Examines how British Muslim writers and filmmakers depict Muslim men and masculinity in the UK's changing political landscape

A climate of Islamophobia allows anxieties about Muslim men living in and migrating to Britain to endure. British Muslims men are often profiled in highly negative terms or regarded with suspicion owing to their perceived religious and cultural heritage. But novels and films by British migrant and diaspora writers and filmmakers powerfully contest these stereotypes, and explore the rich diversity of Muslim masculinities in Britain. This book is the first critical study to engage with British Muslim masculinities in this literary and cinematic output from the perspective of masculinity studies. Through close analysis of work by Monica Ali, Nadeem Aslam, Guy Gunaratne, Sally El Hosaini, Hanif Kureishi, Suhayl Saadi, Kamila Shamsie, Zadie Smith, Zia Haider Rahman and Salman Rushdie, Peter Cherry examines how migrant and diaspora protagonists negotiate their masculinity in a climate of Islamophobic and anti-migrant rhetoric. Cherry proposes a transcultural reading of these novels and films that exposes how conceptions of 'Britishness', 'Muslimness' and those of masculinity are unstable and contingent constructs shaped by migration, interaction with other cultures, and global and local politics.

"[Cherry's] work makes an excellent contribution to Muslim cultural studies and masculinity studies, successfully revealing that Muslim masculinities in the UK are highly diverse, and that transcultural interactions have the capacity to substantially transform British Muslim masculinities." - Journal of Muslims in Europe

"‘Muslim Masculinities in Literature and Film is elegantly written, drawing on an admirable range of primary and secondary sources with wit, accessibility, and nuance. The book also has ‘real-world impact’, originality, scholarly weight, and political urgency.’" - Claire Chambers, Professor of Global Literature, University of York, UK

"Muslim Masculinities in Literature and Film is in itself very rich, suited to be the main read of an elective course on a MA programme, complete with advanced theories and all. There is lots to explore and learn from." - Jonas Otterbeck, Professor of Islamic Studies, Aga Khan University, UK