Muslim Masculinities in Literature and Film
Join us for the book launch of Dr Peter Cherry’s (Bilkent and MENACS) new monograph, "Muslim Masculinities in Literature and Film" (Bloomsbury 2021).
Following events like the Satanic Verses affair and 9/11, a climate of Islamophobia allows anxieties about Muslim men living in and migrating to Britain to endure. British Muslims men are often profiled in highly negative terms or regarded with suspicion owing to their perceived religious and cultural heritage. But novels and films by British migrant and diaspora writers and filmmakers powerfully contest these stereotypes, examine their cultural construction and explore the rich diversity of Muslim masculinities in Britain. This book is the first critical study to engage with the construction of British Muslim masculinities in this literary and cinematic output.
Through close analysis of work by Monica Ali, Nadeem Aslam, Guy Gunaratne, Sally El Hosaini, Hanif Kureishi, Suhayl Saadi, Kamila Shamsie, Zadie Smith, Zia Haider Rahman and Salman Rushdie, Cherry examines how migrant and diaspora protagonists negotiate their masculinity in a climate of Islamophobic and anti-migrant rhetoric. Cherry proposes a transcultural reading of these novels and films that exposes how conceptions of 'Britishness', 'Muslimness' and those of masculinity are unstable and contingent constructs shaped by migration, interaction with other cultures, and global and local politics.
Our event will include a brief introductory presentation from Dr Cherry followed by a response with discussant Professor Claire Chambers (York).
This book launch event will be chaired by Dr Feras Alkabani.
Register and add the event and Zoom webinar ID (987 8094 2530) to your calendar via this link: https://universityofsussex.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Sq5aaowDRC6_nL6qM9amiA