28 research outputs found

    The Baraza A Grassroots Institution

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    Public or semi-public places where people meet to chat, communicate, quarrel, sit, and watch may be found in many societies: the Piazza in Italy, the beer-garden in Bavaria, or the majlis in Arabia, represent a few such examples. Zanzibar‘s baraza is a place for the negotiation and observation of the ordinary as well as the extraordinary. Sitting in a baraza provides an opportunity to experience every day life at its most local

    Sit local, think global: The Baraza in Zanzibar

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    Although being a major feature of Zanzibar 's everyday life, the baraza has so far largely escaped attention of academic discussion. Public or semi-public places where people of a house, of a neighbourhood or even a larger social configuration meet to sit and chat, to spend time, drink coffee and discuss politics, religion, football or other quotidian issues are certainly found in many societies. Yet, Zanzibar's baraza are so omnipresent that it is hard to imagine the island without them. At the same time, baraza life is not easy to grasp. Although there are set rules of baraza etiquette, they are not a permanent “institution” but may disappear as quickly as they have come into existence. This contribution discusses some of the major features of baraza life and the spatial organization of the baraza, in particular, and to establish thereby something like a baraza “sociology”. Journal for Islamic Studies Vol. 27 2007: pp. 16-3

    What is ‘reform’? Approaches to a problematic term in African Muslim contexts

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    The term ‘reform’ has come to describe a large array of different and rather variegated processes of change in historical as well as contemporary academic debates. This contribution looks at the emergence of new concepts of ‘reform’ in Muslim countries in the early 20th century and will address the question of how we can develop a sound terminology of reform that considers the inherent dynamics of movements of reform and the constant change in the meaning of ‘reform’. In order to achieve this goal, it is necessary, however, to tackle some methodological problems and to defi ne the term ‘reform’ in conclusive ways. By studying movements of reform in their respective historical context, by identifying the specifi c dynamics of those movements as well as their social and religious relevance, we will eventually be able to determine the very nature of religious movements of reform. This contribution argues that while reform movements have to be understood in terms of how they are situated in a matrix of international networks and media-based representations, these movements must also be interpreted in terms of how they are situated in their local contexts

    Spirit of Religion

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