Keeping It Halal: The Everyday Lives of Muslim American Teenage Boys
By John O'Brien
4/5
()
About this ebook
A compelling portrait of a group of boys as they navigate the complexities of being both American teenagers and good Muslims
This book provides a uniquely personal look at the social worlds of a group of young male friends as they navigate the complexities of growing up Muslim in America. Drawing on three and a half years of intensive fieldwork in and around a large urban mosque, John O’Brien offers a compelling portrait of typical Muslim American teenage boys concerned with typical teenage issues—girlfriends, school, parents, being cool—yet who are also expected to be good, practicing Muslims who don’t date before marriage, who avoid vulgar popular culture, and who never miss their prayers.
Many Americans unfamiliar with Islam or Muslims see young men like these as potential ISIS recruits. But neither militant Islamism nor Islamophobia is the main concern of these boys, who are focused instead on juggling the competing cultural demands that frame their everyday lives. O’Brien illuminates how they work together to manage their “culturally contested lives” through subtle and innovative strategies—such as listening to profane hip-hop music in acceptably “Islamic” ways, professing individualism to cast their participation in communal religious obligations as more acceptably American, dating young Muslim women in ambiguous ways that intentionally complicate adjudications of Islamic permissibility, and presenting a “low-key Islam” in public in order to project a Muslim identity without drawing unwanted attention.
Closely following these boys as they move through their teen years together, Keeping It Halal sheds light on their strategic efforts to manage their day-to-day cultural dilemmas as they devise novel and dynamic modes of Muslim American identity in a new and changing America.
John O'Brien
John O'Brien is a well-known NEW YORKER cartoonist. For Clarion, he has illustrated DEAR OLD DONEGAL
Read more from John O'brien
Leaving Las Vegas Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5More True Lies: 18 Tales for You to Judge Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Curious Adventures of Jimmy Mcgee Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Assault on Tony's Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Shrouded World: Whistlers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5True Lies: 18 Tales for You to Judge Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Shrouded World 6: Bitfrost Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Literature Incorporated: The Cultural Unconscious of the Business Corporation, 1650-1850 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Shrouded World 4: Valhalla Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Around the Boree Log and Other Verses Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Shrouded World 2: Atlantis Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Shrouded World 7: Hvergelmir: A Jack Walker and Michael Talbot Adventure Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A History of Fort Campbell Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWomen’s Ordination in the Catholic Church Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Shrouded World 8: Asgard Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Shrouded World 3: Convergence Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Shrouded World 5: Asabron Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Related to Keeping It Halal
Related ebooks
The American Muslim Teenager's Handbook Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsShaping Muslim Futures: Youth Visions and Activist Praxis Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMemories of Muhammad: Why the Prophet Matters Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Halal Monk. A Christian on a Journey through Islam. Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Islam in America Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Great Theft: Wrestling Islam from the Extremists Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Noble Qur'an in English Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMuhammad Prophet of Peace Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsModest in the West: An Untainted Journey of Wearing Hijab Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5It Takes a School: The Extraordinary Success Story That Is Changing a Nation Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Burqas, Baseball, and Apple Pie: Being Muslim in America Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Key to Understanding Islam Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Prophet and his family Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Righteous Muslim: Disciplining Yourself To Attain A Noble Character Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTeachings of Islam: A discussion on the philosophy of spiritual development in Islam Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Men Around the Messenger - Part II Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChosen among Women: Mary and Fatima in Medieval Christianity and Shi`ite Islam Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDesperately Seeking Paradise: Journeys of a Sceptical Muslim Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Story of Maryam Bint Imran (Virgin Mary) Mother of Prophet Jesus (Isa) In Islam Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSalinas: A History of Race and Resilience in an Agricultural City Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSense and Sensibility in Islam: Linguistics, Context and Rationality Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOur Legends Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhen Allah Split the Moon Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUnderstanding Surah al-Baqarah Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsProphet Muhammad Peace Be upon Him Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsReligion as Critique: Islamic Critical Thinking from Mecca to the Marketplace Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLeaving Home: Third Culture Kids Confront the Coronavirus Pandemic Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCommunities of the Qur'an: Dialogue, Debate and Diversity in the 21st Century Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Letters to a Young Muslim Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Concise Guide to the Quran: Answering Thirty Critical Questions Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
Popular Culture & Media Studies For You
100 Things You're Not Supposed to Know: Secrets, Conspiracies, Cover Ups, and Absurdities Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Hollywood's Dark History: Silver Screen Scandals Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rage Becomes Her: The Power of Women's Anger Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Madness of Crowds: Gender, Race and Identity Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Butts: A Backstory Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5And The Mountains Echoed Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Pimpology: The 48 Laws of the Game Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Thick: And Other Essays Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Communion: The Female Search for Love Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fifties Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Truth: Sex, Love, Commitment, and the Puzzle of the Male Mind Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Regarding the Pain of Others Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Element Encyclopedia of 20,000 Dreams: The Ultimate A–Z to Interpret the Secrets of Your Dreams Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of Libromancy: On Selling Books and Reading Books in the Twenty-first Century Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Dream Dictionary from A to Z [Revised edition]: The Ultimate A–Z to Interpret the Secrets of Your Dreams Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fear and Loathing at Rolling Stone: The Essential Writing of Hunter S. Thompson Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America: Essays Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Misinformation Age: How False Beliefs Spread Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Devil's Notebook Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative? Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Microdosing with Amanita Muscaria: Creativity, Healing, and Recovery with the Sacred Mushroom Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Keeping It Halal
1 rating0 reviews