Contemporary Islam

by Peterson, Mark Allen

The American press began to take notice of the Danish cartoons after they began to circulate outside of Europe. The press primarily framed the events as a single problem of global interaction: an issue of ‘freedom of speech’ opposed to ‘religious sensitivity.’ Much of the coverage permitted, within limits, a plurality of voices. Drawing on a case study of stories about the ‘cartoon controversy’ in the Boston Globe, I argue that U.S. journalism is organized by a logic of objectivity that seeks to produce a ‘perspectiveless perspective on all perspectives’ (Bourdieu, On television. New York: The New Press, 1998), showing voices on ‘both sides,’ simultaneously masked and contributed to the press’s reifying a series of events into a single global ‘event,’ one that reflected a clash of Western and Islamic values.

DOI: 10.1007/s11562-007-0021-z
Online Date: 9/26/2007
Print publication date: 12/1/2007
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by Milallos, Ma. Theresa R.

This article examines the interlinking of political autonomy, Syariah law and women in contemporary Aceh. Looking at Aceh’s historical precedents, current sociocultural and political developments cannot be seen as manifestations of Islamic revival. It would be misleading to look at the implementation of Syariah Islam in general and the enforcement of veiling in particular as signs of the radicalization of Islam. Islam in Aceh has always had political meanings. It shapes an identity characterized by a long collective history of rebellion against foreign oppression and repression. The revival however is seen in notions of gender dominance and order, which have profound consequences for women’s lives. Using articles from 2005 to 2006 in Serambi, a locally published newspaper in Aceh, an assessment is made of how Syariah Islam has affected women’s lives.

DOI: 10.1007/s11562-007-0028-5
Online Date: 9/26/2007
Print publication date: 12/1/2007
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by Launay, Robert

Ousseina Alidou’s book is a welcome addition to the growing anthropological literature on Islam in Africa. In the book, she focuses on the experiences of three very different Muslim women: Malama A’ishatu, who runs an Islamic school for girls and broadcasts a popular radio show; Habsu Garba, a singer and dancer who also host a radio talk show; and “Agaisha”, a spokeswoman for the armed Tuareg rebellion and, for obvious reasons, the only one of the three denoted by pseudonym. She intersperses chapters which detail the lives of her three heroines with more general discussions of relevant aspects of the situation of Muslim women in Niger.

DOI: 10.1007/s11562-007-0024-9
Online Date: 9/26/2007
Print publication date: 12/1/2007
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by Linde-Laursen, Anders

During and after what became known as ‘the cartoon crisis’ in the early months of 2006, many observers noted how the crisis should be understood as an expression of a growing Islamophobic tendency in Danish society. While such an interpretation undoubtedly is correct it fails to explain how both this Islamophobic tendency and the crisis must be seen as contemporary expressions of a long-lasting estrangement in Danish society between forces respectively sympathetic and adverse to modernity. In this article it is argued that Muslims in the Danish context today have become signifiers of current modernity, in the shape of globalization. This perspective provides a clearer understanding of the dynamics of the crisis in the Danish context as it explains why publishing the cartoons made sense to many groups in Denmark who came out both for and against this act.

DOI: 10.1007/s11562-007-0022-y
Online Date: 9/26/2007
Print publication date: 12/1/2007
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by Scott, Gai; Franzmann, Majella

Information obtained from the Australian Bureau of Statistics reveals that Muslim women attend Australian universities in greater proportion than non-Muslim women. They are graduating with qualifications that equip them for employment in the professional workforce. While some elect to work within what might be viewed as a ‘protected’ environment in Muslim-run or Muslim-focused businesses or organisations, many others enter the general workforce. This paper explores the major issues and concerns for Muslim women especially within a secular workplace, and raises questions about the ways in which they can maintain a strong Muslim identity within the challenges presented by that workplace.

DOI: 10.1007/s11562-007-0026-7
Online Date: 9/21/2007
Print publication date: 12/1/2007
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by Varisco, Daniel Martin

DOI: 10.1007/s11562-007-0023-x
Online Date: 9/21/2007
Print publication date: 12/1/2007
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by Fakir, Saliem

DOI: 10.1007/s11562-007-0025-8
Online Date: 9/21/2007
Print publication date: 12/1/2007
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