STUDIES ON THE CONTEMPORARY MUSLIM WORLDS BETWEEN THE TWO SHORES OF THE MEDITERRANEAN
Scientific Director
Mohammed Khalid Brandalise Rhazzali
Al-Qantara Book Series aims to present the results of research or thematic monographs (books, conference proceedings, collections of thematic essays by several authors, etc.) on what is happening between the two shores of the Mediterranean in the complex and diverse relationship between religion, society and politics. In particular, the focus will be on a bridge-religion such as Islam and on the new differentiated and composite forms it has taken, on the one hand, in the crossing by transplanting itself in Europe, and, on the other, by the changes that have taken place in the Muslim-majority societies on the southern shore of the Mediterranean, thanks also to the increasingly close cultural contacts between the two shores. The circulation of ideas has become more intense in the last twenty years; despite the great crisis caused by the attack on the Twin Towers and, indeed, precisely in order to reflect together on the reasons for so many tragedies (attacks, wars, misery and ideological radicalism), the cultural exchange between researchers and scholars from the two shores of the Mediterranean (and beyond) is imposed as a moral necessity. The book series, therefore, aims to document this exchange of ideas, hosting texts that can offer the possibility of knowing analyses, critical reflections, theoretical approaches and new paths of research on the reconfigurations of the Muslim world in the interactions between different cultures. The Book Series is also open to receiving contributions that aim to offer some insights and analyses of a theoretical and epistemological nature, on different topics that are not specifically related to the Muslim worlds, but that bring into dialogue the knowledge produced on the two shores of the Mediterranean. Coherently with the stated objectives, the series promises to publish in several languages (Italian, Arabic, English, French, Spanish and Turkish), to translate texts from Arabic into Italian and, finally, to promote the edition of collections of essays and proceedings of conferences with several voices (with European and Arab authors, for example, reflecting on the same theme). Finally, Al-Qantara is in continuity with the scientific line of the Journal of Islam in Europe and in the Mediterranean World, also published by Padova University Press.
Some possible areas of study and research to be published are, among others:
Relationship between Islamic sciences and human and social sciences.
- Identity constructions and religious dimension.
- Gender issues in contemporary Islam.
- New generations, religious beliefs and practices, political and social activism.
- Cultural-religious pluralism and Islam in institutional contexts (schools, hospitals, Social Services, prisons, military barracks,….).
- Violent radicalism and processes of radicalisation.
- Religious beliefs and practices and new technologies.
- Theoretical and epistemological reflections on topics even indirectly related to those mentioned above that are formulated by scholars working on both shores of the Mediterranean.
Scientific Committee
Stefano Allievi, University of Padua; Patrice Brodeur, University of Montreal; Katia Boissevain, Institute for Research on the Contemporary Maghreb IRMC; Paolo Branca, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Milan; Adone Brandalise, University of Padua; Andrea Celli, University of Connecticut; Farid El Asri, International University of Rabat; Djilali El Mestari, Research Center in Social and Cultural Anthropology CRASC; Renzo Guolo, University of Padua; Abdellatif Hannachi, University of Manouba; Mohammed Kerrou, University of Tunis El-Manar; Abdellatif Kidai, University of Mohammed V Rabat; Roberto Mazzola, University of Eastern Piedmont; Enzo Pace, University of Padua; Hassan Rachik, Mohammed VI Polytechnic University; Alessandro Saggioro, Sapienza University of Rome ; Valentina Schiavinato, University of Padua; Müşerref Yardim, Necmettin Erbakan University.
In the AL-QANTARA series, books are published that have undergone an evaluative review using the double-blind peer review process, respecting the anonymity of the author and the two reviewers. However, at the discretion of the editor-in-chief and the scientific committee, works of undoubted merit or content that have already been adequately evaluated in academic circles with a positive outcome are excluded from further evaluation. Such works may include, for instance, proceedings of particular workshops and conferences, volumes published by invitation or by prestigious authors or, in general, collective works of academic origin.