895 research outputs found

    A Story of One\u27s Own: Creative Narratives about Muslim Women in Turkey

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    Writing fiction within a feminist framework is a helpful way in bringing up women’s issues to a wider readership that is not necessarily familiar with feminist scholarship. Through creative narrative an author can dispel misunderstandings, correct misconceptions and represent underrepresented women who have been rendered invisible or pushed to the margins by hegemonic discourses. My novella tells the story of a group of Muslim women doing community work in Turkey. Navigating their way in contemporary Turkey, these women dispel the upheld literary stereotypes of Muslim women. Through their work and dedication, these women show that they are not victims of a suppressive religion, or escapees from an oppressive culture. Instead they see themselves as participants in a noble cause for the benefit of the wider society. The impetus for their service is drawn from the main sources of their religion: Quran and the example of the prophet Muhammad

    Born a Eunuch - Harmful Inheritance Practices and Human Rights

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    The Brazilian Telenovela El Clon : An Analysis of Viewers\u27 Online Vicarious and Virtual Learning Experiences

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    This research involves investigating Brazilian telenovelas as a medium to disseminate knowledge about different cultures and customs. Through a qualitative content analysis this study examines messages posted in the El Clon telenovela-world forum with reference to the Muslim cultural theme explored by the telenovela. The theoretical framework overarching this study is the combination of Bandura\u27s social learning/cognitive theory and Freire\u27s dialogical/participatory communication. In order to operationalize the study, a qualitative content analysis is undertaken utilizing the sub-dimension parasocial interaction model proposed by Sood & Rodgers (2000). The messages are analyzed in order to explore how forum participants engage in the discussion brought by the telenovela, in light of the proposed parasocial sub-dimensions: affective, cognitive, and behavioral interactions, and critical and referential involvement. The different opinions voiced and exchanged in the forum verify that the message writers think about the educational content of the novela, in the case of this study the portrayal of the Muslim culture, and the repercussion of this portrayal not only among the Muslim community but also the non-Muslim

    An analysis of the discursive representations of women’s sexual agency in online fatwas : a case study of askimam.org

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    Master of Art in Gender and Religion. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg 2015.Combining a feminist post-structural methodology with a legal interpretive framework located in classical texts, this study analysed six fatwas on South Africanbased Mufti Ebrahim Desai’s online fatwa platform, askimam.org, to provide insights into the discursive representations of women’s sexual agency. By virtue of their potential to provide data on lived experiences of sex and intimacy in modern contexts, and the legal interpretive reasoning they prompt, the analysis of these fatwas revealed competing and complementary discourses on women’s sexual agency. Petitioners grapple with the dissonance created by their pietistic loyalty to the legal tradition of marriage, and expectations of mutuality within contemporary marriage. They rely on varying dimensions of health to argue for women’s choices in the sexual arena. In their responses, some muftis accommodate women’s sexual refusals and desires using an ethical framework, and they support mutuality using strategies of sexual communication and benevolent masculinity. Unlike other facets of health, which are managed in the juristic space as spiritual concerns, physical health concerns related to sex are managed within a biomedical ethical paradigm, thus linking sexual rights to physical health. The study shows the potential for muftis to link sexual rights to psychological and emotional facets of health and the possibilities to adopt an ethical paradigm that includes other medical and allied therapies. Amongst the fatwas produced by Desai and his students, Desai’s own fatwa, in the context of reform inclinations on his website, suggests this possibility. Although the online fatwas of askimam.org do not diverge substantially from the legal logic of Muslim marriage, they provide a glimpse into how Deoband muftis are thinking about the model of marriage, through an emphasis on mutuality and health and well-being, in order to preserve the marriage and maintain the stability of the contemporary Muslim family. The study proceeds to analyse how foundational sources, Qur’an and hadith, are utilised in this regard, and concludes with an analysis of how the online space is gradually reformulating traditional concepts and norms, thus facilitating new prospects for reconfiguring gender relations

    Awareness of and support for human rights among Turkish university students

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    Human rights have a high place on the agenda of the world today. In the eyes of their defenders they are a sine qua non for the peace and the welfare of mankind and for democratic ideals. On the other hand the human rights records of many countries are still very poor and in some cases even scandalous. Thus the promotion and the reinforcement of human rights, their propagation, cultivation, and protection everywhere, depend upon the ceaseless efforts of all those concerned, including both official authorities and civil societies alike. As part of these efforts, studies on the attitudes of strategic social groups such as youth, women, and minorities with regard to human rights may provide some useful information and clues for both theoretical understanding and practical, preventive, and corrective purposes. In view of this, the present study attempts to uncover certain facts concerning the awareness of and the support for human rights in one such strategic group in Turkey: university students

    Parasuicide in Arab Palestinian society of the West Bank

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    Parasuicide in the Arab Palestinian society of the West Bank is investigated by looking at the public and private dimensions of a 'suicide phenomenon' which occurred in 1997. Research on parasuicide is reviewed along with Arab cultural ideas about self-harm and self-killing, including suicide and martyrdom, and the socio-historical and political contexts of contemporary Ramallah. The available suicide statistics and their social construction are discussed. Thirty one cases of parasuicide are examined within their social contexts and the implications of the findings of the study are considered

    Rule Of Law In Morocco: A Journey Towards A Better Judiciary Through The Implementation Of The 2011 Constitutional Reforms

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    Judicial reform has historically been an important (but not the sole) component of rule of law reform, a decades old movement affecting the developing world, emerging (or not so emerging) democracies and post- conflict nations, and equally applicable to countries commonly identified as Western, including the United States
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