New beginnings? The refugee “crisis”, the “Other”, and Islamic religious education in Germany

The recent influx of refugees has been in the headlines for more than a year in Germany. On a daily basis, new items about refugees, asylum policies, disasters, or xenophobia makes it into print, visual, or social media. Everybody has an opinion about this issue. In this essay, I record some of my own observations in this regard, as someone, who, in different ways, has been involved with refugees and “Others”. I am trying to make some sense of the discourses and actions that the so-called “refugee crisis” has produced. It has become evident that the discourse about the refugees is as much about the “Other” as it is about the “Self”. It is my argument that Germany is at a crossroads as a consequence of the arrival of relatively large numbers of refugees mainly from a Middle Eastern context – it can either lead to Germany closing in on itself, trying to exclude the “Other”, which in a globalized world would probably be a disadvantage; on the other hand, the “refugee crisis” has the potential of a new beginning, expanding on the already existing efforts to integrate “Others” into one’s own society. One example for such integration efforts would be the fairly recent introduction of Islamic Religious Education in state schools. The success or failure of this experiment can provide an indication of the willingness and ability of Germans to find constructive ways to integrate refugees into their communities

Avoidance as Inter-Religious Competence? Samaritans and Their Religious “Others” in Nablus, Palestine

In this paper, I take issue with the theory and practice of inter-religious competence, based on a case-study of the Samaritans of Nablus. I take as a starting point the contemporary observation that inter-religious relations in Nablus are relatively peaceful, which in most models of inter-religious competence would be considered a product of successfully acquired and implemented inter-religious competences. A second observation, that runs against the grain of all models of inter-religious competence, is that Samaritans do not seem to discuss religious issues in public at all. I try to show that this strategy of avoidance is largely the result of historical experiences, which made “walking between the raindrops” seem the most successful way to maintain social peace. Furthermore, I attempt to demonstrate that the strategy of avoidance is one applied in public, but not in private discourses, which, in turn, I identify as a second strategy of inter-religious competence found in the Nablus context but not in pedagogical models. A third aspect, not mentioned in theoretical models of inter-religious competences, is the political context, which, in the case of Nablus, is marked by a strong discursive emphasis on local and national identity—against an external “enemy”—that overrides any religious boundaries

Young middle class women in Jordan : taking part in social change

EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

How Islam influences women’s paid non-farm employment: evidence from 26 Indonesian and 37 Nigerian provinces

Studies on women’s employment in Muslim countries often mention Islam, but its influence is undertheorized and tests simply compare ‘Muslim’ women and areas to ‘non-Muslim’ women and areas. Here, multilevel analyses of Indonesia and Nigeria show this focus is not tenable: non-farm employment of Muslim women is not consistently lower than that of non-Muslim women, nor is it lower in Muslim-dominated provinces than in other provinces. A new theoretical frame conceptualizes religion’s influence in terms message and messenger. It is shown how different manifestations of Islam influence women’s non-farm employment, inside and outside the home. Empirically, the ideological strand of Islam is more important than differences between Islam and Christianity. In addition, when a conservative Islam is codified through Shari’a-based law women’s employment outside the home seems to be lower, but the presence of Islamic political parties seems to foster women’s access to the labor market through their focus on support for the poor