Laïcité, sociologie et histoire contemporaine de l’islam

This essay proposes to reframe the twentieth-century history of Islam by rethinking the relationship of that history to some dominant categories of twentieth century sociology, especially the secularization thesis. The global history of Islam since the late nineteenth century has been shaped by an a...

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Main Author: McDougall, J
Format: Journal article
Language:French
Published: Cambridge University Press 2019
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author McDougall, J
author_facet McDougall, J
author_sort McDougall, J
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description This essay proposes to reframe the twentieth-century history of Islam by rethinking the relationship of that history to some dominant categories of twentieth century sociology, especially the secularization thesis. The global history of Islam since the late nineteenth century has been shaped by an apparent paradox between its two most significant features. The first of these has consisted of persistent calls for Muslim revival, reform, and unity across the world, tending toward a unification or transcendence of the older forms of variation within the tradition. The second, countervailing tendency has been an increasing fragmentation of structures of authority within the tradition, a proliferation of the meanings attributed to it and of the forms of practice taken to embody it, and a renewed acuity of internal sectarian conflict. This is a paradox that only an understanding of Islam as social practice embedded in the forms of secularity characteristic of modern societies—and emphatically not one of Islam as “medievally” religious and uniquely “secularization-resistant”—can apprehend.
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spelling oxford-uuid:c54ab9a2-9918-4ac8-a810-dcdf86965b472023-08-03T11:54:50ZLaïcité, sociologie et histoire contemporaine de l’islamJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:c54ab9a2-9918-4ac8-a810-dcdf86965b47FrenchSymplectic Elements at OxfordCambridge University Press2019McDougall, JThis essay proposes to reframe the twentieth-century history of Islam by rethinking the relationship of that history to some dominant categories of twentieth century sociology, especially the secularization thesis. The global history of Islam since the late nineteenth century has been shaped by an apparent paradox between its two most significant features. The first of these has consisted of persistent calls for Muslim revival, reform, and unity across the world, tending toward a unification or transcendence of the older forms of variation within the tradition. The second, countervailing tendency has been an increasing fragmentation of structures of authority within the tradition, a proliferation of the meanings attributed to it and of the forms of practice taken to embody it, and a renewed acuity of internal sectarian conflict. This is a paradox that only an understanding of Islam as social practice embedded in the forms of secularity characteristic of modern societies—and emphatically not one of Islam as “medievally” religious and uniquely “secularization-resistant”—can apprehend.
spellingShingle McDougall, J
Laïcité, sociologie et histoire contemporaine de l’islam
title Laïcité, sociologie et histoire contemporaine de l’islam
title_full Laïcité, sociologie et histoire contemporaine de l’islam
title_fullStr Laïcité, sociologie et histoire contemporaine de l’islam
title_full_unstemmed Laïcité, sociologie et histoire contemporaine de l’islam
title_short Laïcité, sociologie et histoire contemporaine de l’islam
title_sort laicite sociologie et histoire contemporaine de l islam
work_keys_str_mv AT mcdougallj laicitesociologieethistoirecontemporainedelislam