In this updated paperback edition, Dale Eickelman and James Piscatori explore how the politics of Islam play out in the lives of Muslims throughout the world. They discuss how recent events such as September 11 and the 2003 war in Iraq have contributed to reshaping the political and religious landscape of Muslim-majority countries and Muslim communities elsewhere. As they examine the role of women in public life and Islamic perspectives on modernization and free speech, the authors probe the diversity of the contemporary Islamic experience, suggesting general trends and challenging popular Western notions of Islam as a monolithic movement. In so doing, they clarify concepts such as tradition, authority, ethnicity, pro-test, and symbolic space, notions that are crucial to an in-depth understanding of ongoing political events.
This book poses questions about ideological politics in a variety of transnational and regional settings throughout the Muslim world. Europe and North America, for example, have become active Muslim centers, profoundly influencing trends in the Middle East, Africa, Central Asia, and South and Southeast Asia. The authors examine the long-term cultural and political implications of this transnational shift as an emerging generation of Muslims, often the products of secular schooling, begin to reshape politics and society--sometimes in defiance of state authorities. Scholars, mothers, government leaders, and musicians are a few of the protagonists who, invoking shared Islamic symbols, try to reconfigure the boundaries of civic debate and public life. These symbolic politics explain why political actions are recognizably Muslim, and why "Islam" makes a difference in determining the politics of a broad swath of the world.
"Despite the continuing avalanche of books on Islamic politics, there is still a need for a succinct, sane, up-to-date overview of the subject. Here it is. . . . An excellent and much-needed book."--International Affairs
"Eickelman and Piscatori use an impressive range of examples from across the world to bring out the richness and diversity of the political experiences of Muslims."--Charles Tripp, Times Literary Supplement
"Refreshing and instructive. . . . [This is] an excellent and much-needed book."--Roger Hardy, International Affairs
"With . . . thoughtful analysis and erudite facts, Eickelman and Piscatori successfully raise the discussion of Muslims and their role in today's world to a higher and more promising level."--Akram Fouad Khater, History
"A readable, learned, and timely study. . . . The authors are to be commended for the breadth of their undertaking and the penetrating nature of their analysis."--Lawrence Ziring, Review of Politics
"In a period of misguided accounts of the Muslim world, exposure to the Eickelman and Piscatori arguments is highly instructive. . . . It will challenge students, scholars, and policy makers in the field to rethink Islamic politics."--Mahmood Monshipouri, Middle East Policy
Table of Contents
Another Princeton book authored or coauthored by Dale F. Eickelman:
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