Abstract
Our aim in this collection is to challenge the ways in which ‘Muslims’ as a social category are imagined in popular, policy and even some academic circles. The title ‘New Muslims’ indexes both this conceptual shift and the changing contours of ‘the Muslim community’ in 21st-century Britain. It argues for renewed assessments of Muslims in Britain today – beyond the discourses of securitization, segregation or sharia law – to recognize the multidimensionality of Muslim lives and their place within a broader struggle for equality, citizenship and social justice. This collection emerged from a workshop on ‘The New Muslims’ and a panel on ‘The Muslim Question’ held at University of Manchester in 2013. The event was funded as part of the ESRC project ‘Revisiting the Asian Gang: Continuity, Change and Transformation’ (Award No. ES/1032274/1). We are grateful to the ESRC and the Department of Sociology at Manchester for supporting both the event and this publication.