Crime and Muslim Britain: Race, Culture and the Politics of Criminology Among British Pakistanis
Author(s): Marta Bolognani (Author)
Publisher: I B Tauris & Co Ltd
Publication Date: 21 Aug. 2009
Language: English
Print length: 288 pages
ISBN-10: 1845118332
ISBN-13: 9781845118334
Book Description
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.
Editorial Reviews
Review
'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
About the Author
Marta Bolognani completed her PhD in Sociology at the University of Leeds. She wrote this book while Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Lahore University of Management Sciences in Pakistan. She is now Head of Sociology, Criminology and Popular Culture at the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff, UK.
Wow! eBook
