Territory Is Not Map: Deterritorialisation, Mere Religion, and Islamic State

While the Islamic State (IS) has much in common with many other contemporary jihadist groups, this article argues that it expresses a distinctive attitude toward the taking, holding, and expanding of territory. Olivier Roy’s notion of the "deterritorialisation" of late-modern Muslim religi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of religion and violence
Main Author: Powers, Paul R. (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Philosophy Documentation Center 2017
In: Journal of religion and violence
Year: 2017, Volume: 5, Issue: 2, Pages: 151-184
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
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Summary:While the Islamic State (IS) has much in common with many other contemporary jihadist groups, this article argues that it expresses a distinctive attitude toward the taking, holding, and expanding of territory. Olivier Roy’s notion of the "deterritorialisation" of late-modern Muslim religiosity suggests that many Muslims, whether in minority or majority situations, perceive themselves as detached from "home" lands and cultures and, partly as a result, find Islam reduced from a holistic phenomenon to a truncated and compartmentalized "mere religion." IS efforts to take territory can be seen in part as a rejection of such deterritorialisation. The IS version of a reinvigorated Islam is made possible solely by the possession of territory, and hinges on apocalyptic expectations about certain concrete locations and on the possibility of enacting a robust, hyper-aggressive form of Islamic law.
ISSN:2159-6808
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal of religion and violence
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.5840/jrv20178341