What does it mean to be a modern Muslim today? In contemporary discourse Islam and modernity are often presented as each others opposites in media and popular culture.Southeast Asia has a large Muslim population, especially in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, but Islamic culture in these states is conspicuously absent from the wider global discourse on Islam. With a focus on popular culture in Indonesia a country that houses the worlds largest Muslim population and that is also undergoing modernisation Islamic Modernities in Southeast Asia will demonstrate how Islamic modernities are being negotiated and constructed through popular and visual culture from a trans-regional perspective. Looking at a variety of Islamic-themed popular and visual culture including rock music, cinema, art, visual decorations in shopping malls, self-help books, and fashion blogs, the book explores how Islamic modernities are imagined, negotiated, contested, and shared in Southeast Asia.

Leonie Schmidt is Assistant Professor in television studies in the Media Studies Department at the University of Amsterdam and a researcher at the Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis.

Acknowledgements / 1. Introduction: Islamic-themed Popular and Visual Culture and Images of Modernities / 2. Urban Islamic Spectacles: Transforming the Space of the Shopping Mall during Ramadan / 3. Islamic Rock Music and Imaginations of Modernities / 4. Islamic Self-help Books and Governmentality / 5. Muslim Masculinity and Feminity in Islamic-themed Films / 6. Liking, Wearing, and Sharing Islamic Modernities: Indonesian and Malaysian Muslim Fashion Bloggers / 7. Unearthing the Past and Re-imagining the Present - Contemporary Art and Muslim Politics in a Post-9/11 World / 8. Conclusion: Islamic Modernities and the Politics of Plurality / Bibliography / Index