The Armenian Factor in the Formation of a Yezidi Identity, or: Who Is “Inventing” the Yezidis?

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (51) ◽  
pp. 72-112
Author(s):  
Nodar Mossaki ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Identity ◽  
Religious Identity ◽  
General Trend ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Terrorist Attacks ◽  
Muslim Community ◽  
Populated Area ◽  
Northern Iraq ◽  
Iraqi Kurdistan

The article deals with the problems of ethnic and religious identity of the Yezidis who have been traditionally classified as Kurds but have increasingly disassociated themselves from them in recent years. This development was reflected in post-Soviet censuses in Russia, Georgia, and Armenia, where the vast majority of Yezidis defined their ethnic identity as Yezidi rather than Kurdish. In Kurdish studies, the process of separating Yezidis from Kurds has also traditionally been associated exclusively with the policies of the Armenian authorities, particularly in the context of the national and ideological role of Armenian scholars in the Armenian-Kurdish discourse. However, the article shows that the ethnicization of the Yezidis is a general trend in the Yezidi community, regardless of the factor of Armenia. The author claims that it is the attitude of the Kurdish-Muslim community towards the Yezidis in their historical homeland—in Iraq and Iraqi Kurdistan—that is a predictor of the Yezidi identity. This was most clearly seen after the ISIS attack on the Yezidi populated area in Sinjar (Northern Iraq) in August 2014, as a result of which thousands of Yezidi men were executed, and the captured Yezidi women enslaved. These events are understood by the Yezidis within the framework of the Yezidi-Kurdish relations, since the Kurdish armed forces—which had guaranteed the security of the Yezidis and protection from ISIS—unexpectedly withdrew their troops from Sinjar shortly before the terrorist attacks. This led to an increase in anti-Kurdish sentiments in the Yezidi community.

scholarly journals Religious Revival as Basis of the Modern Kryashen National Movement

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (99) ◽  
pp. 176-191
Author(s):  
A.E. Denisov
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Identity ◽  
Religious Identity ◽  
Religious Revival ◽  
Dynamic Nature ◽  
Second Stage ◽  
National Movement ◽  
Religious Factor ◽  
Two Stages ◽  
The 19Th Century

The article is devoted to the analysis of the role of the religious factor in the development of the sub-ethnic national movement studying the case of the Kryashens. The study is based on Jose Casanova’s concept of the religious revival. Following Casanova, the author assumes that religious identity can become the basis of an ethnic identity only if religion transforms from a state-oriented institution into an institution oriented towards the society and actively participating in its improvement. At the same time, revealing the dynamic nature of the formation of the (sub)ethnic groups, the author relies on the ethnosymbolic concept of John Hutchinson, which focuses on the importance of the ethnically significant symbols. In the case of the Kryashens a religious marker represents such a symbol. The article examines in detail two stages of the Kryashens’ religious revival. The first stage occurred in the second half of the 19th century and was associated primarily with the missionary activity of Nikolay Ilminsky. The second stage started in 1989 and continues today. The research carried out by the author lends unequivocal support to the idea that religion played a key role in the formation of an original Kryashen ethno-cultural identity. At the same time, it shows that within Kryashens’ religiosity the vector is directed from society to religion rather than from religion to society. Their religious identity is instrumental. However, although there are very few ultra-religious people in the Kryashen community and most of the Kryashens are secularized, religion remains one of the most important markers of their ethnic identity.

scholarly journals Subsurface tectonic characterizations by the use of geo-electrical resistivity technique and their implications on environmental soil and groundwater at Erbil dumpsite, west of Erbil city – Iraqi Kurdistan region

2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 325-354 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sirwa Qader Smail Gardi ◽  
Jamal Asfahani
Keyword(s):  
Electrical Resistivity ◽  
Groundwater Table ◽  
Kurdistan Region ◽  
Study Region ◽  
Northern Iraq ◽  
Subsurface Structures ◽  
Iraqi Kurdistan ◽  
Geological Information ◽  
Exact Position

Abstract Twenty seven vertical electrical resistivity soundings (VES), distributed on three profiles, have been carried out around the Erbil city dumpsite location in northern Iraq, by using Schlumberger configuration. The main objective of those VES soundings is to characterize the subsurface structures and to detect the probable soil contamination zones at the dumpsite and the surrounding district. Bai Hassan aquifer in the study region is one of most important natural fresh water in the central sub-basin of Erbil. The 2D Pichgin and Habibulleav technique is applied herein to study and analyse the three VES profiles. Its application in the study region has highly demonstrated the efficacy of such a technique. In fact, the subsurface structures in the study area have been recognized, and the exact position, dip, direction of the faults and groundwater level were also precisely detected. The role of applying this technique together with the available geological information, while carrying out geo-electrical surveys is emphasized to obtain useful, cheap and fast lithological, groundwater table and structural subsurface information.

Satire and Religious Tolerance: How Acceptance/Rejection of Satire is Determined by the Capacity of Religious and Political Forces to Agree on a Modern Civic Contract

2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 302-323
Author(s):  
Remi Piet
Keyword(s):  
Religious Identity ◽  
Freedom Of Expression ◽  
Political Activism ◽  
Civic Identity ◽  
Terrorist Attacks ◽  
Political Satire ◽  
Muslim Community ◽  
Political Forces ◽  
Religious Establishment ◽  
Charlie Hebdo

The January 2015 assassination at the Charlie Hebdo offices and the dozen ensuing terrorist attacks in France over the last eighteen months are the manifestation of a structural opposition between a civic identity whose most controversial manifestation is political satire and a religious identity hijacked by radicals. This paper explains how political satire is deeply entrenched in French culture and how it has been used as a democratization and liberating tool by a society eager to counterbalance the existing religious establishment. Similarly, it then addresses satire in the Muslim world and underlines that, instead of being considered a tool of the weak against the powerful, it is perceived as a neo-colonial manifestation of an exogenously imposed political order that ostracizes the citizen from his legitimate religious belief. Instead of a liberating instrument, it is perceived as attacking the foundation of a religion that many see as their refuge against authoritarian elites. This paper then analyses the historical evolution of Islamic political activism. After highlighting the existence of satire and religious representation in Islam in some of its earliest societal orders, this paper argues that the Muslim community under the leadership of its Ulema has been fractured into a range of different scholastic interpretations of Islam resulting into different acceptation of liberal civic orders. The reaction towards Charlie Hebdo and the strong/weak condemning or silent/vocal approbation are representative of their contamination by radicalism. This paper finally demonstrates that the rejection of satire is symptomatic of the incomplete evolution of the state and the weakness of national and transnational institutions. Addressing the reforming of Muslim institutions in France itself, this paper argues that there is no incompatibility between Islam and a liberal republican order guaranteeing freedom of expression and satire.

scholarly journals THE ROLE OF MOSLEM SOCIETIES’S LEADERSHIP IN PERSPECTIVE OF NATIONAL INTEGRATION: A CASE STUDY IN PEGAYAMAN VILLAGE, BULELENG DISTRICT, BALI

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 86
Author(s):  
I Nyoman Mardika
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Religious Identity ◽  
Minority Group ◽  
Muslim Community ◽  
National Integration ◽  
Disintegration Process ◽  
Muslim Communities ◽  
The Village

Muslim communities which is located in Pegayaman Village, in Buleleng Regency, have a unique and ambivalent position. Nationally, they are part of the majority Muslim communities in Indonesia. However, since they located at Buleleng regency which is a Hindu majority, the communities certainly becomes a minority group. The Muslim community of Pegayaman can live in harmony and be able to integrate with other community as a minority. In the national integration of the Muslim Pegayaman community is able to blend with other communities without losing their cultural identity. This is inseparable from the system of values, beliefs amd cultural (religious) identity and leadership in the village. The concept was able to bring the Pegayaman Muslim community to maintain national intehration and keep them away from disintegration process.

scholarly journals ANALYSIS ON FATWA OF MAJELIS PERMUSYAWARATAN ULAMA ACEH (MPU) ON AGAINST PROHIBITION OF PUBG: A LEGAL VIEW BASED ON MASLAHAH AND MAFSADAH

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 181
Author(s):  
Hudzaifah Achmad ◽  
Iqbal Syafri ◽  
Noor Naemah binti Abdul Rahman
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Terrorist Attacks ◽  
Muslim Community ◽  
The Status ◽  
Muslim Majority

Fatwa has the most important role to play in the development of society from time to time, and without exception Indonesia as a nation with the largest Muslim majority which requires the role of fatwa surely in order to dealt with or adapt to new issues. For instance, the recent fatwa issued by the Ulama Consultative Assembly (MPU) of Aceh on the prohibition of PUBG caused by an incident of terrorist attacks to the Muslim community in New Zealand. Therefore, the aims of this study is to analyse the fatwa issued by Ulama Consultative Assembly (MPU) of Aceg regarding the status haram of the PUBG based on the findins of Islamic principles, maslahah dan mafsadah. Particularly, the objectives of this research are as follows: 1). To explain the factors behind the Ulama Consultative Assembly (MPU) of Aceh in issuing a forbidden fatwa for the PUBG. 2). To describe the arguments or judgments that became the foundation of Ulama Consultative Assembly (MPU) of Aceh regarding their fatwa. 3). To analyse the haram fatwa against PUBG issued by Ulama Consultative Assembly (MPU) of Aceh through the concept of masalah and mafsadah.

scholarly journals THE INFLUENCE OF THE ISLAMIC FACTOR ON THE STATE OF THE ARMED FORCES OF FRANCE

2021 ◽  
Vol 24 (6) ◽  
pp. 165-173
Author(s):  
Alexey Chistyakov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Armed Forces ◽  
Spiritual Needs ◽  
Scientific Journals ◽  
Muslim Community ◽  
Military Chaplains ◽  
French Army ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Military ◽  
The Relationship

Nowadays France is a home to the largest Muslim community in Europe. Therefore, the issues of the relationship between government structures and adherents of Islam are of great importance for the country and they become a field for political confrontation especially because of the existing separation of spiritual and secular life. This means that Islamization of the armed forces of the Republic is also important. It is necessary to discover the level of army Islamization and spiritual needs satisfaction of soldiers, as well as the role of Muslim chaplains in army structures. Based on analysis of French laws, press and publications in scientific journals, the author discovers the changes that occurred in the Nation attitude to the issue of Muslims integration to the military system of the country and explains the reasons and content of some evolution stages of Muslim military chaplains institute in the French army since 2006.

scholarly journals Serbs in Romania relationship between ethnic and religious identity

Balcanica ◽  
2012 ◽  
pp. 117-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aleksandra Djuric-Milovanovic
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Identity ◽  
Religious Identity ◽  
Census Data ◽  
Religious Communities ◽  
Orthodox Church ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Protestant Churches ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Western Romania

The paper looks at the role of religion in the ethnic identity of the Serbs in Romania, based on the fieldwork conducted in August 2010 among the Serbian communities in the Danube Gorge (Rom. Clisura Dun?rii; loc. Ser. Banatska klisura), western Romania. A historical perspective being necessary in studying and understanding the complexities of identity structures, the paper offers a brief historical overview of the Serbian community in Romania. Serbs have been living in the Banat since medieval times, their oldest settlements dating back to the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Today, they mostly live in western Romania (Timi?, Arad, Cara?-Severin and Mehedin?i counties), Timi?oara being their cultural, political and religious centre. Over the last decades, the community has been numerically declining due to strong assimilation processes and demographic trends, as evidenced by successive census data (34,037 in 1977; 29,408 in 1992; 22,518 in 2002). The majority belong to the Serbian Orthodox Church (Diocese of Timi?oara), but a number of neo-Protestant churches have appeared in the last decades. The research focuses on the role of the Orthodox religion among the Serbian minority in Romania and the role of new religious communities in relation to national identity. The role of the dominant Serbian Orthodox Church in preserving and strengthening ethnic identity is looked at, but also influences of other religious traditions which do not overlap with any particular ethnic group, such as neo-Protestantism. With regard to the supranational nature of neo-Protestantism, the aim of the study is to analyze the impact of these new religions on assimilation processes among the Serbs in Romania and to examine in what ways different religious communities influence either the strengthening or the weakening of Serbian ethnic identity.

The Role of Ethnic Identity among Students in Puerto Rico

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenny Zhen-Duan ◽  
Emily Saez-Santiago
Keyword(s):  
Puerto Rico ◽  
Ethnic Identity

Ivan Ozhienko about the role of religion in Ukrainian national life

2001 ◽  
pp. 54-61
Author(s):  
K. Nedzelsky
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Identity ◽  
Spiritual Life ◽  
Human Soul ◽  
National Unity ◽  
Terrestrial Life ◽  
Dedicated Service ◽  
National Life ◽  
Role Of Religion ◽  
Spiritual Unity

Ivan Ogienko (1882-1972), also known as Metropolitan Hilarion, devoted much attention to the role and place of religion in the national life of Ukrainians and their ethnic identity in their scholarly and theological works. Without exaggeration it can be argued that the problem of national unity of the Ukrainian people is one of the key principles of all historiosophical considerations of the famous scholar and theologian. If the purpose of the spiritual life of a Ukrainian, according to his views, is to serve God, then the purpose of state or terrestrial life is the dedicated service to his people. The purpose of heaven and the purpose of the earthly paths, intersecting in the life of a certain group of people through the lives of its individual representatives, give rise to a unique alliance of spiritual unity, the name of which is "people" or "nation." Religion (faith) in the process of transforming the anarchist crowd into a spiritually integrated and orderly national integrity serves as the transformer of the imperfect nature of the human soul into perfect.

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