Afterword: Sectarianisation Beyond the Middle East

Mabon, Simon (2021) Afterword: Sectarianisation Beyond the Middle East. Religion, State and Society, 49 (2). pp. 174-180. ISSN 0963-7494

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Abstract

Sectarianisation, a conceptual approach proposed by Nader Hashemi and Danny Postel, has gained a great deal of traction in the study of sectarianism in the contemporary Middle East. Yet despite its popularity, little attention has been paid to the ways in which sectarianisation can operate beyond the Middle East, a peculiar point when considering that only 20% of the world’s 1.57 billion Muslims live in the region. This brief intervention explores the ways in which the sectarianisation thesis can operate beyond the Middle East, looking at some of the ontological, epistemological, and methodological questions that are bound up in such an approach. Ultimately, I argue that while sectarianism has become a prominent feature in academic discussions about the Middle East – driven recently by a focus on sectarianisation – there is merit in exploring the application of Hashemi and Postel’s thesis in regions beyond the Middle East.