Abstract
Fareen Parvez is an active researcher in the area of political sociology, social theory, gender, racial institutions, development and globalization, ethnography, and sociology of religion. Her work focuses on Islam in France and India, with one research conducted on Morocco. She has several articles to her name in the field of religion and politics, among them: “Toward a Global Sociology of Religion,” “Prayer and Pedagogy: Redefining Education Among Salafist Women in France,” “Celebrating the Prophet: Religious Nationalism and the Politics of Milad-un-Nabi Festivals in India,” and “Debating the Burqa in France: The Antipolitics of Islamic Revival.” In 2018, she was the winner of the The American Society of Criminology (ASA) Section on Religion “Distinguished Book Award,” The Society for the Study of Social Problems (SSSP) Global Division “Best Book Award,” 2018, and ASA Section on Political Sociology. Her work has also appeared in such publications as Newsweek, Salon, The Guardian, and LA Times, among others. Her research looks at the relationship between politics and religion, through the method of comparative ethnography. Politicizing Islam is one of the most ambitious, scholarly, comprehensive, and popular books in its field; it is a great resource for undergraduate, graduate students, and scholars interested in the area of politics, ethnography, and sociology of religion.
Politicizing Islam examines the relationship between religion and politics in the context of Muslim communities in France and India and, more specifically, in the French city of Lyon, and its outer banlieues, and the Indian city of Hyderabad. It is a comparative ethnographic study that shows how Islam is politicized top-down by the state and then repoliticized by revival movements on the ground. It also shows how middle and low classes in those Muslim communities attempt to reconcile Islam and modernity. They struggle to improve their lives as denigrated minorities and seek religious and social recognition, on the one hand, and make some contribution to the development of their secular societies, on the other. These practices demonstrate coexistence of the sacred and the profane.
The author’s theoretical construct is inspired by both pioneer and contemporary scholars like Max Weber, Arendit Hanna, Andrew Arato, Talal Asad, and Peter Berger. Her fieldwork was conducted over the course of 2 years during which she immersed herself in mosque communities, women’s welfare centers, Islamic study circles, and philanthropic associations, to provide an in-depth view of the lives of poor, middle-class, and elite Muslims in the French city of Lyon, and its outer banlieues, and the Indian city of Hyderabad. The author shows how these diverse movements originated in either a flexible or militant secularism, and how Muslim class relations are ultimately tied to other debates within the Islamic tradition—Muslim women’s struggle for equal rights, and the potential for minority democratic participation.
The book consists of seven chapters with two appendixes, glossary, and notes. Chapter 1: “Politicizing Islam Across North and South” sets the rationale behind choosing the two Muslim minority groups in France and India, specifically Lyon and Hyderabad. In this chapter, the writer gives an overall view of the main social aspects of the study, in addition to discussing movements across social class and their relationship to the political movements. Secondly, the chapter highlights the issue of politicizing gender and women’s struggle as well as their role in the Islamic and political movements.
Chapter 2: “Secularism and Muslim Marginality” comes to analyze the contradictions of secularism and its roots, and how it lead to the rejection of disintegration of Islam in those secular doctrine and caused the marginalization of the Muslim minority, shedding light also on the Islamic revival movements.
Chapter 3: “Politics of Redistribution” describes the two types of clientelistic redistribution that occurred in Hyderabad by focusing on the role of Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen party and the elite in electoral politics, as well as the status of women and how they pressure the poor and middle class. It also delves into how those groups competed for the allegiance of low-income Muslims.
Chapter 4: “Political Community in the Slums of Hyderabad” studies the political movements in the poor and subaltern Muslims in Hyderabad. Then moves on to examine the establishment of women political movements in the Mosques, madrasas, and women training centers.
Chapter 5: “Politics of Recognition” focuses on French Muslims by examining how middle-class Muslims in Lyon participated in recognition politics while going through the obstacles of discrimination and racism. This chapter also presents the development of this group’s political opinion by cooperating or radically critiquing the state and the agenda of recognition.
Chapter 6: “Antipolitics in the Banlieues of Lyon” presents the movement of the antipolitics in the working class of Lyon specifically with regard to the Salafi groups’ communities. This chapter examines the social impact of Salafi groups, and how they are abandoning the society due to discrimination and legislative laws that cause so many to find themselves incapable of practicing their citizenship. Women were highly affected by the antiveiling legislations, which created obstacles in the areas of education and employment. Chapter 7 presents a conclusion and summarizes the study findings related to democracy, feminism, and the war on terror.
The book ends with two appendices, Appendix A: Between the “Logic of Logic” and the “Logic of God” and Appendix B: Interviews.
