{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.03814602132895816, 'fraction_numerical': 0.016817063166529943, 'mean_word_length': 5.037128712871287, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
Rethinking Social Movements: Structure, Meaning, and Emotion

dynamic nature of Islamic activism, it fails to discuss one dichotomy that appears on several places: Islam and (or should we say versus?) the West. The dichotomy is apparent in Charles Kurzman’s (brilliant) essay, where the Western researcher is described as the agent who can describe, yet not totally grasp the actions and logic of Middle Eastern people. “In Islamic studies” he writes, “the eyes of the subjects and the researcher don’t line up” (p. 297). One is left wondering how Kurzman reached his verdict. Certainly, opportunity structures in the Middle East look different from those in many Western countries. However, as much as the focus on liberal (Western) democracies and totalitarian (Arab) regimes is useful when one is trying to understand social activism in its diversity, so can a strict focus on regional differences be misleading when the project’s intent is to look at Islamic activism(s). As a world religion, Islam draws adherents from multiple regional contexts—not only the Arab world but also South and East Asia, Europe, and the United States. Islam also links East and West. Although the transnational implication of Islamic movements is mentioned, it is inadequately explored. Here, the limited geographical focus of the study creates or continues an exotification of its subject. When reading Carrie Rosefsky Wickham’s chapter on young Islamic activists in Egypt, including her description of the youngsters’ claims to defy parental authority to practice Islam “correctly” and even to challenge and correct their parents “faulty” understanding of Islam (p. 243), I recalled my own experiences of encountering young Islamic activists in Chicago, who used similar arguments. That interesting parallels could be drawn here points to a critical chasm that still needs to be bridged within Islamic studies: the divide between studies of Islam in the traditional Islamic world, and studies of immigrant Muslim communities in the West. Just as Islamic Activism successfully bridges social movement theory and Islamic studies, it also illustrates the need for gaining new insights in our field by overcoming other boundaries. Rethinking Social Movements: Structure, Meaning, and Emotion, edited by Jeff Goodwin and James M. Jasper. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2004. 307 pp. $75.00 cloth. ISBN: 0-7425-2595-3. $32.95 paper. ISBN: 0-7425-2596-1.