Navigating ‘Islam’ in the Academy

ABSTRACT

How can we negotiate the limiting contours of ‘Islam’ in the Academy? This paper navigates this question and attempts to do three things. Firstly, we consider the implications of the Eurocentric lens of ‘religion’ for scholars working on Islam. We explore how this categorisation shapes and bends scholars and scholarship in particular directions and equally erases other areas of exploration . Secondly, we discuss the interstices opened up through engagement with decolonial thought and what it could mean for the study of ‘Islam’. Finally, we discuss the extent to which the Academy could accommodate a radically different approach to knowledge production regarding Muslims and Islam.

Keywords: Islamic studies – Orientalism – Critical ethnic studies – Muslim lifeworlds – Islam- Epistemology – Decolonial thinking – Religious Studies