Islam and the Tyranny of Authenticity - An Inquiry into Disciplinary Apologetics and Self-Deception - Aaron W. Hughes
Insiders, Outsiders, and the Path Between
Islam and the Tyranny of Authenticity - An Inquiry into Disciplinary Apologetics and Self-Deception - Aaron W. Hughes
Aaron W. Hughes [+]
University of Rochester
Aaron W. Hughes is the Dean’s Professor of the Humanities and the Philip S. Bernstein Professor in the Department of Religion and Classics at the University of Rochester. His research and publications focus on both Jewish philosophy and Islamic Studies. He has authored numerous books, including Situating Islam: The Past and Future of an Academic Discipline (Equinox, 2007); Theorizing Islam: Disciplinary Deconstruction and Reconstruction (Equinox, 2012); Muslim Identities: An Introduction to Islam (Columbia, 2012); and Abrahamic Religions: On the Uses and Abuses of History (Oxford, 2012). He currently serves as the editor of the journal Method and Theory in the Study of Religion.
Description
Chapter 3 charts a path to begin speaking about converts in the academic study of religion. Although it is a sensitive subject, we cannot overlook the fact that, through conversion, scholars are able to move from “outsiders” to “insiders” fairly rapidly. Rather than regard these two categories as hermetically sealed, conversion shows them to be porous and, ultimately, as artificial as any other category in the field.