Morteza Hashemi

Jalal Al-e Ahmad was an Iranian public intellectual and writer, best known for his concise, modern prose and bold critique. One of his works was a famous monograph on what he termed westoxication. This article addresses the question: can this concept be narrowed down to a more specific sociological phenomenon? I argue that it can be used to describe a distinct Southern mode of cultural consumption rooted in a collective disregard for the legacy of colonialism. That is a peculiar form of cultural consumption that mimics Western lifestyles as a means of withdrawing to an imagined Western lifeworld, in response to governance failures in the Southern societies. It entails the creation of a web of collective confabulations, or fabrication of false memories, wherein the colonised imagine themselves as having shared in the colonisers’ privileged position of superiority. The purpose of this article is to situate the new concept of westoxication within the vocabulary of postcolonial social theory.

Abdolkarim Soroush is a prominent figure in the religious intellectualism movement in post-revolutionary Iran. In 1991, he published a controversial book, The Theoretical Contraction and Expansion of the Sacred Law, on the social evolution of religious and non-religious types of knowledge, as well as their co-dependence. His main argument, which was ground-breaking at the time, could be summarized in three theses: first, there is a constant dialogue between those two types of knowledge and they are not mutually exclusive. Second, theoretical contraction and expansion of non-religious knowledge will influence (if not shape) our understanding of religious knowledge. Third, like other types of knowledge (such as science and philosophy), religious knowledge evolves. Nevertheless, as a religious intellectual and a believer, he tried to distinguish between religion on the one hand and religious knowledge on the other. He hoped that the division could be a basis for future reformist movements. The history of dialogue between Soroush and his opponents on truth and relativism has shaped the intellectual life of Iranians since the 1990s. This chapter will critically examine those exchanges and ask what sociology of knowledge, in a post-truth era, could learn from them.

This book examines the post-secular idea of 'religion for non-believers'. The new form of unbelief which is dubbed as 'tourist atheism' is not based on absolute rejection of religion as a 'dangerous illusion' or 'mere prejudice'. Tourist atheists instead consider religion as a cultural heritage and a way of seeking perfection. What are the origins of these new forms of atheism? What are the implications of the emergence of a type of atheism which is more open toward religious teachings, rituals, arts, and world views? Hashemi argues that public intellectuals must consider that it is a sign of a post-secular age in which believers and non-believers go beyond mere tolerance and engage in a creative process of co-practice and co-working.