Ian Almond

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Ian Almond
Born1969
Skipton
NationalityEnglish
Alma materEdinburgh University
Occupation(s)Scholar of Post-Modernism and Islam

Ian Almond (born 1969) is a literary scholar. He is professor of world literature at Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar. [1]

Contents

Biography

Ian Almond was born in 1969 in Skipton, England. He received his PhD in literature at Edinburgh University, and worked for University of Bari in Italy, Erciyes University and Boğaziçi University in Turkey, Frei University in Germany, and Georgia State University in the US, before coming to Georgetown University School of Foreign Service Qatar in 2013.

Almond specializes in post-colonial theory, South Asian literature, representations of Islam and world literature. His works primarily focus on Islam. [1] He is interested in showing how Islam has been an overlooked factor in the formation of Europe. His book Two Faiths, One Banner: When Muslims marched with Christians across Europe's battlegrounds [2] is a history of Muslim-Christian military alliances in Europe.

Almond theorizes in History of Islam in German Thought from Leibniz to Nietzsche that Marx, Hegel, Nietzsche and Kant knew more about Islam than conventionally assumed. In his work on philosophy, he argues that many postmodernists rely on an Orientalist tropes in writing about Islam. His works seek to explore the repressed spirituality of allegedly secular authors. [3]

He is the author of five books. His books have been translated into several languages, including Arabic, Turkish, Persian, Korean, Indonesian and Bosnian. [1] The Arabic translation of his book Sufism and Deconstruction was shortlisted among seven other books for the Sheikh Zayed Book Prize. [3]

Bibliography

Related Research Articles

Deconstruction is any of a loosely-defined set of approaches to understanding the relationship between text and meaning. The concept of deconstruction was introduced by the philosopher Jacques Derrida, who described it as a turn away from Platonism's ideas of "true" forms and essences which are valued above appearances. Since the 1980s, these proposals of language's fluidity instead of being ideally static and discernible have inspired a range of studies in the humanities, including the disciplines of law, anthropology, historiography, linguistics, sociolinguistics, psychoanalysis, LGBT studies, and feminism. Deconstruction also inspired deconstructivism in architecture and remains important within art, music, and literary criticism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sufism</span> Body of mystical practice within Islam

Sufism, also known as Tasawwuf, is a mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic purification, spirituality, ritualism, asceticism and esotericism. It has been variously defined as "Islamic mysticism", "the mystical expression of Islamic faith", "the inward dimension of Islam", "the phenomenon of mysticism within Islam", the "main manifestation and the most important and central crystallization" of mystical practice in Islam, and "the interiorization and intensification of Islamic faith and practice".

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References

  1. 1 2 3 "Georgetown University Faculty Directory". gufaculty360.georgetown.edu. Retrieved 25 October 2021.
  2. [(http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674061767) "Two Faiths, One Banner"]. Harvard University Press. Retrieved 17 September 2013.{{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)
  3. 1 2 "Longlist announcements of Sheikh Zayed Book Award continue". Archived from the original on 2 December 2013. Retrieved 17 September 2013.
  4. Reviews of Sufism and Deconstruction: A Comparative Study of Derrida and Ibn ʻArabi:
    • Philosophy East and West, Vol. 62, No. 2 (APRIL 2012), pp. 270-273
    • Literature and Theology, Vol. 20, No. 4 (December 2006), pp. 480-482
    • International Journal of Middle East Studies, Vol. 38, No. 1 (Feb., 2006), pp. 164-165
  5. Reviews of Two Faiths, One Banner: When Muslims marched with Christians across Europe's battlegrounds:
    • Journal of World History, Vol. 22, No. 3 (September 2011), pp. 595-597
    • British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, Vol. 37, No. 3, Heterodox Movements in the Contemporary Islamic World: Alevis, Yezidis and Ahmadis (DECEMBER 2010), pp. 456-457
    • The Journal of Religion, Vol. 90, No. 1 (January 2010), pp. 94-96
  6. Reviews of History of Islam in German Thought from Leibniz to Nietzsche:
    • Journal of Islamic Studies, Vol. 23, No. 2 (May 2012), pp. 269-272
    • The Modern Language Review, Vol. 107, No. 3 (July 2012), pp. 1004-1006
    • Monatshefte, Vol. 102, No. 4 (Winter 2010), pp. 602-604
    • Literature and Theology, Vol. 25, No. 1, Poetry and Belief (March 2011), pp. 111-113