Proper Islamic Consumption: Shopping Among the Malays in Modern Malaysia

NIAS Monographs #113

by Johan Fischer

The West has seen the rise of the organic movement. In the Muslim world, a similar halal movement is rapidly spreading. Exploring consumption practices in urban Malaysia, this book shows how diverse forms of Malay middle-class consumption (of food, clothing and cars, for example) are understood, practised and contested as a particular mode of modern Islamic practice. It illustrates ways in which the issue of 'proper Islamic consumption' for consumers, the marketplace and the state in contemporary Malaysia evokes a whole range of contradictory Islamic visions, lifestyles and debates articulating what Islam is or ought to be. Its rich empirical material on everyday consumption in a local context will reinvigorate theoretical discussions about the nature of religion, ritual, the sacred and capitalism in the new millennium.

280 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2008

Reviews

[Kasey Rackowitz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fischer actually didn't do too bad in his research for his monograph. I've seen a lot of what he's brought up in his monograph in the actions of my Malay friends and in the Malaysian media. I also learned a couple new things like mosques with different political levels and words to better help my own research like halalisation. If you're interested in anthropology, ethnography, sociology, Islam as a subject of research or Malaysia, I recommend this book. The only downside I had really was how repetitive it got near the end. Some of the sections felt a bit unnecessary and to base their research on such a small group of people that they carefully chose doesn't seem balanced enough.