- Paperback: 240 pages
- Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan (8 Mar 2005)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1403967733
- ISBN-13: 978-1403967732
- Product Dimensions: 21 x 16 x 1.3 cm
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,341,847 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
Ethnographers have observed Muslims nearly everywhere Islam is practiced. This study analyzes four seminal texts that have been read widely outside anthropology. Two are by distinguished anthropologists on either side of the Atlantic, Islam Observed (by Clifford Geertz in 1968) and Muslim Society (by Ernest Gellner in 1981). Two other texts are by Muslim scholars, Beyond the Veil (Fatima Mernissi in 1975) and Discovering Islam (by Akbar Ahmed in 1988). Varisco argues that each of these four authors approaches Islam as an essentialized organic unity rather than letting 'Islams' found in the field speak to the diversity of practice. The textual truths engendered, and far too often engineered, in these idealized representations of Islam have found their way unscrutinized into an endless stream of scholarly works and textbooks. Varisco's analysis goes beyond the rhetoric over what Islam is to the information from ethnographic research about what Muslims say they do and actually are observed to do. The issues covered include Islam as a cultural phenomenon, representation of 'the other', Muslim gender roles, politics of ethnographic authority, and Orientalist discourse.
About the Author
DANIEL MARTIN VARISCO is chair of the Department of Anthropology, Hofstra University, USA.
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2 reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
A Great Theoretical Treatise
5 Sep 2005
Format:Paperback
Varisco's Islam Obscured is an excellent review and theoretical analysis of the "anthropology of Islam." It is also written with an acerbic wit and a poetic control of the English language rarely found in academic writing. Organized around 4 key texts, it is not limited to them.
It is not really a book about Islam or even about Muslims. It is a book about Anthropologists who try to study Islam (or as Varisco insists correctly is more appropriate -- study Muslims).
It is a must read for those who want to think about the theory and method of studying Islam/Muslims from an Anthropological perspective.
This book will be best received by highly motivated and thoughtful readers. Those who are just wanting to learn "something about Islam" will be bored. Those who want to think about issues of representation and the nitty-gritty of how anthropology really works will be fascinated.
Ron Lukens-Bull, PhD
Associate Professor of Anthropology
University of North Florida
It is not really a book about Islam or even about Muslims. It is a book about Anthropologists who try to study Islam (or as Varisco insists correctly is more appropriate -- study Muslims).
It is a must read for those who want to think about the theory and method of studying Islam/Muslims from an Anthropological perspective.
This book will be best received by highly motivated and thoughtful readers. Those who are just wanting to learn "something about Islam" will be bored. Those who want to think about issues of representation and the nitty-gritty of how anthropology really works will be fascinated.
Ron Lukens-Bull, PhD
Associate Professor of Anthropology
University of North Florida
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Better ideas than writing
28 May 2007
Format:Paperback
After noting how rare and superficial many recognized works on anthropology of Muslim societies really are, Varisco provides cogent critiques of some of the best known examples from Geertz, Gellner, Mernissi, and Ahmed.
For lack of more recent and in depth alternatives many works by these authors have been far over generalized as broad explanations of the Islamic world which has so many variations and local realities. Geertz's work on Morocco and Indonesia (Java) is a favorite read reflecting all these problems. Geertz also "reified" and labeled variations of Javanese Islam that simplify and create by labeling - this has been sometimes used by others rather crudely. The works themselves are often based on limited depth field work combined with reading and more superficial exposure to other cases.
The reality for Muslims is often far from that perceived by anthropologists. Times change, methods can mislead particularly when trying to have broader "units" for analysis that family and tribe. (Dealing with Islam adds another hidden source of error from subconscious perceptions of a Christian background.) More basic description and research is clearly needed before better mid level analysis can be more reliable. Recent works on "discourse" of defining Islam by Muslims themselves in Indonesia; on Sufi specifics in Morocco; and on civic culture in Indonesia will help.
Varisco's critique is more in depth and in the context of Anthropology as a discipline. Theory is as important as method for him. Further, the notes and few more recent and/or less known depth case studies introduce some hope for progress.
The ideas and observations are important and it is written for Anthropologists but the lessons and language would best have been positioned to be more accessible to other intelligent readers.
For lack of more recent and in depth alternatives many works by these authors have been far over generalized as broad explanations of the Islamic world which has so many variations and local realities. Geertz's work on Morocco and Indonesia (Java) is a favorite read reflecting all these problems. Geertz also "reified" and labeled variations of Javanese Islam that simplify and create by labeling - this has been sometimes used by others rather crudely. The works themselves are often based on limited depth field work combined with reading and more superficial exposure to other cases.
The reality for Muslims is often far from that perceived by anthropologists. Times change, methods can mislead particularly when trying to have broader "units" for analysis that family and tribe. (Dealing with Islam adds another hidden source of error from subconscious perceptions of a Christian background.) More basic description and research is clearly needed before better mid level analysis can be more reliable. Recent works on "discourse" of defining Islam by Muslims themselves in Indonesia; on Sufi specifics in Morocco; and on civic culture in Indonesia will help.
Varisco's critique is more in depth and in the context of Anthropology as a discipline. Theory is as important as method for him. Further, the notes and few more recent and/or less known depth case studies introduce some hope for progress.
The ideas and observations are important and it is written for Anthropologists but the lessons and language would best have been positioned to be more accessible to other intelligent readers.
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