Within the field of study concerning 20th century Black Nationalist movements in the United States scholars and historians have primarily focused on two aspects of the movement: The Marcus Garvey era of the early twentieth century and the Black Power movement of the tumultuous 1960s and early 1970s. In regards to the decades in between, the 30s, 40s and the 50s, scholars have been in comparison relatively silent. While at first glance, it may appear that nationalist movements were dormant during these years, the research will show evidence to the contrary. The project establishes that during the 30 year period between Marcus Garvey and the UNIA and the Black Radicalism period of the 1960s, the Black Nationalist movement was expanding and evolving under the leadership of Religious Black Nationalist organizations. The research focuses on the ideologies, activities, and the political transformations in Black Nationalism that occurred within the following Religious Black Nationalist organizations: the Black Hebrew Israelites, the Father Divine Movement, and the Nation of Islam. These groups combined different expressions of the Black Nationalism. To varying degrees the Black Hebrew Israelites, Father Divine, and the Nation of Islam incorporated Black Nationalist elements into their spiritual messages. The research finds that these Religious Black Nationalist organizations were the forefathers of the Black Power organizations that were prevalent in the 1960s. These groups provided models to the next generation for mobilization, spreading their message, setting up economic foundations for their movements, and perhaps most importantly organizing politically within a system that did not recognize them.

This thesis explores a new political phenomenon in the Middle East - the reconciliation of nationalism and Islamism by Islamic political parties in the context of nation states. Although the concept of religious nationalism has been discussed substantially before, as for example in Juergensmeyer (1993: 40) where the author defines religious nationalism as “the attempt to link religion and the nation-state”, this work highlights that a new brand of religious nationalism has emerged in the Middle East as the result of the intertwining of nationalism and Islamism. The focus of this study is, therefore, on the development of religious nationalism in the continuously tumultuous region of the Middle East. The aim of this researchis to investigate whether Islamism in Kurdistan is limited by the politics of nationalism, which is an accentuated example for the whole Middle East region. Furthermore, it should be noted that many of the religious nationalists themselves have not yet fully acknowledged the existence of the trend of merging between Islamism and nationalism. For instance, although the position of the Muslim Brotherhood of Kuwait, during the liberation of their state from the Iraqi regime, is a clear example of religious nationalism, all other affiliations of this organisation around the world at that time viewed the military operation as a foreign occupation. Highlighting this historical juncture in the political life of the Middle East by studying the Islamism in the Kurdistan region helped to elaborate on this new type of politics exceptionally well. This is essentially due to the absence of a politically recognised nation state which renders Kurds to be particularly susceptible to various manifestations of nationalism. The key finding of this project was, therefore, the notion that Islamism in Kurdistan has become significantly framed by the politics of nationalism.

Thesis advisor: Ali Banuazizi / The resurgence of religious violence in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries has led to a growing academic interest in the religionization of politics. Weary of the failures of secular nationalism in ensuring national security and protecting the right to self-determination, many communities have turned to religious nationalism to meet these political needs. As a result, some religious nationalist movements and organizations have resorted to violence in promoting their political agendas. This thesis conducts a comparative analysis of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar in order to investigate the relationship between religion and violence and how this relationship contributes to the intractability of ethnic conflict. Key findings include symbiotic relationships between religious nationalist organizations and civil society, as well as latent processes of religious “Othering.” Implications for future peace-building efforts are explored, with a key focus on interfaith dialogue and grassroots activism. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2020. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Arts & Sciences Honors Program. / Discipline: Policital Science.

Previous research that tends to digress into accusations against or advocacy for the Church of Sweden ultimately misses the mark in assessing the overall culpability of the Church for its historical relationship with nationalism. At the core of this study is the pursuit of an investigation that addresses this concern by asking the following questions: how has the Church of Sweden historically lent itself to nationalism and to what extent is the Church culpable for nationalism in Sweden? What follows is a status quaestionis, which creates a comparative analysis that functions as a means to gauge the Church’s historical and thematic contributions to Swedish nationalism and the formation of Swedish identity. Fundamental to this endeavor is a concept of broad culpability, which is consequently applied to the construction of the Church’s sacred Swedish community. This status quaestionis culminates with a discussion that connects a potential adjudication with four possible outcomes, which are based on Rogers Brubaker’s four approaches for analyzing religion and nationalism. Finally, an outcome is presented, which ultimately concludes that a formal adjudication regarding the Church’s culpability is immature without the completion of further empirical research that delves into the precise nature and spirit of nationalism in the Church as contrasted with other forms and sources of Swedish nationalism.

This dissertation analyzes the prolonged transition of South Africa’s Reformed churches from bastions of apartheid towards protagonists of racial reconciliation. At the center is the unification process of the Dutch Reformed Church (DRC) and the Uniting Reformed Church of Southern Africa. The two institutions are rooted in the same tradition, with broadly similar doctrines, yet they worship separately in the old racial categories of apartheid. This is not for lack of effort. After 1994, the DRC shifted from proclaiming divine divisions between races, nations and ethnicities to urging inclusivity in the name of Jesus Christ. The limited success so far to integrate the long divided churches reveals an intricate story of religious actors trying to reframe identities and adjust normative frameworks. The story mirrors South Africa’s greater struggle to transcend its past. Part I of this dissertation considers the nationalist civil religion with which the churches bolstered segregation, and its legacy in contemporary South Africa. By drawing comparisons with other religious-nationalist movements, the study shows the impact of religion in sustaining ethnic conflicts with its everyday structures of separation. Through a qualitative study of South Africa’s Reformed churches, Part II investigates what happens with such structures after a conflict dissipates. To what extent have the churches been able to untangle their attachments to particular ethnic and racial identities? An assessment of their unity discourse and its implementation among five communities in the Free State and Western Cape displays a complex role of religious ideas and practices in deepening and mitigating social divisions. At stake here are recently adopted beliefs in inclusivity along with the pressure to adapt to a rapidly pluralizing religious landscape in which the churches’ authority is no longer a given. They have to cooperate across the color line if they wish to retain relevance in society. This study thus highlights dynamics of principles and pragmatism, and of reconciliation and justice. Where historically white congregations are gradually coming to terms with the need to partner with their black neighbors, the latter now prioritize economic equality over reconciliation. This has not made the churches’ search for unity any easier. / 2017-08-11T00:00:00Z

abstract: Time magazine called 1976 "the year of the evangelical" partly in response to the rapid political ascent of the previously little-known Georgia governor Jimmy Carter. A Sunday school teacher and deacon in his local church, Carter emphasized the important role of faith in his life in a way that no presidential candidate had done in recent memory. However, scholarly assessments of Carter's foreign policy have primarily focused on his management style or the bureaucratic politics in his administration. This study adds to the growing literature in American diplomatic history analyzing religion and foreign policy by focusing on how Carter's Christian beliefs and worldview shaped his policymaking and how his religious convictions affected his advisors. To better demonstrate this connection, this dissertation primarily discusses Carter's foreign policy vis-à-vis religious nationalist groups of the three Abrahamic faiths (Judaism, Christianity, Islam). By drawing on archival materials from the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library, Carter's own voluminous writings, and memoirs of other administration officials, this dissertation argues that Carter's religious values factored into policymaking decisions, although sometimes in a subtle fashion due to his strong Baptist doctrinal commitment to the separation of church and state. Moreover, Carter's initial success in using his religious beliefs in the Camp David negotiations raised expectations among administration officials and others when crises arose, such as the hostage taking in Iran and the electoral threat of the Christian Right. Despite his success at Camp David, invoking religious values can complicate situations already fraught with sacred symbolism. Ultimately, this dissertation points to the benefits and limits of foreign policy shaped by a president with strong public religious convictions as well as the advantages and pitfalls of scholars examining the impact of religion on presidential decision making. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. History 2013

This study explores the semiotic development of Islamic nationalism as a form of political theology during its formative period of 1857-1947 as articulated in the writings of prominent Urdu-speaking theologians. The study presents Islamic nationalism as a project of Muslims’ collective emancipation from colonialism and the possible subjugation of Islam and Muslims to the post-colonial secular state. Islamic nationalism’s constructive task is to interpret Islamic symbols in political terms toward articulating a modern Muslim nationalism. Its critical task is to critique the modern ideas of secularism, nationalism, and colonialism, on the one hand; and Muslim history with respect to a historiography centered on the primacy of caliphate as a spiritual-political institution, on the other hand. Politically, Islamic nationalism seeks, albeit in modern forms, Muslims’ religio-cultural autonomy and/or political sovereignty. In semiotic terms, Islamic nationalism integrates the Islamic symbols of islām, God, Prophet Muhammad, the Qur'an, qaum, sharīʿat, millat, ummat, and khilāfat with the symbols of secular nationalism, namely, nation, freedom, equality, and popular sovereignty. The extent and nature of the integration is determined by the internal consistency of the Islamic symbolic system which requires the national symbols to be interpreted in light of Islam’s sacred symbols. Islamic nationalism thus amounts to the desecularization/decolonization of Muslim imagination and the public sphere. Among the different forms of Islamic nationalism, the study explores the proto-nationalist Sayyid Ahmad Khan; the proponents of a secular post-colonial India, Abul Kalam Azad and Jamʻiyyatul ʿUlamā Hind; the critics of secular nationalism, Muhammad Iqbal and Sayyid Abu’l Aʻlā Maududi; and the advocates of separatism Jamʻiyyat ʿUlamā-i Islām. The study concludes that, despite the diversity of approaches to Islam and nationalism, nearly four decades of political theology proved decisive in popularizing the idea that Muslim nationality (qaumiyyat) was based on religion, that Islam as the consummate religion brooked no division between private-religion and public-politics, and that the obligation to implement Islamic law and ethics (sharīʿat) necessitated territorial sovereignty.

This study examines the impact of globalization and religious nationalism on the personal and professional lives of urban Hindu middle class media women. The research demonstrates how newly strengthened forces of globalization and Hindutva shape Indian womanhood. The research rests on various data that reveal how Indian women interpret and negotiate constructed identities. The study seeks to give voice to the objectified by scrutinizing and challenging the stereotypical modern faces of Indian womanhood seen in the narratives of globalization and Hindutva. Feminist open-ended interviewing was conducted in English and Hindi in New Delhi, the capital of India, with 23 Hindu women, employed by electronic and print media corporations. Accumulated data were analyzed and interpreted using feminist critical discourse analysis. Findings from the study indicate that while the Indian middle class women have embraced professional opportunities presented by globalization, they remain circumscribed by mutating gender politics. The research also finds that as academic and professional progress empower the women within their homes, their public lives have become fraught with increasing gender violence and decreasing recourse to justice. Therefore, women accept the power stratification of their lives as being dependent on spatial and temporal distinctions, and have learnt to engage and strategize with the public environment for physical safety and personal-professional progress. While the media women see systemic masculine domination as being symbiotic with tenets of religious nationalism, they exhibit an unquestioned embracing of capitalism/globalization as the means of empowerment. My research also strongly indicates the importance of the media’s role in shaping gender dynamics in a global context. In conclusion, my research shows the mediawomen’s immense agency in pursuing academic and professional careers while being aware of deeply ingrained gender roles through their strong commitment towards their families. The findings of this study contribute to the literature on Third World nationalism, urban globalization and understandings of reworked-renewed masculine domination. Finally, the study also engages with recent scholarship on the Indian middle class (See Nanda 2010; Shenoy 2009; Lukose 2005; and Radhakrishnan 2006) while simultaneously addressing the notions of privilege and disengagement levied at the middle class woman, a symbiosis of idealization and imprisonment.

The Islamic State continuously, and successfully, recruits new members from all over the world. Although portrayed by the media as poverty-stricken, ranging in lonely individuals lacking education, these members are individuals who often lead normal lives with good economic and social standing as well as a high level of education. This thesis take us on a new recruits journey from conscription to warfare. Trying to discern the core reasons behind why someone joins, conforms and fights for a modern day Caliphate produce the concept of a typical Islamic State recruit. Among the findings is the revelation that the recruits, self-perceived socio-economic status, is a major factor when combined with the possibility of great social rewards and a sense of importance and belonging. An individual who has been recruited, then, chose to stay in the organisation based on loyalty, dependence and conformity. Finally; the thesis uncover the reasons why the incumbents take up arms to defend the prescribed ideological beliefs. Beliefs that rests on a solid religious foundation. The member feels his or her ideology to be under attack — and anew — will take up arms to defend that what is believed to be true. Based on the study we can conclude that the final stage of the individual members journey is based on a kind of nationalistic view of the Caliphate and the importance of Islamic supremacy.