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。     

Disaster cosmologies in comparative perspective: Islam,climate change and the 2010 floods in Pakistan's Southern Punjab

As humanity enters a new era of climate‐induced unpredictability, research into the role of religion in shaping perceptions of, and responses to disaster will become increasingly important. This is particularly true of South Asia, which contains dense populations certain to be adversely affected by climate change. This contribution explores the way religion shapes and mediates responses to disaster in Pakistan. Where previous work in this field has focused on extremists and militants, mine considers currents of lived Islam that take explicit stances on questions of natural resource development. Drawing upon extensive primary data, I identify two distinct disaster cosmologies permeating state and society. First, I consider the official Islam of experts and policymakers, whose approach to development is derived from, but arguably surpasses the modernism of British and American colonial and Cold War paradigms in its dogmatic, faith‐based belief in the imperative of mastering and exploiting nature. The second is an altogether contrasting formation embedded in a political protest movement representing a marginalized constituency, the Siraiki speaking population of Southern Punjab, which mobilized flood affectees in the aftermath of the 2010 floods around issues of social and environmental justice.     

Dilemmas in International Social Work Education in the United Arab Emirates: Islam,Localization and Social Need

This paper discusses emerging dilemmas in social work education and practice in the United Arab Emirates. Here social work education is primarily based on Westernized curricula; however localized cultural sensitivities require that some mainstream issues, particularly in relation to issues of abuse, are not engaged with. Nevertheless research findings show that social problems such as these are clearly present in UAE society. Therefore it is argued that what is required is an accountable, effective social work education that retains cultural congruity whilst empowering practitioners with the knowledge needed to engage with contemporary social problems. Finally, to contextualize the dichotomy between local culture and the wider community of Islam in relation to social work, some comparisons are drawn with other Muslim nations, specifically Malaysia.     

美国学校教育变革中家庭参与的多维转向

家庭参与一直是美国学校教育革新的重要特质,直接影响到父母与相关教育者的态度与行为方式,对青少年儿童的成长有着决定性的影响。伴随着美国社会政治经济的发展变革,家庭参与一直是美国教育管理理论研究与政策分析的主要实践兴奋点。从美国教育变革的视域下回顾家庭参与的发展,发现该主题经历着不断演进的历程,在理论分析与政策实践方面呈现出不同维度的转向。这种转向深刻地反映了美国教育变革与其经济社会的互动规律,也折射出蕴含其中的美国历史文化传统,并昭示出未来美国教育变革中家庭参与发展的基本趋势。     

Equity in Education Expenditure in Thailand

This article analyses the distributional effects of education spending across regions of Thailand, a country that purportedly seeks to reduce regional welfare disparities through decentralisation. It finds that public expenditure on education is neither progressive nor pro‐poor, although there are sizeable regional differences, driven by the pro‐rich distributional profiles of public tertiary education spending and public transfers to private education. Policy‐wise, these results suggest that the current decentralised allocation of educational spending is not consistent with an equity‐enhancing goal.     

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.     

Innovation,High Technology Sectors,Higher Education and Human Capital: Education System Reform in Georgia

Reforms and changes in order to meet European standards were top priority. First steps towards legislative reform were taken in June 2001, when the parliament of Georgia initiated a project aiming to determine the main directions of education system development in Georgia. Education system reform in Georgia started in 2004 and lasted until 2007 with changes in the spheres of financing, management, teaching methods.     

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.     

Incentives, Capacity, and Implementation: Evidence from Massachusetts Education Reform

Since the 1980s, most of the states and the U.S. federal governmenthave enacted policies based upon the theory of standards-basededucation reform. These policies attempt to use incentives toovercome the difficulty of implementing policy in a looselycoupled system. This article presents a case study of the implementationof standards-based reform in Massachusetts. The case study showshow poorly thought-out incentive structures, lack of capacity,and lack of trust impeded implementation of the reforms. TheMassachusetts experience has implications for the educationreform movement nationwide, because Massachusetts has been aleader in the movement. Analysis of the Massachusetts case alsocontributes to the literature on how context affects policyimplementation.     

National conceptions,transnational solidarities: Turkey,Islam and Europe

In this article, I examine the interplay between the institutionalization of Islam in Europe and the transnationalism of Turkey's Directorate for Religious Affairs (Diyanet). Based on extensive fieldwork in Turkey, Austria, Belgium, France and Germany, I demonstrate not only the salience of the nation‐state prerogative on the part of both European states and the Turkish state but also the tension between national conceptions of Muslim identity on both sides amid transnational solidarities. I also argue that, to a certain extent, European policies of detransnationalizing the Muslim field in Europe also intersect with the Diyanet's transnational politics vis‐à‐vis Turkish/Muslim immigrants in their common resistance to the deculturalization of Muslims in Europe. While European countries try to nationalize their respective Muslim communities into their cultural and juridical framework through reterritorialization, the Diyanet has increasingly deterritorialized its activities to preserve a Muslim identity engrained in Turkishness – hence, the coexistence of both a tension and mutual accommodation between Europe and Turkey.     

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.     

Secular state,religious lives: Islam and the state in Malaysia

Debates on secularism in Malaysia often revolve around the legal, especially the constitutional, framework. To this end several NGOs organised a road show in 2006 to debate issues surrounding freedom of religion. Not only were these events mobbed by angry crowds, but also the state intervened and shut down these and future discussions on the topic of religion, deeming such debates sensitive. This article addresses the particularities of secularism in Malaysia vis-à-vis Olivier Roy's thesis in ‘Secularism Confronts Islam’ that sees religious space and secular space as discernable yet not antithetical and Charles Taylor's thesis in the ‘Secular Age’, where he points to a new definition of secularism as a pluralist and transcendent notion of belief. In Malaysia both variants are present, with the state playing a dangerous game situating itself between reactionary Muslim forces and a moderate majority.     

Conversion to Islam: Narratives of Awakening,Continuity, and Return

Previous research utilizing conversion narratives to understand how and why people convert has been troubled by the “accuracy” of the accounts. This study of Muslim converts in the United States sidesteps this problem by turning the focus away from the causes, motives, and drivers of conversion and placing it instead on the form or structure of their conversion narratives. More specifically, it foregrounds the subjective process of making sense of one's conversion story through the employment of formulaic narrative structures. Findings suggest that when accounting for their conversion to Islam, these respondents employed three different narrative structures: stories of awakening, continuity, and return. Although these stories vary in meaningful ways, each provides a different perspective on how conversion to Islam can be conceptualized and expressed narratively. The discussion centers on the similarities and differences between these stories in order to more fully articulate and distinguish their underlying premises. I conclude by considering how each of these stories are used by converts to convey the authenticity of their Muslim identities.     

Islam,national identity and politics in contemporary Kazakhstan

This article argues that, unlike other Central Asian states, the official response in Kazakhstan to its Islamic revival is distinctively ambivalent and even contradictory. The Nazarbayev government has rhetorically embraced the Kazakh qoja-centred Sufi heritage and the Hanafi school of Sunni Islam as the ‘traditional’ forms of Islam among Kazakh nomads and perceived them as constituent elements of the nation-building process. However, the representatives of the political elite have in reality unknowingly absorbed much of ‘untraditional’ Salafi Islam and ignored, marginalised or even suppressed the revival of Kazakh Sufism. This is in part because of their limited knowledge of the indigenous Kazakh Islamic tradition and in part due to the younger generation’s greater exposure to a range of Salafi-dominated influences emanating from abroad. The article begins with a brief historical perspective on the relationship between qoja-centred Sufism and ‘Kazakh-ness’ which is essential for establishing an analysis of the fissures in the current religious and political ideology pertaining to Kazakh nation-building.