The Anthropology of Islam

Description

An increasing number of people have questions about Islam and Muslims. But how can we approach and study Islam after September 11th? Which is the best methodology to understand an Islam that is changing in a globalized world? The Anthropology of Islam argues that Islam today needs to be studied as a living religion through the observation of everyday Muslim life. Drawing on extensive original fieldwork, Marranci provides provocative analyses of Islam and its relation to issues such as identities, politics, culture, power and gender. The Anthropology of Islam is unprecedented in its innovative and challenging discussion about fieldwork among Muslims, and its ethnographically based interpretations of contemporary aspects of Islam in a post-September 11th society. The book will appeal to those in anthropology and beyond who see and are interested in investigating the unsettled place of Islam in our multicultural society.

Gabriele Marranci is Lecturer in the Anthropology of Religion, School of Divinity, History and Philosophy, University of Aberdeen.

"Marranci offers a critique of anthropology and the attention its scholars have and have not paid to the religion of Islam and to Muslims and their societies. Recommended. - L. Beck, CHOICE Magazine A significant contribution to theoretical debates about Muslims, politics, anthropology and ethnographic representations, specifically from the perspective of an anthropology of emotions. It will be worth reading to all those interested in these topics. - Religion and Society: Advances in Research An original and intriguing attempt to cover a broad range of themes in a field of research located on the border between the anthropology of religion and the study of Islam. - Religion"