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Muslim History and Social Theory pp 13–32Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Multiple, Entangled, and Successive Modernities: Putting Modernity in the Plural

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Part of the book series: The Modern Muslim World ((MMUS))

Abstract

The chapter deals with three theoretical approaches to putting modernity in the plural. It will discuss theories of multiple, entangled, and successive modernities as complementary analytical strategies to further our understanding of social and cultural diversity in modernity. The key assumptions of these theories remedy some of the major flaws of classical modernization theories and they can contribute to new interpretations of Muslim history. Together, I consider these three theories as complementary sources for building a nuanced heuristic framework for a global sociology of modernity.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    In the current debate, the application of the term “multiple modernities” has been largely detached from the theoretical premises on which it once was developed by Eisenstadt. In addition, in Islamic studies it serves as an unreflected-upon catchall term for cultural diversity (Thomassen 2010, 338). Later in this chapter, I will elaborate on the core assumptions of Eisenstadt that were behind the coining of this concept.

  2. 2.

    This does not mean that Lewis’ book has not its merits. For me it represents a classic on Turkish modernization that is well-worth to read.

  3. 3.

    For examples for this trend in research on contemporary Muslims, see Caeiro (2010), Cevik (2016), Cooke and Lawrence (2005), Deeb (2006) Dessing (2012), Fadil (2009), Furseth (2011), Haenni (2005), Hefner and Zaman (2007), Hirschkind (2006), Jacobsen (2011), Mahmood (2005), Mohamed Nasir (2016), Lewis (2007), Otterbeck (2011), Peterson (2011), Pieri (2015), Salvatore and Eickelman (2004), Schmidt (2002, 2004), Shehabuddin (2008), Soares and Otayek (2007), Sunier (2009), and Winchester (2008).

  4. 4.

    In my understanding, Deeb’s title expresses a clear misunderstanding of Weber’s metaphorical term of the disenchantment of the modern world. Weber tells us that the directions of religiosity lead from ritualism to ethical absolutism, from magic belief to sublimation by knowledge and from social embeddedness to individualization. He judged the level of rationality of religions according to which degree they have divested themselves of magic and systematically rationalized their ethics (Weber 1968, 226). The disenchantment of the world is thus not the disappearance of religion. Rather, it represents a rationalization of religious beliefs and the disempowerment of magic (Breuer 2006, 13–23). Ironically, precisely elements of this tendency are visible in the interpretation of Shiite traditions by Deeb’s interlocutors. Rather than enchanted, her interlocutors resemble Weber’s disenchanted modern believers, increasingly rationalizing their interpretation of religious traditions.

  5. 5.

    In this sense they are, in particular the work of Saba Mahmood, influenced by the thinking of Talal Asad and his critique of Western liberalism. For a critique of this Asadian approach, see Bangstad (2009).

  6. 6.

    The term “Orientalism in reverse” originally comes from Sadiq al-Azm who criticized Edward Said for not taking into account that Islamist and Arab nationalist thinkers have constructed similar representations of Muslim and Middle Eastern people to the Orientalist scholars in the West (Al-Azm 1981).

  7. 7.

    A compilation of texts from these representatives of “liberal Islam” is found in Kurzman (1998).

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  1. Centre for Contemporary Middle East Studies, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark

    Dietrich Jung

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Jung, D. (2017). Multiple, Entangled, and Successive Modernities: Putting Modernity in the Plural. In: Muslim History and Social Theory. The Modern Muslim World. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-52608-9_2

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