Making Muslimness Race Religion And Performance In Contemporary Manchester | Theatre And Performance

Making Muslimness explores how British Muslims navigate the United Kingdom's sociopolitical and religious tensions through performance in everyday life. Drawing on nearly two years of interdisciplinary research in Manchester during the late 2010s and early 2020s this book examines diverse contexts – from devised theatre projects to public processions to the aftermath of the 2017 Manchester Arena attack. It distinguishes between Islam as a religion and Muslimness as a performed identity arguing that Muslimness emerges through negotiation based on individuals' relationships to Islam's social construction. Through theatre-making ethnographic fieldwork interviews and media analyses the book deconstructs the racialized British assumption that equates Muslim identity with Asian heritage. Instead it reveals a resilient British Muslim counterpublic that builds solidarity challenges harmful narratives and creates socially just artistic spaces. The work bridges theatre and performance studies with anthropologies of Islam Britain and youth while addressing intersections of Muslimness with race gender sexuality age and Britishness. This book is essential reading for scholars and students in performance studies religious studies sociology and cultural studies who are interested in contemporary Muslim identities performance and the politics of belonging in multicultural Britain. |Making Muslimness Race Religion and Performance in Contemporary Manchester | Theatre and Performance