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This presentation examines the semiotics of Sinophone Muslim (‘Sino-Muslim’) heritage literacy in a way that integrates its Perso-Arabic textual qualities with broader cultural semiotic uses. It also explores how signs of ‘Muslimness’ are displayed and manipulated in different contexts both covertly and overtly. This is done by using data that incorporates images from the linguistic landscape of Sino-Muslim life alongside interviews with community members about their heritage. In doing so, it offers a ‘semiotics of Muslimness’ in China and considers how forms of language and materiality have the power to inspire meanings and identifications for Sino-Muslims in ways that positively impact the overall understanding of their heritage literacy. The use of theoretical tools from linguistic anthropology and an understanding of semiotic assemblage demonstrates how a wide repertoire of material signifiers of Chinese Muslimness is invoked to substantiate religious heritage and the construction of Sino-Muslim identity, even when its expression might be covert, liminal, and unconventional.
This seminar will be held in English.
Delivered by:
Dr. Ibrar Bhatt
Queen's University, Belfast
Dr. Heng Wang
Queen’s University, Belfast