Theology Revealing the Hājibs of Anthropology

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Khaled Furani
Keyword(s):  
Nation State ◽  
The West ◽  
Institutional Renewal

This chapter proposes ways in which theology could promote a critique of idolatries in modern anthropology. It culls resources by scouring Nietzsche’s arguments against modernity. Nietzsche enables a vision of modern anthropology as symptomatic of God’s death in the West, thus inducing questions about the ways its adoration of idols may inhibit a truer inquiry. The chapter finds examples to this effect in anthropology’s engagement with the nation state, humanism, and the constitutive concept of culture. It then speculates as to how a theological repudiation of anthropology’s idols could support a conceptual and institutional renewal going far beyond enhancing its study of religion. For instance, anthropology awakened by theistic rationality could adequately engage with the concept of tradition. It could also forge a new grammar of connectivity within the discipline as well as within the disciplinary arrangements of the modern university.

scholarly journals TOWARD THE UNIVERSAL ETHICS AND VALUES IN THE AGE OF GLOBALIZATION: WITH REFERENCE TO JAPANESE RELIGIONS COMPARED TO MODERN RATIONALISM

2008 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 165-182
Author(s):  
Tetsuo Maruyama
Keyword(s):  
State Level ◽  
Cultural Identities ◽  
Human Society ◽  
Nation State ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
The West ◽  
Global Society ◽  
Common Values

Today, globalization is still far from creating a picture in our minds about an integrated global society with certain common values and ethics. However, the exchange and flow of people, goods, money, information and images are emerging on a transnational level and, in this global sphere, some values of dominant-particularity with pseudo-universality have prevailed. Most of these values originated in Western societies. This paper presents a tentative outline of alternative common values in the new global sphere, with reference to Japanese religions, especially Buddhist ideas, making comparison with modern rationalism that originated in the West. In the globalization process of human society, those values and norms which have been formed at the nation-state level become relativized and lead to the fluidity and instability of cultural identities. Furthermore, it also becomes clear that such dominant values based on modern rationalism have revealed their limitations. Hence, we need to search for alternative values common to all human beings. In this line of thought, it is useful to consider the possibilities or potentialities of Buddhist ideas as common values.

Shintō Shrines and Secularism in Modern Japan, 1890–1945

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 128-156
Author(s):  
Karli Shimizu
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Political System ◽  
The Political ◽  
Nation State ◽  
The West ◽  
Late Eighteenth Century ◽  
Secular Institution ◽  
The Government ◽  
Academic Discourses

From the late eighteenth century to WWII, shrine Shintō came to be seen as a secular institution by the government, academics, and activists in Japan (Isomae 2014; Josephson 2012, Maxey 2014). However, research thus far has largely focused on the political and academic discourses surrounding the development of this idea. This article contributes to this discussion by examining how a prominent modern Shintō shrine, Kashihara Jingū founded in 1890, was conceived of and treated as secular. It also explores how Kashihara Jingū communicated an alternate sense of space and time in line with a new Japanese secularity. This Shintō-based secularity, which located shrines as public, historical, and modern, was formulated in antagonism to the West and had an influence that extended across the Japanese sphere. The shrine also serves as a case study of how the modern political system of secularism functioned in a non-western nation-state.

scholarly journals Decolonising war

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 199-214 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tarak Barkawi
Keyword(s):  
State Formation ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
World Politics ◽  
Nation State ◽  
The West ◽  
War And Society ◽  
Small War ◽  
Nation State Formation ◽  
Do So

AbstractWhat would it mean to decolonise the concept of war? ‘Decolonising’ means critiquing the ways in which Eurocentric ideas and historiographies have informed the basic categories of social and political thought. Dominant understandings of the concept of war derive from histories and sociologies of nation-state formation in the West. Accordingly, I critique this Eurocentric concept of war from the perspective of Small War in the colonies, that is, from the perspective of different histories and geographies of war and society than were assumed to exist in the West. I do so in order to outline a postcolonial concept of war and to identify some of the principles of inquiry that would inform a postcolonial war studies. These include conceiving force as an ordinary dimension of politics; situating force and war in transnational context, amid international hierarchies; and attending to the co-constitutive character of war and society relations in world politics.

Forest Dialect

English Today ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 70-76
Author(s):  
Michelle Straw
Keyword(s):  
Identity Construction ◽  
Nation State ◽  
The South ◽  
The West ◽  
South West ◽  
Special Place ◽  
West Midlands ◽  
National Borders

The Forest of Dean (henceforth Forest) is one of the lesser known English Royal Forests. The area is considered locally to be a special place with a distinctive dialect. The Forest lies at the intersection of three regions: South East Wales, West Country, also known as the South West, and the West Midlands. The Forest is situated between two rivers: the River Severn to the East separates it from the rest of Gloucestershire; the River Wye to the West separates it from Wales. National borders and physical boundaries seem to play an important role in identity construction. ‘Identities matter most’ (Llamas & Watt, 2010: 17) to those communities ‘at the physical margins of the nation state’ (Llamas, 2010: 225). Such communities may engage in practices that differentiate their dialect and situate it at the centre of their own region.

Historicizing Slavery in West Indian Feminisms

1998 ◽  
Vol 59 (1) ◽  
pp. 34-56 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hilary McD. Beckles
Keyword(s):  
West Indies ◽  
Nation State ◽  
The West ◽  
Feminine Identity ◽  
Historical Texts ◽  
Feminist Politics ◽  
Feminist Thought ◽  
Feminist Writing ◽  
Gender Neutrality

This paper traces the evolution of a coherent feminist genre in written historical texts during and after slavery, and in relation to contemporary feminist writing in the West Indies. The paper problematizes the category ‘woman’ during slavery, arguing that femininity was itself deeply differentiated by class and race, thus leading to historical disunity in the notion of feminine identity during slavery. This gender neutrality has not been sufficiently appreciated in contemporary feminist thought leading to liberal feminist politics in the region. This has proved counter productive in the attempts of Caribbean feminist theorizing to provide alternative understandings of the construction of the nation-state as it emerged out of slavery and the role of women themselves in the shaping of modern Caribbean society.

"The Whole World Is In Uproar": Discourses of Fear, Instability, and Global Change in West German Media, 1977-1980

2007 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 25-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Stehle
Keyword(s):  
Global Change ◽  
Nation State ◽  
The West ◽  
Western Nation ◽  
Close Analysis ◽  
German Nation ◽  
The Stability ◽  
German Newspapers ◽  
Media Responses

After presenting a brief summary of the events leading up to the German Autumn, this article offers a close analysis of media responses in major German newspapers and magazines in the months following these violent and confusing political developments. It compares these responses to reports in January 1980, where the events of the late 1970s serve as a catalyst for fears of global change. Media articulate these fears about the stability and identity of the West German nation state in increasingly vague and generalized terms and relate them to a global situation that is "out of control." The discussions in this article suggest that these expressed fears reveal tensions, interruptions, and gaps in the conservative fantasy of the secure and prosperous Western nation state.

From outside the Imperium: Gandhi's Cultural Critique of the ‘West’

1981 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 171-194 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashis Nandy
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Cultural Relativism ◽  
The Political ◽  
Cultural Critique ◽  
Nation State ◽  
The West ◽  
Equitable Distribution ◽  
Modern Culture ◽  
Shifting Baseline ◽  
Modern Nation State

Gandhi considered the cultural gap between the modern and the non-modern cultures deeper than that between the West and the East. It is the modern culture he rejected, not only as a social ideal, but also as a framework within which one could struggle for an equitable distribution of the products of modernity. Thus, to him, the demonic aspects of the modern Western culture did not centre around only the political economy of modernity, but also around modern West's scientific secularism, technologism, overorganization, ideologies of adulthood and masculinity, giganticism, stress on normality and oversocialization, and cultural evolutionism. Such a critique allowed Gandhi to see the West as a differentiated structure and the Western man as a co-victim of the oppression of the modern nation-state system, centralized economy, mass media and technocracy, and an ethic which was openly ethnocidal. Traditional cultures also were not undifferentiated to him. He was a critical traditionalist, not an uncritical defender of faiths, and he believed in ‘negative’ relativism, not in the anthropologist's version of cultural relativism. No culture could be perfect in his model, not even a traditional one; it could only be useful as a shifting baseline for cultural criticism.

A Search for Identity: The “German Question” in Atlantic Alliance Relations

1988 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 395-417 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joyce Marie Mushaben
Keyword(s):  
Policy Making ◽  
Global Environment ◽  
Nation State ◽  
The West ◽  
Modus Operandi ◽  
State Identity ◽  
Official Policy ◽  
German Question ◽  
The Stability ◽  
The U.S

AbstractMajor changes in the postwar global environment have transformed “the” German question into many German questions that continue to complicate the foreign and domestic policy-making processes in the Federal Republic. Inconsistencies between official policy pronouncements and the accepted political modus operandi are explainable in terms of four “paradoxes”: (1) the nation/state identity paradox; (2) the reunification/integration paradox; (3) the stability/security paradox; and (4) the lessons-of-history/normalcy paradox. West German commitment to the Atlantic Alliance remains unshaken, but the FRG should not be forced to choose between the U.S. and Europe, between integration with the West and further improvement in relations with the GDR. Normalization of those relations will be best served by a mutual adherence to the principles of balance, territorial integrity, confidence building and greater transparency in matters of inter-German decision making.

scholarly journals Relevansi Maqasid Syariah Sebagai Pendekatan Baru Diplomasi Islam Dalam Penyelesaian Konflik Minoritas: Teori Dan Praktik

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (01) ◽  
pp. 36
Author(s):  
Mochamad Fathoni
Keyword(s):  
Soft Power ◽  
Descriptive Analysis ◽  
Nation State ◽  
Muslim Country ◽  
The West ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Muslim Minority ◽  
The World ◽  
Soft Power Diplomacy

AbstractAfter 9/11, muslim in the west became minority even in his/her own country. There are presumption that Islam related to terrorism and this is the main reason why muslim in the world become minority, especially for muslim who live in the non-muslim country. Aim of the study is to find a new approach within muslim in diplomacy to protect the muslim minority or other minority in the plurality of today nation-state. We use literature studies through descriptive analysis in explained the relevance of maqoshid sharia in solving the minority issue and compare several case study of its implementation in several countries. The novelty of the study is that political scientists have not touched the topic from the basic teaching of Islam, which is maqashid sharia, as an approach in solving the problem related minority, especially muslim minority. The finding in the study is that maqashid sharia as an approach can be developed as soft-power diplomacy strategy which can be distinguished as Islamic diplomacy model in solving minority issue.Keywords: maqosid sharia, Islamic diplomacy, minorityAbstrakPasca peristiwa 9/11, warga muslim di negara-negara barat seakan menjadi minoritas di negaranya sendiri. Munculnya pra-anggapan yang mengkaitkan Islam dan terorisme merupakan sebab utama warga muslim dunia menjadi betul-betul minoritas. Hal ini terutama dialami oleh umat Islam yang berada di negara-negara non-muslim. Tujuan studi ini adalah diperlukan pendekatan baru dari umat Islam sendiri, terutama dari negara-negara Islam atau mayoritas muslim dalam berdiplomasi untuk melindungi minoritas muslim maupun minoritas etnis dan agama lain di tengah dinamika negara-bangsa yang semakin majemuk. Penelitian ini merupakan penelitian studi pustaka dan menggunakan analisis deskiptif dalam menjelaskan relevansi maqasid syariah dalam menyelesaikan masalah minoritas disertai perbandingan sejumlah contoh studi kasus penerapannya di sejumlah negara. Kebaruan dari studi ini adalah belum ada ilmuwan politik yang menggunakan maqosid syariah sebagai pendekatan model diplomasi Islam di dalam menangani berbagai persoalan menyangkut isyu minoritas, khususnya minoritas muslim. Temuan dalam penelitian ini adalah pendekatan maqasid syariah dapat menjadi strategi diplomasi soft power yang menjadi ciri khas model diplomasi Islam dalam mencapai kepentingan tidak saja menyelesaikan isyu minoritas.Kata-kata kunci: maqosid syariah, diplomasi islam, minoritas

scholarly journals The Hero Fallen: Zhang Yimou and the Question of Unstable Authorship

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Mark Ellsworth
Keyword(s):  
The Political ◽  
Nation State ◽  
Prior Work ◽  
National Politics ◽  
National Cinema ◽  
The West ◽  
Cultural Authenticity ◽  
Chinese Nation ◽  
Chinese Films ◽  
The Way

<p>When Zhang Yimou’s film, Hero (2002), was released it was one of the most successful Chinese films ever screened in American theaters. While many critics applauded the film’s aesthetics, other reviewers condemned the film for undermining the political potency of Zhang’s early films and promoting a fascist ideology. The interpretation of Hero as fascist propaganda has incited a controversy over the reception of the film that has penetrated academic as well as journalistic circles. A close look at this controversy reveals that there has been a tendency in the West to read a film and filmmaker in a manner predetermined by where they are from and the discourse that already exists. This ‘auto-reading’ or ‘auto-positioning’ tendency is symptomatic of a reliance on discourses of authorship and national cinema. The manner in which these discourses have permeated the way that the West has responded to Zhang and his films has given rise to three ‘recurring motifs:’ aesthetic virtuosity, cultural authenticity, and national politics. These motifs are characteristics which have been repeated so often that they became defining qualities of his authorship and have often determined the interpretation of his films. This thesis involves a mapping of the critical reception of Hero and the way it relates to Zhang’s prior work, his auteur status, and his relationship to the Chinese nation-state. Specifically, this thesis examines how the discursive reception of Zhang’s career and films provided the context out of which emerged the framework that justifies reading the film as fascist. Tracing the recurring motifs throughout the Western reception of Zhang’s films reveals the problematics of the reliance on the discourses of authorship and national cinema. This thesis will also explore Hero directly to investigate how the film’s ambiguities have contributed to the reading of the film as fascist but also how ambiguity facilitates the potential to interpret other meanings in the film.</p>

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document