Review: Cyber Sufis: Virtual Expressions of the American Muslim Experience (Islam in the Twenty-First Century) Wael Hegazy Book Review If you have made up your mind that the embodied rituals are the main dominant phenomenon in modern Sufism and the cyberspace can only contribute to the marginalization of religious experience, this book is out to persuade you otherwise. This is an ethnographic study that investigates the virtualization of Sufi rituals, religious education, spiritual practices, and public outreach adopted by the Inyati Sufi order. It…
Review: The Media World of ISIS Orwa Ajjoub Book Review The Islamic State group (IS) has grabbed the world’s attention as one of the most dangerous and gruesome terrorist organizations in history. The group has been studied from different disciplines such as political science, history, and theology. Michael Krona and Rosemary Pennington’s edited volume, The Media World of ISIS, is an attempt by media studies scholars to explore different aspects and dimensions of the IS…
Review: Methods for Studying Video Games and Religion Anders Ackfeldt Book Review The edited volume Methods for Studying Video Games and Religion (2017) by Vít Šisler, Kerstin Radde-Antweiler, and Xenia Zeiler takes the study of religion and video games seriously and recognizes the widespread usage of religious themes in the world of games. The book can be read as an exposé of the state of research in the field of Game Studies with the specific focus on…
Review: Technology and National Identity in Turkey. Mobile Communications and the Evolution of a Post-Ottoman Nation Petr Kučera Book Review Technology and National Identity in Turkey is a social study of technology or, more precisely, of the cultural, historical, social, psychological and individual contexts, attitudes, and practices connected to and resulting from the use of mobile phones in Turkey. It also looks into the ways this technology has been 'domesticated' or 'nationalized' and links it to the shaping of national identity.
Review: Religion and Hip Hop Kalle Berggren Book Review The book under review brings together the category of religion, Hip Hop cultural modalities and the demographic of youth. Bringing postmodern theory and critical approaches in the study of religion to bear on Hip Hop cultural practices, the book examines how scholars in religious and theological studies have deployed and approached religion when analyzing Hip Hop data.
Review: Turkish Metal – Music, Meaning and Morality in a Muslim Society Johan Cato Book Review The book is divided into seven chapters that deal with a variety of topics related to heavy metal, Turkey and Islam. The topics include questions concerning gender, nationalism, media coverage and satanic panic. The book is based on a broad range of materials, which include in-depth interviews with musicians and metalheads active on the scene, interviews with journalists and documentary analysis in the form of…
Review: Arabités numériques. Le printemps du Web arabe Luboš Kropáček Book Review The book under review examines the phenomenon of the Arab Spring in greater depth, which step by step takes into consideration all relevant political, social, cultural and technical aspects of the complex nature of the Arab e-revolutions. They were revolutions (the term is favoured by the Arabs) without leaders, their role being played by modern media. The ideas of anti-establishment protest were conceived and discussed…
Review: Media, Power, and Politics in the Digital Age. The 2009 Presidential Election Uprising in Iran Zuzana Krihova Book Review In the light of the recent presidential elections in Iran, a collection of academic essays - Media, Power, and Politics in the Digital Age - edited by Professor Yahya Kamalipour provides us with a unique retrospection. It allows us to follow the dramatic and controversial 2009 elections in Iran, while exploring some more universal topics such as the interplay of media, power and politics, or…
Review: iMuslims: Rewiring the House of Islam. Islamic Civilization and Muslim Networks Vit Sisler Book Review The book has an overwhelming scope, ranging from methodological and theoretical issues related to the research of Islam in cyberspace to detailed analysis of particular and diverse segments of the cyber Islamic environments such as the Islamic blogosphere or the use of the Internet by jihadi movements. The author clearly demonstrates his command of the subject by the vast number of examples, mainly websites, blogs…
Review: Von Chatraum bis Cyberjihad: Muslimische Internetnutzung in lokaler und globaler Perspektive Göran Larsson Book Review The book titled Von Chatraum bis Cyberjihad: Muslimische Internetnutzung in lokaler und globaler Perspektive, edited by Matthias Brückner and Johanna Pink, focuses on different aspects of the Islamic and Muslim presence on the Internet. It is divided into three subsections. The first focuses on Internet use in the Islamic world, the second on trans-locality and the Internet, and the third on global Islam.
Review: Blogistan: The Internet and Politics in Iran Zuzana Krihova Book Review Sreberny and Khiabany's book Blogistan deals with various paradoxes and contradictions of Iranian policy towards the information and communication technologies (ICTs). Placing the Iranian blogosphere within the rapidly modernized telecommunication sector and looking at the democratic potentials of the Internet being suppressed by Iranian state policies, Blogistan reveals how the contradictions between the development of ICTs and its state's control as well as tension between…
Review: The Digital Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy: Information Technology and Political Islam Jon W. Anderson Book Review Howard's book The Digital Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy focuses on the relation between ITCs and civil society and democracy in the Muslim world. It assembled a database of indicators (for Internet availability, access, policy, ownership, structures and uses) cross-referenced to common standard measures of democratization and development for 75 countries with substantial Muslim populations.
Review: The Arab Revolution: The Lessons from the Democratic Uprising Marek Cejka Book Review Filiu's book The Arab Revolution: The Lessons from the Democratic Uprising provides an overview of the context of the indirect circumstances of the Arab Spring and also takes into account the related sociological and psychological factors, which makes the book more interdisciplinary. It focuses on events in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya but also covers other parts of the MENA region.
Review: Die Fotografie im Osmanischen Reich Göran Larsson Book Review Besides its value as an excellent introduction to the early history of photography in the Ottoman Empire, Nimet Șeker’s book Die Fotografie im Osmanischen Reich provides the reader with valuable insights into Muslim debates about images and Islamic theology and the transformation of the Ottoman Empire in the late 19th and early 20th century.
Review: Islam Dot Com: Contemporary Islamic Discourses in Cyberspace Vit Sisler Book Review With growing Internet penetration rates and the proliferation of new media outlets in the Muslim world there is a simultaneously growing academic interest in possible social and political changes endorsed by these media. A recent contribution to this rapidly expanding body of research has been provided by Mohammed El-Nawawy and Sahar Khamis. They have co-authored a book called Islam Dot Com: Contemporary Islamic Discourses in…
