Rethinking Progressive Islam Through Food Magfirah Dahlan-Taylor Dissertation Submitted to Th
Beyond Minority Identity Politics: Rethinking Progressive Islam through Food Magfirah Dahlan-Taylor Dissertation submitted to the faculty of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy In Planning, Governance, and Globalization Chad D. Lavin, Co-Chair Timothy W. Luke, Co-Chair Rachel M. Scott Francois Debrix May 2nd, 2012 Blacksburg, VA Keywords: Muslim, Modernity, Religious Identity, Dietary Law, and Food Ethics Beyond Minority Identity Politics: Rethinking Progressive Islam through Food Magfirah Dahlan-Taylor ABSTRACT In this dissertation, I analyze the challenges of speaking about religion, ethics, and politics as a Muslim in America beyond the language of minority identity. I investigated the different ways Muslims negotiate the demands of Islamic dietary laws in their everyday lives by collecting primary data gathered through interviews with Muslims from different localities. The answers given by the participants in this study speak to more than the particular issue of how Muslims understand and carry out the demands of Islamic dietary laws given the reality of living in a country where Muslims are a minority group. They reflect a discourse on Islamic dietary laws that is framed primarily within the language of exclusive privatized religious identity and individual consumerism. In this dissertation, I seek to propose a different discourse on Islamic dietary laws, one that is characterized by greater inclusivity and challenges the language of exclusive privatized religious identity and individual consumerism. Acknowledgments and Dedication I would like to thank: Chad Lavin, Timothy Luke, Rachel Scott, and Francois Debrix The participants in this study Rupa Thadhani and Bettina Koch My teachers in Virginia Tech The Dahlan family and the Taylor family Abubaker al-Shingieti, Mahmoud Ayoub, Jamal al-Barzinji, and Faisal Malik Rukmi Widayanti and PERMIAS VT Blacksburg Elisabeth Chaves and Beth Marshall I dedicate this dissertation to Reed Taylor, Djuana Tunggono, and T.
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