Should the state be in the business of marriage, or is it inherently a religious union that should be performed…
Religion and marriage debate
politics
Beyond denial
For a brief moment in 2007, news of a hit Iranian television series, whose Farsi title was translated variously as…
Ducking the Arab Spring in Morocco
The wave of protests shaking the Arab political regimes has quietly but forcefully made its way to Morocco. The February…
Mamdani on the African uprisings
Mahmood Mamdami places the Egyptian revolution and other protest movements in the historical context of popular struggle in Africa.
From exodus to immigration
At Killing the Buddha: "Muslims, Christians, and Buddhists broke matzo with Jewish Israelis in a Tel Aviv basketball court before…
Farrakhan, Qaddafi, and the definition of American Islam
In another example of how mass media shape and constrain what constitutes legitimate Islam and religion more generally, the New…
Translating music into politics in Haiti
In Foreign Policy, Elizabeth McAlister---a member of the SSRC Working Group on Spirituality, Political Engagement, and Public Life---writes on recent…
America in the Egyptian revolution
I have been in Egypt since February 6, 2011, where I have been witnessing events, talking to friends, activists and…
Oprah, the Rorschach test
Focusing on Oprah as an icon/inkblot, we can use our reactions to her as a Rorschach test: What do we…
Implicated and enraged: An interview with Judith Butler
Judith Butler, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, is among the leading social theorists alive today. Her most…