Documentation: Islam and the West

This speech was given on Wednesday 27 October 1993 in the Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford, on the occasion of the Prince of Wales' visit to the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies.     

Justification and legitimacy in global civil society

As some thinkers have sought in the concept of global civil society an ethically driven site of deliberation and even resistance, so others have criticized global civil society for its lack of legitimacy and representativeness. This article attempts to answer these criticisms – at least in part – by invoking a moral commitment to the value of justification. I argue that the idea of justification, when examined, offers us a particular understanding of legitimacy which would be attainable for global civil society actors. The article begins by setting out the case for concern about the legitimacy of global civil society. I then outline a certain understanding of justification, showing how a commitment to this conception provides both a response to critics of global civil society and an ethical baseline for humane actors within global civil society. I move on to trace the significance of the moral relevance of justification for actors' strategies. Lastly, however, I highlight the difficulty of justification in a diverse world. This is to say that the issues of legitimacy and strategy facing global civil society are only made more tractable, not dissolved, by an appeal to the importance of justification.     

The affective spaces of global civil society and why they matter

Many early-career researchers aim at making research socially engaged. In the initial stages of my research on international volunteering for development I learnt very quickly that any push towards social justice has been blunted by the damaging mechanisms of neoliberal power. The temptation is therefore to make research socially engaged by exposing such malign presences of power in volunteering organisations. This paper grows out of this interest and builds an argument of how researchers can engage power and write into being a better future. This brings into contrast the capitalocentric orientation of fieldwork preparation against the micro-processes of meeting and being with other bodies come together to constitute work in the field. Through work with an NGO in New Delhi the case is put that such meetings of bodies are affective and this is central to making research socially engaged. Affective moments give rise to love, solidarity and hope. Making research sensitive to such intersubjective moments writes into being the possibilities of a better and more just future. The paper makes an attempt to put this approach to research into practice.     

The role of the hyperintellectual in civil society building and democratization in the Balkans

Although intellectuals have been a part of the cultural landscape, it is in post-conflict societies, such as those found in Kosovo and Bosnia, that there has arisen a need for an intellectual who is more than simply a social critic, an educator, a man of action, and a compassionate individual. Enter the hyperintellectual. As this essay will make clear, it is the hyperintellectual, who through a reciprocating critique and defense of both the nationalist enterprise and strong interventionism of the International Community, as well as being a man of action and compassionate and empathic insider, strives to create a climate of understanding and to enlarge the moral space so as to reduce the divisiveness between opposing parties. In this way the hyperintellectual becomes a catalyst for the creation of a democratic culture within the civil societies of Kosovo and Bosnia.

Reviewing policies on satellite broadcasts in east asia: New technology,political economy,and civil society

As an instrument of national integration, domestic television in many post-colonial countries has long neglected cultural minorities. Transnational television via newer satellite and cable technologies has been able to target cross-border ethnic groups which then constituted viable audience markets. Governments in Asia sought initially to control access to transnational broadcasts out of paternalistic nationalism, but audiences and entrepreneurs have circumvented such policies. Thus over the last decade the political economy of television in countries such as Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand have been transformed, though in differing ways. Belated media deregulation has often led to alliances between business and political elites. This paper argues that most policy developments in Asian television have been driven by business and government imperatives rather than by civil society involvement. Australia where he teaches marketing and international business. His eclectic research interests include the political economy of international communications, globalization/transnationalization strategies, cross-cultural dimensions in marketing and management, and ethical issues in post-industrial society. Prior to a 15-year academic career across four universities in the Asia-Pacific region, Amos worked for twelve years in multinational corporations, NGOs, and government.     

明清之际伊斯兰教中国化的“以儒诠经”模式

明清之际的以儒诠经,内涵之中历史地出现了一个特殊知识群体,自然地包含有四个目的、两大手段和三种具体作为,用话语表述,该文化创造模式可以解释为:明清之际我国伊斯兰教的以儒诠经,是回儒这个文化兼通的特殊知识群体,立足中国,采用汉语,在本土社会语境中,对该宗教经义所做出的再诠释,过程中于公的目的是兴教、明道和补足百家之不足,于私的目的是立个人不朽之言,因而针对本土元素展开了批判(为先),继而有选择地加以借用和融会贯通,同时为伊斯兰教正本清源,再通过以文会友,最终收获了针对外教的释疑并取得某种认同,从而为伊斯兰教适应本土社会赢得了有利机会和条件。     

Islam and suicide

Suicide and homicide rates of a sample of 72 nations were associated with a cluster of social variables related to economic development but not with a cluster related to the proportion of Islamic adherents.