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Anthropology of Islam "Islamic Anthropology" and the "Anthropology of Islam" Author(s): Richard Tapper Source: Anthropological Quarterly, Vol. 68, No. 3, Anthropological Analysis and Islamic Texts (Jul., 1995), pp. 185-193 Published by: The George Washington University Institute for Ethnographic Research Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3318074 . Accessed: 25/09/2013 13:36 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. The George Washington University Institute for Ethnographic Research is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Anthropological Quarterly. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 193.140.201.95 on Wed, 25 Sep 2013 13:36:09 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions "ISLAMIC ANTHROPOLOGY"AND THE "ANTHROPOLOGYOF ISLAM" RICHARD TAPPER School of Orientaland African Studies, London This article reviewsvarious proposals for an "Islamicanthropology" and their relation to the "anthropologyof Islam." Islamic anthropologyapproaches social and cultural phe- nomenaon the basis of Islamic values/principlesand with analytical techniquesderived from Islamic texts and traditions.This approachhas beendisparaged on variousgrounds such as the academicunacceptability of a value-basedstudy of values.All anthropologies, however,as has increasinglybeen appreciatedin recentdecades, are to some extent value- based and prisonersof their own assumptionsand definitionsof relevanceand significance. This is most explicitly true of other "ideological"anthropologies such as marxist,femi- nist, or applied anthropologies.If this is the case, in what ways does an "Islamicanthro- pology" (whetherof Muslim or of other societies and cultures)differ from other "anthro- pologies of Islam" (that is, studies of Muslim societies and cultures,or more specifically of Islamic traditions,beliefs and practices)?[Islam, ideology, critique,text, tradition] Anthropologyand the Islamic Middle East methodsdrawn in someway from Islam.What the competingversions of Islamicanthropology share is The anthropologyof Islam,as a sub-fieldof the an- a basis in Islamic texts-they are, in other words, thropologyof religion, is some decades old. I un- Islamicapproaches to the study of anthropological derstandit to be the applicationof the methodsof texts, rather than anthropologicalapproaches to cultural/socialanthropology to the study of Islam the study of Islamic texts.3 as a worldreligion and associatedsets of social in- Previous writings on Islamic anthropology stitutions.There has been a variety of approaches have been proposalsand mutualcriticism by Mus- and a numberof reviews of them (notably Asad lims; there has been little critical commentfrom 1986; Eickelman1981, 1982, 1989; el-Zein 1977), non-Muslimanthropologists, who have mostly ei- and I do not intend to add anotherreview here. I ther chosen to ignore Islamicanthropology or wel- shall concentraterather on one particularkind of comed it ratherpatronizingly, without serious dis- approachthat has recentlycome into prominence: cussion, as a promising new development.4It so-called Islamic anthropology. shouldbe said that most of the proposalshave not There are several contendingvarieties of Is- apparentlybeen addressedto anthropologistsor lamic anthropology,set out in at least four books other academicsin the first place, but ratherto a and numerousarticles published during the 1980s.1 wider, non-academic,and primarilyMuslim audi- I shall concentrateon four works:the bookby Ilyas ence. Nonetheless,I would argue that it is impor- Ba-Yunusand Farid Ahmad, which, despite its ti- tant for Islamic anthropologyto be seriouslydis- tle Islamic sociology, is in essence a proposalfor cussed by anthropologistsand that somethingcan Islamicanthropology; the two main publicationson be learnedfrom such discussionwhether or not it is the theme by Akbar Ahmed (TowardIslamic an- found to be of positivevalue to the developmentof thropologyand DiscoveringIslam); and the book anthropologicalideas generally. by Merryl Wyn Davies (Knowingone another). Proponentsdiffer as to whetherIslamic anthropol- The Problem ogy shouldconfine its attentionto Muslimsocieties or should have a universal(-ist)scope; in other It is easy to sympathizewith AkbarAhmed's cri de words, Islamic anthropologyis not necessarilyin- coeur: tendedas the anthropologicalstudy of Islam, anal- ogous to economic or political anthropology,any The Muslim intellectualconfronting the world today is more than marxistor feminist means sometimesmoved to despair.He is ill-equippedto face it, anthropology his diminishes him in his own He the of vulnerability eyes. anthropology marxismor feminism."Rather wandersbetween two worlds,one dead, the other power- it means, broadly,doing anthropologyinspired by less to be born. His woundsare largely self-inflicted.At 185 This content downloaded from 193.140.201.95 on Wed, 25 Sep 2013 13:36:09 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 186 ANTHROPOLOGICAL QUARTERLY the root of his intellectualmalaise lies his incapacityto the peoples studied have insisted on doing their cometo termswith Islam in the twentiethcentury (1986: own their own 61). anthropology,defining approaches, and studyingand criticizingthe culturesand theo- ries of the West. These sentimentsare (pre-)echoedin numer- ous Muslimpublications-and indeedare common- In his bookletfor the InternationalInstitute of place in Third World intellectual writings. The Islamic Thought(1986), Ahmed'scritique is con- sub-text is articulatedthoughtfully and at some fined largelyto unsupportedstatements about "the length by Wyn Davies and others.Given the rela- notoriousethnocentricity of Westernanthropology" tion between knowledge and power (knowledge and to the invidiouspolemical trick of comparing bringspower, and powerdefines knowledge), domi- the ideals of one society (the Muslim world)with nated groups come to resent being studied and the evils of another(AIDS, drugs,and crimein the "known" by others. Third World intellectuals, West). His prescriptionseems to be: if only they emergingfrom a historyof Westerneconomic, po- wouldbecome Muslim, all these problemswould go litical, cultural, and academic dominance, have away. But are there no social problemsin Islamic come to rejectthese dominationsand the way they societies?" are linked in "Orientalist"discourses and defini- Ba-Yunusand Ahmad, writingfor the Cam- tions of knowledge.For Muslims,Islam and Mus- bridge (UK)-basedIslamic Academy, offer a more lim identity,long damagedor threatenedby West- sustainedcriticism of what they see as the three ern and materialistvalues, must be reassertedat all majorapproaches in Westernsocial theory,finding levels, including that of knowledge. The issue them divergentand in need of reconciliation,and raisedby Islamicanthropology (as by othercritical all flawedby their commitmentto positivism,ob- anthropologies)is the relationbetween anthropol- jectivity, and scientific detachment. Structural- ogy and its subjects(traditionally, the West study- functionalismignores conflict and producesethno- ing the rest; the orientalistgaze): objectification centric modernization-Westernizationtheory. and explanation(science) or empathyand under- Marxian and conflict-basedapproaches overstress standing (humanity).More precisely,Islamic an- economicprocesses and largerstructures. Symbolic thropologyposes the question:can Islam (and the interactionismand "self-theory"focus vainly on cultureand societyof Muslims)be studiedand un- the unpredictableindividual. Sociology is suppos- derstoodby non-Muslims?In other words,what is edly universal, but the sociology of the Third the nature and possibilityof an anthropologyof Worlddoes not take accountof Third Worldper- Islam? ceptionsand social realities,for example,those of Muslims;its ethnocentrismtypically underrates the A Critique of Western Knowledge, Social Science, role of religiousexperience. Further, sociology is Anthropology commonlytoo theoreticaland pretendsto be value- free; rather,it shouldbe practicaland appliedand The proponentsof Islamicanthropology offer a cri- acknowledgethe necessityof values. tique of Western (social) theory, to accompany Wyn Davies conductsa ratherbroader review their Islamistcritique of Westernsociety, culture, of Western scientificthought in general and an- and values.Western social theory,anthropology in- thropologyin particular,emphasizing how anthro- cluded, is ethnocentricand tainted by its imperial pology lacks unity (except as regardsits basis in historyand connections.Anthropology is the child Western civilization) and rigor. She invokes of Westerncolonialism; its subject-matter,assump- Thomas Kuhn's and Michel Foucault'scontribu- tions, questions,and methodsare dictatedby impe- tions to the understandingof how knowledgeis pro- rial interests;and its practitionerscome fromimpe- duced. Western paradigms of knowledge have rial backgroundsand biases (throughstructures of shifted, but on a background of con- funding, jobs, publication,readership) or Third- tinuity-Fernand Braudel'slongue duree. The non- World (Western-oriented/supported)elites. The Europeansstudied
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