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Islamic Meditation: Mindfulness Apps for Muslims in the Digital Spiritual Marketplace
Get PDFThis chapter describes and analyzes three digital sites that offer guided meditations curated by and for Muslims: Sakeenah, Sabr, and Halaqah. My analysis offers thick descriptions of these mobile apps, which first appeared in the online “meditation marketplace” in 2020 and 2021, and identifies resonant themes and questions that I believe are fruitful for the study of religion in digital landscapes and for mapping the shifting contours of lived Islam. Today’s industry of online meditation and mindfulness products is highly profitable, as meditation—and, more broadly, “mindfulness”—has in recent decades been embraced and normalized in contemporary, cosmopolitan life as a key part of health and wellness. The guided mindfulness and meditation practices found on the most popular mainstream apps, however, tend to be assemblages of meditation styles modeled upon Buddhist mindfulness and yogic somatic practices, despite the frequent absence of clear markers of these religious foundations. In contrast, the Muslim-created apps I discuss here, while mirroring similar styles of meditation to those in the mainstream meditation marketplace, offer guided meditation practices imbued with the cultural, theological, and epistemological frames of Islamic piety. This, I suggest, is a noteworthy development in both the meditation marketplace and contemporary Muslim piety. These apps demonstrate Muslim efforts at carving out distinctly Muslim spaces, not just within the digital meditation marketplace but also apart from the already well-established genre of Muslim religious apps. In my view, these new developments warrant close examination as a distinct genre in the growing academic study of religion in cyberspace. [excerpt
Hosting a Virtual Research Site for Data: Collecting Participants’ Voices on Bargaining During Tourist Shopping
No full textOur project goal was to examine participants’ views on bargaining during tourist shopping. We wanted to reach a global sample to understand whether there are broader themes about bargaining beyond a localized context. To achieve our sample goal, we decided to host an online research site for data collection. We also wanted participants to have more control over the process to ensure ease of participation and protect their confidentiality. In this case study, we discuss major considerations and choices that we had to make as we hosted a virtual research site. We paid special attention to the need to follow Institutional Review Board guidelines, the choice of language, and how the site was formatted. As we discussed the practicalities of and lessons learned from hosting the site, we also made recommendations on how to improve the process in the future
Short-Circuited Trans Care, t4t, and Trans Scenes
No full textThis essay discusses short-circuited trans care by focusing on failures of t4t as an ethos both interpersonally and within particular trans scenes. The author begins by recounting an experience working at a bar/restaurant that appealed to its identity as a caring trans community space as part of its exploitation of trans workers. This dynamic inspires the main argument, that t4t can become an ethos of scenes and institutions beyond the interpersonal while short-circuiting practices of trans care. Short-circuited trans care is then traced to t4t by drawing from Hil Malatino\u27s work on trans care and t4t, Kai Cheng Thom\u27s work on community dynamics, and trans literature to argue that practices of t4t often include abuse, expulsion, and assumptive care. This short-circuited trans care is linked to trans scenes by discussing the ethos of t4t in the history of Topside Press and trans cultural production. The author does not condemn t4t and to this effect offers a critique of tethering trans cultural production to prestige instead of care. Rather, the goal of this essay is to openly discuss aspects of t4t and trans care that are often obscured through the projection of a highly questionable “we” or universalized “trans community.
We Are Interwoven Beings
No full textWhat if I told you that there’s no such thing as an individual action? That every time you eat, walk up the stairs or read a book, you are not the sole agent behind what you are doing, but are engaged in a process of co-creation – as much acted-upon as acting? [excerpt
Reassessing the Relationship Between Homophobia and Political Participation
No full textGovernments around the world vary in their policies affecting lesbian and gay communities. While some states enshrine the rights of their minority citizens, others drum up and enforce oppressive policies toward these groups, termed political homophobia. We are interested in the role such policies play in shaping electoral and non-electoral political participation. Existing research on this question is often optimistic that proponents of gay rights will steadily out-participate their opposition, but anti-gay mobilization remains ubiquitous in many states. Under what conditions might intolerant citizens out-participate more socially progressive citizens? And how do state policies influence this participation? By engaging literature on sexual citizenship and political efficacy, we argue that a state\u27s policy choices send important signals to citizens that influence their participation. Citizens who are intolerant of homosexuality may be more participatory in states that espouse political homophobia. This study conducts the first worldwide examination of tolerant and intolerant participation with data from the World Values Survey (2010–2020) and a novel application of gay rights measures. We find that outside of gay rights-respecting states, intolerant individuals are more likely to vote than tolerant individuals. While tolerant individuals generally tend to engage more in non-electoral participation across states, they nonetheless turn out to the ballot box less in states that are not respecting of gay rights
The Domestic Impact of International Shaming: Evidence from Climate Change and Human Rights
Get PDFDo international shaming efforts affect citizens’ support for government policies? While it is a frequent claim in the literature that shaming works through domestic politics, we know little about how and when international criticism affects domestic public opinion. We address this question through an originally designed survey experiment in Sweden, which (i) compares the effects of international shaming in two issue areas—human rights and climate change, and (ii) tests whether government responses to criticism moderate the impact of shaming. Our main findings are fourfold. First, we find substantial effects of international shaming on domestic public opinion. These effects hold across both issue areas and irrespective of whether citizens support government parties or not. Second, human rights shaming has a stronger impact on citizens’ support for government policies than climate shaming. Third, shaming is most effective among citizens who are more supportive of climate action, human rights, and international cooperation. Finally, our findings are mixed with respect to the effect of government responses. While government responses do not moderate the effects of human rights shaming, they seem to mitigate the effects of climate shaming
A Reader in Moral Philosophy
No full textThis lively anthology provides classic and contemporary defenses and critiques of the central ethical theories, along with readings on a selection of moral issues such as freedom of expression, immigration, and the treatment of non-human animals. Generous excerpts of canonical texts are included alongside contemporary works, all carefully selected and thoughtfully edited for student use. Readings on the ethical theories are organized intuitively, by implicit source of value: god, human nature, culture, reason, consent, character, emotion, care, particulars, and intuitions. The interconnections among readings amplify teaching possibilities and create a vigorous conversation about morality.https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/books/1186/thumbnail.jp
Criminal Justice Update - December 2022
Get PDFThe Criminal Justice Update is a monthly newsletter created by the Adams County Bar Foundation Fellow providing updates in criminal justice policy coming from Pennsylvania\u27s courts and legislature as well as the US Supreme Court. Contents: Updates from PA Governor\u27s Office (no updates this month) Updates from the PA Legislature (no updates this month) Updates from the Courts U.S. Supreme Court: Criminal Law & Procedure (no updates this month) PA Supreme Court: Criminal Law & Procedure (no updates this month) PA Superior Court: Criminal Law & Procedur
APPC Minutes - November 1, 2022
No full textMinutes of the Academic Policy and Program Committee Meeting, November 1, 2022
Financial Statement Analysis Project: The Big Simulation
Get PDFThis project uses real-world financial statements (for Best Buy Co. Inc. and Nvidia Corporation) and creates a role-playing game where students can choose to be one of 4 capital market participants: an innovator that designs a brand-new accounting system, a company that prepares its best version of financial statements, an investor that chooses its ideal portfolio stocks, and a forensic accountant that looks for evidence of earnings management. The project helps student learn to conduct financial statement analysis and appreciate the impact of these statements on company financial ratios and capital market performance.https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/oer/1012/thumbnail.jp