Is punk Haram? : Taqwacore, resistance and Muslim youth identity in Canada

Diasporic Muslim identity in the West is increasingly conceptualized as being "under siege", especially in a post 9/11 context. This paper examines some of the complexities of identity formation and belonging as experienced by Muslim youth in the current political climate in Canada. However intense and antagonizing this social and political climate may be, I argue that there is room for dissenting and subversive reconfigurations of a Muslim identity that resists the eviction of Muslims from full belonging and citizenship in Western society. This paper explores this possibility by focusing on Muslim youth identity formation in the context of Taqwarcore, a Muslim punk scene popular among some second-generation youth. Representing hybrid identities for Muslim youth, Taqwacore creates the space for creative self-expression and subversive challenges to impositions from both the Muslim community and the mainstream Western culture.