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To make an object transparent implies that its internal features become better visible. It also means that the surface of that same object becomes less discernable. I apply this analogy to argue that the current preoccupation with transparency allows certain ideological movements to hide controversial agendas from public scrutiny. Focusing on evangelical Christian aid to Kyrgyzstan, this article traces how post-Soviet liberalization enabled evangelicals to gain a strong footing in this Muslim-majority society. Their emphasis on religious rights served to legitimize their missionary agendas, while the adoption of development rhetoric allowed evangelicals to present themselves as "transparent" civil society players. As such, this empirical case illuminates the ideological workings of "empty" and ostensibly value-free political imageries.

The Student Islamic proselytizing Organization (LDK) became a machine of cadre forming and expansion for Islamic political movements, Ikhwanul Muslimim (Muslim Brotherhood) and Hizbut Tahrir to achieve their ideological ambitions. These movements were believed to have harmful threat for Islamic moderate in Indonesia. Therefore, the adherents of Islamic moderate at IAIN were trying to take over LDK IAIN Salatiga from Ikhwanul Muslimin. This study aimed to describe and analyze revolutionary movement and its development in shaping moderate LDK networking. This study used descriptive qualitative method. The data were taken from the study of literature, interview and field observation. Research findings showed that taking over LDK IAIN Salatiga by moderate group was started with shaping LDK Nusantara as a means to form cadres. Having been successful in taking over LDK IAIN Salatiga, it then went out from the networking of LDK Ikhwanul Muslimin and planned to establish moderate LDK networking among universities which was called FKKDKN (Communication Forum for-in Campus Islamic proselytizing a whole Archipelago/Nusantara). This article is expected to inspire moderate movements on campuses believed to be machine to form cadres of Islamic political movement and radicalism.

AbstractThis article examines the historiographical debate concerning the origins of Arab nationalism as postulated by George Antonius in his book, The Arab Awakening: The Story of the Arab National Movement and the theory of historical construction. After establishing the theoretical framework of the study with an overview of Hayden White's views on how history is written, it progresses into a study of the historiography of Arab nationalism. Here, the scholars Sylvia G. Haim, C. Ernest Dawn, Rashid Khalidi, and Fruma Zachs and their writings are chronologically dissected, with each academic analyzed via White's theories of historical construction. Through studying their respective positions, it is shown that these texts are culturally relative according to the era in which they were written.It is argued that no work of scholarship can be fully removed from outside influences. Specifically, politicization of academics and the consequences of such endeavors are shown as inextricable from the created narrative. Because of the need for culturally relative knowledge so that it can be applicable to audiences outside of academia, scholars who write for an express purpose (such as answering a question for the benefit of others) should not be considered inherently biased. This article poses that academics have a moral obligation to disseminate knowledge to their respective societies due to their assumed removed status as academics. By doing so, human error is acknowledged and room is made for improvement within the field of history. Knowledge does not need to be created for its own sake, but rather so that it might be utilized by society at large. It is suggested that to foster a deeper understanding of a scholar's relationship with society, there should be an increase in academics' civic engagement. This additionally requires serious reflection and enquiry into the standards that would consequently need to be implemented to maintain the integrity of the produced scholarship.

Matteo Ricci has long been celebrated as one of the greatest mediators between Europe and East Asia. To see his extraordinary experience in China from a different perspective, this article takes a close look at the many intricacies that either led to or resulted from his reliance on accommodation as an evangelizing policy. These intricacies made him both remarkably successful in what he did not necessarily plan to do and noticeably unsuccessful in what he single-mindedly set out to accomplish.