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Muslim entrepreneurs in public life between India and the Gulf: making good and doing good

journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-07, 16:34 authored by Filippo OsellaFilippo Osella, Caroline Osella
Muslim entrepreneurs from Kerala, South India, are at the forefront of India's liberalizing economy, keen innovators who have adopted the business and labour practices of global capitalism in both Kerala and the Gulf. They are also heavily involved in both charity and politics through activity in Kerala's Muslim public life. They talk about their `social mindedness¿ as a combination of piety and economic calculation, the two seen not as excluding but reinforcing each other. By promoting modern education among Muslims, entrepreneurs seek to promote economic development while also embedding economic practices within a framework of ethics and moral responsibilities deemed to be `Islamic¿. Inscribing business into the rhetoric of the `common good¿ also legitimizes claims to leadership and political influence. Orientations towards self-transformation through education, adoption of a `systematic¿ lifestyle, and a generalized rationalization of practices have acquired wider currency amongst Muslims following the rise of reformist influence and are now mobilized to sustain novel forms of capital accumulation. At the same time, Islam is called upon to set moral and ethical boundaries for engagement with the neoliberal economy. Instrumentalist analyses cannot adequately explain the vast amounts of time and money which Muslim entrepreneurs put into innumerable `social¿ projects, and neither `political Islam¿ nor public pietism adequately captures the possibilities or motivations for engagement among contemporary reformist-orientated Muslims.

History

Publication status

  • Published

Journal

Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute

ISSN

1359-0987

Publisher

Wiley-Blackwell

Issue

S1

Volume

15

Page range

S202-S221

Pages

20.0

Department affiliated with

  • Anthropology Publications

Notes

Part of Special Edition Edited by F. Osella and B. Soares, submitted with the introduction.

Full text available

  • No

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2012-02-06

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