Armando Salvatore
McGill University, Faculty of Religious Studies, Faculty Member
- Religion & the Public Sphere, Sociology of islam, Islamic History, Islamic Political Thought, Middle Eastern Studies, Islamic Studies, and 129 moreIslamic and Middle Eastern studies, Islam in Europe, Early modern Ottoman History, Sociology of Religion, Middle East, Religion, Religion and Colonialism, Political Religion, Symbolism (Religion), Sufism, Social Theory, Classical Social Theory, Sociology of Intellectuals, Spinoza, Islamic Thought & Philosophy, New Religious Movements, Comparative Religion, Theory of Religion, Waqf Studies, Islam in the Southeast Asia, Charisma, Gabriel Tarde, Interfaith Studies, Interfaith Dialogue, Animals and non-humans, Silk Road Studies, Silk Road, Archaeology of the Silk Road, Archaeology of Central Asia, Eurasian Nomads, Play, Late Antiquity, Ibn Arabi, Islamic Mysticism, Sovereignty, Civility, Religious Studies, Religion and Politics, Anthropology of Religion, Comparative Modernities, Marshall G.S. Hodgson, Ibn Khaldun, Contemporary Sufism, Tariqa Sufism, philosophical Sufism (school of Ibn 'Arabi), Cosmopolitan Sufism & Religiosity, Islam, Shamanism, Sociological Theory, Anthropology of Islam, Central Asia, Method and Theory in the Study of Religion, Wisdom Traditions, History of Religion, History of Religions, Turkey, Islamic Intellectual History, Political Theory, Political Philosophy, Religion and Modernity, Islam and Modernity, Modernity/coloniality/decoloniality, Religion and Society, Intellectual History, Marcel Mauss, Islamic Law, Theories of Sovereignty, Political Theology, Chinese Religions, Indigenous Studies, Indigenous Religions, Axial Age, Historical and Comparative Sociology, State Formation, Ottoman History, Ottoman Empire, Pythagoras, Presocratic Philosophy, Theology, Pythagoreanism, Multiple Modernities, Max Weber (Philosophy), Islam in Central Asia, Ancient Religion, Max Weber, Giambattista Vico, Toshihiko Izutsu Pdf, Islam in Japan, Civility and the Civilising Process, Buddhist-Muslim Relations, Italian Theory, Nestorianism, Anthropology and Sociology, Islamic' Architecture, Islamic Art, Science and Religion, Study of Religions, Inter-religious Dialogue, History of Religious Studies, Philosophy, Jingjiao, Sociology of Knowledge, Humanities and Social Sciences, Syriac Studies, Sociology of Islam (Sociology), Religious Studies (Theory And Methodology), Jewish Mysticism, Western Esotericism, Archaeology of Religion, Japanese Religions, Archaeology of Ritual, Sacrifice (Anthropology Of Religion), Ritual Theory, Middle East Studies, Southeast Asian Religion, Philosophy Of Religion, Interreligious Dialogue, Comparative Theology, Theology and Religious Studies, Hermeneutics, Interreligious Studies, Qumran, Mysticism, Shingon, Kukai, Abrahamic Religions, Mikkyo, Syriac Christianity, and History of the Mongol Empireedit
- Armando Salvatore is a scholar of contemporary Islamic Studies and comparative religion. His primary focus is on inte... moreArmando Salvatore is a scholar of contemporary Islamic Studies and comparative religion. His primary focus is on inter-religious and trans-civilizational dynamics. Salvatore’s overall approach is interdisciplinary. His methodologies rely largely on historical-comparative sociology, social theory, and the sociology of knowledge. He is presently the Barbara and Patrick Keenan Chair in Interfaith Studies and Professor of Islamic and Interreligious Studies at McGill University. Salvatore has held professorial and research positions at Humboldt University Berlin, University of Naples ‘L’Orientale,’ National University of Singapore, Leipzig University, and Australian National University, Canberra. His most recent single-authored book is The Sociology of Islam: Knowledge, Power and Civility (Wiley Blackwell, 2016). Among his other recent publications are the chief editorships of the multi-authored works The Wiley Blackwell History of Islam (Wiley Blackwell, 2018) and The Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of the Middle East (Oxford University Press, 2020-21 online edition, 2022 print edition).edit
Research Interests:
يُقَدِّم لنا هذا الكتابُ المرجعيُّ المهمُّ رؤيةً جديدةً للإسلام تمتاز بالعمق والشمول والاستيعاب في آنٍ معًا؛ إذ يدرس الإسلامَ في مستوياته المتعددة الدينية والسياسية والاجتماعية والثقافية، ويُعْنَى أشدَّ العناية برصد التحولات التي طرأت على... more
يُقَدِّم لنا هذا الكتابُ المرجعيُّ المهمُّ رؤيةً جديدةً للإسلام تمتاز بالعمق والشمول والاستيعاب في آنٍ معًا؛ إذ يدرس الإسلامَ في مستوياته المتعددة الدينية والسياسية والاجتماعية والثقافية، ويُعْنَى أشدَّ العناية برصد التحولات التي طرأت على المجتمعات الإسلامية في مختلف العصور وشتى الأقاليم، على نحو أثمر في نهاية المطاف سرديةً متماسكةً لتطور الإسلام وحضارته في التاريخ.
ولقد توفَّر على كتابة فصوله الثمانية والعشرين فريقٌ من العلماء المرموقين والباحثين النابهين، فسبروا أغوار ذلك النظام الاجتماعي الجديد الذي جعل يتشكَّل في الجزيرة العربية منذ القرن السابع الميلادي، وجعلوا يتعقَّبون في صبرٍ وأناةٍ الأطوارَ التي تقلَّب فيها، ويرصدون في دقةٍ وأمانةٍ الملامح العامة التي وسمت هذه التجربة السياسية/الحضارية الفريدة، حتى انتهوا إلى القرن العشرين بتياراته الإسلاموية وأساليبه المختلفة التي نَمَتْ من خلالها النزعةُ الإسلاميةُ وتغلغلت في الحياة اليومية بالشرق الأوسط وغيره من الأقاليم.
وبعدُ، فلئن كان هذا الكتابُ من الكتب المهمة للطلاب والباحثين في طائفة واسعة من الحقول المعرفية؛ كعلم الاجتماع، والتاريخ، والفقه والقانون، والتصوف والكلام، والعلوم السياسية ….إلخ، فإننا على يقين من أنه سيقع أيضًا موقع الرضا والقبول من القارئ العام المهتم بتاريخ الإسلام، أحد الأديان الكبرى في العالم.
ولقد توفَّر على كتابة فصوله الثمانية والعشرين فريقٌ من العلماء المرموقين والباحثين النابهين، فسبروا أغوار ذلك النظام الاجتماعي الجديد الذي جعل يتشكَّل في الجزيرة العربية منذ القرن السابع الميلادي، وجعلوا يتعقَّبون في صبرٍ وأناةٍ الأطوارَ التي تقلَّب فيها، ويرصدون في دقةٍ وأمانةٍ الملامح العامة التي وسمت هذه التجربة السياسية/الحضارية الفريدة، حتى انتهوا إلى القرن العشرين بتياراته الإسلاموية وأساليبه المختلفة التي نَمَتْ من خلالها النزعةُ الإسلاميةُ وتغلغلت في الحياة اليومية بالشرق الأوسط وغيره من الأقاليم.
وبعدُ، فلئن كان هذا الكتابُ من الكتب المهمة للطلاب والباحثين في طائفة واسعة من الحقول المعرفية؛ كعلم الاجتماع، والتاريخ، والفقه والقانون، والتصوف والكلام، والعلوم السياسية ….إلخ، فإننا على يقين من أنه سيقع أيضًا موقع الرضا والقبول من القارئ العام المهتم بتاريخ الإسلام، أحد الأديان الكبرى في العالم.
Research Interests:
Quote as: Salvatore, Armando, 2016. The Sociology of Islam: Knowledge, Power and Civility, Oxford: Wiley Blackwell. The Sociology of Islam provides an accessible introduction to this emerging field of inquiry, teaching and debate. The... more
Quote as:
Salvatore, Armando, 2016. The Sociology of Islam: Knowledge, Power and Civility, Oxford: Wiley Blackwell.
The Sociology of Islam provides an accessible introduction to this emerging field of inquiry, teaching and debate. The study is located at the crucial intersection between a variety of disciplines in the social sciences and the humanities. It discusses the long-term dynamics of Islam as both a religion and as a social, political and cultural force.
The volume focuses on ideas of knowledge, power and civility to provide students and readers with analytic and critical thinking frameworks for understanding the complex social facets of Islamic traditions and institutions. The study of the sociology of Islam improves the understanding of Islam as a diverse force that drives a variety of social and political arrangements.
Delving into both conceptual questions and historical interpretations, The Sociology of Islam is a transdisciplinary, comparative resource for students, scholars, and policy makers seeking to understand Islam’s complex changes throughout history and its impact on the modern world.
The sociology of Islam has been a late and controversial addition to the sociology of religion. This field of research has been the principal target of the critique of Orientalism and after 9/11 the study of Islam became heavily politicized. In the first volume of what promises to be a major three volume masterpiece, Armando Salvatore steers a careful and judicious course through the various pitfalls that attend the field. The result is an academic triumph combining a sweeping historical vision of Islam with an analytical framework that is structured by the theme of knowledge-power. One waits with huge excitement for the delivery of the remaining volumes.
Bryan Turner, City University of New York
Sociologists of religion have long been awaiting a successor volume to Bryan Turner 's pathbreaking but now dated Weber and Islam (1974). Armando Salvatore's new book provides just this update and much more. Ranging across a host of critical case studies and theoretical issues, Salvatore provides a masterful account of religious ethics, rationalization, and civility across the breadth of the Muslim world, from early times to today. The result is a book of deep intellectual insight, important, not just for the sociology of Islam, but for scholars and students interested in religion, ethics, and modernity in all civilizational traditions.
Robert Hefner, Boston University
A brilliant, pioneering effort to explain the cosmopolitan ethos within Islamicate civilization, The Sociology of Islam encompasses all the terminological boldness of Marshal Hodgson, making the Persianate and Islamicate elements of civic cosmopolitanism, across the vast Afro-Eurasian ecumene, accessible to the widest possible readership in both the humanities and the social sciences.
Bruce B. Lawrence, author of Who is Allah? (2015)
Salvatore, Armando, 2016. The Sociology of Islam: Knowledge, Power and Civility, Oxford: Wiley Blackwell.
The Sociology of Islam provides an accessible introduction to this emerging field of inquiry, teaching and debate. The study is located at the crucial intersection between a variety of disciplines in the social sciences and the humanities. It discusses the long-term dynamics of Islam as both a religion and as a social, political and cultural force.
The volume focuses on ideas of knowledge, power and civility to provide students and readers with analytic and critical thinking frameworks for understanding the complex social facets of Islamic traditions and institutions. The study of the sociology of Islam improves the understanding of Islam as a diverse force that drives a variety of social and political arrangements.
Delving into both conceptual questions and historical interpretations, The Sociology of Islam is a transdisciplinary, comparative resource for students, scholars, and policy makers seeking to understand Islam’s complex changes throughout history and its impact on the modern world.
The sociology of Islam has been a late and controversial addition to the sociology of religion. This field of research has been the principal target of the critique of Orientalism and after 9/11 the study of Islam became heavily politicized. In the first volume of what promises to be a major three volume masterpiece, Armando Salvatore steers a careful and judicious course through the various pitfalls that attend the field. The result is an academic triumph combining a sweeping historical vision of Islam with an analytical framework that is structured by the theme of knowledge-power. One waits with huge excitement for the delivery of the remaining volumes.
Bryan Turner, City University of New York
Sociologists of religion have long been awaiting a successor volume to Bryan Turner 's pathbreaking but now dated Weber and Islam (1974). Armando Salvatore's new book provides just this update and much more. Ranging across a host of critical case studies and theoretical issues, Salvatore provides a masterful account of religious ethics, rationalization, and civility across the breadth of the Muslim world, from early times to today. The result is a book of deep intellectual insight, important, not just for the sociology of Islam, but for scholars and students interested in religion, ethics, and modernity in all civilizational traditions.
Robert Hefner, Boston University
A brilliant, pioneering effort to explain the cosmopolitan ethos within Islamicate civilization, The Sociology of Islam encompasses all the terminological boldness of Marshal Hodgson, making the Persianate and Islamicate elements of civic cosmopolitanism, across the vast Afro-Eurasian ecumene, accessible to the widest possible readership in both the humanities and the social sciences.
Bruce B. Lawrence, author of Who is Allah? (2015)
Research Interests: Religion, Comparative Religion, Political Sociology, Social Theory, Sociology of Religion, and 51 moreCultural Sociology, Social Sciences, Middle East Studies, History of Religion, Middle East History, Sociology of Knowledge, Religion and Politics, Islamic Contemporary Studies, State Formation, Cosmopolitanism, Sociology of islam, State Formation and Sovereignty in Middle East, History of Religions, State Theory, Modernity, Islamic Studies, Sufism, Contemporary Movements and Trends in Islam, Method and Theory in the Study of Religion, Sociological Theory, Islamic History, Islam, Contemporary Sufism, Religious Studies (Theory And Methodology), Middle East Politics, Religion and Modernity, Tariqa Sufism, International political sociology, Political Islam, Islam and Modernity, Religious Studies, Sociología, Waqf Studies, Waqf, Humanities and Social Sciences, Cosmopolitan Sufism & Religiosity, Histories and theories of modernity, Waqf Role in Urban Development, Sociology of Islam and Muslim Societies, Sufisme, Historical and Comparative Sociology, Arabic and Islamic Studies, sociology of religion, Quranic Studies, Anthropology of Religion, Modernity/coloniality/decoloniality, Islam and modernization process, Comparative Modernities, Islam In Modern Southeast Asia and the Middle East, Waqf Studies: Concept, Islamic law and jurisprudence, Religious and Islamic Movements, and Religious and Islamic Studies
Quote as: Salvatore, Armando. 2007. The Public Sphere: Liberal Modernity, Catholicism, and Islam, New York: Palgrave Macmillan. This book explores conceptual and institutional developments of the notion of the public sphere in the West... more
Quote as:
Salvatore, Armando. 2007. The Public Sphere: Liberal Modernity, Catholicism, and Islam, New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
This book explores conceptual and institutional developments of the notion of the public sphere in the West and in the Islamic world, tackling historic ruptures spanning the formation and transformation of the Euro-Mediterranean world. Set against an imploding grammar of socio-political life, the modern liberal public sphere appears in a new light.
Salvatore, Armando. 2007. The Public Sphere: Liberal Modernity, Catholicism, and Islam, New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
This book explores conceptual and institutional developments of the notion of the public sphere in the West and in the Islamic world, tackling historic ruptures spanning the formation and transformation of the Euro-Mediterranean world. Set against an imploding grammar of socio-political life, the modern liberal public sphere appears in a new light.
Research Interests: Religion, Comparative Religion, Social Theory, Sociology of Religion, Cultural Sociology, and 15 moreTheology, Genealogy, Religion and Politics, Religion & the Public Sphere, History of Religions, Public Sphere, Catholic Theology, Islamic Studies, Political Theology, Islam, Religion and Modernity, International political sociology, Catholicism, Islam and Modernity, and Religious Studies
Quote as: Salvatore, Armando. 1997. Islam and the Political Discourse of Modernity, Reading: Ithaca Press. This is my first book, based on my PhD thesis that won the MESA Malcolm Kerr Award in the Social Sciences, 1994. The book... more
Quote as:
Salvatore, Armando. 1997. Islam and the Political Discourse of Modernity, Reading: Ithaca Press.
This is my first book, based on my PhD thesis that won the MESA Malcolm Kerr Award in the Social Sciences, 1994. The book provides a 'genealogical' background to more recent work of mine, particularly the volume The Sociology of Islam: Knowledge, Power and Civility.
Salvatore, Armando. 1997. Islam and the Political Discourse of Modernity, Reading: Ithaca Press.
This is my first book, based on my PhD thesis that won the MESA Malcolm Kerr Award in the Social Sciences, 1994. The book provides a 'genealogical' background to more recent work of mine, particularly the volume The Sociology of Islam: Knowledge, Power and Civility.
Research Interests: Religion, Comparative Religion, Intellectual History, Sociology, Cultural Studies, and 15 moreSocial Theory, Sociology of Religion, Middle East Studies, Genealogy, Religion and Politics, Politics, Sociology of islam, Islamic Studies, Michel Foucault, Islam, Islamic Political Thought, Edward Said, Political Islam, Religious Studies, and Sociology of Knowledege
The sociology of the Middle East has been an expanding field of inquiry since the aftermath of World War II, when phenomena as diverse as urbanization, internal and international migration, and peasant societies attracted the attention of... more
The sociology of the Middle East has been an expanding field of inquiry since the aftermath of World War II, when phenomena as diverse as urbanization, internal and international migration, and peasant societies attracted the attention of scholars working on the region. The Middle East became central in key sociological debates on modernization theory and the critical responses. The Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of the Middle East connects this historical trajectory with the emergence of the sociology of Islam, inspired by Max Weber. It explores how within the global community, the Middle East has become a terrain of heightened concern within the post–Cold War context, where the promising rise of civic (and often religiously inspired) sociopolitical movements in the 1980s and 1990s has been slowly overwhelmed by the affirmation of jihadist networks, authoritarian states, and complex supranational security apparatuses. This foundational volume starts by engaging in a critical examination of the field itself, starting with a historical sociology of the making of the idea itself of the Middle East and linking it with the legacy of colonialism and the evolving dynamics of global power. In repurposing the sociology of the Middle East within a growing interdisciplinary multifield, the Handbook develops the critical argument that the exploration of social dynamics in the Middle East cannot be disjoined from the analysis of culture and politics. By connecting the vexed state-society relations in the region with movements of transformation and the affirmation of rights and creativity in the public arenas, it provides a comprehensive perspective to investigate long-standing regional and new transregional and global dynamics and their impact on the life of people in the region.
Research Interests:
Quote as: Salvatore Armando, Babak Rahimi, and Roberto Tottoli (eds). 2018. The Wiley Blackwell History of Islam. Oxford: Wiley Blackwell. [You'll find the Introduction and my two co-authored Chapters in the section 'Book Chapters and... more
Quote as:
Salvatore Armando, Babak Rahimi, and Roberto Tottoli (eds). 2018. The Wiley Blackwell History of Islam. Oxford: Wiley Blackwell.
[You'll find the Introduction and my two co-authored Chapters in the section 'Book Chapters and Intros' by scrolling down my main academia webpage]
A theoretically rich, nuanced history of Islam and Islamic civilization with a unique sociological component. This major new reference work offers a complete historical and theoretically informed view of Islam as both a religion and a sociocultural force. It surveys and discusses the transformation of Muslim societies in different eras and various regions, providing a broad narrative of the historical development of Islamic civilization.
This text explores the complex and varied history of the religion and its traditions. It provides an in-depth study of the diverse ways through which the religious dimension at the core of Islamic traditions has led to a distinctive type of civilizational process in history. The book illuminates the ways in which various historical forces have converged and crystallized in institutional forms at a variety of levels, embracing social, religious, legal, political, cultural, and civic dimensions. Together, the team of internationally renowned scholars move from the genesis of a new social order in 7th-century Arabia, right up to the rise of revolutionary Islamist currents in the 20th century and the varied ways in which Islam has grown and continues to pervade daily life in the Middle East and beyond.
This book is essential reading for students and academics in a wide range of fields, including sociology, history, law, and political science. It will also appeal to general readers with an interest in the history of one of the world’s great religions.
Salvatore Armando, Babak Rahimi, and Roberto Tottoli (eds). 2018. The Wiley Blackwell History of Islam. Oxford: Wiley Blackwell.
[You'll find the Introduction and my two co-authored Chapters in the section 'Book Chapters and Intros' by scrolling down my main academia webpage]
A theoretically rich, nuanced history of Islam and Islamic civilization with a unique sociological component. This major new reference work offers a complete historical and theoretically informed view of Islam as both a religion and a sociocultural force. It surveys and discusses the transformation of Muslim societies in different eras and various regions, providing a broad narrative of the historical development of Islamic civilization.
This text explores the complex and varied history of the religion and its traditions. It provides an in-depth study of the diverse ways through which the religious dimension at the core of Islamic traditions has led to a distinctive type of civilizational process in history. The book illuminates the ways in which various historical forces have converged and crystallized in institutional forms at a variety of levels, embracing social, religious, legal, political, cultural, and civic dimensions. Together, the team of internationally renowned scholars move from the genesis of a new social order in 7th-century Arabia, right up to the rise of revolutionary Islamist currents in the 20th century and the varied ways in which Islam has grown and continues to pervade daily life in the Middle East and beyond.
This book is essential reading for students and academics in a wide range of fields, including sociology, history, law, and political science. It will also appeal to general readers with an interest in the history of one of the world’s great religions.
Research Interests: Religion, History, Sociology of Religion, Historical Sociology, Middle East Studies, and 15 moreHistory of Religion, Religion and Politics, Central Asian Studies, Sociology of islam, Islamic Studies, Islam in Central Asia, Islam in the Southeast Asia, Islam, Comparative and historical sociology, Comparative Historical Analysis, Islam and Modernity, Islamic History and Muslim Civilization, Comparative Historical Sociology, Historical and Comparative Sociology, and Religious and Islamic Studies
Quote as: Salvatore, Armando, and Mark LeVine (eds). 2005. Religion, Social Practice, and Contested Hegemonies: Reconstructing the Public Sphere in Muslim Majority Societies, New York: Palgrave Macmillan. The volume examines how modern... more
Quote as:
Salvatore, Armando, and Mark LeVine (eds). 2005. Religion, Social Practice, and Contested Hegemonies: Reconstructing the Public Sphere in Muslim Majority Societies, New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
The volume examines how modern public spheres reflect and mask—often simultaneously— discourses of order, contests for hegemony, and techniques of power in the Muslim world. Although the contributors examine various time periods and locations, each views modern and contemporary public spheres as crucial to the functioning, and thus understanding, of political and societal power in Muslim majority countries. Part I of this volume analyzes the various discourses and technologies operating within Muslim public spheres; part II investigates how they impact and interact with the construction of moral and legal arguments within Muslim societies.
Salvatore, Armando, and Mark LeVine (eds). 2005. Religion, Social Practice, and Contested Hegemonies: Reconstructing the Public Sphere in Muslim Majority Societies, New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
The volume examines how modern public spheres reflect and mask—often simultaneously— discourses of order, contests for hegemony, and techniques of power in the Muslim world. Although the contributors examine various time periods and locations, each views modern and contemporary public spheres as crucial to the functioning, and thus understanding, of political and societal power in Muslim majority countries. Part I of this volume analyzes the various discourses and technologies operating within Muslim public spheres; part II investigates how they impact and interact with the construction of moral and legal arguments within Muslim societies.
Research Interests: Religion, Sociology of Religion, Historical Sociology, History of Religion, Religion and Politics, and 15 moreSociology of islam, Religion & the Public Sphere, Civil Society and the Public Sphere, Islamic Studies, Islam, Citizenship and Identity, Middle East Politics, Religion and Modernity, Comparative and historical sociology, Islam and Modernity, Religious Studies, Social Sciences and Humanities, Anthropology of Islam, Historical and Comparative Sociology, and Anthropology of Religion
Quote as: Salvatore, Armando (ed). 2001. Muslim Traditions and Modern Techniques of Power, Yearbook of the Sociology of Islam, 3, Hamburg: Lit; New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction. [You'll find the Introduction in the section 'Book Chapters... more
Quote as:
Salvatore, Armando (ed). 2001. Muslim Traditions and Modern Techniques of Power, Yearbook of the Sociology of Islam, 3, Hamburg: Lit; New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.
[You'll find the Introduction in the section 'Book Chapters and Intros' by scrolling down my main academia webpage]
This is was one of my first inroads into the Sociology of Islam, dating back to 2001. The volume deals with historical and contemporary articulations of the relation of tension between the civilizing impetus of Muslim traditions, and modern forms, fields and techniques of power. These techniques are associated with the process of state-building, as well as with the related constraints of disciplining, normative cohesion, control of the territory and monitored social differentiation. The contributions conceptualize Muslim traditions as deriving their legitimacy, authority, as well as normative and organizing power from being embedded in the discourses and institutions of Islam, which constitute one major center within world history, by now also encompassing Muslim communities within Western societies.
Salvatore, Armando (ed). 2001. Muslim Traditions and Modern Techniques of Power, Yearbook of the Sociology of Islam, 3, Hamburg: Lit; New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.
[You'll find the Introduction in the section 'Book Chapters and Intros' by scrolling down my main academia webpage]
This is was one of my first inroads into the Sociology of Islam, dating back to 2001. The volume deals with historical and contemporary articulations of the relation of tension between the civilizing impetus of Muslim traditions, and modern forms, fields and techniques of power. These techniques are associated with the process of state-building, as well as with the related constraints of disciplining, normative cohesion, control of the territory and monitored social differentiation. The contributions conceptualize Muslim traditions as deriving their legitimacy, authority, as well as normative and organizing power from being embedded in the discourses and institutions of Islam, which constitute one major center within world history, by now also encompassing Muslim communities within Western societies.
Research Interests: Religion, Social Theory, Sociology of Religion, Anthropology, Religion and Politics, and 15 moreIslamic Contemporary Studies, Sociology of islam, Religion & the Public Sphere, Civil Society and the Public Sphere, Modernity, Contemporary Movements and Trends in Islam, Islam, Religion and Modernity, Islam (Anthropology), Islam and Modernity, Religious Studies, Tradition and Modernity, Non-Western Modernity, Modernity/coloniality/decoloniality, and Sociology of Culture and Communication
Quotes as: Arnason, Johann P. , Armando Salvatore, and Georg Stauth (eds). 2006. Islam in Process: Historical and Civilizational Perspectives (Yearbook of the Sociology of Islam, vol. 7). Bielefeld: Transcript; New Brunswick, NJ:... more
Quotes as:
Arnason, Johann P. , Armando Salvatore, and Georg Stauth (eds). 2006. Islam in Process: Historical and Civilizational Perspectives (Yearbook of the Sociology of Islam, vol. 7). Bielefeld: Transcript; New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.
The articles included in this Yearbook of the Sociology of Islam are focused on two perspectives: Some link the comparative analysis of Islam to ongoing debates on the Axial Age and its role in the formation of major civilizational complexes, while others are more concerned with the historical constellations and sources involved in the formation of Islam as a religion and a civilization.
More than any other particular line of inquiry, new historical and sociological approaches to the Axial Age revived the idea of comparative civilizational analysis and channeled it into more specific projects. A closer look at the very problematic place of Islam in this context will help to clarify questions about the Axial version of civilizational theory as well as issues in Islamic studies and sociological approaches to modern Islam. Contributors among others: Said Arjomand, Shmuel N. Eisenstadt, Josef van Ess and Raif G. Khoury.
Arnason, Johann P. , Armando Salvatore, and Georg Stauth (eds). 2006. Islam in Process: Historical and Civilizational Perspectives (Yearbook of the Sociology of Islam, vol. 7). Bielefeld: Transcript; New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.
The articles included in this Yearbook of the Sociology of Islam are focused on two perspectives: Some link the comparative analysis of Islam to ongoing debates on the Axial Age and its role in the formation of major civilizational complexes, while others are more concerned with the historical constellations and sources involved in the formation of Islam as a religion and a civilization.
More than any other particular line of inquiry, new historical and sociological approaches to the Axial Age revived the idea of comparative civilizational analysis and channeled it into more specific projects. A closer look at the very problematic place of Islam in this context will help to clarify questions about the Axial version of civilizational theory as well as issues in Islamic studies and sociological approaches to modern Islam. Contributors among others: Said Arjomand, Shmuel N. Eisenstadt, Josef van Ess and Raif G. Khoury.
Research Interests: Religion, History, Intellectual History, Sociology, Political Sociology, and 15 moreSocial Theory, Sociology of Culture, Sociology of Religion, International Relations, History of Religion, Religion and Politics, Politics, Sociology of islam, History of Religions, Islamic Studies, Political Theology, Islamic History, Islam, Political Islam, and Historical and Comparative Sociology
Quote as: Masud, Khalid, Armando Salvatore, and Martin van Bruinessen (eds). 2009. Islam and Modernity: Key Issues and Debates, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. This textbook is a pioneering study providing an introduction to and... more
Quote as:
Masud, Khalid, Armando Salvatore, and Martin van Bruinessen (eds). 2009. Islam and Modernity: Key Issues and Debates, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
This textbook is a pioneering study providing an introduction to and overview of the debates and questions that have emerged regarding Islam and modernity. Key issues are selected to give readers an understanding of the complexity of the phenomenon from a variety of disciplinary perspectives. The various manifestations of modernity in Muslim life discussed include social change and the transformation of political and religious institutions, gender politics, changing legal regimes, devotional practices and forms of religious association, shifts in religious authority, and modern developments in Muslim religious thought.
Masud, Khalid, Armando Salvatore, and Martin van Bruinessen (eds). 2009. Islam and Modernity: Key Issues and Debates, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
This textbook is a pioneering study providing an introduction to and overview of the debates and questions that have emerged regarding Islam and modernity. Key issues are selected to give readers an understanding of the complexity of the phenomenon from a variety of disciplinary perspectives. The various manifestations of modernity in Muslim life discussed include social change and the transformation of political and religious institutions, gender politics, changing legal regimes, devotional practices and forms of religious association, shifts in religious authority, and modern developments in Muslim religious thought.
Research Interests: Religion, Intellectual History, Sociology, Social Theory, Sociology of Religion, and 15 moreReligion and Politics, Sociology of islam, Public Sphere, Modernity, Islamic Studies, History of Islam, Islam, Religion and Modernity, Political Islam, Islam and Modernity, Religious Studies, Islam in the Public Sphere, Non-Western Modernity, Religion and the Public Sphere, and Modernity/coloniality/decoloniality
Quote as: Salvatore, Armando, and Dale F. Eickelman (eds). 2004. Public Islam and the Common Good, Leiden and Boston: Brill. This was an early, coordinated attempt to explore the public role of Islam in contemporary world politics.... more
Quote as:
Salvatore, Armando, and Dale F. Eickelman (eds). 2004. Public Islam and the Common Good, Leiden and Boston: Brill.
This was an early, coordinated attempt to explore the public role of Islam in contemporary world politics. "Public Islam" refers to the diverse invocations and struggles over Islamic ideas and practices that increasingly influence the politics and social life of large parts of the globe. The contributors to this volume show how public Islam articulates competing notions and practices of the common good and a way of envisioning alternative political and religious ideas and realities, reconfiguring established boundaries of civil and social life. Drawing on examples from the late Ottoman Empire, Africa, South Asia, Iran, and the Arab Middle East, this volume facilitates understanding the multiple ways in which the public sphere, a key concept in social thought, can be made transculturally feasible by encompassing the evolution of non-Western societies in which religion plays a vital role.
Salvatore, Armando, and Dale F. Eickelman (eds). 2004. Public Islam and the Common Good, Leiden and Boston: Brill.
This was an early, coordinated attempt to explore the public role of Islam in contemporary world politics. "Public Islam" refers to the diverse invocations and struggles over Islamic ideas and practices that increasingly influence the politics and social life of large parts of the globe. The contributors to this volume show how public Islam articulates competing notions and practices of the common good and a way of envisioning alternative political and religious ideas and realities, reconfiguring established boundaries of civil and social life. Drawing on examples from the late Ottoman Empire, Africa, South Asia, Iran, and the Arab Middle East, this volume facilitates understanding the multiple ways in which the public sphere, a key concept in social thought, can be made transculturally feasible by encompassing the evolution of non-Western societies in which religion plays a vital role.
Research Interests: Religion, Comparative Religion, Intellectual History, Sociology of Religion, Sociology of Knowledge, and 15 moreReligion and Politics, Sociology of islam, Public Sphere, Modernity, Islamic Studies, Islam, Religion and Modernity, Political Islam, Civil Society, Islam and Modernity, Religious Studies, Anthropology of Islam, Islam in the Public Sphere, Non-Western Modernity, and Religion and the Public Sphere
Quote as: Salvatore, Armando, Oliver Schmidtke and Hans-Jörg Trenz (eds.). 2013. Rethinking the Public Sphere Through Transnationalizing Processes: Europe and Beyond, New York: Palgrave Macmillan. [You'll find the Introduction and my... more
Quote as: Salvatore, Armando, Oliver Schmidtke and Hans-Jörg Trenz (eds.). 2013. Rethinking the Public Sphere Through Transnationalizing Processes: Europe and Beyond, New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
[You'll find the Introduction and my chapter in the section 'Book Chapters and Intros' by scrolling down my main academia webpage]
This book discusses the extent to which the theoretical relevance and analytical rigor of the concept of the public sphere is affected (or undermined) by current processes of transnationalization. The contributions address fundamental questions concerning the viability of a socially and politically effective public sphere in a post-Westphalian world. To what degree are the theoretical presuppositions regarding the critical function and democratic quality of public deliberation still valid in contemporary societies that adhere decreasingly to the Westphalian logic of closed national political communities and modes of communication? Under what conditions is the critical impetus of the public sphere still applicable in a world that, in Europe and beyond, is increasingly responding to processes of trans-border interaction and communication?
[You'll find the Introduction and my chapter in the section 'Book Chapters and Intros' by scrolling down my main academia webpage]
This book discusses the extent to which the theoretical relevance and analytical rigor of the concept of the public sphere is affected (or undermined) by current processes of transnationalization. The contributions address fundamental questions concerning the viability of a socially and politically effective public sphere in a post-Westphalian world. To what degree are the theoretical presuppositions regarding the critical function and democratic quality of public deliberation still valid in contemporary societies that adhere decreasingly to the Westphalian logic of closed national political communities and modes of communication? Under what conditions is the critical impetus of the public sphere still applicable in a world that, in Europe and beyond, is increasingly responding to processes of trans-border interaction and communication?
Research Interests:
Vorstellungen eines Niedergangs der islamischen Welt – ob bereits erfolgt, sich abzeichnend oder prognostiziert – drücken sich in einer Fülle von Thesen und Erzählungen zu Kultur, Literatur, Mentalität, Theologie und Geschichte derselben... more
Vorstellungen eines Niedergangs der islamischen Welt – ob bereits erfolgt, sich abzeichnend oder prognostiziert – drücken sich in einer Fülle von Thesen und Erzählungen zu Kultur, Literatur, Mentalität, Theologie und Geschichte derselben aus. Die Autorinnen und Autoren dieses Bandes setzen sich kritisch mit den Annahmen, Ausdrucksformen und Konsequenzen dieser Vorstellungen auseinander. Sie spüren dabei dem historischen Aufkommen einzelner Niedergangsthesen und ihrer Narrative nach und verweisen bisweilen auf Alternativen zu den jeweiligen Facetten dieser Großerzählung.
Concepts of a decline in the Islamic world - whether already occurred, looming or forecasted - are expressed in a wealth of theses and narratives on culture, literature, mentality, theology and history of the same. The authors of this volume deal critically with the assumptions, forms of expression and consequences of these ideas. In doing so, they trace the historical emergence of individual decline theses and their narratives and sometimes point out alternatives to the respective facets of this master narrative.
Concepts of a decline in the Islamic world - whether already occurred, looming or forecasted - are expressed in a wealth of theses and narratives on culture, literature, mentality, theology and history of the same. The authors of this volume deal critically with the assumptions, forms of expression and consequences of these ideas. In doing so, they trace the historical emergence of individual decline theses and their narratives and sometimes point out alternatives to the respective facets of this master narrative.
Cite as: Salvatore, Armando, and Kieko Obuse. 2021. ReOrienting Religion? An East-West Entanglement.” Implicit Religion, 24, 3-4: 331-352. This study presents a case of East-West entanglement not confined to dynamics internal to the... more
Cite as: Salvatore, Armando, and Kieko Obuse. 2021. ReOrienting Religion? An East-West Entanglement.” Implicit Religion, 24, 3-4: 331-352.
This study presents a case of East-West entanglement not confined to dynamics internal to the Western trajectory of production and critique of Eurocentric notions of religion. It explores how the critical opening initiated by Wilfred Cantwell Smith in 1962 against reifying "religion" cannot be treated exclusively as an antecedent to the critical genealogy of religion performed by Talal Asad. We suggest that it needs to be read in the context of Smith's collaboration with Toshihiko Izutsu, whose approach possessed a stronger counterhegemonic potential than the genealogists' interventions in the critique of religion, which are still inscribed within a Western conceptual compass. We argue that thanks to his original skills as a philosopher of language, Izutsu put to better fruition Smith's embryonic approach to the power-fraught character of language and discourse by studying Islamic traditions semantically, discursively, and contextually.
This study presents a case of East-West entanglement not confined to dynamics internal to the Western trajectory of production and critique of Eurocentric notions of religion. It explores how the critical opening initiated by Wilfred Cantwell Smith in 1962 against reifying "religion" cannot be treated exclusively as an antecedent to the critical genealogy of religion performed by Talal Asad. We suggest that it needs to be read in the context of Smith's collaboration with Toshihiko Izutsu, whose approach possessed a stronger counterhegemonic potential than the genealogists' interventions in the critique of religion, which are still inscribed within a Western conceptual compass. We argue that thanks to his original skills as a philosopher of language, Izutsu put to better fruition Smith's embryonic approach to the power-fraught character of language and discourse by studying Islamic traditions semantically, discursively, and contextually.
Research Interests:
There is a wide consensus on the secular character of Western societies. This is particularly evident in their articulation of the private and public spheres, based on the assumption that secular norms require that religious groups stay... more
There is a wide consensus on the secular character of Western societies. This is particularly evident in their articulation of the private and public spheres, based on the assumption that secular norms require that religious groups stay away from public arenas. The Habermasian ...
Research Interests:
Cite as: Salvatore, Armando. 2018. “The Civic Politics of Islam: Beyond the Dichotomy of Civil Society vs. Anti-Politics – On Z. Fareen Parvez, Politicizing Islam: The Islamic Revival in France and India (New York, Oxford University... more
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Salvatore, Armando. 2018. “The Civic Politics of Islam: Beyond the Dichotomy of Civil Society vs. Anti-Politics – On Z. Fareen Parvez, Politicizing Islam: The Islamic Revival in France and India (New York, Oxford University Press, 2017).” European Journal of Sociology, 59 (3): 370-379.
Salvatore, Armando. 2018. “The Civic Politics of Islam: Beyond the Dichotomy of Civil Society vs. Anti-Politics – On Z. Fareen Parvez, Politicizing Islam: The Islamic Revival in France and India (New York, Oxford University Press, 2017).” European Journal of Sociology, 59 (3): 370-379.
Research Interests: Religion, Sociology of Religion, Religion and Politics, Islamic Contemporary Studies, Sociology of islam, and 11 moreReligion & the Public Sphere, Modernity, Islamic Studies, Islam, Political Islam, Islam and Modernity, Islamic Movements and Political Islam, Religious Studies, Historical and Comparative Sociology, Civility, and Modernity/coloniality/decoloniality
Cite as: Dressler, Markus, Armando Salvatore, and Monika Wohlrab-Sahr. 2019. “Islamicate Secularities: New Perspectives on a Contested Concept,” Historical Social Research, 44 (3): 7-34. Abstract: In the colonial era, new distinctions... more
Cite as: Dressler, Markus, Armando Salvatore, and Monika Wohlrab-Sahr. 2019. “Islamicate Secularities: New Perspectives on a Contested Concept,” Historical Social Research, 44 (3): 7-34.
Abstract: In the colonial era, new distinctions and differentiations between religious and non-religious spheres took shape within inner-Islamic discourses, partly as a product of encounters with Western knowledge. This introduction conceptualizes these distinctions and differentiations in relation to Islam, drawing on Marshall Hodgson's concept of the Islamicate, which we employ for our heuristic notion of Islamicate secularities. It charts the paradigmatic conflicts that shape the contested fields of Islamic and secularity/secularism studies. The introduction discusses the epistemological and political context of these debates, and argues that theoretical and normative conflicts should not hinder further empirical inquiries into forms of secularity in Islamicate contexts. It also explores promising theoretical and methodological approaches for further explorations. Particular emphasis is laid on the historical trajectories and conditions, close in time or distant, that have played a role in the formation of contemporary Islamicate secularities.
Abstract: In the colonial era, new distinctions and differentiations between religious and non-religious spheres took shape within inner-Islamic discourses, partly as a product of encounters with Western knowledge. This introduction conceptualizes these distinctions and differentiations in relation to Islam, drawing on Marshall Hodgson's concept of the Islamicate, which we employ for our heuristic notion of Islamicate secularities. It charts the paradigmatic conflicts that shape the contested fields of Islamic and secularity/secularism studies. The introduction discusses the epistemological and political context of these debates, and argues that theoretical and normative conflicts should not hinder further empirical inquiries into forms of secularity in Islamicate contexts. It also explores promising theoretical and methodological approaches for further explorations. Particular emphasis is laid on the historical trajectories and conditions, close in time or distant, that have played a role in the formation of contemporary Islamicate secularities.
Research Interests: Religion, Comparative Religion, Sociology of Religion, Sociology of Knowledge, Religion and Politics, and 13 moreModernity, Islamic Studies, Politics and Religion, Islam, Secularisms and Secularities, Islam and Modernity, Religious Studies, Secularity, Secularism, Tradition and Modernity, Alternative Modernities, Anthropology of Religion, and Religion In the Public Sphere
Cite as: Salvatore, Armando. 2013. “Islam and the Quest for a European Secular Identity: From Sovereignty through Solidarity to Immunity,” Politics, Religion & Ideology, 14, 2: 253-264. This study explores the process of cumulative... more
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Salvatore, Armando. 2013. “Islam and the Quest for a European Secular Identity: From Sovereignty through Solidarity to Immunity,” Politics, Religion & Ideology, 14, 2: 253-264.
This study explores the process of cumulative ‘symbolic sublimation’ of power within secular formations as it unfolded through the formative phases that saw in Western Europe the rise and consolidation of patterns first of state sovereignty (within early modernity) and then of social solidarity (within late, colonial and postcolonial modernity). It spells out the process of symbolic sublimation through which secular power justifies itself in cultural terms, by effecting the simultaneous mutation and occultation of traditional symbols in order to underwrite sovereignty and solidarity. Finally, it shows that symbolic sublimation, particularly in the current phase that witnesses the erosion of both sovereignty and solidarity, can no longer disguise wider patterns of connectedness within social relations that are irreducible to either modernist formation. This contemporary stage of the ‘secular’ in the post-colonial era is analysed by reference to political and judicial decisions on issues related to the Islamic headscarf and responses thereto. It reveals the extent to which ‘immunity’, the obverse more than the antithesis of community, is both the long-term vector and the ultimate outcome of both sovereignty and solidarity as the two historic arrows of the ‘secular’.
Salvatore, Armando. 2013. “Islam and the Quest for a European Secular Identity: From Sovereignty through Solidarity to Immunity,” Politics, Religion & Ideology, 14, 2: 253-264.
This study explores the process of cumulative ‘symbolic sublimation’ of power within secular formations as it unfolded through the formative phases that saw in Western Europe the rise and consolidation of patterns first of state sovereignty (within early modernity) and then of social solidarity (within late, colonial and postcolonial modernity). It spells out the process of symbolic sublimation through which secular power justifies itself in cultural terms, by effecting the simultaneous mutation and occultation of traditional symbols in order to underwrite sovereignty and solidarity. Finally, it shows that symbolic sublimation, particularly in the current phase that witnesses the erosion of both sovereignty and solidarity, can no longer disguise wider patterns of connectedness within social relations that are irreducible to either modernist formation. This contemporary stage of the ‘secular’ in the post-colonial era is analysed by reference to political and judicial decisions on issues related to the Islamic headscarf and responses thereto. It reveals the extent to which ‘immunity’, the obverse more than the antithesis of community, is both the long-term vector and the ultimate outcome of both sovereignty and solidarity as the two historic arrows of the ‘secular’.
Research Interests: Religion, Intellectual History, Cultural History, Social Theory, Sociology of Religion, and 15 morePolitical Theory, History of Religion, Sociology of Knowledge, Religion and Politics, Sociology of islam, Islam in Europe, History of Religions, Modernity, Politics and Religion, Political Theology, Islam, Islamophobia, Religious Studies, Civility and the Civilising Process, and Islam in the Public Sphere
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Salvatore, Armando. 2001. “Introduction: The Problem of the Ingraining of Civilizing Traditions into Social Governance,” Yearbook of the Sociology of Islam (vol. 3 on Muslim Traditions and Modern Techniques of Power): 9-42.
Salvatore, Armando. 2001. “Introduction: The Problem of the Ingraining of Civilizing Traditions into Social Governance,” Yearbook of the Sociology of Islam (vol. 3 on Muslim Traditions and Modern Techniques of Power): 9-42.
Research Interests: Religion, Sociology of Religion, Religion and Politics, Sociology of islam, Public Sphere, and 9 moreIslamic Studies, Islam, Religion and Modernity, Islamic History and Muslim Civilization, Religious Studies, Civility and the Civilising Process, Historical and Comparative Sociology, Civility, and Anthropology of Religion
Cite as: Salvatore, Armando. 2019. Secularity through a ‘Soft Distinction’ in the Islamic Ecumene? Adab as a Counterpoint to Shari’a. Historical Social Research 44 (3): 35-51. This article highlights a 'soft' distinction in the... more
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Salvatore, Armando. 2019. Secularity through a ‘Soft Distinction’ in the Islamic Ecumene? Adab as a Counterpoint to Shari’a. Historical Social Research 44 (3): 35-51.
This article highlights a 'soft' distinction in the regulation of human conduct which emerged through various epochs of Islamicate history: between adab as the marker of an ethical and literary tradition, on the one hand, and the normative claims covered by shari'a and drawing particularly on the exemplary sayings of Prophet Muhammad, the hadith corpus, on the other. Adab became a counterpoint to the hadith-shari'a discourse by relying on non-Prophetic and, in this sense, non-divine sources of knowledge. The first part of the study reconstructs the trajectory of adab in pre-colonial times while the second part explores crucial transformations occurring under the impact of European colonial modernity, whose discourse propagated a strongly autonomous notion of secular civility. The interventions of several Muslim reformers of the era contributed to make adab the hub of an autochthonous type of secularity. Here adab still works as a marker of a soft distinction-only that it now becomes a 'double distinction': both between a mundane and a prophetic tradition within the Islamic ecumene, and between an emerging Muslim secularity and the European colonial one.
Salvatore, Armando. 2019. Secularity through a ‘Soft Distinction’ in the Islamic Ecumene? Adab as a Counterpoint to Shari’a. Historical Social Research 44 (3): 35-51.
This article highlights a 'soft' distinction in the regulation of human conduct which emerged through various epochs of Islamicate history: between adab as the marker of an ethical and literary tradition, on the one hand, and the normative claims covered by shari'a and drawing particularly on the exemplary sayings of Prophet Muhammad, the hadith corpus, on the other. Adab became a counterpoint to the hadith-shari'a discourse by relying on non-Prophetic and, in this sense, non-divine sources of knowledge. The first part of the study reconstructs the trajectory of adab in pre-colonial times while the second part explores crucial transformations occurring under the impact of European colonial modernity, whose discourse propagated a strongly autonomous notion of secular civility. The interventions of several Muslim reformers of the era contributed to make adab the hub of an autochthonous type of secularity. Here adab still works as a marker of a soft distinction-only that it now becomes a 'double distinction': both between a mundane and a prophetic tradition within the Islamic ecumene, and between an emerging Muslim secularity and the European colonial one.
Research Interests: Religion, History, Sociology, Sociology of Religion, Islamic Law, and 13 moreSocial Sciences, History of Religion, Political Science, Islamic Studies, Islamic History, Islam, Secularisms and Secularities, Religious History, Islamic History and Muslim Civilization, Religious Studies, Civility and the Civilising Process, Islam and Secularism, and Civilizing Process
Cite as: Salvatore, Armando. 2018. “Sufi Articulations of Civility, Globality, and Sovereignty.” Journal of Religious and Political Practice, 4 (2): 156-174. This article provides an analysis of Sufi life and organization, combining... more
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Salvatore, Armando. 2018. “Sufi Articulations of Civility, Globality, and Sovereignty.” Journal of Religious and Political Practice, 4 (2): 156-174.
This article provides an analysis of Sufi life and organization, combining historical depth and theoretical awareness. It investigates how Sufism emerged as an urban phenomenon. Sufi brotherhoods were at the forefront of a proto-globalization based on a hemisphere-wide networking between metropolitan regions, rural provinces, and nomadic formations. Furthermore, cities became nodes within wider circulations, rather than, as in European and Weberian models, centers of corporate powers. The emerging patterns of civility were open-ended, balancing inner cultivation, communicative skills, and outward etiquette. The article shows how this global civility translated into original conceptions of sovereignty that were more malleable than those of the European Leviathan. A millenarian universalism imbued with Sufi saintliness bolstered the centralized sovereignty of early modern Muslim empires. Sufi contributions to these empires nurtured a cosmopolitan culture, facilitating commercial exchange and intellectual connectedness between Europe and China. When Europe rose to global hegemony, neo-Sufi movements engaged in state-building processes which challenged European colonial presence. The article concludes by exploring how post-Sufi developments within Muslim-majority postcolonial societies re-oriented state power and led to the emergence of a trans-territorial notion of sovereignty.
Salvatore, Armando. 2018. “Sufi Articulations of Civility, Globality, and Sovereignty.” Journal of Religious and Political Practice, 4 (2): 156-174.
This article provides an analysis of Sufi life and organization, combining historical depth and theoretical awareness. It investigates how Sufism emerged as an urban phenomenon. Sufi brotherhoods were at the forefront of a proto-globalization based on a hemisphere-wide networking between metropolitan regions, rural provinces, and nomadic formations. Furthermore, cities became nodes within wider circulations, rather than, as in European and Weberian models, centers of corporate powers. The emerging patterns of civility were open-ended, balancing inner cultivation, communicative skills, and outward etiquette. The article shows how this global civility translated into original conceptions of sovereignty that were more malleable than those of the European Leviathan. A millenarian universalism imbued with Sufi saintliness bolstered the centralized sovereignty of early modern Muslim empires. Sufi contributions to these empires nurtured a cosmopolitan culture, facilitating commercial exchange and intellectual connectedness between Europe and China. When Europe rose to global hegemony, neo-Sufi movements engaged in state-building processes which challenged European colonial presence. The article concludes by exploring how post-Sufi developments within Muslim-majority postcolonial societies re-oriented state power and led to the emergence of a trans-territorial notion of sovereignty.
Research Interests: Religion, Comparative Religion, History, Sociology, Sociology of Religion, and 33 moreOttoman History, Social Sciences, Middle East Studies, History of Religion, Middle East History, Religion and Politics, Global Civil Society, Political Science, Ottoman Studies, Turkish and Middle East Studies, Civil Society and the Public Sphere, Ibn Khaldun, History of Religions, Islamic Studies, Sufism, Ottoman Empire, Middle Eastern Studies, Political Theology, Islam, Contemporary Sufism, Middle East Politics, Tariqa Sufism, Civil Society, Middle East, Max Weber, Civility and the Civilising Process, Cosmopolitan Sufism & Religiosity, Saints, Sufisme, Civility, Anthropology of Religion, Ibnu Khaldun, and Social Movements/Civil Society
Cite as: Salvatore, Armando. 1998. “Staging Virtue. The Disembodiment of Self-Correctness and the Making of Islam as Public Norm,” Yearbook of the Sociology of Islam (vol. 1 on Islam. Motor or Challenge of Modernity, ed. Georg Stauth):... more
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Salvatore, Armando. 1998. “Staging Virtue. The Disembodiment of Self-Correctness and the Making of Islam as Public Norm,” Yearbook of the Sociology of Islam (vol. 1 on Islam. Motor or Challenge of Modernity, ed. Georg Stauth): 87-120.
Salvatore, Armando. 1998. “Staging Virtue. The Disembodiment of Self-Correctness and the Making of Islam as Public Norm,” Yearbook of the Sociology of Islam (vol. 1 on Islam. Motor or Challenge of Modernity, ed. Georg Stauth): 87-120.
Research Interests: Religion, Intellectual History, Sociology, Sociology of Religion, Social Sciences, and 14 moreMiddle East Studies, Sociology of Knowledge, Religion and Politics, Sociology of islam, Islamic Studies, Egypt, Islamic History, Islam, Middle East Politics, Islamic movements (Anthropology Of Religion), Middle East, Religious Studies, Anthropology of Islam, and Anthropology of Religion
Cite as: Salvatore, Armando. 2011. 'New Media and Collective Action in the Middle East: Can Sociological Research Help Avoiding Orientalist Traps?' Sociologica, 5(3): 1-17. You can find a pdf with the entire edited journal 'symposium' on... more
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Salvatore, Armando. 2011. 'New Media and Collective Action in the Middle East: Can Sociological Research Help Avoiding Orientalist Traps?' Sociologica, 5(3): 1-17.
You can find a pdf with the entire edited journal 'symposium' on my academia web page, section 'Edited Journal Issues.'
Since Max Weber, sociology has not been immune from orientalist bias concerning the normative irreducibility of Western modern achievements. This problem becomes more acute with regard to the role of media in the public sphere. The article first looks at Western perceptions of the protests in Iran that followed the contested presidential elections of 2009 and at the “Arab Spring” of 2011 (and particularly at the role of the blogosphere and of social networks as factors of mobilization) as a major test of the resilience of orientalist preconceptions. The author further argues how the focus on “new media” within collective action and revolutions, instead of helping break up orientalist bias, might have provided them a new ground, located right at the core of the sociology of media and communication, and resulting in trivializing the much more complex types of agency at work in the uprisings. The article concludes by showing how the studies collected in this symposium not only help us avoiding this neo-orientalist trap but go one step further in problematizing taken for granted, sociological notions of collective action, the public sphere and even “media.”
Keywords: Orientalism, collective action, new media, public sphere, revolution.
Salvatore, Armando. 2011. 'New Media and Collective Action in the Middle East: Can Sociological Research Help Avoiding Orientalist Traps?' Sociologica, 5(3): 1-17.
You can find a pdf with the entire edited journal 'symposium' on my academia web page, section 'Edited Journal Issues.'
Since Max Weber, sociology has not been immune from orientalist bias concerning the normative irreducibility of Western modern achievements. This problem becomes more acute with regard to the role of media in the public sphere. The article first looks at Western perceptions of the protests in Iran that followed the contested presidential elections of 2009 and at the “Arab Spring” of 2011 (and particularly at the role of the blogosphere and of social networks as factors of mobilization) as a major test of the resilience of orientalist preconceptions. The author further argues how the focus on “new media” within collective action and revolutions, instead of helping break up orientalist bias, might have provided them a new ground, located right at the core of the sociology of media and communication, and resulting in trivializing the much more complex types of agency at work in the uprisings. The article concludes by showing how the studies collected in this symposium not only help us avoiding this neo-orientalist trap but go one step further in problematizing taken for granted, sociological notions of collective action, the public sphere and even “media.”
Keywords: Orientalism, collective action, new media, public sphere, revolution.
Research Interests: Sociology, Cultural Studies, Media Sociology, Political Sociology, Anthropology, and 21 moreMedia and Cultural Studies, Cultural Sociology, Middle East Studies, Citizen Journalism, Civil Society and the Public Sphere, Social Media, Islamic Studies, Egypt, Middle Eastern Studies, Middle East Politics, Activism, Youtube, Middle East, Youth, Revolution, Egypt, Arab Spring, middle east, Arab studies, The Cultural Geography of Social Media, Ritual and Communication in the Arab Spring, Arab Spring (Arab Revolts), Tunisian Revolution-Arab Spring, Media and Culture, and Cyberactivim
Cite as: Salvatore, Armando. 2013. "New Media, the ‘Arab Spring,’ and the Metamorphosis of the Public Sphere. Beyond Western Assumptions on Collective Agency and Democratic Politics,” Constellations. An International Journal of Critical... more
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Salvatore, Armando. 2013. "New Media, the ‘Arab Spring,’ and the Metamorphosis of the Public Sphere. Beyond Western Assumptions on Collective Agency and Democratic Politics,” Constellations. An International Journal of Critical and Democratic Theory, 20, 2: 217-228.
Salvatore, Armando. 2013. "New Media, the ‘Arab Spring,’ and the Metamorphosis of the Public Sphere. Beyond Western Assumptions on Collective Agency and Democratic Politics,” Constellations. An International Journal of Critical and Democratic Theory, 20, 2: 217-228.
Research Interests:
Cite as: Salvatore, Armando. 2010 “Repositioning ‘Islamdom’: The Culture-Power Syndrome within a Trans-Civilizational Ecumene,” European Journal of Social Theory, 13 (1): 99-115. This study articulates the leitmotiv of civilizational... more
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Salvatore, Armando. 2010 “Repositioning ‘Islamdom’: The Culture-Power Syndrome within a Trans-Civilizational Ecumene,” European Journal of Social Theory, 13 (1): 99-115.
This study articulates the leitmotiv of civilizational analysis (the interaction of power and culture) with regard to the relation between religion and the state within the Islamic civilization or ‘Islamdom’. In a first step, it clarifies, by reference to Marshall Hodgson, the extent to which his view of Islamdom as a transcivilizational ecumene can fit into a comparative type of civilizational analysis. The comparative approach to civilizational analysis can be enriched by reevaluating the specific Islamic pattern of mild legitimization of power through culture, and by integrating into the analysis the resulting field of tension vis-à-vis Western power and its supporting normative paradigms. In a second step, in order to better grasp the forms of power governing this field of tension, the article critically reconsiders Brague’s characterization of Western European civilization as the outcome of an expansive ‘Roman road’ that matched culture with power by investing into the charisma of corporate entities: first the church, then the state. Against this double background, the study shows that the culture-power syndrome that is proper to Islamdom as a transcivilizational ecumene does not consecrate a separation of ‘religion’ from the body politic, but promotes the building of expansive patterns of connectedness.
Keywords: Islam, civilization, state, religion, modernity
Salvatore, Armando. 2010 “Repositioning ‘Islamdom’: The Culture-Power Syndrome within a Trans-Civilizational Ecumene,” European Journal of Social Theory, 13 (1): 99-115.
This study articulates the leitmotiv of civilizational analysis (the interaction of power and culture) with regard to the relation between religion and the state within the Islamic civilization or ‘Islamdom’. In a first step, it clarifies, by reference to Marshall Hodgson, the extent to which his view of Islamdom as a transcivilizational ecumene can fit into a comparative type of civilizational analysis. The comparative approach to civilizational analysis can be enriched by reevaluating the specific Islamic pattern of mild legitimization of power through culture, and by integrating into the analysis the resulting field of tension vis-à-vis Western power and its supporting normative paradigms. In a second step, in order to better grasp the forms of power governing this field of tension, the article critically reconsiders Brague’s characterization of Western European civilization as the outcome of an expansive ‘Roman road’ that matched culture with power by investing into the charisma of corporate entities: first the church, then the state. Against this double background, the study shows that the culture-power syndrome that is proper to Islamdom as a transcivilizational ecumene does not consecrate a separation of ‘religion’ from the body politic, but promotes the building of expansive patterns of connectedness.
Keywords: Islam, civilization, state, religion, modernity
Research Interests: Religion, Comparative Religion, History, Sociology, Political Sociology, and 15 moreSocial Theory, Sociology of Religion, European Studies, Anthropology, Social Sciences, History of Religion, Transnationalism, Sociology of Knowledge, Religion and Politics, Cultural Theory, Islamic Studies, Politics and Religion, Islam, Religious Studies, and Historical and Comparative Sociology
Cite as: Eickelman, Dale F. , and Armando Salvatore. 2002. “The Public Sphere and Muslim Identities,” European Journal of Sociology/Archives européennes de sociologie, 43 (1): 92-115. Abstract: The historical and contemporary development... more
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Eickelman, Dale F. , and Armando Salvatore. 2002. “The Public Sphere and Muslim Identities,” European Journal of Sociology/Archives européennes de sociologie, 43 (1): 92-115.
Abstract: The historical and contemporary development of certain informal and formal articulations of Muslim social and political identities and forms of association in Muslim-majority and Arab societies has facilitated the emergence of a public sphere and limited the coercive power of state authority. This article suggests how a greater focus on religious ideas and forms of association can enhance the concept of the public sphere so that it better accounts for developments in these societies and in European societies themselves.
Eickelman, Dale F. , and Armando Salvatore. 2002. “The Public Sphere and Muslim Identities,” European Journal of Sociology/Archives européennes de sociologie, 43 (1): 92-115.
Abstract: The historical and contemporary development of certain informal and formal articulations of Muslim social and political identities and forms of association in Muslim-majority and Arab societies has facilitated the emergence of a public sphere and limited the coercive power of state authority. This article suggests how a greater focus on religious ideas and forms of association can enhance the concept of the public sphere so that it better accounts for developments in these societies and in European societies themselves.
Research Interests: Religion, Sociology, Social Theory, Religion and Politics, Social and Cultural Anthropology, and 10 moreCivil Society and the Public Sphere, Public Sphere, Modernity, Islamic Studies, Islam, Religion and Modernity, Islam and Modernity, Religious Studies, Tradition and Modernity, and Religion and the Public Sphere
Cite as: Salvatore, Armando. 2011. “Civility: Between Disciplined Interaction and Local/Translocal Connectedness,” Third World Quarterly, 32 (5): 807-825. This study explores the question of if and how associative bonds based on... more
Cite as:
Salvatore, Armando. 2011. “Civility: Between Disciplined Interaction and Local/Translocal Connectedness,” Third World Quarterly, 32 (5): 807-825.
This study explores the question of if and how associative bonds based on violence, control and self-restraint mediated by contractual relationships become institutionalised within societies and discusses the cultural factors that determine this threshold. It investigates the trade-off between formalised forms of interaction that safeguard individual rights and secure state control, and less formal modes of civility that deepen trans-state interconnectedness. It asks whether civility is the result of a global civilising process in the sense highlighted by Norbert Elias, whereby affect control is matched by formal norms guaranteed by legitimate institutions, or whether it is rather the much more complex constellation of specific actualisations of the more general tradeoff as just defined.
After summarising the current twists of the meaning of civility against the background of liberal and modernist precedents and delineating the alternative patterns of civility within Islamic, especially modern Ottoman, history, the analysis critically interrogates Weber’s notion of 'fraternization' as the pre-modern root concept of organised forms of common action, mutual solidarity and civic participation. Finally, it questions whether this idea fits the historic forms of association in the Islamic world, in particular the privileging of a lower threshold of institutionalisation of the associational bond than has traditionally been found in the European experience—and which survives in the current anxieties about resurgent mahalle (neighbourhood) informal governance in the AKP’s Turkey.
Keywords: civility, brotherhood, institution, Islam, Weber.
Salvatore, Armando. 2011. “Civility: Between Disciplined Interaction and Local/Translocal Connectedness,” Third World Quarterly, 32 (5): 807-825.
This study explores the question of if and how associative bonds based on violence, control and self-restraint mediated by contractual relationships become institutionalised within societies and discusses the cultural factors that determine this threshold. It investigates the trade-off between formalised forms of interaction that safeguard individual rights and secure state control, and less formal modes of civility that deepen trans-state interconnectedness. It asks whether civility is the result of a global civilising process in the sense highlighted by Norbert Elias, whereby affect control is matched by formal norms guaranteed by legitimate institutions, or whether it is rather the much more complex constellation of specific actualisations of the more general tradeoff as just defined.
After summarising the current twists of the meaning of civility against the background of liberal and modernist precedents and delineating the alternative patterns of civility within Islamic, especially modern Ottoman, history, the analysis critically interrogates Weber’s notion of 'fraternization' as the pre-modern root concept of organised forms of common action, mutual solidarity and civic participation. Finally, it questions whether this idea fits the historic forms of association in the Islamic world, in particular the privileging of a lower threshold of institutionalisation of the associational bond than has traditionally been found in the European experience—and which survives in the current anxieties about resurgent mahalle (neighbourhood) informal governance in the AKP’s Turkey.
Keywords: civility, brotherhood, institution, Islam, Weber.
Research Interests: Religion, Intellectual History, Sociology, Political Sociology, Sociology of Religion, and 13 moreSociology of Knowledge, Sociology of islam, Civil Society and the Public Sphere, Modernity, Islamic Studies, Islam, Political Islam, Civil Society, Islam and Modernity, Religious Studies, Civility and the Civilising Process, Tradition and Modernity, and Sociology of Islam and Muslim Societies
Cite as: Salvatore, Armando. 2011. “Eccentric Modernity? An Islamic Perspective on the Civilizing Process and the Public Sphere,” European Journal of Social Theory, 14 (1): 55-69. This article engages with Johann Arnason’s approach to... more
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Salvatore, Armando. 2011. “Eccentric Modernity? An Islamic Perspective on the Civilizing Process and the Public Sphere,” European Journal of Social Theory, 14 (1): 55-69.
This article engages with Johann Arnason’s approach to the entanglements of culture and power in comparative civilizational analysis by simultaneously reframing the themes of the civilizing process and the public sphere. It comments and expands upon some key insights of Arnason concerning the work of Norbert Elias and Jurgen Habermas by adopting an ‘Islamic perspective’ on the processes of singularization of power from its cultural bases and of reconstruction of a modern collective identity merging the steering capacities and the participative ambitions of an emerging urban intelligentsia.
The Islamic perspective provides insights into the interplay between civilizing processes and the modes through which cultural traditions innervate a modern public sphere. By revisiting key remarks of Arnason on Elias and Habermas, the Islamic perspective gains original contours, reflecting the search for a type of modernity that is eccentric to the mono-civilizational axis of the Western-led, global civilizing process.
While this eccentric positioning entails a severe imbalance of power, it also relativizes the centrality of the modern state in the civilizing process and evidences some original traits of the public sphere in a non-Western context.
Keywords: civilizing process, Islam, modernity, public sphere, tradition
Salvatore, Armando. 2011. “Eccentric Modernity? An Islamic Perspective on the Civilizing Process and the Public Sphere,” European Journal of Social Theory, 14 (1): 55-69.
This article engages with Johann Arnason’s approach to the entanglements of culture and power in comparative civilizational analysis by simultaneously reframing the themes of the civilizing process and the public sphere. It comments and expands upon some key insights of Arnason concerning the work of Norbert Elias and Jurgen Habermas by adopting an ‘Islamic perspective’ on the processes of singularization of power from its cultural bases and of reconstruction of a modern collective identity merging the steering capacities and the participative ambitions of an emerging urban intelligentsia.
The Islamic perspective provides insights into the interplay between civilizing processes and the modes through which cultural traditions innervate a modern public sphere. By revisiting key remarks of Arnason on Elias and Habermas, the Islamic perspective gains original contours, reflecting the search for a type of modernity that is eccentric to the mono-civilizational axis of the Western-led, global civilizing process.
While this eccentric positioning entails a severe imbalance of power, it also relativizes the centrality of the modern state in the civilizing process and evidences some original traits of the public sphere in a non-Western context.
Keywords: civilizing process, Islam, modernity, public sphere, tradition
Research Interests: Religion, Social Theory, Sociology of Religion, Middle East Studies, Sociology of Knowledge, and 15 moreReligion and Politics, Sociology of islam, Religion & the Public Sphere, Civil Society and the Public Sphere, Public Sphere, Islamic Studies, Multiple Modernities, History of the Islamic World, Islam, Sociology of Islam (Sociology), Islam and Modernity, Islamic History and Muslim Civilization, Norbert Elias, Civility and the Civilising Process, and Historical and Comparative Sociology
Cite as: Salvatore, Armando. 2011. "Before (and After) the ‘Arab Spring’: From Connectedness to Mobilization in the Public Sphere,” Oriente Moderno, 91 (1): 5-12. 201. This is the introductory piece to the thematic issue of Oriente... more
Cite as: Salvatore, Armando. 2011. "Before (and After) the ‘Arab Spring’: From Connectedness to Mobilization in the Public Sphere,” Oriente Moderno, 91 (1): 5-12. 201.
This is the introductory piece to the thematic issue of Oriente Moderno on Between Everyday Life and Political Revolution: The Social Web in the Middle East, posted under 'Edited Journal Issues.'
The ‘Arab Spring,’ which started in Tunisia at the end of 2010 but fully erupted through the Egyptian revolutionary events of January and February 2011, has had the merit of triggering a set of interrogations not only concerning the role of ‘new’ media in the revolutionary events, but also and more broadly on the key question of how to transform the connectedness built among people through communication forums and media into a sustained political mobilization.
From the raw language and violence-exposing foot-age of the blogosphere run by enthusiastic activists and targeting the crimes of the security forces to the more subdued yet also ritualized and often carnivalesque atmosphere of Facebook, creating connectivity be-tween young people whose participatory activism is rather latent, a new public sphere with an unexpected revolutionary potential has emerged to world attention and has become the epicenter of a new internationalism.
This is the introductory piece to the thematic issue of Oriente Moderno on Between Everyday Life and Political Revolution: The Social Web in the Middle East, posted under 'Edited Journal Issues.'
The ‘Arab Spring,’ which started in Tunisia at the end of 2010 but fully erupted through the Egyptian revolutionary events of January and February 2011, has had the merit of triggering a set of interrogations not only concerning the role of ‘new’ media in the revolutionary events, but also and more broadly on the key question of how to transform the connectedness built among people through communication forums and media into a sustained political mobilization.
From the raw language and violence-exposing foot-age of the blogosphere run by enthusiastic activists and targeting the crimes of the security forces to the more subdued yet also ritualized and often carnivalesque atmosphere of Facebook, creating connectivity be-tween young people whose participatory activism is rather latent, a new public sphere with an unexpected revolutionary potential has emerged to world attention and has become the epicenter of a new internationalism.
Research Interests: Religion, Comparative Religion, Social Theory, Sociology of Religion, Communication, and 15 moreMiddle East Studies, Sociology of Knowledge, Global Civil Society, Religion & the Public Sphere, Civil Society and the Public Sphere, Social Media, Modernity, Islamic Studies, Islam, Middle East Politics, Religion and Modernity, Middle East, Social Communication, Islam in the Public Sphere, and Arab Spring (Arab Revolts)
The politicisation of Islam from a European viewpoint is apparent in how the Islamic ‘veil’ has become an icon of Islam’s alleged deficits to fit into European modernity. This article unpacks the iconic symbolism of ‘political Islam’ and... more
The politicisation of Islam from a European viewpoint is apparent in how the Islamic ‘veil’ has become an icon of Islam’s alleged deficits to fit into European modernity. This article unpacks the iconic symbolism of ‘political Islam’ and shifts the focus on Muslim voices articulating battles for justice and solidarity through the attempt to reformulate secular republicanism and critique its authority basis.
This is the emerging trend of ‘critical Islam’ that targets both the hegemonic discourse on secularity and republicanism and its antithesis, i.e. ‘communitarianism,’ understood, in European-continental parlance, as the ideology that perpetuates traditional forms of authority. In this context, the article examines the work of the French commission on laïcité and the debates it initiated within the emerging Euro-Islamic public sphere.
The analysis puts in evidence the critical potential of this public sphere to enrich the categories of the European sociology of religion. The critique of the normative limits of secularity is thus linked to the valorisation of the transnational positioning of critical Islamic voices in Europe. Their capacity to penetrate the political process related to the erosion of the nation-state and to the conflicted reconstruction of a pan-European republicanism is a precious asset.
Keywords: secularity, Islam, republicanism, authority, public sphere
This is the emerging trend of ‘critical Islam’ that targets both the hegemonic discourse on secularity and republicanism and its antithesis, i.e. ‘communitarianism,’ understood, in European-continental parlance, as the ideology that perpetuates traditional forms of authority. In this context, the article examines the work of the French commission on laïcité and the debates it initiated within the emerging Euro-Islamic public sphere.
The analysis puts in evidence the critical potential of this public sphere to enrich the categories of the European sociology of religion. The critique of the normative limits of secularity is thus linked to the valorisation of the transnational positioning of critical Islamic voices in Europe. Their capacity to penetrate the political process related to the erosion of the nation-state and to the conflicted reconstruction of a pan-European republicanism is a precious asset.
Keywords: secularity, Islam, republicanism, authority, public sphere
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Salvatore, Armando. 2004. “Making Public Space: Opportunities and Limits of Collective Action Among Muslims in Europe,” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 30(5): 1013-1031. Recent research suggests that the settling of Muslims in... more
Salvatore, Armando. 2004. “Making Public Space: Opportunities and Limits of Collective Action Among Muslims in Europe,” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 30(5): 1013-1031.
Recent research suggests that the settling of Muslims in secular Europe is leading to the individualisation of their religious identity and to the fragmentation of their social life. Such research purports to show the production of a specific 'European' Islam that eludes the traditional authority in which Islam is allegedly still mired in most Muslim majority societies. This paper considers the predicament of Muslims in Europe from a different perspective, through a consideration of the ambivalence of secular norms of the public sphere and of their limits in dealing with religious expressions. While much of the current literature concentrates on the diasporic and transnational aspects of the Muslim presence in Europe, the focus here is on specifically European and postcolonial dimensions. The institutional sedimentation of historic traumas, rather than universal values, specific to the formation of European societies and public spheres are considered in both their internal-metropolitan and external-colonial articulations. Set against these original characteristics of European public spheres, an analysis is offered of some of the most vocal activism, particularly that of Muslim women and youth, as instances of a struggle to transform and enrich, and even to decentre, European public spheres.
Recent research suggests that the settling of Muslims in secular Europe is leading to the individualisation of their religious identity and to the fragmentation of their social life. Such research purports to show the production of a specific 'European' Islam that eludes the traditional authority in which Islam is allegedly still mired in most Muslim majority societies. This paper considers the predicament of Muslims in Europe from a different perspective, through a consideration of the ambivalence of secular norms of the public sphere and of their limits in dealing with religious expressions. While much of the current literature concentrates on the diasporic and transnational aspects of the Muslim presence in Europe, the focus here is on specifically European and postcolonial dimensions. The institutional sedimentation of historic traumas, rather than universal values, specific to the formation of European societies and public spheres are considered in both their internal-metropolitan and external-colonial articulations. Set against these original characteristics of European public spheres, an analysis is offered of some of the most vocal activism, particularly that of Muslim women and youth, as instances of a struggle to transform and enrich, and even to decentre, European public spheres.
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Research Interests: Religion, Comparative Religion, Cultural Studies, Sociology of Religion, European Studies, and 16 moreReligious Pluralism, Religion & the Public Sphere, Civil Society and the Public Sphere, European Politics, Public Sphere, Islamic Studies, Islam, Baruch Spinoza, Spinoza, Public sphere (Communication), Habermas, European Public Sphere, Jürgen Habermas, Islam in the Public Sphere, Habermas and the Public Sphere, and Religion and the Public Sphere
This was one of my first attempts to discuss connectedness, localization and globalization in the sociology of Islam and Sufism
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A development of the research program sketched out here is in my book The Sociology of Islam: https://www.academia.edu/24960171/The_Sociology_of_Islam_Introduction
Research Interests: Sociology, Cultural Studies, Political Sociology, Sociology of Religion, Cultural Sociology, and 11 moreIslamic Contemporary Studies, Sociology of islam, Islamic Studies, Contemporary Movements and Trends in Islam, Islam, Islam (Anthropology), Sociology of Islam (Sociology), Political Islam, Islam and Modernity, Islamic History and Muslim Civilization, and Historical and Comparative Sociology
»Islamicate Secularities: Neue Perspektiven auf ein umstrittenes Kon-zept«. In the colonial era, new distinctions and differentiations between religious and non-religious spheres took shape within inner-Islamic discourses, partly as a... more
»Islamicate Secularities: Neue Perspektiven auf ein umstrittenes Kon-zept«. In the colonial era, new distinctions and differentiations between religious and non-religious spheres took shape within inner-Islamic discourses, partly as a product of encounters with Western knowledge. This introduction conceptualizes these distinctions and differentiations in relation to Islam, drawing on Marshall Hodgson's concept of the Islamicate, which we employ for our heuristic notion of Islamicate secularities. It charts the paradigmatic conflicts that shape the contested fields of Islamic and secularity/secularism studies. The introduction discusses the epistemological and political context of these debates, and argues that theoretical and normative conflicts should not hinder further empirical inquiries into forms of secularity in Islamicate contexts. It also explores promising theoretical and methodological approaches for further explorations. Particular emphasis is laid on the historical trajectories and conditions, close in time or distant, that have played a role in the formation of contemporary Islamicate secularities.
Research Interests:
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Quote as: Dressler, Markus, Armando Salvatore and Monika Wohlrab-Sahr (eds). 2029. Islamicate Secularities: Past and Present, in Historical Social Research 44(3). All papers are accessible through... more
Quote as:
Dressler, Markus, Armando Salvatore and Monika Wohlrab-Sahr (eds). 2029. Islamicate Secularities: Past and Present, in Historical Social Research 44(3).
All papers are accessible through
https://www.gesis.org/en/hsr/full-text-archive/2019/443-islamicate-secularities-in-past-and-present
Partly as a product of encounters with Europe, accelerated in the last 150 years, Islamicate societies developed new epistemic distinctions and structural differentiations between religious and non-religious spheres and practices. This special issue conceptualizes these distinctions and differentiations as “Islamicate secularities”, thereby connecting Marshall Hodgson’s notion of the “Islamicate” with the concept of “Multiple Secularities”. The individual contributions address the question of secularity in relation to Islam with a variety of spatial and temporal foci that range from Turkey to China and Indonesia, from the present to the colonial era and even precolonial contexts. The issue thus provides an array of perspectives on how Muslims have engaged with religion in relation to social and political conflicts and how this has led to contested reifications of ‘Islam’ and its boundaries, especially in relation to politics. As preliminary result, a tendency towards ‘soft distinctions’, kept under the umbrella of ‘Islam,’ emerges.
Quote the Introduction as:
Dressler, Markus, Armando Salvatore, A., and Monika Wohlrab-Sahr. 2019. Islamicate Secularities: New Perspectives on a Contested Concept. Historical Social Research, 44(3), 7-34.
In the colonial era, new distinctions and differentiations between religious and non-religious spheres took shape within inner-Islamic discourses, partly as a product of encounters with Western knowledge. This introduction
conceptualizes these distinctions and differentiations in relation to Islam, drawing on Marshall Hodgson’s concept of the Islamicate, which we employ for
our heuristic notion of Islamicate secularities. It charts the paradigmatic conflicts that shape the contested fields of Islamic and secularity/secularism studies. The introduction discusses the epistemological and political context of these debates, and argues that theoretical and normative conflicts should not hinder further empirical inquiries into forms of secularity in Islamicate contexts. It also explores promising theoretical and methodological approaches for further explorations. Particular emphasis is laid on the historical trajectories
and conditions, close in time or distant, that have played a role in the formation of contemporary Islamicate secularities.
Keywords: Secularity, multiple secularities, Islamicate secularities, Islam and politics, Marshall Hodgson.
Dressler, Markus, Armando Salvatore and Monika Wohlrab-Sahr (eds). 2029. Islamicate Secularities: Past and Present, in Historical Social Research 44(3).
All papers are accessible through
https://www.gesis.org/en/hsr/full-text-archive/2019/443-islamicate-secularities-in-past-and-present
Partly as a product of encounters with Europe, accelerated in the last 150 years, Islamicate societies developed new epistemic distinctions and structural differentiations between religious and non-religious spheres and practices. This special issue conceptualizes these distinctions and differentiations as “Islamicate secularities”, thereby connecting Marshall Hodgson’s notion of the “Islamicate” with the concept of “Multiple Secularities”. The individual contributions address the question of secularity in relation to Islam with a variety of spatial and temporal foci that range from Turkey to China and Indonesia, from the present to the colonial era and even precolonial contexts. The issue thus provides an array of perspectives on how Muslims have engaged with religion in relation to social and political conflicts and how this has led to contested reifications of ‘Islam’ and its boundaries, especially in relation to politics. As preliminary result, a tendency towards ‘soft distinctions’, kept under the umbrella of ‘Islam,’ emerges.
Quote the Introduction as:
Dressler, Markus, Armando Salvatore, A., and Monika Wohlrab-Sahr. 2019. Islamicate Secularities: New Perspectives on a Contested Concept. Historical Social Research, 44(3), 7-34.
In the colonial era, new distinctions and differentiations between religious and non-religious spheres took shape within inner-Islamic discourses, partly as a product of encounters with Western knowledge. This introduction
conceptualizes these distinctions and differentiations in relation to Islam, drawing on Marshall Hodgson’s concept of the Islamicate, which we employ for
our heuristic notion of Islamicate secularities. It charts the paradigmatic conflicts that shape the contested fields of Islamic and secularity/secularism studies. The introduction discusses the epistemological and political context of these debates, and argues that theoretical and normative conflicts should not hinder further empirical inquiries into forms of secularity in Islamicate contexts. It also explores promising theoretical and methodological approaches for further explorations. Particular emphasis is laid on the historical trajectories
and conditions, close in time or distant, that have played a role in the formation of contemporary Islamicate secularities.
Keywords: Secularity, multiple secularities, Islamicate secularities, Islam and politics, Marshall Hodgson.
Research Interests: Religion, Sociology of Religion, Middle East Studies, History of Religion, Religion and Politics, and 13 moreSociology of islam, Islam in China, History of Religions, Islamic Studies, History of Islam, Islam, Secularisms and Secularities, Religion and Modernity, Islam in India, History of Islamic Civilization, Religious Studies, Islam and Secularism, and Anthropology of Religion
Quote as:
Salvatore, Armando (ed.). 2011. Between Everyday Life and Political Revolution: The Social Web in the Middle East, Oriente Moderno, 91(1).
Salvatore, Armando (ed.). 2011. Between Everyday Life and Political Revolution: The Social Web in the Middle East, Oriente Moderno, 91(1).
Research Interests: Religion, Sociology, Sociology of Religion, Anthropology, Communication, and 12 moreNew Media, Middle East Studies, Sociology of islam, Islamic Studies, Islam, Islam and Modernity, Religious Studies, Sociology and Anthropology of Religion, Anthropology and sociology of religion, Anthropology of Religion, Modernity/coloniality/decoloniality, and Religion In the Public Sphere
Quote as: Salvatore, Armando (ed). 2011. New Media and Collective Action in the Middle East, in Sociologica. International Journal for Sociological Debate, 5, 3. At the beginning of Arab revolts, the role of internet and social media... more
Quote as:
Salvatore, Armando (ed). 2011. New Media and Collective Action in the Middle East, in Sociologica. International Journal for Sociological Debate, 5, 3.
At the beginning of Arab revolts, the role of internet and social media was intensely debated. This edited 'symposium' reassesses their role both in Arab societies and Iran from a variety of critical perspectives.
Salvatore, Armando (ed). 2011. New Media and Collective Action in the Middle East, in Sociologica. International Journal for Sociological Debate, 5, 3.
At the beginning of Arab revolts, the role of internet and social media was intensely debated. This edited 'symposium' reassesses their role both in Arab societies and Iran from a variety of critical perspectives.
Research Interests: Religion, History, Sociology, Sociology of Religion, Anthropology, and 13 moreNew Media, Cultural Sociology, Social Sciences, Middle East Studies, Sociology of islam, Islamic Studies, Religion and Modernity, Religious Studies, Sociology and Anthropology of Religion, Arab Spring (Arab Revolts), Anthropology of Religion, Modernity/coloniality/decoloniality, and Religion In the Public Sphere
Quote as: Rahimi, Babak and Armando Salvatore 2018 “The Crystallization and Expansiveness of Sufi Networks within the Urban-Rural-Nomadic Nexus of the Islamic Ecumene,” in The Wiley Blackwell History of Islam, ed. Armando Salvatore,... more
Quote as: Rahimi, Babak and Armando Salvatore 2018 “The Crystallization and Expansiveness of Sufi Networks within the Urban-Rural-Nomadic Nexus of the Islamic Ecumene,” in The Wiley Blackwell History of Islam, ed. Armando Salvatore, Roberto Tottoli and Babak Rahimi, Oxford: Wiley Blackwell, 253-71.
The Early Middle Period saw the rise of Sufism as an ensemble of distinct cultural practices marked by rituals, aesthetics, and discourses of spirituality that eventually laid the foundations for the rise of major political institutions in the Late Middle Period and in the early modern era. Although the city played a critical role in the rise and consolidation of these practices, the nexus with rural and nomadic milieus was crucial in determining the emergence of a new type of civility imbued with Sufi spirituality. The study also considers how the organizational dimension of the rise of the tariqa (“order” or “brotherhood,” literally “path”) was entrenched in disciplining practices which helped embed the Muslim self within a variety of social bonds. These practices included master–disciple relations and fraternal bonds, which established powerful norms of propriety and conduct but also alternate public spaces of civility. Sufi ways of organization facilitated an emerging culture of networks as well as performative and symbolic practices highlighting a new reflexivity of being-in-the-world while longing for union with the divine.
The Early Middle Period saw the rise of Sufism as an ensemble of distinct cultural practices marked by rituals, aesthetics, and discourses of spirituality that eventually laid the foundations for the rise of major political institutions in the Late Middle Period and in the early modern era. Although the city played a critical role in the rise and consolidation of these practices, the nexus with rural and nomadic milieus was crucial in determining the emergence of a new type of civility imbued with Sufi spirituality. The study also considers how the organizational dimension of the rise of the tariqa (“order” or “brotherhood,” literally “path”) was entrenched in disciplining practices which helped embed the Muslim self within a variety of social bonds. These practices included master–disciple relations and fraternal bonds, which established powerful norms of propriety and conduct but also alternate public spaces of civility. Sufi ways of organization facilitated an emerging culture of networks as well as performative and symbolic practices highlighting a new reflexivity of being-in-the-world while longing for union with the divine.
Research Interests:
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Quote as: Salvatore, Armando. 2018. “Civility and Charisma in the Long-Term Genesis of Political Modernity within the Islamic Ecumene,” in Islam in der Moderne; Moderne im Islam. Eine Festschrift für Reinhard Schulze zum 65. Geburtstag,... more
Quote as:
Salvatore, Armando. 2018. “Civility and Charisma in the Long-Term Genesis of Political Modernity within the Islamic Ecumene,” in Islam in der Moderne; Moderne im Islam. Eine Festschrift für Reinhard Schulze zum 65. Geburtstag, ed. Monica Corrado, Johannes Stephan and Florian Zemmin, Leiden: Brill, 267-283.
Following a historical sociology approach critiquing and reconstructing key social theory categories, the chapter delineates some key trajectories in the history of the Islamic ecumene through which combinations of saintly charisma and practices of civility originating both within Sufi brotherhoods and courtly milieus were appropriated by various rulers and their courts for the sake of buttressing the political legitimacy of their ever more centralizing states, starting in the Later Middle Periods (13th to 15th centuries) and going into early modernity. The study appraises these developments as significant for the genesis of endogenous Islamicate patterns of precolonial political modernity. The analysis shows how these patterns, and the role played by both religious scholars and state administrators in shaping them, can be contrasted with the European Leviathan-model of sacral sanctioning of sovereignty. Examples are mainly drawn from the evolution of Timurid and Ottoman rule and court cultures in the larger context of late-medieval and early modern Islamicate empires, along with their changing religiopolitical balances. Through this, I also delineate the potential space of a ‘sociology of Islam,’ of which I am a practitioner, and which I do see as influenced by Reinhard Schulze’s work.
Salvatore, Armando. 2018. “Civility and Charisma in the Long-Term Genesis of Political Modernity within the Islamic Ecumene,” in Islam in der Moderne; Moderne im Islam. Eine Festschrift für Reinhard Schulze zum 65. Geburtstag, ed. Monica Corrado, Johannes Stephan and Florian Zemmin, Leiden: Brill, 267-283.
Following a historical sociology approach critiquing and reconstructing key social theory categories, the chapter delineates some key trajectories in the history of the Islamic ecumene through which combinations of saintly charisma and practices of civility originating both within Sufi brotherhoods and courtly milieus were appropriated by various rulers and their courts for the sake of buttressing the political legitimacy of their ever more centralizing states, starting in the Later Middle Periods (13th to 15th centuries) and going into early modernity. The study appraises these developments as significant for the genesis of endogenous Islamicate patterns of precolonial political modernity. The analysis shows how these patterns, and the role played by both religious scholars and state administrators in shaping them, can be contrasted with the European Leviathan-model of sacral sanctioning of sovereignty. Examples are mainly drawn from the evolution of Timurid and Ottoman rule and court cultures in the larger context of late-medieval and early modern Islamicate empires, along with their changing religiopolitical balances. Through this, I also delineate the potential space of a ‘sociology of Islam,’ of which I am a practitioner, and which I do see as influenced by Reinhard Schulze’s work.
Research Interests: Religion, Political Sociology, Sociology of Religion, History of Religion, Religion and Politics, and 13 moreModernity, Islamic Studies, Sufism, Political Theology, Islamic History, Islam, Religion and Modernity, Charisma, Islam and Modernity, Religious Studies, Tradition and Modernity, Humanities and Social Sciences, and Historical and Comparative Sociology
Quote as: Salvatore, Armando, 2016. The Sociology of Islam: Knowledge, Power and Civility, Oxford: Wiley Blackwell. This is the Introduction to the book The Sociology of Islam, which provides an accessible introduction to this emerging... more
Quote as:
Salvatore, Armando, 2016. The Sociology of Islam: Knowledge, Power and Civility, Oxford: Wiley Blackwell.
This is the Introduction to the book The Sociology of Islam, which provides an accessible introduction to this emerging field of inquiry, teaching and debate. The study is located at the crucial intersection between a variety of disciplines in the social sciences and the humanities. It discusses the long-term dynamics of Islam as both a religion and as a social, political and cultural force.
The volume focuses on ideas of knowledge, power and civility to provide students and readers with analytic and critical thinking frameworks for understanding the complex social facets of Islamic traditions and institutions. The study of the sociology of Islam improves the understanding of Islam as a diverse force that drives a variety of social and political arrangements.
Delving into both conceptual questions and historical interpretations, The Sociology of Islam is a transdisciplinary, comparative resource for students, scholars, and policy makers seeking to understand Islam’s complex changes throughout history and its impact on the modern world.
Salvatore, Armando, 2016. The Sociology of Islam: Knowledge, Power and Civility, Oxford: Wiley Blackwell.
This is the Introduction to the book The Sociology of Islam, which provides an accessible introduction to this emerging field of inquiry, teaching and debate. The study is located at the crucial intersection between a variety of disciplines in the social sciences and the humanities. It discusses the long-term dynamics of Islam as both a religion and as a social, political and cultural force.
The volume focuses on ideas of knowledge, power and civility to provide students and readers with analytic and critical thinking frameworks for understanding the complex social facets of Islamic traditions and institutions. The study of the sociology of Islam improves the understanding of Islam as a diverse force that drives a variety of social and political arrangements.
Delving into both conceptual questions and historical interpretations, The Sociology of Islam is a transdisciplinary, comparative resource for students, scholars, and policy makers seeking to understand Islam’s complex changes throughout history and its impact on the modern world.
Research Interests: Religion, Comparative Religion, Intellectual History, Sociology of Religion, Global Civil Society, and 14 moreCosmopolitanism, Sociology of islam, Civil Society and the Public Sphere, Islamic Studies, Sufism, History of Islam, Islamic History, Islam, History of Islamic Civilization, Civil Society, Max Weber, Tradition and Modernity, Humanities and Social Scienes, and Historical and Comparative Sociology
Quote as : Salvatore, Armando, Johann P. Arnason, Roberto Tottoli, and Babak Rahimi. 2018. “Introduction: The Formation and Transformations of the Islamic Ecumene,” in The Wiley Blackwell History of Islam, ed. Armando Salvatore, Roberto... more
Quote as :
Salvatore, Armando, Johann P. Arnason, Roberto Tottoli, and Babak Rahimi. 2018. “Introduction: The Formation and Transformations of the Islamic Ecumene,” in The Wiley Blackwell History of Islam, ed. Armando Salvatore, Roberto Tottoli and Babak Rahimi, Oxford: Wiley Blackwell (with Johann P. Arnason, Babak Rahimi, and Roberto Tottoli), 1-35.
This is the Introduction to a theoretically rich, nuanced history of Islam and Islamic civilization with a unique sociological component.
This major new reference work offers a complete historical and theoretically informed view of Islam as both a religion and a sociocultural force. Uniquely comprehensive, it surveys and discusses the transformation of Muslim societies in different eras and various regions, providing a broad narrative of the historical development of Islamic civilization.
This text explores the complex and varied history of the religion and its traditions. It provides an in-depth study of the diverse ways through which the religious dimension at the core of Islamic traditions has led to a distinctive type of civilizational process in history. The book illuminates the ways in which various historical forces have converged and crystallized in institutional forms at a variety of levels, embracing social, religious, legal, political, cultural, and civic dimensions. Together, the team of internationally renowned scholars move from the genesis of a new social order in 7th-century Arabia, right up to the rise of revolutionary Islamist currents in the 20th century and the varied ways in which Islam has grown and continues to pervade daily life in the Middle East and beyond.
This book is essential reading for students and academics in a wide range of fields, including sociology, history, law, and political science. It will also appeal to general readers with an interest in the history of one of the world’s great religions.
Salvatore, Armando, Johann P. Arnason, Roberto Tottoli, and Babak Rahimi. 2018. “Introduction: The Formation and Transformations of the Islamic Ecumene,” in The Wiley Blackwell History of Islam, ed. Armando Salvatore, Roberto Tottoli and Babak Rahimi, Oxford: Wiley Blackwell (with Johann P. Arnason, Babak Rahimi, and Roberto Tottoli), 1-35.
This is the Introduction to a theoretically rich, nuanced history of Islam and Islamic civilization with a unique sociological component.
This major new reference work offers a complete historical and theoretically informed view of Islam as both a religion and a sociocultural force. Uniquely comprehensive, it surveys and discusses the transformation of Muslim societies in different eras and various regions, providing a broad narrative of the historical development of Islamic civilization.
This text explores the complex and varied history of the religion and its traditions. It provides an in-depth study of the diverse ways through which the religious dimension at the core of Islamic traditions has led to a distinctive type of civilizational process in history. The book illuminates the ways in which various historical forces have converged and crystallized in institutional forms at a variety of levels, embracing social, religious, legal, political, cultural, and civic dimensions. Together, the team of internationally renowned scholars move from the genesis of a new social order in 7th-century Arabia, right up to the rise of revolutionary Islamist currents in the 20th century and the varied ways in which Islam has grown and continues to pervade daily life in the Middle East and beyond.
This book is essential reading for students and academics in a wide range of fields, including sociology, history, law, and political science. It will also appeal to general readers with an interest in the history of one of the world’s great religions.
Research Interests: Religion, Comparative Religion, History, Sociology, Middle East Studies, and 15 moreHistory of Religion, Religion and Politics, Politics, Southeast Asia, Sociology of islam, Islamic Studies, Islam, Middle East Politics, History of Islamic Civilization, Political Islam, Islamic History and Muslim Civilization, Religious Studies, Tradition and Modernity, Humanities and Social Sciences, and Historical and Comparative Sociology
Quote as: Salvatore, Armando, Oliver Schmidtke and Hans-Jörg Trenz. 2013 “Introduction: Rethinking the Public Sphere Through Transnationalizing Processes: Europe and Beyond,” in Rethinking the Public Sphere Through Transnationalizing... more
Quote as:
Salvatore, Armando, Oliver Schmidtke and Hans-Jörg Trenz. 2013 “Introduction: Rethinking the Public Sphere Through Transnationalizing Processes: Europe and Beyond,” in Rethinking the Public Sphere Through Transnationalizing Processes: Europe and Beyond, ed. Armando Salvatore, Oliver Schmidtke and Hans-Jörg Trenz, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 1-24.
Public sphere reloaded — reevaluating its claims in response to transnationalization. The public sphere has emerged as a key concept in recent social scientific debates on the performance of liberal democracy and the democratic self-constitution of society. Building on Habermas’ (1989 [1962]) seminal work on the transformation of the public sphere, this notion has been employed to conceptualize the social and communicative underpinnings of democratic politics in modern societies. Based on the separation between the public and the private, the public sphere provides a historically bound and culturally specific solution for the creation of social bonds beyond the family (Eder 2006). Specifically, the public sphere offers a bridge between the fragmentation of modern social life on the one hand and the concept of a solidarity-oriented and democratically organized society on the other. The key ingredient to this solution is theorized as rational public discourse that provides the communicative link between autonomous individuals as ‘citizens’, unifies them as ‘the people’, and integrates them into a mode of collective self-government (Eder 2003; 2006; Peters 1994; Somers 1995). Questions have been raised, however, about the generalizability of the public sphere model in terms of understanding how different societies construct social bonds and constitute themselves as democratic ‘publics’.
Salvatore, Armando, Oliver Schmidtke and Hans-Jörg Trenz. 2013 “Introduction: Rethinking the Public Sphere Through Transnationalizing Processes: Europe and Beyond,” in Rethinking the Public Sphere Through Transnationalizing Processes: Europe and Beyond, ed. Armando Salvatore, Oliver Schmidtke and Hans-Jörg Trenz, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 1-24.
Public sphere reloaded — reevaluating its claims in response to transnationalization. The public sphere has emerged as a key concept in recent social scientific debates on the performance of liberal democracy and the democratic self-constitution of society. Building on Habermas’ (1989 [1962]) seminal work on the transformation of the public sphere, this notion has been employed to conceptualize the social and communicative underpinnings of democratic politics in modern societies. Based on the separation between the public and the private, the public sphere provides a historically bound and culturally specific solution for the creation of social bonds beyond the family (Eder 2006). Specifically, the public sphere offers a bridge between the fragmentation of modern social life on the one hand and the concept of a solidarity-oriented and democratically organized society on the other. The key ingredient to this solution is theorized as rational public discourse that provides the communicative link between autonomous individuals as ‘citizens’, unifies them as ‘the people’, and integrates them into a mode of collective self-government (Eder 2003; 2006; Peters 1994; Somers 1995). Questions have been raised, however, about the generalizability of the public sphere model in terms of understanding how different societies construct social bonds and constitute themselves as democratic ‘publics’.
Research Interests:
Quote as: Bamyeh, Mohammed A. and Armando Salvatore. 2018. “The Role of Intellectuals within Late-Colonial and Postcolonial Public Spheres,” in The Wiley Blackwell History of Islam, ed. Armando Salvatore, Roberto Tottoli and Babak Rahimi,... more
Quote as:
Bamyeh, Mohammed A. and Armando Salvatore. 2018. “The Role of Intellectuals within Late-Colonial and Postcolonial Public Spheres,” in The Wiley Blackwell History of Islam, ed. Armando Salvatore, Roberto Tottoli and Babak Rahimi, Oxford: Wiley Blackwell, 561-83.
The role of intellectuals in Muslim societies is explored with an emphasis on modern times, although continuities and discontinuities from earlier roles of the intellectuals are also emphasized. Analysis revolves around the role of intellectuals in giving form to civic culture, and thus their role as actors in the public sphere is highlighted. The chapter discusses how or to what extent intellectuals provided an alternative source of authority to that of the state, how they operated within a cluster of other sources of customary authority in society, and the effect on their role of modernist transformations and postcolonial developments.
Bamyeh, Mohammed A. and Armando Salvatore. 2018. “The Role of Intellectuals within Late-Colonial and Postcolonial Public Spheres,” in The Wiley Blackwell History of Islam, ed. Armando Salvatore, Roberto Tottoli and Babak Rahimi, Oxford: Wiley Blackwell, 561-83.
The role of intellectuals in Muslim societies is explored with an emphasis on modern times, although continuities and discontinuities from earlier roles of the intellectuals are also emphasized. Analysis revolves around the role of intellectuals in giving form to civic culture, and thus their role as actors in the public sphere is highlighted. The chapter discusses how or to what extent intellectuals provided an alternative source of authority to that of the state, how they operated within a cluster of other sources of customary authority in society, and the effect on their role of modernist transformations and postcolonial developments.
Research Interests: Religion, Intellectual History, Cultural History, Historical Sociology, History of Religion, and 15 moreSociology of Knowledge, Sociology of islam, History of Religions, Public Sphere, Modernity, Islamic Studies, History of the Islamic World, Islamic History, Sociology of Intellectuals, Islam and Modernity, Religious Studies, Public Intellectuals, Tradition and Modernity, Historical and Comparative Sociology, and History of Intellectuals
Quote as: Salvatore, Armando. 1997. Islam and the Political Discourse of Modernity, Reading: Ithaca Press, pp. 133-161. The enclosed chapter is Chapter 8 of the book. Reconstructing the development of the term 'political Islam' and... more
Quote as:
Salvatore, Armando. 1997. Islam and the Political Discourse of Modernity, Reading: Ithaca Press, pp. 133-161.
The enclosed chapter is Chapter 8 of the book. Reconstructing the development of the term 'political Islam' and looking in detail at the current transcultural space between Islam and the West, this book offers valuable insights for those interested in cross-cultural relations and in Islam's changing political roles.
Salvatore, Armando. 1997. Islam and the Political Discourse of Modernity, Reading: Ithaca Press, pp. 133-161.
The enclosed chapter is Chapter 8 of the book. Reconstructing the development of the term 'political Islam' and looking in detail at the current transcultural space between Islam and the West, this book offers valuable insights for those interested in cross-cultural relations and in Islam's changing political roles.
Research Interests: Religion, Intellectual History, Sociology, Sociology of Knowledge, Religion and Politics, and 12 moreModernity, Islamic Studies, Michel Foucault, Islam, Edward Said, Islam and Modernity, Orientalism, Orientalism and Religion, Tradition and Modernity, Non-Western Modernity, Religion and the Public Sphere, and Modernity/coloniality/decoloniality
Quote as: Salvatore, Armando. 2009. “Tradition and Modernity within Islamic Civilisation and the West,” in Islam and Modernity: Key Issues and Debates, ed. Muhammad Khalid Masud, Armando Salvatore and Martin van Bruinessen, Edinburgh:... more
Quote as:
Salvatore, Armando. 2009. “Tradition and Modernity within Islamic Civilisation and the West,” in Islam and Modernity: Key Issues and Debates, ed. Muhammad Khalid Masud, Armando Salvatore and Martin van Bruinessen, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 3-35.
A major assumption running through the social-science literature, from the founding
fathers onwards, has been that modernity occurred only once, in the West, because of
specific conditions that did not exist in other civilisations. The latter, including Islam,
were implicitly characterised by the absence of one or more crucial features.
According to this approach, non-Western civilisations could at best achieve modernity
through its introduction from outside. More recent theoretical work has questioned
both this assumption of the uniqueness of the West and the corresponding conception of modernity as singular. Informed by these theoretical advances, this chapter takes a new look at modernity and at what precedes it or inhibits its emergence: tradition or traditions. The latter have often been considered, from the viewpoint of Western modernity, as little more than remnants of earlier societies and cultures, which would have to be either absorbed or destroyed in the course of modernisation.
In this perspective, the relation between Islam and modernity can be only one of
deficiencies (measured by Islam’s alleged insufficient capacity to supersede
traditions), dependencies (on Western modernity) and idiosyncracies (in terms of
distorted outcomes of a dependent modernisation). Questions such as What Went
Wrong? with Islamic civilisation vis-à-vis the modern world hegemonised by the West
inevitably come up as a result of static and unilateral views of tradition and modernity
and their relations.
The attempt to overcome an approach dominated by the measurement of
deficiencies, dependencies and idiosyncracies is aided by a conception of civilisations
as unique constellations of culture and power, in which a tradition is the dynamic
cultural dimension of a civilisation. This definition helps overcoming Eurocentrism and
allows us to conceive of different pathways to modernity in the form of multiple
modernities. Facilitated by the findings of historians and social scientists who have
demonstrated the dynamism of Islamic civilisation well into the modern era, the chapter points out the distinctive factors of strength of Islamic civilisation, alongside features that in the historical process turned out to be weaknesses vis-à-vis the encroaching West. Its (relative) strength consisted in more inclusive patterns of trans-civilisational encounters and networking, and its (relative) weakness lay in a limited capacity to enable the autonomy of the political process vis-à-vis traditional authorities, and as a corollary to legitimize the unlimited sovereignty of the modern state.
Salvatore, Armando. 2009. “Tradition and Modernity within Islamic Civilisation and the West,” in Islam and Modernity: Key Issues and Debates, ed. Muhammad Khalid Masud, Armando Salvatore and Martin van Bruinessen, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 3-35.
A major assumption running through the social-science literature, from the founding
fathers onwards, has been that modernity occurred only once, in the West, because of
specific conditions that did not exist in other civilisations. The latter, including Islam,
were implicitly characterised by the absence of one or more crucial features.
According to this approach, non-Western civilisations could at best achieve modernity
through its introduction from outside. More recent theoretical work has questioned
both this assumption of the uniqueness of the West and the corresponding conception of modernity as singular. Informed by these theoretical advances, this chapter takes a new look at modernity and at what precedes it or inhibits its emergence: tradition or traditions. The latter have often been considered, from the viewpoint of Western modernity, as little more than remnants of earlier societies and cultures, which would have to be either absorbed or destroyed in the course of modernisation.
In this perspective, the relation between Islam and modernity can be only one of
deficiencies (measured by Islam’s alleged insufficient capacity to supersede
traditions), dependencies (on Western modernity) and idiosyncracies (in terms of
distorted outcomes of a dependent modernisation). Questions such as What Went
Wrong? with Islamic civilisation vis-à-vis the modern world hegemonised by the West
inevitably come up as a result of static and unilateral views of tradition and modernity
and their relations.
The attempt to overcome an approach dominated by the measurement of
deficiencies, dependencies and idiosyncracies is aided by a conception of civilisations
as unique constellations of culture and power, in which a tradition is the dynamic
cultural dimension of a civilisation. This definition helps overcoming Eurocentrism and
allows us to conceive of different pathways to modernity in the form of multiple
modernities. Facilitated by the findings of historians and social scientists who have
demonstrated the dynamism of Islamic civilisation well into the modern era, the chapter points out the distinctive factors of strength of Islamic civilisation, alongside features that in the historical process turned out to be weaknesses vis-à-vis the encroaching West. Its (relative) strength consisted in more inclusive patterns of trans-civilisational encounters and networking, and its (relative) weakness lay in a limited capacity to enable the autonomy of the political process vis-à-vis traditional authorities, and as a corollary to legitimize the unlimited sovereignty of the modern state.
Research Interests: Religion, Intellectual History, Sociology, Political Sociology, Sociology of Culture, and 13 moreSociology of Religion, History of Religion, Sociology of Knowledge, Religion and Politics, Sociology of islam, Modernity, Islamic Studies, Islamic History, Islam, Political Islam, Islam and Modernity, Religious Studies, and Tradition and Modernity
Quote as: Salvatore, Armando. 2004. "The ‘Implosion’ of Shari‘a within the Emergence of Public Normativity: The Impact on Personal Responsibility and the Impersonality of Law,” in Standing Trial: Laws and the Person in the Modern Middle... more
Quote as:
Salvatore, Armando. 2004. "The ‘Implosion’ of Shari‘a within the Emergence of Public Normativity: The Impact on Personal Responsibility and the Impersonality of Law,” in Standing Trial: Laws and the Person in the Modern Middle East, ed. Baudouin Dupret, 116-139. London and New York: I.B. Tauris, 2004.
In this study I sketch an interpretative framework for some specific transformations within Islamic traditions which pivoted on a reformulation of shari‘a, or its "implosion", as I will attempt to show. This process configured a conceptual, and partly institutional, network impacting notions of: a) disciplinary normativity (based on "governmentality"), b) impersonality and procedurality of norms, and c) personhood and personal responsibility: a triad that is presupposed in any modern notion of legal personality. I will relate this process of transformation to a particularly intense stage of legal reform and public argument in Egypt, the last third of the 19th century, which saw the emergence of the media infrastructure, the intellectual personnel, and the state-legal preconditions for what is called a modern public sphere (Farag 2000, Gasper 2000, Salvatore 2000). During this period, the long march of legal positivism, which obfuscated the impact of traditions upon norms, was just beginning. This is why the study of the historical juncture offers us a privileged historical observatory for evaluating the relation between traditions on the one hand, and modern law and modern public sphere, on the other.
Salvatore, Armando. 2004. "The ‘Implosion’ of Shari‘a within the Emergence of Public Normativity: The Impact on Personal Responsibility and the Impersonality of Law,” in Standing Trial: Laws and the Person in the Modern Middle East, ed. Baudouin Dupret, 116-139. London and New York: I.B. Tauris, 2004.
In this study I sketch an interpretative framework for some specific transformations within Islamic traditions which pivoted on a reformulation of shari‘a, or its "implosion", as I will attempt to show. This process configured a conceptual, and partly institutional, network impacting notions of: a) disciplinary normativity (based on "governmentality"), b) impersonality and procedurality of norms, and c) personhood and personal responsibility: a triad that is presupposed in any modern notion of legal personality. I will relate this process of transformation to a particularly intense stage of legal reform and public argument in Egypt, the last third of the 19th century, which saw the emergence of the media infrastructure, the intellectual personnel, and the state-legal preconditions for what is called a modern public sphere (Farag 2000, Gasper 2000, Salvatore 2000). During this period, the long march of legal positivism, which obfuscated the impact of traditions upon norms, was just beginning. This is why the study of the historical juncture offers us a privileged historical observatory for evaluating the relation between traditions on the one hand, and modern law and modern public sphere, on the other.
Research Interests: Religion, Sociology, Political Sociology, Sociology of Religion, Sociology of Law, and 11 moreMiddle East Studies, Religion and Politics, Sociology of islam, Islamic Studies, Islam, Middle East Politics, Islam and Modernity, Religious Studies, Islam and Politics, Tradition and Modernity, and Anthropology/Sociology/Philosophy of State and Law
Quote as: Salvatore, Armando. 2013. “Beyond the Political Mythology of the Westphalian Order? Religion, Communicative Action, and the Transnationalization of the Public Sphere,” in Rethinking the Public Sphere Through Transnationalizing... more
Quote as:
Salvatore, Armando. 2013. “Beyond the Political Mythology of the Westphalian Order? Religion, Communicative Action, and the Transnationalization of the Public Sphere,” in Rethinking the Public Sphere Through Transnationalizing Processes: Europe and Beyond, ed. Armando Salvatore, Oliver Schmidtke and Hans-Jörg Trenz, Basingstoke: Palgrave, 91-106.
The way through which the public sphere emerged within the Westphalian political imaginary cannot be ascribed to ‘universal reason’ but is culturally specific. The chapter argues that this political imaginary supports an intrinsic delimitation of ‘religion’ through the inner forum of the secular citizen, rather than through communication and mutual understanding. It shifts the focus on Habermas’ notion of ‘communicative action’, which is largely autonomous from that political imaginary and is able to absorb religion in ways that bypass the Westphalian logic of taming religion through Leviathan and its cell, the subject-citizen. The ubiquity (and more credible universality) of communicative action facilitates exploring the transnational opening of the public sphere, which can no longer be contained within a moral philosophy of the secular citizen.
Salvatore, Armando. 2013. “Beyond the Political Mythology of the Westphalian Order? Religion, Communicative Action, and the Transnationalization of the Public Sphere,” in Rethinking the Public Sphere Through Transnationalizing Processes: Europe and Beyond, ed. Armando Salvatore, Oliver Schmidtke and Hans-Jörg Trenz, Basingstoke: Palgrave, 91-106.
The way through which the public sphere emerged within the Westphalian political imaginary cannot be ascribed to ‘universal reason’ but is culturally specific. The chapter argues that this political imaginary supports an intrinsic delimitation of ‘religion’ through the inner forum of the secular citizen, rather than through communication and mutual understanding. It shifts the focus on Habermas’ notion of ‘communicative action’, which is largely autonomous from that political imaginary and is able to absorb religion in ways that bypass the Westphalian logic of taming religion through Leviathan and its cell, the subject-citizen. The ubiquity (and more credible universality) of communicative action facilitates exploring the transnational opening of the public sphere, which can no longer be contained within a moral philosophy of the secular citizen.
Research Interests: Religion, Sociology, Communication, Social Sciences, Religion and Politics, and 13 moreJurgen Habermas, Sociology of islam, Political communication, Religion & the Public Sphere, Political History, Civil Society and the Public Sphere, Public Sphere, Islamic Studies, Politics and Religion, Islam, Habermas, Religious Studies, and Jürgen Habermas
Quote as:
Salvatore, Armando. 2011. “Politics and the Messianic Imagination,” in The Politics of Imagination, ed. Chiara Bottici and Benoit Challand, Abingdon, UK: Birkbeck Law Press, 124-41.
Salvatore, Armando. 2011. “Politics and the Messianic Imagination,” in The Politics of Imagination, ed. Chiara Bottici and Benoit Challand, Abingdon, UK: Birkbeck Law Press, 124-41.
Research Interests: Religion, Intellectual History, Jewish Studies, Theology, Political Theory, and 14 moreReligion and Politics, Political Science, Law and Religion, Politics, Walter Benjamin, Jewish - Christian Relations, Islamic Studies, Political Theology, Islam, Social Imaginaries, Jewish Messianism, Religious Studies, Political Theology and Contemporary Society, and Religious and Islamic Studies
Quote as: Salvatore, Armando, 2016. The Sociology of Islam: Knowledge, Power and Civility, Oxford: Wiley Blackwell. This chapter explains the success of the Islamic brotherhood as an organizational form during the Middle Periods.... more
Quote as:
Salvatore, Armando, 2016. The Sociology of Islam: Knowledge, Power and Civility, Oxford: Wiley Blackwell.
This chapter explains the success of the Islamic brotherhood as an organizational form during the Middle Periods. Military conquest played a significant role particularly in the Later Middle Period through the ongoing Mongol expansion and consolidation. The chapter discusses the outcome of the overall dynamics through which the Islamic ecumene entered its most representative period of thriving and expansion after the eclipse of the High Caliphate. The complex picture of the ideal‐typical Islamic society of the Middle Periods and of the sources of civility should be completed by adding the role played by long‐distance traders, in association with pastoralists and craftsmen. The chapter discusses the picture of a quite complex social equilibrium where ever new local configurations of forces and regional arrangements were affected by the power balance of specific conjunctures and places. This inherent instability discouraged the search for too formal a level of institutionalization of the knowledge‐power equation.
Salvatore, Armando, 2016. The Sociology of Islam: Knowledge, Power and Civility, Oxford: Wiley Blackwell.
This chapter explains the success of the Islamic brotherhood as an organizational form during the Middle Periods. Military conquest played a significant role particularly in the Later Middle Period through the ongoing Mongol expansion and consolidation. The chapter discusses the outcome of the overall dynamics through which the Islamic ecumene entered its most representative period of thriving and expansion after the eclipse of the High Caliphate. The complex picture of the ideal‐typical Islamic society of the Middle Periods and of the sources of civility should be completed by adding the role played by long‐distance traders, in association with pastoralists and craftsmen. The chapter discusses the picture of a quite complex social equilibrium where ever new local configurations of forces and regional arrangements were affected by the power balance of specific conjunctures and places. This inherent instability discouraged the search for too formal a level of institutionalization of the knowledge‐power equation.
Research Interests: Religion, Comparative Religion, Political Sociology, Sociology of Religion, Cultural Sociology, and 15 moreHistory of Religion, Religion and Politics, Sociology of islam, Modernity, Islamic Studies, Sufism, Islam, Religion and Modernity, Charisma, Islam and Modernity, Max Weber, Religious Studies, Historical and Comparative Sociology, Civility, and Anthropology of Religion
Quote as: Amir-Moazami, Schirin, and Armando Salvatore 2003. “Gender, Generation, and the Reform of Tradition: from Muslim Majority Societies to Western Europe,” in Muslim Networks and Transnational Communities in and across Europe, ed.... more
Quote as:
Amir-Moazami, Schirin, and Armando Salvatore 2003. “Gender, Generation, and the Reform of Tradition: from Muslim Majority Societies to Western Europe,” in Muslim Networks and Transnational Communities in and across Europe, ed. Stefano Allievi and Jorgen Nielsen, Leiden: Brill, 52-77.
Amir-Moazami, Schirin, and Armando Salvatore 2003. “Gender, Generation, and the Reform of Tradition: from Muslim Majority Societies to Western Europe,” in Muslim Networks and Transnational Communities in and across Europe, ed. Stefano Allievi and Jorgen Nielsen, Leiden: Brill, 52-77.
Research Interests:
In The Princeton Encyclopedia of Islamic Political Thought, ed. Gerhard Böwering, Patricia Crone, Wadad Kadi, Devin Stewart, and Muhammad Qasim Zaman, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2012, 194-195.
Research Interests:
Research Interests: History, Sociology, Political Sociology, Sociology of Religion, Anthropology, and 17 moreSocial Sciences, Middle East Studies, Global Civil Society, Political Science, Sociology of islam, Civil Society and the Public Sphere, Islamic Studies, Modern Middle East History, Middle Eastern Studies, Islamic History, Islam, Middle East Politics, Political Islam, Civil Society, Middle East, Social Movements/Civil Society, and Social Science
Research Interests: Comparative Religion, History, Sociology, Anthropology, Middle East Studies, and 11 morePolitical Science, Islamic Contemporary Studies, Modernity, Islamic Studies, Islamic History, Islam, Middle East Politics, Islam and Modernity, Islamic and Middle Eastern studies, Historical and Comparative Sociology, and Social Science
Research Interests:
This review roundtable comprises seven distinctive reviews of The Wiley Blackwell History of Islam, an edited reference work consisting of twenty-eight essays covering a wide range Islamic teaching, practice, and social and political life... more
This review roundtable comprises seven distinctive reviews of The Wiley Blackwell History of Islam, an edited reference work consisting of twenty-eight essays covering a wide range Islamic teaching, practice, and social and political life from before the religion’s birth in the seventh century until the present. Convened by Hatsuki Aishima, a scholar of modern Islam based at Japan’s National Museum of Ethnology, the seven reviews are followed by a response from Armando Salvatore (McGill University), one of the volume’s three editors.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Sociology, Social Theory, Sociology of Culture, Cultural Policy, Sociology of Knowledge, and 8 moreNationalism, Epistemology of the Social Sciences, Civilization, Cultural Globalization, Civilizational Studies, Classical and Contemporary Social Theory, Historical and Comparative Sociology, and Sociology of the State
The goal of this paper is to provide a bird’s eye view on what might qualify as ‘the mother of all distinctions’ within Islamicate history affecting the regulation of human conduct. It is a rather ‘soft’ distinction, whereby the ethical... more
The goal of this paper is to provide a bird’s eye view on what might qualify as ‘the mother of all distinctions’ within Islamicate history affecting the regulation of human conduct. It is a rather ‘soft’ distinction, whereby the ethical and literary tradition of adab works as an harmonious counterpoint, more than as a sheer alternative, to the normative discourse subsumed under the notion of shari‘a, the law originating from Divine will (shar‘). Adab does so, however, while clearly affirming a distinctive, non-divine (and in this sense ‘secular’) source of norms of human interaction. The paper is divided into two parts: the first delineates the traits of adab in pre-colonial times, while the second focuses on key transformations it underwent during the colonial era.
Research Interests: Religion, Comparative Religion, History, Intellectual History, Cultural History, and 25 moreSociology, Sociology of Culture, Sociology of Religion, Islamic Law, Cultural Sociology, Social Sciences, Sociology of Law, Middle East Studies, History of Religion, Middle East History, Religion and Politics, Law and Religion, Sociology of islam, History of Religions, Islamic Studies, Modern Middle East History, Islamic History, Islam, Intellectual and cultural history, Secularisms and Secularities, Religion and Modernity, History of the Modern Middle East, Religious Studies, Islam and Secularism, and Anthropology of Religion
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
This review roundtable comprises seven distinctive reviews of The Wiley Blackwell History of Islam, an edited reference work consisting of twenty-eight essays covering a wide range Islamic teaching, practice, and social and political life... more
This review roundtable comprises seven distinctive reviews of The Wiley Blackwell History of Islam, an edited reference work consisting of twenty-eight essays covering a wide range Islamic teaching, practice, and social and political life from before the religion’s birth in the seventh century until the present. Convened by Hatsuki Aishima, a scholar of modern Islam based at Japan’s National Museum of Ethnology, the seven reviews are followed by a response from Armando Salvatore (McGill University), one of the volume’s three editors.
Research Interests: Middle East Studies, History of Religion, Sociology of islam, Middle Eastern History, Islamic Studies, and 9 moreHistory of Islam, History of the Islamic World, Islamic History, Islam, Medieval Islamic History, History of Islamic Civilization, Islam and Modernity, History of the Islamic Civilization, and Marshall G.S. Hodgson
Research Interests: Religion, Middle East Studies, Religion and Politics, Sociology of islam, Civil Society and the Public Sphere, and 11 morePublic Sphere, Islamic Studies, Sufism, Islam, International political sociology, Civil Society, Islam and Modernity, Religious Studies, Civility and the Civilising Process, Tradition and Modernity, and Marshall G.S. Hodgson
Research Interests: Religion, Comparative Religion, Sociology, Political Sociology, Sociology of Culture, and 10 moreSociology of Religion, Social Sciences, Sociology of islam, Civil Society and the Public Sphere, Islamic Studies, Islamic History, Islam, International political sociology, Civil Society, and Religious Studies
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Religion, Sociology, Sociology of Religion, Anthropology, Ottoman History, and 15 moreMiddle East Studies, Religion and Politics, Iranian Studies, Sociology of islam, Giambattista Vico, Ottoman Studies, Mughal History, Islamic Studies, Islam, Max Weber, Religious Studies, Civility and the Civilising Process, Anthropology of Islam, Civility, and Anthropology of Religion
This book explores conceptual and institutional developments of the notion of the public sphere in the West and in the Islamic world, tackling historic ruptures spanning the formation and transformation of the Euro-Mediterranean world.... more
This book explores conceptual and institutional developments of the notion of the public sphere in the West and in the Islamic world, tackling historic ruptures spanning the formation and transformation of the Euro-Mediterranean world. Set against an imploding grammar of socio-political life, the modern liberal public sphere appears in a new light.
Research Interests: Religion, Comparative Religion, History, Sociology, Political Sociology, and 24 moreSociology of Religion, Comparative Politics, International Relations, Political Philosophy, Philosophy Of Religion, Cultural Sociology, Social Sciences, Political Theory, History of Religion, Religion and Politics, Political Science, Political communication, Religion & the Public Sphere, Civil Society and the Public Sphere, History of Religions, Public Sphere, Modernity, Islamic Studies, Islam, Religion and Modernity, International political sociology, Religious Studies, Historical and Comparative Sociology, and Anthropology of Religion
This book explores conceptual and institutional developments of the notion of the public sphere in the West and in the Islamic world, tackling historic ruptures spanning the formation and transformation of the Euro-Mediterranean world.... more
This book explores conceptual and institutional developments of the notion of the public sphere in the West and in the Islamic world, tackling historic ruptures spanning the formation and transformation of the Euro-Mediterranean world. Set against an imploding grammar of socio-political life, the modern liberal public sphere appears in a new light.
Research Interests:
Link to the YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvRyAqyEEk0&t=275s The work of Ibn Khaldun has been read in many ways, focusing often on his notion of ‘asabiyyah and the nature of the social bond in tribal societies that... more
Link to the YouTube video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvRyAqyEEk0&t=275s
The work of Ibn Khaldun has been read in many ways, focusing often on his notion of ‘asabiyyah and the nature of the social bond in tribal societies that motivates power exercise, territorial expansion and the rise of dynasties. The spatial ordering of society plays a crucial role in this vision. This presentation attempts to explore the notion of order and its configurations in space in the Muqaddimah, and how Ibn Khaldun’s political imagination was based on an understanding of the nomos of the earth on three levels: the cosmic nomos, the material/spatial nomos and the sociological nomos. While a dominant approach to the reading of Ibn Khaldun was understanding tribal societies as hierarchical, or history as cyclical, I will try to examine heterarchy in the three levels of the nomos. To relate the above to contemporary debates in political theory, Carl Schmitt is invited to this discussion where his understanding of the nomos as the order of appropriation, distribution and production in every society is highlighted. I will also refer to Michel Maffesoli and his work on neo-tribalism.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvRyAqyEEk0&t=275s
The work of Ibn Khaldun has been read in many ways, focusing often on his notion of ‘asabiyyah and the nature of the social bond in tribal societies that motivates power exercise, territorial expansion and the rise of dynasties. The spatial ordering of society plays a crucial role in this vision. This presentation attempts to explore the notion of order and its configurations in space in the Muqaddimah, and how Ibn Khaldun’s political imagination was based on an understanding of the nomos of the earth on three levels: the cosmic nomos, the material/spatial nomos and the sociological nomos. While a dominant approach to the reading of Ibn Khaldun was understanding tribal societies as hierarchical, or history as cyclical, I will try to examine heterarchy in the three levels of the nomos. To relate the above to contemporary debates in political theory, Carl Schmitt is invited to this discussion where his understanding of the nomos as the order of appropriation, distribution and production in every society is highlighted. I will also refer to Michel Maffesoli and his work on neo-tribalism.
Research Interests:
Link to YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghxYRSladWQ&t=786s La conférence vise à indiquer les dettes méthodologiques et épistémiques d’Ibn Khaldun à l’égard des philosophes-logiciens qui l’ont précédé (Averroès). Les... more
Link to YouTube video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghxYRSladWQ&t=786s
La conférence vise à indiquer les dettes méthodologiques et épistémiques d’Ibn Khaldun à l’égard des philosophes-logiciens qui l’ont précédé (Averroès). Les modalités logiques du nécessaire et du possible sont investies dans l’ordre historique pour rendre compte de la société humaine (nécessaire) et du fait historique (possible). Il en va de même pour le statut de la rhétorique, qui passe du statut de partie de la logique, qu’elle avait chez Al Farabi et chez Averroès, à une composante sémantique de la notion de civilisation (circulation de signes dans l’efficace du pouvoir politique). Ces analyses épistémiques sont une base pour remettre en cause la réception coloniale d’Ibn Khaldun qui a attribué à l’historien une conception cyclique de l’histoire, absente de son œuvre.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghxYRSladWQ&t=786s
La conférence vise à indiquer les dettes méthodologiques et épistémiques d’Ibn Khaldun à l’égard des philosophes-logiciens qui l’ont précédé (Averroès). Les modalités logiques du nécessaire et du possible sont investies dans l’ordre historique pour rendre compte de la société humaine (nécessaire) et du fait historique (possible). Il en va de même pour le statut de la rhétorique, qui passe du statut de partie de la logique, qu’elle avait chez Al Farabi et chez Averroès, à une composante sémantique de la notion de civilisation (circulation de signes dans l’efficace du pouvoir politique). Ces analyses épistémiques sont une base pour remettre en cause la réception coloniale d’Ibn Khaldun qui a attribué à l’historien une conception cyclique de l’histoire, absente de son œuvre.
Research Interests:
Syed Farid Alatas, National University of Singapore “Ibn Khaldun and Autonomous Knowledge Production” Abstract: In order for theory to be relevant to the Third World/Periphery/South it needs to be challenged. The nature of that challenge... more
Syed Farid Alatas, National University of Singapore
“Ibn Khaldun and Autonomous Knowledge Production”
Abstract: In order for theory to be relevant to the Third World/Periphery/South it needs to be challenged. The nature of that challenge is the deparochialisation of theory. The discipline of sociology and other social sciences have been slow to do this. Recently, however, there have been efforts to address the problem by way of the critique of canons and foundational theories of the discipline. This paper is a contribution in the direction of such critique to render the disciplines less parochial. This paper is divided into three parts. First it introduces the theme of silencing that manifests itself in the recounting of the voyages of discovery that began mere decades after the death of Ibn Khaldun. The paper then turns to the reconstruction of Khaldunian theory in the context of modern historical and area studies. The idea here is to provide a structure that may be used to construct social theory from the works of those thinkers from the South that are considered to be potential sources of alternative, non-Eurocentric theory. The thinker under consideration here is Ibn Khaldun. The paper ends with a discussion on autonomous knowledge as a more productive and critical way of thinking about knowledge production as opposed to the decolonization of knowledge. Ibn Khaldun is seen to be relevant to the challenge of hegemonic orientations other than Eurocentrism.
Heba Raouf Ezzat, Ibn Haldun University, Istanbul, Turkey
“The Tribe and the Nomos of the Earth: The Relevance of Ibn Khaldun”
Abstract: The work of Ibn Khaldun has been read in many ways, focusing often on his notion of ‘asabiyyah and the nature of the social bond in tribal societies that motivates power exercise, territorial expansion and the rise of dynasties. The spatial ordering of society plays a crucial role in this vision. This presentation attempts to explore the notion of order and its configurations in space in the Muqaddimah, and how Ibn Khaldun’s political imagination was based on an understanding of the nomos of the earth on three levels: the cosmic nomos, the material/spatial nomos and the sociological nomos. While a dominant approach to the reading of Ibn Khaldun was understanding tribal societies as hierarchical, or history as cyclical, I will try to examine heterarchy in the three levels of the nomos. To relate the above to contemporary debates in political theory, Carl Schmitt is invited to this discussion where his understanding of the nomos as the order of appropriation, distribution and production in every society is highlighted. I will also refer to Michel Maffesoli and his work on neo-tribalism.
“Ibn Khaldun and Autonomous Knowledge Production”
Abstract: In order for theory to be relevant to the Third World/Periphery/South it needs to be challenged. The nature of that challenge is the deparochialisation of theory. The discipline of sociology and other social sciences have been slow to do this. Recently, however, there have been efforts to address the problem by way of the critique of canons and foundational theories of the discipline. This paper is a contribution in the direction of such critique to render the disciplines less parochial. This paper is divided into three parts. First it introduces the theme of silencing that manifests itself in the recounting of the voyages of discovery that began mere decades after the death of Ibn Khaldun. The paper then turns to the reconstruction of Khaldunian theory in the context of modern historical and area studies. The idea here is to provide a structure that may be used to construct social theory from the works of those thinkers from the South that are considered to be potential sources of alternative, non-Eurocentric theory. The thinker under consideration here is Ibn Khaldun. The paper ends with a discussion on autonomous knowledge as a more productive and critical way of thinking about knowledge production as opposed to the decolonization of knowledge. Ibn Khaldun is seen to be relevant to the challenge of hegemonic orientations other than Eurocentrism.
Heba Raouf Ezzat, Ibn Haldun University, Istanbul, Turkey
“The Tribe and the Nomos of the Earth: The Relevance of Ibn Khaldun”
Abstract: The work of Ibn Khaldun has been read in many ways, focusing often on his notion of ‘asabiyyah and the nature of the social bond in tribal societies that motivates power exercise, territorial expansion and the rise of dynasties. The spatial ordering of society plays a crucial role in this vision. This presentation attempts to explore the notion of order and its configurations in space in the Muqaddimah, and how Ibn Khaldun’s political imagination was based on an understanding of the nomos of the earth on three levels: the cosmic nomos, the material/spatial nomos and the sociological nomos. While a dominant approach to the reading of Ibn Khaldun was understanding tribal societies as hierarchical, or history as cyclical, I will try to examine heterarchy in the three levels of the nomos. To relate the above to contemporary debates in political theory, Carl Schmitt is invited to this discussion where his understanding of the nomos as the order of appropriation, distribution and production in every society is highlighted. I will also refer to Michel Maffesoli and his work on neo-tribalism.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
November 26, 2020, 1:30 PM EST (UTC -5). Dr Florian Zemmin, Leipzig University, will speak on: The Secular in Middle East and Islamicate History Hosted on Zoom: https://mcgill.zoom.us/s/83909416415 Passcode 870227 The Keenan Chair of... more
November 26, 2020, 1:30 PM EST (UTC -5).
Dr Florian Zemmin, Leipzig University, will speak on:
The Secular in Middle East and Islamicate History
Hosted on Zoom: https://mcgill.zoom.us/s/83909416415 Passcode 870227
The Keenan Chair of Interfaith Studies and the James McGill Professor of Islamic Philosophy are collaborating in a reflection on religion, Islam, and cosmopolitanism associated with McGill’s academic tradition of Islamic Studies, and epitomized by scholars such as Wilfred Cantwell Smith, Fazlur Rahman, and Toshihiko Izutsu. In preparation for the Keenan Conference on World Religions and Globalization, to be held in Montreal in Spring 2022, we are hosting an online lecture series titled ReOrienting the Global Study of Religion: History, Theory, and Society.
While the study of the Islamosphere has stimulated a critical reconceptualization of the notion of religion, we would like to extend this reflection to how religious concepts have been embedded in broader views of history and society, including the Western colonial construction of the “Middle East” as the cradle not just of Islam but of all Abrahamic religions. Some of the lectures will contribute to such reflections also through the foil of the interdisciplinary legacy of Ibn Khaldun, a champion of non-Western thought and precursor of social theory.
The second speaker in the series will be Florian Zemmin, Leipzig University. The title of the lecture, which will be followed by a Q&A, is The Secular in Middle East and Islamicate History. The lecture is based on a chapter that Dr Zemmin is contributing to The Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of the Middle East in course of publication (both online and in print) with Oxford University Press, edited by Armando Salvatore, Sari Hanafi, and Kieko Obuse. https://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190087470.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780190087470?rskey=Mfv0d4&result=19 Sari Hanafi will serve as a discussant of the lecture.
Abstract: Islam is all too frequently regarded as the other of secular (Western) modernity. Sometimes this perception extends to Middle Eastern societies, for which Islam allegedly plays a constitutive role. However, secularity, the difference between religion and the secular, has been shaping modern societies in the Middle East too. Moreover, recent scholarship has highlighted patterns of secularity both within modern Islamic thought and in Islamicate history.
The lecture first establishes the factual secularity of modern Middle Eastern societies, focusing on the relation between religion and politics. Moving from structures to ideas, it then shows how modern Islamic thought conceptualized secularity. Examples from Islamicate history will make clear that secularity in the Middle East was not the exclusive product of colonial modernity, but drew also on earlier distinctions between religion and the secular.
Florian Zemmin is Senior Researcher at the Centre for Advanced Studies in the Humanities and Social Sciences “Multiple Secularities - Beyond the West, Beyond Modernities,” Leipzig University. He is the author of Modernity in Islamic Tradition. The Concept of ‘Society’ in the Journal al-Manar (Cairo, 1898–1940) (De Gruyter, 2018) and co-editor of Working with A Secular Age: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Charles Taylor's Master Narrative (De Gruyter, 2016) and Islam in der Moderne, Moderne im Islam. Eine Festschrift für Reinhard Schulze zum 65. Geburtstag (Brill, 2018).
Dr Florian Zemmin, Leipzig University, will speak on:
The Secular in Middle East and Islamicate History
Hosted on Zoom: https://mcgill.zoom.us/s/83909416415 Passcode 870227
The Keenan Chair of Interfaith Studies and the James McGill Professor of Islamic Philosophy are collaborating in a reflection on religion, Islam, and cosmopolitanism associated with McGill’s academic tradition of Islamic Studies, and epitomized by scholars such as Wilfred Cantwell Smith, Fazlur Rahman, and Toshihiko Izutsu. In preparation for the Keenan Conference on World Religions and Globalization, to be held in Montreal in Spring 2022, we are hosting an online lecture series titled ReOrienting the Global Study of Religion: History, Theory, and Society.
While the study of the Islamosphere has stimulated a critical reconceptualization of the notion of religion, we would like to extend this reflection to how religious concepts have been embedded in broader views of history and society, including the Western colonial construction of the “Middle East” as the cradle not just of Islam but of all Abrahamic religions. Some of the lectures will contribute to such reflections also through the foil of the interdisciplinary legacy of Ibn Khaldun, a champion of non-Western thought and precursor of social theory.
The second speaker in the series will be Florian Zemmin, Leipzig University. The title of the lecture, which will be followed by a Q&A, is The Secular in Middle East and Islamicate History. The lecture is based on a chapter that Dr Zemmin is contributing to The Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of the Middle East in course of publication (both online and in print) with Oxford University Press, edited by Armando Salvatore, Sari Hanafi, and Kieko Obuse. https://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190087470.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780190087470?rskey=Mfv0d4&result=19 Sari Hanafi will serve as a discussant of the lecture.
Abstract: Islam is all too frequently regarded as the other of secular (Western) modernity. Sometimes this perception extends to Middle Eastern societies, for which Islam allegedly plays a constitutive role. However, secularity, the difference between religion and the secular, has been shaping modern societies in the Middle East too. Moreover, recent scholarship has highlighted patterns of secularity both within modern Islamic thought and in Islamicate history.
The lecture first establishes the factual secularity of modern Middle Eastern societies, focusing on the relation between religion and politics. Moving from structures to ideas, it then shows how modern Islamic thought conceptualized secularity. Examples from Islamicate history will make clear that secularity in the Middle East was not the exclusive product of colonial modernity, but drew also on earlier distinctions between religion and the secular.
Florian Zemmin is Senior Researcher at the Centre for Advanced Studies in the Humanities and Social Sciences “Multiple Secularities - Beyond the West, Beyond Modernities,” Leipzig University. He is the author of Modernity in Islamic Tradition. The Concept of ‘Society’ in the Journal al-Manar (Cairo, 1898–1940) (De Gruyter, 2018) and co-editor of Working with A Secular Age: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Charles Taylor's Master Narrative (De Gruyter, 2016) and Islam in der Moderne, Moderne im Islam. Eine Festschrift für Reinhard Schulze zum 65. Geburtstag (Brill, 2018).
Research Interests:
January 27, 2021, 1:30 PM EST (UTC -5). Prof. Timur Hammond, Syracuse University, will speak on: Religion In, Of, and From the City Hosted on Zoom: Meeting ID: 834 6758 6121 Passcode: 1234 The Keenan Chair of Interfaith Studies and the... more
January 27, 2021, 1:30 PM EST (UTC -5).
Prof. Timur Hammond, Syracuse University, will speak on:
Religion In, Of, and From the City
Hosted on Zoom: Meeting ID: 834 6758 6121 Passcode: 1234
The Keenan Chair of Interfaith Studies and the James McGill Professor of Islamic Philosophy are collaborating in a reflection on religion, Islam, and cosmopolitanism associated with McGill’s academic tradition of Islamic Studies, and epitomized by scholars such as Wilfred Cantwell Smith, Fazlur Rahman, and Toshihiko Izutsu.
In preparation for the Keenan Conference on World Religions and Globalization, to be held in Montreal in Spring 2022, we are hosting an online lecture series titled ReOrienting the Global Study of Religion: History, Theory, and Society. While the study of the Islamosphere has stimulated a critical reconceptualization of the notion of religion, we would like to extend this reflection to how religious concepts have been embedded in broader views of history and society, including the Western colonial construction of the “Middle East” as the cradle not just of Islam but of all Abrahamic religions.
The fourth speaker in the series will be Prof. Timur Hammond, Syracuse University. The title of the lecture, which will be followed by a Q&A, is Religion In, Of, and From the City. The lecture is based on a chapter that Dr Zemmin is contributing to The Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of the Middle East in course of publication (both online and in print) with Oxford University Press, edited by Armando Salvatore, Sari Hanafi, and Kieko Obuse: Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of the Middle East - Oxford Handbooks
Abstract:
The ‘city’ and ‘religion’ have a long and rich history in scholarship in, of, and about the Middle East, ranging from early articulations of the ‘Islamic city’ to more recent engagements with questions of politics, urban life, everyday experience, and governance. Yet despite a shared interest in the place of religion in the city, scholars often operate from quite distinct methodological, conceptual, and epistemological positions. In this talk, I identify four meta-questions that underpin much of this scholarship: (1) How do we conceptualize ‘religion’ and the ‘city’ as linked objects of study? (2) How and why do we think about religious difference within and between cities? (3) Is there a single urban process? (4) And what are the advantages and disadvantages of framing our work as a regional analysis of the Middle East?
Paying greater attention to these questions provides an opportunity to revisit – and perhaps reframe – the unacknowledged assumptions that tend to structure our research questions, methods, disciplinary approaches, and findings. Indeed, I use the talk to suggest that beginning from these questions opens up new opportunities for an expanded interdisciplinary exchange. In the process, we might develop new opportunities for more responsive, reflexive, and responsible approaches to studying religion in, of, and from the city.
Timur Hammond is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography and the Environment at Syracuse University. Trained as a cultural and urban geographer, his research examines the practices and processes through which people encounter cities as meaningful places. His current book project focuses on the Istanbul district of Eyüp and uses that district’s 20th century transformations to show the changing geographies of Islam over the past century. He has also published on the relationship between geography and Middle East area studies and on the politics of memory following Turkey’s July 2016 coup attempt.
Prof. Timur Hammond, Syracuse University, will speak on:
Religion In, Of, and From the City
Hosted on Zoom: Meeting ID: 834 6758 6121 Passcode: 1234
The Keenan Chair of Interfaith Studies and the James McGill Professor of Islamic Philosophy are collaborating in a reflection on religion, Islam, and cosmopolitanism associated with McGill’s academic tradition of Islamic Studies, and epitomized by scholars such as Wilfred Cantwell Smith, Fazlur Rahman, and Toshihiko Izutsu.
In preparation for the Keenan Conference on World Religions and Globalization, to be held in Montreal in Spring 2022, we are hosting an online lecture series titled ReOrienting the Global Study of Religion: History, Theory, and Society. While the study of the Islamosphere has stimulated a critical reconceptualization of the notion of religion, we would like to extend this reflection to how religious concepts have been embedded in broader views of history and society, including the Western colonial construction of the “Middle East” as the cradle not just of Islam but of all Abrahamic religions.
The fourth speaker in the series will be Prof. Timur Hammond, Syracuse University. The title of the lecture, which will be followed by a Q&A, is Religion In, Of, and From the City. The lecture is based on a chapter that Dr Zemmin is contributing to The Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of the Middle East in course of publication (both online and in print) with Oxford University Press, edited by Armando Salvatore, Sari Hanafi, and Kieko Obuse: Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of the Middle East - Oxford Handbooks
Abstract:
The ‘city’ and ‘religion’ have a long and rich history in scholarship in, of, and about the Middle East, ranging from early articulations of the ‘Islamic city’ to more recent engagements with questions of politics, urban life, everyday experience, and governance. Yet despite a shared interest in the place of religion in the city, scholars often operate from quite distinct methodological, conceptual, and epistemological positions. In this talk, I identify four meta-questions that underpin much of this scholarship: (1) How do we conceptualize ‘religion’ and the ‘city’ as linked objects of study? (2) How and why do we think about religious difference within and between cities? (3) Is there a single urban process? (4) And what are the advantages and disadvantages of framing our work as a regional analysis of the Middle East?
Paying greater attention to these questions provides an opportunity to revisit – and perhaps reframe – the unacknowledged assumptions that tend to structure our research questions, methods, disciplinary approaches, and findings. Indeed, I use the talk to suggest that beginning from these questions opens up new opportunities for an expanded interdisciplinary exchange. In the process, we might develop new opportunities for more responsive, reflexive, and responsible approaches to studying religion in, of, and from the city.
Timur Hammond is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography and the Environment at Syracuse University. Trained as a cultural and urban geographer, his research examines the practices and processes through which people encounter cities as meaningful places. His current book project focuses on the Istanbul district of Eyüp and uses that district’s 20th century transformations to show the changing geographies of Islam over the past century. He has also published on the relationship between geography and Middle East area studies and on the politics of memory following Turkey’s July 2016 coup attempt.
Research Interests:
Link to YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ul3lcFvjKc Poetry occupies a specific place in Iran's history, culture and everyday life. This is perhaps no different from other countries in the Middle East or the world at... more
Link to YouTube video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ul3lcFvjKc
Poetry occupies a specific place in Iran's history, culture and everyday life. This is perhaps no different from other countries in the Middle East or the world at large; however, media and scholarly narratives often see an essential connection between Iranians and their poems, and use these texts to explain Iranian politics, morality, and the self. A variant of this approach considers poetry as a pivotal expression of political dissent and existential angst. As a counterpoint to these narratives, this talk analyses the power of poetry in Iran by examining the constitutive relationship between poetry and social configurations in light of contemporary poetic practice in the city of Shiraz. Instead of a sociology of Iranian poetry, I propose a poetic sociology of Iran.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ul3lcFvjKc
Poetry occupies a specific place in Iran's history, culture and everyday life. This is perhaps no different from other countries in the Middle East or the world at large; however, media and scholarly narratives often see an essential connection between Iranians and their poems, and use these texts to explain Iranian politics, morality, and the self. A variant of this approach considers poetry as a pivotal expression of political dissent and existential angst. As a counterpoint to these narratives, this talk analyses the power of poetry in Iran by examining the constitutive relationship between poetry and social configurations in light of contemporary poetic practice in the city of Shiraz. Instead of a sociology of Iranian poetry, I propose a poetic sociology of Iran.
Research Interests:
February 17, 2021, 2:00 PM EST (UTC -5). Dr Benjamin Schewel, Duke University, will speak on: Imagining the Islamic Ecumene: Marshall Hodgson as Philosopher of History Hosted on Zoom: https://mcgill.zoom.us/s/8266062657 The Keenan... more
February 17, 2021, 2:00 PM EST (UTC -5).
Dr Benjamin Schewel, Duke University, will speak on:
Imagining the Islamic Ecumene: Marshall Hodgson as Philosopher of History
Hosted on Zoom: https://mcgill.zoom.us/s/8266062657
The Keenan Chair of Interfaith Studies and the James McGill Professor of Islamic Philosophy are collaborating in a reflection on religion, Islam, and cosmopolitanism associated with McGill’s academic tradition of Islamic Studies, and epitomized by scholars such as Wilfred Cantwell Smith, Fazlur Rahman, and Toshihiko Izutsu.
In preparation for the Keenan Conference on World Religions and Globalization, to be held in Montreal in May 2022, we are hosting an online lecture series titled ReOrienting the Global Study of Religion: History, Theory, and Society. While the study of the Islamosphere has stimulated a critical reconceptualization of the notion of religion, we would like to extend this reflection to how religious concepts have been embedded in broader views of history and society, including the Western colonial construction of the “Middle East” as the cradle not just of Islam but of all Abrahamic religions.
The fifth speaker in the series will be Dr Benjamin Schewel, Duke University. The title of the lecture, which will be followed by a Q&A, is Imagining the Islamic Ecumene: Marshall Hodgson as Philosopher of History.
Abstract: Ibn Khaldun's studies of the rise and fall of Islamicate empires have proven to be of widespread and enduring relevance within broader fields of social scientific research.
In the same vein, this lecture argues, the insights that Marshall Hodgson derives from his far-reaching study of the origins and evolution of the Islamicate ecumene should figure centrally in the ongoing efforts of philosophers, social theorists, and humanistic scholars of various sorts to reconceptualize world history through a non-Western-centric and more spiritually sympathetic lens.
In order to advance this claim, the presentation situates Hodgson's major world-historical arguments within the discourse on the nature and implications of the Axial Age (800-200 BCE), an approach that he consciously utilizes to orient his analyses in The Venture of Islam.
Benjamin Schewel is a Senior Fellow at the Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke University and Director of the Center on Modernity in Transition (COMIT). He additionally serves as an Affiliate Member of the School of Religious Studies at McGill University and as an Associate Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture at the University of Virginia. He is the author of Seven Ways of Looking at Religion, published by Yale University Press in 2017, and is currently finishing a second book, also to be published by Yale University Press, entitled, Encountering the Axial Age.
Dr Benjamin Schewel, Duke University, will speak on:
Imagining the Islamic Ecumene: Marshall Hodgson as Philosopher of History
Hosted on Zoom: https://mcgill.zoom.us/s/8266062657
The Keenan Chair of Interfaith Studies and the James McGill Professor of Islamic Philosophy are collaborating in a reflection on religion, Islam, and cosmopolitanism associated with McGill’s academic tradition of Islamic Studies, and epitomized by scholars such as Wilfred Cantwell Smith, Fazlur Rahman, and Toshihiko Izutsu.
In preparation for the Keenan Conference on World Religions and Globalization, to be held in Montreal in May 2022, we are hosting an online lecture series titled ReOrienting the Global Study of Religion: History, Theory, and Society. While the study of the Islamosphere has stimulated a critical reconceptualization of the notion of religion, we would like to extend this reflection to how religious concepts have been embedded in broader views of history and society, including the Western colonial construction of the “Middle East” as the cradle not just of Islam but of all Abrahamic religions.
The fifth speaker in the series will be Dr Benjamin Schewel, Duke University. The title of the lecture, which will be followed by a Q&A, is Imagining the Islamic Ecumene: Marshall Hodgson as Philosopher of History.
Abstract: Ibn Khaldun's studies of the rise and fall of Islamicate empires have proven to be of widespread and enduring relevance within broader fields of social scientific research.
In the same vein, this lecture argues, the insights that Marshall Hodgson derives from his far-reaching study of the origins and evolution of the Islamicate ecumene should figure centrally in the ongoing efforts of philosophers, social theorists, and humanistic scholars of various sorts to reconceptualize world history through a non-Western-centric and more spiritually sympathetic lens.
In order to advance this claim, the presentation situates Hodgson's major world-historical arguments within the discourse on the nature and implications of the Axial Age (800-200 BCE), an approach that he consciously utilizes to orient his analyses in The Venture of Islam.
Benjamin Schewel is a Senior Fellow at the Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke University and Director of the Center on Modernity in Transition (COMIT). He additionally serves as an Affiliate Member of the School of Religious Studies at McGill University and as an Associate Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture at the University of Virginia. He is the author of Seven Ways of Looking at Religion, published by Yale University Press in 2017, and is currently finishing a second book, also to be published by Yale University Press, entitled, Encountering the Axial Age.
Research Interests:
Link to YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_BcZFB0eZw&feature=youtu.be Ibn Khaldun's studies of the rise and fall of Islamicate empires have proven to be of widespread and enduring relevance within broader fields of social... more
Link to YouTube video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_BcZFB0eZw&feature=youtu.be
Ibn Khaldun's studies of the rise and fall of Islamicate empires have proven to be of widespread and enduring relevance within broader fields of social scientific research.
In the same vein, this lecture argues, the insights that Marshall Hodgson derives from his far-reaching study of the origins and evolution of the Islamicate ecumene should figure centrally in the ongoing efforts of philosophers, social theorists, and humanistic scholars of various sorts to reconceptualize world history through a non-Western-centric and more spiritually sympathetic lens.
In order to advance this claim, the presentation situates Hodgson's major world-historical arguments within the discourse on the nature and implications of the Axial Age (800-200 BCE), an approach that he consciously utilizes to orient his analyses in The Venture of Islam.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_BcZFB0eZw&feature=youtu.be
Ibn Khaldun's studies of the rise and fall of Islamicate empires have proven to be of widespread and enduring relevance within broader fields of social scientific research.
In the same vein, this lecture argues, the insights that Marshall Hodgson derives from his far-reaching study of the origins and evolution of the Islamicate ecumene should figure centrally in the ongoing efforts of philosophers, social theorists, and humanistic scholars of various sorts to reconceptualize world history through a non-Western-centric and more spiritually sympathetic lens.
In order to advance this claim, the presentation situates Hodgson's major world-historical arguments within the discourse on the nature and implications of the Axial Age (800-200 BCE), an approach that he consciously utilizes to orient his analyses in The Venture of Islam.
Research Interests:
Poetry occupies a specific place in Iran's history, culture and everyday life. This is perhaps no different from other countries in the Middle East or the world at large; however, media and scholarly narratives often see an essential... more
Poetry occupies a specific place in Iran's history, culture and everyday life. This is perhaps no different from other countries in the Middle East or the world at large; however, media and scholarly narratives often see an essential connection between Iranians and their poems, and use these texts to explain Iranian politics, morality, and the self. A variant of this approach considers poetry as a pivotal expression of political dissent and existential angst.
As a counterpoint to these narratives, this talk analyses the power of poetry in Iran by examining the constitutive relationship between poetry and social configurations in light of contemporary poetic practice in the city of Shiraz. Instead of a sociology of Iranian poetry, I propose a poetic sociology of Iran.
As a counterpoint to these narratives, this talk analyses the power of poetry in Iran by examining the constitutive relationship between poetry and social configurations in light of contemporary poetic practice in the city of Shiraz. Instead of a sociology of Iranian poetry, I propose a poetic sociology of Iran.
Research Interests:
The post-Mongol Western Anatolia was a breeding ground for ambitious Turkic chieftains and charismatic saints competing for a new spiritual and political order. These rulers and dervishes, often clashing with each other, constantly... more
The post-Mongol Western Anatolia was a breeding ground for ambitious Turkic chieftains and charismatic saints competing for a new spiritual and political order. These rulers and dervishes, often clashing with each other, constantly negotiated the nature and boundaries of spiritual and temporal authorities. This talk will elaborate on how hagiographies reflected Sufistic visions of authority and portrayed the Ottomans from the 14th through the 16th centuries.
Research Interests:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPJVCUFmmeY&t=2111s The 'city' and 'religion' have a long and rich history in scholarship in, of, and about the Middle East, ranging from early articulations of the 'Islamic city' to more recent engagements... more
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPJVCUFmmeY&t=2111s
The 'city' and 'religion' have a long and rich history in scholarship in, of, and about the Middle East, ranging from early articulations of the 'Islamic city' to more recent engagements with questions of politics, urban life, everyday experience , and governance. Yet despite a shared interest in the place of religion in the city, scholars often operate from quite distinct methodological, conceptual, and epistemological positions. In this talk, I identify four meta-questions that underpin much of this scholarship: (1) How do we conceptualize 'religion' and the 'city' as linked objects of study? (2) How and why do we think about religious difference within and between cities? (3) Is there a single urban process? (4) And what are the advantages and disadvantages of framing our work as a regional analysis of the Middle East? Paying greater attention to these questions provides an opportunity to revisit-and perhaps reframe-the unacknowledged assumptions that tend to structure our research questions, methods, disciplinary approaches, and findings. Indeed, I use the talk to suggest that beginning from these questions opens up new opportunities for an expanded interdisciplinary exchange. In the process, we might develop new opportunities for more responsive, reflexive, and responsible approaches to studying religion in, of, and from the city. Religion In, Of, and From the City
The 'city' and 'religion' have a long and rich history in scholarship in, of, and about the Middle East, ranging from early articulations of the 'Islamic city' to more recent engagements with questions of politics, urban life, everyday experience , and governance. Yet despite a shared interest in the place of religion in the city, scholars often operate from quite distinct methodological, conceptual, and epistemological positions. In this talk, I identify four meta-questions that underpin much of this scholarship: (1) How do we conceptualize 'religion' and the 'city' as linked objects of study? (2) How and why do we think about religious difference within and between cities? (3) Is there a single urban process? (4) And what are the advantages and disadvantages of framing our work as a regional analysis of the Middle East? Paying greater attention to these questions provides an opportunity to revisit-and perhaps reframe-the unacknowledged assumptions that tend to structure our research questions, methods, disciplinary approaches, and findings. Indeed, I use the talk to suggest that beginning from these questions opens up new opportunities for an expanded interdisciplinary exchange. In the process, we might develop new opportunities for more responsive, reflexive, and responsible approaches to studying religion in, of, and from the city. Religion In, Of, and From the City
Research Interests:
The Keenan Chair of Interfaith Studies and the James McGill Professor of Islamic Philosophy are collaborating in a reflection on religion, Islam, and cosmopolitanism associated with McGill’s academic tradition of Islamic Studies, and... more
The Keenan Chair of Interfaith Studies and the James McGill Professor of Islamic Philosophy are collaborating in a reflection on religion, Islam, and cosmopolitanism associated with McGill’s academic tradition of Islamic Studies, and epitomized by scholars such as Wilfred Cantwell Smith, Fazlur Rahman, and Toshihiko Izutsu. In preparation for the Keenan Conference on World Religions and Globalization, to be held in Montreal in Spring 2022, we are hosting an online lecture series titled ReOrienting the Global Study of Religion: History, Theory, and Society.
While the study of the Islamosphere has stimulated a critical reconceptualization of the notion of religion, we would like to extend this reflection to how religious concepts have been embedded in broader views of history and society, including the Western colonial construction of the “Middle East” as the cradle not just of Islam but of all Abrahamic religions.
Some of the lectures contribute to such reflections also through the foil of the interdisciplinary legacy of Ibn Khaldun, a champion of non-Western thought and precursor of social theory.
While the study of the Islamosphere has stimulated a critical reconceptualization of the notion of religion, we would like to extend this reflection to how religious concepts have been embedded in broader views of history and society, including the Western colonial construction of the “Middle East” as the cradle not just of Islam but of all Abrahamic religions.
Some of the lectures contribute to such reflections also through the foil of the interdisciplinary legacy of Ibn Khaldun, a champion of non-Western thought and precursor of social theory.
Research Interests:
October 28, 2020, 1:30 PM EDT (UTC -4): Dr Fitzroy Morrissey, All Souls College, University of Oxford will speak on: Ibn Khaldūn on Sufism: Mysticism through the Lens of History, Philosophy, and Law. Register here:... more
October 28, 2020, 1:30 PM EDT (UTC -4):
Dr Fitzroy Morrissey, All Souls College, University of Oxford will speak on:
Ibn Khaldūn on Sufism: Mysticism through the Lens of History, Philosophy, and Law.
Register here: https://www.mcgill.ca/religiouss.../registration-oct-28-2020
The Keenan Chair of Interfaith Studies and the James McGill Professor of Islamic Philosophy are collaborating in a reflection on religion, Islam, and cosmopolitanism associated with McGill’s academic tradition of Islamic Studies, and epitomized by scholars such as Wilfred Cantwell Smith, Fazlur Rahman, and Toshihiko Izutsu.
In preparation for the Keenan Conference on World Religions and Globalization, to be held in Montreal in Spring 2022, we are launching an online lecture series titled ReOrienting the Global Study of Religion: History, Theory, and Society (with a special focus on the interdisciplinary legacy of Ibn Khaldun).
The first speaker will be Dr Fitzroy Morrissey, All Souls College, University of Oxford. The title of the lecture, which will be followed by a Q&A, is Ibn Khaldūn on Sufism: Mysticism through the Lens of History, Philosophy, and Law.
Abstract: The nature of Ibn Khaldun’s relationship to Sufism, the mystical dimension of Islam, is a complex and much-debated issue. The great North African historian and philosopher of history has variously been described as a critic of the Sufis, an admirer of Sufism, or even a Sufi himself. Through a close look at Ibn Khaldun’s discussion of Sufism in the Muqaddimah and other relevant sources, this talk aims to shed further light on the issue.
Placing Ibn Khaldun’s treatment of Sufism in the context of his wider intellectual project, we shall consider how his views on Sufism tie into his famous philosophy of history and other essential aspects of his thought. In this way, the talk aims to elucidate not only Ibn Khaldun’s relationship to mysticism, but also his thought more generally.
Fitzroy Morrissey is a Fellow of All Souls College, University of Oxford. A specialist in Sufism and Islamic intellectual history, he is the author of Sufism and the Perfect Human (Routledge, 2020) and Sufism and the Scriptures (I.B. Tauris, forthcoming).
The event will take place October 28, 2020, 1:30 PM EDT (UTC -4). It will be hosted on Zoom.
Register here: https://www.mcgill.ca/religiouss.../registration-oct-28-2020
Dr Fitzroy Morrissey, All Souls College, University of Oxford will speak on:
Ibn Khaldūn on Sufism: Mysticism through the Lens of History, Philosophy, and Law.
Register here: https://www.mcgill.ca/religiouss.../registration-oct-28-2020
The Keenan Chair of Interfaith Studies and the James McGill Professor of Islamic Philosophy are collaborating in a reflection on religion, Islam, and cosmopolitanism associated with McGill’s academic tradition of Islamic Studies, and epitomized by scholars such as Wilfred Cantwell Smith, Fazlur Rahman, and Toshihiko Izutsu.
In preparation for the Keenan Conference on World Religions and Globalization, to be held in Montreal in Spring 2022, we are launching an online lecture series titled ReOrienting the Global Study of Religion: History, Theory, and Society (with a special focus on the interdisciplinary legacy of Ibn Khaldun).
The first speaker will be Dr Fitzroy Morrissey, All Souls College, University of Oxford. The title of the lecture, which will be followed by a Q&A, is Ibn Khaldūn on Sufism: Mysticism through the Lens of History, Philosophy, and Law.
Abstract: The nature of Ibn Khaldun’s relationship to Sufism, the mystical dimension of Islam, is a complex and much-debated issue. The great North African historian and philosopher of history has variously been described as a critic of the Sufis, an admirer of Sufism, or even a Sufi himself. Through a close look at Ibn Khaldun’s discussion of Sufism in the Muqaddimah and other relevant sources, this talk aims to shed further light on the issue.
Placing Ibn Khaldun’s treatment of Sufism in the context of his wider intellectual project, we shall consider how his views on Sufism tie into his famous philosophy of history and other essential aspects of his thought. In this way, the talk aims to elucidate not only Ibn Khaldun’s relationship to mysticism, but also his thought more generally.
Fitzroy Morrissey is a Fellow of All Souls College, University of Oxford. A specialist in Sufism and Islamic intellectual history, he is the author of Sufism and the Perfect Human (Routledge, 2020) and Sufism and the Scriptures (I.B. Tauris, forthcoming).
The event will take place October 28, 2020, 1:30 PM EDT (UTC -4). It will be hosted on Zoom.
Register here: https://www.mcgill.ca/religiouss.../registration-oct-28-2020
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Religion, Buddhism, Comparative Religion, Intellectual History, Japanese Studies, and 13 morePhilosophy Of Language, Philosophy Of Religion, Comparative Philosophy, Buddhist Philosophy, Middle East Studies, Semantics, Buddhist Studies, Islamic Philosophy, History of Religions, Islamic Studies, Sufism, Islam, and Intellectual and cultural history
The lecture investigates the contribution to the study of Islam by a non-Muslim, yet non-Western and non-Eurocentric personality, the Japanese linguist and philosopher Toshihiko Izutsu (1914-1993). It traces Izutsu's original trajectory... more
The lecture investigates the contribution to the study of Islam by a non-Muslim, yet non-Western and non-Eurocentric personality, the Japanese linguist and philosopher Toshihiko Izutsu (1914-1993). It traces Izutsu's original trajectory from his early practice of Zen Buddhism, through his discovery of the religious fervour of Greek philosophers, to his exploration of the spiritual and intellectual powerhouse represented by Islam as enacting a historical culmination of prophetic speech. It shows how this powerhouse represented for Izutsu a veritable Middle-Earth bridging Western (Abrahamic) and Eastern cultural and religious traditions and making obsolete the rigid geo-cultural divide on which their mutual radical divergence was premised.
Research Interests:
The lecture traces the beginnings of the Sociology of Islam in parallel to the emergence of a thriving critique of Orientalism. It highlights how the critical re-evaluation of Western social theory promoted by the sociology of Islam was... more
The lecture traces the beginnings of the Sociology of Islam in parallel to the emergence of a thriving critique of Orientalism. It highlights how the critical re-evaluation of Western social theory promoted by the sociology of Islam was aided by progress in Islamic history writing. Further, it explores the role played by coincident reflections on the global significance of a type of theology no longer constrained within a Euro-Christo-centric straitjacket. In particular, the lecture re-examines the early, seminal contributions of Marshall Hodgson (1922-1968) and Wilfred Cantwell Smith (1916-2000) to this integrated programme of inquiry.
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Religion, History, Sociology, Sociology of Religion, Anthropology, and 13 moreOttoman History, Middle East Studies, Religion and Politics, Iranian Studies, Sociology of islam, Ottoman Studies, Islamic Studies, Islamic History, Islam, Religion and Society, Religious Studies, Interfaith Studies, and Anthropology of Religion
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Critical studies on secularism have since at least a decade wielded a considerable influence on the academic study of Islam. Often inspired by scholarship in the footsteps of Edward Said and other figureheads of postcolonial studies,... more
Critical studies on secularism have since at least a decade wielded a considerable influence on the academic study of Islam. Often inspired by scholarship in the footsteps of Edward Said and other figureheads of postcolonial studies, critiques have been launched against the essentialism and the political complicity of parts of Islamic Studies scholarship with colonial and imperialist projects. Moving methodologically and theoretically beyond the limits of postcolonial critique, the work of anthropologist Talal Asad has more recently inspired a new school of research that challenges previous frameworks of investigating religion. Asad directed attention to the way in which hegemonic knowledge about religion is structured by arrangements of power vested in a secular episteme.
Research Interests: Religion, History, Sociology, Cultural Studies, Political Sociology, and 25 moreSocial Theory, Sociology of Religion, Anthropology, Secular Humanism, Social Sciences, Religion and Politics, Political Science, Sociology of islam, Islamic Studies, Secularization, Politics of Secularism, Comparative Secularism, Islamic History, Islam, Secularisms and Secularities, Religion and Modernity, Religious History, International political sociology, Secular, secularism and secularization, Religious Studies, Secularism, Islam and Secularism, Religion and secularism, Secular, and Anthropology of Religion
The lecture will delineate some key trajectories in the history of the Islamic ecumene through which saintly charisma was appropriated by various rulers for the sake of political legitimacy. The presentation will also focus on the... more
The lecture will delineate some key trajectories in the history of the Islamic ecumene through which saintly charisma was appropriated by various rulers for the sake of political legitimacy. The presentation will also focus on the shifting role of religious knowledge production in the process. The analysis will show the emergence of original forms of precolonial political modernity that can be contrasted with the European Leviathan-model of sacral sanctioning of sovereignty. Examples are mainly drawn from the evolution of Ottoman rule and court culture in the larger context of early modern Islamicate empires and their changing religio-political cultures.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Dear colleagues, Later this month a workshop will take place at McGill’s Institute of Islamic Studies dedicated to questions directly affecting core themes of the sociology of Islam and the social science production in the Middle East, on... more
Dear colleagues,
Later this month a workshop will take place at McGill’s Institute of Islamic Studies dedicated to questions directly affecting core themes of the sociology of Islam and the social science production in the Middle East, on the occasion of two recent publications (see also a previous announcement by Mohammed Bamyeh on this list).
Part I will be a discussion on The Study of Islam as a Battlefield within the Humanities and the Social Sciences.
Part II will be on the topic: A Subaltern Social Science Speaks: The Contemporary Arab Knowledge Scene.
Please find enclosed the flyer with program details.
If you happen to be in the Montreal area, you will be very welcome to actively participate in the discussions!
Best wishes,
Armando Salvatore
Armando Salvatore
Professor of Global Religious Studies (Society and Politics)
Barbara and Patrick Keenan Chair in Interfaith Studies
Faculty of Religious Studies
Areas: Religion and Culture/Asian Religions
McGill University
http://www.mcgill.ca/religiousstudies/about/faculty-staff/armando-salvatore
https://mcgill.academia.edu/ArmandoSalvatore
http://eu.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-1118662644.html
Later this month a workshop will take place at McGill’s Institute of Islamic Studies dedicated to questions directly affecting core themes of the sociology of Islam and the social science production in the Middle East, on the occasion of two recent publications (see also a previous announcement by Mohammed Bamyeh on this list).
Part I will be a discussion on The Study of Islam as a Battlefield within the Humanities and the Social Sciences.
Part II will be on the topic: A Subaltern Social Science Speaks: The Contemporary Arab Knowledge Scene.
Please find enclosed the flyer with program details.
If you happen to be in the Montreal area, you will be very welcome to actively participate in the discussions!
Best wishes,
Armando Salvatore
Armando Salvatore
Professor of Global Religious Studies (Society and Politics)
Barbara and Patrick Keenan Chair in Interfaith Studies
Faculty of Religious Studies
Areas: Religion and Culture/Asian Religions
McGill University
http://www.mcgill.ca/religiousstudies/about/faculty-staff/armando-salvatore
https://mcgill.academia.edu/ArmandoSalvatore
http://eu.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-1118662644.html
Research Interests:
The Keenan Chair of Interfaith Studies and the James McGill Professor of Islamic Philosophy are collaborating in a reflection on religion, Islam, and cosmopolitanism associated with McGill’s academic tradition of Islamic Studies, and... more
The Keenan Chair of Interfaith Studies and the James McGill Professor of Islamic Philosophy are collaborating in a reflection on religion, Islam, and cosmopolitanism associated with McGill’s academic tradition of Islamic Studies, and epitomized by scholars such as Wilfred Cantwell Smith, Fazlur Rahman, and Toshihiko Izutsu. In preparation for the Keenan Conference on World Religions and Globalization, to be held in Montreal in Spring 2022, we are hosting an online lecture series titled ReOrienting the Global Study of Religion: History, Theory, and Society. While the study of the Islamosphere has stimulated a critical reconceptualization of the notion of religion, we would like to extend this reflection to how religious concepts have been embedded in broader views of history and society, including the Western colonial construction of the “Middle East” as the cradle not just of Islam but of all Abrahamic religions. Some of the lectures will contribute to such reflections also through the foil of the interdisciplinary legacy of Ibn Khaldun, a champion of non-Western thought and precursor of social theory.
Some of teh lectures will present drafts of chapters belonging to The Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of the Middle East in course of publication (both online and in print) with Oxford University Press, edited by Armando Salvatore, Sari Hanafi, and Kieko Obuse.
Some of teh lectures will present drafts of chapters belonging to The Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of the Middle East in course of publication (both online and in print) with Oxford University Press, edited by Armando Salvatore, Sari Hanafi, and Kieko Obuse.
Research Interests: Religion, Comparative Religion, Sociology of Religion, History of Religion, Sociology of islam, and 12 moreIbn Khaldun, Sufism, History of Islam, History of the Islamic World, Islam, Religion and Modernity, History of Islamic Civilization, Islam and Modernity, Islamic History and Muslim Civilization, Religious Studies, Islam and Secularism, and multiple secularities
Gorgias Press is delighted to announce the launch of its new inter-disciplinary book series: The Modern Muslim World. The series will provide a platform for scholarly research on Islamic and Muslim thought, emerging from any geographic... more
Gorgias Press is delighted to announce the launch of its new inter-disciplinary book series: The Modern Muslim World. The series will provide a platform for scholarly research on Islamic and Muslim thought, emerging from any geographic area and dated to any period from the 17th century until the present day. Academics dealing with any aspect of the Muslim world, irrespective of their specialisations (history, theology, philosophy, anthropology, science, art, economics, etc.), are invited to contribute to the series.
Research Interests: Religion, Islamic Law, Anthropology, Art History, Humanities, and 14 moreOttoman History, Social Sciences, Theology, Early Modern History, Middle East Studies, Arabic Language and Linguistics, South Asian Studies, Iranian Studies, Kalam (Islamic Theology), Islamic Studies, Islamic History, Islam, Modern Turkey, and India
يعكس مفهوم المجال العام فكرة وجود شريحة من الفعل الاجتماعي ، ومن الاتصال بين الدول والمجتمع المدني، يشكلان فضاء اجتماعيا يتفاعل فيه الأفراد العاديون ويتعاونون. ووفقا لما ذهب إليه هبرماس فإن الفاعلين في المجال العام الحديث ينتمون بالأساس... more
يعكس مفهوم المجال العام فكرة وجود شريحة من الفعل الاجتماعي ، ومن الاتصال بين الدول والمجتمع المدني، يشكلان فضاء اجتماعيا يتفاعل فيه الأفراد العاديون ويتعاونون. ووفقا لما ذهب إليه هبرماس فإن الفاعلين في المجال العام الحديث ينتمون بالأساس إلي الطبقات الوسطي المتعلمة وإلى البرجوازية. إن المجال العام يعبر عن المصالحوالمشاعر المتجذرة فى المجال الخاص وفي المجتمع المدني عبر منتديات جماعية ؛ حلقات نقاش في المقاهي، وفي الصالونات الأدبية ، والنوادي، والروابط التي قد تصل بنا إلي تشكيلات حزبية جنينية. أما دور المجال العام فهو إضفاء قدر من الاتساق علي المشاعر المتفرقة ، وإضفاء قوة جمعية علي الادعاءات المتناثرة
Research Interests:
قبل أيام عن "الشبكة العربية للأبحاث"، وفيه يتنقّل الكاتب في مدى واسع من الدراسات النقدية والقضايا النظرية، تتناول الدين والأخلاق، العقلنة والتبرير والسلطة، في حقبة ممتدة من ولادة العالم الإسلامي وحتى الزمن المعاصر. يُعتبر العمل... more
قبل أيام عن "الشبكة العربية للأبحاث"، وفيه يتنقّل الكاتب في مدى واسع من الدراسات النقدية والقضايا النظرية، تتناول الدين والأخلاق، العقلنة والتبرير والسلطة، في حقبة ممتدة من ولادة العالم الإسلامي وحتى الزمن المعاصر.
يُعتبر العمل مرجعياً لمن يريد دراسة متعمقّة في سوسيولوجيا الإسلام، وكذلك لمن يسعى إلى فهم علاقة هذه بالدين والأخلاق والحداثة والتقاليد والحضارات المختلفة وتأثيراتها.
من المعروف أن سوسيولوجيا الإسلام كحقل معرفي، ليس بقديم، لا سيما وأنه أصبح موضع نقد في "الاستشراق"، وبعد أحداث 11 سبتمبر بات كل ما يتعلّق بالمجتمعات الإسلامية مسيّساً على نحو يجرّده من نظرة سوسيوثقافية فاحصة. وزاد من حدة هذه التفسيرات في السنوات الأربع الأخيرة، الترويج لـ صورة المجتمعات الإسلامية الدارجة في الإعلام وجنوح مهاجرين في أوروبا وغيرها إلى التطرف.
لذلك نجد سالفاتوري في المجلد الأول يقدّم مساراً حذراً تحاشى فيه كل ما هو مألوف وشائع وغير محقق، حيث انتصر الأكاديمي للجمع بين الرؤية التاريخية الواسعة للإسلام وكيفية تطور المجتمعات الإسلامية ضمن مؤثرات أخرى، وفي إطار تحليلي يشكّل قاعدة قوية للمجلدات الأخرى المنتظرة من العمل البحثي الكبير.
يركّز سالفاتوري في عمله على ترابط النظريات ومقارناتها، وينهمك في معظم أعماله بمفهوم "عملية التحضّر" في المجتمعات من منظور عالمي. وإضافة إلى كتابه "سوسيولوجيا الإسلام"، يقوم حالياً بتحرير عمل موسوعي بعنوان "تاريخ الإسلام" الذي ستصدره دار نشر "ويلي بلاكويل" أيضاً.
يُعتبر العمل مرجعياً لمن يريد دراسة متعمقّة في سوسيولوجيا الإسلام، وكذلك لمن يسعى إلى فهم علاقة هذه بالدين والأخلاق والحداثة والتقاليد والحضارات المختلفة وتأثيراتها.
من المعروف أن سوسيولوجيا الإسلام كحقل معرفي، ليس بقديم، لا سيما وأنه أصبح موضع نقد في "الاستشراق"، وبعد أحداث 11 سبتمبر بات كل ما يتعلّق بالمجتمعات الإسلامية مسيّساً على نحو يجرّده من نظرة سوسيوثقافية فاحصة. وزاد من حدة هذه التفسيرات في السنوات الأربع الأخيرة، الترويج لـ صورة المجتمعات الإسلامية الدارجة في الإعلام وجنوح مهاجرين في أوروبا وغيرها إلى التطرف.
لذلك نجد سالفاتوري في المجلد الأول يقدّم مساراً حذراً تحاشى فيه كل ما هو مألوف وشائع وغير محقق، حيث انتصر الأكاديمي للجمع بين الرؤية التاريخية الواسعة للإسلام وكيفية تطور المجتمعات الإسلامية ضمن مؤثرات أخرى، وفي إطار تحليلي يشكّل قاعدة قوية للمجلدات الأخرى المنتظرة من العمل البحثي الكبير.
يركّز سالفاتوري في عمله على ترابط النظريات ومقارناتها، وينهمك في معظم أعماله بمفهوم "عملية التحضّر" في المجتمعات من منظور عالمي. وإضافة إلى كتابه "سوسيولوجيا الإسلام"، يقوم حالياً بتحرير عمل موسوعي بعنوان "تاريخ الإسلام" الذي ستصدره دار نشر "ويلي بلاكويل" أيضاً.