The Charles Strong Lecture 2015
Narratives like paradigms offer explanations of some aspects of life which are largely self-contained, self-sustaining, self-validating, and impervious to disconfirming evidence. Anti-Islam discourses in the West and anti-Western discourses among Muslims are two such discourses. That such discourses...
Main Author: | |
---|---|
Format: | Electronic Article |
Language: | English |
Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
Journals Online & Print: | |
Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
Published: |
Equinox Publ.
[2016]
|
In: |
Journal for the academic study of religion
Year: 2016, Volume: 29, Issue: 1, Pages: 3-12 |
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Western world
/ Islamophobia
/ Islam
/ Fundamentalism
|
RelBib Classification: | AD Sociology of religion; religious policy AX Inter-religious relations |
Further subjects: | B
Muslims
B Discourse B Narratives B Violence B Anti-west B Islamophobia B Stereotypes (Social psychology) B cui bono B Othering B Religions |
Online Access: |
Volltext (doi) |
Summary: | Narratives like paradigms offer explanations of some aspects of life which are largely self-contained, self-sustaining, self-validating, and impervious to disconfirming evidence. Anti-Islam discourses in the West and anti-Western discourses among Muslims are two such discourses. That such discourses can legitimate violence is clearly evident in the rhetoric, actions and rationales given for violence among such groups as the Islamic State, Boko Haram, The Lord's Liberation Army, The Spanish Inquisition, and Anti-Islamic movements in Europe and other parts of the West. Narratives of difference, of negative disconnection from some 'other', persist for centuries with minor variation as there is no real contact between those maintaining them. Real encounters would lead to disconfirmation while violent acts by some members of the 'other' group are taken as proof that the stereotypes held about them are true. In each age it must be asked, 'Who Benefits?' |
---|---|
ISSN: | 2047-7058 |
Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal for the academic study of religion
|
Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1558/jasr.v29i1.30375 |