Living with Belief: Politics of Religion in Monica Ali's Brick Lane (original) (raw)
Religious, Spiritual, Secular: Some American Responses to September 11
This paper examines particular examples of therapeutic and meaning-making responses to the events of September 11 from non-traditional religions and secular bodies, with comparative material from mainstream religions, in the United States of America. The intention is to demonstrate two things: that America’s religious plurality and cultural diversity gave rise to alternative discourses of meaning concerning September 11; and that these non-traditional religious interpretations and pr actices occupy a medial position in a continuum of life-shaping belieef systems that ranges from traditional religion to secularised, therapeutic values. In the USA, and particularly in New York, the attack on the World Trade Centre provoked a 'time of national trauma' (Stevens, 2002). Spiritual assistance, chiefly concerning two issues - creating meaning from the events, and finding solace or comfort for shock and grief - was sought by many people. In the quest for meaning, non-traditional religions such as the EarthLink Mission (ELM) provided challenging and different interpretations of the events, reinforcing the argument that when studying religion as 'an ordinary form o f human practice ' the scholar encounters 'socio-rhetorical technique[s] used to create, contest and re-create credible worlds' (McCutcheon, 2003: 168). In addition to interpreting the meaning of the events, religious, spiritual and secular organizations provided spiritual and therapeutic comfort to those who were affected by September 11. Such 'therapy' has become an accepted element in contemporary Western society (Rieff, 1966). From the non-traditional religious viewpoint, the Church of Scientology's Volunteer Minister Programme provided hands-on assistance at Ground Zero, counselling the police, firemen, and others engaged in clearing the site. The general and 'secularised' nature of the contribution of these Volunteer Ministers invites comparison both with corporate strategies to provide comfort to workers and to engage .in psychological risk management (Nighswonger, 2001), and the efforts of mainstream religions (especially the monotheisms; Christianity, Judaism and Islam) to comfort and sustain the faithful. There is thus a spectrum of responses to America's 'time of national trauma', from traditionally religious through non-traditionally religious or spiritual, to secular, and this spectrum reflects the greater selectivity and diversity o f belief systems drawn upon by contemporary Americans. Also significant is that the non-traditional religions examined are both holistic in outlook and emphasise reconciliation of apparent opposition through very long time cycles; whereas the traditional monotheisms are firmly located in history, and hold dualistic views of appositional concepts (such as good and evil).
Politics, Groups, and Identities, 2014
For much of 2010, plans to develop a multipurpose Islamic center near the site of the 9/11 attacks in Lower Manhattan occasioned an intense nationwide debate. In this study of the “Ground Zero mosque” controversy, we focus on questions of identity and the sacred in the contemporary USA. We argue that the response to the “Ground Zero mosque” illuminates three important phenomena. First, it reveals the dynamics of cultural guardianship among those who opposed Park51, an effort to “preserve” a national identity tightly linked with Christianity (and antithetical to Islam). Second, as illustrated by the rights-based response by defenders of the project, we suggest that the language of liberalism may be insufficient to address a more expansive and complex understanding of the relationship between religion and political identity. And third, the controversy highlights the challenges that remain in the post-9/11 USA for American Muslims, many of whom understood the proposed center as their own, rather conventional, attempt to join the American mainstream.
The “Ground Zero mosque”: sacred space and the boundaries of American identity
For much of 2010, plans to develop a multipurpose Islamic center near the site of the 9/11 attacks in Lower Manhattan occasioned an intense nationwide debate. In this study of the “Ground Zero mosque” controversy, we focus on questions of identity and the sacred in the contemporary USA. We argue that the response to the “Ground Zero mosque” illuminates three important phenomena. First, it reveals the dynamics of cultural guardianship among those who opposed Park51, an effort to “preserve” a national identity tightly linked with Christianity (and antithetical to Islam). Second, as illustrated by the rights-based response by defenders of the project, we suggest that the language of liberalism may be insufficient to address a more expansive and complex understanding of the relationship between religion and political identity. And third, the controversy highlights the challenges that remain in the post-9/11 USA for American Muslims, many of whom understood the proposed center as their own, rather conventional, attempt to join the American mainstream.
Post 9/11 Hermeneutics of Structural Silences
Journal of Contemporary Poetics, 2018
Since the fall of the twin towers and the hysterical obsession of the Western discourse centred on Muslim terrorists, the need to critically question and resist such discourses has become indispensable. This need is fulfilled by counter narratives on terrorism that tend to unveil the way dominant terrorism narratives are constructed and disseminated by the power structures. The current paper explores three such post 9/11 counter-narratives, namely Confessions of a Terrorist (2014) by Richard Jackson, The Unknown Terrorist (2008) by Richard Flanagan, and A Delicate Truth (2014) by John le Carre in terms of their resistance to the dominant rhetoric on terrorism. The resistance posed by these narratives is studied under the rubric of Critical Terrorism Studies and Ground Zero Fiction. Of the typology of Ground Zero Fiction proposed by Birgit Dawes, only Appropriative and Metonymic fiction find relevance here. The former delegates the emergence of "subaltern" alternative narratives by voicing the silenced while the latter connotes the employment of silence as a resistance strategy. Such strategic structural silences are studied in view of the typology proposed by Leona Toker. Since these silences are employed consciously in the counter-narratives to expose the workings of the dominant narratives, they serve to unveil, resist, and subvert aneo Orientalist discourse that portrays a one-sided picture of terrorism. The outcome of silences can be seen in the form of fictionality as they unveil the constructedness of the master narratives of terrorism thus disrupting their authority and forcing the readers to search for the truth by critically engaging with them. In brief, this article has explored the way selected counter-narratives deconstruct and pose resistance to the dominant terrorism narratives by unveiling the structures of misrepresentation.
Discussing Islam In the Post-9/11 Epistemological Terrain
Pace Int'l L. Rev., 2007
This piece argues that a new epistemological terrain has emerged in the aftermath of the 9/11/2001 attacks. This new terrain is characterized by a silencing discourse of fear, terror and apology. It is established, fostered and supported by a misappropriation of human rights language, the Bush administration's domestic policies and foreign wars, mass media contributions and Muslim apologist literature. The author argues that new ways of thinking about the unthought and the unthinkable are necessary in order to deconstruct this recently emerged epistemological terrain.