Islam, Science Fiction and Extraterrestrial Life

The Culture of Astrobiology in the Muslim World

Jörg Matthias Determann (Autor)

Buch | Hardcover

288 Seiten

2020
I.B. Tauris (Verlag)
978-0-7556-0127-1 (ISBN)

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The Muslim world is not commonly associated with science fiction. Religion and repression have often been blamed for a perceived lack of creativity, imagination and future-oriented thought. However, even the most authoritarian Muslim-majority countries have produced highly imaginative accounts on one of the frontiers of knowledge: astrobiology, or the study of life in the universe.
This book argues that the Islamic tradition has been generally supportive of conceptions of extra-terrestrial life, and in this engaging account, Jörg Matthias Determann provides a survey of Arabic, Bengali, Malay, Persian, Turkish, and Urdu texts and films, to show how scientists and artists in and from Muslim-majority countries have been at the forefront of the exciting search. Determann takes us to little-known dimensions of Muslim culture and religion, such as wildly popular adaptations of Star Wars and mysterious movements centred on UFOs. Repression is shown to have helped science fiction more than hurt it, with censorship encouraging authors to disguise criticism of contemporary politics by setting plots in future times and on distant planets. The book will be insightful for anyone looking to explore the science, culture and politics of the Muslim world and asks what the discovery of extra-terrestrial life would mean for one of the greatest faiths.

Jörg Matthias Determann is Associate Professor of History at Virginia Commonwealth University, Qatar. He is the author of three books published by I.B.Tauris: Space Science and the Arab World (2018), Researching Biology and the Evolution of the Gulf States (2015) and Historiography in Saudi Arabia (2014).

1. Introduction: Islam and Extraterrestrial Imaginations

2. Missions and Mars: Scientific Journals and Popular Magazines

3. Trips to the Moon: Cold War Cinema and Science Fiction

4. Islamic UFO Religions: Popular Literature and Religious Scripture

5. Building Nations and Worlds: Science Fiction as Genre and the Postcolonial Nation

6. Muslim Futurisms: Technological Advances and Socio-Political Change

Acknowledgements

Bibliography

Interviews

Primary sources

Secondary sources

Index

Erscheinungsdatum	18.09.2020
Zusatzinfo	11 bw illus
Sprache	englisch
Maße	156 x 234 mm
Gewicht	576 g
Themenwelt	Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Regional- / Ländergeschichte
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Religion / Theologie ► Islam
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Sprach- / Literaturwissenschaft ► Anglistik / Amerikanistik
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Sprach- / Literaturwissenschaft ► Literaturwissenschaft
	Sozialwissenschaften
ISBN-10	0-7556-0127-0 / 0755601270
ISBN-13	978-0-7556-0127-1 / 9780755601271
Zustand	Neuware