An anthropology of Muslims in Europe - A modest attempt by Martijn
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 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.
Simplistic views about tribal structures in the Middle East doom large in the media and blur our understanding of the current uprisings when the revolutions and concomitant transformations are discussed that take place in the Middle East. However if one looks at these societies from an anthropological perspective a different image of this social phenomenon, not typical for Middle Eastern societies alone, may arise. Based upon her research in Oman, Corien Hoek shows that in this country, state and nation building over a long period of time has thoroughly transformed the tribal organization even though tribes still constitute the back-bone of society at grass-roots level. These social formations have an important integrative function, whereby seeking consensus, and negotiating with representatives from all groups concerned are well-proofed methods and conditions for the success of authority and stability within and between the tribes. Moreover equality of the families, their leaders and the members is a guiding principle, in which the Islam has its role too.
Ik ga heus niet op die pseudo-deskundigen over de opstanden in het Midden-Oosten, maar soms verschijnen er commentaren die zo stupide zijn, zo waanzinnig flauwekul, tsja dat ik er eigenlijk juist niet op zo moeten reageren. Maar ik doe het dan toch maar over het stuk van Rob van Kan in HP/De Tijd: De Libische opstand is vooral een fundi-zaak. Het is stuk is feitelijk onjuist, hangt aan elkaar van verdachtmakingen en onlogische redeneringen.
Past Syrië in het rijtje Tunesië en Egypte? Of kunnen er Libische toestanden ontstaan? Dick Douwes laat zijn licht schijnen over de situatie in Syrië en de protesten aldaar.
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 the uprisings in the Middle East, again, but now with a special focus on the events in Syria.
In navolging van Merkel en Cameron hebben nu ook Verhagen en Rutte gesteld dat de multiculturele samenleving mislukt is. Maar wat bedoelt men daar nu eigenlijk mee? In een serie van blogposts geef ik een schets van de maatschappelijke context waarin deze redenering opkomt en het blootleggen van de gevaarlijke cirkelredenering van het falen van de multikul. Dit is het vierde en tevens laatste deel van de serie: secularistische dwingelandij.
What direction will Egypt be going in the time coming? Anthropologist Samuli Schielke is once again in Egypt and talked to several people and sees contradictory developments that were already going on but that are now partly magnified and partly transformed: the reintroduction of capitalism with a major social impact, the wave of a religious conservatism that was depoliticised in the past but is now becoming openly political in the aftermath of the protests and is also part of the neoliberal system of governance. Other major points pertain to the difficult relationship between ordinary people and the state, the crisis of patriarchal authority and people claiming their voice. Interestingly Schielke also shows how revolution is an emotional state and endeavour.
Het is vrijdag. En het is revolutiedag. En die revolutie wordt steeds bloediger. Een overzicht met Yemen, Libië, Syrië, Marokko, Saudi Arabië, Palestina en Bahrain.
In navolging van Merkel en Cameron hebben nu ook Verhagen en Rutte gesteld dat de multiculturele samenleving mislukt is. Maar wat bedoelt men daar nu eigenlijk mee? In een serie van blogposts geef ik een schets van de maatschappelijke context waarin deze redenering opkomt en het blootleggen van de gevaarlijke cirkelredenering van het falen van de multikul. Dit is deel 3: over het post-seculiere karakter van de samenleving.
