Islam on the Edges
Many academic centers dedicated to the study of Islam privilege the Middle East and Arabic language as main references for understanding Islam and Muslims. Without disputing their importance, we at CICW directs our gaze toward the edges of Islam in its various dimensions: geographic, doctrinal, cultural, linguistic, historical, and civilizational. CICW’s work is built on the understanding that Islam on the Edges is Islam full of dynamism, uniqueness, innovativeness, and adaptation. In order to understand Islam in the contemporary world, it is equally important to study Muslim experiences in Indonesia, Malaysia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Senegal, South Africa, Zanzibar – to name a few, as it is to understand Egypt, Saudi Arabia, or Turkey. Constantly at the edges, Muslims who live in these parts of the world embody the contradictions of belonging to the Muslim civilization yet being treated as outsiders, and being so close to the Other but never quite belonging. Unburdened by historical determinism that is often present at what is usually understood to be the “center” of Islam, Muslims who live on the edges are capable of unleashing the type of creativity that is often lacking among the Muslims at the “center” who have been lulled into a stupor caused by an obsession with past glories that remain in the past, and the unfulfilled dreams of the future that has been elusive for more than a century.
Our research aims to highlight Islam on the Edges by looking at the following: (1) formations of orthodoxy along the Edges, with a corollary claim that Islam on the Edges is as orthodox and normative as Islam in any other part of the world, (2) novel, unique, and heterodox approaches to Muslim experiences in Islam on the Edges, (3) social innovation and entrepreneurship along Islam on the Edges, (4) cultural and material production. CICW’s objective is to do away with the “center-periphery” approach to the study of Islam, and to elevate Islam on the Edges to equal footing with other expressions of Islam anywhere in the world.
We will conduct conferences, seminars, workshops, as well as offer research grants supporting the study of Islam on the Edges. For more information, please contact cicw@su.edu.
Our research aims to highlight Islam on the Edges by looking at the following: (1) formations of orthodoxy along the Edges, with a corollary claim that Islam on the Edges is as orthodox and normative as Islam in any other part of the world, (2) novel, unique, and heterodox approaches to Muslim experiences in Islam on the Edges, (3) social innovation and entrepreneurship along Islam on the Edges, (4) cultural and material production. CICW’s objective is to do away with the “center-periphery” approach to the study of Islam, and to elevate Islam on the Edges to equal footing with other expressions of Islam anywhere in the world.
We will conduct conferences, seminars, workshops, as well as offer research grants supporting the study of Islam on the Edges. For more information, please contact cicw@su.edu.
