From patronage to neopatrimonialism: Postcolonial governance in Sub-Sahara Africa and beyond

Even if ‘good governance’ goals have dominated public policy in postcolonial polities in the last decades, their politics and public administration often continue to be marked by authoritarianism, nepotism and corruption – the very practices good governance policy was to eradicate. In this article, we try to account for this apparent intractability of ‘poor’ and, occasionally, outright ‘bad’ governance. First, we argue that what appears as ‘bad’ governance to those embracing conventional, essentially Weberian, ‘good governance’ conceptions, may in fact be ‘good’ governance after all. Practices of political clientelism or patronage may reflect and accord with widely shared cultural beliefs about good and legitimate governance. Second, we show that the predominance of personalism and unofficial relationships that characterizes political clientelism may combine with modern bureaucracy in ways that drastically subvert the type of ‘good governance’ embodied by traditional moral economies of patronage. We dissect the logics of neopatrimonialism, a type of regime in which ruling elites use the state for personal enrichment and profit from a public administration that is patently unstable, inefficient, nontransparent and that fails to distribute public resources to large segments of the population. Third, we argue that the pragmatic survival strategies to which ‘ordinary’ citizens resort in response to such neopatrimonial neglect often, and ironically, entail the direct engagement with – rather than an outright distancing from – neopatrimonial politics

Gods huis in de steigers

In this book three anthropologists explore contemporary religious architecture and they develop an original vision on the religious landscape in the Netherlands and Europe. Mosques, synagogues and churches do not only facilitate and symbolize religion, the intimate relationship we have with these buildings touches the essence of what religion is today - in both a positive and a negative sense

Religion, Sexual Ethics and the Politics of Belonging: Young Muslims and Christians in the Netherlands

This article offers a comparative study of everyday sexual ethics among Dutch Sunni Muslim and evangelical Christian young adults, both those born into religious families and those converted later in life. In European public debates, the sexual values of observant Christians and – especially – observant Muslims, are commonly understood to deviate from progressive norms. Particularly for Muslims, this has become a ground for questioning their belonging to the moral nation. Our ethnographic analysis complicates these conventional representations, which are partly reflected in quantitative survey research. We argue that the sexual ethics of the young Muslims and Christians we studied are multi-layered, situational, and dialogical. Discussing the convergences and divergences between these groups, we point to a paradox: while Muslims tend to be set apart as sexually ‘other’, the young Christians we worked with – and to a lesser extent the converted Muslims – put strikingly more effort into distinguishing themselves from, and criticising, dominant sexual norms

Religion, sexual ethics, and the politics of belonging : young Muslims and Christians in the Netherlands

This article offers a comparative study of everyday sexual ethics among Dutch Sunni Muslim and evangelical Christian young adults, both those born into religious families and those converted later in life. In European public debates, the sexual values of observant Christians and - especially - observant Muslims, are commonly understood to deviate from progressive norms. Particularly for Muslims, this has become a ground for questioning their belonging to the moral nation. Our ethnographic analysis complicates these conventional representations, which are partly reflected in quantitative survey research. We argue that the sexual ethics of the young Muslims and Christians we studied are multi-layered, situational, and dialogical. Discussing the convergences and divergences between these groups, we point to a paradox: while Muslims tend to be set apart as sexually 'other', the young Christians we worked with - and to a lesser extent the converted Muslims - put strikingly more effort into distinguishing themselves from, and criticising, dominant sexual norms

Religion, Sexual Ethics and the Politics of Belonging: Young Muslims and Christians in the Netherlands

This article offers a comparative study of everyday sexual ethics among Dutch Sunni Muslim and evangelical Christian young adults, both those born into religious families and those converted later in life. In European public debates, the sexual values of observant Christians and – especially – observant Muslims, are commonly understood to deviate from progressive norms. Particularly for Muslims, this has become a ground for questioning their belonging to the moral nation. Our ethnographic analysis complicates these conventional representations, which are partly reflected in quantitative survey research. We argue that the sexual ethics of the young Muslims and Christians we studied are multi-layered, situational, and dialogical. Discussing the convergences and divergences between these groups, we point to a paradox: while Muslims tend to be set apart as sexually ‘other’, the young Christians we worked with – and to a lesser extent the converted Muslims – put strikingly more effort into distinguishing themselves from, and criticising, dominant sexual norms

Sonhos de uma mesquita icônica : entrelaçamentos temporais e espaciais em uma igreja convertida de Amsterdã

Este artigo foca na criação de iconicidade através da arquitetura religiosa em Amsterdã, Holanda. Ao examinar a Mesquita de Fatih, abrigada em uma antiga igreja católica no centro da cidade, apresentamos de que maneiras os esforços para fazer desta uma mesquita icônica são moldados pelo terreno icônico da construção, pelo qual determinamos seu envolvimento com outros locais (religiosos e não religiosos) do passado e do presente. Esse campo icônico é caracterizado pelas cadeias de conversão que precederam a mesquita, legados materiais e discursivos de “ocultação” e interações simbólicas contemporâneas com construções próximas, como a Igreja Ocidental. Ao desenvolver uma análise dos entrelaçamentos espaciais e temporais da Mesquita com o espaço urbano de Amsterdã, buscamos revitalizar uma abordagem diacrônica e relacional que vem sendo negligenciada, principalmente em estudos sociais-científicos de mesquitas no Ocidente. Não iremos analisar um único local de devoção em um momento específico na história, mas chamaremos atenção para as relações entre o Islamismo e outras arquiteturas religiosas e para as maneiras com que as mesquitas interagem com amplas genealogias e geografias das religiões, não apenas por associação, mas também por conexões concretas de relações, política ou cultura material

Gods huis in de steigers

In this book three anthropologists explore contemporary religious architecture and they develop an original vision on the religious landscape in the Netherlands and Europe. Mosques, synagogues and churches do not only facilitate and symbolize religion, the intimate relationship we have with these buildings touches the essence of what religion is today - in both a positive and a negative sense

Pedagogies of piety: Comparing young observant Muslims and Christians in the Netherlands

In this article, I compare the active religious engagement found among many of today's young Dutch Muslims and Christians. I show that such comparison requires a move beyond the separate frameworks through which these groups are commonly perceived, found both in widely shared public discourses (allochthons versus autochthons) and in academic research (minority studies versus the sociology of religion). In their stead, this comparative analysis examines in what ways both groups give shape to observant religious practice in the shared context of contemporary Dutch society. Based on ethnographic fieldwork, I show that young Christians as well as Muslims participate in social settings of religious pedagogy, where they are encouraged to attain, sustain and improve personal piety in today's pluralist Dutch society. Such social participation does not preclude, but rather comes together with a strong emphasis on reflexivity and authenticity. © 2014 Taylor and Francis