Conservative Islam

A Cultural Anthropology

By (author) Erich Kolig

Not available to order

Publication date:

05 April 2012

Length of book:

410 pages

Publisher

Lexington Books

ISBN-13: 9780739174258

Conservative Islam: A Cultural Anthropology by Erich Kolig analyzes the salient characteristics of Islam and contemporary Muslim society from the perspective of traditional cultural anthropology. Gender issues, the headscarf and veiling, alcohol and pork prohibition, the taboo on satirizing religious contents, violence and jihad, attitudes toward rationalism and modernity, and other important issues that emanate from Islamic doctrine are discursively highlighted as to their origins, symbolic meanings, and importance in the modern world. By highlighting socio-cultural configurations, the universals they represent, the circumstances of their creation, and their semiotic meaning, Kolig helps the reader gain understanding of Islam in the modern world.

Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter 1: Unity in Plurality
Chapter 2: Islamic Law
Chapter 3: Islamic Commensality
Chapter 4: Vexing Questions About Gender Relations and Women
Chapter 5: Sartorial Conundrums
Chapter 6: The Intellectual Ingredient of Freedom and Levity
Chapter 7: Islamic Politics and Leadership
Chapter 8: Sacred Violence, Martyrs, and Secret Societies
Epilogue
About the Author
Index

This densely written book by a cultural anthropologist attempts to trace the characteristics of present-day Islam back to "ancient cultural and social peculiarities and symbols extant at the time of Islam's emergence." Kolig (Univ. of Otago, New Zealand) has set himself a difficult task: reconstruct the formative ideas and values of Islam from its origin in the Arabian Peninsula in the seventh century of the Christian era and evaluate their influence on current Islamic dogma and culture. Though his book is primarily a study of the history of ideas, the author's goal is to link these formative ideas to their expression today in the context of a globalized Islam whose 1.5 billion adherents are increasingly coming face-to-face with the secular and liberal ideology of the politically and economically dominant West. Kolig examines such topics as Islam and democracy, gender relations in Islam, and the urgent question of violence in Islam. This is a serious effort by a Western anthropologist to understand the conceptual underpinnings of Muslim society and the ways the religion of Islam shapes the cultural expression of its diverse believers the world over. Summing Up: Recommended.