15368

SoSe 15: Alternate Globalities? Muslim networks from South Asia as global actors

Dietrich Reetz

Comments

In the times of globalization translocal and transnational Muslim networks and institutions play an increasingly independent role that goes much beyond diaspora religious activism. From an international perspective, the roots of global Islam are assumed to lie primarily in the Arabian Peninsula. Yet more than 80 percent of Muslims live in Asia. Outside the Arabian Peninsula Muslim groups from South Asia are unique in their ability to create spheres and networks of influence outside their home region and across the globe. This relates to groups of all doctrines and persuasions, from the Deobandis, to Barelwis, to Ahl-i Hadith, Jamaat-i Islami and the dissenting sects of the Ahmadiyya, or the Ismailis and even to secularizing Muslim discourses from the region. The course will be first discussing concepts of interaction between globalization, religion and culture. It will then look at the nature of globalizing Muslim actors, networks and institutions from South Asia giving an overview of their different formats as to their doctrinal, cultural and ideological differentiation. In conclusion it will discuss the impact of their global activism in terms of participation, impact and relevance, whether and to what extent they achieved creating "alternate globalities" where they are not only objects of a Western-driven economic and financial globalization but also subjects of globalizing processes on their own terms. Reference: Reetz, Dietrich. 'Alternate Globalities?' On the Cultures and Formats of Transnational Muslim Networks from South Asia. In: Ulrike Freitag/Achim von Oppen (eds.), Translocality: The Study of Globalising Processes from a Southern Perspective. Leiden: Brill, 2010, 293-334. close

Additional appointments

Fri, 2015-04-17 10:00 - 13:00