Author: Tayob, Abdulkader

Source: Islamic Africa, Volume 3, Number 2, Fall 2012 , pp. 139-168(30)

Publisher: Northwestern University Press

Abstract:

Public Islam and Muslim publics provide a useful framework for understanding how technology and new social and political contexts have impacted discourses of religion in the public sphere. This article proposes that scholarly attention on Muslim publics has been guided by the different impacts of Wilfred Cantwell Smith and Jürgen Habermas. Smith's theory of reification has focused attention on the production of Islam(s), while Habermas's work has focused attention on the production of new values for democratic politics. Muslim publics in Africa and elsewhere point to a diversity of engagements that call for more critical reflection and analysis. This article suggests that politics and Islamization are the main preoccupations of Muslim public debates in Africa, and should be the focus of comparative and historical analysis.

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5192/215409930302139

Publication date: 2012-09-01

More about this publication?

• Islamic Africa is a peer-reviewed, multidisciplinary, academic journal published by Northwestern University Press in collaboration with the Institute for the Study of Islamic Thought in Africa (ISITA) at Northwestern University
  
  The Journal incorporates Sudanic Africa, retaining its focus on historical sources, bibliographies, and methodologies. Islamic Africa promotes interaction between scholars of Islam and Africa across all continents and across historical periods.
  
  The Journal welcomes papers from the humanities and the social sciences on any aspect of Islam and Muslim life pertaining to Africa, or originating from the African continent.
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