Islamization and Archaeology: Religion, Culture and New Materialism

Description

This fresh approach to the study of Islamization proposes an innovative conceptual framework that treats the subject as a particular case of cultural change. The aim of the volume is to make Islamization amenable to archaeological and historical analyses of changes in material conditions of life without forsaking the specific history of Islam. Islam and Islamization must be understood in their particular social context, but also in relation to the conditions that hold them together over large geographical and chronological expanses. Archaeologists and historians have considered Islamization from a range of different perspectives, from conversion to cultural change, though these studies have tended to be underpinned by a normativist conception of Islam. In contrast, José C. Carvajal López takes a hermeneutical stance, wherein Islam is the result of exploration, and adopts a New Materialist theoretical analysis to explore Islamization and its impact on identities, communities and their material culture. The consequences for the study of Islamization are examined through examples that include some of the author’s own experiences. This innovative take on Islamization is not exclusively interested in the spread of the religion or of the polity, and therefore it overcomes the theoretical limits imposed by the concepts of religious conversion and ideological imposition. This book will appeal to scholars interested in associating cultural and religious change and, in particular, those working on Islam, whether within or outside the discipline of archaeology. Cover Halftitle page Series page Title page Copyright page Dedication Contents Figures and Tables Acknowledgements 1 Introduction Islam and Islamization What is Islam? I: Between belief and actuality What is Islam? II: Social practice, power and orthodoxy What is Islam? III: Structuration agency and theory The importance of being Islamic Islam, archaeological theory and Islamization 2 Islamization From Conversion to Cultural Change Islamic archaeology and Islamization Islamization as mass conversion Islamization and conversion to Islam in scholarly studies Islamization beyond conversion Return to religion in Islamization: Conversion and cultural change One or many Islamizations? 3 Islamic Identity and Being Islamic Islamic identities: From norm to feeling A different path: From feeling to hermeneutics Being Islamic and the archaeology of Islamization 4 Islamic Things, Islamic Beings and Con-Text Introduction: Islamic meaning in the world Things as emerging from relationships and new materialism Defining Islamic things Islamic things, Islamic beings Time, change and Islamization Conclusion: Towards a new perspective of Islamization 5 Islamization of Communities Two Case Studies in Early Islam Introduction: Islamic communities of humans and non-humans Islamization in the Vega of Granada (South East al-Andalus) Islamization in Qatar Some conclusions 6 Conclusion What is Islamization? Becoming Islamic (but not necessarily Muslim) Notes Bibliography Index