Background
Almond, Ian was born on September 21, 1969 in Skipton, England. Son of Harry Almond and Margaret Crabtree.
( The west's Orientalism -- its construction of the Arab ...)
The west's Orientalism -- its construction of the Arab ""Other"" -- has been exposed, examined and expurgated under the critical theory microscope in recent years yet the issue has acquired renewed urgency in light of the current climate of fear and hysteria about the Islamic world. At the same time post-modern thinkers from Nietzsche onwards have employed the motifs and symbols of the Islamic Orient within an ongoing critique of western modernity, an appropriation which -- this hugely controversial book argues -- runs every risk of becoming a new and subtle form of Orientalism. Examining the work of Nietzsche, Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault, Jean Baudrillard, Julia Kristeva and Slavoj Zizek and of post-modern writers from Borges to Salman Rushdie and Orhan Pamuk, Ian Almond also draws on Muslim thinkers including Akbar S. Ahmed and Bobby S. Sayyid in this timely project. The result is a provocative examination of the effects and implications of this ""use"" of Islam for both the post-modern project and for Islam itself.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1845113985/?tag=2022091-20
( When, in our turbulent day, we hear of a “clash of civ...)
When, in our turbulent day, we hear of a “clash of civilizations,” it’s easy to imagine an unbridgeable chasm between the Islamic world and Christendom stretching back through time. But such assumptions crumble before the drama that unfolds in this book. Two Faiths, One Banner shows how in Europe, the heart of the West, Muslims and Christians were often comrades-in-arms, repeatedly forming alliances to wage war against their own faiths and peoples. Here we read of savage battles, deadly sieges, and acts of individual heroism; of Arab troops rallying by the thousands to the banner of a Christian emperor outside the walls of Verona; of Spanish Muslims standing shoulder to shoulder with their Christian Catalan neighbors in opposition to Castilians; of Greeks and Turks forming a steadfast bulwark against Serbs and Bulgarians, their mutual enemy; of tens of thousands of Hungarian Protestants assisting the Ottomans in their implacable and terrifying march on Christian Vienna; and finally of Englishman and Turk falling side by side in the killing fields of the Crimea. This bold book reveals how the idea of a “Christian Europe” long opposed by a “Muslim non-Europe” grossly misrepresents the facts of a rich, complex, and—above all—shared history. The motivations for these interfaith alliances were dictated by shifting diplomacies, pragmatic self-interest, realpolitik, and even genuine mutual affection, not by jihad or religious war. This insight has profound ramifications for our understanding of global politics and current affairs, as well as of religious history and the future shape of Europe.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0674061764/?tag=2022091-20
(Examinung a series of common features in the works of Der...)
Examinung a series of common features in the works of Derrida and the Sufism of Ibn 'Arabi, considered to be one of the most influential figures in Islamic thought, the author addresses the significant absence of attention on the relationship between Islam and Derrida. Presenting a deconstructive perspective on Ibn 'Arabi, the book's features include: * the opposition to systematizing representations of God/reality/the text * a re-emphasis on the radical unthinkability of God and the text * a common conception of rational thought as restrictive, commodifying and ultimately illusory - and a subsequent appraisal of confusion as leading to a higher state of knowledge * a positive belief in the infinate interpretability of the text * a suspicion of represention - and an awareness of its semantic futility, along with a common, 'welcoming' affirmation of openness and errancy towards God and the text. This book will be essential reading for advanced students and academics of Religious studies, Arabic and Islamic studies and those interested in the work of Derrida and Ibn 'Arabi.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0415578973/?tag=2022091-20
Almond, Ian was born on September 21, 1969 in Skipton, England. Son of Harry Almond and Margaret Crabtree.
Bachelor in English Literature with honors, Warwick University, England, 1991. Doctor of Philosophy, Edinburgh University, Scotland, 2000.
He is Professor of World Literature at Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar. He worked for University of Bari (Italy), Erciyes University and Boğaziçi University (Turkey), Frei University (Germany), and Georgia State University, before coming to Georgetown University School of Foreign Service Qatar in 2013. He is the author of five books
His books have been translated into several languages, including Arabic, Turkish, Persian, Korean, Indonesian and Bosnian/Serbo-Croat.
In his writings on literature, Almond seems to be most interested in exposing the repressed spirituality of allegedly secular authors.
( The west's Orientalism -- its construction of the Arab ...)
(Examinung a series of common features in the works of Der...)
( When, in our turbulent day, we hear of a “clash of civ...)