ANTH 5402 Topics in Ethnography

Understanding Contemporary Islam

ANTH 5402

FALL 2012

NAH 11

Lecture: Wednesday 4.30-6.15

Tutorial: Wednesday 6.30-7.15
Teacher: Minaz G. Master
Course Description
Contemporary understanding of Islam is strongly influenced by the media which often provides
politically motivated biased perceptions that are based on the orthodox interpretations of Islam
observed by some Muslim societies. The Muslim world seems to be in a crisis over the question
of authority and representation; how Islam is represented, how it should be represented, who
should represent it and what the consequences of this representation are. The canonization of
the Quran further complicates the issue of authority. This course will encourage the students to
understand how the core beliefs of Islam are translated into practices and institutions, thereby
addressing some current political issues. We will be examining the social institutions and
cultural expressions of the religious community through the anthropological studies of Islam as
it is lived and practiced by believers both within Muslim societies and non-Muslim societies.
We will start our study of Islam by examining the historical developments of Islam in preIslamic Arabia and look at the life of the Prophet Muhammad. Then we will examine some
aspects of Islamic civilization, culture and philosophy. Finally we will address the issues of the
so-called politicization of religion in the context of globalizing modernity and violent conflict.
One of the dominant theories maintains that Western and Islamic civilizations are destined to
be in a state of permanent conflict with each other, through this course we will investigate the
insights that anthropological analyses can offer to discussions centering the relations between
Muslim societies and the West.
Course Objectives

Study and appreciate the contemporary cultural diversity, values and world views of
Muslims living in diverse circumstances and spaces
Introduce the contemporary struggles over religious authority and orthodoxy in some
parts of the Muslim world
To identify with the ideas and practices relating to gender, education and art
To assist students in understanding and appreciating the complexity of the lives of
Muslims in the contemporary world

Challenge and think critically about existing stereotypes about Muslims and Islam
Think critically and constructively about the issues that are discussed

Students are required by university policy to submit soft copies of all papers to VeriGuide. Check the
website http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/ for information on how to submit papers
through VeriGuide
Readings for the course are reserved in the University Library and journal articles are available through
the university e-resource.

Course Grading

Take-home midterm examination (30% of your grade) Due October 31

Take-home final examination: (15-pages) or final paper of 20 pages (50% of your grade)
Due December 12
Class participation, particularly in tutorials and attendance (20% of your grade).

September 12: What is Islam? Local and Global Perspectives

Assigned readings:
Malise, Ruthven. 2012. Islam, Muslims, and Islamism in Islam: a very short introduction. New
York: Oxford University Press, pp. 1-19.
Amir, Hussain. 2006. Oil and Water: Two Faiths, One God. Kelowna: Copper House pp7-15, 1930
Gabriele, Marranci. 2008. The Anthropology of Islam. Oxford. New York: Berg, pp.1-12.
Lindholm, Charles. 2002. Kissing Cousins: Anthropologists on Islam, in: Hastings Donnan
(ed.) Interpreting Islam. London: Sage Publications, pp. 110-30.
Leif Manger. 1999. Muslim Diversity: Local Islam in Global Contexts in Leif Manger (ed.)
Muslim Diversity: Local Islam in Global Contexts. Richmond, Surrey: Curzon, pp. 1-36.
September 19: The Revelation, life of the Prophet and the Birth of Islam
Film showing: The Message (1976)
Assigned readings:
M Waines, David. 2003. An Introduction to Islam (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, pp. 1-32.

Gtje, Helmut. 1996. Arabia Before Islam + Muhammad and His Teachings, in: Helmut
Gtje. The Quran and its Exegesis. Oxford: One World, pp. 1-13.
Peters, FrancisE. 1994. The Life and Work of the Prophet, in: Francis E. Peters. A Reader on
Classical Islam. Princeton: Princeton University Press, pp. 44-67.
September 26: Beliefs and Rituals
Assigned Readings:
Gabriele, Marranci. 2008. Islam: Beliefs, History and Rituals in The Anthropology of Islam.
Oxford. New York: Berg, pp. 13-30.
Amir, Hussain. 2006. Oil and Water: Two Faiths, One God. Kelowna: Copper House, pp 43-68.
Malise, Ruthven. 2012. The Sharia and its Consequences in Islam: a very short introduction.
New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 1-19.
October 3: Islamic Art and Architecture
Assigned Readings:

Mozzati Luca, 2010. Islamic Art. Munich; New York: Prestel. Pp 22-59. (please browse through
the illustrations)
Grabar, Oleg. 1983. "Reflections on the Study of Islamic Art" in Muqarnas I: An Annual on
Islamic Art and Architecture. Oleg Grabar (ed). New Haven: Yale University Press, 1-14.
Ali, Wijdan . 1992. The Status of Islamic Art in the Twentieth Century in Muqarnas IX: An
Annual on Islamic Art and Architecture. Oleg Grabar (ed). Leiden: E.J. Brill. Pp.1-3
October 10: From Islam to Muslims
Assigned readings:
Gabriele, Marranci. 2008. The Anthropology of Islam. Oxford. New York: Berg, pp.13-30.
Amir, Hussain. 2006. Oil and Water: Two Faiths, One God. Kelowna: Copper House, pp69-114.
Leif Manger. 1999. On Becoming Muslim: The Construction of Identities among the Lafofa of
the Sudan in Leif Manger (ed.) Muslim Diversity: Local Islam in Global Contexts. Richmond,
Surrey: Curzon, pp, 224-243
October 17: Representing Islam before and after September 11

Assigned Readings:
Bernard Lewis, (1993) "The Question of Orientalism" in Islam and the West, New York: Oxford
University Press 99-118.
Gabriele, Marranci. 2008. The Anthropology of Islam. Oxford. New York: Berg, pp53-70.
Amir, Hussain. 2006. Oil and Water: Two Faiths, One God. Kelowna: Copper House, pp115-140.
October 24: Islam and the West at Loggerheads
Assigned Readings:
M Huntington, Samuel P. 1993. The Clash of Civilizations? Foreign Affairs, Summer.
W Gusterson, Hugh. 2005. The Seven Deadly Sins of Samuel Huntington. In Besteman,
Catherine and Gusterson, Hugh (eds) Why Americas Top Pundits Are Wrong: Anthropologists
Talk Bac, Berkeley: University of California Press (pp. 24-42)
F Said, Edward. 2003. The Clash of Definitions. In Qureshi Emran and Sells Michael A (eds)
The New Crusades: Constructing the Muslim Enemy, New York: Columbia University Press pp.
67-89
October 31: Muslims in Global Contexts
Assigned Readings:
M Silverstein, Paul A. 2000. Sporting Faith: Islam, Soccer and the French Nation-State Social
Text, 18(4): 25-53
W Mamdani, Mahmoud. 2002. Good Muslim, Bad Muslim American Anthropologist, 194(3):
766-775
F Rouse, Carolyn and Janet Hoskins. 2004. Purity, Soul Food, and Sunni Islam Cultural
Anthropology, 19(2): 226-249
Vertovec, Steven. 2002. Islamophobia and Muslim Recognition in Britain, in YvonneYazbeck
Haddad (ed.). Muslims in the West: From Sojourners to Citizens. Oxford: Oxford University
Press, pp. 19-35.
Jorgen Baek, Simonsen. 2002. Globalization in Reverse and the Challenge of Integration:
Muslims in Denmark, in YvonneYazbeck Haddad (ed.). Muslims in the West: From Sojourners
to Citizens. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 121-130.

November 7: Modernity and Islamic Traditions

Assigned Readings:
M Esposito, John L. 2005. Modern Interpretations of Islam in Islam: the straight path.
Oxford: Oxford University Press
Anne Sofie, Roald. 2002. From "People's Home" to "Multiculturalism": Muslims in Sweden, in
YvonneYazbeck Haddad (ed.). Muslims in the West: From Sojourners to Citizens. Oxford:
Oxford University Press, pp.101-120
Faegheh, Shirazi. 2010. Islam and Barbie: The Commodification of Hijabi Dolls in Islamic
Perspective no.3 pp 11-27
Available Online
http://iranianstudies.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Islamic-perspective-Journal-number3-2010.pdf )
OR
W Meneley, Anne. 2007. Fashions and Fundamentalisms in fin-de-sicle Yemen: Chador
Barbie and Islamic Socks. Cultural Anthropology 22:2:214-243
November 14: Gender and Veiling
Assigned Readings:
Gabriele, Marranci. 2008. The Anthropology of Islam. Oxford. New York: Berg, pp117-138.
Abu Lughod, L. 2002. Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving? Anthropological Reflections on
Cultural Relativism and Its Others. American Anthropologist 104(3): 783-789.
Ahmed, L. 1992. The Discourse of the Veil, in Women and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots
of a Modern Debate. New Haven: Yale University Press. pp. 144-168.
Macleod, A. E. 1991. Accommodating protest: working women, the new veiling, and change in
Cairo. New York: Columbia University Press. Pp. 97-124.
F Mahmood, Saba. 2001. Feminist Theory, Embodiment, and the Docile Agent: Some
Reflections on the Egyptian Islamic Revival. Cultural Anthropology 16(2):202-236.

November 21: Marriage, Divorce and Inheritance

Assigned Readings:

Mir-Hosseini, Ziba. 2006. Muslim Womens Quest for Equality: Between Islamic Law and
Feminism, Critical Inquiry, vol. 32, no. 4, pp. 629-645.
Mir-Hosseini, Ziba. 1994. Strategies of Selection: Differing Notions of Marriage in Iran and
Morocco, in: Camillia El-Solh and Judy Mabro (eds.). Muslim Womens Choices: Religious
Belief and Social Reality. Oxford: Berg, pp. 55-72.
November 28: Deconstructing Stereotypes
Assigned Readings:
Neil, Postman and Steve, Powers. 2008. How to Watch TV News revised edition. New York:
Penguin, Preface, Chapter 1.
Gabriele, Marranci. 2008. The Anthropology of Islam. Oxford. New York: Berg, pp89-102.
Starrett, Gregory. 1998. Learning About God, in: Putting Islam to Work. Education, Politics,
and Religious Transformation in Egypt. Berkeley: University of California Press, pp. 89-125.
Donnan, Hastings and Martin Stokes. 2002. Interpreting Interpretations of Islam, in:
Hastings Donnan (ed.). Interpreting Islam. London: Sage Publications, pp. 1-19.

December 5: The Road Ahead

Assigned Readings:
M Waines, David. 2003. An Introduction to Islam (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, pp.211-264
Amir, Hussain. 2006. Oil and Water: Two Faiths, One God. Kelowna: Copper House, pp.177218.
Gabriele, Marranci. 2008. The Anthropology of Islam. Oxford. New York: Berg, pp.139-147.