Religious identity and intercultural dialogue

(Résumé de l'ouvrage) In a world society ruled by economic globalisation, by political interests and theories such as Huntington's «clash of civilisations» that widen the gap between the North and the South, the question should be asked of the role of the religion. To what extent religion and politics can work together? Can faith still be thought as a means of saving the world? Considering that Christianity, Islam and Judaism have much in common, this collection of miscellanies wonders if these religions can join their forces for public benefit. Senior and junior scholars from all over the world, gathered for an interdisciplinary seminar, analyse the contemporary international relationships and geopolitics through the prism of religion, discussing whether it can provide practical solutions to solve conflicts and increase the respect of human rights.

Becoming a "practising muslim" : : reflections on gender, racism and religious identity among women in a Swedish muslim youth organisation

Artikkelit

Religious Identity and Consumption

Consumption choices assist in solving the problem of how to convey and recognize religious identities. In the communication of an identity, individuals use the knowledge embedded in consumption norms, which restrict the range of choices to a smaller set and abbreviate the required knowledge for encoding and decoding messages. Using this knowledge as a shared framework for understanding, individuals with religious beliefs can choose consumption items that would not only strengthen their beliefs but also help them express the intensity of their commitments to these beliefs. Because individuals and societies have different beliefs, norms, commitments, and expressive needs, consumption choice can help to express these differences. Our explanation contrasts with incentive-based approaches that view religious consumption norms as solutions to free-rider problem inherent in clubs.

Shi'a women's participatory roles in the establishing and sustaining Shi'a religious identity in South Florida : Islamic Jaffaria Association

The research on the Muslim American community is largely Sunni specific and the purpose of this thesis is to add upon the limited scholarly work concerning the Shi'a Muslim American community. This study looks into the American Shi'a Muslim education experience at the Islamic Jaffaria Education Center (IJEC) and how it establishes and sustains a Pakistani Shiite Muslim identity. In addition, research on widespread American Muslim education shows high female participation on all levels, including, but not limited to, board and teaching positions. To see if this situation exists inside the Shi'ite communities an ethnographic study was conducted over the course of about 4 months at the IJEC. The findings show that there is also high female participation at that Shi'ite education center on all levels. The study links the high female participation with the education and how it established and is currently sustaining a Pakistani Shi'ite Muslim American identity in South Florida.

Hezbollah's identities and their relevance for cultural and religious IR

This working paper analyses the role of religious and resistance identities in Hezbollah’s transformation and foreign relations. It argues that this Islamist movement has privileged material concerns over the religious dogma when both factors have not been coincidental. To do so, it uses a theoretical framework that presents the main characteristics of the anthropological and political interpretations of the role of culture and religion in defining the behaviour of international actors. In the chapter dedicated to Hezbollah, close attention is paid to the domestic and regional levels of analysis. When assessing Hezbollah’s religious identity, this paper argues that the salience of the pan-Islamic religious identity in Hezbollah’s origins has been replaced by an increased political pragmatism. It also argues that the fight against Israel represents Hezbollah’s raison d’être and that its resistance identity has not suffered major transformations and has been easily combined with religious rhetoric. Linking Hezbollah’s case study with the theoretical framework, this paper argues that political conceptions of cultural and religious identities provide the best analytical tool to understand the evolution of this Islamist movement.

Identity Formation and Negotiation of Afghan Female Youth in Ontario

The following thesis provides an empirical case study in which a group of 6 first generation female Afghan Canadian youth is studied to determine their identity negotiation and development processes in everyday experiences. This process is investigated across different contexts of home, school, and the community. In terms of schooling experiences, 2 participants each are selected representing public, Islamic, and Catholic schools in Southern Ontario. This study employs feminist research methods and is analyzed through a convergence of critical race theory (critical race feminism), youth development theory, and feminist theory. Participant experiences reveal issues of racism, discrimination, and bias within schooling (public, Catholic) systems. Within these contexts, participants suppress their identities or are exposed to negative experiences based on their ethnic or religious identification. Students in Islamic schools experience support for a more positive ethnic and religious identity. Home and community provided nurturing contexts where participants are able to reaffirm and develop a positive overall identity.

Unveiling Shi’i Religious Identities: Case Studies of Hijab in Culturally Homogeneous Canadian Schools

This qualitative case study explored 10 young female Shi’i Muslim Arabic-Canadian students’ experiences associated with wearing the Hijab (headscarf) within their home, community, and predominantly White Canadian public elementary school environments. The study integrated several bodies of scholarly theories in order to examine the data under a set of comprehensive lenses that more fully articulates and theorizes on the diversity of female Shi’i Muslim Canadian students’ experiences. These theories are: identity theories with a focus on religious identity and negative stereotypes associated with Muslims; feminism and the Hijab discourses; research pertaining to Muslims in school settings; and critical race theory. In order to readdress the dearth of information about Shi’is’ experiences in schools, this study provides an in-depth case study analysis in which the methodology strategies included 10 semi-structured in-depth interviews, 2 focus-group meetings, and the incorporation of the researcher’s fieldnotes. Data analysis revealed the following themes corresponding to participants’ experiences and values in their social worlds of home, community, and schools: (a) martyrdom and self-sacrifice as a means for social justice; (b) transformational meaning of the Hijab; (c) intersectionality between culture, religion, and gender; and (d) effects of visits “back home” on participants’ religious identities. Additional themes related to participants’ school experiences included: (a) “us versus them” mentality; (b) religious and complex secular dialogues; (c) absence of Muslim representations in monocultural schools; (d) discrimination; (e) remaining silent versus speaking out; and (f) participants’ strategies for preserving their identities. Recommendations are made to integrate Shi’i Muslim females’ identity within the context of Islam and the West, most notably in relation to: (a) the role of Muslim community in nondiverse settings as a space that advances and nurtures Shi’i Muslim identity; and (b) holistic and culturally responsive teaching that fosters respect of others’ religiosity and spirituality. This study makes new inroads into feminist theorizing by drawing conceptual links between these previously unknown connections such as the impact of the historical female exemplary role model and the ritual stories on the experiences of Muslim females wearing the Hijab.

Negotiating queer and religious identities in higher education: queering ‘progression’ in the ‘university experience’

This article addresses the negotiation of ‘queer religious’ student identities in UK higher education. The ‘university experience’ has generally been characterised as a period of intense transformation and self-exploration, with complex and overlapping personal and social influences significantly shaping educational spaces, subjects and subjectivities. Engaging with ideas about progressive tolerance and becoming, often contrasted against ‘backwards’ religious homophobia as a sentiment/space/subject ‘outside’ education, this article follows the experiences and expectations of queer Christian students. In asking whether notions of ‘queering higher education’ (Rumens 2014 Rumens, N. 2014. “Queer Business: Towards Queering the Purpose of the Business School.” In The Entrepreneurial University: Public Engagements, Intersecting Impacts, edited by Y. Taylor, 82–104. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.) ‘fit’ with queer-identifying religious youth, the article explores how educational experiences are narrated and made sense of as ‘progressive’. Educational transitions allow (some) sexual-religious subjects to negotiate identities more freely, albeit with ongoing constraints. Yet perceptions of what, where and who is deemed ‘progressive’ and ‘backwards’ with regard to sexuality and religion need to be met with caution, where the ‘university experience’ can shape and shake sexual-religious identity.

Reconstructing identity: A study of new Muslims in São Paulo, Brazil

This paper will address questions of identity that male Muslim converts in São Paulo, Brazil face after adopting Islam. Specifically, it will analyze how they place their religion into notions of what it means to be Brazilian. Furthermore, this paper will show how many of these converts use Islam as a way to reconstruct their personal identities. Finally, it will argue that by becoming Muslims, they embrace a transnational religious identity. This paper will seek to show how conversion to Islam in São Paulo can significantly influence how individuals articulate notions of Brazilian national identity and belonging to the nation.

Punks and believers An ethnographic study of subcultural, religious and non-religious identities in Indonesian punk scenes

Punk subculture is often assumed to have an antagonistic disposition towards religion. In this thesis, I examine this relationship in the Indonesian context, where the level of religious devotion is higher than in Western societies. I concentrate on how Indonesian punks who belong to secular punk communities negotiate the relationship between their religious or non-religious and subcultural identities. In addition, I examine the status of religion on the collective level in the punk communities. I collected the ethnographic data on Java in 2012. In addition to semi-structured interviews and participant observation, the analyzed data consists of social media sites, punk records and an online enquiry. I utilized thematic analysis in the study. The notion of identity is understood the way Stuart Hall has conceptualized it. Another essential concept, affect, is derived from Lawrence Grossberg’s theorization. The religious participants separated punk and religion in their lives. Many Muslim informants used an Islamic typology to separate one’s personal relationship with Allah and one’s relationship with other people. While some participants filtered away certain elements of “Western punk”, the majority of them saw ideological similarities between punk and Islam. This relationship was negotiated using both affective and ideological rationalizations. Non-religious punks respected religious people, but criticized radical forms of religiosity. Some of them described the difficulties of maintaining a non-religious identity in Indonesia, and that they have felt less marginalized in the punk community. Almost all of the participants stated that punk scenes should be religiously neutral and viewed integrating punk and religion as a problematic phenomenon.

Europa: uma questão profana ou sagrada?: estudo sobre as relações entre o poder político e as religiões no âmbito do processo de integração europeia

Dissertação de mestrado em Direito da União Europeia

Doing Intersectionality: Repertoires of Feminist Practices in France and Canada

Intersectionality has been adopted as the preferred term to refer to and to analyze multiple axes of oppression in feminist theory. However, less research examines if this term, and the political analyses it carries, has been adopted by women's rights organizations in various contexts and to what effect. Drawing on interviews with activists working in a variety of women's rights organizations in France and Canada, I show that intersectionality is only one of the repertoires that a women's rights organization might use to analyze the social experience and the political interests of women situated at the intersection of several axes of domination. I propose a typology of four repertoires that activists use to reflect on intersectionality and inclusiveness. Drawing on a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the interview data, I show that hegemonic repertoires about racial or religious identity in one national context shape the way activists and organizations understand intersectionality and its challenges. The identity of organizations, as well as their main function (advocacy or providing service), also shape their understanding of intersectional issues.

"Locus Ecclesiae" : Passion du Christ et renouveaux ecclésiastiques dans la peinture murale des Pyrénées françaises : les styles picturaux (XIIe s.)

RESUME FRANCAIS Le premier chapitre de la thèse prend en considération le style des peintures murales du XIIe siècle à Toulouse, en Comminges, en Couserans, en Carcassonnais et en Roussillon. Chaque oeuvre est analysée de manière comparative avec les autres oeuvres de la même région. Dans la conclusion, on propose de reconnaître l'existence d'au moins trois - peut-être quatre - centres de production de peinture murale, qui exercent leur influence sur la production de la région. La ville de Toulouse se présente comme une véritable capitale régionale en matière de peinture murale. La découverte d'une inscription qui permet de dater une partie des décors de Saint-Sernin à l'année près constitue l'acquis majeur de cette partie. Le deuxième chapitre est consacré à l'analyse de l'iconographie de la Passion du Christ dans les peintures de Saint-Sernin de Toulouse, Saint-Plancard et Montgauch. L'on étudie ici lés valeurs ecclésiales et le thème de la rénovation dans l'iconographie de la Passion. L'étude explore aussi la notion de «lieu rituel » et la fonction spatiale des peintures dans l'édifice. Elle propose d'identifier des réaménagements du lieu selon l'exhibition d'un discours portant sur l'identité religieuse et l'autorité temporelle de l'Église, en coïncidence avec différentes facettes de la Réforme au XIIe siècle, dont l'étude a retrouvé certaines sources écrites. La troisième partie de la thèse est occupée par « le corpus des oeuvres », base documentaire de notre travail comportant les données historiques, architecturales, techniques, épigraphiques et bibliographiques de chaque oeuvre. RESUME ANGLAIS The first chapter of the dissertation takes into consideration the style of mural painting in Toulouse, Comminges, Couserans, Carcassonnais and Roussillon. Each work is studied in a comparative way with the other paintings of the same region. In the conclusion, we propose to recognise the existence of at least three - maybe four - centres of production of mural painting, influencing the production of the region. The city of Toulouse represents a real capital for the region in terms of mural painting. The discovery of an inscription that dates a part of the paintings of Saint-Sernin is the major result of this part. The second chapter is devoted to the analysis of the iconography of Christ's Passion in the mural paintings of Saint-Sernin of Toulouse, Saint-Plancard and Montgauch. The enquiry explores the ecclesiastical values and the theme of renovatio in this iconography, as well as the notion of "ritual place" and the spatial function of the paintings in the building. It identifies the redevelopment of places according to the exhibition of a speech on the religious identity and the temporal authority of the Church. These meanings coincide with different aspects of the XIIth century Reform, evidenced by unpublished sources. The third part of the dissertation is the "corpus", a documentary base for the whole enquiry composed by information on the historical background, the architecture, the paintings' techniques, and the epigraphic data of each work.