Learning Morality, Inequalities, and Faith

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hansjörg Dilger

Christian and Muslim schools have become important target points in families and pupils' quests for new study opportunities and securing a 'good life' in Tanzania. These schools combine secular education with the moral (self-)formation of young people, triggering new realignments of the fields of education with interreligious co-existence and class formation in the country's urban centres. Hansjörg Dilger explores the emerging entanglements of faith, morality, and the educational market in Dar es Salaam, thereby shedding light on processes of religious institutionalisation and their individual and collective embodiment. By contextualising these dynamics through analysis of the politics of Christian-Muslim relations in postcolonial Tanzania, this book shows how the field of education has shaped the positions of these highly diverse religious communities in diverging ways. In doing so, Dilger suggests that students and teachers' religious experience and practice in faith-oriented schools are shaped by the search for socio-moral belonging as well as by the power relations and inequalities of an interconnected world.

Africa ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 87 (3) ◽  
pp. 513-536 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hansjörg Dilger

AbstractSchools are institutionalized spaces of learning where children and young people are trained to become morally and ethically responsible members of society. Cultural ideas and values relating to friendship, social status and the nation, but also regarding one's own body, dress and emotional, verbal or gestural expression, are learned and performed by young people on an everyday basis. In this article, I build on ethnographic research on the ‘new’ generation of Christian and Muslim schools in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (2008–10), and I show that particular ways of learning and performing values can be understood as a form of embodied morality that orients students and teachers in relation to their educational and socio-urban environments. I argue that schools do not represent monolithic ethical or moral frameworks or that the actors in these educational settings learn or embody those frameworks in uniform ways. Rather, the processes of ethical and moral (self-)formation are often highly fragmented due to the diverse (social, religious and economic) backgrounds of students and teachers as well as the logics of class formation in the neoliberal market, which causes a high degree of fluctuation across the (equally fragmented) educational landscape of Dar es Salaam. I therefore define ‘embodied morality’ as a partial and discontinuous practice whose specific forms and experience are inseparably entwined with the specific ideological, social and institutional environments of particular educational settings.


2020 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
pp. 98-104
Author(s):  
Halima Krausen

In our plural society, interfaith marriages and multicultural families have become a new normal and are either considered problematic for the religious communities or welcomed as a contribution to a secular and more peaceful world. In the course of my work with European Muslims, I could accompany such families through a few generations. In this article, I am going to outline some typical challenges and crises in such relationships and their effects on young people growing up in mixed families, adding my observations of how they can be dealt with. Ultimately, there is a chance that, through dialogue, it provides a meaningful learning environment that prepares young people for the diverse reality of the world today.


Author(s):  
Nele Van Hecke ◽  
Florien Meulewaeter ◽  
Wouter Vanderplasschen ◽  
Lore Van Damme ◽  
Jan Naert ◽  
...  

In recent years, a growing trend to consider strengths and protective factors in studies on desistance from crime has emerged. The present study explores three formerly detained adolescents’ narratives, aiming to tease out how Quality of Life (QoL) and desistance interact in pathways towards a “better life.” The narratives suggest that the journey towards a better life is highly individual, and may unfold via multiple pathways characterized by an ambivalent relationship between QoL and desistance. Alongside the importance of individual aspects and social support, societal barriers and opportunities play a significant role in creating new chances to re-build a life and prosocial identities. This reflects earlier findings that desistance is not an individual responsibility. It is essential to support young people to overcome societal barriers that impede participation in society and living a good life. This research adds to growing evidence of strengths-based approaches to rehabilitation, such as the Good Lives Model (GLM).


2021 ◽  
pp. 232102302110430
Author(s):  
Wahid Ahmad Dar

The article focuses on the subaltern system of micro appropriations or Jugaads used by young Kashmiris to survive within precarious situations inflicted due to armed conflict. More particularly, it argues that such Jugaads are invoked by the subaltern consciousness of Tehreeq-e-Azadi, which offers space for not just the negotiation with the state but also the creative improvisation of daily political actions. It is illustrated that young people’s political participation is entangled with the attempts to overcome the uncertainty around their lives, thereby offering them pragmatic solutions in advancing their interests. It is further elaborated that the existing polarization between separatism and mainstream is obscure at the experiential level, living within precarious situations has taught young people to silently craft possibilities of a good life without looking confrontational to either side. The article argues that localized forms of engagement are crucial for a comprehensive understanding of how modern states operate.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
David Anderson Hooker ◽  
Elizabeth W. Corrie ◽  
Itihari Toure

Abstract Seeking justice, understanding what makes for peace and pursuing it, these are integral aspects of the pursuit of the Good Life. In this chapter three youth and community development experts make the case that 1) a vital aspect of development is empowering adolescents with a faith-informed, community-focused, critical consciousness; 2) young people are formed in community and joy cannot be fully experienced except communally and in the pursuit of JustPeace; and 3) the church has opportunities to intervene at critical junctures in youth formation to help them see the importance of pursuing communal JustPeace for their own ability to live the Good Life. In support of these claims, a framework of radical Identity is postulated and two practices—the Eight Bowls of Life Ceremony for generational identity marking and the Game of Life, part of a three-week intentional community of the Youth Theological Initiative (yti) – are presented. Each practice contributes to formation of justice-seeking identities in adolescents as integral aspects of preparation for the life-long pursuit of God’s joy, God’s good life, and even God’s salvation.


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Grace Amin

Bullying is deliberate aggressive action, using an imbalance of strength physically or mentally by hurting physical, verbal, or emotional / psychological forms repeatedly. In the last decade, cases of bullying in Indonesia continue to increase and if not handled properly will increasingly have a negative impact on the development of the children of the nation's next generation. Bullying does not only affect children who are bullied but can also affect children who bully, children who witness bullying. Some of the effects of bullying include anxiety, depression, and low self-esteem. The purpose of community engagement is to socialize the impact of bullying and how to increase self-esteem to adolescents. Through psychoeducation programs in adolescents such as schools and teenagers religious communities in the Cikarang - Bekasi region, young people gain an in-depth understanding of bullying, its effects and how to increase their confidence. Through this psychoeducation, teenagers understand the understanding, types and effects of bullying both short term and long term so they promise to resist bullying starting from themselves. Teenagers learn that humans are social beings who need each other. They learn about the meaning of diversity and bhineka tunggal ika and try to implement it in their next lives by respecting the differences in their environment. These teenagers learn to respect themselves more, see the positive things that God has given them. They try to always believe in themselves that they are perfect and valuable beings in God's eyes so that even though the environment around them may not appreciate, they can still see positive things in themselvesABSTRAK:Bullying adalah tindakan agresif yang disengaja, menggunakan ketidakseimbangan kekuatan secara fisik atau mental dengan cara menyakiti bentuk fisik, verbal, atau emosional/ psikologis secara berulang – ulang. Dalam satu decade terakhir, kasus bullying di Indonesia terus meningkat dan bila tidak ditangani dengan baik akan semakin berdampak negative bagi perkembangan anak – anak generasi penerus bangsa. Tindakan bullying tidak hanya berdampak pada anak yang di-bully tetapi juga dapat berdampak pada anak yang mem-bully, anak yang menyaksikan bullying. Beberapa dampak bullying diantaranya kecemasan, depresi, serta rendahnya harga diri (self-esteem). Tujuan dari pengabdian kepada masyarakat ini adalah untuk mensosialisasikan dampak bullying serta cara meningkatkan self-esteem kepada para remaja. Melalui program psikoedukasi di lingkungan remaja seperti sekolah maupun komunitas keagamaan remaja wilayah Cikarang – Bekasi, para remaja mendapatkan pemahaman mendalam mengenai bullying, dampaknya serta bagaimana cara meningkatkan kepercayaan diri mereka. Melalui psikoedukasi ini, para remaja memahami pengertian, jenis serta dampak bullying baik jangka pendek maupun jangka panjang sehingga mereka berjanji untuk bersikap menolak bullying mulai dari diri mereka sendiri. Para remaja belajar bahwa manusia adalah mahluk social yang saling membutuhkan. Mereka belajar tentang makna keberagaman dan Bhineka Tunggal Ika serta berusaha mengimplementasikannya dalam kehidupan mereka selanjutnya dengan cara menghargai perbedaan yang ada di lingkungannya. Remaja ini belajar untuk lebih menghargai diri mereka, melihat hal positif yang telah diberikan Tuhan kepada mereka. Mereka mencoba untuk selalu menanamkan dalam diri bahwa mereka adalah mahluk yang sempurna dan berharga di mata Tuhan sehingga walaupun lingkungan di sekitar mereka mungkin tidak menghargai, mereka tetap dapat melihat hal positif dalam diri mereka.


2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 203-219
Author(s):  
Jacek Wołoszyn

The changes occurring in countries of Central and Eastern Europe after 1945 deprived young people of their subjectivity, divested them of the possibility of legal activities outside the structures controlled by the rulers. Simultaneously, the activities taken by the latter threatened the values which were fundamental for the most of them. Some of young people attempted – more or less – to engage in active resistance, usually determined axiologically. It took, among other things, the form of refusal to participate in official youth organisations while staying in religious communities. Some also publicly expressed their oppositions in the form of participation in street demonstrations. Others joined the anti-communist underground or established their own underground groups. Young people’s anti-system attitudes were discussed on the examples of Belarus, Estonia, Czechoslovakia, Lithuania, Latvia, the German Democratic Republic and Ukraine.


2020 ◽  
pp. 110-138
Author(s):  
Christine Jeske

This chapter introduces a narrative of “hustling” that motivates young people to perform their future hopes and never give up, despite full awareness of the disproportionate challenges they face in society. It defines a hustler as someone who tries, and talks about what entrepreneurship is like in South Africa. It discusses the difficulties that aspiring African entrepreneurs encounter as they try to become successful in their business. It talks about the lack of pride the new generation of South Africans have and how this has affects their attitude towards work and how this impacts African society. It talks about survivalist improvisation, how Africans put up an image of dignity in the midst of struggle, and their feelings of being trapped in that situation.


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anastasia Loukianov ◽  
Kate Burningham ◽  
Tim Jackson

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