ABSTRACT

This book sheds light on a particular facet of the link between politics and Islam through the analysis of the relationship between Islamism and the built environment. The relationship between Islam and politics has always been controversial, yet it has possibly never been as controversial as it is at the time of writing. This new edited volume sets out to explore the interactions between Islamisms and the built environment through issues such as: 

  • spatial negotiations between nation and Islam in the definition of national identity;
  • everyday spaces and the making of Islamic milieus;
  • the role of Islam in the making (and/or remaking) of state ideology via architecture and urban planning;
  • the influence of globalization and transnational links on the spatial manifestations of Islam(ism); and
  • transnational architectural exchanges through global Islam.

It expands on these issues through case studies analysing the role of the built environment and the urban realm as major media in the making of Islamist politics. The case studies incorporate manifestations in Muslim-dominated countries, including those where Islam has been at the heart of state ideology (Pakistan and Brunei), those with influential grassroots Islamist networks (pre-revolutionary Iran and Indonesia), those that identify with Islam through global exchanges (United Arab Emirates, Kazakhstan and Turkey) and countries where Islam is an increasingly significant reference utilized by political actors (Algeria and Lebanon). 

This book will appeal to students and scholars of architecture, urban studies and cultural studies, as well as those interested in the social and political aspects of the built environment.

chapter |12 pages

Introduction: Islamisms and the built environment

Notes for a research agenda

section Section I|32 pages

Nations in Islam: architecture across borders

chapter 1|16 pages

InterAsian Islamisms

Monumental mosques and modernity in Kazakhstan and Qatar

chapter 2|14 pages

The “Turkish House” at Home and Abroad

Islamist self-orientalism and architecture of diplomacy

section Section II|31 pages

Official versus vernacular: dispute over local spaces of worship

chapter 3|14 pages

Performing Algerian Islam in Bouteflika’s Policies

Reflections from the Nationalization of Sufi zawiyas

section Section III|38 pages

Islamic architectures of nation building

section Section IV|35 pages

Public spaces/Islamist subjectivities

chapter 7|17 pages

Monument to an Alternate Islamist Movement

Hosseiniyeh Ershad and its legacy