The circular logic of humanitarian expertise

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Visible Under the Veil: Dissimulation, Performance and Agency in an Islamic Public Space

This paper seeks to characterize new meanings attached to women’s veiling in an Islamic public space, drawing from observations, interviews and field notes collected among various women’s groups in Afghanistan. It is argued that while the chadari – or burqa, as the Western press miscalled it, using the Urdu denomination – has become the ultimate symbol of women’s oppression for Western audiences, it is necessary to take a closer look at its multiple and often contradictory uses and to contextualise the reasons for its maintenance, despite the downfall of the Taliban regime. Ethnographic research demonstrates that women who are attempting to access public spaces have developed creative strategies of dissimulation to get public recognition. They have become visible under the veil and have sometimes been able to challenge gender hierarchies behind the appearance of compliance and conformity. These findings challenge liberal ideas according to which women’s visibility in public spaces is a necessary guarantee for their emancipation and their agency. In the context of foreign military occupation and increased insecurity, control by the state of women’s appearance in public settings is to be understood as a means to assert sovereignty and to preserve a sense of national autonomy. As in earlier colonial encounters, an area of cultural resistance has developed around women’s bodies that constrain the modalities of women’s re-entry in the public sphere. As a result, women have been left with no other choice but to adapt and find alternative ways to make their voice heard. This means, in practice, that veiling and bodywork in general are to be read as feminine performances destined to manage others’ impressions and not as mere acts of obedience to religious prescriptions

Cologne: why cultural explanations are dangerous for feminism

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Malalay's sisters: women's public visibility in 'post war/reconstruction' Afghanistan

This thesis investigates the modalities and conditions of Afghan women’s reappearance in the public domain following the downfall of the Taliban regime. Based on a twelvemonth ethnographic fieldwork conducted in 2007 among different groups of women (women MPs, women’s rights activists, female University Students) mostly based in Kabul, I study women’s responses to various social anxieties that have emerged as a consequence of this new visibility. I argue that while the current ‘reconstruction’ project has opened new possibilities for women and created new imaginaries pertaining to their role in society, the ideological framework (i.e liberal notions of equality and human rights etc.) on which it is grounded together with the strong military presence of foreign troops, have fuelled tensions at different levels of the Afghan society. Pressurized by their community to remain faithful to their ‘culture’, ‘religion’ and ‘tradition’ on one hand, and encouraged to access the public and become ‘visible’ by global forces on the other hand, women have been left with little choice but to adapt and find alternative ways to preserve a sense of autonomy. I describe these tactics as ‘oppositional practices of everyday life’ (De Certeau 1984), i.e complex practices of dissimulation which under the necessary appearance of compliance and conformity allow women to reconfigure social norms and create new spaces for themselves. More generally, this work engages with issues such as nationalism, Islam, gender, veiling, modernity, agency, rights and the public sphere

No wonder! Kingship and the every day at the Max Planck Society

Comment on “Academic precarity as hierarchical dependence in the Max Planck Society” by Vita Peacock, HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory, Volume 6, Issue 1, Summer 2016

Mariage « charia style » : pratiques quotidiennes de l’éthique islamique en Angleterre

En Angleterre, l’industrie du mariage musulman est depuis une dizaine d’années en pleine expansion. Celle-ci comprend notamment des services de rencontres matrimoniales labellisés « halal ». Ces services de plus en plus populaires parmi la nouvelle génération de musulmans anglais témoignent du glissement de catégories qui jusqu’alors appartenaient au domaine de la jurisprudence islamique vers des labellisations culturelles et identitaires visibles dans l’espace public. L’espace et les pratiques présentés ici soulignent l’émergence d’une nouvelle culture publique (Göle, 2014) au sein de laquelle les frontières morales sont sans cesse renégociées. En contrepoint aux études récentes sur la morale islamique qui se concentrent sur la « formation éthique » du sujet par la poursuite de dispositions vertueuses (Mahmood, 2005 ; Hirschkind, 2006 ; Agrama, 2010), la quête de la « bonne vie éthique » est conçue ici comme un exercice de funambulisme au cours duquel chaque pas implique de trouver l’équilibre entre des valeurs qui ne sont pas toutes forcément dictées par la foi. Ces pratiques incarnées révèlent la nature fragmentée et ambivalente des subjectivités modernes ainsi fondées sur la coexistence de motivations, d’objectifs et d’identités variés (Ferrié, 2004). C’est cette « flexibilité morale » (S. Schielke, 2009) qui constitue la marque de fabrique de la modernité islamique (Göle, 2000).In England, the Muslim marriage industry has drastically expanded over the past twenty years. Services available on the market include mediated matrimonial encounters labeled “halal”. These services, increasingly popular among the second generation of British Muslims, reflect the semantic sliding of categories which hitherto belonged to the field of Islamic jurisprudence towards cultural and identity labels visible in public space. The practices presented in this article highlight the emergence of a new public culture (Göle, 2014) in which moral boundaries are constantly renegotiated. In counterpoint to recent studies on Islamic morality that focus on the “ethical formation” of the subject through the pursuit of virtuous dispositions (Mahmood, 2005 ; Hirschkind, 2006 ; Agrama, 2010), the quest for the “good ethical life” is conceived here as a tightrope walk in which each step involves finding the right balance between values that are not all necessarily dictated by faith. These embodied practices reveal the fragmented and ambivalent nature of modern subjectivities based on the coexistence of contrasted motivations, objectives and identities (Ferrié, 2004). It is this “moral flexibility” (Schielke, 2009) which best characterises Islamic modernity (Göle, 2000).En Inglaterra, la industria del matrimonio musulmán está en plena expansión desde hace una decena de años. Ésta comprende especialmente servicios de encuentros matrimoniales con certificación “halal”. Estos servicios cada vez más populares entre la nueva generación de musulmanes ingleses dan cuenta del deslizamiento de categorías que hasta ese momento pertenecían al dominio de la jurisprudencia islámica hacia etiquetamientos culturales e identitarios visibles en el espacio público. Las prácticas encarnadas relevan la naturaleza fragmentada y ambivalente de las subjetividades modernas así fundadas en la coexistencia de motivaciones, de objetivos y de identidades variadas. El espacio y las prácticas presentadas aquí resaltan el surgimiento de una nueva cultura pública (Göle, 2014) en la que los límites morales se renegocian constantemente. En contrapunto a los estudios recientes sobre la moralidad islámica que se centran en la "formación ética" del sujeto a través de la búsqueda de disposiciones virtuosas (Mahmood 2005, Hirschkind 2006, Agrama 2010), la búsqueda de la "buena vida ética" es concebido aquí como un ejercicio en la cuerda floja caminando en el que cada paso implica encontrar un equilibrio entre los valores que no necesariamente están dictados por la fe. Estas prácticas incorporadas revelan la naturaleza fragmentada y ambivalente de las subjetividades modernas basadas en la coexistencia de diversas motivaciones, objetivos e identidades (Ferrié, 2004). Esta es la "flexibilidad moral" (S. Schielke, 2009) que es el sello distintivo de la modernidad islámica (Göle, 2000)

Knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding avian influenza (H5N1), Afghanistan.

From February through April 2007, avian influenza (H5N1) was confirmed in poultry in 4 of 34 Afghan provinces. A survey conducted in 2 affected and 3 unaffected provinces found that greater knowledge about reducing exposure was associated with higher socioeconomic status, residence in affected provinces, and not owning backyard poultry

Medial Hypoxia and Adventitial Vasa Vasorum Remodeling in Human Ascending Aortic Aneurysm

Human ascending aortic aneurysms characteristically exhibit cystic medial degeneration of the aortic wall encompassing elastin degeneration, proteoglycan accumulation and smooth muscle cell loss. Most studies have focused on the aortic media and there is a limited understanding of the importance of the adventitial layer in the setting of human aneurysmal disease. We recently demonstrated that the adventitial ECM contains key angiogenic factors that are downregulated in aneurysmal aortic specimens. In this study, we investigated the adventitial microvascular network (vasa vasorum) of aneurysmal aortic specimens of different etiology and hypothesized that the vasa vasorum is disrupted in patients with ascending aortic aneurysm. Morphometric analyses of hematoxylin and eosin-stained human aortic cross-sections revealed evidence of vasa vasorum remodeling in aneurysmal specimens, including reduced density of vessels, increased lumen area and thickening of smooth muscle actin-positive layers. These alterations were inconsistently observed in specimens of bicuspid aortic valve (BAV)-associated aortopathy, while vasa vasorum remodeling was typically observed in aneurysms arising in patients with the morphologically normal tricuspid aortic valve (TAV). Gene expression of hypoxia-inducible factor 1α and its downstream targets, metallothionein 1A and the pro-angiogenic factor vascular endothelial growth factor, were down-regulated in the adventitia of aneurysmal specimens when compared with non-aneurysmal specimens, while the level of the anti-angiogenic factor thrombospondin-1 was elevated. Immunodetection of glucose transporter 1 (GLUT1), a marker of chronic tissue hypoxia, was minimal in non-aneurysmal medial specimens, and locally accumulated within regions of elastin degeneration, particularly in TAV-associated aneurysms. Quantification of GLUT1 revealed elevated levels in the aortic media of TAV-associated aneurysms when compared to non-aneurysmal counterparts. We detected evidence of chronic inflammation as infiltration of lymphoplasmacytic cells in aneurysmal specimens, with a higher prevalence of lymphoplasmacytic infiltrates in aneurysmal specimens from patients with TAV compared to that of patients with BAV. These data highlight differences in vasa vasorum remodeling and associated medial chronic hypoxia markers between aneurysms of different etiology. These aberrations could contribute to malnourishment of the aortic media and could conceivably participate in the pathogenesis of thoracic aortic aneurysm