Category: Featured

De Marokkaanse Uitzondering? 2

De Marokkaanse Uitzondering?

De Arabische wereld schudt op haar grondvesten, de ene na de andere bevolkingsgroep komt in opstand tegen totalitaire regimes die hun onderdanen jaren lang onderdrukten. Vandaag is in Marokko een geplande grote demonstratie, maar toch lijkt het protest daar voorlopig weinig voet aan de grond te krijgen. Waarom hebben de gebeurtenissen in Tunesië en Egypte in Marokko, (nog) niet dezelfde reacties als in andere landen in de Arabische wereld teweeg gebracht?

Two Faces of Revolution 8

Two Faces of Revolution

Two young men have played a major role in igniting the popular uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt: Mohammed Bouazizi and Khaled Said. According to Linda Herrera their evocative if tragic deaths speak reams about the erosion of rights and accountability under decades of corrupt dictatorship, about the rabid assault on people’s dignity. They remind us of the desperate need to restore a political order that is just and an economic order that is fair.

Introducing Anthropology and Publicity 0

Introducing Anthropology and Publicity

Although anthropology is by definition ‘public’, the relationship between its practitioners and society, its social relevance and its connections with the wider audience, have always been controversial and complex. This will be the general theme of the meeting on 5 November 2010 at Ravenstein. To be sure, it is a vast and multifaceted topic.

Radicalization Series IV – Salafism as a Utopian Movement

Radicalization Series IV – Salafism as a Utopian Movement

There are many different approaches for research on Salafism and they all make clear that, although Salafism has some distinguishing features, the movement is quite diverse with many doctrinary contradictions and clashes and different politico-theological tendencies. It is therefore difficult to define Salafism in a clear, consistent way. Most definitions of Salafism focus on ideological differences or view them in a security perspective. Although helpful it does not take into account identity, gender or the idea that security and radicalization are themselves cultural constructions with specific local, national and transnational dimensions. They also take up the official doctrines, methods and identities of spokespersons and religious authorities but ignore the perspectives, ideas and practices of participants in the movements. In this entry I explore the Salafi movement in a more anthropological way focusing on the processes of meaning-making within the perspective of utopian movements.

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Islamizing Europe – Muslim Demographics

The Youtube video Muslim Demographics is a hit all over the Internet. It is informed by several well-known narratives about the Islamic threat. In this article an evaluation of the most important ‘facts’ of this video. Notwithstanding the conclusion that the facts are disorted, the images in the video provide people with access to the abstract notion of the Islamic threat and in some cases (as with Fitna the movie) it creates and organizes the relationship between a particular authority and parts of his constituency. In that case, the real facts do not matter, what matters is making the fact of the Islamic threat real and concrete. ***UPDATED 15 MAY 2005***