C L O S E R

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

C L O S E R Blog

Contested 'Dutch' Space – Place, space and field 0

anthropology / Multiculti Issues / Some personal considerations

Contested 'Dutch' Space – Place, space and field

Much of the debate about the establishment of mosques, women with niqab, processes of alienation among native Dutch in migrant areas, christmas decoration and so on, pertain to the issue of ‘place’ as in physical areas that are related to humans and their practices in particular ways. All kinds of histories, practices, meanings and experiences turn an area into much more than just an area. It is an imaginary landscape imbued with all kinds of meanings and contestations of those meanings changing over time. The dynamics of space and place constitute an important research field for anthropologists as they try go grasp the significance of the connections between people’s everyday lives, materiality and place in particular contexts.

Dutch local Jihadist networks 1

International Terrorism / ISIM/RU Research / Religious and Political Radicalization

Dutch local Jihadist networks

The Dutch General Intelligence and Security Agency (AIVD) announced today that the threat of local jihadist networks against the Netherlands has decreased. Dutch Jihadists appear to focus on jihad outside the country it is stated in the recent Dutch language publication ‘Lokale jihadistische netwerken in Nederland. Veranderingen in het dreigingsbeeld’ (‘Local Jihadist Networks in the Netherlands. Changes in the security assessment’). This report is a follow-up on ‘Violent Jihad in the Netherlands. Current Trends in the islamist terrorist threat), published in 2006.
UPDATED 16-12-2009

Moslimhobbyisme 7

Blind Horses / Deep in the woods...

Moslimhobbyisme

Moslimhobbyisme, een woord uitgevonden door de Telegraaf. Gefeliciteerd. Hele volksstammen van het plebs van de reaguurders van Geenstijl tot elitaire columnisten van de Volkskrant en van politici tot huisvrouwen houden zich hiermee bezig. Het is een vorm van postzegelverzamelen vermengd met het gezelschapsspel Ganzenborden. Aardig vermaak, als we maar niet denken dat het ook maar enig verband heeft met de realiteit van alledag.

Over de complexiteit van kerstbomen 0

Multiculti Issues / Some personal considerations

Over de complexiteit van kerstbomen

Antropologen mogen de dingen graag wat complexer maken. Nodeloos complex volgens sommigen misschien, maar de ratio is erachter is simpel en helder: de sociale werkelijkheid is complex. Dat blijkt maar weer eens uit de discussies over de kerstboom op de Haagse Hogeschool en het verbieden van het dragen van een kruisje bij de Amsterdamse GVB.

Closing the week 50 0

Blogosphere

Closing the week 50

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.)

Closing the week 49 – Featuring Sinterklaas & Black Pete: A Racist Dutch Tradition 0

Blogosphere

Closing the week 49 – Featuring Sinterklaas & Black Pete: A Racist Dutch Tradition

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 a ‘typical Dutch tradition’ Sinterklaas & Black Pete.

Debate: Research on Islam, Muslims and Radicalization 0

anthropology

Debate: Research on Islam, Muslims and Radicalization

Professor Thijl Sunier delivered his inaugural lecture last Friday at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Sunier published a short piece in the Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad in which he criticized the current state of research as being too much determined by the state’s and society’s agenda for example by focusing on radicalization at the expense of other developments among Muslims. Tillie, one of the radicalization researchers, has criticized Sunier’s allegation of a lack of independence and presenting his research by down playing others. What matters here I think, and Sunier points to that, is that scientific knowledge has a history and societal context and is embedded in and the product of power relations.