The Bloomsbury Handbook of Muslims and Popular Culture illustrates how Muslims participate in a broad spectrum of activities. Moving beyond a framework that emphasizes ritual, legal, historical, or theological issues, this book speaks to how Muslims live in the world, in relation to their religion and the realities of the world around them. The international team of contributors provide in-depth analysis that chronicles Islamic cultural products in regional and transnational contexts, explores dominant and emerging theories about popularization, and offers provocations in the field of religion and popular culture. The handbook is structured in six parts: spaces; appetites; performances; readings; visions; and communities. The book explores a variety of Muslim societies and communities within the last 100 years, ranging from the Islamic presence in Latin American architecture to Muslim Anglophone hip-hop, and Muslims in modern Indian theatre.

Muslims are frequently understood within a limited frame that emphasizes ritual, legal, or theological issues only. However, Muslims participate in a far broader spectrum of activities that are both shaped by their tradition and articulate how they comprehend it. The Bloomsbury Handbook of Muslims and Popular Culture explores many of these initiatives across a variety of Muslim societies and communities within the last 100 years, and includes some of the most exciting domains exploring the subject. The international team of contributors provide in-depth analysis that chronicles Islamic cultural products in regional and transnational contexts, explores dominant and emerging theories about popularization, and offers provocations in the field of religion and popular culture. The handbook is structured in 8 parts to cover the following aspects of Islam and popular culture: - methods, theories and issues - society - place - performance - literature - visual media - art - fashion

Chinese popular culture is extremely diverse and richly complex. The 18 chapters in this reference provide the most comprehensive and current bibliographical and descriptive study of Chinese popular culture in English. Each chapter, written by an expert contributor, provides a thorough survey of research materials and an overview of the most significant points of critical concern. The extensive closing bibliography provides references for topics not treated in the volume.

Spanish popular culture is one of the richest in the world. The absence of an efficient ruling class has allowed the people to stamp their personality on all major aspects of the country's life. This book describes the peculiar Spanish feeling for death and tragedy in popular religious practices, music and the bullfight; the fiesta sense of life, so foreign to the work ethic of other Western countries; the oral tradition that has managed to survive into the post-industrial age with its creative use of slang, proverbs and obscenity; popular literature, the press, radio, television and the movies. Students and scholars will appreciate the first comprehensive treatment of Spanish popular culture in a single volume. The author has done first-hand research in all the major regions of Spain and has compiled a list of major archives and resource centers. An extensive bibliography on the major fields of popular Spanish culture is included at the end of each chapter.

Has also occasional unnumbered supplements

"Covers ten centuries of history, with emphasis on events and people central to creation of the Pakistani Muslim identity and to the creation of the modern state."--Publisher website: http://www.abc-clio.com/products/overview.aspx?productid=109918&viewid=1.

Uses essays, biographical portraits, and primary documents to explain the history of Islamic fundamentalism, discuss what adherents believe, and examine cultural, religious, and political aspects.

Includes essays on twentieth-century literature in Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Panjabi, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu as well as Indian literature in English.

Follows the rise of modern India's pop culture world, especially since the 1980s, when relaxed censorship and economic liberalization led to an explosion in movies, music, mass media, consumerism, spiritual practices, and more. It is a captivating introduction to a diverse nation whose appetite for entertainment has led to some surprising twists and turns in recent history.

The first authoritative guide to how the world drinks, this reference details alcohol use in different countries and cultures. Variation is striking, with alcohol sometimes a food, a sacrament, a symbol, a tool, a tranquilizer, a medicine, a love potion, or an object of scorn—often with very different meanings and uses in a single country. This volume reveals multicultural and ethnic beliefs, practices, and attitudes about drinking around the world. An extensive introduction discusses the close link between alcohol and culture and provides a foundation for the rest of the book. Each of the following chapters is written by an expert contributor and discusses alcohol and culture in a particular country. Chapters discuss historical trends, drinking among ethnic and religious minorities, national policies, and social outcomes. Countries range from industrial nations known for their alcohol research, to developing nations and to places famous for drinking. A concluding chapter highlights important similarities and differences.