Globalization and the Muslim World—Culture, Religion, and Modernity

Schaebler (Middle Eastern history, U. of Erfurt, Germany) and Stenberg (Islamology, Lund U., Sweden) present the product of workshop held at Harvard U.'s Center for Middle Eastern Studies in 1999 that addressed theoretical and empirical questions of globalization, modernity/postmodernity, and the Islamic world. The first five papers are theoretically oriented, considering questions of subjectivity and political evaluation, the relationship between modernity and Islam in the West, and the challenge of the "indigenization movement" to Eurocentric definitions of modernity and globalization. The remaining papers are more factually based, looking at such topics as migration and identity in Sudan, the Malaysian experience with the Internet, female activists in Turkish Islamist non-governmental organizations, and contemporary Arab Muslim constructions of religious others. Annotation c2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Birgit Schaebler is professor of West Asian history at the University of Erfurt, Germany.
Leif Stenberg is associate professor of Islamic studies at Lund University and in religious studies at Vaxjo University, Sweden.