1st Edition
Making Muslimness Race, Religion, and Performance in Contemporary Manchester
Blessings and Shoutouts
Chapter 1. Origins and Directions
Chapter 2. How Not to Be a Threat: Performing Comfort, Innocence, and Familiarity after the Arena Attack
Chapter 3. Distance and Refusal: Finding Radical Absence in Pronouncement and Performance
Chapter 4. Confusing Muslim and Asian: Brownness, Bodies, and the Racial Politics of Public Space
Chapter 5. Theatre Workshop as Counterpublic: Experimenting and Playing with the Sociopolitics of Muslimness
Chapter 6. From Social and Sacred to Scripted and Staged: Devising The Wedding and Building a Community of Making
Chapter 7. The Muslim Counterpublic
Works Cited
About the Author
Index
Biography
Asif Majid, PhD, writes fiction, (academic) non-fiction, and plays. He serves as Assistant Professor of Theatre and Human Rights at the University of Connecticut.
‘Making Muslimness is essential reading for those who wish to dive into cultural and political performances of Muslimness in the United Kingdom as negotiated through performance. Majid's ethnographic work, artistic practice, and critical interventions remind us of the possibilities of political critique that emerge from openly sharing our lived experiences. This is a beautifully written book that invites its readers to think about religion, identity, and culture with political urgency that makes this book necessary for the field of theatre and performance studies.’
Noe Montez, Associate Professor of Theater Studies (Emory University)
‘Making Muslimness offers a compelling – even groundbreaking – approach to understanding ‘Muslimness’ on its own terms, rather than through external, reductive lenses. Majid seamlessly integrates collaborative theatre-making, autoethnography, and meticulous ethnographic fieldwork to illuminate how Mancunian Muslims negotiate their complex, fluid identities in everyday and staged performances – particularly in the aftermath of a shattering act of violence. Majid's approach masterfully reveals ‘Muslimness’ as a dynamic, relational, and often political phenomenon. This is a bold, innovative book that reframes the study of Muslims in Britain with rigor, empathy, and creativity.’
Abdul-Rehman Malik, Associate Research Fellow (Yale Divinity School) and Director of the Muslim Leadership Lab (Yale University)
