Muslim Rap, Halal Soaps, and Revolutionary Theater

by Van Nieuwkerk, Karin

• ISBN13: 9780292726819
• ISBN10: 0292726813
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-12-15
• Publisher: Univ of Texas Pr

Summary

From "green" pop and "clean" cinema to halal songs, Islamic soaps, Muslim rap, Islamist fantasy serials, and Suficized music, the performing arts have become popular and potent avenues for Islamic piety movements, politically engaged Islamists, Islamic states, and moderate believers to propagate their religio-ethical beliefs. Muslim Rap, Halal Soaps, and Revolutionary Theateris the first book that explores this vital intersection between artistic production and Islamic discourse in the Muslim world. The contributors to this volume investigate the historical and structural conditions that impede or facilitate the emergence of a "post-Islamist" cultural sphere. They discuss the development of religious sensibilities among audiences, which increasingly include the well-to-do and the educated young, as well as the emergence of a local and global religious market. At the heart of these essays is an examination of the intersection between cultural politics, performing art, and religion, addressing such questions as where, how, and why pop culture and performing arts have been turned into a religious mission, and whether it is possible to develop a new Islamic aesthetic that is balanced with religious sensibilities. As we read about young Muslims and their quest for a "cool Islam" in music, their struggle to quell their stigmatized status, or the collision of morals and the marketplace in the arts, a vivid, varied new perspective on Muslim culture emerges.

Author Biography

Karin Van NieuWekerk is Associate Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Nijmegen, the Netherlands. Her books include Women Embracing Islam: Gender and Conversion in the West and "A Trade like Any Other": Female Singers and Dancers in Egypt.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. vii
Introduction. Artistic Developments in the Muslim Cultural Sphere: Ethics, Aesthetics, and the Performing Arts	p. 1
The Power of Performance
Hardcore Muslims: Islamic Themes in Turkish Rap between Diaspora and Homeland	p. 27
Contesting Islamic Concepts of Morality: Heavy Metal in Istanbul	p. 55
Iranian Popular Music in Los Angeles: A Transnational Public beyond the Islamic State	p. 85
Motivations
Ritual as Strategic Action: The Social Logic of Musical Silence in Canadian Islam	p. 115
Pious Entertainment: Hizbullah's Islamic Cultural Sphere	p. 149
Of Morals, Missions, and the Market: New Religiosity and "Art with a Mission" in Egypt	p. 177
Staging the Body and the World Stage
Islamic Modernity and the Re-enchanting Power of Symbols in Islamic Fantasy Serials in Turkey	p. 207
From "Evil-Inciting" Dance to Chaste "Rhythmic Movements": A Genealogy of Modern Islamic Dance-Theatrein Iran	p. 231
Suficized Musics of Syria at the Intersection of Heritage and the War on Terror; Or "A Rumi with a View"	p. 257
Afterword	p. 275
Notes on Contributors	p. 281
Index	p. 283
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.