Contesting Fundamentalisms

Fundamentalism has been thrust into the limelight by recent world events. It is necessary to understand fundamentalism in order to contest its claims, but talk of fundamentalism lacks precision. In Contesting Fundamentalisms, the authors cast a wide net to include an array of ideological positions in social and cultural movements, as well as more traditional areas of religious practice. The chapters critically investigate the nature of fundamentalism in economics, nationalism, ethnic relations, Aboriginal politics, gender politics and religious practice. Each of these areas is made clearer, or shown in a different light, by viewing them through a fundamentalist lens. These essays invite a multidimensional understanding of whom or what may be called “fundamentalist” and the dilemmas that this naming creates.