Varieties of Muslim Experience

Encounters with Arab Political and Cultural Life

Rosen Lawrence

In "Varieties of Muslim Experience", anthropologist Lawrence Rosen explores aspects of Arab Muslim life that are, at first glance, perplexing to Westerners. He ranges over such diverse topics as why Arabs eschew portraiture, why a Muslim scientist might be attracted to fundamentalism, and why the Prophet must be protected from blasphemous cartoons. What connects these seemingly disparate features of Arab social, political, and cultural life? Rosen argues that the common thread is the importance Arabs place on the negotiation of interpersonal relationships – a link that helps to explain actions as seemingly unfathomable as suicide bombing and as elusive as Quranic interpretation.

Written with eloquence and a deep knowledge of the entire spectrum of Muslim experience, Rosen's book will interest not only anthropologists and Islamicists but anyone invested in better understanding the Arab world.

About the Author

Lawrence Rosen is the William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Anthropology at Princeton University and adjunct professor of law at Columbia Law School. He is the author of many books, including "Bargaining for Reality", "The Culture of Islam", and "Varieties of Muslim Experience", all also published by the University of Chicago Press.

Reviews

"Rosen tackles such issues as Arab ideas of justice, human rights, reading the Koran in the West, representations of the Prophet... A provocative, elegantly written book on which to ponder" – Choice

"Lawrence Rosen's eloquent new book, 'Varieties of Muslim Experience' does offer the well-read reader a fascinating persperctive on what Rosen sees as the central themes of 'Arab culture', woven together from stories, anecdotes, and closely observed examples from anthropological and other literature... Rich in profound and thought-provoking ideas, Rosen's book is highly recommended" – Anthropological Quarterly

"This is one of those rare books that, by force of repetition and multiple examples taken from various aspects of social life, make a reader reassess and, indeed, develop a new appreciation of a cultural tradition" – American Ethnologist

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