New Methodological Perspectives in Islamic Studies (Supplements to Method & Theory in the Study of Religion, 20)

This volume draws attention to and moves beyond the traditional methodological frames that have governed knowledge production in the academic study of Islam. Departing from Orientalist and largely textual studies, the chapters collected herein revolve around three main themes: gender, the political, and what has come to be known as "lived Islam." The first involves ascertaining how to read gender and gender issues into traditional sources. The second encourages an attunement to the often delicate intersection between the spheres of religion and politics. The final provides a corrective to our traditional over-emphasis on the interpretation of texts and a preoccupation with studying (mainly male) elites. Taken as a whole, this volume encourages a multi-methodological approach to the study of Islam. Contributors include Abbas Aghdassi, Aaron W. Hughes, Eva Kepplinger, Taira Amin, Betül Avcı, Ali Abedi Renani and Seyyed Ebrahim Sarparast Sadat, Meral Durmuş and Bahattin Akşit, Walid Ghali, Isabella Crespi and Martina Crescenti, Brian Arly Jacobsen, Pernille Friis Jensen, Kirstine Sinclair, and Niels Valdemar Vinding, Magdalena Pycińska, Zahraa McDonald, Emin Poljarevic, Abdessamad Belhaj. Contents Acknowledgements Tables Notes on Contributors Note on Transliteration Chapter 1. Introduction: Moving Beyond Chapter 2. ``Islam and...'': Thinking about Islam through the Act of Comparison Part 1: Gender Chapter 3. Toward a ``Hermeneutics of Trust'' in the Current Discussion on a Gender-Just Interpretation of Islamic Primary Texts Chapter 4. The Discursive Construction of Women's Guile in the Muslim Exegetical Tradition Part 2: The Political Chapter 5. Contemporary Turkish Academic Approach to Christianity Chapter 6. New Methods for Understanding Political Islam Chapter 7. Recontextualizing Islam in the Social and Collective Memory Part 3: Lived Islams Chapter 8. Old, New or Digital Philology Chapter 9. New Lenses for an Ethnography of Islam Chapter 10. Lived Institutions in the Study of Islam Chapter 11. Everyday Islam Chapter 12. Moving from a Madrasa Situation to the Process of Doctrinal Development Chapter 13. A Phenomenological Approach to the Study of Lived Islam and Muslimness Chapter 14. Back to Critique Index New Methodological Perspectives in Islamic Studies' offers a set of novel methodological perspectives to study Islam. These include gender, the political, and lived Islam. Taken as a whole, this volume encourages a multi-methodological approach