Report on Social Science Book Award

Russell Jeung, Angie Chung (Chair) and Wei Li.

After great deliberation, the committee member recommends the following two books for the AAAS Social Science Book Award, both of which reflect the newly emerging, groundbreaking frontiers of Asian American Studies around the intersections of race, religion, and national identities particularly in the South Asian diaspora.

Winner:

Junaid Rana—Terrifying Muslims: Race and Labor in the South Asian Diaspora. (Duke University Press)

Rana’s book Terrifying Muslims explores how the racialization of “the Muslim” around state-reinforced notions of terrorism, criminality, and Islamic militancy have taken shape under the imperialist influences of the U.S. in the current global economy. As opposed to portraying the War on Terror as an isolated, reactionary response to terrorist-related attacks, Rana attributes the formation of U.S. portrayal of “Islamic terrorism” to a long historical legacy of colonialism by Western nations and increasing state regulations of migrant labor and subjugated populations in the expanding global economy. Through a careful analysis of ethnographic fieldwork, historical comparative sources, and visual culture, Rana demonstrates how this logic of transnational imperialism has pervaded the lives of working-class immigrants, particularly Pakistanis, in the global diaspora. As one committee member remarks, “his conceptual framework eloquently weaves the issues of race, gender, labor migration, illegal migration, nation-state, and religion together, [which] provides a much wider context in our understanding of contemporary global racialization processes.”

Honorable Mention:

Nazli Kibria—Muslims in Motion: Islam and National Identity in the Bangladeshi Diaspora. (Rutgers University Press)

We recommend that Nazli Kibria’s book Muslims in Motion also be recognized as Honorable Mention. Kibria skillfully employs interviews and ethnography at four different fieldsites (Britain, the U.S., the Gulf Cooperation Council states, and Malaysia) to unpack the significance of nationality and religion at the intersections of race, class and gender in the establishment of Muslim identity in the Bangladeshi Diaspora. She argues that the historical context, transnational ties, and contemporary national context within which Bangladeshi immigrants strive for socioeconomic mobility, community and family solidarity, and personal dignity helps to explain the comparable yet conflicting meanings of Islamic identity in the contemporary era. Where Rana’s work is notable for its conceptual innovativeness, Kibria’s work stands out for its empirical richness and understanding of the day-to-day struggles of Bangladeshi in shaping the broader meanings of diverse transnational Muslim identities.