New Methods in the Study of Islam

CALL FOR ABSTRACTS

Methods play a notable role in the scholarly cognition of available data and shape (and even direct) scholarly productions. In the study of religions, methods also highlight possible connections between various traditions by utilizing a multitude of socio-cultural, anthropological, legal, textual and other disciplinary approaches. When it comes to disclosing methods and methodologies, the study of Islam remains no exception. However, many in Islamic studies tend to employ established or classic methods that seemingly echo (neo-)orientalist and political inclinations. This volume seeks to offer an alternative, and we welcome new, innovative, and inter-/multi-disciplinary approaches. Framed boldly, we want to encourage new ways to think about and study Islam.

This call asks a set of broad questions: What are (the) new methods in the study of Islam? Can newer approaches to methods and methodologies provide different lenses to examine Islam and Islamic Studies? Can technology revolutionize our method and methodological preferences? Can textuality, once the dominant method, be replaced by non-textual methods to understand Islam and its relations with other religions? Can one theorize the ethics of method application in the study of Islam?

New Methods in the Study of Islam offers a modest proposal to discover new methods, methodologies and approaches that can be applied, utilized and conceived in the study of Islam and Islamic Studies. The volume also seeks to show how such methods and approaches help us understand Islam’s relationship to other religious traditions.

Potential themes in the volume include (but are not limited to) the following,

·         The concept of New Method in the Study of Islam

·         Method vs. Methodology in the Study of Islam

·         Existing Paradigms in Methodological Study of Islam

·         Decolonizing Methods/Methodologies in Islamic Studies

·         Easternism, Westernism and Centrality in Methods

·         Historicizing and Universalizing Methods in Islamic Studies

·         Ethics of method production and application in the Study of Islam

·         Evaluating and Assessing Established or Emerging Methods

·         New Methods for Comparative Study of Islam and Other Religions

Scholars, researchers, and instructors are invited to send an abstract of their proposed chapters (max. 200 words) and a short bio-note to the editors, Abbas Aghdassi and Aaron W. Hughes before November 30, 2020.

Abstracts and subsequent chapters should be submitted in English.

Notification of abstract acceptance will be communicated by January 15, 2021. Following the notification, authors will be invited to submit their full chapter by April 30, 2021. Chapters would then undergo a review by the editors, at which point authors will be notified if revisions are required.

We plan to publish the volume in Brill's Supplements to Theory and Method in the Study of Religion (SMTR).

Please, circulate this call. For any general queries, feel free to contact us at (aghdassi@PROTECTED).

Editors                            Abbas Aghdassi, Ed., (aghdassi@PROTECTED)

                                       Aaron W. Hughes, Ed. (aaron.hughes@PROTECTED)

Abstract submission       Nov 30, 2020

Acceptance note            Jan 15, 2021

Chapter submission       Apr 30, 2021

Initial reviews                May 30, 2021

Revised chapter             June 30, 2021

CHAPTER FORMATA

The following format will help ensure coherence. A full chapter should be 6000-8000 words (approx.) including, reference, tables, figures etc. 

*** See this for some examples: https://libguides.library.usyd.edu.au/c.php?g=508212&p=5426978