Jonas Otterbeck

​​Jonas Otterbeck

Biography​

Jonas Otterbeck is the Rasul-Walker Chair in Popular Culture in Islam, and professor of Islamic studies. Over the last twenty-five years, Professor Otterbeck has engaged in research about contemporary Islam, often with political relevance. His most recent research is on creativity in relation to Islam and popular culture. He also has an interest in research on music censorship and an engagement for artists' right to expression. Professor Otterbeck has, among other things, published on pop-nashid music, Muslim artists, the situation of Muslim students in Swedish schools, the identity constructions of Muslim youth and their understanding of Islam, the representation of Islam and Muslims in Sweden, Islamic revivalist discourse, active citizenship among Muslims, and the relation between European states and Muslim organizations. 

Before moving to AKU–ISMC in September 2018, Professor Otterbeck was professor of Islamic studies at Lund University, Sweden. Prior to that he was working as lecturer at International Migration and Ethnic Relations at Malmö University, Sweden.​
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​​Current areas of teaching

  • Creativity and Islam
  • Gender
  • Muslims in Europe
  • Anthropology of religion
  • Methodology
  • Culture studies​

Research interests

  • Contemporary Islamic thinking
  • Creativity and Islam
  • Masculinity/gender
  • Migration and religion
  • Music and Islam
  • Muslims in Europe
  • Popular culture and religion
  • Youth and religious identities

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​Selected publications

  • Otterbeck , J.​ and ​Nordin, M. (2023). Migration and Religion. Cham: Springer. https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-30766-9
  • Otterbeck, J. (2021). The Awakening of Islamic Pop Music. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. https://ecommons.aku.edu/uk_ismc_series_music/1/
  • Otterbeck, J. (2025). “The Celebration of Islamic Consumer Goods in London: Design, Production, and Consumption”, in Birgit Krawietz and Francois Gauthier (eds), The Routledge Handbook of Global Islam and Consumer Culture. London: Routledge, 377–390.
  • Otterbeck, J. (2023). “For the Love of the Beloved: Peter Murphy’s Creative Use of Sufi Tropes”, Aura: Tidsskrift for Akademiske Studier av Nyreligiøsitet, vol. 13, 21–46. https://journals.uis.no/index.php/AURA/article/view/721/418
  • Otterbeck, J and Nordin, M. (2023). Migration and Religion. Cham: Springer. https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-30766-9
  • Otterbeck, J, Larsson, and Göran. (2023). “Islam and Popular Music”, in C. Partridge & M. Moberg (eds), The Bloomsbury Handbook of Religion and Popular Music, second edition. London: Bloomsbury, 143–152.
  • Otterbeck, J. (2023). “Dialogic art: The Photographer Peter Sanders on promoting understanding” in J. Winkler, L. Haddad, G. Mezzetti, J. Martínez-Ariño (eds), The Sites, Materialities and Practices of Interreligious Dialogue in Europe. London: Routledge. 177–193.
  • Otterbeck, J. (2022). “Power Practices and Pop: The Islam of Zain Bhikha” in L. Stenberg and P. Wood (eds), What is Islamic studies? European and North American Approaches to a Contested Field. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, pp. 106–25.
  • Otterbeck, J. (2021). The Awakening of Islamic Pop Music. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. https://ecommons.aku.edu/uk_ismc_series_music/1/
  • Otterbeck, J. (2021). “Finding the object of study: Islamic studies in practice”, International Journal of Religion, 2 (1), 43–60. https://ijor.co.uk/ijor/article/view/1474​