Muslim Youth in Southeast Asia

This Palgrave Pivot book explores the lived experiences of Muslim youth growing up in Southeast Asia. Young Muslims in this region remain under-researched even though Southeast Asia's Muslim community is larger than that of the Middle East. Drawing upon original research, the contributions chart the lives and interests of Muslim youth, drawing attention to key domains of young people's lives, ranging from social media, popular culture, and music through to questions about political engagement, the politics of the veil, and the intersections between religion and economy. This collection brings together some of the key established scholars in the field, as well as emerging researchers, with several being based in Southeast Asia. This volume is a crucial intervention for scholars and students interested in youth studies, sociology of religion, Islamic studies, Southeast Asian culture, and social geography.

Mohd Al Adib Samuri is Associate Professor at the Faculty of Islamic Studies and a Research Fellow at the Institute of Islam Hadhari, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. He has published widely on Islamic law and society, with interests in human rights, religious freedom, and the rights of children. Peter Hopkins is Professor of Social Geography at Newcastle University, UK. His work focuses on the everyday lives of young Muslims, and he has published widely on this and other topics. His latest monograph, Everyday Islamophobia, was published in 2025.

Chapter 1: Introducing Muslim youth in Southeast Asia.- Chapter 2: Negotiating Piety and Popular Culture: Muslim Youth in Southeast Asia.- Chapter 3: Muslim Youth Music and Popular Culture in Indonesia.- Chapter 4: Muslim Youth and Cosmopolitanism in the Blogosphere.- Chapter 5: Expressing Rituals Through Social Media: Muslim Youth in Contemporary Indonesia.- Chapter 6: Empowering Voices: Social Media, Islamist Youth, and Political Participation in Malaysia.- Chapter 7: Contested Meanings of the Veil's Resurgence among Thai Muslim Youth.- Chapter 8 : From Ideological to Economic Hijrah: Young Salafi Muslims in Indonesia and Their Turn to the Halal Economy.