Gabriele Marranci is Director of the Study Contemporary Muslim Lives research hub at the Department of Anthropology, Macquarie University, Australia. He is author of Jihad Beyond Islam (Bloomsbury, 2006) and The Anthropology of Islam (Bloomsbury, 2008). He also holds an honorary senior affiliation at the Centre for the Study of Islam in the UK, Cardiff University, and is Founding Editor of the journal Contemporary Islam: Dynamics of Muslim Lives.
As we all know, and as Gabriele Marranci stresses in the introduction to his intelligent new work, the frame or discourse of terrorism in recent years (especially since 9/11) has shifted from 'crime' to 'war,' calling naturally for a different response ... The surprising but convincing position of the book, though, is that both sides in this clash of values make roughly the same argument about the other, which boils down to the profound anthropological question of how to be a human. * Anthropology Review Database * Wars of Terror is a significant contribution to one of the most problematic contemporary concerns. It should be read by anyone who wishes to develop a more nuanced understanding of the issues, emotions and ideas at stake ... For anthropologists, in particular, the book should both inspire us both to apply the discipline's canon to global issues, and to explore the current limitations of our methods and understandings. * Anthropology of Contemporary Middle East and Central Eurasia * Marranci's Wars of Terror is by far the best work I have seen on this topic of the political implications and consequences of the contemporary ideology and rhetoric of 'clash of civilizations'. It is an important, indeed crucial, contribution to our understanding of one of the most important issues of our time. For the increasingly polarized rhetoric about Islam, anthropologist Marranci unpacks the war of errors on all sides. Drawing on his own experience with Muslims in Europe, Asia and Australia, he covers the clash of values about what it means to be civilized, gender and sexuality, jihad and terrorism, conspiracy theories and secularism.