Situating IslamThe Past and Future of an Academic Discipline
Aaron W. Hughes
Series: Religion in Culture:Studies in Social Contest & Construction Hardback Price £45.00/$85.00 Paperback Price £14.99/$28.95 |    |
Description
The formation of any scholarly discourse is contingent upon the creation of a vocabulary and a set of categories responsible for manufacturing the data that it deems “significant” or not. The discovery of raw data, the manufacture of theoretical or interpretive frameworks that make sense of such data, and subsequent scholarly conventions responsible for its dissemination are always mediated by particular social, ideological, and political contexts. This book documents these contexts in the creation of the discipline known as Islamic Studies and demonstrates how they have been instrumental in shaping how we think about Islam in both the academy and, especially post 9/11, in the media. This volume argues that knowledge of Islam has never been innocent or about the simple collection of facts, but that the interpretive lenses use to study Islam have always been and continue to be caught up with larger forces (e.g., the reform of Judaism, Orientalism, identity politics of the 1960s, 9/11, the fight against terrorism, the creation of a liberal Islam). Whereas previous work is content to show the nefarious influence of Orientalism in the creation of Islamic data and the formation of an essentialized Islam, Situating Islam argues that the opposite approach – the construction of an authentic Islam that coincides effortlessly with Western values – is equally problematic. The work concludes by examining how Islamic data has the potential to help us better understand how we construct and contest “religion.”
The formation of any scholarly discourse is contingent upon the creation of a vocabulary and a set of categories responsible for manufacturing the data that it deems “significant” or not. The discovery of raw data, the manufacture of theoretical or interpretive frameworks that make sense of such data, and subsequent scholarly conventions responsible for its dissemination are always mediated by particular social, ideological, and political contexts. This book documents these contexts in the creation of the discipline known as Islamic Studies and demonstrates how they have been instrumental in shaping how we think about Islam in both the academy and, especially post 9/11, in the media. This volume argues that knowledge of Islam has never been innocent or about the simple collection of facts, but that the interpretive lenses use to study Islam have always been and continue to be caught up with larger forces (e.g., the reform of Judaism, Orientalism, identity politics of the 1960s, 9/11, the fight against terrorism, the creation of a liberal Islam). Whereas previous work is content to show the nefarious influence of Orientalism in the creation of Islamic data and the formation of an essentialized Islam, Situating Islam argues that the opposite approach – the construction of an authentic Islam that coincides effortlessly with Western values – is equally problematic. The work concludes by examining how Islamic data has the potential to help us better understand how we construct and contest “religion.”
Contents
Introduction
I. Loss of Memory, Loss of Focus: Geiger, Said and the Search for Missing Origins
II. The Invention of the Middle East: Religion and the Quest for Understanding the Muslim Mind
III. Tensions Past, Tensions Future: Middle Eastern Studies Confronts Religious Studies
IV. We Study Muslim Constructions, Not Muslims, Right?
V. The Implosion of a Disciple: 9/11 and The Islamic Studies Scholar as Media Expert
Conclusion: Towards a Future Imperfect
Reviews
'This relatively short book packs a sizeable punch, which it aims at contemporary scholars of Islamic and Middle Eastern studies, especially those in religious studies. This book should be widely read, especially by those who teach introductory courses on Islam, but also by anyone interested in understanding the challenges still facing religious studies in reaching its full potential as a truly academic discipline.'
Paul R. Powers, Lewis & Clark College, in Journal of American Academy of Religion (2009)
Specifications
| ISBN-10 (Hardback) | 1845532597 |
| ISBN-13 (Hardback) | 9781845532598 |
| Price (Hardback) | £45.00/$85.00 |
| ISBN-10 (Paperback) | 1845532600 |
| ISBN-13 (Paperback) | 9781845532604 |
| Price (Paperback) | £14.99/$28.95 |
| Publication Date | March 2008 |
| Pages | 224 |
| Size | 216 x 138mm |
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