Spiritual Economies: Islam, Globalization and the Afterlife of Development, D. Rudnyckyj : book review

Abstract

A small flame of interest has been emerging in recent decades assessing the relationship between Islam and contemporary economic phenomena. Until now this topic has been discarded in a neglected vault, sealed by the lingering dismissal of the incompatibility of Islam and capitalism, largely owing to the writings of Max Weber however, there is now a resurgence of interest. No doubt spurred by an explosion of attention directed towards focal points such as Islam and development, Islamic banking and finance, and geopolitical shifts threatened by the Arab Spring social scientists, policy makers and journalists have begun to reassess Islam and economics. Daromir Rudnyckyj's Spiritual Economies: Islam, Globalization and the Afterlife of Development fits within this mould, although charting a new course in its analyses of Islam and neoliberalism in the global south. This book builds on the emerging sub-fields of economic anthropology and the anthropology of globalization while offering an original contribution through its introduction of Islam as a focus.