Purpose:
My topic for this semester research project will be the cultural imperialism of Christians in the Islamic nations. I chose this topic because it has relation to my background and has been an ongoing conflict. In America it is very hard to comfortably express the Islamic religion without judgement or conflict. Although many see cultural imperialism as something in the past it is still a problem today.
Problems to be investigated:
Why are most Christians afraid of Muslims?
Why do Christians think the Quran is fraudulent?
How come when Muslims commit crimes they are considered terrorists , but it isn’t the same for Christians?
I would like to shine light to the ongoing conflict between Christians and Muslims to get a better understanding of why it seems to continuously occur in today’s society.
Methods of research:
I plan to read more journal articles from google scholar, find books in my local library, and to watch interviews based on the conflict.
- Beverley, James. “Muslims and Christians”: A history of conflict and conversation.2012. Pp28-53
- Furcoi,Sorin, Essa,Azad. “Tensions between Muslims and Christians rise in CAR”. 2017. Https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/inpictures
- Smith, Jane. “Muslim-Christian relations”:historical and contemporary realities. 2015 Https://www.oxfordre.com/religion/view/10.1093
-Newby, Gordon ."The Modern Period": Muslims,Jews,and Christians-Relations and Interactions. 2018. Https://www.iis.ac.uk/academic-article/Muslim-Jews-and-Christians-relations-and-interactions
- Bouleti, Eleni. “ The Muslim Community on Cyprus and British Colonial Policy, 1878-1950: The Signifiance of the Cyprus Evkaf in the Colonisation Process”. 2011. Vol.23 Issue 2. P39-52
- Ranka, Jeknic. “ Cultural Imperialism of the West in the Work of Edward W. Said. 2006. Vol.22 Issue 3. P289-308
- Massad, Joseph. “ Liberalism from the Standpoint of its Victims”. 2016. Vol.17 Issue 1. P110-113
- Whyte, Christine. “ Between empire and colony: American Imperialism and Pan-African colonialism in Liberia, 1810-2003”. 2016. Vol.18 Issue 1. P71-88
- Abed, Mohammed. “ The Concept of Genocide Reconsidered”. 2015. Vol.41 Issue 2. P328-356
- John.H, Pryor. “ Crusade and Colonisation: Muslims, Christians, and Jews in medieval Aragon”. 2013. Vol.9 Issue 2. P169-170
- Tejirian, Eleanor Harvey, Simon, Reeva S. “Conflict, Conquest, and Conversion : Two Thousand Years of Christian Missions in the Middle East”. 2012. E-book.
- Rotberg, Robert I. “Colonial Influence and the Muslim Response”. 2007. P48-62
Field research:
I plan to watch interviews on Muslims about conflicts they have had with Christians. I also plan to watch videos of how Christians portray Muslims.Constructing my own interview with a few muslims will also be helpful. In doing so this will give me a better idea of how both sides feel and their intake.
Annotation:
Newby, Gordon ."The Modern Period"Muslims,Jews,and Christians-Relations and Interactions. 2018. Https://www.iis.ac.uk/academic-article/Muslim-Jews-and-Christians-relations-and-interactions
Summary: This article sums up the affects of the Western impact on Islam Nations starting with the Ottoman Empire and how the issues from that were never solved. Due to the fact that they were never solved this created a separation between Muslims and Non Muslims in the nation.The ideology of Nationalism reduced religion to the status as one of the components of a Nation-state ideology (Newby,8). Over the years Muslims and Jews tried to merge their religion but later had issues as the jews were looked upon as "Western instruments.” As conflicts grew bigger this created a bigger gap between Jewish-Muslims in the arab states. Newby explained this idea as the medieval period between the nations. Napoleon’s invasion of egypt in 1798 generally started started the modern period (Newby,34). During this time Western colonists started moving to islamic nations such as Asia and Africa. The invasion caused a major decline in muslim polities. These policies included economic and technological issues. As time went on and things got worse, many muslims then had to join forces with the ottoman empire in order to be protected. While being in these empire’s Muslim’s were turned into soldiers or made products for international trade to be apart of the empire. The westeren Europeans took over most manufacturing for the nation which eventually affected the muslims. Muslims felt the only way to be successful would be if they followed the ways of the Europeans(Newby,56).
Assess: This article is somewhat helpful to my topic but it also adds in a new
idea of Jews. This isn’t a problem but I believe it will throw off the readers since this wasn’t in my initial proposal.
Reflect: Using this article does have some benefits as well as cons. I wouldn’t like to confuse my audience, but this article has some useful information. With that being said I will use this article but not in its entirety. Newby gives a clear background of how Christians first started settling in. He also goes through the time periods as far as centuries, which will be a great way for me to connect this to the modern cultural imperialism.
Smith, Jane. “Muslim-Christian relations”:historical and contemporary realities. 2015 Https://www.oxfordre.com/religion/view/10.1093
Summary: The Nation of islam started with the African American Muslims in the 20th centry(Smith). After the death of Elijah Mohammed, which is the founder of islam many people turned to mainstream islam. The religion attracts young black and latinos. Over a period of time Muslims and Christians decided it was time to sit down and have a compromise to finally end the gap between the religions. The Christain- Muslim dialogue has taken many reforms through Christain oganizations, churches, and denominations(Smith). Things seemed to really clear up for the two religions as so they thought. Things turned sour after a few altercations. The event of 9/11 occurred and the Muslims were blamed for the attack. The event striked multiple protests and wars against Muslims. As Smith stated they want to exercise their constitutional rights to free speech in expressing their objection to certain American foreign policies, at the same time that they fear the consequences of the Patriot Act and other actions they view as assaults on their civil liberties. Meanwhile other Americans are struggling to understand that the Muslims with whom they interact in businesses, schools, and neighborhoods are different from the Muslim extremists who are calling for even more dire measures against the United States(Smith). Islamophobia, a fear against muslims, has been a big problem since the 9/11 attack. Since then their as been an industry that sells anti Muslim material that has a gross of 40 million a year.
Assess: This article has a lot of what I'm looking for when it comes to the treatment of Muslims. The article is also helpful since its somewhat recent and has variables that still go on today.
Reflect: I will definitely use this article. It is important to look at topics through
all possible aspects. The article does include the fact that both religions did at some point try to come together and end the conflict, but things still didn't work out. This article may answer questions that my audience may have. Certainly it has answered a few of mine and helped me get an even better understanding.
- Rotberg, Robert I. “Colonial Influence and the Muslim Response”. 2007. P48-62
Summary: Colonialism caused many changes within African Muslim communities(Rotberg,44). The European powers replaced the tribal government structure with a new form, and removed religion from its central role in social and economic organizations. In Muslim areas governed by Islamic law (Sharia), the colonial powers were switched to European legal systems(Rotberg,44). As a Rotberg explained , many African countries with Muslim populations still have legal systems, with laws governing personal matters based on Islamic law, while most criminal and trade laws are based on European legal systems. The Europeans idea’s started to clash, which caused an outbreak and eventually war(Rotberg52). An Islamic leader by the name of Mohammed Ahmed called for a holy war against the British. In Sudan, Mohammed Ahmed started to create a state that modern Islamists would believe as ideal, which included a government based on the principles in the Qur‘an, with laws from a conservative understanding of Sharia. Mohammed forbade singing, dancing, drinking alcohol, wearing jewelry, colorful clothes, and shoes. All females over the age of five had to wear veils and follow the given dress code. Despite these restrictions, Mohammed was a very powerful speaker to the lslam nation, and soon gained the respect of many Sudanese people. He used Islam to stir up nationalism with his followers, encouraging them to get rid of the British from the territory(Rotberg57).
Assess: A very powerful article. Seeing a community come together to resolve big issues is a great feeling especially when it is your own. This article has taught me more about my own culture. Which is why it will be a good asset to use. Not only was it a great article , but I believe this is something that others should see too.
Reflect: This article shows the strenth of the Muslim culture. Throughout the years of them going through so much they still fought to gain independence of their countries once again. They endured so much during those times as they watched the british come in and declare territories that they knew nothing
about. Reading this article made me appreciate my country’s independence day and therefore I will definitely use this article.
Tejirian, Eleanor Harvey, Simon, Reeva S. “Conflict, Conquest, and Conversion : Two Thousand Years of Christian Missions in the Middle East”. 2012.P166-179. E-book.
Summary: The committee for union and progress set up events to get rid of the ottoman empire. If they were able to get rid of the empire it would result in territorial and demographic changes that would affect the middle east. The committee wanted to destroy the empire since it housed many Muslims in return for their work. During the next four years , the Constitution, which had been suspended since 1877, was restored(Tejirian167). Since then the elections were held and people enjoyed the freedoms of modern society. Tejirian later stated despite the reforms, the ottoman empire continued to lose territories in Balkan and North Africa.
Assess: A very informative article, but it isn't anything useful. The information that was started was knowledge gained from other sources that I am already using.
Reflect: The article was very informative about the history of imperialism, but it didn't have a good focus of my topic. They spoke on it a few times but it wasn't anything in depth. The article was lacking detail of my topic. With that being said I wouldn't choose this article, it has brief information and some information stated from my previous sources.