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This fresh approach to the study of Islamisation suggests an innovative conceptual framework by dealing with the subject as a particular case of cultural change. This makes Islamisation amenable to the research through the archaeological and historical analyses of changes in material conditions of life. The aim is to provide an explanation of what Islam and Islamisation mean in a particular social context.

Considering three key aspects - identities, communities and technologies - Jose C. Carvajal Lopez studies the archaeology of change in material conditions of life associated to Islamisation. It is evident that this process involves changes in the conception of Muslim and non-Muslim identities of the societies touched by Islam in different periods. Beyond that, the study of communities contemplates changes in political relations between different social groups that Islamisation brought about. And finally the study of technologies is the analysis of the changes in social practices and apparatus of techniques that enable and power the dynamics of cultural transformations.

This innovative take on Islamisation is not exclusively interested in the spread of the religion or of the polity, and therefore it overcomes the theoretical limits imposed by the concepts of religious conversion and ideological imposition. This book will appeal to scholars interested in associating cultural and religious change and, in particular, those working on Islam, whether within or outside archaeology.

Islamization and Archaeology: Religion, Culture and New Materialism

1. Introduction

1.1 What is Islamisation? / 1.2 Islamisation as cultural change / 1.3 Useful concepts



2. The Expansion of the Religion and of the Polities

2.1 Religious expansion as conversion / 2.2 Political expansion: conquest and economic influence / 2.3 What is left behind



3. Islamisation of identities

3.1 Who is a Muslim? Individual vs Social conversion / 3.2 Muslims and non-Muslims / 3.3 Muslim identities and other identities



4. Islamisation of Communities and of Politics

4.1 Political power and Islam / 4.2 The politics between communities within Islamic societies / 4.3 Islam, elites and legitimizing ideologies



5. Islamisation and Technological Change

5.1 Technology and society / 5.2 The great case studies: irrigation and decorated ceramics / 5.3 Technology and change in conditions of life



6. Conclusion: Islamisation and Cultural Change

6.1 Archaeology of Islam or Islamic archaeology? / 6.2 Islamisation is a continuous process / 6.3 Islamisation is cultural change



Bibliography

Index