Varieties of Muslim Experience: Encounters with Arab Political and Cultural Life

by Lawrence Rosen

Overview

In Varieties of Muslim Experience, anthropologist Lawrence Rosen explores aspects of Arab Muslim life that are, at first glance, perplexing to Westerners. He ranges over such diverse topics as why Arabs eschew portraiture, why a Muslim scientist might be attracted to fundamentalism, and why the Prophet must be protected from blasphemous cartoons. What connects these seemingly disparate features of Arab social, political, and cultural life? Rosen argues that the common thread is the importance Arabs place on the negotiation of interpersonal relationships—a link that helps to explain actions as seemingly unfathomable as suicide bombing and as elusive as Quranic interpretation.

 Written with eloquence and a deep knowledge of the entire spectrum of Muslim experience, Rosen’s book will interest not only anthropologists and Islamicists but anyone invested in better understanding the Arab world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780226726182
Publisher:	University of Chicago Press
Publication date:	09/15/2008
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	278
File size:	505 KB

About the Author

Lawrence Rosen is the William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Anthropology at Princeton University and the author of many books, including Bargaining for Reality and The Culture of Islam, both published by the University of Chicago Press.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
Introduction: Presenting and Re-presenting Islam

ONE  Just and Not Just

1  Junk Democracy

2  What (If Anything) Went Wrong? Personalism, Institutions, and the Unfractionated Self

3  Why Do Arab Terrorists Kill Themselves?

4  On the Meaning of Ownership: The Problematic of Property in Moroccan Culture

5  Islamic Concepts of Justice

TWO  Readings and Re-readings

6  Reading the Koran through Western Eyes

7  Why Portraits Hold No Meaning for Arabs

8  Protecting the Prophet: Understanding Muslim Reactions to the Danish Cartoon Controversy

9  Theorizing from Within: Ibn Khaldun and the Understanding of Arab Political Culture

THREE  Representatives and Representations

10 Knowledge Forms: Scientists as Fundamentalists

11 Expecting the Unexpected: Cultural Components of Arab Governance

12 Power and Culture in the Acceptance of "Universal" Human Rights

Afterword
Notes
References
Index

Editorial Reviews

"Rosen tackles such issues as Arab ideas of justice, human rights, reading the Koran in the West, representations of the Prophet. . . . A provocative, elegantly written book on which to ponder."

Choice

"Lawrence Rosen's eloquent new book, Varieties of Muslim Experience does offer the well-read reader a fascinating persperctive on what Rosen sees as the central themes of 'Arab culture,' woven together from stories, anecdotes, and closely observed examples from anthropological and other literature. . . . Rich in profound and thought-provoking ideas, Rosen's book is highly recommended."—Anthropological Quarterly

Anthropological Quarterly - Carl Davila

Lawrence Rosen's eloquent new book, Varieties of Muslim Experience does offer the well-read reader a fascinating persperctive on what Rosen sees as the central themes of 'Arab culture,' woven together from stories, anecdotes, and closely observed examples from anthropological and other literature. . . . Rich in profound and thought-provoking ideas, Rosen's book is highly recommended.—Anthropological Quarterly

— Carl Davila

Anthropological Quarterly