Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 1 - 12 of 12

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Jean Sénac, Poet Of The Algerian Revolution, Kai G. Krienke Oct 2014

Jean Sénac, Poet Of The Algerian Revolution, Kai G. Krienke

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The work presented here is an exploration of the poetry and life of Jean Sénac, and through Sénac, of the larger role of poetry in the political and social movements of the 50s, 60s, and early 70s, mainly in Algeria and America. While Sénac was part of the European community in Algeria, his position regarding French rule changed dramatically over the course of the Algerian War, (between 1954 and 1962) and upon independence, he became one the rare French to return to his adopted homeland. I will argue, sometimes polemically, that Sénac was and should be considered a properly Algerian …


The Perceived Religiousness Of The Repertoire Of The Muslim Minority In France, Brian Mawyer Oct 2014

The Perceived Religiousness Of The Repertoire Of The Muslim Minority In France, Brian Mawyer

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

France is a secular society with a deeply rooted Catholic tradition. This environment affects the acceptability of demonstrations of Muslim religious identity. Muslim immigrants to France are often ghettoized into rent controlled housing in suburbs around the cities. Rejected from French society, these immigrants cling to what links them together, which is their religion. By the third generation, fluency in heritage languages declines greatly, yet the youth of the banlieues re-appropriate Arabic words into their French speech, leading to the emergence of a Muslim repertoire that is not always accepted by speakers of standard French. This thesis surveys French people …


Ulu Al Amr & Authority: The Central Pillars Of Sunni Political Thought, Hisseine Faradj Oct 2014

Ulu Al Amr & Authority: The Central Pillars Of Sunni Political Thought, Hisseine Faradj

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation evaluates the political history of Islam through the prism of the Sunni conception of authority. It finds an historical red thread that explains the legal and political evolution of different types of Islamic government that have, instead of a European-type sovereign, the Ulu Al Amr (those in authority). In addition, it argues that it is the authority of Ulu Al Amr that legitimizes temporal power via legal rulings such as Wilayah al ahed (allegiance to a dynastic monarchy) and Wlayah al qaher (obedience to coercive power and rule). Those rulings are essential to legitimating historical change. Historical legal …


Brothers In Motion: Religious Practice, Political Action, And The Mobilization Of The Early Muslim Brotherhood, Ian Henry Vandermeulen Jun 2014

Brothers In Motion: Religious Practice, Political Action, And The Mobilization Of The Early Muslim Brotherhood, Ian Henry Vandermeulen

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In light of Randy Martin's proposal to use dance as an analytic tool for understanding social movements, this article seeks to reconstruct the early mobilization of the Muslim Brotherhood as "bodies in motion." Through a re-examination of both primary and secondary source material, this study highlights the ways in which founder Hasan al-Banna appropriated both Islamic and colonial choreographic logics into the Muslim Brotherhood's pious training regimen, scouting programs, political expression, and social welfare projects. I argue that the Muslim Brotherhood was mobilized through al-Banna's revival of traditional Islamic practices concerning the body, reconfigured for the goal not of otherworldly …


Latinas Converting To Islam In New York: Habitus’ Influence In Modern Identity Formation, Amalia Alonzo Jun 2014

Latinas Converting To Islam In New York: Habitus’ Influence In Modern Identity Formation, Amalia Alonzo

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This paper explores the topic of religious conversion in relation to Pierre Bourdieu's theory of habitus, with a focus on Catholic Latina converts to Sunni Islam. Bourdieu suggests that these types of religious choices are not choices at all, but predetermined by an individual's history, culture, and setting. That is, an individual already has dispositions that are taken for granted. While this study's participants report that Islam is a new religion for them and not a continuation of their Catholic faith (as habitus would suggest,) this study shows that these converts retain dispositions that are consistent with their previous religious …


Integration Or Interrogation? Franco-Maghrebi Rap And Hip-Hop Culture In Marseille, Jenna Catherine Daley Jun 2014

Integration Or Interrogation? Franco-Maghrebi Rap And Hip-Hop Culture In Marseille, Jenna Catherine Daley

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This paper focuses on rap and hip-hop music that is produced from Franco-Maghrebi communities living in Marseille. The discussion revolves around the question of how rap music helps these communities to assimilate into French culture. The conclusion is two-fold. Marseille, as a city whose urban planning promotes physical assimilation of immigrants with French-born citizens, performs as an integrative force for these communities. Additionally, rap simultaneously assists Franco-Maghrebis in integrating into and subverting from French society. Franco-Maghrebi rappers integrate by becoming a part of mainstream French culture. Yet, they also subvert by extraordinarily placing race and discrimination at the forefront of …


Sentiment And Geopolitics In The Formulation And Realization Of The Balfour Declaration, Janko Scepanovic Jun 2014

Sentiment And Geopolitics In The Formulation And Realization Of The Balfour Declaration, Janko Scepanovic

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The 1917 Balfour Declaration remains perhaps one of the furthest reaching British policy statements. It laid foundation for the establishment of a Jewish national home in Palestine, and was ever since perceived by some as the source of the subsequent Arab-Jewish conflict in Palestine. The Declaration was also interpreted in certain circles as a desperate wartime measure of the British government which hoped to turn the tide of the costly war against Germany by making promises to supposedly influential worldwide Jewish community. However, the Balfour Declaration was more than that. It was a continuation of parallel British geostrategic and humanitarian …


Finance And Empire: 'Gentlemanly Capitalism' In Britain's Occupation Of Egypt, Jared Paul Iacolucci Feb 2014

Finance And Empire: 'Gentlemanly Capitalism' In Britain's Occupation Of Egypt, Jared Paul Iacolucci

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Toward the beginning of the nineteenth century, Egypt was being led by Mehmed Ali, a reformer eager to build his own dynastic state separate from the Ottoman Empire. Despite his achievements, by the end of the nineteenth century Egypt had been occupied by Great Britain for nearly two decades. This paper will examine the developments in Egypt and Great Britain that drew the two together, with particular emphasis on the growth and expansion of international finance into foreign government lending. As finance became an increasingly profitable career in Britain, financiers entered the gentlemanly class and socialized with the political elite. …


From Backlash To Mobilization: Muslim American Prayer Spaces In Post-9/11 New York, George E. Melissinos Feb 2014

From Backlash To Mobilization: Muslim American Prayer Spaces In Post-9/11 New York, George E. Melissinos

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This paper argues that Muslim Americans mobilized against the threat of backlash post-9/11 through the creation of new prayer spaces and maintenance of prayer spaces already in existence before the terrorist attacks. I suggest that the successful mobilization of prayer spaces continues to provide a mechanism of support and unity against backlash for Muslim Americans in New York City since the events of September 11, 2001. I also explore how ineffective mobilization efforts, such as demonstrated by the Park51 project, fail to protect the Muslim American community against backlash.


Not By Accident: How Egyptian Civil Society Successfully Launched A Revolution, Helen-Margaret Nasser Feb 2014

Not By Accident: How Egyptian Civil Society Successfully Launched A Revolution, Helen-Margaret Nasser

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis examines the role of civil society in Egypt and argues that it was central to the success of the 2011 revolution that ended in the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak. I will discuss the development of civil society under Mubarak and demonstrate its strength. In understanding civil society in Egypt, this thesis will discuss the strengths of groups such as associations, Islamist movements, women's groups, labor activism, and youth movements. I also demonstrate that it is important to understand the precedents established that shaped the state's stance towards civil society. As such, this thesis will also discuss the …


An Examination Of Western Representation Of The Muslim Brotherhood Through Various Media Outlets, Popular Literature And How Has Recent History And Outside Influences Affected The Viewpoint Presented To The Public?, Lynn Andrew Perkins Feb 2014

An Examination Of Western Representation Of The Muslim Brotherhood Through Various Media Outlets, Popular Literature And How Has Recent History And Outside Influences Affected The Viewpoint Presented To The Public?, Lynn Andrew Perkins

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In depth study of Western media's coverage of the rise to power of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt after the fall of former president Hosni Mubarak in February 2011. Not only using key events between the West/ United States and the Middle East over the last 40 years to show how current events are reported but also investigating where and how the media receives their information to report. The outside and internal influences put upon western media are also under investigation in this paper and how those influences insure that their own interests supersede that of complete and accurate reporting …


Performing Modernity In Turkey: Conflicts Of Masculinity, Sexuality, And The Köçek Dancer, Brittany Giselle Haynes Feb 2014

Performing Modernity In Turkey: Conflicts Of Masculinity, Sexuality, And The Köçek Dancer, Brittany Giselle Haynes

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis reexamines the history of the köçek dancer in Turkey and thereby opens modern heteronormative constructs of masculinity and sexuality to contestation, particularly as they have been symbolically embodied by the rural population of Anatolia. It traces the evolution of the köçek dancer from the early modern Ottoman Empire when the dancer embodied notions of divine love and the ideal of beauty as a young male object of adult men's desires. In the nineteenth century, perceptions of the köçek began to change, primarily among Ottoman elites, whose modernization efforts were influenced by the European gaze and travelers' Orientalist interpretations …