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Eid on 9/11 Anniversary? | Culture | Religion Dispatches

Eid on 9/11 Anniversary? | Culture | Religion Dispatches. At a loss for what to do, I thought I should go to the Muslim prayer room on campus, where students, anxious and afraid, might gather for help. The subways were closed, and cell phone service had gone out. I had no other idea how to find my friends, no idea where else to go. At the very least, I thought I had a responsibility to the Muslim students on campus. (Then again, I really had no idea what to do. I just thought I had to do something, anything, to…

On a New York Times Roll

The NYT had an interesting series of unrelated articles about Muslims over the last week. Deprogramming Jihadists I respect that the article is trying to show how the Saudis are attempting to deal with demon they helped create, but really does not address some of the inconsistencies in the approach. For example: Saudi schools teach a version of world history that emphasizes repeated battles between Muslims and nonbelieving enemies. Whether to Afghanistan in the 1980s or present-day Iraq, Saudi Arabia has exported more jihadist volunteers than any other country; 15 of the 19 hijackers on Sept. 11 were Saudis. and…

On Diaspora

The following is in response to Jonathan’s post at Head Heeb. It is a selection from a piece I’m working on about South Asian diaspora communities and hybrid art. Diaspora, as an analytic term, is one that has multiple meanings,[1] and that needs some clarification before proceeding with its use. One convenient way to begin thinking about diaspora is to make a distinction between physical diasporas and the idea of diaspora as metaphor.[2] Physical diasporas[3] can be further divided into types, such as classical, victims, labor, trade, and imperial.[4] The key type of diaspora for South Asians is the labor…