What Is Islamic Studies? : European and North American Approaches to a Contested Field (Exploring Muslim Contexts)

The study of Islam and Muslims in Europe and North America has expanded greatly in recent decades, becoming a passionately debated and divided field. This collection critically assesses the development of the field of Islamic Studies and its place in society. Featuring contributions from anthropologists, historians and scholars of religion, each chapter contains new empirical material and discusses approaches to the study of Islam, past and present. The book situates Islamic Studies within broader discussions of the construction of identity and its political implications in Europe and North America. Authors also address tensions between normative and non-normative approaches to the study of Islam and Muslims and consider how these might be reconciled. This book considers different academic approaches to Islamic studies in Europe and North America. These are not homogenous, but vary based on different geopolitical and demographic perspectives and differing attitudes towards ‘identity politics’. Debates have hinged on the possibility of neutral scholarship, whether because of the colonial legacies of ‘orientalists’ or the intrusion of apologetic agendas. Featuring contributions from anthropologists, historians and scholars of religion, this book explores the passionate, divided and evolving field of Islamic Studies in Europe and North America, past and present covering topics from secularism and gender to pop music and modern science. The making of the historian who transformed Scottish history and the nation's understanding of its past