White Mosque

More about the book

A historical tapestry of border-crossing travelers, this memoiristic account unfolds a journey through Uzbekistan, revealing the strange shifts and encounters that shape identity. In the late nineteenth century, German-speaking Mennonites migrated from Russia to Central Asia, led by a charismatic figure who predicted Christ's return. Over a century later, Sofia Samatar embarks on a tour retracing their path, intrigued not by their struggles but by the legacy of a small Christian village established in the Muslim Khanate of Khiva. Named Ak Metchet, or "The White Mosque," after the Mennonites' church, the village thrived for fifty years. In her exploration, Samatar meets a diverse array of characters linked to the ancient Silk Road, including a fifteenth-century astronomer-king, a daring Swiss traveler from the 1930s, and the first Uzbek photographer. She delves into topics such as Central Asian cinema, Mennonite martyrs, and her own complex identity as the daughter of a Swiss-Mennonite and a Somali-Muslim, raised as a Mennonite of color in America. This secular pilgrimage to a lost village and nearly forgotten history examines the porous borders of identity and the intricate ways individuals construct their selves from life's myriad experiences. Finalist for the 2023 PEN/Jean Stein Book Award and winner of the 2023 Bernard J. Brommel Award for Biography & Memoir.