Between Family and Friends: Shame, Honor, and the Politics of Eating and Drinking Among South Asian British Muslims

The dynamic interplay between honour and shame conditions the politics of eating and drinking among South Asian British Muslims in particular ways. Drawing on empirical material from a series of studies on halal food consumption and practice in Manchester in the North of England, in this chapter we look to insights from figurational sociology to explore the complex networks of social and cultural interdependence that second and third generation Muslims encounter through the prism of honour-shame culture. Specifically, we investigate the extent to which family honour as an ‘external social control’, and shame as an ‘internal control’, influence the ‘we-I balance’ and levels of awareness and self-control. This allows us to explore how South Asian men and women attempt to handle shame and maintain family honour in complex cultural settings where they may be presented with opportunities to consume non-halal food and drinks containing alcohol in the midst of traditional family settings.