scholarly journals Scriptural Reasoning among Jews and Muslims in London: Dynamics of an Inter-Religious Practice

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susanne Van Esdonk ◽  
Gerard Wiegers
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Research ◽  
Religious Study ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Religious Practice ◽  
Dynamic Interaction ◽  
Religious Texts ◽  
The Past ◽  
Grassroots Level ◽  
Scriptural Reasoning

Scriptural Reasoning (SR)—the philosophical inter-religious study of foundational religious texts—came into being as an academic practice in the 1990s. In this article, based on empirical research, we analyse how in London over the past decades this practice has gradually been applied by new groups—including as a means for Jewish-Muslim engagement, the focus of our research. We discuss the ways in which the role of the foundational religious texts in SR practices has changed and how Jewish and Muslim initiators and participants at the local level now navigate between academic theological guidelines, daily interactions, and grassroots’ objectives for inter-religious engagement. We argue that SR practices, after having been adapted to community and individual needs and responding to religious and social caveats from different sides, provide a meaningful approach to constructive and dynamic interaction and engagement between Jews and Muslims at a grassroots level.

scholarly journals Industrial strategy and local economic development: The case of the foundry industry in Ekurhuleni Metro

2014 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 448-464 ◽  
Author(s):  
T Phele ◽  
S Roberts ◽  
I Steuart
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Economic Development ◽  
Local Economic Development ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Action Plans ◽  
Foundry Industry ◽  
The Past ◽  
Concrete Action

This  article explores the challenges for the development of manufacturing through a case study of the foundry industry in Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality. Ekurhuleni Metro covers the largest concentration in South Africa, but the industry’s performance has been poor over the past decade.  The findings reported here highlight the need to understand firm decisions around investment, technology and skills, and the role of local economic linkages in this regard.  The differing performance of foundries strongly supports the need to develop concrete action plans and effective institutions at local level to support the development of local agglomerations.

Gendered Massacres: Examining the Effects of Cultural and Structural Gender Inequality on the Incidence of Mass Public Shootings

2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (6) ◽  
pp. 885-905
Author(s):  
Margaret Schmuhl ◽  
Joel A. Capellan
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Research ◽  
Gender Inequality ◽  
Social Problem ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Cultural Factors ◽  
Future Research ◽  
The Past ◽  
Mass Public ◽  
Gender Hierarchy

With nearly 97% of incidents within the past 40 years committed by men, mass public shootings are a gendered social problem. Yet, empirical research on this phenomenon largely neglects gender hierarchy and cultural factors as predictors, in favor of individual- and event-level characteristics. Despite calls from scholars to place masculinity and threats to patriarchal hegemony at the center of analyses, no empirical studies to our knowledge have examined the role of gender inequality in mass public shootings. The findings indicate that gender inequality, structural and ideological, are important predictors of mass public shootings and that future research should continue to investigate such violence from a gendered lens.

Citizens, community, and crime control: The problems and prospects for negotiated order

2012 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 397-412 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick J Carr
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Empirical Research ◽  
Crime Control ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Future Role ◽  
Negotiated Order ◽  
Social Controls ◽  
Us Cities

How do communities control crime, and what does this tell us about the problem of negotiating order at the local level? This article will draw on empirical research in two US cities to illustrate how social controls at the local level are negotiated between citizens and law enforcement, and how different structures of this arrangement arise because of contrasting contexts and different institutional imperatives. The article will showcase the evolving role of the citizen as a partner in negotiated order and will speculate as to the future role of community members in the co-production of safety.

Local Government Reforms in Federal Brazil, India and South Africa: A Comparative Overview

2013 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 453-470
Author(s):  
Helder Do Vale
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Transition To Democracy ◽  
Institutional Processes ◽  
The Past ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Government Reforms

This article examines the changes at the local level of government that have been taking place in Brazil, India and South Africa for the past thirty years as a result of complex federal decision-making processes. I summarize the most important federal traits of these countries and identify the role of key institutions behind the fiscal, political and administrative changes in local governments. The article draws on the institutional processes to dissect the anatomy of local government reforms in these countries and concludes that although the changes in local government structures and powers have been taken against the background of transition to democracy and/or democratic deepening, the scope of change in local government varied.

scholarly journals Autonomy or integration: Historical analysis of the debate on the purpose of Icelandic local self-government

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-100
Author(s):  
Eva Marín Hlynsdóttir
Keyword(s):  
Central Government ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Historical Analysis ◽  
Local Autonomy ◽  
Local Authorities ◽  
Ongoing Debate ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Right

An ongoing debate on the purpose of local self-government in Iceland has been simmering mainly between those who believe that local authorities should amalgamate in order to assume more responsibilities and those who believe that local autonomy, understood as the right of citizens to govern their own jurisdictions, should not be weakened. The purpose of this study is to discuss the role of local self-government in Iceland from these two very different perspectives by situating it within the context of the Nordic model of local self-government. This study’s findings reveal that the Icelandic central government has successfully introduced functional reforms at the local level over the past 25 years, but it has not been as successful in initiating territorial reforms. The findings also show that conflict between the ideologies of the traditional autonomous model and the more modern model of integration is growing.

scholarly journals Dancing with eyes wide open: On the role of nostalgia in education

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Halpin
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Research ◽  
Good Argument ◽  
The Past ◽  
Capacity To Act

Nostalgia rightly elicits suspicion, even derision, for to give oneself up to longing for something from the past runs the risk of compromising one's capacity to act effectively in the present. But this does not make nostalgia, by definition , either sentimentally reactionary or wistfully unreflective. On the contrary, in the education context and elsewhere, it can be the exact opposite, though its influence, which is legitimate, particularly when articulated through the optic of tradition, needs to be constrained and justified by good argument and, where relevant, sound empirical research.

What Happens When We Practice Religion?

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Wuthnow
Keyword(s):  
Social Relationships ◽  
Religious Practice ◽  
Religious Studies ◽  
Religious Experiences ◽  
Educational Settings ◽  
Ordinary Life ◽  
Sacred Spaces ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Arts

Religion is commonly viewed as something that people practice, whether in the presence of others or alone. But what do we mean exactly by “practice”? What approaches help to answer this question? This book delves into the central concepts, arguments, and tools used to understand religion today. Throughout the past few decades, the study of religion has shifted away from essentialist arguments that grandly purport to explain what religion is and why it exists. Instead, using methods from anthropology, psychology, religious studies, and sociology, scholars now focus on what people do and say: their daily religious habits, routines, improvisations, and adaptations. The book shows how four intersecting areas of inquiry—situations, intentions, feelings, and bodies—shed important light on religious practice, and it explores such topics as the role of religious experiences in sacred spaces, gendered social relationships, educational settings, the arts, meditation, and ritual. The book provides insights into the diverse ways that religion manifests in ordinary life.

Environmental Change and the Personnel Function: A Review of the Research

1989 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 110-126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven W. Hays
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Change ◽  
Personnel Management ◽  
Empirical Research ◽  
Environmental Variables ◽  
Organizational Role ◽  
The Past ◽  
Environmental Transformation ◽  
Merit Systems

This article examines the changes and adjustments that have occurred within public personnel management in response to the vast environmental transformation that has transpired during the past three decades. After reviewing the environmental variables that are identified in the literature as being relevant to the personnel function, the empirical research that assesses their impact is surveyed. Emphasis is given to both the internal organizational role of personnel management and the reforms that have been implemented in merit systems at all levels of government.

A CALL TO LATERAL MISSION: Mobilizing Religious Authority Against Ethnic Violence

2003 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph G. Bock ◽  
Clark McCauley
Keyword(s):  
Social Construction ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Moral Authority ◽  
Ethnic Violence ◽  
Unique Contribution ◽  
Religious Leaders ◽  
The Social ◽  
Standing Up ◽  
Grassroots Level

AbstractThis article argues that local religious leaders and particularly missionaries have an important role to play in preventing ethnic violence and that this role constitutes a new form of mission. The article first describes some of the theories of violence and explains how researchers are increasingly focusing on the role of human interpretation. Second, it reviews the etiology of ethnic riots and emphasizes in this etiology the key role of moral consensus in support of violence. Third, it argues that missionaries and other local religious leaders can be influential in questioning and contradicting rumors that exaggerate the threat posed by an incident that may precipitate ethnic violence by exercising moral authority, being timely in responding by virtue of working at a grassroots level, and by being assertive in standing up to bigotry. Fourth, the article outlines five approaches that religious leaders can use in circumventing the social construction towards risk taking and moral vindication that precedes violence. These approaches are gatekeeping, gatekeeping and nudging, theological dueling, relaying and advocating, and safeguarding. Finally, it raises some questions for future consideration in building lateral mission-a role the authors hope will become central for missionaries in the future. As the authors conclude: "We believe that missionaries have a unique contribution to make in the prevention of deadly violence in divided societies. In particular, missionaries have theological/doctrinal and moral authority, work at a grassroots level, and are outsiders. These traits enable them to intervene during a lull at the local level at which the social construction toward violence is developing."

“If They Don’t Start Listening to Us, the Future Is Going to Look the Same as the Past”: Young People and Reconciliation in Northern Ireland and Bosnia and Herzegovina

2010 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 509-527 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clare Magill ◽  
Brandon Hamber
Keyword(s):  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Young People ◽  
Empirical Research ◽  
Bosnia And Herzegovina ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Future ◽  
Major Factors ◽  
Reconciliation Process

This article, based on empirical research from Northern Ireland and Bosnia and Herzegovina, explores how young people conceptualize reconciliation and examines the meaning this concept holds for them. Qualitative data are collected through one-to-one interviews with young people aged 16 to 18 living in Northern Ireland ( N = 15) and Bosnia and Herzegovina ( N = 15). Results indicate that young people’s conceptualizations of reconciliation are largely relationship based. In terms of their role in the reconciliation process, young people see themselves as both potential peacemakers and potential troublemakers. They feel that politicians and the older generations have a significant impact on whether the role of young people in the future would be constructive or destructive. The research finds that a lack of political and economic change was one of the major factors that negatively influenced the potential for reconciliation, as did the lack of intergenerational dialogue. The research also indicates that it is vital to include young people in the debate about reconciliation.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document