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  Christian Encounters with the Other

  John C. Hawley

  Why does Christianity feel the need to impose its customs and beliefs on the rest of the world? And why has an impulse driven at least partially by sincere concern for the "salvation" of others so often played into the hands of ruthless colonizers with more cynical aims?

  Bringing together scholars in literature, history, and religion, Christian Encounters with the Other Approaches these questions by analyzing literary accounts of historically famous sites of conversion. Covering the Renaissance through to the present and spanning much of the globe, the volume discusses a range of authors and their works--from Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe and Stephen Riggs's ethnographic representations of the Sioux, to Salvation Army pamphleteers and Victorian missionaries, to China, to the works of Cameroonian novelist Mongo Beti, Guatemalan Nobel laureate Rigoberta Menchú, and Japanese novelist Shusaku Endo.

  Using a cultural studies approach, each account discusses the missionaries' intentions, how these were perceived, and what social forces helped to shape the messages that were preached, as well as fascinating accounts of counter-conversions, in which "the other" is not only exoticized but valorized and empowered.

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  Historicizing Christian Encounters with the Other

  John C. Hawley

  Written from a cultural studies point of view, thirteen original essays analyse literary accounts of historically famous sites of conversion. Beginning with the Renaissance and extending to the present, authors under discussion include: Beaumont and Fletcher, Lope de Vega, Guamam Poma, Thomas Nashe, Daniel Defoe, Chateaubriand, Salvation Army pamphleteers, Chinese missionaries, Stephen Riggs, Samson Occom, Shusaku Endo, Mongo Beti, and Rigoberta Menchu. What were the missionaries' intentions, and how were they perceived?

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  The Postcolonial Crescent: Islam's Impact on Contemporary Literature

  John C. Hawley

  When the Ayatollah Khomeini pronounced the fatwa against the novelist Salman Rushdie in 1989, the world awoke to the question which unifies the fifteen essays in this volume: What is the contentious relationship between the world's fastest growing religion and an increasingly secular literary world? Recognizing the convergence between Islam's religious concerns and the political agenda it shares with many postcolonial emerging nations, noted international scholars address issues of authorization, the role of gender, and the pluralism among Islamic (and non-Arabic) cultures. After providing a historical context for current crises, the essayists discuss the coming cultural enrichment and potential threat.

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  Kordafan Invaded: Peripheral Incorporation and Social Transformation in Islamic Africa

  Michael J. Kevane

  This volume addresses economic change, regional politics and Islamisation in Kordofan, a large province in the Sudan. Kordofan's history is characterised by resistance and adaptation to expanding states and market forces causing both sectoral transformation and stagnation. The contributions in different ways examine the interplay between local and invading institutions, and include studies of Kordofan as a terra media between Darfur and Sinnar, international trade in the nineteenth century, the Mahdist revolt, the Anglo-Egyptian Condominium (with particular reference to land tenure and tribal identity), Kordofan in Sudanese nationalist poetry, local politics in the Nuba Mountains and the conflict between religious orthodoxy and local practice. The book will be of interest to scholars of Africa and Islam because of its novel focus on regional institutions and their relation to the state structures. This edited volume explores the history, social structure and economy of Kordofan in the Sudan. Representing several academic disciplines, each chapter is concerned with the long-term incorporation - through invasions - of the region into wider socio-political and economic structures.