John O'Brien
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780691197111
- eISBN:
- 9781400888696
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691197111.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
This book provides a uniquely personal look at the social worlds of a group of young male friends as they navigate the complexities of growing up Muslim in America. The book offers a compelling ...
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This book provides a uniquely personal look at the social worlds of a group of young male friends as they navigate the complexities of growing up Muslim in America. The book offers a compelling portrait of typical Muslim American teenage boys concerned with typical teenage issues—girlfriends, school, parents, being cool—yet who are also expected to be good, practicing Muslims who don't date before marriage, who avoid vulgar popular culture, and who never miss their prayers. Many Americans unfamiliar with Islam or Muslims see young men like these as potential ISIS recruits. But neither militant Islamism nor Islamophobia is the main concern of these boys, who are focused instead on juggling the competing cultural demands that frame their everyday lives. The book illuminates how they work together to manage their “culturally contested lives” through subtle and innovative strategies, such as listening to profane hip-hop music in acceptably “Islamic” ways, professing individualism to cast their participation in communal religious obligations as more acceptably American, dating young Muslim women in ambiguous ways that intentionally complicate adjudications of Islamic permissibility, and presenting a “low-key Islam” in public in order to project a Muslim identity without drawing unwanted attention. Closely following these boys as they move through their teen years together, the book sheds light on their strategic efforts to manage their day-to-day cultural dilemmas as they devise novel and dynamic modes of Muslim American identity in a new and changing America.Less
This book provides a uniquely personal look at the social worlds of a group of young male friends as they navigate the complexities of growing up Muslim in America. The book offers a compelling portrait of typical Muslim American teenage boys concerned with typical teenage issues—girlfriends, school, parents, being cool—yet who are also expected to be good, practicing Muslims who don't date before marriage, who avoid vulgar popular culture, and who never miss their prayers. Many Americans unfamiliar with Islam or Muslims see young men like these as potential ISIS recruits. But neither militant Islamism nor Islamophobia is the main concern of these boys, who are focused instead on juggling the competing cultural demands that frame their everyday lives. The book illuminates how they work together to manage their “culturally contested lives” through subtle and innovative strategies, such as listening to profane hip-hop music in acceptably “Islamic” ways, professing individualism to cast their participation in communal religious obligations as more acceptably American, dating young Muslim women in ambiguous ways that intentionally complicate adjudications of Islamic permissibility, and presenting a “low-key Islam” in public in order to project a Muslim identity without drawing unwanted attention. Closely following these boys as they move through their teen years together, the book sheds light on their strategic efforts to manage their day-to-day cultural dilemmas as they devise novel and dynamic modes of Muslim American identity in a new and changing America.
Magdalena Wong
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- January 2021
- ISBN:
- 9789888528424
- eISBN:
- 9789882203570
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Hong Kong University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5790/hongkong/9789888528424.003.0002
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Gender Studies
The chapter describes, with two ethnographic cases, how hegemonic masculinity exerts influence during teenage boys’ formative years and their responses. There is a focus on failure or inadequacy, ...
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The chapter describes, with two ethnographic cases, how hegemonic masculinity exerts influence during teenage boys’ formative years and their responses. There is a focus on failure or inadequacy, rather than the usual accounts of hard work and academic success in related Chinese literature. The boys' perceived docile and unmanly characters concern their parents, but the boys choose to exercise their agency to develop alternative masculinities, including interpreting androgyny and effeminacy as desirable male models, rather than conforming to the hegemonic ideal. The one-child policy and volatility created by the countrywide rural-to-urban labour migration are identified as affecting the lives of boys in 21st century China and leading, amongst other things, to large numbers of left behind children and only sons.Less
The chapter describes, with two ethnographic cases, how hegemonic masculinity exerts influence during teenage boys’ formative years and their responses. There is a focus on failure or inadequacy, rather than the usual accounts of hard work and academic success in related Chinese literature. The boys' perceived docile and unmanly characters concern their parents, but the boys choose to exercise their agency to develop alternative masculinities, including interpreting androgyny and effeminacy as desirable male models, rather than conforming to the hegemonic ideal. The one-child policy and volatility created by the countrywide rural-to-urban labour migration are identified as affecting the lives of boys in 21st century China and leading, amongst other things, to large numbers of left behind children and only sons.
David Greenberg and Eliezer Witztum
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- October 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780300071917
- eISBN:
- 9780300131994
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300071917.003.0010
- Subject:
- Psychology, Social Psychology
This chapter examines why nocturnal hallucinations predominantly affect ultra-orthodox teenage boys with a history of learning difficulties. The following unique aspects of ultra-orthodox life are ...
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This chapter examines why nocturnal hallucinations predominantly affect ultra-orthodox teenage boys with a history of learning difficulties. The following unique aspects of ultra-orthodox life are analyzed for their influence: (i) growing up with learning difficulties in an environment where academic achievement is the pinnacle of success and no alternative is countenanced; (ii) the challenges presented by such important milestones in life as bar mitzvah, adolescence, and leaving home to live in a yeshiva; (iii) the impact of loss; (iv) the meaning of night in ultra-orthodox Judaism; and (v) the differences between the sexes.Less
This chapter examines why nocturnal hallucinations predominantly affect ultra-orthodox teenage boys with a history of learning difficulties. The following unique aspects of ultra-orthodox life are analyzed for their influence: (i) growing up with learning difficulties in an environment where academic achievement is the pinnacle of success and no alternative is countenanced; (ii) the challenges presented by such important milestones in life as bar mitzvah, adolescence, and leaving home to live in a yeshiva; (iii) the impact of loss; (iv) the meaning of night in ultra-orthodox Judaism; and (v) the differences between the sexes.
