This lecture takes the study of “Global Islam” in new directions. This applies in particular to the current focus of this field of research on the construction of pietistic and Salafi Muslim identities in the metropolitan areas of Europe and North America. It addresses the role of Islamic traditions in the formation of subjectivity among contemporary Muslims in the socially and ecologically distinct environment of Arctic towns in Norway and Canada. The Arctic setting provides a novel analytical prism through which we can expand and critically reflect upon our understanding of the modern interpretation of Islamic traditions. How do Muslims in Arctic environments practice Islam in everyday life? In which ways do they negotiate their religious subject positions in Arctic Norway and Canada? How do global and local features of Islam intersect?

Dietrich Jung is a Professor in Middle East and Islamic Studies at University of Southern Denmark and an Adjunct Professor at the Department for Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies, University of Copenhagen. His main fields of research have been wars and conflicts in the Middle East, the political and cultural history of Turkey, and modern Islamic history. His most recent book publication is Islamic Modernities in World Society. The Rise, Spread, and Fragmentation of a Hegemonic Idea, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

The lecture is part of the Theory & Method course on “What is Islam?”, but very much open to everyone interested.