Description
Book SynopsisDismantling the myths that divide Islam and the West, this cutting-edge work of critical thinking proposes new ways to reread Islamic and world histories. Extending from the front-page news coverage of our daily lives back into the deepest and most revelatory histories of the last two hundred years and earlier, Hamid Dabashi's The End of Two Illusions is a daring, provocative, and groundbreaking work that dismantles the most dangerous delusions manufactured between two vastly fetishized abstractions: Islam and the West. With this book, Dabashi shows how the civilizational divides imagined between these two cosmic binaries have defined their entanglementin ways that have nothing to do with the lived experiences of either Muslims or the diverse and changing communities scarcely held together by the myth of the West. Through detailed historical and contemporary analysis, The End of Two Illusions untangles the motivations that produced this global fiction. Dabashi demonstrates how the W
Trade Review"Dabashi makes a compelling claim in the epistemic violence created by “The West and Islam” that fits suitably in the ongoing work of decolonial scholarship." * Reading Religion *
"The precise and thoughtful interdisciplinary approach in
The End of Two Illusions offers a vital contribution to perspectives on international relations, conflict, and dialogue. This text should be read by anyone involved or interested in understanding the reality of global political and cultural relationships in the twenty-first century." * Journal of South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies *
Table of ContentsContents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
The Future of Two Illusions
I · The Colonial Catalyst
1 Islam in the World
2 “The West”
Groundwork for the Metaphysics of an Illusion
3 The West and the Rest
Condition of Coloniality
II · The Return of the Repressed
4 What’s in a Name?
5 The Monologue of Civilizations
III · Where the Twain Have Met
6 Gendering the Difference
From Metaphoric to Metamorphic
7 De-racing Civilizations
8 Nations beyond Borders
Conclusion
“The Inverted Consciousness of the World”
Epilogue
2021: After Gaza and Afghanistan
Notes
Index
