Secularism and Identity

Reza Gholami is Lecturer in the Sociology of Education at Middlesex University, UK.

• Series Editor’s Preface; Preface; Acknowledgments; Introduction; Chapter 1 Postmodern Fixations; Chapter 2 Across Times and Spaces; Chapter 3 From Islamic Revolution to Non-Islamious Migration; Chapter 4 Non-Islamiosity Observed; Chapter 5 The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (‘the Persian’, ‘the Islamic’ and ‘the Muslim’); Chapter 6 The ‘Persia’ Factor; Chapter 7 ‘Is This Islamic Enough?’ Secular Power and Shi`a Religiosity; Chapter 101 Moratorium;

’By investigating Muslim diasporic modes of the secular Gholami redresses the tendency of most research on Muslim minorities in Europe which overemphasises their Islamic dimension. At the same time, he successfully challenges simplistic dichotomies of devout versus secular Muslims.’ Oliver Scharbrodt, University of Chester, UK ’This comprehensive and readable book is a major contribution and addition to the growing literature on Iranian and Muslim immigrants in diaspora, and a valuable book for anyone concerned with the complex relationships between migration, religion, diaspora, identity, and secularism.’ Mohsen M. Mobasher, University of Houston-Downtown (UHD), USA ’Muslim heritage diasporas in the UK especially are often presumed to be un-problematically religious. Reza Gholami’s interesting study of the Iranian middle class in London successfully challenges such ideas and contributes to a new body of work on secular and non-religious identifications. Combining cultural theory with ethnographic vignettes, he shows how contested discourses of modernity, freedom and anti-religion have all been imaginatively reconstructed in media, art and everyday practices across the generations.’ Seán McLoughlin, University of Leeds, UK