On the Polysemy of 'Islam'

On the Polysemy of 'Islam' and its Cultural Logic

A talk by Dr Navid Naderi

Tuesday 11 June 2024, 16 - 18 (BST)

FAB 5.03, The University of 糖心TV, Coventry (hybrid);

This event is hosted by 糖心TV Research Collective, the Department of English and Comparative Literary Studies.

The event is hybrid and open to all. Please register below.

The Persian word 鈥�esl腻m鈥� is always translated, with no exception, to the English 鈥泪蝉濒补尘,鈥� but the two have rather different modes of signification in the two languages. 鈥�Esl腻m鈥� primarily refers to a 鈥渞eligion鈥� and a 鈥渨ay of life鈥� in Persian: a set of doctrines, rules, practices, and ways of conducting oneself in the world that some people believe in and act according to, and some don鈥檛, unless they are forced to. But 鈥泪蝉濒补尘,鈥� in English (but also in other European languages), is the name of a 鈥渞eligion鈥� that primarily signifies racially, and marks the person, people, idea, lifestyle, or really anything to which it might attach as originally external to 鈥淓urope鈥� (but also to 鈥淎merica鈥�) as a cultural and geopolitical entity鈥�in other words 鈥泪蝉濒补尘,鈥� as Gil Anidjar has argued, is the name of a 鈥渞eligion鈥� that signifies a 鈥渞ace鈥� understood as 鈥淓urope鈥檚,鈥� 鈥淐hristian Europe鈥檚,鈥� or maybe 鈥淛udeo-Christian Civilization鈥檚鈥� (geo)political enemy. That is why one鈥檚 beliefs, practices, way of life, and mode of conduct, which are essential to the meaning of 鈥�esl腻m鈥� in Persian, do not really matter when it comes, for example, to the 鈥淢uslim ban,鈥� or really any other form of Islamophobic legislation, in English. One is presupposed, in English, to be a 鈥淢uslim鈥� when coming from a country or a region, geo-politically associated with 鈥淚slam鈥� (and 鈥渃oming from鈥� may go way back). The Persian 鈥�esl腻m-e siy腻si,鈥� on the hand, comes from English. It is a literal translation of the English 鈥減olitical Islam鈥� (itself translating an older 鈥淚slamism,鈥� 鈥�islamisme,鈥� or 鈥�islamismus鈥�) and, semantically speaking, has much more in common with its European equivalents compared to the case of 鈥�esl腻m鈥� and 鈥淚slam.鈥� But, at the same time, 鈥�esl腻m-e siy腻si,鈥� in Persian, has certain military-cultural and politico-economical significations that seem to be lost in the essentially tele-visual and heavily mediatized discussions of 鈥減olitical Islam鈥� in English, so saturated as they are with spectacles of terrorism, war, destruction, and devastation, and also with the racial significations of 鈥淚slam.鈥� This talk is a reflection on a field of translations, mistranslations, and mystranslations of 鈥泪蝉濒补尘,鈥� and tries to give an account of the cultural logic of the catastrophic, or explosive, polysemy that rises from this history of translation.

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