scholarly journals Earthquake preparedness among religious minority groups: The case of the Jewish ultra-orthodox society in Israel

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tehila Erblich ◽  
Zvika Orr ◽  
Shifra Gottlieb ◽  
Osnat Barnea ◽  
Moshe Weinstein ◽  
...  

Abstract. To work effectively, emergency management systems that address the threat of an earthquake must consider the needs of minority groups. Studies have been conducted regarding earthquake preparedness among marginalized social-cultural groups and on ways to improve it. However, very few studies have examined this in the context of religious minority groups, even though religious frameworks can have an impact on emergency preparedness. This study examined the effects of religious beliefs and customs on earthquake preparedness among the Jewish ultra-orthodox community in Israel, a significant religious minority with unique social, cultural, and economic characteristics. Findings obtained using mixed methods that included a survey and in-depth interviews demonstrated that the majority of the community had a low level of hazard knowledge and a high level of disbelief that a devastating earthquake would occur in their area in the near future. This is despite a long-documented history of earthquakes that devastated the Levant. Low exposure to media, insularity of educational institutions, and suspicious attitudes toward state authorities were shown to hinder preparedness, whilst strong social capital improves it. Religious beliefs affected preparedness both positively and negatively. Practical recommendations for policymakers to improve preparedness in religiously diverse societies include receiving support from religious leaders and adapting technologies and information to be religiously appropriate. The findings establish that religion is a significant factor that influences all stages of disaster response and consequently, must be taken into consideration when attempting to upgrade preparedness.

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 317-337
Author(s):  
Zvika Orr ◽  
Tehila Erblich ◽  
Shifra Unger ◽  
Osnat Barnea ◽  
Moshe Weinstein ◽  
...  

Abstract. To work effectively, emergency management systems that deal with earthquake threats must consider the needs of religious minority groups. Studies regarding earthquake preparedness among marginalized social–cultural groups can highlight ways to improve it. Recently, some research has focused on the effect of religion on earthquake preparedness. However, very few studies have connected the two and examined earthquake preparedness among religious groups that are also a social–cultural minority in relation to the authorities. This study examines the effects of religious beliefs and customs on earthquake preparedness among the Jewish ultra-Orthodox community in Israel, a significant religious minority with unique social, cultural, and economic characteristics. Data were obtained using mixed methods including a survey, in-depth interviews, and focus groups. Results demonstrated that the majority of the community had a low level of hazard knowledge and a high level of disbelief that a devastating earthquake would occur in their area in the near future. This is despite a long-documented history of earthquakes that devastated the Levant and, in particular, dwelling locations for this community. Low exposure to media, insularity of educational institutions, and suspicion toward state authorities were shown to hinder preparedness, while strong social capital improved it. This research is unique for it studies a religious group that is also a cultural minority, which, therefore, requires special adaptations. Some of the recommended adaptations include receiving support from religious leaders, publishing preparation guidelines in proper settings, working with civilian organizations that are seen as legitimate by the religious communities, and adapting technologies and information to be religiously appropriate. To conclude, this research offers a perspective on the complex reality of hazard preparedness in a religiously diverse country. The conclusions are applicable to other countries and natural hazards.


2021 ◽  
Vol 101 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 324-356
Author(s):  
Nina Schroeder

Abstract This paper considers the artist Arnold Houbraken (1660–1719) as an unconventional Christian and sheds new light on his representation of artists from religious minority groups in his Great Theatre of Netherlandish Painters and Painteresses (1718–1721). By exploring Houbraken’s years within the Flemish Mennonite milieu in Dordrecht (1660–ca. 1685) and investigating his representation of religious difference in his biographies within The Great Theatre, this study extends scholarship on Houbraken beyond the current focus on his later years as a writer in Amsterdam, and it offers findings on the experience and reception history of nonconformists and religious minority group members, like the spiritualist David Joris and the Mennonite martyr Jan Woutersz van Cuyck (among others), within the Dutch art world. The paper also addresses the historiographical disconnect between literature in the disciplines of art history, intellectual history, and history of religion that persisted until very recently regarding Houbraken’s status as a heterodox Enlightenment thinker.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yumna Agha ◽  
Keith Gaynor

Background: In 2018, Ireland conducted a referendum, ultimately supporting the legalisation of abortion. Views of religious minority groups can go unheard “by an insensitive majority” in national cultural debates. This study explores female Muslim university students’ perspectives on abortion and the impact of the national debate on their sense of belonging within Ireland. Methodology: Ten female Muslim university students completed semi-structured interviews. The interview comprised seven open questions examining perspectives on abortion and sense of belonging. A thematic analysis was carried out on the data.Results: Seven major themes emerged: (1) Particular Circumstances, (2) Islam, (3) Family, (4) Misuse of new laws, (5) Sense of belonging, (6) Consequences of traditional laws, and (7) Premarital sex. Participants were largely supportive of the legal changes, as it was in-line with their religious beliefs. Participants indicated that sense of belonging would have been affected if their religious beliefs had conflicted with the referendum outcome. Conclusions: Participants were largely supportive of the legalising of abortion in Ireland provided that the new laws were in line with their Islamic beliefs. Despite an increasingly liberal outcome of the 2018 Irish referendum, it was found that young Muslim women’s sense of belonging to Ireland was not affected


2018 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 135-147
Author(s):  
Bedross Der Matossian

On 31 July 2018, eighteen representatives of religious minority groups in Turkey, including the Armenians, Greeks, and Syriacs, issued a joint declaration saying: “As religious representatives and directors of different faiths and beliefs who have been residing in our country for centuries, we live out our faiths freely and practice our worship freely according to our traditions.” This state-orchestrated declaration contradicts a long history of discrimination suffered by minorities under different late Ottoman and Turkish political regimes. In the last two decades of the Ottoman Empire's rule, Ottoman Armenian, Greek, and Syriac subjects/citizens, among others, suffered extreme depredations and persecutions culminating in ethnic cleansing, genocide, and population exchange. The books under review deal with a grim phase in Ottoman and Turkish history: the Armenian Genocide during World War I and its repercussions during the subsequent republican period.


ULUMUNA ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 251-278
Author(s):  
Cahyo Pamungkas

This research conceptually aims to find out the strategy the Shia community in Sidoarjo, East Java, and Ahmadiyya community in Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara, have employed to defend themselves from the pressure of the state and Sunni Muslim as majority group due to the differences in textual interpretation toward Islamic Holy Scriptures (The Qur’an). The theoretical implication from this study is to evaluate and criticize social resilience concept which refers to developmentalistic perspectives such as the use of social capital. In this article, social resilience is closely related to strategy of minorities to establish a tolerant multi religious community. This study argues that social resilience of religious minority groups, i.e. Shia in Sidoarjo and Ahmadiyya in Mataram, is formed by various aspects, such as the government policies on religious life, history of group formation, social relations and network, understanding towards religious values and spirituality, and cultural bonds in the community. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.20414/ujis.v19i2.418


2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 381-402
Author(s):  
Farhad Hassan Abdullah ◽  
Hawre Hasan Hama

Ethnic and religious minorities have played a significant role in the long history of Kurdistan. At an official level, their political position was significantly strengthened with the advent of autonomy for the Kurdistan Region in northern Iraq in 1992. Most importantly, a quota system was established that reserved seats for several minority groups in the Kurdistan Parliament, often cited as an example of tolerance for diversity and respect for minority rights. Nevertheless, there is a lack of empirical research examining how ethnic and religious quotas affect democratic stability, quality of representation, and opportunities to represent authentic interests within the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). The politicians who occupy the reserved seats have come under criticism for merely supporting the policy programs of the dominant Kurdish parties, which deprives ethnic and religious minority groups of authentic representation and exposes the minority parties to allegations that they are politically exploited. This article analyzes the dynamics of minority political participation in Iraqi Kurdistan, how representation has been affected by the dominance of the ruling parties, and factors that guide the behavior of minority politicians while serving in quota-allocated positions. It also examines the effects of reserving seats through the quota system on the political behavior of minority groups. To these ends, this article focuses on parliamentary quotas and their impact on democratic stability, decision-making, and the empowerment of minority groups in the Kurdistan Region.


2008 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 139-155 ◽  
Author(s):  
YAEL DARR

This article describes a crucial and fundamental stage in the transformation of Hebrew children's literature, during the late 1930s and 1940s, from a single channel of expression to a multi-layered polyphony of models and voices. It claims that for the first time in the history of Hebrew children's literature there took place a doctrinal confrontation between two groups of taste-makers. The article outlines the pedagogical and ideological designs of traditionalist Zionist educators, and suggests how these were challenged by a group of prominent writers of adult poetry, members of the Modernist movement. These writers, it is argued, advocated autonomous literary creation, and insisted on a high level of literary quality. Their intervention not only dramatically changed the repertoire of Hebrew children's literature, but also the rules of literary discourse. The article suggests that, through the Modernists’ polemical efforts, Hebrew children's literature was able to free itself from its position as an apparatus controlled by the political-educational system and to become a dynamic and multi-layered field.


The paper is a review on the textbook by A. V. Yeremin, «The History of the National Prosecutor’s office» and the anthology «The Prosecutor’s Office of the Russian Empire in the Documents of 1722–1917» (authors: V. V. Lavrov, A. V. Eremin, edited by N. M. Ivanov) published at the St. Petersburg Law Institute (branch) of the University of the Prosecutor’s office of the Russian Federation in 2018. The reviewers emphasize the high relevance and high level of research, their theoretical and practical significance. The textbook and the anthology will help the students increase their legal awareness, expand their horizons.


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