Islam Obscured

DANIEL MARTIN VARISCO is chair of the Department of Anthropology, Hofstra University, USA.

• Introduction: Anthropology and Islam Clifford Geertz: Islam Observed Again Ernest Gellner: Idealized to a Fault Beyond the Veil: At Play in the Bed of the Prophet Akbar Ahmed: Discovering Islam Inside Out Epilogue: Muslims Observed: The Lessons from Anthropology

"In Islam Obscured Daniel M. Varisco offers a brilliant and nuanced analysis of four influential anthropologists against the background of older, less field-based ethnographies of Muslim societies. His penetrating critiques of the influential works of Clifford Geertz, Ernest Gellner, Fatima Mernissi, and Akbar Ahmed lead to a probing discussion of the challenges facing the anthropology of Islam in the twenty-first century." - Richard C. Martin, Professor of Islamic Studies and History of Religions, Emory University "This short but potent exploration of anthopological representations of Islam makes an important contribution to ethonographic studies, cultural studies, anthropology, sociology, and religious studies." - Timothy P. Daniels, The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences