Suchergebnisse

This comparative ethnography explores Islamic revival movements in France and India, home to the largest numbers of Muslim minorities in Western Europe and Asia. Parvez provides an in-depth view into how Muslims in two cities struggle to improve their lives as denigrated minorities, amid national crises of secular democracy.

This article offers an example of a global approach to teaching the sociology of religion, a course that typically focuses on American religious phenomena. It builds on three interventions in the movement for a global sociology: connecting the local and global, moving beyond methodological nationalism, and developing an ethical orientation toward sociological questions. Such an approach encourages students to question taken-for-granted assumptions about religion and gain conceptual clarity. Specifically, the course goals are to challenge students' preconceptions about the global South as well as the global North and complicate and historicize the definition of religion. I describe class content and activities on five major themes, each carefully connected to globalization: defining religion, orthodox women, secularism, conversions and revivals, and violence. Assessment of student learning includes a compilation of student responses to final exam questions and their own final statements of what they learned.

AbstractThe traditional honoring of the birth of theProphetMohammed (Milad‐un‐Nabi) has shifted in numerous Indian cities from private prayer and ritual meals in the home to grand public festivals that bear resemblances toHindu religious processions. In 2010 in the southernIndian city ofHyderabad, large‐scaleMilad‐un‐Nabi festivals became implicated inHindu–Muslim nationalist riots that erupted weeks later at the commencement of aHindu festival forHanumanJayanthi. This paper explores the political production ofMuslim ethno‐nationalism and the intra‐community debates over the legitimacy and piety ofMilad‐un‐Nabi celebrations. It argues thatMilad‐un‐Nabi as a public performance is a (re)invented tradition that is part of the struggle for material, political and symbolic goods of the nation‐state. It is shaped by local party politics and history of anti‐Muslim discrimination. However, as the festivals highlight community divisions and religious ambiguities, they ultimately reveal the fragility of ethnic groups.