Creating Meaning through Science: “The Meaning of Life” Video and Muslim Youth Culture in Australia

Abstract

ABSTRACT Muslim youth cultures often are engaged by media both locally and globally. It is hypothesized they search for representations of Islam that allow them to frame their discourse in ways that unify rather than divide. Australia, with its diverse Muslim population, is a place where this sort of framing might seem especially important. A variety of Muslim youth cultures use science narratives in these unification efforts. These narratives are typically framed with scientists or people who present themselves as public figures to speak authoritatively for “Islam” or “science.” Frequently lost in these discussions are voices of ordinary Muslims engaging in acts of cultural production. We focus here on “The Meaning of Life” (2013), a video of a spoken word poem written and performed by Kamal Saleh, a young Muslim from Sydney, Australia. This expands prior discussions by examining how Muslim youth are actively shaping local and transnational cultures, rather than merely being acted upon by traditional media. We use analytical tools common in video analysis (Rose, 2016), applying them to data developed in processes described by Gardner & Hameed (2017) to understand how ideas about science within an Islamic context are reproduced.