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Library | Item Barcode | Call Number | Material Type | Item Category 1 | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Searching... | 35000000004073 | BP173.7 M57 2014 | Open Access Book | Book | Searching... |
Searching... | 30000010334531 | BP173.7 M57 2014 | Open Access Book | Book | Searching... |
Searching... | 33000000010101 | BP173.7 M57 2014 | Open Access Book | Book | Searching... |
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Summary
Summary
This book presents a critical study of citizenship, state and globalization in societies that have been historically influenced by Islamic traditions and institutions. Interrogating the work of contemporary theorists of Islamic modernity such as Mohammed Arkoun, Abdul an-Na'im, Fatima Mernissi, Talal Asad, Saba Mahmood and Aziz Al-Azmeh, this book explores the debate on Islam, democracy and modernity, contextualized within contemporary Muslim lifeworlds. These include contemporary Turkey (following the 9/11 attacks and the onset of war in Afghanistan), multicultural France (2009-10 French burqa debate), Egypt (the 2011 Tahrir Square mass mobilizations), and India. Ali Mirsepassi and Tadd Graham Fernée critique particular counterproductive ideological conceptualizations, voicing an emerging global ethic of reconciliation. Rejecting the polarized conceptual ideals of the universal or the authentic, the authors critically reassess notions of the secular, the cosmopolitan and democracy. Raising questions that cut across the disciplines of history, anthropology, sociology and law, this study articulates a democratic politics of everyday life in modern Islamic societies.t across the disciplines of history, anthropology, sociology and law, this study articulates a democratic politics of everyday life in modern Islamic societies.t across the disciplines of history, anthropology, sociology and law, this study articulates a democratic politics of everyday life in modern Islamic societies.t across the disciplines of history, anthropology, sociology and law, this study articulates a democratic politics of everyday life in modern Islamic societies.
Reviews 1
Choice Review
This book is about the epistemology and sociology of Islam. Mirsepassi (New York Univ.) and Fernée (independent scholar) produce a "critical study of important contemporary texts on Islam's predicaments in the contemporary world," focusing on "how diverse contemporary Muslims live, understand, and experience their lifeworlds." They scrutinize writings by Islamic scholars, including Aziz al-Azmeh, Talal Asad, Mohammed Arkoun, Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im, and Fatima Mernissi. The book's approach to Islamic religious tradition and its meaning in this world is materialist and sociological, articulating its experience within a broader cosmopolitan space of modern conditions. The authors believe that "any religious tradition as the exclusive source for imagining a more just society... will sooner or later collide with the hazards of a politics of authenticity." They contend that the current challenge in Muslim societies is the crisis of the modern state. This, to a large extent, results from "failures of the modern secular state to achieve a democratic and prosperous society-indeed they failed precisely for these reasons." They also call upon intellectuals in all institutional contexts to cease to recycle empty but deadly discursive abstractions. The authors insist that "idea formations have profound historical consequences. They potentially offer hope for cosmopolitan, democratic, and nonviolent horizons." Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduate, graduate, and research collections. --Ali Reza Abootalebi, University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire
