Heavy Metal Islam

Mark LeVine on his discovery of “well developed metal scenes across the Muslim world”:

The first time I learned of the existence of such scenes, in an expensive hotel bar in Fes, Morocco, I realized that if the mixture of metal and Islam made me rethink my understanding of Islam and Muslim cultures after more than a decade studying, traveling and working around the Muslim world, it would be an even bigger shock to people who knew far less about them than I did.

Read the full interview at Religion Dispatches.

books

Jonathan VanAntwerpen

Jonathan VanAntwerpen is program director for theology at the Henry Luce Foundation. Originally trained as a philosopher, he received his doctorate in sociology from the University of California, Berkeley. He is co-editor of a series of books on secularism, religion, and public life, including Habermas and Religion (Polity, 2013), Rethinking Secularism (Oxford University Press, 2011), The Post-Secular in Question (NYU Press, 2012), The Power of Religion in the Public Sphere (Columbia University Press, 2011), and Varieties of Secularism in a Secular Age (Harvard University Press, 2010). VanAntwerpen was the founding director of the SSRC's program on religion and the public sphere, and in 2007 he worked with others to launch The Immanent Frame, serving for several years as editor-in-chief.

Jonathan VanAntwerpen

Mobilizing social science for the public good.

Sign up for updates from The Immanent Frame