Everyday Hybridity

Dr Paul O'Connor
Sociology/Cultural Studies/Anthropology
Hong Kong/Ethnicity/Everyday Life
Lecturing in Anthropology at CUHK

Author of "Islam in Hong Kong: Muslims and Everyday Life in China's World City"
Hong Kong University Press 2012


This blog discusses my research on Muslims, religious minorities, and ethnicity in Hong Kong. It also looks at social theory, and everyday life academia, issues of multiculturalism, racism in Hong Kong, visual culture, skateboarding culture, and prefigurative politics.

contact: Dr Paul O'Connor
everydayhybridity@gmail.com
http://uq.academia.edu/PaulOConnor
twitter.com/peejayohhsee

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  1. I am going to be talking this April at a unique event in Hong Kong. “At the Peak” organised by Serving Islam. I have been invited to give a short talk on the history of Islam in Hong Kong and its current population. There are a variety of speakers, stand up comedy, activities for kids etc. Check them out on Facebook.

    I am going to be talking this April at a unique event in Hong Kong. “At the Peak” organised by Serving Islam. I have been invited to give a short talk on the history of Islam in Hong Kong and its current population. There are a variety of speakers, stand up comedy, activities for kids etc.

    Check them out on Facebook.

     
     
  2. Another event coming up. There was a similar one in February with some amazing costumes and dances. Well worth a visit.

    Another event coming up. There was a similar one in February with some amazing costumes and dances. Well worth a visit.

     
     
  3. Whatever Happened to the Islamists? Salafis, Heavy Metal Muslims, and the Lure of Consumerist Islam. An interesting new book that I am going to have to get hold of. I have followed the work of Amel Boubekeur for a number of years. She has written some excellent articles on “cool Islam” and the repackaging of Islam in commercial products. This edited collection follows with those themes. Available on Amazon and here through Columbia UP.

    Whatever Happened to the Islamists? Salafis, Heavy Metal Muslims, and the Lure of Consumerist Islam.

    An interesting new book that I am going to have to get hold of. I have followed the work of Amel Boubekeur for a number of years. She has written some excellent articles on “cool Islam” and the repackaging of Islam in commercial products.

    This edited collection follows with those themes.

    Available on Amazon and here through Columbia UP.

     
     

  4. Got my first customer review via Amazon.

    It is great to see the book getting out there and finding an audience. I am humbled by people’s interest in the topic and what I have written. Thanks to the reviewer and the may people that have supported and propelled my research.

     
     

  5. Anatolia Cultural & Dialog Centre

    This evening I attended the Eid feast of the Anatolia Cultural & Dialog Centre in Wanchai. There was an interesting mix of guests and some engaging debate. This was all topped off by some delicious food, and free flowing tea. I look forward to returning.

    Ruslan gave an introductory talk on the meaning of the Eid feast, and Sam Wong gave a speech on Australian Multiculturalism. There was a good deal of exchange on the need to create harmony and live in acceptance of each other. I was perhaps a bit too polemic on the pitfalls of vapid platitudes of multiculturalism and the need for a more engaged ‘everyday multiculturalism’ facilitated in the mundane spaces of the urban environment. However, in the spirit of the occasion, I was tolerated.

    It was a good event with a great mix of people, and that is what it is all about!

     
     
  6. Just over 10 years ago I completed my MA research on British Muslims making the Hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca. I have always had a fascination with Hajj and it is always an interesting time for me to observe current affairs at this time each year. My research looked at the organisation process, prior to the wide use of the internet  (and here) to aid such plans for the British Hujjaj. I learned of the special place the Hajj had in the UK. This coincided with Britain’s first Hajj consular delegation being organised in 2000. The special preparations for flights at Manchester airport were also a testament to how the Hajj had a resonance in everyday life in the UK. I was also astonished to hear the tale of one of my informants regarding the time his grandfather made Hajj from Pakistan. It took him 6 months to travel to Pakistan. My surprise was the contrast of time with the modern day Hajj. Just 2 generations later, the grandson of this man, in his mid-twenties, was preparing to make his 9th Hajj. Yet perhaps these separated generations were equally devoting similar periods of their time to the process of pilgrimage, just in vastly different ways. Returning to the topic of British Muslims making the pilgrimage all these years later and there are some fascinating dynamics. One of which is the increasingly younger ages of British Muslims. Happy Eid everyone!

    Just over 10 years ago I completed my MA research on British Muslims making the Hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca. I have always had a fascination with Hajj and it is always an interesting time for me to observe current affairs at this time each year.

    My research looked at the organisation process, prior to the wide use of the internet  (and here) to aid such plans for the British Hujjaj. I learned of the special place the Hajj had in the UK. This coincided with Britain’s first Hajj consular delegation being organised in 2000. The special preparations for flights at Manchester airport were also a testament to how the Hajj had a resonance in everyday life in the UK. I was also astonished to hear the tale of one of my informants regarding the time his grandfather made Hajj from Pakistan. It took him 6 months to travel to Pakistan. My surprise was the contrast of time with the modern day Hajj. Just 2 generations later, the grandson of this man, in his mid-twenties, was preparing to make his 9th Hajj. Yet perhaps these separated generations were equally devoting similar periods of their time to the process of pilgrimage, just in vastly different ways.

    Returning to the topic of British Muslims making the pilgrimage all these years later and there are some fascinating dynamics. One of which is the increasingly younger ages of British Muslims.

    Happy Eid everyone!

     
     
  7. It is Eid in Hong Hong today. Here is a picture I found on Facebook of the busy scene around the Kowloon Mosque.

    It is Eid in Hong Hong today. Here is a picture I found on Facebook of the busy scene around the Kowloon Mosque.

     
     
  8. Currently Reading

    Currently Reading

     
     

  9. Video from the South China Morning post covering the demonstrations of Muslims in Hong Kong regarding the Innocence of Muslims film. Community representatives were able to present a letter to a representative at the American Consulate.

    Speaking to friends yesterday at Chungking Mansions there has been considerable thought amongst Hong Kong’s Muslims about how to protest and voice their concern. Alike the protests surrounding the Danish Cartoon incident in 2006, Muslims wanted to voice their concern and also represent the open, peaceful and accommodating culture of Islam in Hong Kong.

    As ever the balance between free speech and social responsibility comes under close scrutiny. The legal connotations of free speech should be rightly protected, but are tarnished when they are manipulated to deliberately cause offence and ridicule other people and their beliefs. Even under the rubric of free speech there are many issues which are taboo and curtail such freedoms. There is no free speech in talking about bombs in an airport, and the offence taken at topless pictures of a British Royal this week shows how people feel offence quite deeply on vastly different issues. Balancing this, the insanity of deliberately inciting rage, can only be paralleled with those that take the offence to the extreme of killing…a very cursory attempt to sum up a complex issue.

     
     
  10. Some folks have contacted me asking how to get hold of the book. It should be in the shops in Hong Kong by now, it is also easy to pick up a copy at HKU book shop on campus. Perhaps the easiest way to get hold of it is from HKU Press website. However they changed the webpage link and all my old web links haven’t been working for the last couple of days. So here it is again. Thanks to everyone who has been following the news of the book, and those who have already managed to get hold of a copy. It won’t be out in the US and UK till November, then you can get it on Amazon.

    Some folks have contacted me asking how to get hold of the book. It should be in the shops in Hong Kong by now, it is also easy to pick up a copy at HKU book shop on campus. Perhaps the easiest way to get hold of it is from HKU Press website. However they changed the webpage link and all my old web links haven’t been working for the last couple of days.

    So here it is again. Thanks to everyone who has been following the news of the book, and those who have already managed to get hold of a copy.

    It won’t be out in the US and UK till November, then you can get it on Amazon.