Customer Reviews

Islamic Society in Practice

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a discussion of Islam in Northern Africa, by an anthropologist who is a specialist on Northern Africa. She has lived with her family in several countries and here presents a comparative portrait of the daily lives of people in certain Northern African countries.

While this is not meant to be a technical ethnography, it is more useful to a broader audience since she deals with the daily lives and attitudes of common people within these societies. We often have access only to the political leaders, which rarely represents the people as a whole. Fluehr-Lobban's work here will enable readers to learn about the peoples, the ethnic groups, the families, the lineages and their broader daily lives as fellow human beings.

As background where necessary to fill in the picture, she analyzes trends in politics, adaptation to modern technology and challenges to the Muslim perspectives over the last century. She investigates and compares aspects of these societies such as the role of women, relations with non-Muslims and attitudes to education and modernization.

Her insights are helpful because of the breadth of cultural detail she provides on the peoples and systems in the Egypt, Tunisia and Sudan. A valuable result of her analysis is the reality that there is little agreement among the Muslims of various societies -- even these three neighbours, on just what Islam is or should be, in belief or in practice, and definitely in political structures that should be followed.

Diplomats, especially, need the rich wealth of practical information Fluehr-Lobban provides here. Any other readers will also benefit from this informative, enjoyable and very practical resource.

Discusses: The experience of fieldwork 1970-1990., Sudan & Egypt 1970-1984, Tunisia 1990, the Five Pillars of Islam, Sources of faith, Sunni v. Shia, Fasting, Almsgiving, Hajj, Folk traditions, Islamic values and social practice, the collective in society and Religion, honor (sharaf), Shame in the rearing of children, homicide, fate, family & community & gender relations, extended family life, patrilineal kinship, marriage patterns, inheritance patterns, illegitimacy, male-female relations, religious identity, Muslim-Christian-Jewish relations (5 pages), Arabs, Nubians, Berbers, Kurds, race, Sudan slavery, class and economics, Islamic family law: Tunisia, Egypt, & Sudan; family planning movement; the colonial legacy; modern role for women; Islamic Revival (versus Fundamentalism); democracy. -- all in 191 pages. A nice read regarding these listed countries. Nice background info from the 1980s-1990s.