Decisionmakers in organizations like the Department of Defense and the State Department rely on accurate information to develop strategies to engage foreign populations. There is gap in understanding how perceptions are formed in religious adherents, specifically understanding how Muslims determine if violence is an acceptable or unacceptable behavior. Informed by Hobföll's conservation of resources theory of stress, the purpose of this case study was to identify and understand the religious and secular factors that influenced a group of Sunni Muslims in Western Michigan to accept or reject violent behaviors. Research questions focused on how this population's perception of violence was influenced by religion, various sources of information and threats of loss. Convenience sampling was used to identify the participants for this study. Data were collected from face-to-face interviews with 10 Sunni Muslims living in Western Michigan. The interviews were recorded, transcribed and the data were inductively coded and examined to identify trends in the information. While identity and religion were important to understanding how Muslims view the acceptability of violence, perceptions of the justice system's effectiveness also emerged as an important factor in understanding an individual's tolerance for violent behaviors. The results of this study may contribute to positive social change by informing leaders who engage large Muslim populations about how perceptions of identity and justice system efficacy impact the acceptability of violent behaviors.

Heritage, the “present-centered” use of the past (Ashworth 2007) influences the identities of contemporary citizens (Palmer 2005, Sommer 2009). Grasping the ways in which the production and consumption of heritage takes place is becoming increasingly relevant in a post-Brexit Britain, where the national identity is constantly up for debate. This research asks: what role does heritage tourism play in (re)producing hegemonic national narratives in Glastonbury and Tintagel? And subsequently, what do these narratives say about broader conceptualizations of English identity? Arthurian legend permeates the historical narrative in both locations. According to the legend, King Arthur was conceived and born in Tintagel, and ultimately buried in Glastonbury. Both Glastonbury and Tintagel are located in the southwest region of England and are home to significant national heritage sites. In Glastonbury, heritage sites include Glastonbury Abbey, Glastonbury Tor and the Chalice Well Gardens. In Tintagel, heritage sites include Tintagel Castle, King Arthur’s Great Halls, St. Nectan’s Glen and the Arthurian Centre. Methods for this ethnographic comparative study include classic participant observation, semi-structured interviews, ethnographic photography and archival research. The focus here is on the producers of heritage (heritage management employees, local shop owners and community members) rather than the consumers (tourists and travelers). By using a holistic political economy approach, this research reveals how heritage is both contested and commodified in both Glastonbury and Tintagel. Rather than understanding “authorized heritage discourses” (Smith 2006) as simply the result of hegemonic forces imparted by heritage management organizations, this research reveals the nuances created by the commodification of heritage in both Glastonbury and Tintagel, where tourism plays a significant role in the local economy.

My study examines how religion operates as a form of social control in the politics of memory and memory making in the case of the Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys (1900-2011), a state reform school in Marianna, Florida. Collective memory making is a dynamic process that reflects the social, economic, and political tensions of the present. It is a process most evident during circumstances of reconciliation following conflict, violence, or cases of turmoil resulting in death and in conflicting memories of the experience. Emergence of a dominant narrative about the tragedy or traumatizing event and subjugation of conflicting stories and memories often follows. At this intersection, memory becomes a weapon or reflection of power. Religion has been defined as operating as means of social control, particularly in the face of uncertainty, fear, and conflict. This study explores dynamics of power with respect to memorialization and ways in which religion informs the present and the past through processes of collective memory making. I also explore ways in which Christianity is employed as a means of bringing about reconciliation through public memory making and memorialization efforts as in the case of the Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys located in Marianna, Florida. In 2013, a team of anthropologists from the University of South Florida (USF) received approval from the State of Florida to investigate the location of missing children buried at Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys. This research, known as the Boot Hill Burial Ground Project, resulted in the excavation of 55 burials. The Boot Hill Burial Ground Project is integral to the memorialization efforts and processes at Dozier as multiple stakeholders utilize the findings of the project for the construction of collective and public memories. The purpose of this study is to analyze tensions involved in processes of memory making resulting from the discovery, excavation, and identification of bodies at the Boot Hill Burial Ground on the Dozier campus and ways power is expressed within this process.

No description available.

<p>I den här uppsatsen har vi studerat hur en film aktiverar människors sociala och kulturella positioner. Vi visade filmen <em>Crash </em>för åtta komvuxelever, vilket följdes av en kvalitativ intervju med dem. Eleverna fick svara på frågor om sin egen bakgrund, filmens budskap och rollfigurer, hur de uppfattade filmen och den föreslagna verkligheten i filmen, samt frågor kring sin egen framtid. Informanternas svar har hjälpt oss att synliggöra hur det görs över- och underordningar i filmen. Med hjälp av vår bakgrund och analytiska verktyg har vi interagerat med våra informanter och de har bidragit med perspektiv som vi aldrig hade kunnat se med tillämpning av enbart teorier. Något som blev framträdande var att de applicerade problematiken som den amerikansktillverkade filmen tar upp, på ett svenskt samhälle. Vi kom fram till att filmen som populärkulturellt medel hjälper till att reproducera gamla maktordningar och fördomar. Trots att detta inte var filmskaparens intention, blir det här till fördomar och stereotypa föreställningar om att det finns rasskillnader. Med den här studien har vi synliggjort att filmen medverkar till att reproducera maktordningar. Film och dess folkliga inflytande, skulle kunna bli ett redskap för nytänkande runt klass, kön och etnicitet med mera.</p>

<p>This paper is about the transformation of a society in a rural area among the Nyamwezi of West-Central Tanzania. It deals with the change of people’s attitudes toward themselves, their lives and the surrounding world, brought on by the introduction of ‘modern education’. The discussion evolves around the theories of education and the socializing role of schooling. The paper treats the issue whether the education provided is relevant in relation to local</p><p>life, or only directed toward the realization of a radically new way of living.Further this paper debates the impact of modernization through institutions other than the schools, and the future of small communities in an increasingly globalized world.The issues in this paper are discussed from the perspective of young students in secondary schools and their parents. The background to the discussions throughout the paper is the secondary school itself,the</p><p>educational system, the rural community and developing countries.</p>

<p>Denna text handlar om qawwalimusiken. Qawwali är en musikform med</p><p>rötterna i Indien och Pakistan. Den är också en del av en specifik religiös tradition nämligen sufismen. Qawwali är en musikalisk genre som är nära förknippad med en sufisk ritual, under vilken den spelar en betydande roll. I texten undersöks det huruvida qawwali har förändrats, exempelvis till form,innehåll och mål, när den blivit en del av den västerländska musikscenen och kategoriseras under World Music.Nyckelfrågan är om de religiösa idéerna och den sakrala, religiösa meningen urvattnas eller försvinner i och med att qawwali har blivit del av den moderna och globala musik-industrin och har därmed lyfts upp ur dess ursprungliga socioekonomiska och religiösa miljö. Med andra ord: Finns det en essentiell kärna, den religiös-mystiska musiken som trotsar kulturgränser? Eller går den förlorade i främmande kulturella sammanhang? Tonvikten läggs på den religiösa aspekten men uppsatsen tar också upp förändringar av de sociala,</p><p>ekonomiska aspekterna av qawwali, liksom genusaspekten. Analysen inleds först med en beskrivning av den kulturella och regionala bakgrunden,där frågor om musik och islam, sufismen, qawwalis regionala och kulturella förankring och sufimusikens syfte behandlas. Därefter följer en diskussion om globalisering och musikindustrin samt en presentation av de den teoretiska ramen, bland annat Giddens urbäddningsteori och Tomlinsons avterritorialiseringsteori. Texten avslutas med en sammanfattande diskussion om qawwalis förändring på olika plan och den traditionella qawwalin kontrasteras mot den kommersiella.De sufistiska och islamska traditionerna som avspeglas i qawwalimusiken och under sufiritualen,samt sufismens syfte beskrivs som förändrade och urvattnade i den musikindustristyrda qawwali.</p>

<p>Some six million people in modern Central America are considered to be “Maya” and thereby descendants of an ethnic group that created one of the great early civilizations of mankind. The present study, in a first section, looks in some detail at how the Maya became a group of its own, slowly separating itself from Mesoamerican neighbors, taking on an ethnic identity, markers and boundaries Attention is paid to what can be considered uniquely Maya and what remained features shared with other groups. This historic section follows the Maya until early colonization. The next section gives an overview of modern Mayaness, activism and Maya claims to preserve and revitalize a supposed heritage, taking it into the 21st century. With the historic section as a mirror and background, the study aims at identifying how Mayaness is maintained through time, how silent testimonies tell us about the use in the past of ethnic and cultural markers. Proofs are given of such elements still alive. The text goes on to discuss the future of Maya ethnic identity and culture, its continuity while changing.</p>

<p>Är alla organisationers öde att utvecklas mot oligarki även då syftet är att de ska drivas demokratiskt och huvudsakligen på frivillig basis? Robert Michels, i sitt kända arbete från 1911 om organisationer och demokrati – Zur Soziologie des Parteiwesens in der modernen Demokratie – talar om oligarkins järnlag. En växande organisation ökar behovet av anställda - organisationen professionaliseras. Anställda får ett kunskapsövertag gentemot de frivilligt arbetande vilket genererar en handlingsfrihet och ett maktövertag. Medlemmar betraktas som mindre kompetenta vilket gör</p><p>det legitimt för ledningen att dominerar, styra och ta egna beslut. Vid konflikter väger ledningens ord tyngre – organisationen har utvecklats till ett fåtalsvälde. Michels studie genomfördes för snart hundra år sedan. Idenna uppsats undersöks en av agensfrivilligorganisationer – Förbundet djurens rätt.Genom deltagande och reflekterande observation, intervjuer,genomgång av dokument samt egen erfarenhet av organisationen prövas om oligarkins järnlag fortfarande kan sägas råda också i en frivilligorganisation som Förbundet djurens rätt i dag.</p>

<p>Abstract</p><p>This paper applies an impressionistic and reflexive genre of ethnography to understand the ethnographer’s meeting with the humanitarian aid workers in post-tsunami Sri Lanka. It offers an analysis of the political atmosphere in the country prior to the tsunami as a central framework for understanding current tensions and debates over the distribution of tsunami aid resources, and traces the emergence of what has been termed Sinhala-Buddhist nationalism. Based on three months of ethnographic fieldwork from April to July 2005 among aid workers at the central level in Colombo and a careful attention to the rhetorics and arguments that characterized the writings in the Sri Lankan press during this period, the paper argues that while public debates over tsunami aid distribution has been entwined with political rivalries between the Sri Lankan government, and Sinhala and Tamil nationalist groups, the everyday reality of international humanitarians evolved around the forming of a common development language to categorise the demands of the aid intervention and on the performances of individual organisations, personified by a limited number of individuals in the professional fora of the humanitarians in Colombo.</p>