Chapter 12
Complications of a Category
In: Dynamics of Islam in the Modern WorldSearch for other papers by Marcia Hermansen in
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Abstract
Among contemporary manifestations of Sufism in the global West, one can more easily recognize the universal or New Age forms, the Traditionalists who view Sufism as one articulation of perennial wisdom, and the hybridized Sufi orders that often attract Western converts to Islam as well as a new generation of legacy Muslims. In previous studies of Sufi movements in the West, I defined the category of “transplanted Sufism” as primarily consisting of smaller groups of co-ethnics who follow a Sufi teacher and/or Sufi order in much the same way as they might have done in their original cultural settings. In this chapter, however, I will examine this category more analytically in the context of the dynamics of Islam globally and in the global West through scrutinizing existing studies as well as offering further exemplars of what might be construed as “transplanted” Sufi groups. Some of the issues raised are: the scope and applicability of theories of locality — are these groups trans-national, multi-national, multi-sited, etc.? Where to position groups such as Deobandis and Barelvis who, in fact, display elements of Sufism; and where to position Western Sufi movements that now have outreach or centers in traditionally Muslim-majority settings.