Politics of Piety

The Islamic Revival and the Feminist Subject

Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Gender Studies, Women&, Religion & Spirituality
Cover of the book Politics of Piety by Saba Mahmood, Princeton University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Saba Mahmood ISBN: 9781400839919
Publisher: Princeton University Press Publication: October 3, 2011
Imprint: Princeton University Press Language: English
Author: Saba Mahmood
ISBN: 9781400839919
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Publication: October 3, 2011
Imprint: Princeton University Press
Language: English

Politics of Piety is a groundbreaking analysis of Islamist cultural politics through the ethnography of a thriving, grassroots women's piety movement in the mosques of Cairo, Egypt. Unlike those organized Islamist activities that seek to seize or transform the state, this is a moral reform movement whose orthodox practices are commonly viewed as inconsequential to Egypt's political landscape. Saba Mahmood's compelling exposition of these practices challenges this assumption by showing how the ethical and the political are indelibly linked within the context of such movements.

Not only is this book a sensitive ethnography of a critical but largely ignored dimension of the Islamic revival, it is also an unflinching critique of the secular-liberal assumptions by which some people hold such movements to account. The book addresses three central questions: How do movements of moral reform help us rethink the normative liberal account of politics? How does the adherence of women to the patriarchal norms at the core of such movements parochialize key assumptions within feminist theory about freedom, agency, authority, and the human subject? How does a consideration of debates about embodied religious rituals among Islamists and their secular critics help us understand the conceptual relationship between bodily form and political imaginaries? Politics of Piety is essential reading for anyone interested in issues at the nexus of ethics and politics, embodiment and gender, and liberalism and postcolonialism.

In a substantial new preface, Mahmood addresses the controversy sparked by the original publication of her book and the scholarly discussions that have ensued.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Politics of Piety is a groundbreaking analysis of Islamist cultural politics through the ethnography of a thriving, grassroots women's piety movement in the mosques of Cairo, Egypt. Unlike those organized Islamist activities that seek to seize or transform the state, this is a moral reform movement whose orthodox practices are commonly viewed as inconsequential to Egypt's political landscape. Saba Mahmood's compelling exposition of these practices challenges this assumption by showing how the ethical and the political are indelibly linked within the context of such movements.

Not only is this book a sensitive ethnography of a critical but largely ignored dimension of the Islamic revival, it is also an unflinching critique of the secular-liberal assumptions by which some people hold such movements to account. The book addresses three central questions: How do movements of moral reform help us rethink the normative liberal account of politics? How does the adherence of women to the patriarchal norms at the core of such movements parochialize key assumptions within feminist theory about freedom, agency, authority, and the human subject? How does a consideration of debates about embodied religious rituals among Islamists and their secular critics help us understand the conceptual relationship between bodily form and political imaginaries? Politics of Piety is essential reading for anyone interested in issues at the nexus of ethics and politics, embodiment and gender, and liberalism and postcolonialism.

In a substantial new preface, Mahmood addresses the controversy sparked by the original publication of her book and the scholarly discussions that have ensued.

More books from Princeton University Press

Cover of the book The Emergence of Globalism by Saba Mahmood
Cover of the book The Right Talk by Saba Mahmood
Cover of the book Boko Haram by Saba Mahmood
Cover of the book The Plural of Us by Saba Mahmood
Cover of the book Why? by Saba Mahmood
Cover of the book On Fact and Fraud by Saba Mahmood
Cover of the book The Founders on Religion by Saba Mahmood
Cover of the book Multiculturalism by Saba Mahmood
Cover of the book A Turn to Empire by Saba Mahmood
Cover of the book Lydia Ginzburg's Prose by Saba Mahmood
Cover of the book Dropping Anchor, Setting Sail by Saba Mahmood
Cover of the book Emergency Chronicles by Saba Mahmood
Cover of the book Tolerance among the Virtues by Saba Mahmood
Cover of the book Power and International Relations by Saba Mahmood
Cover of the book Utopian Generations by Saba Mahmood
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy