The Politics of Muslim Identities in Asia

Approaching religious identity with an emphasis on agency and contestation, this book offers a multi-disciplinary perspective on the development of Muslim identities in Asia and examines the contingent politics that influence how Muslims constitute themselves as modern subjects. Through 9 country-based case studies, the book analyses how Muslims articulate their religious identity vis-a-vis the state and society in which they live and how their position relates to specific social and political contexts. The contributors survey the contemporary ways in which religious affiliation sparks a politics of difference in contexts where Islamic practices, beliefs and aspirations are contested, as well as where Muslims are framed as the ‘Other’.