150 research outputs found
When âWhite Devilsâ Join the Deen: White American Converts to Islam and the Experience of Non-Normative Whiteness.
This paper focuses on white converts to Islam as anomalous individuals in a world where race and
faith have become closely intertwined. Because they disrupt classic understandings of whiteness and
enter a setting, the Muslim community, where whiteness is neither unmarked nor dominant, I argue that
white converts to Islam can be characterized as ânon normative whites.â I show that,
by virtue of their discordant racial and religious identities, white converts to Islam develop a form of reflexivity that sheds light on the underlying assumptions attached to white skin in America. Using ethnography and in depth interviewing with 42 converts, I thus explore how non normative whites relate to their own whiteness. I demonstrate that whites too are subjected to racial objectification, although in ambivalent and at timescontradictory ways. The last part of the paper examines the daily strateg
ies used by white converts to maneuver their whiteness and defuse racial tensions within the Muslim community. The wide range of interpretive repertoires they employ presents a picture of whiteness that is more complex than what most academic studies make it seem
Conversion to Islam as religious and racial crossing
Conversion is frequently depicted as an inner reversal of the soul, a solitary gesture that marks the individual as free from social constraints. Such conception is found in conventional accounts of conversion but also in the narratives that converts themselves tell about their religious transformation. Notwithstanding the great diversity of trajectories and motives, conversion stories are often strikingly similar: they all put the stress on the individual and individuating nature of conversion, and rely on an exaltation of singularity and self-fulfillment. Yet, the reality of the social world is often different. Because religion is never just about the soul, but also about society and social boundaries, shifting religions places converts at the crossroads of many collective issues
L'islam des convertis
La figure du converti suscite aujourdâhui fantasmes et craintes. Par delĂ les prĂ©jugĂ©s, lâenquĂȘte de Juliette Galonnier en France et aux Ătats-Unis rĂ©vĂšle les difficultĂ©s quotidiennes auxquels font face les convertis qui, en lâabsence de cadres sociaux Ă©tablis, vivent souvent leur religion dans une grande solitude â tout en cherchant, souvent, Ă la rĂ©inventer
CosmogenĂšse et chronocentrismechez Calcidius
Le mythe cosmogĂ©nĂ©tique ou cosmogonique exposĂ© et dĂ©veloppĂ© par Platon dans son TimĂ©e pour faciliter la conception du monde et sa conÂnaissance, nâa cessĂ©, au moins depuis Aristote, de susciter la glose. Il faut convenir que la phrasĂ©ologie platonicienne, souvent ambivalente, comÂpliquĂ©e par dâinĂ©vitables difficultĂ©s dans lâĂ©tablissement du texte, est proÂpice Ă toutes sortes de confusions, amalgames, amĂ©nagements et raccourÂcis, surtout lorsquâelle fait lâobjet dâun transfert linguistique. S..
Le discours juridique en France et en Angleterre
Par certains aspects, le discours juridique semble ne pas connaĂźtre de frontiĂšres. En France comme en Angleterre, on constate le frĂ©quent recours Ă un jargon spĂ©cifique ainsi que lâemploi dâun registre Ă©levĂ©. De plus, la langue du droit de ces deux pays tend Ă donner une acception spĂ©cifique Ă certains mots usuels. Enfin, la prĂ©sence de termes français rappelle le rĂŽle jouĂ© par la conquĂȘte normande dans lâĂ©laboration du droit anglais. Toutefois, la spĂ©cificitĂ© du discours juridique en Angleterre est indĂ©niable : la common law a non seulement Ă©laborĂ© des concepts qui lui sont propres mais elle exprime au moyen dâun discours personnalisĂ© et prolixe et par lâintermĂ©diaire dâune langue imagĂ©e lâapproche pragmatique dâun systĂšme de droit fondĂ© non point sur un code abstrait mais sur un raisonnement inductif. Ainsi, cette langue de spĂ©cialitĂ© est bien lâĂ©manation de lâĂąme dâun pays et de ses particularismes culturels.In some respects legal discourse seems to know no frontiers. In France and in England the use of a specific jargon and of an elaborate style is frequently noticed. Moreover, in both countries the language of the law tends to endow certain ordinary words with a specific acceptation. Finally, the presence of French terms reminds us of the part played by the Norman conquest in the making of English law. Nevertheless, legal discourse in England has its own distinctive features: not only has the common law elaborated its own concepts but it also resorts to a personalized, prolix and metaphorical language in order to express the pragmatic quality of a legal system which is not based on an abstract code but on inductive reasoning. Therefore it can be said that this language for a specific purpose is the expression of the soul of a country and of its cultural identity
Religion et catĂ©gorisation raciale aux Etats-Unis: le cas de lâislam
Le cas des convertis Ă lâislam aux Etats-Unis permet d'illustrer l'imbrication entre catĂ©gories raciales et religieuses
La métaphore dans les jugements anglais : nature et fonction
Un des traits distinctifs des jugements anglais dâun point de vue stylistique est le nombre important de mĂ©taphores souvent inventives tirĂ©es de la vie courante et de domaines aussi divers que le sport, la guerre, la nature, la technologie, les vĂȘtements, etc. Cet article se propose tout dâabord de regrouper les mĂ©taphores par thĂšmes et de tenter de dĂ©finir Ă quelle stratĂ©gie discursive rĂ©pond le recours constant Ă cette figure de style. Nous verrons que le juge ne sâadresse pas seulement Ă ses pairs mais quâil doit aussi communiquer avec la communautĂ© des profanes qui lĂ©gitime son pouvoir. Enfin, nous mettrons en Ă©vidence le fait que la mĂ©taphore, loin dâĂȘtre un simple ornement, est indissociablement liĂ©e au raisonnement juridique anglais par analogie.One of the stylistic features of English judicial opinions seems to be the number of metaphors, often quite inventive, drawn from everyday life and such various fields as games, war, nature, technology, clothing, etc. The aim of this article is first to classify the metaphors and to determine what communicative strategy may account for the constant use of this figure of speech. We shall see that the judge not only addresses his peers but must also communicate with the community of laymen which gives his power its legitimacy. Finally, we shall illustrate the fact that the metaphor, far from being merely ornamental, is on the contrary the expression of the English legal reasoning by analogy
Conversion to Islam as religious and racial crossing
Conversion is frequently depicted as an inner reversal of the soul, a solitary gesture that marks the individual as free from social constraints. Such conception is found in conventional accounts of conversion but also in the narratives that converts themselves tell about their religious transformation. Notwithstanding the great diversity of trajectories and motives, conversion stories are often strikingly similar: they all put the stress on the individual and individuating nature of conversion, and rely on an exaltation of singularity and self-fulfillment. Yet, the reality of the social world is often different. Because religion is never just about the soul, but also about society and social boundaries, shifting religions places converts at the crossroads of many collective issues
The Islam of Converts
The religious convert is a figure of fear and fascination today. Looking beyond clichĂ©s, Juliette Galonnierâs investigation in France and the United States shows the daily struggles facing converts who, in the absence of established social frameworks, often experience their religion in great solitude â while at the same time trying to reinvent it
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