ISLAMIC MOVEMENTS - WINTER 2012

ISLAMIC MOVEMENTS WINTER 2012 MONDAY AND WEDNESDAY 2:00-3:50 PM REQUIRED BOOKS: Augustus Richard Norton. 2007. Hezbollah: A Short History. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Khaled Hroub. 2006. Hamas: A Beginner's Guide. Pluto Press. Humeira Iqtidar. 2011. Secularizing Islamists? Jama'at-e-Islami and Jama'at-ud-Da'wa in Urban Pakistan. The University of Chicago Press. Asef Bayat. 2007. Making Islam Democratic: Social Movements and the Post-Islamist Turn. Stanford University Press. Tugrul Keskin, 2011. The Sociology of Islam: Secularism, Economy and Politics. Ithaca Press, 2011.

A New book: Secular State and Religious Society Two Forces in Play in Turkey, edited by Berna Turam

Secular State and Religious Society Two Forces in Play in Turkey Edited by Berna Turam January 2012 Palgrave Macmillan Introduction: Secular State and Pious Muslims: Neither Rivals nor Allies for Life; B.Turam The Dynamic Nature of Educational Policies and Turkish Nation-Building: Where Does Religion Fit In?; Y.Bayar Islam, Nation-State, and the Military: A Discussion of Secularism in Turkey; S.Gurbey Secularists as the Saviors of Islam: Rearticulation of Secularism and the Freedom of Conscience in Turkey (1950); U.Azak Does Secularism Face a Serious Threat in Turkey?; M.Heper Christian and Turkish: Secularist Fears of a Converted Nation; E.Ozyurek Market Oriented Post-Islamism in Turkey; Tugrul Keskin Conflict, Democratic Reform and Big Business: Factors Shaping the Economic Elite's Position for Change; D.Yavuz Toward Conceptual Integration of Religious Actors in Democracy and Civil Society; A.Rubin Afterword; M.G.Tezcur

Study Abroad Course to Qatar: March 24 — April 1, 2012

Qatar: Society, Religion and Economy International Field Experience Led by: Tugrul Keskin, PSU—International Studies, Ctr. for Turkish Studies Spring Term 2012 Travel: March 24 — April 1, 2012

Manuscript of Sughrat (Socrates) belongs to a 13th century Seljuk illustrator. It is currently kept at Topkapi Palace Library, Istanbul, Turkey.

A New Book: Sociology and Human Rights A Bill of Rights for the Twenty-First Century

Sociology and Human Rights A Bill of Rights for the Twenty-First Century Judith Blau The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Mark Frezzo University of Mississippi May 2011 Pine Forge Press Series: Sociology for a New Century Series ISBN: 9781412991384 A unique volume designed to provoke an ongoing dialogue about fundamental human rights in our society Edited by renowned scholars, Judith Blau and Mark Frezzo, this groundbreaking anthology examines the implications that human rights have for the social sciences. The book provides readers with a wide-ranging collection of articles, each written by experts in their fields who argue for an expansion of fundamental human rights in the United States. To provide an international context, the volume covers the human rights treaties that have been incorporated into the constitutions of many countries throughout the world, including wealthy nations such as Spain and Sweden and impoverished countries such as Bolivia and Croatia.

Contents: Part I. What Are Universal Human Rights? Chapter 1. Introduction Mark Frezzo Chapter 2. Deepening Civil and Political Rights Mark Frezzo Chapter 3. Ensuring Economic and Social Rights Louis Edgar Esparza Chapter 4. Promoting Cultural Rights Laura Toussaint Chapter 5. Globalizing the Human Rights Perspective Bruce K. Friesen Chapter 6. Cooperating Around Environmental Rights Rebecca Clausen Chapter 7. Comparing Constitutions Judith Blau Part II. Citizenship, Identity, and Human Rights Chapter 8. Arizona’s SB 1070: Setting Conditions for Violations of Human Rights Here and Beyond 8. Rogelio Sáenz, Cecilia Menjívar, San Juanita Edilia Garcia Chapter 9. Beyond Two Identities: Turkish Immigrants in Germany Tugrul Keskin Part III. Vulnerability and Human Rights Chapter 10: The Rights of Age: On Human Vulnerability Bryan S. Turner Chapter 11. Children’s Rights Brian Gran and Rachel Bryant Part IV. The Global and the Local Chapter 12. Growing and Learning Human Rights Judith Blau Chapter 13. Going Forward Judith Blau Promoting Cultural Rights Globalizing the Human Rights Perspective Linking Human Rights and the Environment Arizona's SB 1070: Setting Conditions for Violations of Human Rights Here and Beyond Beyond Two Identities: Turkish Immigrants in Germany The Rights of Age Children's Rights Ensuring Economic and Social Rights Foreword Shulamith Koenig Reviews: “The high level of scholarship is evident in the prospectus. I was impressed by both scope and its detailed examples. This text has pedagogical value. It can be used to teach critical thinking.” Jonathan Reader Drew University "It has an explicit sociological approach that is lacking in so many of the books that address some of these issues." Elizabeth D. Scheel Saint Cloud State University

Libya: Democracy Promotion for Oil

The Sociology of Islam: Secularism, Economy and Politics Edited by Tugrul Keskin

The Sociology of Islam: Secularism, Economy and Politics

Edited by Tugrul Keskin

Hardback, 520pp, 235 x 155mm
Ithaca Press
ISBN: 978-0-86372-371-1

June 2011



About this book

The contribution of Islam to world civilization is undeniable, however in the last one hundred years, Muslims have been faced with all the effects and ramifications of modernity, caused by the emergence of global capitalism. What does modernity ultimately mean for Muslims, and how will the historical precepts of Islam meet with changes in our globalized world?

To date, most scholars on Islam have tried to understand Muslim societies from historical observation alone; however, this simplistic academic approach does not allow us to understand the entire transformation that has taken place in Muslim societies. Sociological scholarship, on the other hand, argues that it would be difficult to understand Islam without first understanding the theoretical and practical underpinnings of the social structure of Muslim societies which are embedded in the relationship between religion, the economy, politics and society.

This book, therefore, will attempt to make a connection between the economic system and its social and political consequences within Muslim societies. To do this, it will examine the role of Islam within Muslim societies in the context of ongoing and increasingly powerful neoliberal economic processes in a globalized world. The Muslim understanding of secularism, modernity, the state, collective identity, immigration, and Islamic political thought and economic life are all shaped by forces of globalization and new market conditions. However, this is a mutually constitutive process, as Islam also influences the West and its perceptions of Islam because of the interdependent relations brought about by the global economy. These interdependencies create social and political transformation on both sides.

REVIEWS

Tugrul Keskin brings wisdom and a deep cosmopolitan commitment to his scholarship. This may be the first book ever published that clarifies the social, political and economic context of Islam and the complex relations between Muslim and predominately non-Muslim societies. The Sociology of Islam will open up new inquires. It is an important book.
Judith Blau
Department of Sociology - University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

In recent years the sociological study of Islam has emerged as a distinct forum. In this collection, Tugrul Keskin and his contributors exemplify some of the most useful approaches in this vibrant field. They explore how Islam is employed in several contemporary areas of sociological concern, including globalization, economic conditions, immigration, civic cultures, diversity, and public philosophy. As such, this volume should be of great interest to the students and scholars of Islam alike.
Mohammed Bamyeh
Department of Sociology - University of Pittsburgh

This book is a must read for individuals in the policy and academic worlds who want to gain insight into complexities of Muslim societies. Contributors cover a large geographic area and provide profound analysis of relations between economics and socio-political development in several Muslim societies.
Birol Yesilada
Contemporary Turkish Studies Endowed Chair - Hatfield School of Government, Portland State University

Middle East Studies - FALL 2011

Middle East Studies

INTL 247C (CRN: 11691) and
Global Perspectives (Mid East) UNST 233 (CRN: 14144)

FALL 2010

INSTRUCTOR: TUGRUL KESKIN

Monday and Wednesday -17:30 - 18:45 PM

This course provides a foundation for upper level Islam and Middle East Studies courses at Portland State University. The “Middle East” as a region did not exist as such according to “Middle Easterners” such as Turks, Kurds, Arabs, Jews, Iranians, and other groups native to the area. The term “Middle East” is an artificial and fabricated concept, which was created by European and American imperialist powers in order to divide, conquer and exploit natural resources in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The objective of this course is to understand the basic social and political aspects of the Modern “Middle East” from the insider perspective, using the Non-Orientalist Approach. It is difficult to understand Middle Eastern societies and political actors without first exploring the fundamental principles and facts regarding the history of the region because events today are a continuation of the past. I will therefore introduce you to topics such as Orientalism, economic underdevelopment, the emergence of the nation-state, European and American occupations, and the revitalization of religious fundamentalism in the Middle East. The destruction of religious and ethnic harmony between the Jews, Muslims and Christians in the Middle East as a consequence of imperialist policies and occupations will also be explored.

Required Reading:
Mehran Kamrava. The Modern Middle East: A Political History since the First World War. University of California Press, 2011. ISBN: 9780520241503
Tugrul Keskin, The Sociology of Islam: Secularism, Economy and Politics.
Ithaca Press, 2011. ISBN: 978-0-86372-371-1

For more information: tugrulkeskin@pdx.edu
or visit the Sociology of Islam and Muslim Societies http://www.pdx.edu/sociologyofislam

Sociology of the Middle East - Fall 2011 Portland State University

Sociology of the Middle East

FALL 2011
INTL/SOC 483U
CRN: 13440

INSTRUCTOR: TUGRUL KESKIN

Monday, Wednesday - 2:00 - 3:50 PM – CH 221

Sociology of the Middle East seeks to understand the transformation of society, politics and the economy in the modern Middle East. It is divided into three sections; the goal of the first section is to critically analyze Middle Eastern societies and cultures in the context of nationalism, and the concepts of tradition/modernity, ethnicity, religion and gender/sexuality. Section two covers the State and politics, and examines the formation and structure of the nation-state, the military, political parties and religious groups, bureaucracy, and the consequences of colonialism and imperialism. The last section looks at economic development – or under-development across the region, as the source of major current social and political changes. In this course, we examine these changes based upon sociological observation in the context of four societies; Turkish, Iranian, Arab, and Israeli.

Required Readings:

1.Ali Gheissari, Contemporary Iran: Economy, Society, Politics. Oxford University Press, 2009.
2.Ersin Kalaycioglu, Turkish Dynamics: Bridge Across Troubled Lands. Palgrave Macmillan, 2005.
3.Colin Shindler, A History of Modern Israel. Cambridge University Press, 2008.
4.Ibrahim Albadawi and Samir Makdisi (Eds.), Democracy in the Arab World. Routledge, 2011.
5.Tugrul Keskin, The Sociology of Islam: Secularism, Economy and Politics. Ithaca Press, 2011.

For more information: tugrulkeskin@pdx.edu
or The Sociology of Islam and Muslim Societies

Study Abroad in Istanbul: Politics, Religion and Globalization in Modern Turkish Society - July 4-29 Portland State University