Suchergebnisse

"Examining the powerful linkages between class, consumption, market relations, Islam and the state in contemporary Malaysia, this is the first book to explore how Malaysia's emerging Malay middle class is constituted through consumer practices and Islamic revivalism." "By exploring consumption practices in urban Malaysia, Proper Islamic Consumption shows how diverse forms of Malay middle-class consumption (of food, clothing and cars, for example) are understood, practised and contested as a particular mode of modern Islamic practice. It illustrates ways in which the issue of 'proper Islamic consumption' for consumers, the marketplace and the state in contemporary Malaysia evokes a whole range of contradictory Islamic visions, lifestyles and debates articulating what Islam is or ought to be."--Jacket

Abstract
The increasing visibility of halal (meat) products in non-Muslim countries, such as Denmark, highlights the central and controversial role of Muslim authority in the regulation/certification of halal products along two axes: Muslims/non-Muslims and divergent Muslim groups/organisations. Using qualitative data gathered through participant observation and interviews conducted at Muslim organisations and businesses in and around Copenhagen, I argue that halal production and regulation is a constructive lens through which to explore why and how Muslim authority and legitimacy are generated and contested in contemporary Denmark. Muslim authority within the halal market evidently emerges at the interface between local and international Muslim organisations/certifiers, the state and consumers.

Within the last two decades or so there has been increased scholarly focus on the emergence, consolidation and future of the middle class in developing Asia. This is also the case with the Malay Muslim middle class in Malaysia, but how this class is developing over time is not well understood even if the Malays constitute the largest and fastest growing section of the middle class in Malaysia. Based on research projects I have carried out from the mid-1990s to the present, this article argues that an unpacking of the Malay Muslim middle class over time is important in order to understand the broader picture surrounding this class and its relationship to Malaysian national repertoires such as Islamic revivalism, politics, consumer culture, social mobility and the state-market nexus. I understand middle-class projects to be the making of local class culture in Malaysia and explore these in four research projects that each in their own way examine how Malay Muslim informants understand and practice "middle-classness" in different spatial and temporal contexts. In short, my findings show how Malay Muslim middle-class projects such as Islamic consumption shape local class culture in Malaysia.

Most recent scholarship on moral economies or religious markets argues for the compatibility of economies/markets and religious practices in particular national or regional contexts. However, over the last couple of decades or so religious markets have entered a new phase characterized by new forms of regulation, certification and standardization on a global scale. Building on research on global kosher (a Hebrew term meaning "fit" or "proper"), halal (an Arabic word that literally means "permissible" or "lawful") and Hindu vegetarianism this paper argues that these economies or markets to a large extent are conditioned by and themselves condition forms of transnational governmentality, that is, new and often overlapping practices of government and grassroots politics. I explore religious economies and markets at three interrelated levels of the social scale: state and non-state regulation, the marketplace and consumers. Epistemologically, comparison is used as a powerful conceptual mechanism that fixes attention on kosher, halal and Hindu vegetarian similarities and differences. ; Most recent scholarship on moral economies or religious markets argues for the compatibility of economies/markets and religious practices in particular national or regional contexts. However, over the last couple of decades or so religious markets have entered a new phase characterized by new forms of regulation, certification and standardization on a global scale. Building on research on global kosher (a Hebrew term meaning "fit" or "proper"), halal (an Arabic word that literally means "permissible" or "lawful") and Hindu vegetarianism this paper argues that these economies or markets to a large extent are conditioned by and themselves condition forms of transnational governmentality, that is, new and often overlapping practices of government and grassroots politics. I explore religious economies and markets at three interrelated levels of the social scale: state and non-state regulation, the marketplace and consumers. Epistemologically, comparison is used as a powerful conceptual mechanism that fixes attention on kosher, halal and Hindu vegetarian similarities and differences.

The purpose of this article is to further our understanding of contemporary Muslim consumer activism in Malaysia with a particular focus on halal (in Arabic, literally "permissible" or "lawful") products and services. Muslim activists and organisations promote halal on a big scale in the interface zones between new forms of Islamic revivalism, the ethnicised state and Muslim consumer culture. Organisations such as the Muslim Consumers Association of Malaysia play an important role in pushing and protecting halal in Malaysia, that is, halal activists constantly call on the state to tighten halal regulation and they also at times call for boycotting products that are associated with haram (literally, "prohibited") impurity and unwanted foreign influences. I argue that insufficient attention has been paid to the micro-social logics of modern forms of religious consumer activism and networking in particular historical/national settings and that these issues should be explored in the interfaces between Islam, the state and market. More specifically, this article examines the above issues building on ethnography from fieldwork with three Muslim organisations in Malaysia.

The purpose of this article is to further our understanding of the transformation of Muslim consumption and anti-consumption by an empirical case study of Malaysia. Much current anti-consumerist and anti-globalization discourse identifies boycotting as an immensely powerful force. I argue that insufficient attention has been paid to the micro-social logics of modern forms of religious consumption and anti-consumption in particular historical/national settings and that these issues should be explored in the interfaces between Islam, state and market. This article examines the political and cultural effects of the Islamic opposition's call to boycott US goods in Malaysia in the wake of 9/11 that coincided with a forceful stress on promoting modern halal (in Arabic halal literally means 'permissible or 'lawful') products and services. This article argues that from around that time, Muslim consumption in Malaysia became the subject of increasing consumer activism and I explore how Malaysian federal state institutions, Islamic organizations and consumers respond to and are affected by calls to boycott (anti-consumption) and boycott (consumption) a range of products. More specifically, this article examines the above issues building on ethnography from fieldwork with Muslim Consumers Association of Malaysia (PPIM), which is an organization that protects the interests of Muslim consumers and entrepreneurs, as well as Malay Muslim middle-class informants. ; The purpose of this article is to further our understanding of the transformation of Muslim consumption and anti-consumption by an empirical case study of Malaysia. Much current anti-consumerist and anti-globalization discourse identifies boycotting as an immensely powerful force. I argue that insufficient attention has been paid to the micro-social logics of modern forms of religious consumption and anti-consumption in particular historical/national settings and that these issues should be explored in the interfaces between Islam, state and market. This article examines the political and cultural effects of the Islamic opposition's call to boycott US goods in Malaysia in the wake of 9/11 that coincided with a forceful stress on promoting modern halal (in Arabic halal literally means 'permissible or 'lawful') products and services. This article argues that from around that time, Muslim consumption in Malaysia became the subject of increasing consumer activism and I explore how Malaysian federal state institutions, Islamic organizations and consumers respond to and are affected by calls to boycott (anti-consumption) and boycott (consumption) a range of products. More specifically, this article examines the above issues building on ethnography from fieldwork with Muslim Consumers Association of Malaysia (PPIM), which is an organization that protects the interests of Muslim consumers and entrepreneurs, as well as Malay Muslim middle-class informants.