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Author Courbage, Youssef.

Title A convergence of civilizations : the transformation of Muslim societies around the world / Youssef Courbage & Emmanuel Todd ; translated by George Holoch
Published New York : Columbia University Press, [2011]
©2011

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Location Call no. Vol. Availability
 MELB  304.6091767 Cou/Coc  AVAILABLE
Description xv, 134 pages : illustrations, map ; 22 cm
Contents The Muslim countries in the movement of history -- Crises of transition -- The Arab family and the transition crisis -- Other Muslim women: East Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa -- At the heart of Islam: the Arab world -- The non-Arab greater Middle East -- After communism -- Matrilocal Asia -- Sub-Saharan Africa
Summary "We are told that Western/Christian and Muslim/Arab civilizations are heading towards inevitable conflict. The demographics of the West remain sluggish, while the population of the Muslim world explodes, widening the cultural gap and all but guaranteeing the outbreak of war. Leaving aside the media's sound and fury on this issue, measured analysis shows another reality taking shape: rapprochement between these two civilizations, benefiting from a universal movement with roots in the Enlightenment. The historical and geographical sweep of this book discredits the notion of a specific Islamic demography. The range of fertility among Muslim women, for example, is as varied as religious behavior among Muslims in general. Whether agnostics, fundamentalist Salafis, or al-Qaeda activists, Muslims are a diverse group that prove the variety and individuality of Islam. The authors consider different degrees of literacy, patriarchy, and defensive reactions among minority Muslim populations, underscoring the spread of massive secularization throughout the Arab and Muslim world. In this regard, they argue, there is very little to distinguish the evolution of Islam from the history of Christianity, especially with Muslims now entering a global modernity. Sensitive to demographic variables and their reflection of personal and social truths, the authors upend a dangerous meme: that we live in a fractured world close to crisis, struggling with an epidemic of closed cultures and minds made different by religion."--Publisher
Analysis Demography Geopolitical evolution
Notes Translated from French
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references
Notes Translated from the French
Subject Demography.
SUBJECT Islamic countries http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85068436 -- Population. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh00006969
Author Holoch, George.
Todd, Emmanuel, 1951-
LC no. 2010042554
ISBN 0231150024 (cloth : alk. paper)
0231527462 (ebook)
9780231150026 (cloth : alk. paper)
9780231527460 (ebook)
Other Titles Rendez-vous des civilisations. English