How do Muslims who grew up after September 11 balance their love for hip-hop with their devotion to Islam? How do they live the piety and modesty called for by their faith while celebrating an art form defined, in part, by overt sexuality, violence, and profanity?

In Representing Islam, Kamaludeen Mohamed Nasir explores the tension between Islam and the global popularity of hip-hop, including attempts by the hip-hop ummah, or community, to draw from the struggles of African Americans in order to articulate the human rights abuses Muslims face. Nasir explores state management of hip-hop culture and how Muslim hip-hoppers are attempting to "Islamize" the genre's performance and jargon to bring the music more in line with religious requirements, which are perhaps even more fraught for female artists who struggle with who has the right to speak for Muslim women. Nasir also investigates the vibrant underground hip-hop culture that exists online. For fans living in conservative countries, social media offers an opportunity to explore and discuss hip-hop when more traditional avenues have been closed.

Representing Islam considers the complex and multifaceted rise of hip-hop on a global stage and, in doing so, asks broader questions about how Islam is represented in this global community.

About the Author

Kamaludeen Mohamed Nasir is Associate Professor of Sociology at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. He is a director at the United Nations Association of Singapore and was the recipient of the inaugural Western Sydney University International Alumni of the Year Award. He is the author of five books, including Globalized Muslim Youth in the Asia Pacific: Popular Culture in Singapore and Sydney.

Reviews

Kamaludeen Mohmed Nasir's important contribution to the field most certainly gives the reader a theoretically insightful and empirically thorough account of the Muslim side of this development. Representing Islam: Hip-Hop of the September 11 Generation is highly recommended to specialized readers interested in Muslim popular culture, religion in general, globalization as well as avid hip-hop heads interested in the global impact of their culture.

-- Anders Ackfeldt * CyberOrient *

With Representing Islam, [Kamaludeen Mohamed Nasir] has produced an important sourcebook on global Muslim hip-hop in all its shades and a valuable sociological study of Muslim youth culture in the post-9/11 world.

-- Philipp Bruckmayr * Die Welt des Islams *

The book, written in an engaging, accessible language, is a significant contribution to the field of Muslim popular culture and will be a very useful source for students of global hip hop, globalization, youth culture and contemporary Muslim cultural expressions.

-- Jeanette S. Jouili * Global Hip Hop Studies *

Kamaludeen Mohamed Nasir's Representing Islam argues that hip-hop is for the September 11 Muslim generation a route to freedom of expression, looking at how 'young Muslims [. . .] have embraced and appropriated hip-hop music as their anthem in response to the surging Islamophobia following September 11' (p. 2). . . . This is a solid contribution to hip-hop and popular music studies within Muslim culture and beyond.

-- Sikelelwa Anita Mashiy * Popular Music *

Kamaludeen Mohamed Nasir's Representing Islam: Hip-Hop of the September 11 Generation . . . sheds new light on understanding and interpreting the articulation, manifestations, and implications of and about Islam in this globalized and digitalized age. . . . A strategic and critical engagement between the micro and macro persoectives in sociology of Islam, Representing Islam is recommended to all students and researchers interested in Islamic religiosity, Muslim popular cultures, and research design in social hermeneutics approaches

-- Martin Jiajun He * American Journal of Islam and Society *



Book Information
ISBN 9780253053046
Author Kamaludeen Mohamed Nasir
Format Paperback
Page Count 222
Imprint Indiana University Press
Publisher Indiana University Press
Weight(grams) 286g