WHEN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY MEETS RELIGION: THE CASE OF CULTURED MEAT AMONGST SHAFI’I MUSLIMS IN SINGAPORE

Abstract

This thesis presents exploratory findings from a pioneering qualitative study with Shafi?i Muslim consumers in Singapore, probing into their initial reactions when facing the idea of cultured meat as a possible future food. Cultured meat has been celebrated as a potential solution to several problems in today’s industrial animal agriculture such as environmental degradation, animal welfare and slaughter, as well as improvements to meat safety and healthiness. Its relevance is highly pertinent in Singapore’s food security context. Muslim consumers serve as a viable and lucrative market opportunity for cultured meat owing to its fast-rising population. Thus, there is a need to understand how the religion can serve as an ideational subsystem that governs perception and eventual acceptance of the novel product and technology. I argue that the participants’ religiosity was a product of their historical and social milieus which eventually shaped the way they understood the dietary rules and perceived cultured meat’s permissibility, or halal-ness. Several components of cultured meat drew divisive views on its permissibility – the lack of ritual slaughter, and perceptions of its (un)natural origins and implications. These concerns culminated in the religious discourse of wasw?s, or “whispers of the devil” which functioned as risks that may deter acceptance of cultured meat. I end with some recommendations for cultured meat to tackle wasw?s and potentially gaining acceptance amongst Muslim consumers.