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Everyday Hybridity and Hong Kong’s Muslim Youth
| Content Provider | Scilit |
|---|---|
| Copyright Year | 2013 |
| Description | Book Name: Hybrid Hong Kong |
| Abstract | Hybridity is a referent that is popularly used in cultural analysis but is seldom given empirical context. Often the term is applied shallowly to signify the juxtaposition of cultural styles, mix and bricolage. It has received popular use as an ‘‘uncritical celebration of otherness’’ [Noble, Poynting and Tabar 1999: 31]. How hybridity is lived or experienced is often left unexplored. I argue in this article that Hong Kong provides a context in which hybridity can be pursued through everyday examples, representing forms of cultural mix that are not tied to styles but to activities that are commonplace, even mundane. Muslim youth, frequently perceived as marginal, subversive and at odds withthe Western values of liberal multiculturalism [Modood 2005: 179], present a subject matter that challenges existing notions of a celebrated, stylish hybridity. In the West long-standing associations of an inflexible and intolerant Islam have escalated in the post-9=11 era. In 2005 the 7=7 bombings in London, the Cronulla riots in Sydney, and riots in Paris were events in which young Muslims were central. These all raised concerns about Muslim youth as troubled, volatile minorities in those countries and throughout Western nations [Lewis 2007]. In this article, the account of life for Muslim minorities in Hong Kong provides a much-needed contrast to the extensive literature that exists on Muslims as minorities across the Western world. These testimonies engage with the everydaystreet-level cultural mix that is pervasive and palpable to those who live in the city. The participants in this article challenge existing ideas on Muslim youth; their everyday lives are importantly shown to be occupied and animated with far more banal concerns than the global war on terrorism, Islamic extremism and subversion. The article begins by addressing how Hong Kong has been debated as hybrid.In these accounts I argue that the popularity of mundane, everyday accounts of hybridity is characteristic of the type of cultural mix that exists in this territory. Everyday hybridity is presented as a concept that can engage with lived accounts of hybridity through enquiry on quotidian sites and experiences of cultural mix. This is followed by a review of the ways in which Muslim youth have and continue to be approached in social research. I address how Muslim youth, unlike other minority youth, have not been celebrated because of their hybridity: more typically Muslim youth are presented as a troubled minority. Three themes separate the participant accounts which focus on identity,space and Ramadan. Identity is explored through the everyday accounts of two girls, one Pakistani and one a Chinese Muslim (Hui). The two girls reveal a number of contradictions between being Chinese and not-Chinese. Both of them provide a lived account of a complex hybrid identity. Space is then discussed through the experiences of Pakistani boys as they search for places to play cricket. They express an engagement with Hong Kong urban space and how cultures converge, appropriate and negotiate public areas. Their accounts show how the urban environment is a ‘‘stage’’ in which different cultures interact and engage. Finally I present a variety of anecdotes provided by the participants regarding the Islamic month of Ramadan, when Muslims fast during the daylight hours as a religious obligation. These testimonies give insight into how Islam is practiced in Hong Kong and illustrate a variety of examples of everyday hybridity. In conclusion I review the concept of everyday hybridity itself and argue that it provides a method to make empirical enquiries into cultural pluralism. The accounts of young Muslims in Hong Kong are examples of cultural mix and fusion, and suggest that Hong Kong facilitates hybridity. The participant testimonies therefore not only support the notion of Hong Kong as hybrid but also provide an alternative account of minority Muslim youth, a contrast to much of what has been reported from Western nations in the post-9=11 era. |
| Related Links | https://api.taylorfrancis.com/content/chapters/edit/download?identifierName=doi&identifierValue=10.4324/9780203723296-19&type=chapterpdf |
| Ending Page | 282 |
| Page Count | 23 |
| Starting Page | 260 |
| DOI | 10.4324/9780203723296-19 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited |
| Publisher Date | 2013-09-13 |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Subject Keyword | Book Name: Hybrid Hong Kong Cultural Studies Everyday Examples Young Muslims Hong Kong Everyday Hybridity Notion Mundane Western Nations |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Chapter |
