As anthropologists we are increasingly confronted with attempts – be it by employers, the media, or policy makers – to regulate our work in ways that are both epistemologically and ethically... Show moreAs anthropologists we are increasingly confronted with attempts – be it by employers, the media, or policy makers – to regulate our work in ways that are both epistemologically and ethically counterproductive and threaten our scientific integrity. This document is written out of concern about the problems that occur when protocols for data management, integrity, and ethics, developed for sciences that employ a positivistic, hypothesis-testing and replicable style of research, are applied to different scientific practices, such as social and cultural anthropology, that are more explorative, intersubjective and interpretative. In social and cultural anthropology, issues of scientific governance and its ethics are strongly case-specific. Still, concerns about the imposition of scientific protocols from other disciplines require anthropologists to develop some general guidelines for data management, integrity and ethics of anthropological research. Rather than fixed rules, these are broad principles to guide work and adapt it to specific cases. Show less
Hommel, B.; Moors, A.; Sander, D.; Deonna, J. 2017
This article presents norms of valence/pleasantness, activity/arousal, power/dominance, and age of acquisition for 4,300 Dutch words, mainly nouns, adjectives, adverbs, and verbs. The norms are... Show moreThis article presents norms of valence/pleasantness, activity/arousal, power/dominance, and age of acquisition for 4,300 Dutch words, mainly nouns, adjectives, adverbs, and verbs. The norms are based on ratings with a 7-point Likert scale by independent groups of students from two Belgian (Ghent and Leuven) and two Dutch (Rotterdam and Leiden-Amsterdam) samples. For each variable, we obtained high split-half reliabilities within each sample and high correlations between samples. In addition, the valence ratings of a previous, more limited study (Hermans & De Houwer, Psychologica Belgica, 34:115-139, 1994) correlated highly with those of the present study. Therefore, the new norms are a valuable source of information for affective research in the Dutch language. Show less
ISIM organized a workshop on “Transnational Circuits: ‘Muslim Women’ in Asia” as part of the conference on Inter-Asian Connections convened by the Social Science Research Council together with the... Show moreISIM organized a workshop on “Transnational Circuits: ‘Muslim Women’ in Asia” as part of the conference on Inter-Asian Connections convened by the Social Science Research Council together with the Dubai School of Government in Dubai from 21-23 February. The conference aimed to launch new, transregional, and comparative research initiatives that go beyond more narrowly defined area-studies approaches and focus on the connections between different parts of Asia. The workshop addressed how women’s subjectivities were transformed in new transnational circuits of labour and consumption. It focused on the involvement of Muslim women in Asia in these circuits, be it as mobile people or as producers, propagators, and consumers of things, ideas, and images on the move. We used the notion “Muslim women” as a heuristic device to move beyond an area studies approach. This focus on Islam and gender turned out to be fruitful in analyzing three major Inter-Asian circuits: migrant domestic labour, transnational marriages, and fashionable styles of Muslim dress. Show less
In Europe, face veils have become the ultimate symbols of Muslim “otherness.” The (presently stalled) attempts of the Dutch government to introduce a burka-ban highlight how misguided arguments... Show moreIn Europe, face veils have become the ultimate symbols of Muslim “otherness.” The (presently stalled) attempts of the Dutch government to introduce a burka-ban highlight how misguided arguments about women's emancipation and national security are used to push a strongly assimilationist agenda. Ironically, while politicians hold on to a singly negative view of face-veils, trends in the fashion industry show that the boundaries between religion, fashion, and everyday social life are far more flexible than the political gaze is able to capture. Show less
The film Submission, written by Hirsi Ali and filmed by the late Theo van Gogh, was aired on Dutch television in the summer of 2004. Some have referred to the film as a work of art while others... Show moreThe film Submission, written by Hirsi Ali and filmed by the late Theo van Gogh, was aired on Dutch television in the summer of 2004. Some have referred to the film as a work of art while others have stressed its offensive nature due to its portrayal of violence against Muslim women. Yet the film is first and foremost striking in its unimaginative resonance with the visual imagery of Orientalism. Show less
The ISIM and the Amsterdam School for Social Science Research (ASSR) jointly organized the workshop, “Muslim Fashions - Fashionable Muslims” which was held 15–16 April. The workshop took place at... Show moreThe ISIM and the Amsterdam School for Social Science Research (ASSR) jointly organized the workshop, “Muslim Fashions - Fashionable Muslims” which was held 15–16 April. The workshop took place at Amsterdam University with additional financial support by the International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS). Show less
The appearance of a small number of students wearing the face-veil or niqab at two unrelated universities, The American University in Cairo and Leiden University, led to official bans on face... Show moreThe appearance of a small number of students wearing the face-veil or niqab at two unrelated universities, The American University in Cairo and Leiden University, led to official bans on face covering. The bans were justified on remarkably similar grounds, at the core of which were arguments that face covering is inherently incompatible with principles and practices of liberal education. Yet the prohibition of face veiling speaks t o issues far larger than pedagogy in liberal educational settings; it gets to the core of critical issues relating to integration, liberalism and the possibly uneasy place of Islam in it all. Show less
The Social Science Research Council's Programme on the Middle East & North Africa has selected the project 'Migrant Domestic Workers in the Middle East: Becoming Visible in the Public Sphere?'... Show moreThe Social Science Research Council's Programme on the Middle East & North Africa has selected the project 'Migrant Domestic Workers in the Middle East: Becoming Visible in the Public Sphere?' to receive an International Collaborative Research Grant to support the joint research by Ray Jureidini (American University Beirut), Annelies Moors (ISIM/University of Amsterdam), Ferhunde zbay, (Bogÿ azii University, Istanbul) and Rima Sabban (Dubai University College) for the period 1 July 2003 to 31 December 2004. This research project is linked to the ISIM research programme, Migrant Domestic Work: Transnational Spaces, Families, and Identities (see www.isim.nl). Show less
Annelies Moors holds the ISIM Chair at the University of Amsterdam for the social science study of contemporary Muslim societies. On 13 March 2003, she delivered her inaugural lecture entitled '... Show moreAnnelies Moors holds the ISIM Chair at the University of Amsterdam for the social science study of contemporary Muslim societies. On 13 March 2003, she delivered her inaugural lecture entitled ''Muslim Cultural Politics': What's Islam Got To Do With It?' In this lecture she presented the research programme 'Muslim Cultural Politics', which she has initiated at the ISIM, and briefly summarized the results of some ongoing research projects. Show less
From 24 to 26 October 2003 an international workshop was held in Cairo under the title 'What Happened: Telling Stories about Law in Muslim Societies'. Representing the third event in the ISIM... Show moreFrom 24 to 26 October 2003 an international workshop was held in Cairo under the title 'What Happened: Telling Stories about Law in Muslim Societies'. Representing the third event in the ISIM programme on the anthropology of Islamic law, the workshop was organized with the Centre d'études et de Documentation économique, Juridique et Sociale (CEDEJ), the Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale (IFAO), and the Dutch-Flemish Institute in Cairo (NVIC), all based in Cairo. The convenors were Nathalie Bernard-Maugiron, Léon Buskens, Barbara Drieskens, Baudouin Dupret, and Annelies Moors. Show less
The international conference, jointly hosted by the ISIM and the Research Centre Religion and Society (ASSR), on 'Religion, Media and the Public Sphere' was held from 6 to 8 December 2001 at the... Show moreThe international conference, jointly hosted by the ISIM and the Research Centre Religion and Society (ASSR), on 'Religion, Media and the Public Sphere' was held from 6 to 8 December 2001 at the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The theme of the conference evolved out of three prominent debates in the 1990s: the crisis of the post-colonial nationstate, the increasing global proliferation of electronic media, and the rise of religious movements. Show less
From 5 to 7 July 2002 a workshop on 'Scholarship and Activism in Islamic Family Law' was held at the Freie Universitat Berlin, organized jointly by the Interdisciplinary Centre 'Social and Cultural... Show moreFrom 5 to 7 July 2002 a workshop on 'Scholarship and Activism in Islamic Family Law' was held at the Freie Universitat Berlin, organized jointly by the Interdisciplinary Centre 'Social and Cultural History of the Middle East' at the Freie Universitat Berlin (Katja Niethammer, Anna Wurth), the AKMI (Arbeitskreis Moderne und Islam at the Wissenschaftkolleg Berlin, Georges Khalil), CIMEL (Centre of Islamic and Middle Eastern Law at SOAS, London, Lynn Welchman) and ISIM (Annelies Moors). Show less
Up until the early 1970s the academic study of Islamic family law was largely the privileged terrain of those involved in Oriental studies. In their work, they mainly focused on the texts of the... Show moreUp until the early 1970s the academic study of Islamic family law was largely the privileged terrain of those involved in Oriental studies. In their work, they mainly focused on the texts of the leaders of the major schools of Islamic law, on the one hand; and the newly codified and reformed twentieth-century laws, on the other. Considering family relations as the outcome of the provisions of Islamic law, they tended to define the classical Islamic family as monolithic, static and rigidly patriarchal, and saw the promulgation of the twentieth-century legal reforms as signaling the eclipse of this type of family. Show less
