Overview

The Britain of the early twenty-first century has become consumed by heightened concerns about violent crime and terrorism in relation to Muslim communities in the West. Here Marta Bolognani fills a major gap in criminology and diaspora studies through an exhaustive investigation into crime among British Pakistanis. Through detailed ethnographic observation and interview data, Bolognani shows how Bradford Pakistanis' perceptions of crime and control are a combination of the formal and informal, or British and 'traditional' Pakistani, that are no longer separable in the diasporic context. She also examines local and national state policies that are geared to preventing crime and shows how crime comes to be understood by participants as well as institutional actors. Offering a counterpoint to the 'taboo' of talking about crime and race in cultural terms, ""Crime in Muslim Britain"" is essential for all those interested in criminology, ethnicity and the predicaments of Muslim communities today.

Full Product Details

Author:   Marta Bolognani
Publisher:   Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Imprint:   I.B. Tauris
Volume:   v. 1
Dimensions:   Width: 13.80cm , Height: 2.80cm , Length: 21.60cm
Weight:   0.499kg
ISBN:  

9781845118334

ISBN 10:   1845118332
Pages:   288
Publication Date:   30 August 2009
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand  
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.

Table of Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements Introduction 1. The Taboo of Criminological Research amongst Minority Ethnic Groups The Origins of Interest n Race and Crime Crime and Culture Race and Crime in Britain: Discrimination, Policing and the Criminal Justice System Taking Culture Out of the Picture: Alexander's Study Colonial and Post-Colonial Criminology: Tatum's Theoretical Framework 'Blacks Don't Have Culture': Pryce's Participant Observation in Bristol De-Essentialising and De-Pathologising: Benson vs Werbner The Structural Bias: Deprivationism According to Ballard Conclusion: Towards a 'Minority Criminology' 2. Theoretical and Methodological Solutions to the 'Race and Crime' Taboo Criminality as a migration stage: Mawby and Batta Bringing religion into the picture: Macey's bold attempt Islam and its 'betrayal': Qurash's transnational study The anthropological gaze: Len's ethnography of deviance Masculinities and identity: Webster and Imtiaz Attachment and commitment to the community: Wardak's approach Ethnographic information as a working whole: the 'emic' approach Access and multi-sited fieldwork as the key to the 'working whole' The sampling and labelling of sub-groups Breaking the taboo through methodology: criminology, minority perspectives and anthropology 3. Bradford as a case study A 'BrAsian' city Ethnic disadvantage The migration history Ethnic resources and networks: the peculiarities of the biraderi system 'From textile mills to taxiranks' (Kalra 2000) Assertiveness, self-defence and political struggles n the 1980s The Rushdie affair and vigilantism The climax of tension: 2001 Local and global: Bradford post-9/11 A community caught between biraderi and the Umma? 4. Criminological Discourses: Labelling Crime in the community: an endemic problem? The labelling process: crime within and without the community Many problems, one name: drugs in the community Drug-dealing, drug-taking and the chain of criminal activities 'Poisoning the community' Purity and contamination: haram, halal and makkru Crime as a threat to community stability 5. Aetiologies of crime The Asian economic niche Deprivation, discrimination and unemployment 'The lure of big things': strain theory Demography and education The interplay of ethnic resources and networks: the 'out of place culture' The erosion of ethnic networks: the generation gap, vertical and horizontal ties, and khidmat The risks of excessive bonding and biraderism Competing sources: culture, Islam and the West Conclusion: theories of community criminologies 6. Criminological Discourses: Gender and Deviance Pathologising young men: subcultural studies in the British Pakistani context 'Double consciousness' or 'torn between two cultures'? Women and deviance: unveiling the problem Victimhood, agency and double deviance Women as an indicator of the level of deviance in the community Rude boys' lifestyles: appearances, locations and 'Sharifisation' From self defence to heroes: the growth of a 'mafia mentality' Conclusion: young people and moral panic 7. Criminological discourses: informal social control Social control through the family: prevention for girls, retrieval for boys Social control through the family: three case studies of parental strategies The mother's roles 'Home-made rehabilitation': 'village rehab' and the 'marriage cure' Means of social control: gossip and scandal Importing a communal system of social control Between culture and religion: taweez Religion as a protective factor Purification, reintegration and 'reconversions' Popular preaching: Sheikh Ahmed Ali - a case study Conclusion: informal control as a partial solution 8. Criminological discourses: formal social control Mosques: caught between the local and the global Madrassas and the understanding of Islam Mosques as community centres Media Local institutions Schools Prisons Policing Conclusion: complementarity of

Reviews

'This book merges together the study of criminality with diasporic studies, concerns with citizenship and multiculturalism. Building on the long standing tradition of academic work on 'race and crime' this book offers a more cultural studies approach to criminality within a specific community. In this sense, it is ground breaking work that moves the field of criminology out of its comfort zone and connects it with other useful traditions of thought. Based on an 'insider's informed account', the book presents rich data that analyses how practical concerns, cultural and religious beliefs and moral dilemmas play a part in the construction of the idea of crime in the community. The book will speak to those already immersed in studies in this area as well as anthropology, sociology and criminology in general. Such in-depth, long-term projects are becoming increasingly rare and 'Crime in Muslim Britain' is outstanding, both empirically and as a written piece of work.' - Teela Sanders, Senior Lecturer in Sociology of Crime and Deviance, University of Leeds 'This is an anthropologically driven community story, underpinned by themes of ethnicity and criminality, about Pakistani Muslims in the particular locale of Bradford. Utilising a wide range of semi-structured interviews and ethnographic observation the book provides a wealth of interview data, which is its great strength. This book will attract a number of audiences as it is rooted in a number of literatures, particularly crime and ethnicity, and is accessible. Showing how crime comes to be understood by participants as well as institutional actors, and offering an anthropological methodology towards the study, not so much of actual crime, but of its perceptions and effects, this book offers a counterpoint to the 'taboo' of talking about crime and race in cultural terms.' - Virinder S Kalra, Senior Lecturer in Sociology, University of Manchester

Author Information

Marta Bolognani completed her PhD in Sociology at the University of Leeds. She is now Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Lahore University of Management Sciences in Pakistan.

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