C L O S E R

An anthropology of Muslims in Europe - A modest attempt by Martijn

Author: martijn

Diyanet in Turkey and the Netherlands – Transnational politics and politicization of research 1

anthropology / Headline / Multiculti Issues / Society & Politics in the Middle East

Diyanet in Turkey and the Netherlands – Transnational politics and politicization of research

The time that researchers could pretend to work in an academic bubble is definitively over, if it ever existed. Research plays a role in political processes and they are always part of specific power configuration. This is particularly clear in case of the research on Islam and Muslims in Europe. Doing research in the post 9/11 political climate about issues such as the place of Islam in European societies is caught up in a complex political and social web of opposing requirements and assumptions. In this article Thijl Sunier reflects upon his research on the Turkish Diyanet and its relation with the Netherlands understood against the background of fundamental changes in Turkish society.

Closing the week 18 – Round up Osama Bin Laden 1

Blogosphere / International Terrorism / Society & Politics in the Middle East

Closing the week 18 – Round up Osama Bin Laden

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.) This week featuring Osama bin Laden.

Strijd om de publieke ruimte – Hizb ut Tahrir op de Dam 0

Multiculti Issues / Public Islam / Society & Politics in the Middle East

Strijd om de publieke ruimte – Hizb ut Tahrir op de Dam

Vandaag organiseerde de organisatie Hizb ut Tahrir (HuT – Partij van de Bevrijding) een demonstratie ter ondersteuning van de opstanden in het Midden-Oosten in Amsterdam op de Dam waarbij mannen en vrouwen gescheiden waren. Deze actie in combinatie met de reacties erop zijn een prachtig voorbeeld van de politiek van de publieke ruimte.

Doing Anthropology 0

anthropology

Doing Anthropology

Anthropologists have to analyze, reveal and understand people’s view of reality and how their practices are related to that. But what does that actually mean? What is it that anthropologists do? What is their research about? In a video, three members of MIT’s Anthropology Department, Stefan Helmreich, Erica James, and Heather Paxson, talk about their current work and the process of doing fieldwork.

Three days of the West – What is Westernization? 1

Blind Horses / Joy Category / Multiculti Issues

Three days of the West – What is Westernization?

Last week in the Netherlands we had, again, a debate on young asylum seekers. It was decided that a 14-year old Afghan girl could remain in the Netherlands although their asylum request had been rejected. One of the criteria that played a role in the recent decision to let them stay is that she is ‘westernized’ over the years. The criterium of ‘Westernization’ is not defined however. Service oriented as this anthropologist is, I have decided to look into the matter of Westernization a little more closer in order to come up with a definition.

Live: Islamophobia Production and Re-Defining Global 'Security' conference 0

Multiculti Issues

Live: Islamophobia Production and Re-Defining Global 'Security' conference

The Center for Race and Gender at the University of California, Berkeley, Organization of Islamic Conference, Council on American-Islamic Relations, and GTU’s Center for Islamic Studies will host a two-day conference focusing on the growing Islamophobia phenomena in the United States and its impacts on American Muslims and relations with the Muslim world. At present the airwaves, news, T.V. shows and centers of culture production are filled with Islamophobic content thus making racism directed at Muslims and Islam a fully sanctioned discourses affecting American Muslims as well as shaping foreign policy discourses. The conference has a very interesting program and also uses a livestream that can be watched here.

Masculinity Box – The Smell of Burning Ants 0

Gender, Kinship & Marriage Issues

Masculinity Box – The Smell of Burning Ants

How men are socialized into being ‘men’ or ‘boys being boys’ has a lot of consequences for both men and women. In this post two videos that shed some light on this issue. The Smell of Burning Ants is a haunting documentary on the pains of growing up male. It explores the inner and outer cruelties that boys perpetrate and endure. The film provokes the viewer to reflect on how our society can deprive boys of wholeness. And in the TED video Tony Porter gives a brief introduction to what it means how we define masculinity.