Description
Book SynopsisThis book uses everyday consumption as a lens to analyze how South Asian Muslim American women negotiate racial, religious, gendered, classed, and often political identities. In particular, Ternikar examines the use of food and clothing as well as social media accounts among this important immigrant population, offering new insight that goes beyond examining Muslim American women through the lens of hijab. This timely and nuanced interdisciplinary study draws on both sociology of consumption theory and intersectional feminism and will be valuable for courses in gender and women’s studies, sociology of consumption, and women and religion.
Trade ReviewThis book is a fascinating exploration of the interplay between identity formation and consumption patterns with special focus on food, dress, and social media. But its sophisticated and nuanced description of the mutual impacts of politics, capitalism, and identity formation among South Asian Muslim women goes far beyond debates over clothing and dietary habits. Based on case studies in Chicago, Ternikar reveals women’s agency in both adapting to and maintaining distinct identities within dominant American cultures.
-- Tamara Sonn, Georgetown University
Using an intersectional analysis that incorporates gender, social class, race, ethnicity, sexuality, religion, and immigrant status, Ternikar complicates classical sociological accounts of consumption. She shows how middle-class, college educated, second-generation South Asian Muslim American women navigate the complex and often fraught dynamics of living in contemporary America, using consumption to form new identities, while maintaining ethno-religious traditions, and to create distinct bonds of friendship with other SAMA women. Ternikar’s account is a fascinating examination of their multi-faceted lives and identities.
-- Elaine Power, Queen’s University
In this well-theorized and smartly researched book, Ternikar covers new territory in the fields of food, fashion, and consumption studies. By bringing the three approaches together, she helps readers recognize the multiple voices we speak in when we shop and the many ways those voices can be heard and misheard.
-- Megan Elias, Boston University
Table of ContentsPreface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter 1: Beyond Authentic Curry and Halal Kebobs
Chapter 2: Bicultural Identities, Prada Bags and Saris?
Chapter 3: Muslimgirls, Browngirls and the Consumption of Social Media
Conclusion
References
Index
About the Author
