Doing gender,modestly: Conceptualizing workplace experiences of Pakistani women doctors

Using the theoretical framework of inequality regimes, this article offers a reconceptualization of purdah as it is practised, lived and experienced by women doctors of Pakistan. Based on an ethnographic study of Pakistani women doctors, this research indicates that practising purdah in the workplace is perceived as doing femininity within the hegemonic masculine workplace culture of Pakistan. In Pakistani organizations, individual and institutionalized practices of purdah create a gendered substructure which marginalizes women doctors by dictating the norms of conduct, international ethics, organization of physical space and work allocation. Patriarchal interpretations of religious doctrines of modesty provide legitimacy to the existence of these inequality regimes. Based on this, the article argues for a system‐level theorization of purdah that accounts for both individual and institutional norms of veil. Such conceptualization contributes to our understanding of how religion intersects with gender, class and race to create complex systemic inequities in organizational structure.     

Trajectories of Limitations with Activities of Daily Living Among Older Adults of Mexican Descent: The Role of Widowhood

Using seven waves of data from the Hispanic Established Population for the Epidemiologic Study of the Elderly (1993–2011), this study applies multiphase growth models to examine changes in limitations with activities of daily living (ADL) across widowhood experience among 385 older adults of Mexican descent. This study also investigates the implications of demographic characteristics, health, socioeconomic status, living arrangements, and social involvement. ADL limitations increased pre-widowhood, were at higher levels immediately before and especially during the transition to widowhood, and increased at a steeper rate post-widowhood. Age and partially depressive symptoms accounted for these trends in ADL limitations pre-widowhood and to a lesser extent during the transition to widowhood and post-widowhood. Older age, being female, chronic conditions, financial strain, lower educational attainment, coresidence with children and others, and less frequent church attendance were risk factors for higher levels of and greater increases in these functional limitations throughout widowhood experience.     

Why do Asian Americans academically outperform Whites? – The cultural explanation revisited

We advocate an interactive approach to examining the role of culture and SES in explaining Asian Americans' achievement. We use Education Longitudinal Study (ELS) 2002 baseline data to test our proposition that the cultural orientation of Asian American families is different from that of white American families in ways that mediate the effects of family SES on children's academic achievement. The results support our hypothesis, indicating that: (1) SES's positive effects on achievement are stronger among white students than among Asian-Americans; (2) the association between a family's SES and behaviors and attitudes is weaker among Asian-Americans than among Whites; (3) a fraction of the Asian-White achievement gap can be accounted for by ethnic differences in behaviors and attitudes, particularly ethnic differences in family SES's effects on behaviors and attitudes. We find that Asian Americans’ behaviors and attitudes are less influenced by family SES than those of Whites are and that this difference helps generate Asians’ premium in achievement. This is especially evident at lower levels of family SES.     

明代福州米荣《重建清真寺记》研究——福建伊斯兰教与回族史专题之一

福建是中国回回民族的萌生地之一,存留下许多重要的历史遗迹。元明两朝福建的穆斯林人口持续增加,以伊斯兰教为依托,回回民族的民族自觉也明显强化,通过清真寺修建等活动,反映出福建回族族群意识的提升,也显现出宗教观的某些变化,特别表现在"回而兼儒"的主动融会上,可以说开了明清之际回回学人"以儒解回"的先河。米荣所撰写的福州《重建清真寺记》是福建回族石刻的珍品,其内容在这些方面的价值尤显突出,具有很高的研究价值。本文以碑文内容的疏解为主线,延展到对米荣及其家族,以及碑文所涉及的众多明代福建回回人物及作者宗教观的研探上,试图以福建回族史为侧面,对整个明代回族史的认识有所加深。     

唐宋穆斯林史实杂考

本文依据文献资料,对唐宋有关穆斯林史的几段有歧见的史料加以分析,内容涉及唐代的蕃坊、辽与大食的关系、蕃坊中蕃客的宗教信仰、蕃商社会的法律等问题,作者在引证学术界已有成果的基础上,提出了自己的观点。     

The Haunting of Shame: Autoethnography and the Multivalent Stigma of Being Queer,Muslim, and Single

Sociology has neglected the terrain of the gay Muslim single as a sociological phenomenon. Produced and managed via meaningful social conduct, the gay Muslim single often holds negative symbolic and cultural worth, one of lacking identification and presence. The stigma of the gay Muslim single is actively reproduced through social and power relations. I examine multiple stigmas and dichotomies by using autoethnography to illustrate the human lived experience of a gay Muslim single, who is silenced, invisibilized, and embodies a social life of “emptiness.” The gay Muslim single, bringing about a “moral panic,” confronts temporal regulations, norms, and values, notably those of heterosexual ones in everyday social life. He is cast as an “outsider,” which reinforces his stigma in everyday social life.     

Ethno-religious groups work values and ethics: the case of Jews,Muslims and Christians in Israel

This study examines and compares, for the first time, the MOW (Meaning of Work) among Jews and Arabs (Muslims and Christians) in Israel and attempts to explain the similarities and the differences in work ethics among these ethno-religious groups. The MOW questionnaire was conducted on 898 Jewish, 215 Muslim and 103 Christian respondents who were currently working. The MOW dimensions were: economic orientation, entitlement norms, obligation norms, interpersonal relations orientation, intrinsic orientation and work centrality. The findings reveal significant differences in most of the MOW dimensions between the three religious groups. Overall, demographic factors partially explain the MOW differences. The MOW differences among the three groups can be explained mainly by cultural differences. Since there is mass Arab (Muslims and Christians) immigration from the Middle East to Europe this study provides a better understanding of their perceptions about work and their work values and ethics. The applications of the findings for organizations are discussed.     

Insider/Outsider: A Muslim Woman's Adventure Practicing ‘Alongside’ Narrative Therapy

The following paper centres on my unique experience as a white Australian therapist who is able to sympathise with a Western world view while being immersed in an Islamic world view. The goal is to share my journey as a Muslim Australian via an auto‐ethnography reflexive method. Using diaries, intentional reflexive positioning, and multiple modes of supervision, I contemplate an Islamic identity and value system while negotiating poststructural therapies such as solution‐focused collaborative, and in particular, narrative therapy as viable approaches to working with the Muslim community. There are two inquiries which are of interest. The first is to reflexively describe the experience of being a Muslim practitioner and wondering whether core differences in epistemological views between social constructionism and Islamic doctrine can be overcome. Secondly, this enquiry explores Quranic guidelines about how to perceive ‘problems’ in life, based on the premise that understanding how an Islamic world view addresses life's troubles may add to deeper conceptions of the role of difficulties. I propose that adherent Muslims have a natural metaphorical way of thinking that connects with some of the poststructural therapeutic skills and techniques and at the same time draw on past Quranic solutions for contemporary problems. Little has been written on narrative therapy as a suitable approach to working with Muslim clients. In the current paper I review my personal experience as a veiled Muslim therapist striving to implement narrative therapy alongside an Islamic epistemology.