Ethnography and Determines How They

¶ … ethnography and determines how they relate to each other with regards to the difficulty of trying to define "Islam." There were two sources used to complete this paper.

For many years authors have used their literary works to evoke emotion, share a point-of-view or persuade others to agree with their mindset. In the writings of the literary world this becomes even more true as the writers use previous writings and current ideas to present a blueprint for a way of thinking.

One of the most volatile subjects in the world today is the topic of Islam. With the events of 9-11 people around the world began to equate the faith with violence. Since that tragic event Islamic nations have worked to separate the religion from the hype and have tried to provide a more balanced viewpoint to the world of what their faith means to them, however, there remain many misconceptions.

One of the interesting issues regarding the faith of Islam is the slowness with which its followers move into the more modern world with regard to technology, reading materials and higher education. Anthropology studies indicate that the followers of Islam have failed until recently to broaden the educational paths of its followers.

In Dale F. Eickelman, "Mass Higher Education and the Religious Imagination in Contemporary Arab Societies." American Ethnologist, Vol. 19, No. 4, pp. 643-655 the ideas are presented in chronological sequence as to how several Islamic nations only recently began evolving when it comes to higher education and reading materials and what that has done to change the ideas surrounding the faith itself.

Another writing, Lukens-Bull, Roland a. "Between Text and Practice: Considerations in the Anthropological Study of Islam" addresses many of the same issues that the ethnography presents however, it dresses the discussion in a cloak of social desire.

Lukens-Bull Roland, "Between text and practice: considerations in the anthropological study of the events of 9-11 did not bring a new and unusual inability to define the faith of Islam, rather it has always been difficult from an anthropological standpoint to clearly define what is Islam and what are merely traditions that have been adopted by those who practice Islam (Lukens, 1999).

One of the more pressing issues when it comes to the study of Islam is that many of the practices held to be Islam are not truly Islamic but instead are traditions that have been Islamized by those who follow the faith.

According to Eikelman this is a process by which the faith undergoes changes perpetuated by the traditions being adopted through higher educational standards and those who begin to question the practices.

Eikelman writers that religion, as well as politics and other areas of life are currently being reshaped through the introduction of higher education to those who are Islamic. He reminds the readers that in the 1970's there were fewer than 1,000 people enrolled in places of higher education while less than ten years later that number was close to 100,000. Once the process began the doubling and tripling of those who were interested in pursuing higher degrees exploded and with that explosion came the questioning and reshaping of many long held values including those of religion (Lukens, 1999).

Lukens drives home the idea that the problem of non-Islamic anthropologists trying to define and place boundaries on the faith to be able to compartmentalize it will always view it from a non-Islamic mindset, therefore will be unable to fully grasp or understand its origin or its current evolutionary processes.

Part of the answer to the anthropologist's question "What is Islam?" is conditioned by what she may or may not include in her definition of Islam. For instance, are local spirit beliefs, saint's shrines, and festivals Islamic? To deal with these issues more effectively it is necessary to take a step back from Islam. The problems encountered by anthropologists studying Islamic societies are also faced by anthropologists studying other monotheistic societies. John Bowen argues that the main impediment to the anthropological study of monotheisms is that these religions do not fit well in the normal ethnographic model. The texts and rituals common to a monotheism transcend any particular locale. These texts and rituals take the believer, and should take the ethnographer, outside the village to a "worldwide confessional community" (1993a:185) (Lukens, 1999). "

This is exactly what is seen in Eikelman's ethnography as he illuminates the differences between the Islamic culture and the rest of the world when it comes to elements such as higher education and the number of new book titles printed each year.

Luken suggests that Islamic traditions are often derived from public interest and utility, which dovetails with Eikelman's ethnographic discussion about how religion changes through higher education as those who become educated have changes in their mindsets.

To fully understand the significance of Islam are a discursive tradition we must understand the nature of social discourse. Discourse can be defined as the social process of constructing shared meaning. This process is necessarily social, although it may not require actors to interact on a face-to-face basis; discourse can be conducted through texts (Lukens, 1999)."