Articulating Islam: Anthropological Approaches to Muslim Worlds

268 Pages·2013·2.75 MB·English

by  Magnus Marsden

Muslims in Global Societies Series
Volume 6
Series Editors
Gabriele Marranci
Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia; Cardiff University, Wales, UK
Bryan S. Turner
The Graduate Center, CUNY, New York, USA
For furthervolumes:
http://www.springer.com/series/7863

Magnus Marsden (cid:129) Konstantinos Retsikas
Editors
Articulating Islam:
Anthropological Approaches
to Muslim Worlds
Editors
MagnusMarsden KonstantinosRetsikas
DepartmentofAnthropologyand DepartmentofAnthropologyand
Sociology Sociology
UniversityofLondon UniversityofLondon
London,UK London,UK
ISBN978-94-007-4266-6 ISBN978-94-007-4267-3(eBook)
DOI10.1007/978-94-007-4267-3
SpringerDordrechtHeidelbergNewYorkLondon
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2012951338
#SpringerScience+BusinessMediaDordrecht2013
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Acknowledgments
This book is the outcome of a two-day conference held at the School of Oriental
and African Studies in July 2009. The conference was made possible by gene-
rous funding from SOAS and the Malaysian Commonwealth Studies Centre at
Cambridge, and personal support offered toward the initiative by Prof. Graham
FurnissandDr.AnilSeal.Theconference,entitled‘ThirtyYearsoftheAnthropology
of Islam: Retrospect and Prospect’, sought to launch an in-depth investigation into
thehistoryofthedevelopmentoftheanthropologyofIslam,withtheaimofcharting
the sub-discipline’s key thematic and ethnographic concerns and highlighting the
comparativeimportanceofanthropologicalworkonIslamtoscholarshipwithinand
beyond the discipline on world religion. Participants were invited to reflect on
theemergenceoftheanthropologyofIslaminrelationshiptotheanalyticalquestions
thathaddrivenit,andtothenatureofanthropologicalscholarshiponIslaminparti-
cular ‘cultural areas’. In order to stimulate reflection on the relationship between
anthropologicalworkonIslamandthestudyofotherworldreligionswealsoinvited
scholarswhohaveactivelycontributedtothestudyofotherworldreligioustraditions,
especially Christianity, Hinduism and Buddhism: Simon Coleman, Chris Hann,
J.D.Y.Peel,andSusan Baylypresentedresearchpapersandacted asdiscussantsat
theconference.ThepanelsalsoincludedseveralscholarswhoseapproachestoIslam
andMuslimshavebeenoriginal,boldandinnovative:MichaelGilsenan,Benjamin
Soares,HeikoHenkel,FilippoandCarolineOsella,andMahnazMarashipresented
papers at the conference, and while these are not part of the current volume, the
influenceoftheirworkacrossitspagesisclearlyevident.Inaddition,theconference
wasinjectedwithfurtherscholarlyrigourbythepresenceofRichardFardon,Trevor
Marchand,andDavidMosse.
As we have come to realise, the publication of such an edited volume requires
the efforts of many people besides the contributors and editors. This book has
benefited much from the editorial supervision of Springer, and, in particular, the
editorsoftheMuslimStudiesinGlobalSocietiesSerieswhohaverespondedwith
muchspeedandefficiencytoourenquiries.Inaddition,MarleenMooreandAnita
vanderLindenhaveplayedacriticalroleinguidingthevolumetopublication.The
commentsandsuggestionsofvariousanonymousreviewershavehelpedusgreatly
v
vi Acknowledgments
in revising the materials, especially in our attempts to formulate the introduction.
K.Retsikas has benefited greatlyfrom anEconomic andSocialResearch Council
award (RES-062-23-2639) that has provided time away from teaching and the
opportunitiesthishasofferedforthepurposeofco-writingtheintroduction.Magnus
Marsden’s contribution to the volume has been helped by a research grant from
theLeverhulmeTrust,aswellasaperiodofsabbaticalleavegrantedbySOAS.
Contents
1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
MagnusMarsdenandKonstantinosRetsikas
2 Shurafa¯’asCosmopolitans:Islam,GenealogyandHierarchy
intheCentralSahara. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
JudithScheele
3 DeathandtheSpiritofPatriarchyinWesternIndia. . . . . . . . . . . 55
EdwardSimpson
4 OntheSkillstoNavigatetheWorld,andReligion,forCoastal
MuslimsinKenya. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
KaiKresse
5 BeyondIslam:TraditionandtheIntelligibilityofExperience. . . . 101
JohanRasanayagam
6 BecomingSacred:HumanityandDivinity
inEastJava,Indonesia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
KonstantinosRetsikas
7 Self-SimilarityandItsPerils. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
GabrielevomBruck
8 TheUniversalandtheParticularinRuralXinjiang:Ritual
CommensalityandtheMosqueCommunity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
ChrisHann
9 Apolitical‘Islamisation’?OntheLimitsofReligiosity
inMontaneMorocco. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
MatthewCarey
vii
viii Contents
10 IntegrityandCommitmentintheAnthropologyofIslam. . . . . . . . 209
MorganClarke
11 AnthropologicalFieldworkinAfghanistan
andPakistanCompared. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
MagnusMarsden
12 Afterword:De-exceptionalisingIslam. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
SimonColeman
NotesonContributors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
Chapter 1
Introduction
MagnusMarsdenandKonstantinosRetsikas
Articulating Islam
ThisbookinvestigatestherelationshipbetweenanthropologyandIslaminavariety
ofdifferentsocialandculturalcircumstances.Ithastwomaingoals.First,itbuilds
onarichscholarlytraditionthatexploresthewaysinwhichreligionsareproduced,
reproducedandtransformed inparticularsocialandhistoricalcontexts.Thestudy
ofIslamhasalreadybenefittedgreatlyfromtheseperspectives,and,inthissense,we
argue,needsnotbeconsidereddistinctfromscholarlyapproachestotheinvestigation
of other religious traditions. We seek explicitly, indeed, to de-excepetionalize the
studyofIslam.Thisisanespeciallyimportantprojectinthecurrentcontextinwhich
both Islam and being Muslim are often treated as essential and unchanging
dimensionsoftheworldsofpeopleofMuslimbackground.1
Secondly, the book’s core chapters take the form of in-depth considerations of
the role played by Islam in particular geographic locales. They seek to showcase
theimportancetosuchaprojectofexploringpeople’slivesandthecontexts–often
changing and inchoate – in which these are played out in as a holistic way as
possible.Indoingsuch,thechaptersdemonstratethevaryingwaysinwhichIslam
isdeeplyyetalsodiffuselyembeddedineverydayexperience;sometimesbeingof
centralsignificanceandatothertimeslessimportanttopeople’slives.Theethno-
graphicmaterialandcomplexitythesechaptersshowcaseilluminatehowimportant
it is that scholars are careful and critical in their use of terms such as ‘Muslim
identity’,‘beingMuslim’and,indeed,‘Muslim’duringthecourseoftheiranalysis
ofMuslimworlds.
1OnthenatureofstereotypesofMuslimstoday,seeMoreyandYaqin(2011).Foranthropological
approachestoIslamophobia,seeShryock(2010),Bunzl(2007),andVerkaaik(2010).
M.Marsden(*)•K.Retsikas
DepartmentofAnthropology&Sociology,SOAS,UniversityofLondon,
ThornhaughStreet,RusselSquare,WC1H0XGLondon,UK
e-mail:[email protected];[email protected]
M.MarsdenandK.Retsikas(eds.),ArticulatingIslam:Anthropological 1
ApproachestoMuslimWorlds,MuslimsinGlobalSocietiesSeries6,
DOI10.1007/978-94-007-4267-3_1,#SpringerScience+BusinessMediaDordrecht2013