Thesis (M.A.)--University of North Texas, August, 2008. / Title from title page display. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--York University, 2007. Graduate Programme in Sociology. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 315-358). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:NR29347

Thesis (M.A.)--York University, 2007. Graduate Programme in Social Anthropology. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 185-196). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004 & res_dat=xri:pqdiss & rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation & rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:MR31984.

Thesis (M.Ed.)--York University, 2006. Graduate Programme in Education. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 130-138). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:MR29569

Thesis (Ed. D.)--State University of New York at Binghamton, School of Education, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references.

This study was designed to examine the opinions of Turkish immigrants living in the Houston metropolitan area about the conflict between secularism and Islam in Turkey. The study examined the role of the practice of religion on the opinions about the clash between secularism and Islam. A final sample consisted of 40 immigrants recruited through purposeful and snowball sampling. In-depth interviews and a survey including screening questions were conducted. The results indicated that practice of religion has a partial impact on the opinions of Turkish immigrants about the conflict between secularism and Islam. Future research should further examine if the experience of living abroad for a long period influence Turkish immigrants' opinions about the same issue.

Thesis -- Departmental honors in International Relations. / Spine title: Islamists as instruments of change: a study on democratization. Includes bibliography: ℓ. 105-110.

With the world's fourth-largest Muslim population, Bangladesh is an important case study in the exploration of what it means to be a 'secular' country with Islam as a state religion. One important mechanism through which to analyse the relationship between religion and the state is through the country's laws, and family laws are especially significant in that they represent the state's determination of which long-standing social and religious practices find their way into legislation as a representation of societal values. As with many other countries with significant Muslim populations, personal status legislation has remained relatively static in the years following independence, despite attempts at change. Inspired by studies of negotiations between state and civil society actors in bringing about changes in law, this study analyses the evolution of family laws for Muslims in Bangladesh, revealing a range of voices using such laws in their negotiations between competing notions of 'Islam' and 'secularism' and their role in governance. Using parliamentary and Supreme Court records, newspaper archives, expert interviews, and secondary literature, I show that there has been little change in personal status legislation beyond procedural simplification, and that the judiciary and policymakers have had a tendency to support freedom of religious practice except in family laws. This study explores why this is the case, and focuses on the discourse around the National Women Development Policy and its clause on property and inheritance as the greatest point of contention in enhancing women's rights in family laws.

Nous observons des différences significatives au sein de la protection pénale des libertés et droits fondamentaux de la femme entre l'Iran et la France. Ces dissemblances sont issues de divergences fondamentales dans la définition des concepts bâtisseurs des droits de l'Homme, basée sur les perceptions du monde selon l'Islam et la laïcité. Ces divergences influent sur la mise en œuvre juridique des droits de l'homme et de la femme au niveau international et national. La France a réaffirmé ses engagements vis-à-vis de la Déclaration DHC par l'adoption de celle-ci dans le Code constitutionnel français. Elle a adhéré à la majorité des textes internationaux et régionaux concernant les droits fondamentaux de l'Homme, la prévention des violences faites aux femmes et la discrimination à l'égard des femmes. Elle s'est engagée à appliquer les traités internationaux ratifiés et à les absorber en droit interne à travers le mécanisme prévu par le Code Constitutionnel. En Iran, selon le Code Constitutionnel, toutes les lois doivent être compatibles avec les prescriptions islamiques. Nous avons étudié l'incompatibilité avec l'Islam de certains droits proclamés dans la DUDH et dans d'autres textes internationaux, notamment la Convention sur l'élimination de toutes formes de discriminations à l'égard des femmes. Le droit pénal comparé franco-iranien, à l'égard de la protection pénale de la femme, permet d'identifier clairement la politique criminelle dans la lutte contre les violences faites aux femmes et la discrimination à travers les incriminations et les réponses punitives à cet égard. / We observe significant differences in the criminal protection of fundamental rights and freedoms of women between Iran and France. These dissimilarities are derived from fundamental differences in the definition of concepts of human rights based on the perception of the world in Islam and secularism. These differences affect the legal implementation of the human rights of women in the national and international level. France has affirmed its commitment to the DDHC by its adoption in the French constitutional bloc. It has acceded to most international and regional instruments on human rights, prevention of violence against women and discrimination against women. It is committed to implement the ratified international treaties and to internalize through the mechanism provided by the Constitutional Code. Iran claimed the Constitutional Code; all laws must be consistent with Islamic requirements. We studied the incompatibility of Islam with certain rights enshrined in the UDHR and other international instruments including the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. The French Criminal Law in relation to Iranian penal protection of women clearly identifies the criminal policy in the struggle against violence against women and discrimination through criminalization and punitive responses in this regard.

I adopt an interpretive methodology through which I investigate the becoming of Muslim identities in three national integration discourses. I analyse the meanings of integration in abstract, in context and through texts across contexts, and working within a broadly critical constructivist approach, I seek to show how integration discourses have an underlying security complex which explains how they come to be framed with Muslims in mind. To analyse integration I outline a new generic concept of settlement which I refer to as habilitation and which means enabling or endowing with ability or fitness. I then argue for an analytical separation of habilitative strategies, models and approaches, and thus remove integration from its generic descriptive status to one of strategy, model or approach. This I argue is justified in the discursive distinctions made in every-day language and meaning. I then investigate three broad habilitative models: multiculturalism, integration and assimilation. My primary data has been gathered in interviews with individuals acting as representatives of Muslim communities - Imams, organisation leaders, political activists and factory workers – corporate and societal actors such as Trade Unionists, Church representatives and state elites – policy advisers and integration officers. Muslim interviewees emphasised widespread use of distortion and mis-identification. I have defined such distortions as synecdoche. This is a two way process in which the individual is held responsible for the whole and in reverse direction, the whole being held responsible for individual action. The power of synecdoche to compress or expand Muslim identities is distortive and serves to reinforce the alterity of Muslims. In addition I identify another layer of othering which I call ulteriorisation. This involves placing identities under suspicion and is accomplished through a range of aspersive renderings – ambiguous loyalties, secularity, enclaving, underclass formation, and anti-integrationism. Ulteriorisation is understood to feed into broader securitisation of communities, society and polity. In conclusion I look at possible research directions and finish by emphasising that the integrity of Integration will be judged by the willingness of parties to negotiate and the quality of voluntarism and solidarity these processes produce.