Culture, Diaspora, and Modernity in Muslim Writing

Culture, Diaspora, and Modernity in Muslim Writing
Author: Rehana Ahmed
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 253
Release: 2012-08-21
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1136473408

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Fiction by writers of Muslim background forms one of the most diverse, vibrant and high-profile corpora of work being produced today - from the trail-blazing writing of Salman Rushdie and Hanif Kureishi, which challenged political and racial orthodoxies in the 1980s, to that of a new generation including Mohsin Hamid, Nadeem Aslam and Kamila Shamsie. This collection reflects the variety of those fictions. Experts in English, South Asian, and postcolonial literatures address the nature of Muslim identity: its response to political realignments since the 1980s, its tensions between religious and secular models of citizenship, and its manifestation of these tensions as conflict between generations. In considering the perceptions of Muslims, contributors also explore the roles of immigration, class, gender, and national identity, as well as the impact of 9/11. This volume includes essays on contemporary fiction by writers of Muslim origin and non-Muslims writing about Muslims. It aims to push beyond the habitual populist 'framing' of Muslims as strangers or interlopers whose ways and beliefs are at odds with those of modernity, exposing the hide-bound, conservative assumptions that underpin such perspectives. While returning to themes that are of particular significance to diasporic Muslim cultures, such as secularism, modernity, multiculturalism and citizenship, the essays reveal that 'Muslim writing' grapples with the same big questions as serve to exercise all writers and intellectuals at the present time: How does one reconcile the impulses of the individual with the requirements of community? How can one 'belong' in the modern world? What is the role of art in making sense of chaotic contemporary experience?

Culture, Diaspora, and Modernity in Muslim Writing

Culture, Diaspora, and Modernity in Muslim Writing
Author: Rehana Ahmed
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 254
Release: 2012
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 0415896770

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This volume considers literary fiction by Muslim writers, dealing with the interaction of Muslim and non-Muslim cultures and exploring liberal orthodoxies such as secularism and multiculturalism. It covers writers such as Rushdie, Kureishi, Hamid, Aslam and Shamsie in essays by experts in English, South Asian, and postcolonial literatures in English.

Islam and its Reflection in Contemporary British Literature. A Course Book

Islam and its Reflection in Contemporary British Literature. A Course Book
Author: Matthias Dickert
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
Total Pages: 63
Release: 2015-05-04
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 3656953570

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Scientific Essay from the year 2015 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, Comenius University in Bratislava, language: English, abstract: The key position of Muslim writers in the contemporary English speaking novel is undoubted. Muslim writing itself is a logical consequence of postcolonial writing which has been marked by Carribean, African and Muslim authors at the same time. Whereas Carribean writers focus on concepts such as nation or nationalism,.Black writers seem to reflect a notion which is widely understood by 'cultural memory'. Muslim writing on its behalf centers on the catchphrase 'identity' since it considers Islam as a perfect identity marker for the novel. This (Muslim) 'otherness' is rooted in a religion which has for too long been looked upon from Said's concept of 'otherness' which is based on Foucault's notion of 'power and knowledge'. lt is here where the dualistic concept of East and West is constructed which sees both sides as antagonistic spheres. lt also in this background where author and reader finally have to discuss this Muslim 'otherness' apart from their minds. lt is therefore this (religious) 'otherness' based on religion which makes it extremely difficult for Western readers to fully understand Muslim characters. This is due to the fact that Islam is not only a religious idea of the world, it is also a total concept of Muslim existence since it covers all spheres of Muslim existence, the religious, the social, the legal and the political. The intention of this essay therefore is to give a short survey of Muslim writing over the last 30 years. The aim is to shortly reflect the incorporation of Islam into the novel , a development which has been marked by Nünning/Nünning with the term 'cross-fertilization' thus refering to the close link between narration and religion. The focus of the chosen novels hoowever lies on 'identity', a term marked by the concept of modern man being a migrant or a nomad, thus also reflecting the consequences of migration waves and the phenomenon of globalization. The paper starts with a sociological and religious background before it shortly deals with "The Satanic Verses", "The Black Album", "Brick Lane", "The Reluctant Fundamentalist" and "Guantanamo Boy". The aim ist o give a short survey oft he question of Muslim identity during the last 30 years.

Literature and the War on Terror

Literature and the War on Terror
Author: Sk Sagir Ali
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 239
Release: 2023-02-14
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1000829707

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This book examines cultural imaginations post 9/11. It explores the idea of a religious community and its multifaceted representations in literature and popular culture. The essays in the volume focus on the role of literature, film, music, television shows and other cultural forms in opening up spaces for complex reflections on identities and cultures, and how they enable us to rethink the ‘trauma of familiarity’, post-traumatic heterotopias, religious extremism and the idea of the ‘neighbour’ in post-9/11 literary and cultural imagination. The volume also probes the intersections of religion, popular media, televised simulacrum and digital martyrdom in the wake of 9/11. It also probes the simulation of new- age media images with reference to the creation and dissemination of ‘martyrs’, the languages of grief, religionisation of terrorism, islamophobia, religious stereotypes and the reading of comics in writing the terror. An essential read, the book reclaims and reinterprets the alternative to a Eurocentric/Americentric understanding of cultural and geopolitical structures of global designs. It will be of great interest to researchers of literature and cultural studies, media studies, politics, film studies and South Asian studies.

Mystical Islam and Cosmopolitanism in Contemporary German Literature

Mystical Islam and Cosmopolitanism in Contemporary German Literature
Author: Joseph Twist
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
Total Pages: 218
Release: 2018
Genre: History
ISBN: 1640140107

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Highlights the spirituality and cosmopolitanism of four contemporary German Muslim writers, showing that they undermine the "clash-of-civilizations" narrative and open up space for new ways of coexisting.

Islam and Postcolonial Discourse

Islam and Postcolonial Discourse
Author: Esra Mirze Santesso
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 272
Release: 2017-01-27
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1317112571

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Largely, though not exclusively, as a legacy of the 2001 attack on the World Trade Center, Islamic faith has become synonymous in many corners of the media and academia with violence, which many believe to be its primary mode of expression. The absence of a sophisticated recognition of the wide range of Islamic subjectivities within contemporary culture has created a void in which misinterpretations and hostilities thrive. Responding to the growing importance of religion, specifically Islam, as a cultural signifier in the formation of a postcolonial self, this multidisciplinary collection is organized around contested terms such as secularism, Islamopolitics, female identity, and Islamophobia. The overarching goal of the contributors is to facilitate a deeper understanding of the full range of experiences within Islam as well as the figure of the Muslim, thus enabling a new set of questions about religion’s role in shaping postcolonial identity.

Writing Muslim Identity

Writing Muslim Identity
Author: Geoffrey Nash
Publisher: A&C Black
Total Pages: 154
Release: 2012-01-26
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1441158502

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The relationship between Islam and the West is one of the most urgent and hotly debated issues of our time. This book is the first to offer a comprehensive overview of the way in which Muslims are represented within modern English writing, ranging from the novel, through memoir and travel writing to journalism. Covering a wide range of texts and authors, it scrutinises the identity 'Muslim' by looking at its inscription in recent and contemporary literary writing within the context of significant events like the Rushdie Affair and 9/11. Examining the wide range of writing internationally that takes Islam or Islamic cultures as its focus, the author discusses the representation of Muslim identity in writing by non-Muslim writers, former Muslim 'native informants', and practising Muslims.

Writing British Muslims

Writing British Muslims
Author: Rehana Ahmed
Publisher: Manchester University Press
Total Pages: 257
Release: 2024-06-04
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1526183765

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The Rushdie affair, September 11 2001 and 7/7 pushed British Muslims into the forefront of increasingly fraught debate about multiculturalism. Stereotyping images have proliferated, reducing a heterogeneous minority group to a series of media soundbites. This book examines contemporary literary representations of Muslims by British writers of South Asian Muslim descent – including Salman Rushdie, Hanif Kureishi, Monica Ali and Nadeem Aslam – to explore the contribution they make to urgent questions about multicultural politics and the place of Muslims within Britain. By focusing on class, and its intersection with faith, ‘race’ and gender in identity- and community-formation, it challenges the dichotomy of secular freedom versus religious oppression that constrains thinking about British Muslims, and offers a more nuanced perspective on multicultural debates and controversies. Writing British Muslims will appeal to academics and postgraduate and final-year undergraduate students in the fields of postcolonial studies, English studies and cultural studies.

Routledge Handbook on Middle Eastern Diasporas

Routledge Handbook on Middle Eastern Diasporas
Author: Dalia Abdelhady
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 566
Release: 2022-08-08
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0429561075

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Bringing together different strands of research on Middle Eastern diasporas, the Routledge Handbook on Middle Eastern Diasporas sheds light on diverse approaches to investigating diaspora groups in different national contexts. Asking how diasporans forge connections and means of belonging, the analyses provided turn the reader’s gaze to the multiple forms of belonging to both peoples and places. Rather than seeing diasporans as marginalised groups of people longing to return to a homeland, analyses in this volume demonstrate that Middle East diasporans, like other diasporas and citizens alike, are people who respond to major social change and transformations. Those we count as Middle Eastern diasporans, both in the region and beyond, contribute to transnational social spaces, and new forms of cultural expressions. Chapters included cover how diasporas have been formed, the ways that diasporans make and remake homes, the expressive terrains where diasporas are contested, how class, livelihoods and mobility inflect diasporic practices, the emergence of diasporic sensibilities and, finally, scholarship that draws our attention to the plurilocality of Middle Eastern diasporas. Offering a rich compilation of case studies, this book will appeal to students of Middle Eastern Studies, International Relations, and Sociology, as well as being of interest to policymakers, government departments, and NGOs.

Writing Islam from a South Asian Muslim Perspective

Writing Islam from a South Asian Muslim Perspective
Author: Madeline Clements
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 256
Release: 2016-04-29
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 113755438X

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This book explores whether the post-9/11 novels of Rushdie, Hamid, Aslam and Shamsie can be read as part of an attempt to revise modern ‘knowledge’ of the Islamic world, using globally-distributed English-language literature to reframe Muslims’ potential to connect with others. Focussing on novels including Shalimar the Clown, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, The Wasted Vigil, and Burnt Shadows, the author combines aesthetic, historical, political and spiritual considerations with analyses of the popular discourses and critical discussions surrounding the novels; and scrutinises how the writers have been appropriated as authentic spokespeople by dominant political and cultural forces. Finally, she explores how, as writers of Indian and Pakistani origin, Rushdie, Hamid, Aslam and Shamsie negotiate their identities, and the tensions of being seen to act as Muslim representatives, in relation to the complex international and geopolitical context in which they write.