nexus: Belonging Research Network - Chinese Muslim Heritage Literacy: Meanings and Adaptations

Abstract: 

In this presentation, Ibrar Bhatt delves into the intricate connections between the literacies of religious practice, food heritage, and artistic expression within Sino-Muslim communities in Mainland China. Drawing from a comprehensive data set of images, artefacts and interviews obtained through a study of Sino-Muslim heritage literacy (funded by the Leverhulme Trust), he examines semiotic material prevalent in Sino-Muslim daily life and heritage practice, such as restaurant signage, religious education, and artwork. He discusses how signs of ‘Muslimness’ are displayed and manipulated in both nuanced and diverse ways, with respect to their ties to heritage and religion. Through a commitment to everyday heritage literacy, he illustrates how Sino-Muslim heritage is expressed, constructed, and remembered through various intertwined spheres of social activity. As Ibrar is currently engaged in field work in Hong Kong SAR for a project funded by the British Academy, he concludes with further insights on how heritage literacy intersects with commercial conditions and population flows. This, he argues, emphasises the significance of heritage literacy as an important field of study in the context of Hong Kong SAR and the Greater Bay Area.

Biography:

Dr Ibrar Bhatt is Senior Lecturer in Education & Applied Linguistics at Queen’s University Belfast (Northern Ireland, UK) and formerly Director of the University’s MSc TESOL programme. He has research interests in literacy studies, education, and digital epistemologies. He held a Leverhulme Trust research fellowship (2021-2023) on Sino-Muslim heritage literacy in China, and is currently collecting data for a British Academy-funded study of heritage literacy in Hong Kong SAR. He is author of A Semiotics of Muslimness in China (Cambridge University Press, ‘Elements in Applied Linguistics’ series).