Field Notes Archives | Page 3 of 14 | Contending Modernities

Excess of Love in the “Oasis of Peace”

Emmanuel Katongole
August 17, 2018August 17, 2018

Right here in the midst of exile and displacement out of Burundi’s violence, an oasis of peace at a time of desolation, joy in the midst of loss and hatred, a banquet of good food, wine, music, and dance—a celebration of the victory of love over hatred.

Côte d’Ivoire’s Working Definition of Gender Empowers and Excludes

Ludovic Lado
July 24, 2018January 27, 2024

Although Côte d’Ivoire embraces gender equality concerns, the state concept of gender does not include the LGBTQ community and focuses mainly on closing the gender gap between men and women.

On the Theologico-Theatrical: Explaining the Convergence of Pentecostalism and Popular Culture in Nigeria

Ebenezer Obadare
July 10, 2018July 10, 2018

Assurances of salvation may no longer be enough for Nigerian Pentecostalism, where the propulsive energy of Fuji music and commercial imperatives contribute to entangling religion and entertainment.

The Modernity of Witchcraft Asylum Claims

Series: Decolonizing Narratives

Benjamin Lawrance
May 31, 2018June 1, 2018

It’s hard to understand why vodou remains so alien a concept to refugee adjudicators, particularly as the religious observance is so well documented by ethnographers and anthropologists.

Modernity, Women, and War: Struggles for Peace and Democracy in the Middle East

Series: Decolonizing Narratives

Nisa Goksel
May 25, 2018October 4, 2018

While the discourse of spreading democracy to the Middle East goes hand in hand with “saving” women victims of Islamic fundamentalism, current wars create a destabilizing terrain for existing modern gender discourses.

Photo Credit: Javed Akhatar. Madrasa Discourses students in the Education City Mosque in Doha in December 2017.

Pondering Theodicy in Education City

Series: Doha Winter Intensive 2017

Javed Akhatar
May 4, 2018

How can old tradition serve new knowledge creation? From a theological perspective, what happens when science begins to see human beings as it sees other animals, plants, and even inanimate matter?

Peace Does Not Grow in Isolation: Madrasa Discourses in Dialogue

Series: Madrasa Discourses Peace Lab

Sydney Schlager
April 11, 2018April 26, 2018

After an evening of ND football, undergrad Sydney Schlager talks genetic modification with young madrasa graduates in India and Pakistan.

In Pursuit of Our Aesthetic Past

Series: Doha Winter Intensive 2017

Mohammad Ali
April 2, 2018October 4, 2018

What was it that disconnected the vast majority of South Asian Muslims from this vibrant tradition of art and creativity?

Translating Islam Across Cosmologies in Qatar

Series: Doha Winter Intensive 2017

Talha Rehman
February 23, 2018February 20, 2019

It can be unsettling for Muslims like myself, who have grown up reading the Quranic account of human creation in a particular way, to consider evolution a valid explanation for the creation of life.

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