Anthropology of Islam

This course examines current research in anthropological approaches to the study of Islam as religious practice and discursive tradition.

This course will provide students with a basic understanding of anthropological perspectives on contemporary Islam. In class we will explore topics that include the relationships of Islamic belief and practice to identity, gender roles, nationality, citizenship, migration, economics and consumption. We will discuss papers rich in ethnographic material to demonstrate the diversity of practices and discourses that fall under the category of Islam.

• Introduction.

• Anthropology of Islam. Islam as discursive traditon and religious practice

• The concept of “everyday Islam”.

• Test on basic knowledge of Islam. Film.

• Veils and modernity. Gender relations among Muslims from Central Asia, Caucasus and Balkans.

• ”Good” and ”bad” Muslims: Religious ideology and local practices

• Terrorism and state violence in Muslim-majority contexts (on the example of the North Caucasus)

• Islamic (sub)economy – discourses and practices.

• Eating “halal”. Islam and consumerism.

• Muslims as religious minority in Europe

• Postmodernism in Islam

• Islamophobia in Poland and beyond.

Abu-Lughod, Lila. 2002. “Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving?” American Anthropologist. 104(3): 783-790.

Achkoska V., Lifting the Veils from Muslim Women in the Republic of Macedonia Following the Second World War [w:] Gender Relations in South Eastern Europe: Historical Perspectives on Womanhood and Manhood in 19th and 20th Century, pod red. S.Naumovic, M. Jovanovic, Beograd, 2002.

McBrien, J. Mukada's struggle: veils and modernity in Kyrgystan, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 2009, s. 127-144.

Akbar A., An Anthropological Excursion into the Muslim World, in: Journey into Islam. The Crisis of Globalisation, Washington 2007, s. 1- 48.

Amghar S., Salafism and Radicalization of young European Muslims, [w:] European Islam. Challenges for Public Policy and Society, red. S. Amghar, A. Boubekeur, M. Emerson, Bruksela 2007, s. 38-51.

Raubisko, I., Proper 'traditional' versus dangerous 'new'. Religious Ideology and Idiosyncratic Islamic Practices in Post-Soviet Chechenya.

Asad T. Muslims as a Religious Minority in Europe, [w:] Formations of the Secular. Christianity, Islam, Modernity, s. 159-180

Bowen R., Islamism, [w:] Why the French don’t like headscarves. Islam, the State and Public Sphere, Princeton, Oxford: 2007, s. 182-207.  

Zulaika J., Douglass W.A. Terror and taboo. The follies, fables, and faces of terrorism, New York, Routlege, 1996.

Overview of major domain of Islamic religious and social life.

Increased ability to reflect critically on themes related to Islam in anthropological texts and beyond.

Understanding the theoretical advances in anthropology that are the result of the study of Islam.

40% Students should come to class prepared to discuss readings. Active participation in class constitutes 30% of the course grade.

30% Text on basic knowledge of Islam (during 3rd class).

30% Reaction papers.