Rebranding Religion: Authenticity, Appropriation and the Marketplace
Fabricating Authenticity - Jason W.M. Ellsworth
Zabeen Khamisa [+]
Wilfrid Laurier University-University of Waterloo
Zabeen Khamisa is a doctoral candidate in the joint Wilfrid Laurier University-University of Waterloo PhD, Religious Diversity in North America. Zabeen’s research interests include religion and socio-political movements, Sikhism in North America, digital religion, the sociology and anthropology of religion, and cultural economics. Her dissertation research is focused on progressive Sikh millennials in Canada.
Description
Khamisa builds on Taira’s analysis of “good” or “authentic” religion to consider what happens to groups labeled as “bad” religion. Exploring the social violence and discrimination of Sikhs and Muslims post-9/11 North America, Khamisa argues that marginalized, non-Christian religions have to apply Christo-centric notions of authentic religion, which may or may not align with how they construct their identities, so to legitimize their own authenticity.