Contested Memories and the Demands of the Past

This book brings together new perspectives on collective memory in the modern Muslim world. It discusses how memory cultures are established and used at national levels in official history writing, through the erection of monuments, the fashioning of educational curricula and through media strategies as well as in the interface with both artistic expressions and popular culture in the Muslim world at large. The representations of collective memory have been one of the foremost tools in national identity politics, grass-root mobilization, theological debates over Islam and general discussions on what constitutes 'the modern in the Middle East' as well as in Muslim diaspora environments. Few, if any, contemporary conflicts in the region can be understood in depth without a certain focus on various uses of history, memory cultures and religious meta-narratives at all societal levels, and in art and literature. This book will be of use to students and scholars in the fields of Identity Politics, Islamic Studies, Media and Cultural Anthropology.

Applies a fresh interdisciplinary approach (historical and political) to cultural memory Spans a broad geographical focus, covering narratives and practices in Central Asia, North Africa, Turkey and the South East Europe countries with high Muslim concentrations Fills a gap in the field by focusing on regions that have been understudied in memory studies

Autorentext

Catharina Raudvere is Professor in the Department of Cross-cultural and Regional Studies at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. Her research interests focus on contemporary Islam, Muslim ritual life, and everyday religion.

Inhalt
1: History as a Mirror and Places of Belonging. Some Introductory Remarks on History Cultures in the Muslim World.- 2: Negotiating the Homeland. Diasporic Consciousness and Social Stratification among Hadramis in the Indian Ocean.- 3:The Flag and the Street. Egypt's Generous Moment in 2011.- 4: Public Narratives and the Construction of Memory among European Muslims.- 5: Community Life of the Polish Muslim Tatars. The Conceptions and Transmission of Religious and Cultural Heritage.- 6: There Can Be No Other Sun in the Sky: Political myth, spirituality and legitimacy in contemporary Kazakhstan.- 7: The Politics for Cultural Heritage in Turkey Today. AKP's Uses of History in Political Rhetoric, Relation to Cultural Heritage in General and the Ottoman Legacy in Particular.- 8: Remembering Home. Christians, Muslims and the Outside World in Late-Ottoman Cilicia and Cappadocia.- 9: Experience and Literary Expression. Aleksandar Hemon and the Issue(s) of Bosnian Identities in Yugoslavia, (Post)war Times and Diaspora.