Railroading Religion

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Walker
Keyword(s):  
Interest Groups ◽  
American West ◽  
Religious Institutions ◽  
Religious Groups ◽  
The West ◽  
Production Of Knowledge ◽  
David Walker ◽  
Lds Church ◽  
Government Bureaucracy ◽  
The Town

Railroads, tourism, and government bureaucracy combined to create modern religion in the American West, argues David Walker in this innovative study of Mormonism’s ascendency in the railroad era. The center of his story is Corinne, Utah—an end-of-the-track, hell-on-wheels railroad town founded by anti-Mormon businessmen. In the disputes over this town’s frontier survival, Walker discovers intense efforts by a variety of theological, political, and economic interest groups to challenge or secure Mormonism’s standing in the West. Though Corinne’s founders hoped to leverage industrial capital to overthrow Mormon theocracy, the town became the site of a very different dream. Economic and political victory in the West required the production of knowledge about different religious groups settling in its lands. As ordinary Americans advanced their own theories about Mormondom, they contributed to the rise of religion itself as a category of popular and scholarly imagination. At the same time, new and advantageous railroad-related alliances catalyzed LDS Church officials to build increasingly dynamic religious institutions. Through scrupulous research and wide-ranging theoretical engagement, Walker shows that western railroads did not eradicate or diminish Mormon power. To the contrary, railroad promoters helped establish Mormonism as a normative American religion.

scholarly journals What Stymies Action on Climate Change? Religious Institutions, Marginalization, and Efficacy in Kenya

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Lauren Honig ◽  
Amy Erica Smith ◽  
Jaimie Bleck
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Religious Institutions ◽  
Religious Groups ◽  
State Repression ◽  
Address Climate Change ◽  
Policy Responses ◽  
Vulnerability To Climate Change ◽  
History Of ◽  
Muslim Communities ◽  
Critical Link

Addressing climate change requires coordinated policy responses that incorporate the needs of the most impacted populations. Yet even communities that are greatly concerned about climate change may remain on the sidelines. We examine what stymies some citizens’ mobilization in Kenya, a country with a long history of environmental activism and high vulnerability to climate change. We foreground efficacy—a belief that one’s actions can create change—as a critical link transforming concern into action. However, that link is often missing for marginalized ethnic, socioeconomic, and religious groups. Analyzing interviews, focus groups, and survey data, we find that Muslims express much lower efficacy to address climate change than other religious groups; the gap cannot be explained by differences in science beliefs, issue concern, ethnicity, or demographics. Instead, we attribute it to understandings of marginalization vis-à-vis the Kenyan state—understandings socialized within the local institutions of Muslim communities affected by state repression.

scholarly journals Productivity of Ospreys, Pandion haliaetus, Affected by Water Levels Near Loon Lake, Saskatchewan, 1975-2002

2010 ◽  
Vol 124 (3) ◽  
pp. 219
Author(s):  
C. Stuart Houston ◽  
Frank Scott ◽  
Rob B. Tether
Keyword(s):  
Breeding Success ◽  
Water Levels ◽  
Lake Levels ◽  
The West ◽  
Canadian Data ◽  
Human Use ◽  
The Town ◽  
Western Half ◽  
Eastern Half

Between 1975 and 2002, diminished breeding success of Ospreys was associated with drought and falling lake levels in the western half of our study area near the town of Loon Lake, west-central Saskatchewan. Only 46% of nest attempts were successful in the west compared to 72% in the east, producing 0.88 young per accessible nest in the west and 1.42 in the east. Breeding success was greater in the eastern half, where water levels were stable, in spite of increased human use of the resort lakes there. Our unique long-term Canadian data base results support Ogden's 1977 prediction that Osprey productivity may decrease when water levels drop and fish populations are reduced.

Sharing the Burden

2014 ◽  
Vol 83 (4) ◽  
pp. 1014-1018
Author(s):  
Laurie F. Maffly-Kipp
Keyword(s):  
West Coast ◽  
Religious Institutions ◽  
The West ◽  
Spiritual But Not Religious ◽  
Church Building ◽  
The Church

Last week, sandwiched in between updates on Beyoncé's trip to the West Coast and sighting of the latest super moon, the Huffington Post featured an article by power preacher Lillian Daniels entitled “Spiritual But Not Religious? Please Stop Boring Me.” Daniels lamented her situation on long plane flights, where she had to endure the stories of fellow travelers who, upon finding out she is a minister, confessed their rejection of religious institutions in favor of finding spirituality in sunsets and walks on the beach. Inevitably, they would present their experience to her as a revelation: “Like people who go to church don't see God in the sunset! Like we are these monastic little hermits who never leave the church building. How lucky we are to have these geniuses inform us that God is in nature.” Daniels' article represents a backlash coming from the institutional end of the spectrum, but her plea for loyalty to religion-in-community was met by many who found her (apparently, according to the comments section) insulting, condescending, and close-minded.

Multiculturalism, Living Qur’an Islamic Objectives: Muhammadiyah’s Portrait In West Papua

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 508-512
Author(s):  
Muhammad Adnan Firdaus ◽  
Dudung Abdurahman ◽  
Yusuf Muri Salampessy ◽  
Ruslan Rasid
Keyword(s):  
Social Theory ◽  
Social Institutions ◽  
Objectification Theory ◽  
Educational Institutions ◽  
Economic Institutions ◽  
Religious Institutions ◽  
The West ◽  
Muslim Minority ◽  
West Papua ◽  
Health Institutions

Abstract The topic of Multiculturalism Living Quran Muhammadiyah Papua and Application of Islamic Objectification Theory Kuntowijoyo intends to highlight the application of Da'wah bil regards Persyarikatan Muhammadiyah West Papua. Where is the application of da'wah bil hal Muhammadiyah West Papua by pioneering educational institutions from kindergarten to college, religious institutions such as mosques, pesantren, taklim assemblies, missionary corps and so on. Social institutions such as orphanages. Economic institutions such as Baitul Maal wa Attamwil (BMT). Philanthropic institutions such as Lazis Muhammadiyah. Health institutions such as clinics, and others. In the opinion of the author, once again, is the application of da'wah bil hal. Where the da'wah bil thing is the Muhammadiyah pattern in general and the West Papua Muhammadiyah pattern, according to the author, is the application of Kuntowijoyo's social theory of objectification of Islam. Plus, because of the existence of Muhammadiyah West Papua in the Muslim Minority zone, this is also an application of the application of da'wah bil things that is unique in the frame of multi-culturalism and mainstreaming religious moderation.  Keyword: Multiculturalism, Living Qur'an, Muhammadiyah West Papua, Islamic Objectification .

scholarly journals All in it Together? Community Food Aid in a Multi-Ethnic Context

2017 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 447-471 ◽  
Author(s):  
MADELEINE POWER ◽  
BOB DOHERTY ◽  
NEIL SMALL ◽  
SIMON TEASDALE ◽  
KATE E. PICKETT
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
Food Distribution ◽  
Food Aid ◽  
Religious Institutions ◽  
Religious Groups ◽  
Big Society ◽  
Faith Based ◽  
The North ◽  
Demographic Context

AbstractThis paper derives from a study of community food aid in a multi-ethnic, multi-faith city in the North of England. The paper begins to make sense of the diversity of types of food insecurity assistance, examines the potential exclusion of certain groups from receipt of food aid, and explores the relationship between food aid providers and the state. Faith-based food aid is common in the case study area, particularly among food bank provision to the most ‘destitute’ clients. While food aid is adopting service responsibilities previously borne by the state, this does not imply an extension of the ‘shadow state’. Rather, it appears reflective of a pre-welfare state system of food distribution, supported by religious institutions and individual/business philanthropy, but adapted to be consistent with elements of the ‘Big Society’ narrative. Most faith-based providers are Christian. There is little Muslim provision of (or utilisation of) food aid, despite the local demographic context. This raises concerns as to the unintentional exclusion of ethnic and religious groups, which we discuss in the concluding sections.

The Politics of Sacred Lineages in 19th-Century Central Asia: Descent Groups Linked to Khwaja Ahmad Yasavi in Shrine Documents and Genealogical Charters

1999 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 507-530 ◽  
Author(s):  
Devin DeWeese
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
19Th Century ◽  
Religious History ◽  
The West ◽  
14Th Century ◽  
12Th Century ◽  
Scant Attention ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Town

Khwaja Ahmad Yasavi, the celebrated saint of Central Asia who lived most likely in the late 12th century, is perhaps best known as a Sufi shaykh and (no doubt erroneously) as a mystical poet; his shrine in the town now known as Turkistan, in southern Kazakhstan, has been an important religious center in Central Asia at least since the monumental mausoleum that still stands was built, by order of Timur, at the end of the 14th century. While Yasavi's shrine, owing to the predilections of Soviet scholarship, was extensively studied by architectural historians and archeologists, its role in social and religious history has received scant attention; at the same time, Ahmad Yasavi's legacy as a Sufi shaykh has itself been the subject of considerable misunderstanding, resulting from two related tendencies in past scholarship: to approach the Yasavi tradition as little more than a sideline to the historically dominant Naqshbandiyya, and to regard it as a phenomenon definable in “ethnic” terms, as limited to an exclusively Turkic environment. Even less well known in the West, however, is one aspect of Ahmad Yasavi's legacy that is of increasing significance in contemporary Central Asia, as the region's religious heritage is recovered and redefined in the wake of the Soviet Union's collapse—namely, the distinctive familial communities that define themselves in terms of descent from Yasavi's family, and have historically claimed specific prerogatives associated with Yasavi's shrine.

scholarly journals ‘Polish-Lithuanian’ archaeological materials from the excavations of the town of Tara

2021 ◽  
pp. 83-90
Author(s):  
S.F. Tataurov ◽  
S.S. Tikhonov
Keyword(s):  
Western Siberia ◽  
Cotton Fabrics ◽  
Outward Appearance ◽  
The West ◽  
Trade Relations ◽  
Archaeological Materials ◽  
The Town ◽  
Coats Of Arms ◽  
Special Category ◽  
Over Time

In this article, the authors analyse materials from the excavations of the Tara fortress (Omsk Region, Wes-tern Siberia), founded in 1594 by Prince Andrei Yeletsky and functioned as the main outpost of the Russians in the Middle Irtysh region to counter Khan Kuchum, the Kuchumovichs, and then the newly-arrived population from Dzungaria and Kazakhstan, until construction of the Omsk fortress in 1716. The aim of this research is to identify amongst the finds the articles of Polish-Lithuanian origin, in outward appearance similar to Russian ones. Having studied the collections formed during the excavations of the fortress in 2007–2020, the authors came to the con-clusion that such items are definitely represented by the signet rings with nobility coats of arms, coins, and bap-tismal crosses made according to the Catholic canon. Potentially, Polish-Lithuanian origin could be assigned to some types of fabrics and leather goods, such as a travel compass case with images of French fleur-de-lis, some types of shoes, and handgun holsters. The presence of Venetian glass ware and plinth bricks in the layers of the 17th c., according to the authors, is also associated with the arrival in Tara of the population that had previously resided in the territory of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth or on the western borders of Muscovy. The owners of these items ended up in Tara (and in Western Siberia) because they were taken prisoners or sided with the Rus-sians during the Russian-Polish wars. Over time, they formed a special category of service people called ‘Lithuania’. This is evidenced by numerous written sources. The basis for this conclusion is given by particular characteristics of Tara's trade relations established, primarily, with China, Lesser and Greater Bukharia, and the Uzbek Khanate, i.e., with the south in the 17th c., from where Chinese porcelain, silk and cotton fabrics, and some types of smo-king pipes came to Tara. At that time, weapons, bread, coarse fabrics, money for salaries of the servicemen of the Siberian garrisons, and cheap beads were imported to Tara from the west through Kazan, Kungur, and Lozva. In the 18th c., the main trade of the Russians began to concentrate in Troitskosavsk (Kyakhta since 1934) on the border with Mongolia, from where tea, silk, and porcelain were exported, whereas a flow of Russian-made goods, as well as European wines, sugar, some species of nuts, and spices, was established through Kazan into Siberia. Instead of ’Lithuania’, Germans started coming to Siberia. In the 19th c., Poles reappeared en masse in Western Siberia. However, those were no longer residents of Lithuania and Western Russian principalities, but ethnic Poles exiled to Siberia for participation in anti-Russian uprisings.

scholarly journals The Concept of Place in the American West

Linguaculture ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 46-59
Author(s):  
Irina Chirica
Keyword(s):  
Pacific Northwest ◽  
Visual Arts ◽  
American West ◽  
Rocky Mountain ◽  
New Historicism ◽  
The West ◽  
John Ford ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Louisiana Purchase ◽  
Cultural Concept

This paper surveys the most significant ways in which the American West has been viewed as a place and region. Starting with Thomas Jefferson’s Louisiana Purchase of 1803, we follow the expansion of the West as a region throughout American history. Jefferson worked out a plan which involved the creation of territories which later became states, following a certain procedure. Inside the larger West, there are many Wests: the prairie states of the Midwest (also called the “Bread Basket” of America), the Rocky Mountain states, the Pacific Northwest, the Southwest and California. We analyze the myths and images associated with the west in American culture, and the influence of Frederick Jackson Turner’s essay dedicated to “the Frontier”. We discuss the New Historicism approach and the way in which it criticizes Tuner. Then we discuss the reflection of the West in the visual arts (the major landscape painters and in the work of the western movie director John Ford). We bring arguments to support the idea that the West is a construct of human experience and a cultural concept, more than a “place”.

scholarly journals Wildscapes, Dudescapes, and the Dude Ranching Aesthetic: Grand Teton National Park 1908-1940

2004 ◽  
Vol 28 ◽  
pp. 48-52
Author(s):  
Amanda Rees
Keyword(s):  
National Park ◽  
American West ◽  
Cultural Landscapes ◽  
Rocky Mountain ◽  
Cultural Resources ◽  
Unique Contribution ◽  
The West ◽  
Grand Teton National Park ◽  
Jackson Hole ◽  
To Receive

"Dude Ranch" is not an expression that carries a clear-cut meaning to everyone, for a dude ranch is neither a summer hotel nor a farm where dudes "ranch". . .. The most typical dude ranches of all the West are in this section of Wyoming. They range all the way from the most exclusive outfits that require references and advance reservations for not les than three weeks or a month at around $70 per week per person-including saddle horse and equipment, modern cabin, meals and other advantages-to the guest ranches or outfitters where accommodation may be had by the day, week or season. The person of moderate means can arrange his vacation in Jackson Hole to fit his purse. (Jackson Hole: Where to Go and What To See, published between 1929-1950) The American West is home to one of the most distinctive agricultural tourism activities in the world: dude ranching (Rees 2004). Dude ranching is the "single most unique contribution of the Rocky Mountain West to the ever-growing national vacation industry" (Roundy 1973), and it has been crucial in shaping the ways in which the West is perceived, working to effect continuing romantic notions of the American West (Rodnitzky, 1968). Though dude ranches can be found in the East (Zimmerman 1998), the South, the Southwest, California, Hawaii, and the Northwest, it is the Northern Rocky Mountain region, especially Montana and Wyoming, which forms the nucleus of dude ranch tourism (Rees 2005). However, unlike cattle ranching, agriculture, and mineral extraction, tourism has rarely received the attention it deserves in Wyoming, though it continues to be an important part of the Western image, as well as an important factor in the production and reproduction of that image. Just as dude ranching has failed to receive the attention it deserves in the state, it has also failed to receive that attention in one of the region's densest nexus or collection of dude ranching, Jackson Hole, and in particular, Grand Teton National Park (GTNP). Indeed, dude ranches have faired miserably in the first seventy-five years of the park's existence. As cultural landscapes dude ranches have been de­emphasized in favor of celebrating the natural environment. This project's research has revealed that a vast majority of the thirty-three dude ranches that once functioned in what is now GTNP have disappeared, been auctioned off, burned, pulled down, or allowed to rot in situ. In the last decade, critics of federal cultural resource management philosophy sought to reject this often-fragmented approach to cultural heritage protection, and looked to embrace environmental and cultural resources as an indivisible whole (Hufford 1994) and this research project falls within that effort to produce a narrative that embraces both environmental and cultural resources to tell a story of the ways in which humans and nature have interacted through tourism in GTNP.

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