Introduction: Beyond Territoriality
Introduction: Beyond Territoriality
This book begins with a discussion of the organizational dynamics of the Isma'ili Muslim community, which raise important questions about the nature of citizenship and political identity at this moment in history. The questions present a basic challenge to theoretical and popular understandings of the state, of globalization, and of Islam. They point to a transformation in the relationship between territory and allegiance, a fundamental shift in the possibilities for sociopolitical organization. The Isma'ilis are widely scattered across the planet, but their community's institutional infrastructure is highly centralized and provides for subjects a vast array of services, symbols, and social spaces. Isma'ili institutions penetrate deeply into participants' lives; they suffuse the fabric of their daily activities. In this way, the complex of Isma'ili forms, processes, and structures seems to represent a new possibility for transnational social organization, for sociopolitical participation beyond the nation-state, for citizenship without territory.
Keywords: organizational dynamics, Isma'ili Muslim community, nature of citizenship, political identity, globalization, Islam
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