Islamization and Archaeology: Religion, Culture and New Materialism

Hardback

Main Details

Title Islamization and Archaeology: Religion, Culture and New Materialism
Authors and Contributors      By (author) Dr Jose C. Carvajal Lopez
SeriesDebates in Archaeology
Physical Properties
Format:Hardback
Pages:200
Dimensions(mm): Height 216,Width 138
ISBN/Barcode 9781350006669
ClassificationsDewey:930.1
Audience
Professional & Vocational
Illustrations 6 bw illus

Publishing Details

Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Imprint Bloomsbury Academic
Publication Date 1 June 2023
Publication Country United Kingdom

Description

This fresh approach to the study of Islamization proposes an innovative conceptual framework that treats the subject as a particular case of cultural change. The aim of the volume is to make Islamization amenable to archaeological and historical analyses of changes in material conditions of life without forsaking the specific history of Islam. Islam and Islamization must be understood in their particular social context, but also in relation to the conditions that hold them together over large geographical and chronological expanses. Archaeologists and historians have considered Islamization from a range of different perspectives, from conversion to cultural change, though these studies have tended to be underpinned by a normativist conception of Islam. In contrast, Jose C. Carvajal Lopez takes a hermeneutical stance, wherein Islam is the result of exploration, and adopts a New Materialist theoretical analysis to explore Islamization and its impact on identities, communities and their material culture. The consequences for the study of Islamization are examined through examples that include some of the author's own experiences. This innovative take on Islamization is not exclusively interested in the spread of the religion or of the polity, and therefore it overcomes the theoretical limits imposed by the concepts of religious conversion and ideological imposition. This book will appeal to scholars interested in associating cultural and religious change and, in particular, those working on Islam, whether within or outside the discipline of archaeology.

Author Biography

Jose C. Carvajal Lopez is Lecturer in Historical Archaeology at the University of Leicester, UK. He has published both on Islamization and on the archaeology of al-Andalus, and has developed fieldwork projects in Qatar, Palestine and Iraqi Kurdistan. He is currently a Trustee of the International Association for the Study of Arabia and continues to conduct research on Islamic archaeology, particularly in Spain and Qatar.