About Aarhus University
Mark Sedgwick
Professor
School of Culture and Society - Arab and Islamic Studies, subject
Jens Chr. Skous Vej 3
building 1451, 522
8000 Aarhus C
Denmark
Phone: +4587162657
My research focuses on junctions for the transfer of religions and traditions in the late pre-modern and modern periods. My most recent book is Traditionalism: The Radical Project for Restoring Sacred Order (London: Pelican; New York: Oxford University Press, 2023). See the YouTube video here.
In addition,
- on the Islamic side, I have published a biography of Muhammad Abduh (2009), as well as two books on Sufism: Saints and Sons (2005), dealing with the history of a group of Sufi orders, and Sufism: The Essentials (first published in 2000, and now reprinted and translated into several languages). An introduction to Islam with a difference--Islam and Muslims--came out in 2006. In 2021, I edited (together with Francesco Piraino) a collection, Esoteric Transfers and Constructions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (Palgrave, 2021). I have also published various articles on sectarianism, religious change, and terrorism, such as "The concept of radicalization as a source of confusion" (in Terrorism and Political Violence, 2010).
- on the Western side, my most recent book is an edited collection, Key Thinkers of the Radical Right: Behind the New Threat to Liberal Democracy (2019), and my most recent mongraph is Western Sufism: From the Abbasids to the New Age (2016). I have also published a collection, Anarchist, Artist, Sufi: The Politics, Painting, and Esotericism of Ivan Aguéli (Bloomsbury, 2021), and a collected volume on Making European Muslims: Religious Socialization Among Young Muslims in Scandinavia and Western Europe (2014), which was one outcome of a collective project I ran on Islam, Muslims and Danish Schools. I have worked for many years on Guénonian Traditionalism, an anti-modernist movement which takes political as well as religious and philosophical forms, and has recently spread to the Islamic world and Russia. This project resulted in a book, Against the Modern World (2004), an active blog, a website that is no longer updated (traditionalists.org), a number of articles, and my recent Traditionalism: The Radical Project for Restoring Sacred Order. Against the Modern World has now been translated into French, German, Portuguese (Brazilian), Russian, Serbian, and Turkish.
- My current major project is an EU-funded project, DRIVE: Resisting Radicalisation through Inclusion, with partners from five other European universities.
I am coordinator of the Arab and Islamic Studies Research Network (ICSRU) at Aarhus University. I am also president of the European Network for the Study of Islam and Esotericism and chair of the Nordic Society for Middle Eastern Studies.
Research areas
- Africa in general Sudan
- Cultural history Neo-Sufism Religiosity
- Europe in general Islam in Europe Neo-Sufism
- Islam Islam and Muslims in Europe Islamism Modernization and reform Sufism
- Meeting of cultures Islam and the West
- Middle East in general Arab world Iran Israel Turkey
- Mysticism and spirituality Sufism Traditionalism
- Other countries Malaysia Singapore
- Religion and politics Eurasianism Islam
- Religious movements Neo-Sufism New religious movements Typology
- Security Islamism Middle East Religion and terrorism
- Published
Western Sufism: From the Abbasids to the New Age
Sedgwick, M., 2016, New York: Oxford University Press. 368 p.Research output: Book/anthology/dissertation/report › Book › Research › peer-review
- Published
Islamforskning på Aarhus Universitet: (snart) ti år med ICSRU
Fibiger, T. B. & Sedgwick, M., Nov 2016, In: Tidsskrift for Islamforskning. 10, 1, p. 63-73 11 p.Research output: Contribution to journal/Conference contribution in journal/Contribution to newspaper › Journal article › Communication
Jihadism, Narrow and Wide: The Dangers of Loose Use of an Important Term
Sedgwick, M., Apr 2015, In: Perspectives on Terrorism. 9, 2, p. 34-41 8 p.Research output: Contribution to journal/Conference contribution in journal/Contribution to newspaper › Journal article › Research › peer-review
- Published
The Making of a Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century: Shaykh Ahmad al-‘Alawî (1869-1934)
Sedgwick, M., 2015, In: Journal of the history of Sufism / Tasavvuf tarihi araştırmaları dergisi / Journal d'histoire du Soufisme. 6, p. 225-240 16 p.Research output: Contribution to journal/Conference contribution in journal/Contribution to newspaper › Journal article › Research › peer-review
- Published
Sufis as ‘Good Muslims’: Sufism in the Battle against Jihadi Salafism
Sedgwick, M., 2015, Sufis and Salafis in the Contemporary Age. Ridgeon, L. (ed.). London: Bloomsbury Academic, p. 105-17 14 p.Research output: Contribution to book/anthology/report/proceeding › Book chapter › Research › peer-review
- Published
Islamic Myths and Memories: Mediators of Globalization
Weismann, I. (ed.), Sedgwick, M. (ed.) & Mårtensson, U. (ed.), 2014, Farnham: Ashgate. 263 p.Research output: Book/anthology/dissertation/report › Anthology › Research › peer-review
- Published
Making European Muslims: Religious Socialization Among Young Muslims in Scandinavia and Western Europe
Sedgwick, M. (ed.), 2014, New York: Routledge. 296 p.Research output: Book/anthology/dissertation/report › Anthology › Research › peer-review
- Published
Something Varied in the State of Denmark: Neo-nationalism, Anti-Islamic Activism, and Street-level Thuggery
Sedgwick, M., 21 Jun 2013, In: Politics, Religion & Ideology. 14, 2, p. 208-33 27 p.Research output: Contribution to journal/Conference contribution in journal/Contribution to newspaper › Journal article › Research › peer-review
- Published
Neo-Sufism
Sedgwick, M., 2012, The Cambridge Companion to New Religious Movements. Hammer, O. & Rothstein, M. (eds.). Cambridge University Press, p. 198-214 16 p. (Cambridge Companions to Religion).Research output: Contribution to book/anthology/report/proceeding › Book chapter › Research › peer-review
- Published
The Concept of Radicalization as a Source of Confusion
Sedgwick, M., 2010, In: Terrorism and Political Violence. 22, 4, p. 479-494 16 p.Research output: Contribution to journal/Conference contribution in journal/Contribution to newspaper › Journal article › Research › peer-review
- Published
Muhammad Abduh
Sedgwick, M., 2009, Oxford: Oneworld Publications. 152 p. (Makers of the Muslim World).Research output: Book/anthology/dissertation/report › Book › Research
- Published
Islam and Muslims: A Guide to Diverse Experience in a Modern World
Sedgwick, M., 2006, Boston: Intercultural Press. 276 p.Research output: Book/anthology/dissertation/report › Book › Communication
- Published
Saints and Sons: The Making and Remaking of the Rashidi Ahmadi Sufi Order, 1799-2000
Sedgwick, M., 2005, Leiden: Brill. 255 p.Research output: Book/anthology/dissertation/report › Book › Research
- Published
Al-Qaeda and the Nature of Religious Terrorism
Sedgwick, M., 2004, In: Terrorism and Political Violence. 16, p. 795-814 19 p.Research output: Contribution to journal/Conference contribution in journal/Contribution to newspaper › Journal article › Research › peer-review
- Published
Against the Modern World: Traditionalism and the Secret Intellectual History of the Twentieth Century
Sedgwick, M., 2004, New York: Oxford University Press. 384 p.Research output: Book/anthology/dissertation/report › Book › Research
- Published
Sufism: The Essentials
Sedgwick, M., 2000, Cairo: AUC Press. 132 p.Research output: Book/anthology/dissertation/report › Book › Communication
Modern Muslim Subjectivities Project
Sedgwick, M., Jung, D., Hatem, M. & Mex-Jørgensen, L.
01/10/2013 → 01/10/2016
Project: Research
SATS: Sufism and Transnational Spirituality
Bubandt, N. O., Sedgwick, M., Louw, M. E., Rytter, M. & Mathiesen, K.
01/08/2010 → 31/12/2014
Project: Research
Islam, Muslims and Danish Schools
Sedgwick, M., Anderson, S. D., Kühle, L., Gilliam, L., Pedersen, M. H., Khawaja, I., Jensen, S. V. & Suhr, C.
01/06/2009 → 01/01/2014
Project: Research
Traditionalists: A Blog for the study of Traditionalism and the Traditionalists (Journal)
Mark Sedgwick (Editor)
1 Jun 2006 → …Activity: Publication peer-review and editorial work types › Editor of Research journal › Communication
Nordic Society for Middle East Studies (External organisation)
Mark Sedgwick (Member)
24 Sept 2016 → …Activity: Membership types › Member of board or management
Carsten Niebuhr Prize
Prize: Prizes, scholarships, distinctions
Thomas Robbins Award for Excellence in the Study of New Religious Movements
Prize: Prizes, scholarships, distinctions
ID: 6876485