In Memoriam – Osama bin Laden (1957-2011)
Op 2 mei 2011 doodden Amerikaanse troepen de leider van Al Qaeda: Osama bin Laden. Voor de één de X-factor, voor de ander de Fear-factor.
Author: martijn
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.
Secularisme en Religie in de samenleving – een verslag
Ik was uitgenodigd om in een panel te zitten bij een debat over de positie van religie in de samenleving samen met Fatima Elatik (stadsdeelvoorzitter Oost), Cor Bon (directeur Mozes en Aäronkerk), Rachel Reedijk (antropologe en secretaris van de commissie dialoog van de Liberaal Joodse Gemeente) en Yassin el Forkani (jongerenimam). Een kort verslag.
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
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.
Debat: Religie in seculiere samenleving
Op woensdag 20 april 2011 van 18.00 tot 21.00 uur organiseren stadsdeel Oost en stichting Argan het vierde debat in de serie ‘Verbinden in Oost’. Het thema voor dit derde debat luidt: wat is de positie van religies in een seculiere samenleving?
Twitwa 16 – het sneue ventje spreekt
Het is even geleden, maar deze week op de valreep nog even een twitwa. Naar aanleiding van een column van mevrouw Kluveld.
The Ritual of Provocation II – Creating Spectacle and Presence
The recent Quran burning has caused a lot of upheaval in Afghanistan. According to some a senseless act, according to others prove that Islam is a violent religion. It both isn’t. The same can be said for Wilders’ movie Fitna and its sequal Fitna II, that (as he announced last week) will be released next year and will focus on ‘the barbaous life of the sick spirit of Mohammed’ in order to stimulate a public debate on the prophet Muhammad that will leave Muslims with enough reasons to leave Islam. In a series of three posts I will try to think out loud about the use and meaning of such public performances by political entrepeneurs. This is part II, on creating spectacle and presence.
Zanga Zanga in Libya
A few weeks ago Libyan leader Kadaffi gave an already famous speech in which he vowed to fight and die as a martyr. The rest of the speech was ominous but also incomprehensible. His speech appears to have become a youtube’s meme like for example Hitler’s speeches taken from the great film Der Untergang that has produced many hilarious new takes on Youtube. I will give you four here.
The Ritual of Provocation I – Burn, burn the Quran
The recent Quran burning has caused a lot of upheaval in Afghanistan. According to some a senseless act, according to others prove that Islam is a violent religion. It both isn’t. The same can be said for Wilders’ movie Fitna and its sequal Fitna II, that (as he announced last week) will be released next year and will focus on ‘the barbaous life of the sick spirit of Mohammed’ in order to stimulate a public debate on the prophet Muhammad that will leave Muslims with enough reasons to leave Islam. In a series of three posts I will try to think out loud about the use and meaning of such public performances by political entrepeneurs.