Abstract
In this unapologetically ethnographic book, Alam presents an intricate examination of the role of cars in the lives of British Pakistani men in Bradford to illuminate how intersections of race, gender, and class are unabatingly present in their everyday lives. The reader is encouraged to reimagine cars and roads as social, economic, and political spaces with differences (and inequalities) related to these intersections. Importantly, Alam humanises the experiences of British Muslim men through their relationships with their cars. We are presented with evidence of creativity, resourcefulness and reinvention (in both taste and material circumstances) that counteract pervasive stereotypes of Muslim men in minority contexts as universally economically disadvantaged, conservative, and incapable of change.
Throughout, Alam comprehensively unpicks the ways in which common-sense knowledge about ethnic minorities is created through the use of stereotypes: in the case of young, visibly ethnic minority men and cars these are often related to misbehaviour and criminality. This book provokes readers to recognise and confront stereotypes they may hold themselves, in doing so it meets its aim, as set out in Chapter 1, of contributing to a ‘public sociology’ (p. 20) which has real-world influence and impact.
In Chapter 2 Alam sets out his methodological approach, stating that objectivity ‘would not serve any meaningful purpose’ in ethnography (p. 25). Too often, early-stage Muslim PhD students minimise their own lived-experience expertise in an attempt to appear objective when presenting their research, resulting in accounts that lack depth and authenticity because researcher positionality is inadequately examined. In this chapter, the author sets out a road map for early-career ethnographers on how to locate themselves within their research. From the perspective of the interdisciplinary field of British Muslim Studies, this chapter should be considered essential reading.
The author compellingly argues that cars, and driving behaviours, are ‘social hieroglyphics’ (p. 37) and uses these social identity markers to examine differences in taste that are underwritten by gender, race, and class. Alam regularly ‘zooms out’ from the empirical data to assess the wider cultural landscape. The discussion of the importance of hip-hop to car culture in Chapter 3 has the effect of providing a soundtrack to the book, and is likely to have particular resonance for those born and brought up in ethnic minority communities.
The book is well researched and located within a sound body of sociological theory. Notably, every sociological concept is explained accessibly, making it informative and enjoyable for readers from disciplines other than Cultural Sociology thus increasing its potential for interdisciplinary engagement. For example, the explanations of ‘commodity fetishism’ as developed by Marx (p. 36) and Bourdieu’s concept of ‘habitus’ (p. 64). Alam also considers the policy and practice implications for those charged with regulation and monitoring of cars and driving behaviours, and discusses the wider political, economic and social implications of his findings throughout.
The greatest value of this book is in its normalisation and humanisation of Muslim men. Too rarely in academic literature, and more widely in public life, do we hear accounts of Muslim men who are gainfully employed and benefiting from this employment by undertaking creative activities for pleasure. Academic interest, albeit with the best intentions, has tended to focus on the problems associated with their religiosity and/or migrant status and less on their personhood. Alam draws our attention to evidence for structural ethno-religious discrimination and instances of everyday interpersonal racism: this is essential to describe the circumstances in which cars have gradually come to play such an important role in identity formation among some Muslim men, and the ways in which they are perceived by others. Alongside this, he brings his research participants and the urban areas they occupy to life using rich description, particularly in his description of car modification in Chapter 5, ‘Car Work’.
Unfortunately, there is little attention paid to the experiences of Muslim women as drivers themselves, or to their perceptions of the ‘car culture’ their husbands, fathers and brothers engage in (p. 87). The discussion of cars as private spaces might have been enhanced by some consideration of them as intimate or familial spaces. And, while Alam distinguishes his research participants by age and sometimes by family generation, there are no distinctions drawn between migrant generations – do the tastes of first-generation Muslim men differ from those of the second-generation? This may have added an interesting layer to the analysis Alam presents.
There are relatively few examples of monographs on the everyday lives and preferences of British Muslim men. The work of Anwar (1979), Werbner (1990), Shaw (1988, 2000) and Kalra (2000) have long been staples for academics engaged in research on (or with) British Muslim men. ‘Cars’ is a contemporary, much-needed and important addition to this body of literature.
