Ian Almond (born 1969) is a literary scholar. He is professor of
world literature
World literature is used to refer to the total of the world's national literature and the circulation of works into the wider world beyond their country of origin. In the past, it primarily referred to the masterpieces of Western European lit ...
at
Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar
Georgetown University in Qatar (GU-Q) is a campus of Georgetown University ( Washington, D.C.) in Education City, outside of Doha, Qatar. It is one of Georgetown University's eleven undergraduate and graduate schools, and is supported by a partn ...
.
Biography
Ian Almond was born in 1969 in
Skipton
Skipton (also known as Skipton-in-Craven) is a market town and civil parish in the Craven district of North Yorkshire, England. Historically in the East Division of Staincliffe Wapentake in the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is on the River Air ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. He received his PhD in literature at
Edinburgh University
The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 1582 ...
, and worked for
University of Bari
The University of Bari Aldo Moro ( it, Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro) is a state-supported higher education institution founded in 1925 in Bari, Apulia, in Southern Italy. The university is one of the most prestigious universities in ...
in
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
,
Erciyes University
Erciyes University ( tr, Erciyes Üniversitesi) is a Turkish institute of higher education located in Kayseri, Turkey. As of 4 April 2019, a total of 64,194 students were studying for their bachelor's degree and postgraduate studies.
Background ...
and
Boğaziçi University
Boğaziçi University ( tr, Boğaziçi Üniversitesi), also known as Bosphorus University, is a major research university in Istanbul, Turkey. Its main campus is located on the European side of the Bosphorus, Bosphorus strait. It has six facult ...
in
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
, Frei University in
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
, and
Georgia State University
Georgia State University (Georgia State, State, or GSU) is a Public university, public research university in Atlanta, Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1913, it is one of the University System of Georgia's four research universities. It is also the ...
in the USA, before coming to Georgetown University School of Foreign Service Qatar in 2013.
Almond specializes in
post-colonial theory
Postcolonialism is the critical academic study of the cultural, political and economic legacy of colonialism and imperialism, focusing on the impact of human control and exploitation of colonized people and their lands. More specifically, it is ...
, South Asian literature, representations of
Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
and world literature. His works primarily focus on Islam.
He is interested in showing how Islam has been an overlooked factor in the formation of Europe. His book ''Two Faiths, One Banner: When Muslims marched with Christians across Europe's battlegrounds'' is a history of Muslim-Christian military alliances in Europe.
Almond theorizes in ''History of Islam in German Thought from
Leibniz
Gottfried Wilhelm (von) Leibniz . ( – 14 November 1716) was a German polymath active as a mathematician, philosopher, scientist and diplomat. He is one of the most prominent figures in both the history of philosophy and the history of ma ...
to
Nietzsche
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (; or ; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, Prose poetry, prose poet, cultural critic, Philology, philologist, and composer whose work has exerted a profound influence on contemporary philo ...
'' that
Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 p ...
,
Hegel
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (; ; 27 August 1770 – 14 November 1831) was a German philosopher. He is one of the most important figures in German idealism and one of the founding figures of modern Western philosophy. His influence extends a ...
, Nietzsche and
Kant
Immanuel Kant (, , ; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German Philosophy, philosopher and one of the central Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works in epistemolo ...
knew more about Islam than conventionally assumed. In his work on philosophy, he argues that many postmodernists rely on an Orientalist tropes in writing about Islam. His works seek to explore the repressed spirituality of allegedly secular authors.
He is the author of five books. His books have been translated into several languages, including
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
,
Turkish,
Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
,
Korean
Korean may refer to:
People and culture
* Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula
* Korean cuisine
* Korean culture
* Korean language
**Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl
**Korean dialects and the Jeju language
** ...
,
Indonesian
Indonesian is anything of, from, or related to Indonesia, an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. It may refer to:
* Indonesians, citizens of Indonesia
** Native Indonesians, diverse groups of local inhabitants of the archipelago
** Indonesian ...
and
Bosnian.
The Arabic translation of his book Sufism and Deconstruction was shortlisted among seven other books for the Sheikh Zayed Book Prize.
Bibliography
* Sufism and Deconstruction: A Comparative Study of Derrida and Ibn ʻArabi. New York; London: Routledge, 2004.
* The New Orientalists: Postmodern Representations of Islam from Foucault to Baudrillard. London: I.B. Tauris, 2007
* Two Faiths, One Banner: When Muslims marched with Christians across Europe's battlegrounds. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2009.
* History of Islam in German Thought from Leibniz to Nietzsche. New York: Routledge, 2010.
[Reviews of ''History of Islam in German Thought from Leibniz to Nietzsche'':
* Journal of Islamic Studies, Vol. 23, No. 2 (May 2012), pp. 269-272
* The Modern Language Review, Vol. 107, No. 3 (July 2012), pp. 1004-1006
* Monatshefte, Vol. 102, No. 4 (Winter 2010), pp. 602-604
* Literature and Theology, Vol. 25, No. 1, Poetry and Belief (March 2011), pp. 111-113]
* The Thought of Nirad C. Chaudhuri. London: Cambridge University Press, 2015.
*World Literature Decentered: Beyond the “West” Through Turkey, Mexico and Bengal. Routledge, 2021. ISBN 9780367683375
References
External links
Google scholar page* http://www.english.gsu.edu/9694.html
* https://www1-georgetown.academia.edu/IanAlmond
* http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674061767
{{DEFAULTSORT:Almond, Ian
1969 births
Living people
People from Skipton
Alumni of the University of Edinburgh
Boğaziçi University faculty
Georgia State University faculty
British Islamic studies scholars
Ibn Arabi scholars
British historians