Heavenly Readings: Liturgical Literacy In A Multilingual Context (new Perspectives On Language And Education)

This ethnographic study investigates for the first time in any significant depth the literacy practices associated with the religion of Islam as they are shaped, lived and experienced within a typical multilingual Muslim community in the United Kingdom. It seeks to counterbalance prevailing views on such practices which have often been misinformed, misrepresented and misunderstood. Making liberal recourse to the words, views and lives of its participants, this book describes, explores and celebrates liturgical literacy as a major contributor to group and individual cultural, linguistic and religious identities. In a political and social climate often inimical to religious practices in general, and to Islamic ones in particular, this book highlights the centrality and significance of such literacy practices to minority ethno-religious communities in their daily lives. Contents Acknowledgements List of plates List of tables and figures The study of liturgical literacy. Introduction to liturgical literacy The community and its ethnography The community and its liturgical literacy. Children Parents Teachers Organisers The settings for liturgical literacy. Mosques Home School The languages of liturgical literacy. Urdu Mirpuri-Punjabi English Arabic Concluding remarks and implications Concluding remarks. This ethnographic study is the first in depth study of the literacy practices associated with the religion of Islam as they are shaped, lived and experienced within a typical Muslim community in the United Kingdom. It seeks to counterbalance prevailing views on such practices which have often been misrepresented and misunderstood. Investigates the literacy practices associated with the religion of Islam as they are shaped, lived and experienced within a typical Muslim community in the United Kingdom. This ethnographic seeks to counterbalance prevailing views on such practices which have often been misrepresented and misunderstood