The Bloomsbury Handbook of Muslims and Popular Culture illustrates how Muslims participate in a broad spectrum of activities. Moving beyond a framework that emphasizes ritual, legal, historical, or theological issues, this book speaks to how Muslims live in the world, in relation to their religion and the realities of the world around them. The international team of contributors provide in-depth analysis that chronicles Islamic cultural products in regional and transnational contexts, explores dominant and emerging theories about popularization, and offers provocations in the field of religion and popular culture. The handbook is structured in six parts: spaces; appetites; performances; readings; visions; and communities. The book explores a variety of Muslim societies and communities within the last 100 years, ranging from the Islamic presence in Latin American architecture to Muslim Anglophone hip-hop, and Muslims in modern Indian theatre.

Students are encouraged to think beyond simple identifiers of “Muslim,” “American,” “Canadian,” or “Mexican”, and to consider how these identifiers exist in conversation with one another, and with others such as gender, class, race, sexuality, and ability. The overview chapter provides students with an introductory grounding in the field. Chapters take a multidisciplinary approach, and focus on the expressions of Islam in its diverse forms. The book is illustrated throughout with over 75 images and each chapter contains suggested further reading. A glossary of key terms and concepts is included. Case studies include Islam in Cuba, Islam and the Black experience, and the Hijab. Topics covered include Muslims and Politics in the US, Islamophobia as/and racism, Muslims in American popular media, the Latinx Muslim experience, and religious diversity in Canada. From tracing street names, such as Malcom X Boulevard in Harlem, to exploring how Islam has been constructed as a normatively male religion, this book provides a much-needed resource for students and instructors that acknowledges that Muslims navigate their identities in a world where Orientalist ideas continue to dominate politics, policy, and public imagination.

Students are encouraged to think beyond simple identifiers of “Muslim,” “American,” “Canadian,” or “Mexican”, and to consider how these identifiers exist in conversation with one another, and with others such as gender, class, race, sexuality, and ability. The overview chapter provides students with an introductory grounding in the field. Chapters take a multidisciplinary approach, and focus on the expressions of Islam in its diverse forms. The book is illustrated throughout with over 75 images and each chapter contains suggested further reading. A glossary of key terms and concepts is included. Case studies include Islam in Cuba, Islam and the Black experience, and the Hijab. Topics covered include Muslims and Politics in the US, Islamophobia as/and racism, Muslims in American popular media, the Latinx Muslim experience, and religious diversity in Canada. From tracing street names, such as Malcom X Boulevard in Harlem, to exploring how Islam has been constructed as a normatively male religion, this book provides a much-needed resource for students and instructors that acknowledges that Muslims navigate their identities in a world where Orientalist ideas continue to dominate politics, policy, and public imagination.

Are you teaching religious studies in the best way possible? Do you inadvertently offer simplistic understandings of religion to undergraduate students, only to then unpick them at advanced levels? This book presents case studies of teaching methods that integrate student learning, classroom experiences, and disciplinary critiques. It shows how critiques of the scholarship of religious studies-including but not limited to the World Religions paradigm, Christian normativity, Orientalism, colonialism, race, gender, sexuality, and class-can be effectively integrated into all courses, especially at an introductory level. Integrating advanced critiques from religious studies into actual pedagogical practices, this book offers ways for scholars to rethink their courses to be more reflective of the state of the field. This is essential reading for all scholars in religious studies.

Contributions by Jose Alaniz, Jessica Baldanzi, Eric Berlatsky, Peter E. Carlson, Sika A. Dagbovie-Mullins, Antero Garcia, Aaron Kashtan, Winona Landis, A. David Lewis, Martin Lund, Shabana Mir, Kristin M. Peterson, Nicholaus Pumphrey, Hussein Rashid, and J. Richard Stevens Mainstream superheroes are becoming more and more diverse, with new identities for Spider-Man, Captain America, Thor, and Iron Man. Though the Marvel-verse is becoming much more racially, ethnically, and gender diverse, many of these comics remain shy about religion. The new Ms. Marvel, Kamala Khan, is a notable exception, not only because she is written and conceived by two women, Sana Amanat and G. Willow Wilson, but also because both of these women bring their own experiences as Muslim Americans to the character. This distinct collection brings together scholars from a range of disciplines including literature, cultural studies, religious studies, pedagogy, and communications to engage with a single character, exploring Khan's significance for a broad readership. While acknowledged as the first Muslim superhero to headline her own series, her character appears well-developed and multifaceted in many other ways. She is the first character to take over an established superhero persona, Ms. Marvel, without a reboot of the series or death of the original character. The teenager is also a second-generation immigrant, born to parents who arrived in New Jersey from Pakistan. With essays from and about diverse voices on an array of topics from fashion to immigration history to fandom, this volume includes an exclusive interview with Ms. Marvel author and cocreator G. Willow Wilson by gender studies scholar Shabana Mir.

Are you teaching religious studies in the best way possible? Do you inadvertently offer simplistic understandings of religion to undergraduate students, only to then unpick them at advanced levels? This book presents case studies of teaching methods that integrate student learning, classroom experiences, and disciplinary critiques. It shows how critiques of the scholarship of religious studies—including but not limited to the World Religions paradigm, Christian normativity, Orientalism, colonialism, race, gender, sexuality, and class—can be effectively integrated into all courses, especially at an introductory level. Integrating advanced critiques from religious studies into actual pedagogical practices, this book offers ways for scholars to rethink their courses to be more reflective of the state of the field. This is essential reading for all scholars in religious studies.

Contributions by Jose Alaniz, Jessica Baldanzi, Eric Berlatsky, Peter E. Carlson, Sika A. Dagbovie-Mullins, Antero Garcia, Aaron Kashtan, Winona Landis, A. David Lewis, Martin Lund, Shabana Mir, Kristin M. Peterson, Nicholaus Pumphrey, Hussein Rashid, and J. Richard Stevens Mainstream superheroes are becoming more and more diverse, with new identities for Spider-Man, Captain America, Thor, and Iron Man. Though the Marvel-verse is becoming much more racially, ethnically, and gender diverse, many of these comics remain shy about religion. The new Ms. Marvel, Kamala Khan, is a notable exception, not only because she is written and conceived by two women, Sana Amanat and G. Willow Wilson, but also because both of these women bring their own experiences as Muslim Americans to the character. This distinct collection brings together scholars from a range of disciplines including literature, cultural studies, religious studies, pedagogy, and communications to engage with a single character, exploring Khan's significance for a broad readership. While acknowledged as the first Muslim superhero to headline her own series, her character appears well-developed and multifaceted in many other ways. She is the first character to take over an established superhero persona, Ms. Marvel, without a reboot of the series or death of the original character. The teenager is also a second-generation immigrant, born to parents who arrived in New Jersey from Pakistan. With essays from and about diverse voices on an array of topics from fashion to immigration history to fandom, this volume includes an exclusive interview with Ms. Marvel author and cocreator G. Willow Wilson by gender studies scholar Shabana Mir.