Muslim Rap, Halal Soaps, and Revolutionary Theater: Artistic Developments in the Muslim World

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 Theater is 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: Karin Van Nieuwkerk
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Published: 12/01/2011
Pages: 301
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.98lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.68d
ISBN: 9780292747685

About the Author
Van Nieuwkerk, Karin: - Karin van Nieuwkerk is an anthropologist and Associate Professor at the University of Nijmegen, the Netherlands. She coordinates the research program "Islam and the Performing arts in Europe and the Middle East." Her main publications include "A Trade like Any Other" Female Singers and Dancers in Egypt and Women Embracing Islam, Gender and Conversion in The West (ed.).