Islam as Drama: Wedding Rites and the Theatricality of Islam in South Sulawesi

This article discusses the prominence of wedding rituals in South Sulawesi to illuminate Islamic development in post-Suharto Indonesia and theatrical expressions of Islam through dramaturgical and social drama analysis. Theatre metaphors help explain the theatricality of Islam and the centrality of wedding rites in social and religious life in South Sulawesi, two social facts not easily understood by people outside this region. Through the performance of wedding rites, Muslims know themselves as Muslims, display social status and transform local politics. Analysis of wedding rites illustrates not only the importance of theatricality in the expression of Islam for the Bugis Makassar Muslims, but also how massive social and religious transformation is structured around a particular life-cycle ritual, namely weddings. Giving emphasis to theatricality, this article nuances recent studies about contemporary Islam, which largely focus upon the importance of discourses in the life of contemporary Muslims.     

全球化与伊斯兰教:文明的冲突?

通过对全球化潮流对伊斯兰世界的影响、伊斯兰世界对全球化的反映及全球化形势下的伊斯兰世界与西方的矛盾进行了分析、阐述后认为:全球化是现代化运动的继续和深化,是冷战后以美国等西方发达国家为主导的国际经济市场的发展.伊斯兰世界兴起的伊斯兰原教旨主义思潮及其复兴运动是对这种源自西方现代化过程的否定、批判和抵制,是对当前全球化运动所做出的一种强硬回应.各种文明间存在着差异、矛盾和冲突,但绝不是一些人预见意义上的冲突.把伊斯兰教等同于威胁西方的原教旨主义不仅错误,而且危险.     

全球化与伊斯兰教：文明的冲突？

通过对全球化潮流对伊斯兰世界的影响、伊斯兰世界对全球化的反映及全球化形势下的伊斯兰世界与西方的矛盾进行了分析、阐述后认为：全球化是现代化运动的继续和深化，是冷战后以美国等西方发达国家为主导的国际经济市场的发展。伊斯兰世界兴起的伊斯兰原教旨主义思潮及其复兴运动是对这种源自西方现代化过程的否定、批判和抵制，是对当前全球化运动所做的一种强硬回应。各种文明间存在着差异、矛盾和冲突，但绝不是一些人预见意义上的冲突。把伊斯兰教等同于威胁西方的原教旨主义不仅错误，而且危险。     

西方与伊斯兰:改造与应对

"9·11"事件后,西方在中东地区的推广民主运动及伊斯兰世界的应对是近期双方之间规模较大的一次互动.伊斯兰世界反西方情绪产生的根源在于现实国际政治,而不是宗教;民主推广战略是西方中心主义的继承和延续,"9·11"事件使其成为美外交战略中的首要目标和手段;在美国咄咄逼人的攻势下,伊斯兰世界作出了必要的抗议和斗争,但从长期来看,伊斯兰世界必须正视其自身存在的问题.     

西方与伊斯兰:改造与应对

“9·11”事件后,西方在中东地区的推广民主运动及伊斯兰世界的应对是近期双方之间规模较大的一次互动。伊斯兰世界反西方情绪产生的根源在于现实国际政治,而不是宗教;民主推广战略是西方中心主义的继承和延续,“9·11”事件使其成为美外交战略中的首要目标和手段;在美国咄咄逼人的攻势下,伊斯兰世界作出了必要的抗议和斗争,但从长期来看,伊斯兰世界必须正视其自身存在的问题。     

France,Germany and Islam: Negotiating Identities

Since the 1980s Islam in France and Germany has become part of the discourse of immigrants as well as the public authorities, and a source of action for militants active in voluntary associations. For immigrants it becomes a way of reappropriating an identity. The discourse reflects a sense of belonging to a community, the elements of which are drawn from its practice, its tradition and its rituals. Its organization reflects the expectation of individuals and the public authorities. This essay analyses the interaction between immigrant organizations and the state in France and Germany, and the role of the state in building a community defined by its religion towards the state.     

France, Germany and Islam: Negotiating Identities

Since the 1980s Islam in France and Germany has become part of the discourse of immigrants as well as the public authorities, and a source of action for militants active in voluntary associations. For immigrants it becomes a way of reappropriating an identity. The discourse reflects a sense of belonging to a community, the elements of which are drawn from its practice, its tradition and its rituals. Its organization reflects the expectation of individuals and the public authorities. This essay analyses the interaction between immigrant organizations and the state in France and Germany, and the role of the state in building a community defined by its religion towards the state.     

Reconciling Islam and feminism

This paper objects to the popular view that Islam supports a segregated social system where women are marginalized, and argues that certain Islamic texts are supportive of women's rights. The article proposes that Islam reconcile with feminism by returning to the Qur'an. The Qur'an provides rights which address the common complaints of women such as lack of freedom to make decisions for themselves and the inability to earn an income. One example is a verse in the Qur'an (4:34) that is frequently interpreted as giving women complete control over their own income and property. This article also explains how Islam has been used as a method of controlling women, particularly in the practices of veiling and purdah (seclusion). The article points out the need to engage in Islam from a position of knowing, and to ensure that Muslim women have access to this knowledge. It is only through this knowledge that women can assert their rights and challenge patriarchal interpretations of Islam.     

伊斯兰与恐怖主义行为

(一) 2005年7月7日和7月21日,伦敦相继发生恐怖主义爆炸事件;2005年7月23日埃及沙姆沙伊赫也发生了恐怖主义袭击事件,这些事件引发了许多亟待解决的问题.     

Religion and Incorporation: Islam in France and Germany

This article attempts to examine religion, particularly Islam, as an emergent type of corporate ethnicity in France and Germany and how Islam is represented and recognized in relation to the established principles governing the interaction of church and state both in the histories of each country and in comparison to the United States. Although religion constitutes one element of pluralism and diversity in which Islam would be the “religion of a minority” among other ethnic groups in the United States, in Europe Islam emerges as a “minority religion” in European nation‐states. Such a conceptual difference is reflected in the understandings and applications of multiculturalism and recognition in European countries and the United States. The question then is how to insure a historical continuity between principles and ideals of states on the one hand and how to integrate the religious diversity raised by Islam into the secularism of liberal European societies on the other.     

The Islamic Crescent: Islam,Culture and Globalization

This paper is an interdisciplinary consideration of Islam in general, and of Islam within the Islamic crescent in particular. Scholarly approaches to the study of Islam are explored, as well as the unity and commonality of attitudes and sentiments that exists right across the Islamic world. This last point is contrasted with differences within Islamic countries in the crescent, particularly in the context of culture. Indeed, this paper stresses the need to understand the relationship between culture and Islam. The paper concludes with an analysis of Islam and globalization, paying particular attention to modernization and Islamic identity.     

Islam and development: opportunities and constraints for Somali women

This article describes the effects of the rise of Islamic extremism on women's lives in Somalia since the early 1990s. Throughout the conflict and afterwards, Somali women's organizations in different parts of the country have been active in both development work and advocacy for peace. They were challenging both the government and nongovernmental organizations to recognize and promote the role of women in society, and to resist threats to women's rights. It has been documented that religious extremists were challenging women's rights within marriage and family, to their economic and political participation outside the home, and to their freedom of dress and behavior. The paper also highlights the fact that wholesome and unwholesome traditional practices tend to be associated with Islam, and with other rights as defined in Islam. It reconfirmed that the violations against Somali women's rights are culturally rooted, and that such practice continues unchecked. Until Somali women received a better education, particularly in religious education, this situation will continue. The only hope are the women's organizations who seriously attempt to redress the extremists' strategy of marginalizing women on the grounds of religious evidence.     

Culture and the law in Islam

Rather than living in a homogeneous world, Muslim women participate in vastly different cultures. The Women Living Under Muslim Law (WLUML) Network was set up to unite women in Muslim countries across the world and to stimulate them to analyze and reconceptualize the nature of their situation in order to formulate strategies for change. In Muslim countries, the law provides a web of rules which shape every aspect of women's lives. Because these laws have been presented as "Islamic," traditional human rights groups have been loathe to criticize them for fear of trampling religious rights. The WLUML started the "Women and the Law" project, therefore, to chart and conduct action-oriented research in law in 26 countries. This project is based on the conviction that the key to women gaining the power to control their destinies will lie in their ability to master the law that shapes their lives. This project should lay the foundation for the vindication of the human rights of Muslim women.