Closing the week 50
Most popular at Closer this week:
- Christmas tree hugging at the HHS
- New publication: Global Salafism – Islam’s new religious movement
- Islamizing Europe – Muslim Demographics
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Anthropology
Getting from topics to problems | Savage Minds
First generalize your topic. What is that thing that you find so fascinating about your topic, and can you find it in other topics?
Second find the differences between the particular cases covered by your generalized, comparative topics.
Third put a question mark on it. The simplest way to do this is what accounts for […] differences
Fourth, remove proper nouns. Now that you have added the question mark, remove all proper nouns.
The things Dutch windows tell « Standplaats Wereld
As anthropologists we all know that inanimate objects are cultural artifacts and that they are more telling than one can imagine. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. What does your window tell us about you?
‘ilm al-insaan ??? ???????: Iran and the FB Revolution
From Hamid Dabashi’s Social Networking and the Making of a Civil Rights Movement, Nov. 2009, on social networking as the new print media in the formation of Imagined Communities, the relevance of new forms of communication, and the activation of networks used initially for mundane, daily purposes into political mobilization tools.
In Harmonium » Some thoughts on Anthropology as a “Science”
there is an interesting problem which has dogged the history of the discipline itself: what do we actually mean by the term “Science”?
tabsir.net » Like a Virgin, but not for the very first time
Virginity, at least when it comes to the female of the species, is one of the most critical ethical melting points of societies in which females are burdened with a symbolic honor that denies their own control over their own bodies. The Virgin Mary in Christian theology remains a virgin, since the heavenly father of Jesus had no earthly form with which to impregnate her. Much is made in the media today about honor killings in Mediterranean societies, and in areas where more conservative forms of Islam merge with patriarchal ideology, like Pakistan and Afghanistan. Since the self righteous males who guard their sisters hymens but frequently dally with the hymens of other men’s sisters or daughters are not likely to go feminist and vote pro-choice, women must either remain strict virgins (and hope that they are not one of those women who are born with perforated hymens quite naturally) or find some chicken blood. But now the Japanese and Chinese have a more sanitary solution: a kit that allows a woman to insert an artificial hymen in only five minutes.
Grant McCracken: When did “several” become “multiple?”
And I think we know what’s happening here. Police spokespeople like to dress their remarks in extra dignity and they do this by reaching for their “best” vocabulary. People become persons or perpetrators. Guns become firearms. And they are not fired; they are “discharged.” The victim has multiple wounds. It just sounds more official, more commanding, more large and in charge. Don’t worry. Your city is safe with us.
In the case of “I phoned him multiple times,” the speaker signals a certain impatience. As if there is an absolute limit to the number of times we should have to phone someone and that limit has been reached. Damnit!
Why should we want to sound more official, more in control? Why should we want to sound more bureaucratic. Especially when the rest of the culture is becoming both more informal and more playful. Why, exactly, would we want to resemble police spokespeople. I have no answers here. Only vexing, cultural questions.
Is existentialism nationalism? « Cultural Meanings
Is existentialism nationalism? The “turbulent priest” and Danish People’s Party parliamentarian Søren Krarup argues that it is. The following is a translation of an article he published in Politiken on 10th November 2009. He draws on Kierkegaard to argue that a change of system has taken place in Denmark, and that the rest of Europe will follow where Denmark leads – down the path of xenophobic ethnic nationalism. There are some comments and explanations of terms in the notes. A more detailed analysis will follow soon.
European politics
Immigration: the test case | Nick Saville | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk
Talk of immigration is on the rise: a new survey claims most voters feel immigration is bad for Britain; Gordon Brown has made a speech declaring his intention to tighten up policy in the area; and while recently released figures indicate that net migration has in fact fallen by a third, so more people left Britain than came in over the last 12 months, there are still people who complain about the number of people entering Britain.
Some argue that the hot air generated around the issue means hard facts are overlooked in favour of pandering to opinion polls. Policymakers often fail to look at the complexities of the migration process. Today, as part of a reformed immigration strategy, the different groups seeking to enter or settle in Britain are confronted with a range of formal assessments, including English language and Life in the UK tests. These tests take place at different stages of the “journey to citizenship”, as the Home Office likes to call it.
But do these tests help or hinder Britain?
The recent Swiss referendum that bans construction of minarets has caused controversy across the world. There are two ways to interpret the vote. First, as a rejection of political Islam, not a rejection of Muslims. In this sense it was a vote for tolerance and inclusion, which political Islam rejects. Second, the vote was a revelation of the big gap between how the Swiss people and the Swiss elite judge political Islam.
CJO’s Avenger212 » Blog Archive » The Hypocrisy of Al-Demoqratia
Muslims escaping to the West, physically and figuratively, only to find double standards, self-negation and, at times, pure hypocrisy.
For now, however, a new consensus is forming: democracy can be invoked and used against Muslims only, and not for Muslims. It can be manipulated to deny them their identity in Europe and their freedom in Palestine, to ensure their subjugation in Iraq and in Afghanistan, and to meddle in their internal affairs everywhere else.
Al-demoqratia, indeed.
Europe: Integrating Islam – Council on Foreign Relations
Introduction
Since 9/11, Western Europe’s growing Muslim population has been the focus of debate on issues ranging from immigration policy to cultural identity to security. Several incidents in recent years have increased tensions between some Western European states and their Muslim populations: the 2004 Madrid and 2005 London attacks, the 2004 ban of the head scarf coupled with recent calls to ban the “burqa” in France, the 2005 Paris riots, the 2006 Danish cartoon incident, and several high-profile murders.
Despite signs that Muslims are beginning to succeed in business and academia in countries such as France and Germany, many analysts say most of Western Europe’s Muslims are poorly integrated into society. They cite closed ethnic neighborhoods, high crime rates in Muslim communities, calls for use of sharia law in Europe, the wearing of the veil, and other examples as evidence of a conflict with European values. Reacting to the November 2009 vote to constitutionally ban minarets in Switzerland, Oxford University scholar Tariq Ramadan wrote in the Christian Science Monitor: “Over the last two decades Islam has become connected to so many controversial debates … it is difficult for ordinary citizens to embrace this new Muslim presence as a positive factor.” Fears over a possible major demographic shift toward Islam as well as ongoing Muslim assimilation problems highlight the continuing divide between Europe and its Muslim population.
Middle East
Pickled Politics » Review: What’s Really Wrong With the Middle East
Let us establish something first. There is something wrong with the Middle East. There are indeed, several things wrong, and Brian Whitaker’s book, ‘What’s Really Wrong With the Middle East’ manages, with great insight and a perfectly pitched tone, to collate the most illuminating set of factors that contribute to this state. The title seems to have annoyed some Arabs, who predictably do not appreciate ‘outsiders’ airing their dirty laundry, and also irked non-Arabs who predictably do not think it is their place to tell Arabs what it wrong with them.
But before I go any further, I must declare an interest. The author conducted several interviews with writers, bloggers, academics and journalists etc from the Middle East and I made a short contribution to a section on racism in the Arab World. This technique, in my view, makes the book a much more riveting work for all the personal anecdotes and front of line accounts exemplifying the various maladies from which Middle Eastern societies suffer. They are more than just ‘amusing incidents’ as Shloto Byrnes observes in the New Statesman. Instead of the usual top down approach to isolating the region’s ills, Brian Whitaker digs deeper to uncover the endemic causes of inequality and political stagnation. The book cuts to the chase by avoiding government and official sources of regurgitated propaganda and focusing on issues such as education, corruption, patriarchy and how religion informs politics and identity.
An Arab Woman Blues – Reflections in a sealed bottle…: Suffocating Suffixes…
Was reading the latest from the West Bank where Jewish settlers attacked a mosque in the village of Yasuf, torching the mosque’s library and spraying death threats with ” get ready to pay the price, we will burn you all.” (source)
Now the article, and that is not the only one nor the first time, calls these culprits hardline Jews. Fair enough.
Christians who aggress Muslims are also called hardline Christians.
Adjectives like hardline, extremist, ultra-orthodox, fundamentalist, occasionally fanatical…almost always precede; qualifying those particular groups, designating them apart from the rest of mainstream Jews and Christians. Again, fair enough.
Dutch (and one in German)
Bruggenbouwers » Homo’s dankzij moslims hét symbool van verdraagzaam Nederland
Niet alleen Marokkaanse jongeren maar ook gesluierde moslima’s hebben ervoor gezorgd dat Nederlanders de laatste jaren steeds meer zijn uitgedaagd om een keuze te maken over de toekomst van Nederland. De onvoorwaardelijke steun van homo’s door met name Geert Wilders en zijn PVV heeft hierin een belangrijke rol gespeeld. De ‘gewone homo’ is hierdoor – zo lijkt het wel – het geweten van de natie geworden. In zekere zin zou je dus kunnen zeggen, meent Sanders, dat dankzij de islam de homo-emancipatie een belangrijke impuls heeft gekregen. Tegelijkertijd gaf de columnist toe dat – dankzij de komst van de inmiddels bijna één miljoen moslims in Nederland – homo’s het soms weer erg moeilijk hebben met het openlijk belijden van hun geaardheid.
Mediacourant.nl » » Mohammed Enait loopt weg bij Pauw & Witteman
Advocaat en moslimfundamentalist Mohammed Enait is vrijdagavond boos weggelopen uit de uitzending van Pauw & Witteman op Nederland 1. Enait vond dat talkshowhost Jeroen Pauw tijdens het interview ‘monocultureel’ te werk ging. “Je leeft in een grachtengordel en weet niet wat gebeurt in deze samenleving. Dat is jouw probleem“, riep Enait verontwaardigd. Pauw vond dat de Surinaams-Nederlandse jurist zich niet zo op moest winden. “Hé, luister vriend. Je bent een provocateur.“
Allah, de man die voor iedereen het vlees komt snijden. | De Dagelijkse Standaard
Het hele integratie debat lijkt verworpen tot de woorden “Allah”en “Islam”.
Waar integratie over dossier zou moeten gaan als:
De aanpak van de groeiende groep criminelen uit Oostbloklanden, toename van geweld in wijken
met Antilliaanse en Surinaamse bewoners en het groeiende aantal suïcidale vrouwen met een Surinaamse- Hindoestaanse afkomst.
Lijkt het nu alsof “Islam” de heleboel dekt en “Allah” weer het vlees komt snijden.
Lucaswashier » Blog Archive » Karel de Gore
Kunnen we dan nu misschien weer normaal gaan doen? Van mij hoeft niemand respect te hebben voor welke godsdienst dan ook. Mensen die hun leven inrichten naar een voorbeeld uit een boekje, of dat nu de Bijbel, de Koran, de Srimad Bhagavatan, Dianetics of 100 Manieren om slank te blijven is, beperken zich in hun zelfontplooiing. Maar dat voortdurende gelul over Mohammed de pedo hangt me de strot uit. Het is niks meer dan laffe uitlokking. Wees dan een vent en sla een imam op zijn bek bij het uitgaan van de moskee.
Maar het woord islamofoob zegt het al. Het zijn bange schijtluizen.
Minarettenverbod Zwitserland voornamelijk gewenst door religieuzen | .god.voor.dommen
Wat vrijwel niet aan de orde gekomen is in de Nederlandse media is dat Zwitserland overwegend religieuzer is dan de omringende landen. Als we kijken naar de officiële statistieken blijkt ongeveer 42% katholiek, 35% protestant, 4% moslim en een magere 11% ‘niet-praktiserend’. In de laatste categorie bevinden zich de atheïsten, maar ook de agnosten (voor zover die echt een aparte groep vormen), de ‘ietsisten’ en natuurlijk de mensen die vol goede moed naar Derek Ogilvie luisteren.
swissbanWanneer de gegevens aangaande religiositeit per kanton uitgezet worden tegen het aantal stemmen voor het grondwettelijk verbod op het bouwen van minaretten, zo heeft de website FiveThirtyEight uitgezocht, dan ontstaat de grafiek links.
De schijn van islamitische dominantie – Wij Blijven Hier!: Het schrijversplatform van moslims
Voor moslims in dit land is een belangrijke taak weggelegd en wel deze: Moslims moeten enige terughoudendheid betrachten en de schijn van ‘islamitische’ dominantie in het Nederlandse straatbeeld zien tegen te gaan.
Prof. Dr. Jamal Badawi over ‘Vrouwenrechten in Islam’ | News on the Net
De woorden ‘Islam’ en ‘vrouwonvriendelijk’ worden niet zelden in één zin uitgesproken. De vrouw zou in de religie een minderwaardige positie innemen, met de hoofddoek als symbool van onderdrukking. Maar is dit werkelijk het geval? Professor Dr. Jamal Badawi, werkzaam als ‘Professor Emeritus’ aan de St. Mary’s University in Halifax (Canada) zal op vrijdag 11 december een gemengd publiek van moslims en niet-moslims hierover toespreken in Rotterdam.
nrcnext.nl » Columnisten » Gejodeld
De column van Geert Wilders over het Zwitserse minarettenverbod, op de site van EenVandaag, had een prachtige eerste zin. ‘Het liefst had ik deze column gejodeld’, stond er. Ik denk dat Geert hier recht uit het hart sprak. Jodelen betekent namelijk – en nu hanteer ik de officiële definitie – ‘het afwisselend met borststem en kopstem zingen van reeksen betekenisloze klanken’.
Beter had ik zijn retoriek niet kunnen omschrijven.
Welk godsdienstig belang is er mee gemoeid wanneer de IKON een politieke partij beticht van het inspelen op onderbuikgevoelens? Die vraag stelde PVV-kamerlid Martin Bosma afgelopen donderdag aan minister Plasterk n.a.v. een nieuwe IKON-radiorubriek met de titel ‘Beste PVV-stemmer…’ . Daarin worden prominente Nederlanders uitgenodigd om een brief te schrijven aan iemand die straks PVV wil gaan stemmen.
Wie man Minarette groß rausbringt « BILDblog
Nachdem die Schweizer in einer Volksabstimmung am Wochenende beschlossen haben, per Verfassung den Bau von Minaretten zu verbieten, wird auch in Deutschland wieder über das Verhältnis zum Islam und seinen Symbolen diskutiert.
Als Illustration des Konfliktes scheint sich vor allem ein Motiv anzubieten: Das Minarett der Yavuz-Sultan-Selim-Moschee in Mannheim vor dem Turm der Liebfrauenkirche. Auf der Seite 2 der “Süddeutschen Zeitung” zum Beispiel sah das gestern so aus: