Muslim-majority Regions Research Articles

Encountering Generation (Wh)Y: Building Bridges through Student-driven, Immersive, Interactive, and Technology-based Devising

Encountering Generation (Wh)Y: Building Bridges through Student-driven, Immersive, Interactive, and Technology-based Devising Asif Majid (bio) and Rob Jansen (bio) Introduction In fall 2014 the Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics at Georgetown University (an interdisciplinary endeavor at the intersection of the School of Foreign Service and the Department of Theater and Performance Studies; hereafter “the Lab”) launched Myriad Voices: A Cross-Cultural Performance Festival, a two-year collection of performances, convenings, public forums, interdisciplinary courses, and new theatrical work. The Lab was one of six universities and arts organizations nationwide to receive funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation as part of its Building Bridges program, which seeks to expand awareness and understanding about Muslim societies through the performing arts. Co-founding director of the Lab Derek Goldman saw Myriad Voices as an opportunity “to think expansively about ways of engaging performance” in an effort to “convey the diversity of Muslim majority populations” and “expose and call into question prevalent stereotypes,” while engaging students “in a truly dialogic performative process.” The third Myriad Voices event, Generation (Wh)Y: Global Voices On Stage, was an innovative multimedia performance devised by Georgetown students resulting from their year-long, interview-based dialogues with young people from nineteen countries, designed to create community and expand cultural understanding through one-on-one interactions. Here, we discuss the production’s efforts at authentically connecting interviewees and student deviser-performers, deviser-performers and audience members, audience members themselves, and (ultimately) notions of self and Other. We argue that achieving a truly dialogic process requires participants and audiences to build bridges despite various spatial, social, and emotional barriers, a goal we sought to accomplish through immersive, interactive, and technology-driven storytelling. Specifically, the Duke Foundation’s grant tasked awardees with creating “cross-cultural knowledge and understanding by engaging young people and other audiences in performances [focused on] contemporary Muslim-majority regions of the world.” The grant targeted millennials (defined by the foundation as those born after 1980), a generation growing up in the aftermath of 9/11 and bombarded with images of Muslims as terrorists in social media, television, and film (see Ryzik). As such, Generation (Wh)Y, a free event held in Georgetown’s Davis Performing Arts Center (DPAC) in April 2015 sought to provide an alternate narrative and fulfill the foundation’s goal of building bridges between Muslim and non-Muslim communities. Furthermore, it allowed the Lab to highlight the international nature of Washington, D.C., and Georgetown’s student body, as reflected in admissions rates: the undergraduate class of 2018 was admitted in 2014 with 8 percent of international students (Moore); it was 11 percent for the class of 2017, and 8 percent for the class of 2016 (Ashley). Outreach for Generation (Wh)Y focused on the university campus and previous attendees of Myriad Voices events (which included the Arab community for Syria: The Trojan Women and the South Asian community for Amrika Chalo). One international student, on seeing Generation (Wh)Y, [End Page 109] recognized the “think global, act local” intent of the production and its focus on millennial voices, remarking that it was “between us [students], you know, from us and to us.” Indeed, the title of the show itself played with stereotypes: those of the millennial generation, Gen Y, being both wary of commitment (always asking “why”) and distracted by technology. By contrast, we believed that if students felt ownership over the project and experienced a genuine connection to its content, they would be fully engaged. Moreover, we believed that we could use students’ proficiency with technology to expand theatrical possibilities; in particular, we wanted to explore how technology could draw student devisers and audiences closer to their international peers by bringing those peers into the performance space. As a project, Generation (Wh)Y rested on the notion of the “encounter,” which we defined based on a poem, “Peas and Carrots” by Egyptian political cartoonist Mohamed “Andeel” Qandeel, that explores the origin of humankind from the perspective of gods on high who split humanity into nations and tribes. Core Ensemble member Michelle Chen brought “Peas and Carrots” into the devising process and translated it from Arabic to English along...

Reflections on Islamic marriage as panacea to the problems of HIV and AIDS

Heterosexual intercourse is epidemiologically the leading factor in the spread of HIV/AIDS. Although the heterogeneous Muslims condemn condom use as leading to zina, the Muslim majority regions of North Africa and the Middle East have the lowest HIV prevalence in the world. Through the desk-top approach the paper evaluated Islamic marriage as a possible panacea to the problems of HIV/AIDS. The correlation between religion and the spread of HIV/AIDS has remained ambiguous, for while both Christians and Muslims advanced the same moral values, HIV prevalence peaked among majority adult Christian populations and drastically dropped among majority Muslim populations. This means the Islamic marriage praxis includes some unique features. Such features include obligatory pre-marital circumcision, strict separation of sexes, combined religious, judiciary and political sanction against pre-marital sex, extra-marital sex and compulsory levirate marriage. The unique marriage sanctions are gradually restricting freedoms in the areas of polygyny and divorce; slowly restricting multiple sexual contacts which are epidemiologically prone to HIV/AIDS. Hypothetically, Islamic marriage can impact favorably on HIV/AIDS prevalence. Key words: Abstinence, fidelity, HIV/AIDS, panacea, zawj.

Pattern of sexually transmitted infections in a Muslim majority region of North India.

Changing trends of sexually transmitted infections (STI) and HIV/AIDS has been noted in the literature over years, depending to some extent on the geographical and cultural factors of the region. In Kashmir Valley also, the pattern of STI may be different from the rest of the country. The aim was to present the experience with patterns of STI in Kashmir. Retrospective hospital-based study carried out by detailed analysis of case records of 5-year period. A total of 184 patients, 100 males and 84 females, had specific STI. Genital ulcer disease was the presentation in 54 patients (29.35%), out of which herpes genitalis was found in 27 patients (50%), followed by chancroid in 13 (24.07%) and syphilis in 10 (18.52%) patients. 42 female patients (22.83%) presented with vaginal discharge, out of which, 24 (57.14%) had vaginal candidiasis. 24 males (13.04%) presented with urethral discharge, out of which, 15 (62.5%) had nongonococcal and 9 (37.5%) gonococcal urethritis. Genital molluscum contagiosum (MC) was found in 19 patients (10.33%), and warts in 15 (8.15%). HIV positive serology was detected in 3 patients (1.63%). The most common STI encountered in our study was genital ulcer, followed by vaginal discharge, urethritis, genital MC, and genital warts. Herpes genitalis was the commonest genital ulcer; candidiasis was the most common cause of vaginal discharge and nongonococcal urethritis the most common cause of urethritis. These findings are by and large similar to those noted in other parts of our country.

Pattern of sexually transmitted infections in a Muslim majority region of North India

Background:Changing trends of sexually transmitted infections (STI) and HIV/AIDS has been noted in the literature over years, depending to some extent on the geographical and cultural factors of the region. In Kashmir Valley also, the pattern of STI may be different from the rest of the country.Aims of the Study:The aim was to present the experience with patterns of STI in Kashmir.Materials and Methods:Retrospective hospital-based study carried out by detailed analysis of case records of 5-year period.Results:A total of 184 patients, 100 males and 84 females, had specific STI. Genital ulcer disease was the presentation in 54 patients (29.35%), out of which herpes genitalis was found in 27 patients (50%), followed by chancroid in 13 (24.07%) and syphilis in 10 (18.52%) patients. 42 female patients (22.83%) presented with vaginal discharge, out of which, 24 (57.14%) had vaginal candidiasis. 24 males (13.04%) presented with urethral discharge, out of which, 15 (62.5%) had nongonococcal and 9 (37.5%) gonococcal urethritis. Genital molluscum contagiosum (MC) was found in 19 patients (10.33%), and warts in 15 (8.15%). HIV positive serology was detected in 3 patients (1.63%).Conclusion:The most common STI encountered in our study was genital ulcer, followed by vaginal discharge, urethritis, genital MC, and genital warts. Herpes genitalis was the commonest genital ulcer; candidiasis was the most common cause of vaginal discharge and nongonococcal urethritis the most common cause of urethritis. These findings are by and large similar to those noted in other parts of our country.

RELIGION AND STATE POLICY IN CENTRAL ASIA

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Additional informationNotes on contributorsMartha Brill Olcott is a Visiting Professor at James Madison College of Michigan State University and a senior fellow at the Institute for Global Engagement. She is also Professor Emerita at Colgate University, where she served on the faculty from 1975 to 2002. A prolific author, Olcott has been studying religion, identity, and politics in Central Asia and in other Muslim-majority regions for over 40 years. Her books include In the Whirlwind of Jihad (Brookings, 2012).

Islam, identity and professional values: A study of journalists in three Muslim-majority regions

Islam is a religion, but it is also a philosophy. An analysis of surveys in the Arab world, Indonesia and Pakistan reveals that the mission and values of journalists in those Muslim-majority regions closely track Islamic obligations to tell the truth, seek justice and work toward the public interest. This article provides empirical data to bolster the argument that the values of Islam are the prism through which journalists in Muslim-majority countries approach their profession. Those findings add to the body of research supporting the theory that journalistic norms are contextual, shaped by a hierarchy of influences that include global standards and local values such as culture, political climate and religion. But the findings also indicate that in regions where a professional journalistic culture is in the process of emerging, the influence of personal versus professional values is in reverse proportion to those found in more mature journalistic markets.

Becoming Patani Warriors: Individuals and the Insurgent Collective in Southern Thailand

Focusing on the case of Thailand's ongoing insurgency in its southern Malay Muslim majority region, this article examines the circumstances surrounding individual's choices to engage in violent revolt and their conformity and non-conformity with the norms and disciplines of the movement in which they operate. Insurgent-driven violence in Thailand's southern border provinces has attracted considerable attention, but little has been published about the people who become “Patani Warriors” (juwae). Based on the authors’ direct encounters with current and former insurgents and study of Thai official documentation and captured insurgent propaganda material, this article presents the most detailed information currently available on southern Thailand's shadowy fighters. We argue that there is no single type of Malay Muslim insurgent: this variegated reality defies the normative ideals projected in insurgent's indoctrination material while it also poses a challenge for the Thai authorities to define in simple terms those who oppose the state.

“Survival Is Now Our Politics”: Kashmiri Hindu Community Identity and the Politics of Homeland

Kashmiri Hindus are a numerically small yet historically privileged cultural and religious community in the Muslimmajority region of Kashmir Valley in Jammu and Kashmir State in India. They all belong to the same caste of Sarasvat Brahmanas known as Pandits. In 1989-90, the majority of Kashmiri Hindus living in Kashmir Valley fled their homes at the onset of conflict in the region, resettling in towns and cities throughout India while awaiting an opportunity to return to their homeland. After their migration, the community became caught up in highly politicized national debates about secularism, governance, and the state's responsibility to its citizens in India. In this article I consider the construction of Kashmiri Hindu collective identity through community discourse in the 1990s, with special attention to the way in which this discourse framed the issue of return to the homeland. My discussion of Kashmiri Hindu community discourse draws on a number of resources, including articles in daily newspapers and weekly magazines, community publications such as white papers and human rights reports, collections of essays written by Kashmiri Hindu scholars, and personal interviews with community leaders during the period of my anthropological fieldwork in New Delhi in 1998-2000.

Intellectualism in US Diplomacy

When someone is honestly 55 percent right, that's very good and there's no use wrangling. And if someone is 60 percent right, it's wonderful, it's great luck, and let him thank God. But what's to be said about 75 percent right? Wise people say this is suspicious. Well, and what about 100 percent right? Whoever says he's 100 percent right is a fanatic, a thug, and the worst kind of rascal.An Old Jew of Galicia1George W Bush ordered the invasion of Iraq to test out an idea that had been gestating for 25 years. In the late 1970s, an ambitious young Pentagon analyst named Paul Dundes Wolfowitz identified Iraq as a likely future threat to American interests. A trained political scientist and ardent anticommunist, Wolfowitz distrusted the ruthless Saddam Hussein and thought him susceptible to Soviet influence.2 Yet he also recognized that abhoring a despot's methods was not sufficient cause to effect his removal. Wolfowitz instead formulated a radical theory that the Middle East represented fertile ground on which to plant American-style values. He concluded that this oil-rich, Muslim-majority region would embrace westernization and that Israel represented a beacon of sorts. The Zionist movement had proved that democracy and rapid economic growth could take root in arid, forbidding climes. Could not Muslims and Kurds do the same in Iraq?Wolfowitz thought that America was better placed than any other nation to give Iraq a gentle nudge in the direction of liberty. The birth-pangs of democracy are not edifying, but this self-assured Pentagon staffer believed that the human costs of war were well worth paying. With Saddam gone, a nation that had flourished-in earlier centuries as Mesopotamia-would become a laboratory for economic and democratic liberalization. Rebuilt from the top down, Iraq would follow the same trajectory as postwar Japan and Germany-two nations dismantled comprehensively by the US military before rising from the flames. Wolfowitz believed that as soon as their personal liberty was restored, Iraq's Shias, Sunnis, and Kurds would overcome their historical grievances to establish a free and prosperous Iraq. As the durability of Iraq's transformation became apparent, the rest of the Middle East would be persuaded to follow its example. Wolfowitz's mantra was that actions speak louder than words, and that the sincerity of the catalyzing idea was the key to its realization.As President Ronald Reagan found common cause (against Iran) with Hussein's regime through the 1980s, conservative realists began to view Wolfowitz warily as an idealistic crank. Originally hired by Reagan to direct the policy planning council at the State Department, Wolfowitz was appointed assistant secretary for east Asian and Pacific affairs in 1982, and was dispatched to Jakarta four years later to serve as the US ambassador to Indonesia. With each move eastward, Wolfowitz became increasingly detached from Middle East policymaking. And when Reagan completed his second term, the election of the arch-realist George H. W Bush promised further marginalization for this visionary neoconservative. But when Iraq invaded Kuwait in August 1990, Wolfowitz's promotion prospects improved dramatically. His views on the threat posed by Saddam Hussein's Ba'ath regime began to look perceptive rather than delusional.Wolfowitz was delighted that the president had declared war on Iraq to restore Kuwait's sovereignty. It took little time for him to become disillusioned, however, when Bush decided that an occupation of Iraq would yield few tangible results beyond a possible quagmire. The first President Bush was cautious-an instinctive pragmatist-and he held serious reservations about Wolfowitz's notion that the United States could recast the Middle East in America's image. As Bush explained later, Whose life would be on my hands as the commander-in-chief because I, unilaterally, went beyond the international law, went beyond the stated mission, and said we're going to show that we're macho? …