Topics in Anthropology (490-0-1)

Topic

New Ethnographies of Islam

Instructors

Emrah Yildiz
847/467-6254
1819 Hinman Ave, #103
Office Hours: Tuesdays, 1-3pm

Meeting Info

ANTHRO Sem Rm 104 - 1810 Hinmn: Tues 5:00PM - 7:50PM

Overview of class

This course brings together scholars working across Southwest Asia and North Africa to explore emerging directions in the ethnographic study of Islam and Muslim practices. Through historical and contemporary perspectives, the seminar examines how a variety of subjects live, contest, and transform Islam across diverse social, historical, and political contexts. The anthropology of Islam has been one of the most prolific and vibrant fields of study since the early days of the discipline. The subfield has been remarkably responsive to the many theoretical turns that the broader discipline of anthropology has taken—from the linguistic and the structural, through the symbolic and the interpretive, to the ethical and the spatial. While anthropology of Islam has remained emergent through these theoretical turns, it also responded to the tectonic transformations taking place on its empirical grounds. After more than a decade, marked by dissident social movements and their urban protests, shifting political regimes and war, natural disasters and mass displacement, what new questions have ethnographies of Islam turned to address? What does ethnography reveal about the remaking of religious authority, the social life of theology, and the everyday politics of piety in these times of violence, transition, and uncertainty? We will probe these questions across a wide array of contexts and with diverse objects of inquiry in mind.

Learning Objectives

By the end of the course, student will be able to

· demonstrate knowledge and understanding of social science theories related to the influence of culture and power on the behavior of individuals, interpersonal relationships, and/or group dynamics in prevalent interpretations of Islam, culture, and subject formation in anthropology and allied disciplines;

· develop the ability to critique theories, claims, and policies in the social and behavioral sciences of Islam and its objects and subjects of practice through careful evaluation of scholarly arguments including their major assertions, assumptions, evidential basis, and explanatory utility;

· reflect upon the way in which theories and research about Islam from the social and behavioral sciences help elucidate the factors underlying contemporary social issues, social problems, and/or ethical dilemmas in a global and comparative framework.

Class Materials (Required)

All required texts with the exception of the book-length manuscripts given below can be found either on Northwestern library online sources or under files on the course website. If acquiring the listed monographs poses a financial burden to your budget, please reach out to the instructor.


Bush, Andrew. 2021. Between Muslims: Religious Difference in Iraqi Kurdistan. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press. ISBN-13: 978-1503614581.


Golastaneh, Seema. 2022. Unknowing and the Everyday: Sufism and Knowledge in Iran. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. ISBN-13: 978-1478019534.


Moll, Yasmin. 2025. Revolution Within: Islamic Media and the Struggle for a New Egypt (Stanford, 2025). Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press. ISBN-13: 978-1503642416.


Moumtaz, Nada. 2021. God's Property: Islam, Charity, and the Modern State. Oakland, CA: University of California Press. ISBN-13: 978-0520345874.

Yildiz, Emrah. 2024. Zainab's Traffic: Moving Saints, Selves, and Others across Borders. Oakland, CA: University of California Press. ISBN-13: 978-0520379831.

Enrollment Requirements

Enrollment Requirements: Reserved for Anthropology Graduate Students.