Modern Muslim Identities: Negotiating Religion and Ethnicity in Malaysia

This book explores a central tension in identity politics: how the state, civil society, and people want to create and maintain cultural, religious, and social cohesion while paradoxically their everyday practices often run counter to this. Malaysia is no exception, with a political elite maintaining control and cultural dominance but juggling many political pressures. At the heart of this study is the conjuncture between Malay ethnicity and Islamic faith, a state discourse on “civilized Islam,” but other areas are also examined, resulting in a study that combines philosophical and social theory with anthropological insights.