Exploring Islam

Explorations, like those of the so-called New World, have historically aimed at capturing the object of their discoveries, which may explain why the word appears to have been originally used within the context of the hunt. It is in this sense that we will attempt to uncover how Islam continues to be "explored" by observers in the West. Yet in doing so; that is, by collapsing the dam of secular discourse which would attempt to contain Islam in order to regulate its movement, we will also be able to "explore" Islam so as to cause it to flow once again, as the other etymology of the term would suggest (pluere). This (de)constructive task?of analyzing Islam as both a discursive object and a way of life?will be achieved through a collective historical-philosophical study of Islamic texts, performances, practices, sounds, events, communities, and images.