Conservative Islam: A Cultural Anthropology

Kolig’s anthropological approach brings valuable nuance to understanding competing notions of the ‘essence of Islam’ and ‘Muslim diversity.’ The book deals with Islam in an accessible and stimulating way through the treatment of a series of topical and fascinating subjects. The end result is a work that provides broad coverage combined with perceptive insights from other cultural settings.

This densely written book by a cultural anthropologist attempts to trace the characteristics of present-day Islam back to “ancient cultural and social peculiarities and symbols extant at the time of Islam’s emergence.” Kolig (Univ. of Otago, New Zealand) has set himself a difficult task: reconstruct the formative ideas and values of Islam from its origin in the Arabian Peninsula in the seventh century of the Christian era and evaluate their influence on current Islamic dogma and culture. Though his book is primarily a study of the history of ideas, the author’s goal is to link these formative ideas to their expression today in the context of a globalized Islam whose 1.5 billion adherents are increasingly coming face-to-face with the secular and liberal ideology of the politically and economically dominant West. Kolig examines such topics as Islam and democracy, gender relations in Islam, and the urgent question of violence in Islam. This is a serious effort by a Western anthropologist to understand the conceptual underpinnings of Muslim society and the ways the religion of Islam shapes the cultural expression of its diverse believers the world over. Summing Up: Recommended.