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111. Celebrating the Cultures of the Excluded

Author:
Kristina Bogos
Publication Date:
09-2017
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Center for Contemporary Arab Studies
Abstract:
Amidst the rising anti-refugee and anti-immigrant sentiment in the United States, Muslim children in the Washington DC area took a stand this spring in an unconventional way: the expression of their cultures through song, poetry, and dance at Arena Stage in the Mead Center for American Theater.
Topic:
Culture, Refugees, Immigrants, Trump, and Protests
Political Geography:
Middle East and United States of America

112. FEMALE STEREOTYPES IN LEBANESE CONTEMPORARY SONGS: A CASE STUDY OF TEN SONGS

Author:
Roy Jreijiry
Publication Date:
06-2017
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Alternative Politics
Institution:
Department of International Relations, Abant Izzet Baysal University, Turkey
Abstract:
Many studies have shown that popular music is a dynamic medium in the construction of personal and social identities. This study analyses the image of women in ten Lebanese songs produced between 2010 and 2014; each song ranked as big hits. Typical of contemporary popular songs, these songs do not accord to the woman the value of an equal partner of the man. While rarely mentioning the ideas of sharing, exchanging, or reciprocity, they circulate many stereotypes such as the threatened/beaten woman, the housewife won through presents and flattery, the woman under the care of a man, and the woman as an owned and sexual object.
Topic:
Gender Issues, Culture, Women, Feminism, and Music
Political Geography:
Middle East, Lebanon, and Beirut

113. A Comparison of Hindu and Muslim Caste System in Sub-Continent

Author:
Ahmed Usman
Publication Date:
01-2017
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
South Asian Studies
Institution:
Department of Political Science, University of the Punjab
Abstract:
Caste system is an essential feature of both Hindu and Muslim societies in the sub-continent. This paper compares the dynamics of traditional caste system practiced across Hindus and Muslims of India and Pakistan respectively. Birth-ascribed statuses, definite occupations, hierarchical positioning of caste groups and endogamous form of marriage are found to be the common characteristics of caste system practiced across Indian Hindus and Pakistani Muslims. In the Hindu caste system, membership in a Jati determines the rules and regulations regarding food and touch ability for the members through socio-religious rituals of purity and impurity. In contrast the notions and rituals of pure and impure are virtually absent in Muslim Pakistan. Caste system in both India and Pakistan is decaying with time because of the increasingly urbanization. However, geographical isolation and long established social structures in rural India and Pakistan are the favorable conditions that uphold the caste practices.
Topic:
Religion, Culture, Urbanization, and Inequality
Political Geography:
Pakistan, South Asia, India, and Punjab

114. Cultural Scenario of Pakistan in Democratic and Military Eras (1947-2013)

Author:
Saira Siddiqui, Syeda Khizra Aslam, and Muhammad Rashid Khan
Publication Date:
01-2017
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
South Asian Studies
Institution:
Department of Political Science, University of the Punjab
Abstract:
This study investigates a politico-cultural mapping of leisure and life in Pakistan, a country in South Asia, with a political developmental period in historical perspective from its independence in 1947. A classification of ruling eras is done, and accordingly the paper carries its discussion. A few tables are presented to give the percentage of leisure-time spent, and leisure-activities pursued by Pakistani men and women. The data is from nationally represented samples of 2690 respondents in 2009, and 1294 respondents interviewed in 2012 by Gilani Research Foundation, Pakistan. The findings also include statistics from a research by the authors own empirical study of 2013, from a sample of 222 women respondents in Faisalabad City, Punjab, Pakistan.
Topic:
History, Culture, Military Affairs, and Democracy
Political Geography:
Pakistan, South Asia, and Punjab

115. Making Saudi Arabia Fun Again?

Author:
Salman al-Dosari, Aziza al-Manea, 'Adel Khamis al-Zahrani, Hind al-Mutairi, and Abdulrahman al-Rashed
Publication Date:
01-2017
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Harvard Journal of Middle Eastern Politics and Policy
Institution:
The John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University
Abstract:
The General Entertainment Authority was created last year as part of Saudi Arabia’s “Vision 2030” plan. The primary goal of Vision 2030 is to diversify Saudi Arabia’s oil-dependent economy, but it also aims to foster a “vibrant society” with “meaningful entertainment for citizens.” Public cinemas are banned in the kingdom, and some Saudis seek diversion abroad, often in nearby Bahrain and Dubai. So far, the General Entertainment Authority has provoked a mixed reaction: some have lauded its work to bring more cultural events to Saudi Arabia, while others accuse it of moving too quickly, and not offering enough options to less wealthy Saudis. Here are excerpts of what five Saudi pundits had to say about the issue.
Topic:
Culture, Reform, Media, News Analysis, and Leisure
Political Geography:
Middle East, Saudi Arabia, and Gulf Nations

116. African Migrants in Post-Soviet Moscow: Adaptation and Integration in a Time of Radical Socio-Political Transformations

Author:
Dmitri M. Bondarenko
Publication Date:
12-2017
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
Ìrìnkèrindò: a Journal of African Migration
Abstract:
The changes since the breakup of the USSR have impacted African migrants’ social composition, as well as their strategies and forms of adaptation and integration in the capital city of Moscow. In this study, we discuss the factors influencing the choices of African migrants, related to their background as Africans and to their perceptions of the receiving society. We distinguish between two social groups of African migrants and argue that while one group seeks integration into the Russian society, the other limits itself to mere adaptation to life in Moscow.
Topic:
Migration, Diaspora, Culture, and Urban
Political Geography:
Africa and Russia

117. The Complex Ties between Poverty and Exclusion

Author:
Michelle Nicholasen and Lucie White
Publication Date:
01-2017
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University
Abstract:
To what extent does poverty contribute to social exclusion? How can the exclusion of particular groups be reduced? These were just two of the questions scholars addressed at the Social Inclusion and Poverty Eradication Workshop on November 17–18, 2016, a two-day event co-sponsored by the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, the Center for European Studies, and the Comparative Research Programme on Poverty (CROP). The conference was convened by Weatherhead Center Director Michèle Lamont, Robert I. Goldman Professor of European Studies and professor of sociology and of African and African American studies at Harvard University; and Hilary Silver, professor of sociology and urban studies and professor of public policy at Brown University. Though the related challenges of poverty and exclusion have been exhaustively studied individually, their mutual interplay, in their socioeconomic and historical contexts, have rarely been mapped in a nuanced way. As Lamont and Silver emphasized in their remarks, only by subtle analysis of these interactions can responsive strategies be designed to alleviate the impacts of either factor. Lamont addressed the theme of intersection by calling for the reintroduction of the concept of “culture” into the study of poverty and social exclusion. Supporting this frame, keynote speaker Vijayendra Rao, lead economist for the World Bank’s Development Research Group, emphasized working within a local culture to help citizens arrive at their own solutions for more social engagement.
Topic:
Poverty, Culture, World Bank, Discrimination, Socioeconomics, and Exclusion
Political Geography:
Global Focus

118. A Life in the Margins: Understanding the Roma Experience

Author:
Michelle Nicholasen
Publication Date:
04-2017
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University
Abstract:
In one of the popular Madeline children’s stories, the well-known redheaded French schoolgirl runs away with her friend Pepito to join a caravan of Gypsies who train them to perform in their traveling circus. At first they are thrilled not to have to go to school or brush their teeth. But when they become homesick, the Gypsy mother sews them into a lion costume, effectively kidnapping them. Of course it ends well, with a rescued Madeline exchanging farewells with the affectionate Gypsy mother and children and returning to boarding school. Is this a harmless children’s adventure story or does it perpetuate an enduring stereotype of criminality and indifference among a little-understood ethnic group? The educational crisis of Romani children (pejoratively referenced as “Gypsies”) is just one of many research topics spearheaded by a faculty team from the François-Xavier Bagnoud (FXB) Center on Health and Human Rights at Harvard. Ask an American if they know someone of Roma heritage, and they will likely draw a blank. But mention the word “Gypsy” and a flood of associations will come to mind, especially from childhood.
Topic:
Culture, Ethnicity, and Diversity
Political Geography:
Global Focus

119. Looking for Green in the Desert, an Irishman is Lured to Bahrain

Author:
Michelle Nicholasen
Publication Date:
04-2017
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University
Abstract:
To Gareth Doherty, there's no such thing as a single color "green." There are just too many hues and variations to commit to one label. Doing fieldwork in Bahrain, a desert nation in the Persian Gulf, he found a palette of colors, each imbued with the history, social dynamics, and politics of the island nation. Even when they live in a desert, people need green. On his daily walks across this arid, thirty-mile-long island, he documented the persistent presence of green, from green-painted roofs and doorways to a flourishing of scrub in the desert after a brief rain shower. Because people hunger for green space, states and individuals will go to great lengths to get it, taking steps that are at odds with sustainable development. Doherty investigated the resources required to keep Bahrain green, and explored the facts and myths of how a country lost its fresh water and its iconic date palm groves over the past century. His fascination with fieldwork also has led him and his students to the Bahamas to study the sustainable development of an island archipelago, and to Brazil, where states experience different amounts of rainfall and seasonal blankets of green. The Weatherhead Center for International Affairs asked Doherty about his year in Bahrain, and what he’s discovered about how people use and respond to the various colors of green in their landscape.
Topic:
Environment, Religion, Culture, and Local
Political Geography:
Middle East, Caribbean, Bahrain, and Bahamas

120. Life and Death on the US-Mexico Border

Author:
Michelle Nicholasen
Publication Date:
12-2017
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University
Abstract:
Ieva Jusionyte has always been drawn to tensions at the border. As a graduate student, she went right to the heart of the drug and human smuggling nexus of Puerto Iguazu, a town at the tri-border area of Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina, to research how the media reported on crime. While there, she developed a deep interest in the experiences of firefighters and rescue workers, and later, in the US, trained to become a certified emergency medical technician, paramedic, and wildland firefighter. Most recently, she embedded herself at the US-Mexico border for a year, using her technical skills to help first responders on both sides of the divide. She reasoned that firefighters and EMTs would face many of the human consequences of national security policy on a daily basis. In order to fully leverage her insights as an anthropologist, she felt she needed to participate. In Nogales, Arizona, she volunteered as an EMT with the suburban fire department, responding to 911 calls—whether it was for a wildfire or for a critically ill or wounded person. Across the border in Nogales, Mexico, she delivered first aid to injured migrants and deportees on a bench in a soup kitchen, which also served as a humanitarian and legal center. Her forthcoming book, Threshold: Emergency and Rescue on the U.S.-Mexico Border will bring together the experiences of the first responders and residents of the local border communities, to take stock of the real-life impact of US national security measures.
Topic:
Immigration, Culture, Borders, and Local
Political Geography:
United States, North America, and Mexico