In “Shaping Islamic Identity”, Gunn illustrates a clash of civilizations does not lie primarily between Islam and an outside society but within its own confines. Principally within Central Asia decades of tight restrictions, in some parts destruction, of Islam has led those who identify as such with a disconnect between old teachings and new teachings reflective of the political climate of the regions. A conflict has arisen over the types of Islam that will characterize the Central Asian identity. Not only does there exist a difficulty in these nations to form an important aspect of their identity after decades of a state enforced ban on the continued practice of Islam, there also arises the difficulty of multi-faceted, dynamic ethnicities defining their Central Asian identities.
Edward Said’s criticism of the theory that a supposed clash of ‘civilizations’ would be the great dividing lines of the future stems from the fact that Samuel Huntington, in a post-cold war piece, ignorantly lumped together different cultures one-sidedly when in reality these cultures are dynamic, multi-layered societies composed of varying ideas. Over-simplifying entities such as the West and Islam, Huntington paints the picture that the blending of culture, through different methods of exposure and synergy, would not arise. Instead he protests that conflict would arise between cultures and that it was an ‘us versus them’ mentality, a theory that has been used by figures such as Silvio Berlusconi to justify ignorance and discrimination.
Ultimately, this week’s blog was about Central Asian identity and the issue of identity in general. One can either define oneself against their own qualities and actions or identify themselves by their relation to others. Like Hirschkind and Mahmood in, “Feminism, Taliban, and Politics of Counter-Insurgency” and Gunn illustrate, history plays one of the important roles in identification (both self-identification as well as outside identification) and impacts society. Most often the recent past is referred to for identification, however, decades or centuries of insurgency, interference and military conquest are often glossed over far too quickly.
