Coexistence

Research for the archaeology of the Ottoman Empire, my dissertation project, led to questions for the divides among the peoples of the empire. Since most publications on what is known as the Middle East focus on ethnic and national divides, I pursued places of coexistence, whether peaceful or uneasy. Teaching Colonial Encounters since 1998 explored the historical anthropology perspective on how the asymmetric patterns of interactions imposed in the 18th and 19th centuries are sustained in the present, including by globalization and tourism as well as resisted and being transformed. For the course, students discuss and analyze theory on the development of the modern world, recognition of the intersection of colonialism and ecology, ethnographies on social identity under colonialism, and debates on colonial legacies. The examples of how peoples overcame the colonial divisions focus intellectual inquiry.

The approach got localized in February 2017 when a group of residents started standing vigil for prayer protection by the one mosque for Sarasota/Manatee. I joined them on the Friday afternoons to show support for the Muslim worshippers as Executive Order Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States (known as the Muslim Ban) highlighted tensions against Islam in the USA. Each and every Friday afternoon (rain or shine), a dozen residents regularly stood on the sidewalk of the busy street at the entrance to the Islamic Society of Sarasota and Bradenton. Facing drivers who supported and those opposed to coexistence, the mosque welcomed the vigil including to Ramadan meals. After the Pittsburgh Pogrom of October 27, 2018, members of the ISSB stood as prayer protection for Temple Beth Sholom. The First Presbyterian Church of Sarasota hosted a Community Interfaith Service to honor the spirit of the vigil. After the 100th vigil (December 29, 2018), I supervised an undergraduate to interview members of the vigil and submitted a report to the group in June 2019. When the COVID-19 pandemic shifted services from the mosque to virtual, the vigils ended (March 2020) and the national elections shifted the discourse away from Islamophobia.