Halal (literally, "permissible" or "lawful") production, trade, and standards have become essential to state-regulated Islam and to companies in contemporary Malaysia and Singapore, giving these two countries a special position in the rapidly expanding global market for halal products: in these nations state bodies certify halal products as well as spaces (shops, factories, and restaurants) and work processes, and so consumers can find state halal-certified products from Malaysia and Singapore in shops around the world. Building on ethnographic material from Malaysia, Singapore, and Europe, this book provides an exploration of the role of halal production, trade, and standards. Fischer explains how the global markets for halal comprise divergent zones in which Islam, markets, regulatory institutions, and technoscience interact and diverge. Focusing on the "bigger institutional picture" that frames everyday halal consumption, Fischer provides a multisited ethnography of the overlapping technologies and techniques of production, trade, and standards that together warrant a product as "halal," and thereby help to format the market. Exploring global halal in networks, training, laboratories, activism, companies, shops and restaurants, this book will be an essential resource to scholars and students of social science interested in the global interface zones between religion, standards, and technoscience.

Halal (literally, "permissible" or "lawful") production, trade, and standards have become essential to state-regulated Islam and to companies in contemporary Malaysia and Singapore, giving these two countries a special position in the rapidly expanding global market for halal products: in these nations state bodies certify halal products as well as spaces (shops, factories, and restaurants) and work processes, and so consumers can find state halal-certified products from Malaysia and Singapore in shops around the world. Building on ethnographic material from Malaysia, Singapore, and Europe, this book provides an exploration of the role of halal production, trade, and standards. Fischer explains how the global markets for halal comprise divergent zones in which Islam, markets, regulatory institutions, and technoscience interact and diverge. Focusing on the "bigger institutional picture" that frames everyday halal consumption, Fischer provides a multisited ethnography of the overlapping technologies and techniques of production, trade, and standards that together warrant a product as "halal," and thereby help to format the market. Exploring global halal in networks, training, laboratories, activism, companies, shops and restaurants, this book will be an essential resource to scholars and students of social science interested in the global interface zones between religion, standards, and technoscience.

The Routledge Handbook of Global Islam and Consumer Culture is an outstanding inter- and transdisciplinary reference source to key topics, problems, and debates in this challenging research field. The study of Islam is enriched by investigating religion and, notably, Islamic normativity (fiqh) as a resource for product design, attitudes toward commodification, and appropriated patterns of behavior. Comprising 35 chapters (including an extended Introduction) by a team of international contributors from chairholders to advanced graduate students, the handbook is divided into seven parts: Guiding Frameworks of Understanding Historical Probes Urbanism and Consumption Body Manipulation, Vestiary Regimes, and Gender Mediated Religion and Culture Consumer Culture, Lifestyle, and Senses of the Self through Consumption Markets These sections examine vibrant debates around consumption, frugality, Islamic jurisprudence and fatwas in the world economy, capitalism, neoliberalism, trade relations, halalization, (labor) tourism and travel infrastructure, body modification, fashion, self-fashioning, lifestylization, Islamic kitsch, urban regeneration, heritage, Islamic finance, the internet, and Quran recitation versus music. Contributions present selected case studies from countries across the world, including China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Morocco, Nigeria, Qatar, Pakistan, and Turkey. The handbook is essential reading for students and researchers in Islamic studies, Near and Middle Eastern studies, religious studies, and cultural studies. The handbook will also be very useful for those in related fields, such as politics, area studies, sociology, anthropology, and history.

Rethinking Halal reflects an anthropological revolution, that of the scientising, standardising, and normalising of social life through certification which is part of a process of ‘positivisation’ that directly affected Islam and Islamic normativity.

The first volume to explore Muslim piety as a form of economy, this book examines specific forms of production, trade, regulation, consumption, entrepreneurship and science that condition – and are themselves conditioned by – Islamic values, logics and politics. With a focus on Southeast Asia as a site of significant and diverse integration of Islam and the economy – as well as the incompatibilities that can occur between the two – it reveals the production of a Muslim piety as an economy in its own right. Interdisciplinary in nature and based on in-depth empirical studies, the book considers issues such as the Qur’anic prohibition of corruption and anti-corruption reforms; the emergence of the Islamic economy under colonialism; ‘halal’ or ‘lawful’ production, trade, regulation and consumption; modesty in Islamic fashion marketing communications; and financialisation, consumerism and housing. As such, it will appeal to scholars of sociology, anthropology and religious studies with interests in Islam and Southeast Asia.

This book presents new perspectives on Southeast Asia using cases from a range of ethnic groups, cultures and histories, written by scholars from different ethnicities, generations, disciplines and scientific traditions. It examines various research trajectories, engaging with epistemological debates on the ‘global’ and ‘local’, on ‘insiders’ and ‘outsiders’, and the role played by personal experiences in the collection and analysis of empirical data. The volume provides subjects for debate rarely addressed in formal approaches to data gathering and analysis. Rather than grappling with the usual methodological building blocks of research training, it focuses on neglected issues in the research experience including chance, error, coincidence, mishap, dead ends, silence, secrets, improvisation, remembering, digital challenges and shifting tracks. Fieldwork and the Self is relevant to academics and researchers from universities and international organisations who are engaged in teaching and learning in area studies and social science research methods. “A rich and compelling set of writings about fieldwork in, and beyond, Southeast Asia”. — Lyn Parker, Emeritus Professor, University of Western Australia “A must-read for all, especially emerging scholars on Southeast Asia, and a refreshing read for critical ‘old hands’ on the region”. — Abdul Rahman Embong, Emeritus Professor, Institute of Malaysian and International Studies (IKMAS), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia “An impressive collection of essays by two academics who have devoted their academic life to anthropological fieldwork in Southeast Asia”. — Shamsul A.B., Distinguished Professor and UNESCO Chair, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia “The contributors share an unquenchable and passionate curiosity for Southeast Asia. They have survived the uncertainties and disillusionment of their fieldwork and remained first-grade scholars”. — Marie-Sybille de Vienne, Professor, National Institute for Oriental Languages and Civilisations, Paris “A penetrating reflection on current social science research on Southeast Asia”. — Hans-Dieter Evers, Professor Emeritus and Senior Fellow, University of Bonn

The development of Islamic landscapes in Europe, is first and foremost related to Islamic authority. Religious authority relies on persuasiveness and deals with issues of truth, authenticity, legitimacy, trust, and ethics with reference to religious matters. This study argues that Islamic authority-making among European Muslims is a social and relational practice that is much broader and versatile than theological proficiency and personal status. It can also be conferred to objects, activities, and events. The book explores various ways in which Islamic authority is being constituted among Muslims in Western Europe with a particular focus on the role of ‘ordinary’ Muslims. This book is available in its entirety in Open Access.