indubitably fascinating and kaleidoscopic picture: a combination of joy and sadness, love and hatred, peace and war, hope and disillusionment. And this is exactly the point: we must honor complexity. We cannot make big generalizations. Yet, we must study, question, the challenge in constructive ways - for only through dialogue will we maximize chances for mutual understanding and cohesiveness.