Shifting perspectives : an anthropological understanding of fundamentalism amongst Muslims in Spain

• Main Author: Caraballo-Resto, Juan Francisco
• Published: University of Aberdeen 2011
• Subjects: 200; Islamic fundamentalism
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.619160

This dissertation focuses on religious fundamentalism. For the past two decades, fundamentalism has been discussed in the social sciences as a style of belief by which beleaguered followers attempt to preserve their distinctive identity as a people in the face of modernity and secularization. However, it is my contention that this universalistic approach often undermines religious diversity and oversimplifies cultural particularities. Moreover, I find that the term ‘fundamentalist' is, more often than not, a label for the ‘Other'; one that is invariably negative and thus, dismisses and vilifies. With this argument in mind, in my research I present how different Muslim groups in Madrid and Barcelona understand the concept of ‘fundamentalism'—a term widely used by the Spanish media after the Madrid bombings claimed by Al-Qaeda in 2004. By examining how different Muslim groups repeat, alter, adapt, and argue ‘fundamentalism' in their daily lives, I explore who uses the term, under what circumstances and with what intent. In doing so, we also analyze broader, everyday problematics pertaining to Muslims in Spain. Rather than providing an universalistic definition of ‘fundamentalism' that offers an all encompassing meaning, in my research I present an analysis that is entangled with the individual. Centered on agency, this work first examines the category-construction process of the concept of fundamentalism; second, it explores how Muslims in Madrid and Barcelona understand this concept; and finally, it analyzes the the [sic] how the popular rhetoric of fundamentalism impacts the ways in which some Muslims their religiosity in a Muslim-minority context like Spain.