Your Cradle Is Green : The Islamic Foundation and the Call to Islam in Children's Literature
(2003) In Lund Studies of History of Religions 18.- Abstract
- This thesis deals with the conceptualisation of da‘wa, ‘the call to Islam’, of the British organisation the Islamic Foundation, and focuses its 25 years of publication of Islamic-English children’s literature. In order to analyse the implications of the new modalities of da‘wa in the late modern Muslim minority context, the present study applies a genealogical perspective.
The study explores the discursive order of da‘wa in history, and devotes particular attention to questions of power. Who has taken recourse to da‘wa and for what purposes? To what extent do the periods of recession and intensity of da‘wa reflect broader socio-historical tendencies? It argues that a new order of da‘wa has emerged in modernity,... (More) - This thesis deals with the conceptualisation of da‘wa, ‘the call to Islam’, of the British organisation the Islamic Foundation, and focuses its 25 years of publication of Islamic-English children’s literature. In order to analyse the implications of the new modalities of da‘wa in the late modern Muslim minority context, the present study applies a genealogical perspective.
The study explores the discursive order of da‘wa in history, and devotes particular attention to questions of power. Who has taken recourse to da‘wa and for what purposes? To what extent do the periods of recession and intensity of da‘wa reflect broader socio-historical tendencies? It argues that a new order of da‘wa has emerged in modernity, predominantly defined by Sunni revivalism. The study describes how the Islamic Foundation converts the post-colonial and post-migrant debates on da‘wa into a number of intellectual and pedagogic commitments. It offers an overview of the establishment of the British Muslim communities and its central concerns and debates. It goes on to describe how the Foundation has formed its discourse to accommodate interests of both the Muslim minorities and the public British society, through interfaith dialogue, research, Islamic economics, informational courses, engagement in higher education and, most notably, publication.
The thesis explores how this discursive order of da‘wa is inscribed into the children’s literature published by the Islamic Foundation. It offers a detailed analysis of the instructions, narratives, imagery and norms of both texts and paratexts. Particular attention is devoted to the tendencies of creolisation: the inherently subversive attempts to find novel forms of cultural enunciation. It turns out that the order of references authorising the children’s literature is equally shaped by Islamic literary traditions and current socio-cultural concerns and conventions. The Foundation thus negotiates Islamic revivalism with the aesthetics and pedagogic models of British-global culture. The early works were predominantly defined by internal and traditional concerns, such as faith, worship and sacred history. Recently, however, the literature has come to display an increasingly self-confident depiction of contemporary Britain, from the vantage-point of Islamic injunctions and ideals. Today, the children’s literature of the Islamic Foundation combines a markedly inclusive cultural identity with strains of exclusive, Islamic particularism. (Less) - Abstract (Swedish)
- Popular Abstract in Swedish
Denna studie avhandlar den internationellt välkända Brittisk-muslimska organisationen Islamic Foundation och dess nyförståelse och tillämpning av da‘wa, d.v.s. ’kallet’ eller ’inbjudan’ till islam. Da‘wa är en ungefärlig motsvarighet till de kristna missions- eller evangeliseringsbegreppen. Avhandlingen ägnar särskild uppmärksamhet åt organisationens förlagsverksamhet, och i synnerhet dess utgivning av s.k. islamisk barnlitteratur. För att analysera detta nytänkande av da‘wa i den senmoderna muslimska minoritetskontexten utgår studien från ett genealogiskt, diskursanalytiskt perspektiv, som detta utvecklats i filosofisk och sociologisk teoribildning.
Som bakgrund utforskar... (More) - Popular Abstract in Swedish
Denna studie avhandlar den internationellt välkända Brittisk-muslimska organisationen Islamic Foundation och dess nyförståelse och tillämpning av da‘wa, d.v.s. ’kallet’ eller ’inbjudan’ till islam. Da‘wa är en ungefärlig motsvarighet till de kristna missions- eller evangeliseringsbegreppen. Avhandlingen ägnar särskild uppmärksamhet åt organisationens förlagsverksamhet, och i synnerhet dess utgivning av s.k. islamisk barnlitteratur. För att analysera detta nytänkande av da‘wa i den senmoderna muslimska minoritetskontexten utgår studien från ett genealogiskt, diskursanalytiskt perspektiv, som detta utvecklats i filosofisk och sociologisk teoribildning.
Som bakgrund utforskar avhandlingen da‘wa praktikernas diskursiva historia och undersöker därmed i synnerhet maktaspekter. Vem har begagnat sig av da‘wa vokabulär och för vilka syften? I vilken omfattning avspeglar perioder av intensiv da‘wa övergripande sociala eller politiska förändringsprocesser? Hur skall vi begripa den tystnad som tycks råda om da‘wa under andra perioder? Avhandlingen driver tesen att en ny diskursiv da‘wa ordning har uppstått i moderniteten, vilken framförallt definierats av en Sunnitisk väckelserörelse.
Avhandlingen beskriver vidare de brittisk-muslimska gruppernas formering, kärnfrågor och debatter. Den visar hur Islamic Foundation har utformat sina verksamheter i en växelverkan mellan da‘wa diskursens ordning och migrationens och postkolonialitetens erfarenheter. Organisationen bedriver ett antal verksamheter som skärskådas i studien. Bland dessa kan man nämna tvärkonfessionell liksom intern muslimsk dialog. Den bedriver vidare högskoleutbildning och forskning om s.k. islamisk ekonomi, samt ger informationskurser om islam och kulturell pluralism. Framförallt har emellertid organisationen ägnat sig åt bokutgivning, vars profil och tendenser utforskas i avhandlingen.
Utifrån dessa sammanhang försöker avhandlingen skapa förståelse för dynamiken bakom organisationens utgivning av barnlitteratur, samt dennas karaktär. I centrum står en detaljerad analys av böckernas texter såväl som paratexter, med avseende på deras instruktioner om islam, deras pedagogisk-narrativa berättelser samt deras bilder. Särskild uppmärksamhet ägnas tendenserna till kulturell kreolisering: de implicit subversiva försöken att finna nya kulturella uttryck (énonciations).
Det visar sig att de referenser som ordnar och auktoriserar barnlitteraturen i lika hög grad hänvisar till Islamiska litterära traditioner som aktuella socio-kulturella syften och konventioner. Islamic Foundation förhandlar således en islamisk väckelseambition med den brittisk-globala kulturens estetiska och pedagogiska modeller. De tidiga barnböckerna uppehöll sig tematiskt framförallt vid interna och traditionella syften, såsom muslimsk tro, rit och sakral historia. På senare tid har emellertid litteraturen kommit att uppvisa ett ökande självförtroende i gestaltningen av samtidens Storbritannien, likväl med islamiska påbud och ideal som en utgångspunkt. Idag kombinerar Islamic Foundations barnböcker en utpräglat öppen kulturell identitet med tendenser till sluten och defensiv betoning av islamisk särart. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/21353
- author
- Janson, Torsten LU
- supervisor
- opponent
-
- Professor Waardenburg, Jacques, Lausanne
- organization
- publishing date
- 2003
- type
- Thesis
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- discourse, genealogy, Manzir Ahsan, Khurshid Ahmad, Khurram Murad, Jama‘at-i-Islami, Islamisation, dialogue, inter-faith, minority, revivalism, migration, R.E., religious education, publication, Britain, children’s literature, Islamic, Islamic Foundation, Islam, da‘wa, creolisation, modernity, critique, Islamism, Non-Christian religions, Världsreligioner (ej kristendom)
- in
- Lund Studies of History of Religions
- volume
- 18
- pages
- 395 pages
- publisher
- Almqvist & Wiksell International
- defense location
- Kulturens auditorium
- defense date
- 2003-11-14 10:15:00
- ISSN
- 1103-4882
- ISBN
- 91-22-02046-2
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- additional info
- The information about affiliations in this record was updated in December 2015. The record was previously connected to the following departments: History and Anthropology of Religions (015017025), Islamology (015017031)
- id
- 03f658c4-f1c9-4276-9042-b8cbfb38cd71 (old id 21353)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-01 16:23:42
- date last changed
- 2019-05-21 20:35:29
@phdthesis{03f658c4-f1c9-4276-9042-b8cbfb38cd71,
abstract = {{This thesis deals with the conceptualisation of da‘wa, ‘the call to Islam’, of the British organisation the Islamic Foundation, and focuses its 25 years of publication of Islamic-English children’s literature. In order to analyse the implications of the new modalities of da‘wa in the late modern Muslim minority context, the present study applies a genealogical perspective.<br/><br>
<br/><br>
The study explores the discursive order of da‘wa in history, and devotes particular attention to questions of power. Who has taken recourse to da‘wa and for what purposes? To what extent do the periods of recession and intensity of da‘wa reflect broader socio-historical tendencies? It argues that a new order of da‘wa has emerged in modernity, predominantly defined by Sunni revivalism. The study describes how the Islamic Foundation converts the post-colonial and post-migrant debates on da‘wa into a number of intellectual and pedagogic commitments. It offers an overview of the establishment of the British Muslim communities and its central concerns and debates. It goes on to describe how the Foundation has formed its discourse to accommodate interests of both the Muslim minorities and the public British society, through interfaith dialogue, research, Islamic economics, informational courses, engagement in higher education and, most notably, publication.<br/><br>
<br/><br>
The thesis explores how this discursive order of da‘wa is inscribed into the children’s literature published by the Islamic Foundation. It offers a detailed analysis of the instructions, narratives, imagery and norms of both texts and paratexts. Particular attention is devoted to the tendencies of creolisation: the inherently subversive attempts to find novel forms of cultural enunciation. It turns out that the order of references authorising the children’s literature is equally shaped by Islamic literary traditions and current socio-cultural concerns and conventions. The Foundation thus negotiates Islamic revivalism with the aesthetics and pedagogic models of British-global culture. The early works were predominantly defined by internal and traditional concerns, such as faith, worship and sacred history. Recently, however, the literature has come to display an increasingly self-confident depiction of contemporary Britain, from the vantage-point of Islamic injunctions and ideals. Today, the children’s literature of the Islamic Foundation combines a markedly inclusive cultural identity with strains of exclusive, Islamic particularism.}},
author = {{Janson, Torsten}},
isbn = {{91-22-02046-2}},
issn = {{1103-4882}},
keywords = {{discourse; genealogy; Manzir Ahsan; Khurshid Ahmad; Khurram Murad; Jama‘at-i-Islami; Islamisation; dialogue; inter-faith; minority; revivalism; migration; R.E.; religious education; publication; Britain; children’s literature; Islamic; Islamic Foundation; Islam; da‘wa; creolisation; modernity; critique; Islamism; Non-Christian religions; Världsreligioner (ej kristendom)}},
language = {{eng}},
publisher = {{Almqvist & Wiksell International}},
school = {{Lund University}},
series = {{Lund Studies of History of Religions}},
title = {{Your Cradle Is Green : The Islamic Foundation and the Call to Islam in Children's Literature}},
volume = {{18}},
year = {{2003}},
}