IslamAmerica

The Shadow of the Technorati - Hyperlinks, Social Media, and Muslims

host — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 17:20:00 GMT

Over the last few years, we have seen a growing and welcome trend of American Muslim involvement in the civic affairs of the United States. The internet is being used increasingly by American Muslims, and has allowed new ways of organizing and taking action, some of which are arguably superior to methods at our disposal in earlier years. As increasing numbers of Muslims become involved with this trend, it is worthwhile to consider some of the other effects of internet use: disorientation, increased anxiety, impatience, loss of focus, and difficulty being alone.

Muslim Hip Hop and “Obsession”

host — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 07:38:00 GMT

Dr. Umar Faruq Abd-Allah spoke at Dartmouth College and cited the production of a culture that is both authentically Muslim and authentically American as an important means by which Muslims in the United States can realize their potential. On reflection, it may be seen that the production of culture serves to increase the number and the richness of ties between Muslims and non-Muslims and is therefore a form of social capital. It is by increased social capital that hate-speech like the film “Obsession” becomes unacceptable as part of the larger community’s discourse concerning Muslims and Islam.

Rupture between man and bee?

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 13:32:00 GMT

As if recent headlines concerning global warming, war in the Middle East, and the instabilities of the world-wide capitalist system are not enough to occupy the fatalist in all of us, the decline of the bee population is proving profoundly unsettling; forcing scientists and religious-minded people alike to take a closer look at where we ourselves are headed as a species.

Living in Time: Muslims and the Modern Time-Crunch

host — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 11:11:00 GMT

Seeing modernity essentially as an acceleration of time allows Muslims to overcome alienation from the modern age.

Islam and the Cultural Imperative

host — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 11:06:00 GMT

Prominent American Muslim scholar Dr. Umar Abd-Allah highlights the relevance of accepted cultural diversity throughout Islamic history for the construction of a distinctive American Muslim identity.

Reversal of Fortune

Sat, 09 Feb 2008 14:07:00 GMT

The old Capitalist maxim, "More is Better," has failed us, writes American environmentalist Bill McKibben. With unbridled individualism increasingly eroding civil society, higher standards of living have not made us happier.

Culture in the Time of Tolerance: Al-Andalus as a Model for Our Own Time

Sat, 09 Feb 2008 13:17:00 GMT

Al-Andalus as a Model for Our Own TimeYale Univeristy Professor Maria Menocal offers Andalusian Spain as a model of cultural diversity and appreciation that permanently enriched the lives of Muslims, Christians and Jews.

Typecasting Muslims as a Race

Sat, 09 Feb 2008 09:58:00 GMT

A recent article in the San Francisco Chronicle questions the normative racial associations most Americans have with Islam.

Tracing Epistemological Rupture in Muslim Africa

host — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 17:07:00 GMT

An "episteme" has been defined by Michel Foucault as an underlying "structure of thought" for a given time and place within which all knowledge is articulated. Some writers have spoken of an "epistemic break" in the Muslim world through the experience of Colonialism. This article attempts to evaluate changing notions of Islamic knowledge through the Colonial period in Muslim Africa.

Talal Asad: Reflections on Secularism and the Public Sphere

Wed, 06 Feb 2008 16:51:00 GMT

City University of New York Anthropology Professor Talal Asad examines the history of secularism and its relation with the public sphere in French society. Where some might consider French laicité to be the fulfillment of the secularist dream, Asad demonstrates the secular government's propensity to betray its theoretical justification of neutrality in order to exert its supremacy in the public sphere, a sphere of which the government itself defines the borders.

New 'Mommy Wars': A Fight Against Pop Culture's Excess

host — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 21:40:00 GMT

What's really happening with American mothers of all stripes - from full-time homemakers to full-fledged workaholics, all income levels, all racial backgrounds - is worry about popular culture, and what feels like a tsunami of forces threatening parents' ability to impart positive values to their children, according to a new survey of more than 2,000 mothers.

Star Wars

host — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 13:44:00 GMT

The republic is crumbling under attack from alien forces. Democracy is threatened as the leader plays on the people's paranoia. Amid the confusion it is suddenly unclear whether the state is in more danger from insurgents, or from the leader himself.

Colonization of the Subconscious

host — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 11:14:00 GMT

This essay examines some of the effects of interactions with computers on the mind, taken from Adbusters

Annotated Bibliography from Beyond Schooling Conference

host — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 11:06:00 GMT

Prepared by the Zarnuji Institute, with additional annotations by Dar al Islam.

Selected Readings from Beyond Schooling Conference

host — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 09:59:00 GMT

Documents from the package readings prepared by the Zarnuji Institute for their Toronto Conference: Beyond Schooling.

Watch out for the Experts!

host — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 08:04:00 GMT

A new book examines the commodification of the concept of care, and the harm it causes communities. Review from Adbusters

Brazil's Favelados Build A Better Life

host — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 05:22:00 GMT

The development of Brazil's shanty-towns into permanent neighborhoods illustrates the way Allah's Mercy comes down on those willing to change their conditions.

Facing the Farm Crisis

host — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 22:25:00 GMT

From "The Ecologist" Glamorous excess is a staple of the mainstream media, even in its economic reporting. Stories about soaring corporate profits, exorbitant CEO salaries, improbably high stock prices, and the billions made by obscure dot com start-ups so dominate the news that one could easily believe the global economy is making everyone (else) rich. But high-flying winners are the exception in today's economic casino, and no one is losing out more than small farmers.

The Age of Access

host — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 22:00:00 GMT

This article, excerpted from Jeremy Rifkin's upcoming book by the same title, appeared in The Industry Standard, March 20,2000.
Think of waking up one day only to find that every aspect of your existence has become a purchased affair, that life Itself has become the ultimate shopping experience.

Deconstructing Suburbia

host — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 15:47:00 GMT

An interview with James Howard Kunstler by William Upski Wimsatt, appearing in Adbusters No.29 Spring 2000. (www.adbusters.org). "In The Geography of Nowhere, James Kunstler observes that the building of suburbia as a replacement for towns and cities was a self-destructive act, 'The living arrangement Americans now think of as normal is bankrupting us economically, socially, ecologically, and spiritually. The physical setting itself - the cartoon landscape of car-clogged highways, strip malls, tract houses, franchise fry pits, parking lots, junked cities, and ravaged countryside - is not merely a symptom of our troubled culture but in many ways a primary cause of our troubles."

Violent Images in the Media Change Us

host — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 15:42:00 GMT

The prophet Muhammad (may Allah's Peace and Blessings be upon him) said that we become like the people we keep company with. One can argue that, similarly, we may become like those who or that which we spend time with in our living rooms via our TV screens. Unless you turn off the tube, the amount and intensity as well as the often pernicious nature of the agony and violence turned spectacle, whether as news or entertainment, either breaks your heart or incases it in layers of ice in order to cope with the overload.

American Churches Grapple with Growth of Islam

host — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 15:38:00 GMT

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Muslim extremists and Islam's treatment of women. No matter how hard Georgetown University professor Yvonne Y. Haddad tries to humanize American Muslims, her non-Muslim audiences seem fixated on those two issues.

Data Smog

host — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 17:46:00 GMT

Aside from the issue of meaningless or questionable content, the multiplicity and speed of the current information gusher is threatening to devour or blast its captive audience. More than ever before do humans need to balance this warp of dispersion with the woof of unity, to extract ourselves from the whirlpool of change into the ocean of permanence, to dismount the dragon of time and dwell in the moment of timelessness.

Reading List for American Muslims

host — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 17:44:00 GMT

A Book List for Muslims Seeking to Better Understand American Culture. These are books we've found had an impact on our thinking about the dominant society in which we live.