71446 research outputs found
Sort by
The Role of Muslim Sufi Shayyukh in Formation and Preservation of Religious Identity of Muslims in the United Kingdom
No full textThis study explored the techniques used by three generations of Muslim Sufi Shayyukh [plural of a Muslim religious leader, Shaykh in Arabic], of Eidgah Sharif, Rawalpindi, Pakistan, mainly between 1970’s-2025, to help their British Muslim followers with formation, preservation and transfer of positive religious identity as law abiding citizens of the UK and transforming them into peace builders. Pakistanis from remote areas of Pakistan with low literacy and few professional skills were brought to the UK in the 1950s as cheap labor to keep older textile mills competitive after electrification. Low pay and the need to live near the mills led to Muslim-majority neighborhoods. Subsequent family reunions created a critical need for preserving positive religious identity in the presence of socio-economic, linguistic, cultural, and racial tensions with the host society. Most Pakistanis were unaware of the differences between British and Pakistani cultures before arriving, and they had little religious literacy. The new land contributed to their economic well-being, but they needed guidance to navigate the many differences. Labels of extremism and terrorism presented additional challenges for Muslims. The Shayyukh realized the challenges their followers were facing as early as the 1980s, when they started helping them integrate into British society, while still retaining their positive religious identity and helping them transfer those benefits to the next generation. This ethnographic study used interviews of the Shayyukh’s followers in the UK and Pakistan, observations, field notes, multi-modal data from social media, including photographs, screen shots of videos, and video recordings of publicly-delivered speeches. Discourse analysis and multimodal discourse analysis of data revealed that the Shayyukh used traditional Naqshbandi Sufi Muslim concepts of Sohbat [companionship with the Shaykh] and Rabta [connection(s)] in creating the desired changes. Five specific methods used are given below. First, they developed in their followers a deeper understanding of Islam and its application in domestic, professional and public lives. The second method involved role modeling applied to religion in domestic and public lives. The third method was to offer hope, resilience and training to followers seeking positive alternatives, particularly in the face of adversity. Fourth, they helped their followers understand who they were in their new land, and how to become part of it in the following ways: by being good, caring neighbors even when harshly treated; by getting educated; by getting good employment; by doing charity; among other things; all of which should help dispel negative stereotypes. The fifth method was to engage youth in celebrating their religious identities by organizing and performing in formal religious gatherings. They made extensive use of relationship-building to help their followers. Most important was making the new land their arena by being flexible, without sacrificing Islam’s core religious values, integrating instead of self-segregating, getting to know the local community and building successful relationships with it. To do this, the Shayyukh used the language of hope and positivity, visiting their followers’ homes frequently, never judging them nor closing doors on them.Extension Studie
Seeing like a State or Seeing the State? A Qualitative Study of a Government Program to Support Women’s Self-Help Groups in Madhya Pradesh, India
No full textThis paper explores the interactions between state and society in rural India within a major community-based development program. We use guidelines of the state, transcripts of 90 interviews and focus groups amongst representatives of actors of all major groups, and field team workshops to construct an in-depth view of the processes and interactions within the ecosystem of six National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM) self-help groups (SHGs) in the state of Madhya Pradesh. These SHGs are linked to credit and market related services and support systems provided by the state. We argue that in design, and even more in implementation, the program exemplifies two substantive tensions. The first tension is between a top-down, “engineering” approach to state delivery on the one hand, and a stated intention to mobilize community and create “institutions of the poor” on the other. The second is between a primary reliance on existing village hierarchies on the one hand, and a goal of empowering poor women from disadvantaged social groups on the other. We argue that these tensions generate an internal logic to state functioning and to on-the-ground processes that lead the SHGs and their federations in our case studies to be stuck at a low level of functioning, and in some cases to become dysfunctional. This study has implications for understanding functionality as the product of relational processes within and between state and society, and home in on a key actor at the interface of these processes - Community Resource Persons (CRPs).Version of Recor
Quantum critical dynamics of the Ising model in 2 spatial dimensions
No full textPhysicsAuthor's Origina
Biggest Bankruptcy Ever!: Viewing a Drama Written in Verse about Investment Banking Through the Lens of Behavioral Economics
No full textThis thesis furthers the growing area of research of examining literature while considering key topics from the fields of economics and business in an effort to increase understanding of literature. By viewing The Lehman Trilogy, a play by Stefano Massini and adapted by Ben Power, through the lens of behavioral economics, insight can be gained to better understand the characters, their economic decision-making processes, and ultimately their humanity. Considering concepts of behavioral economics provides greater acuity into the story. Throughout the play, various characters make decisions along a 164-year timeline from 1844 when the first Lehman brother arrives in New York until September 15, 2008, when the storied global investment bank collapses with more than $600 billion in debt in the largest corporate bankruptcy in history. By drawing subject matter from behavioral economics, primarily from the works of Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky, detailed in Kahneman’s widely acclaimed Thinking, Fast and Slow, deeper insight can be gained
