SOUTH ASIA RESEARCH www.sagepublications.com DOI: 10.1177/0262728014560474 Vol. 35(1): 1–22 Copyright © 2015 SAGE Publications Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore and Washington DC MUSLIM MEN IN LUTON, UK: ‘EAT FIRST, TALK LATER’ Ashraf Hoque Department of Anthropology, University College, London, UK abstract Particularly since the London bombings in July 2005, Muslim communities in Britain have faced extensive criticism for their alleged inability to assimilate to British cultural mainstream expectations. Various government schemes have attempted to tackle ‘Islamic radicalism’ and ‘violent extremism’, thought to emanate from within Britain’s long-standing Muslim communities. Based on extensive ethnographic research conducted among a sizable Muslim community, this article questions the thesis that British- born Muslims represent a threat to social cohesion and embody the failure of multiculturalism. Observation of their everyday lives, particularly in the realm of work and during leisure time, suggests that for Luton’s young Muslims, apart from working for the family, religion and strong community relations act as innovative means to strengthen bonds of nationality and citizenship, despite perceptions of widespread hostility and detachment from society beyond. keywords: Asians, British Muslims, drugs, football, inclusion, Islamophobia, Luton, migration, multiculturalism, Muslims, self- employment, terrorism Introduction: Identifying the Aims and Focus of the Research The involvement of British-born Muslims in various terror plots in Britain and beyond has generated popular and political debates questioning whether peoples of Islamic heritage would ever be able to adapt to life in the West. Recent debates have focused on educational provisions, and particularly the alleged ‘Trojan horse’ scenario in several Muslim-dominated schools in Britain reinforces the very public struggles over assessing the extent and manner of Muslim integration into British life. 1 The chief concern of my earlier research (Hoque, 2011) was to demonstrate, through ethnographic observations of their everyday lives, various ways in which British-born Muslims in Luton develop understandings of themselves that transcend some of the essentialist, homogenised and externally imposed impressions of the British Muslim