Dissolving Gender Difference – Female Teachers, Male Allies and the Creation of Islamic Sufi Authority in Afghanistan

Afghanistan ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 142-169
Author(s):  
Annika Schmeding
Keyword(s):  
Participant Observation ◽  
Social Categories ◽  
Afghan Women ◽  
Cultural Organizations ◽  
Moral Exemplar ◽  
Women's Participation ◽  
Spiritual Authority ◽  
Sufi Order ◽  
Oral History Interviews ◽  
And Control

This article offers a case study of contemporary female Sufi leadership and teaching within a branch of the Qadirriyah Sufi order originating with pir Allama Faizani. Based on ethnographic participant observation and oral history interviews, it traces the development of female inclusion within spiritual practice, such as meditative zikr [lit. remembrance], and religious leadership in urban Afghanistan. Addressing the paucity of writing on Afghan women as Muslim actors, the article considers how the founding pir became a moral exemplar for gender inclusive conduct, facilitating women's participation and inspiring a community ethos of male allyship. The Faizanis legitimize women's participation through recourse to the spiritual psychophysiological organ of the heart, rendering divine connection a non-gendered endeavor that transcends social categories. In addition to the discursive erasure of gender, the community navigates restrictive environments and expectations through practical adaptations such as new cultural organizations. This article examines how women train to access, navigate and control inner states during zikr and documents how this process is interlinked with the relational establishment and creation of spiritual authority.

The Gift of Solidarity: Women Navigating Jewellery Work and Patriarchal Norms in Rural West Bengal, India

2021 ◽  
pp. 097317412098457
Author(s):  
Sarasij Majumder
Keyword(s):  
Informal Sector ◽  
West Bengal ◽  
Family Members ◽  
Informal Networks ◽  
Formal Economy ◽  
Women's Participation ◽  
The Gift ◽  
Control Work ◽  
And Control ◽  
Urban Villages

In the context of declining women’s participation in the formal economy in India, this paper looks at how women’s work in the informal sector of jewellery-making emerges as gift. Gendered discourses on work turn men, who worked as labourers, into supervisors who monitor and control work situations and sort and grade final products in jewellery workshops. Following Anna Tsing, I argue that jewellery products start their lives as gifts but as they move from women (who are seen as housewives and family members) to men (who are seen as professionals/experts within the workshop) and beyond, they become commodities. This journey from gift to commodity within the workshop is made possible by a gendered discourse on work and by the dynamics within small landholding middle-caste households. Further, I underscore that women’s informal networks often help them cope with the emotional and affective tensions of work and the demands imposed on them by the men and their own households. Women facilitate the transition from gift to commodity by colluding amongst themselves to work in these informal spaces to maintain household status within peri-urban villages of West Bengal.

An analysis of the operative capacity of non-governmental organizations in the Southern region of Punjab Province, Pakistan

2016 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 310-328
Author(s):  
Sadia Jabeen ◽  
Nighat Yasmin
Keyword(s):  
Social Welfare ◽  
Capacity Building ◽  
Southern Region ◽  
Democratic Process ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Punjab Province ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
Women's Participation ◽  
Core Areas ◽  
And Control

Abstract This study explores the operative capacity of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the Southern region of Punjab Province, Pakistan. Data from all functional NGOs registered with the Social Welfare and the Bait-ul-Maal Department, Punjab under the provisions of the Voluntary Social Welfare Agencies (Registration and Control) Ordinance, 1961 were collected. A questionnaire based on basic information about NGOs, namely about membership, elections, services offered and opportunities for capacity building, was used for data collection. The results of the study identify education, health, and vocational and technical training as the three major areas of activity for NGOs in the Southern region. The study also found that NGOs do not have an adequate democratic process for elections. Women’s participation is less than men’s in general and in particular regarding membership of executive bodies. The core areas where gaps in capacity building were found are in governance and leadership, financial and human resource management, record maintenance and reporting. On the basis of the findings of this study, it is suggested that NGOs should extend their areas of operation and field of services, and that the democratic process could be ensured by concerned departments through proper monitoring and surveillance.

Scenarios of style: An exploration of subcultural research as embodied practice in Los Angeles’s vintage Jamaican music scene

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 195-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nina L. Cole
Keyword(s):  
Performance Studies ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Single Case ◽  
Research Setting ◽  
Individual Agency ◽  
Fashion Studies ◽  
Music Scene ◽  
Oral History Interviews ◽  
Embodied Practice

This article sets forth a performance studies framework for subcultural research: scenarios of style. This embodied epistemology brings together Diana Taylor’s scenario paradigm with interdisciplinary perspectives on style to provide a means for researchers to explore the ways in which style is constitutive of subcultural life. Twenty-five years of involvement in Los Angeles’s vintage Jamaican music scene and four years of fieldwork – comprised of participant observation, oral history interviews and archival research – undergird my theorization. To communicate individual agency and subcultural traditions of style, this article explores a single case study situated within my larger research setting. Because scenarios of style supports embodied, situated understandings of knowledge and is contextually adaptable, this article posits its broader relevancy for fashion studies research.

Enslaved Muslim Sufi Saints in the Nineteenth-Century Sahara: The Life of Bilal Ould Mahmoud

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Khaled Esseissah
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Spiritual Authority ◽  
Sufi Order

Abstract This article centers on the life of Bilal Ould Mahmoud, an enslaved man who became a spiritual authority in the nineteenth-century Sahara. It examines how Bilal's piety allowed him to rise to prominence in a hierarchical context that subjugated him to an inferior position. Yet what makes him so fascinating to study is his ability to achieve the highest station as a Sufi saint without being attached to a Sufi order. Using Bilal's case, this article makes two important contributions to the historiographies of Sufism and slavery. First, it brings fresh perspectives to the studies of Sufism outside of ṭarīqa (Sufi orders). Second, it contributes to the studies of Saharan slavery by exploring enslaved Muslims’ experiences beyond the practice of illicit magic, and also as part of how they exercised their saintly authority as empowered agents. In the process, it analyzes the interplay among Islam, race, and slavery in the nineteenth-century Sahara.

Reaching organizational ambidexterity in the merger process: a temporal switching

2019 ◽  
Vol 58 (5) ◽  
pp. 879-896
Author(s):  
Anne-Sophie Thelisson ◽  
Audrey Missonier ◽  
Gilles Guieu
Keyword(s):  
Participant Observation ◽  
Organizational Ambidexterity ◽  
Longitudinal Case Study ◽  
Exploration And Exploitation ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Merger Process ◽  
Post Merger Integration ◽  
And Control ◽  
Merger Integration ◽  
Parent Companies

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore how a company reaches organizational ambidexterity during a merger process. Organizational ambidexterity refers to the proactive adaptations of an organization to simultaneously explore and exploit. Design/methodology/approach The paper presents a longitudinal case study of a public-private merger of two listed French companies. The data were collected from participant observation, interviews and archival documentation over two years. Findings The balance between autonomy and control by the parent companies evolves during the post-merger integration. The findings reveal that there was no concordance between the oscillations between autonomy and control on the part of the parent companies and the new organization’s exploration/exploitation strategies. However, the progressive evolution of control and autonomy from the parent companies engendered organizational ambidexterity during the third phase integration. Practical implications The study adds insight into how organizations can develop ways to manage organizational ambidexterity dynamics by employing temporal mechanisms, referring to an organization’s shifting sequentially between exploration and exploitation. The case highlights how temporal switching between exploration and exploitation occurs to ultimately enable ambidexterity. Originality/value Although organizational ambidexterity is recognized as a key element for post-merger integration, how it is achieved over the course of the merger process has received little attention. The study highlights that in the case of public-private mergers, the parent companies influence exploration and/or exploitation strategies. The paper adds insights on whether exploration and exploitation can be differentiated over time and whether exploration and exploitation can be reconciled at the same time.

Adolescent social structure and the spread of linguistic change

1988 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 183-207 ◽  
Author(s):  
Penelope Eckert
Keyword(s):  
Social Structure ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Sound Change ◽  
Phonological Variation ◽  
Social Categories ◽  
Socioeconomic Class ◽  
Class Differences ◽  
Social Network Structure ◽  
Age Cohort

ABSTRACTDetailed participant observation among Detroit area adolescents provides explanations for the mechanisms of the spread of sound change outward from urban areas and upward through the socioeconomic hierarchy. The use of local phonological variables in adolescence is determined by a social structure within the age cohort, dominated by two opposed, and frequently polarized, school-based social categories. These categories, called “Jocks” and “Burnouts” in the school under study, embody middle-class and working-class cultures respectively, and articulate adolescent social structure with adult socioeconomic class. Differences between Jock and Burnout cultures entail differences in social network structure and in orientation to the urban area, and hence to urban sound changes. Parents' socioeconomic class is related to, but does not determine, category affiliation, and while category affiliation is a significant predictor in phonological variation, parents' socioeconomic class is not. (Variation, sound change, adolescents, urban dialects, suburban dialects, schools)

“Call Me Mama”

2012 ◽  
Vol 642 (1) ◽  
pp. 170-185 ◽  
Author(s):  
Esther Chihye Kim
Keyword(s):  
Participant Observation ◽  
Korean American ◽  
Immigrant Workers ◽  
Undocumented Immigrant ◽  
Power And Control ◽  
Unpaid Labor ◽  
History Of ◽  
And Control ◽  
Insight Into

Based on three years of participant observation, this article provides insight into the working relationship between a small business owner and undocumented immigrant workers at a Korean-Japanese restaurant. The case study focuses on a Korean American businesswoman who depends on the unpaid labor of family members and the cheap labor of undocumented immigrants. Using naturalistic ethnography, which consists of casual interactions and conversations with informants, the author relates the life history of the owner, Mrs. Kwon, who asks her employees to call her “Mama,” and analyzes her preference for undocumented immigrant workers. The article elucidates the ways she asserts power and control in the workplace.

scholarly journals Zahra: A policewoman in Afghanistan

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jorrit Kamminga ◽  
Cristina Durán ◽  
Miguel Ángel Giner Bou
Keyword(s):  
Role Models ◽  
Critical Mass ◽  
Police Force ◽  
Foreign Affairs ◽  
Strategic Partnership ◽  
Fictional Character ◽  
Afghan Women ◽  
Women's Participation ◽  
Participation Of Women ◽  
Standing Up

As part of Oxfam’s Strategic Partnership project ‘Towards a Worldwide Influencing Network’, the graphic story Zahra: A policewoman in Afghanistan was developed by Jorrit Kamminga, Cristina Durán and Miguel Ángel Giner Bou. The project is funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands. The graphic story is part of a long-standing Oxfam campaign that supports the inclusion and meaningful participation of women in the Afghan police. The story portrays the struggles of a young woman from a rural village who wants to become a police officer. While a fictional character, Zahra’s story represents the aspirations and dreams of many young Afghan women who are increasingly standing up for their rights and equal opportunities, but who are still facing structural societal and institutional barriers. For young women like Zahra, there are still few role models and male champions to support their cause. Yet, as Oxfam’s project has shown, their number is growing, which contributes to small shifts in behaviour and perceptions, gradually normalizing women’s presence in the police force. If a critical mass of women within the police force can be reached and their participation increasingly becomes meaningful, this can reduce the societal and institutional resistance over time. Oxfam hopes the fictional character of Zahra can contribute to that in terms of awareness raising and the promotion of women’s participation in the police force. The story is also available on the #IMatter website.

scholarly journals The Influence of Sunflower Commercialisation and Diversity on Women's Empowerment: The Case of Iramba and Mkalama Districts, Singida Region

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Devotha B. Mosha ◽  
John Jeckoniah ◽  
Aida Isinika ◽  
Gideon Boniface
Keyword(s):  
Collective Action ◽  
Women's Empowerment ◽  
Women’S Empowerment ◽  
Value Chains ◽  
Cultural Norms ◽  
Cash Crop ◽  
Cash Crops ◽  
Women's Participation ◽  
Growing Body ◽  
And Control

There is a growing body of literature that argues that normally women derive little benefit from cash crops. Some of the barriers leading to women having less benefit from cash crop value chains include cultural norms and power differences in access to, and control over, resources among actors in value chains. It is also argued that women’s participation in different forms of collective action help women to increase benefits to them through their increased agency, hence enabling them to utilise existing and diverse options for their empowerment. This paper explores how women have benefited from their engagement in sunflower commercialisation and how culture has influenced changes in access to, and control over, resources, including land, for their empowerment.

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