Presents the views of leading Arab intellectuals from countries from Morocco to the Gulf who discuss their own personal and professional perspectives on cosmopolitanism in the Middle East.
Introduction; Part I Cosmopolitanism in the Middle East; Chapter 1 Cosmopolitanism and the Middle East, Sami Zubaida; Chapter 2 Cosmopolitanism: assumed alienation, Stéphane Yerasimos; Part II Personal itineraries; Chapter 3 From an Islamic upbringing to a cosmopolitan perspective: a personal odyssey, El-Sayed Yassin; Chapter 4 From localism to cosmopolitanism: a Bahreini perspective, Munira al-Fadhel; Chapter 5 The cultural impact of the left in Syria and Palestine: a personal view, Hamida Na’ana; Part III Modernist Islam, cosmopolitanism and authenticity; Chapter 6 The modernisation of Islam or the Islamisation of modernity, Nasr Hamid Abu Zeid; Chapter 7 Islamism: modernisation of Islam or Islamisation of knowledge, Ahmad S. Moussalli; Chapter 8 Islamic movements and authenticity: barriers to development, Ridwan al-Sayyid; Chapter 9 Authenticity, modernity and the Islamic movement in Tunisia, Salaheddine Jourchi; Chapter 10 Towards an objective, relative and rational Islamic discourse, Laith Kubba; Part IV Nationalism, cosmopolitanism and authenticity; Chapter 11 Universality, modernity and identity: the case of Morocco, Abdellah Labdaoui; Chapter 12 Cosmopolitanism and cultural specificity: the case of Jordan, Schirin H. Fathi; Chapter 13 The Egyptian national identity and pan-Arabism: variations and generations, Ahmed Abdalla; Chapter 14 Cosmopolitanism and cultural autarky in Egypt, Mohamed Sayyid Said;
