Islamic Anthropology and the “Anthropology of Islam”
Author(s)
Tapper, Richard
Abstract
This article reviews various proposals for an “Islamic anthropology” and their relation to the “anthropology of Islam.” Islamic anthropology approaches social and cultural phenomena on the basis of Islamic values/principles and with analytical techniques derived from Islamic texts and traditions. This approach has been disparaged on various grounds such as the academic unacceptability of a value-based study of values. All anthropologies are to some extent value-based and prisoners of their own assumptions and definitions of relevance and significance. This is most explicitly true of other “ideological” anthropologies such as marxist, feminist, or applied anthropologies. If this is the case, in what ways does an “Islamic anthropology” (whether of Muslim or of other societies and cultures) differ from other “anthropologies of Islam” (that is, studies of Muslim societies and cultures, or more specifically of Islamic traditions, beliefs and practices)?
