An anthropology of Muslims in Europe - A modest attempt by Martijn
When doing research one of the most difficult tasks is preventing information overload. There are so many interesting aspects in your own research (of course my research is the most interesting in the whole world…) that you want to include as much as possible and you don’t want to miss anything. Fortunately there are several things you can use to create and maintain some order in the chaos.
A weekly round up of writings on the Internet, some relevant for my research, some political, some funny but all of them interesting (Dutch/English). (As usual to a large extent based upon suggestions from Dutch, other European, American and Middle Eastern readers. Thank you all.)
Lida van den Broek verdedigt volgende week vrijdag haar proefschrift De ironie van gelijkheid. Over etnische diversiteit op de werkvloer.
Kern van haar betoog is het paradoxale punt dat juist de ideologie van gelijkheid bijdraagt aan racisme op de werkvloer van bedrijven.
Zou het in een democratische rechtsstaat mogelijk moeten zijn om aanslagen te verheerlijken? Hoe ver mag de Nederlandse overheid gaan in het opleggen van kledingvoorschriften ten aanzien van moslims? Zijn er gronden waarop men verbodsbepalingen ten aanzien van uitingsvormen van islam kan legitimeren? Dit zijn vragen die aan de orde zullen komen tijdens een symposium van de Onderzoekschool Maatschappelijke Veiligheid van de Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam.
Saba Mahmood is Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of California Berkeley and the author of Politics of Piety: The Islamic Revival and the Feminist Subject. In her lecture she challenges the consensus that the Danish cartoon controversy is best understood as a clash between the values of free speech and blasphemy. Her analysis has implications for how Muslim and non-Muslim Europeans want to think about their collective future in European societies.
Het Nationaal Islam Congres was zeer de moeite waard, vermoeiend en met een goede, gemoedelijke sfeer. De verontrusting die er voor het congres was onder bepaald niet-moslims zal daarmee zeker niet weggenomen. Niettemin denk ik dat het een belangrijk congres is geweest waar diverse onderwerpen aan bod kwamen die al veel langer onder moslims in discussie zijn zoals burgerschap, de positie van de vrouw, de sharia en de verschijningsvormen van het salafisme. Een korte impressie van mijn hand.
A weekly round up of writings on the Internet, some relevant for my research, some political, some funny but all of them interesting (Dutch/English). (This week to a large extent based upon suggestions from Dutch, other European, American and Middle Eastern readers. Thank you all.)
Of course, anthropology is one of the most important and interesting studies one can imagine. But what does an anthropologists on Youtube give a nice impression. The Internet offers a range of possibilities for anthropologists and the work on Youtube is fascinating. Moreover, the participation of students in it, make it highly relevant for teaching as well.
Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi was not only the mentor and teacher of Al-Zarqawi but his texts also played a major role in several Dutch jihadi circles, in particular that of the Hofstad network. The murderer of filmdirector and writer Theo van Gogh translated several texts of Al-Maqdisi such as Millat Ibrahim. Al-Maqdisi has presented a new book and an essay (the latter has been translated into English). In the essay he criticizes the pope and the book is dedicated to, among others, the pope and Geert Wilders.
The representation of religion in the public sphere can bring about major debates and conflicts. In the Netherlands, the limits of free speech and Dutch tolerance are to be tested in a court case after judges ruled that a right-wing MP Geert Wilders who compared the Koran to Mein Kampf and last year released the film Fitna, should be put on trial for inciting hatred and discrimination in his speeches. Similar issues can be found in other cases such as the “Muhammad Cartoons in 2005/2006. The Dutch Association for the Study of the Middle East and Islam (MOI) invites you to attend a lecture that will address the issues of freedom speech, self-censorship and the representation of religion: “Cartoons, minorities, freedom of speech and self-censorship in Denmark” by Jørgen S. Nielsen.
