Saturday, December 07, 2013

Saturday Video: Talal Asad - "Thinking about religion, secularism and politics"

by Salman Hameed

If you are interested in a thoughtful conversation about Islam and secularism, you should spend about an hour with Talal Asad here. Among other books, he is the author of Formations of the Secular: Christianity, Islam, Modernity and the highly influential Geneologies of Religion: Disciplines and Reasons of Power in Christianity and Islam. This is also an antidote to the often simplistic (and sometimes crass) discussions of religion, in particular Islam, in the European and American public spheres. The interview below starts with Talal Asad's background, and I was surprised to know that he spent his formative years in Pakistan.

Yes - the interview style is a bit from the 70s, but the content is very good. Also, you should know that this interview was conducted in 2009 - before the Arab Spring(s).

This comes via Tabsir.

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