Too Muslim to be American, too American to be Muslim: The /Taqwacore/ identity 1 Paola Attolino Abstract As recent evolutions of E-communities, U-communities (ubiquitous communities, but also you-communities) are characterized by an increasingly active role on the part of their participants. This happens both in terms of access – thanks to the latest delocalized and personalized CMC (Computer-Mediated Communication) devices – and of the creation of contents as well as bottom-up rules of communication. This paper focuses on the way people and events are represented in this new type of media, and it analyses the ideologies and viewpoints resulting in acts of evaluation which contribute in reproducing or altering a shared system of values. The focus of the analysis is the use of MySpace U-communities by minority social groups, which have little or no space in more institutionalized media. The key object of study is the Taqwacores, an emerging subculture of young American Muslims, which in the post-9/11 climate rejects parts of both American and Islamic culture under the lag of punk music. The small-scale case study observes how lexical choices, linguistic uses and the employment of pragmatic strategies are a vital component of the process through which these social groups articulate not only their sense of identity but also their perception and representation of others. 1 Introduction In this so-called clash of civilisations, Taqwacore is about sticking the middle inger in both directions. Michael Muhammad Knight, The Taqwacores In 2003 Michael Muhammad Knight, a young American convert to Islam, self- published his debut novel about a ictitious Muslim punk scene in Buffalo, New York (Abdalla 2007). The title was The Taqwacores, a blend of Taqwa, (Arabic 1 A previous version of this paper appeared in ESP Across Cultures vol. 6, 2009.