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Identity and Human Rights in the Age of Globalization: Emerging Challenges in the Muslim World |
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Abstract:
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Non-Western world, especially the Muslim world, has yet to come to grips with the notion of globalization. At the dawn of the twenty-first century, the Muslim world faces many challenges, but none more formidable than the issue of how to strike a balance between maintaining cultural integrity and religious identity on the one hand, and absorbing changes associated with a globalizing world on the other. This paper is based on two assupitions. First, globalization has deterritorialized culture and politics for the Muslim diaspora in the West, but at the same time it has intensified cultural politics in the homeland. Second, identities are constructed in a dynamic process and assume multiple forms that permit individuals and societies to uphold both cultural diversity and global norms, such as human rights and democratization.I argue that a sense of legitimacy is essential to upholding self and collective identities. The discourse about the intersection of cultural dynamics and identity construction can no longer overlook human rights issues. Today, both Islamic reformists and militants turn to international law and human rights to advance their ideological and strategic goals. This approach has become integral to any systematic way of thinking about evolving Muslim politics and communities. One key question needs to be addressed in this papaer: Should the issue of identity be a matter of recognition or self assertion? It is important to bear in mind that the dialectic of local and global experiences is bound to produce divergent yet understandably paradoxical effects. Given that a third of the world?s Muslims now live as members of a national minority, how would such minoritiwa adhere to their local traditions, especially if such traditions clash with their adopted countries? legal systems. Coping with competing and conflicting ways of life is among the greatest challenges facing German Turks and French Algerians or English Pakis, who too often find themselves caught between the pull and push of local and global forces. It is clear that asserting homeland traditions and customs while trying to attempt to win recognition from countries in which they reside is no mean task. Ultimately, it is up to Muslim diaspora in the West to decide which aspects of their indigenous culture to retain and which parts to give up. It is equally important to remember that some Western countries have straddled multiculturalism and assimilation policies, but that they have failed to effectively pursue either. The Turkish minority in the Netherlands has expressed deep resentment toward the policy of cultural assimilation without rightful/proper integration. Since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States, Muslim immigrants living in the United States have become the targets of indiscriminate media attack. Ironically, however, such media bias has strengthened Muslims? religious identity. Consequently, many Muslims have turned to their own local networks and local identity as an effective way to safeguard themselves vis-à-vis social stigmatization and discrimination. In a paradoxical way, the upshot has been huddling through one?s enclave?ethnic, religious, national, or otherwise?to feel secure and safe. The corrective to militant Islamism, which is a tiny minority of the world?s 1.2 billion, is to integrate mainstream, moderate Islamists into the political process. Without inclusionary politics, the Islamic radicals are likely to prevail in the political struggle over who gets to define globalization and who gets to control modernity. |
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Association:
Name: International Studies Association
URL: http://www.isanet.org
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Citation:
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MLA Citation:
| Monshipouri, Mahmood. "Identity and Human Rights in the Age of Globalization: Emerging Challenges in the Muslim World" Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Studies Association, Town & Country Resort and Convention Center, San Diego, California, USA, Mar 22, 2006 <Not Available>. 2009-05-25 <http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p99620_index.html> |
APA Citation:
| Monshipouri, M. , 2006-03-22 "Identity and Human Rights in the Age of Globalization: Emerging Challenges in the Muslim World" Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Studies Association, Town & Country Resort and Convention Center, San Diego, California, USA <Not Available>. 2009-05-25 from http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p99620_index.html |
Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Non-Western world, especially the Muslim world, has yet to come to grips with the notion of globalization. At the dawn of the twenty-first century, the Muslim world faces many challenges, but none more formidable than the issue of how to strike a balance between maintaining cultural integrity and religious identity on the one hand, and absorbing changes associated with a globalizing world on the other. This paper is based on two assupitions. First, globalization has deterritorialized culture and politics for the Muslim diaspora in the West, but at the same time it has intensified cultural politics in the homeland. Second, identities are constructed in a dynamic process and assume multiple forms that permit individuals and societies to uphold both cultural diversity and global norms, such as human rights and democratization.I argue that a sense of legitimacy is essential to upholding self and collective identities. The discourse about the intersection of cultural dynamics and identity construction can no longer overlook human rights issues. Today, both Islamic reformists and militants turn to international law and human rights to advance their ideological and strategic goals. This approach has become integral to any systematic way of thinking about evolving Muslim politics and communities. One key question needs to be addressed in this papaer: Should the issue of identity be a matter of recognition or self assertion? It is important to bear in mind that the dialectic of local and global experiences is bound to produce divergent yet understandably paradoxical effects. Given that a third of the world?s Muslims now live as members of a national minority, how would such minoritiwa adhere to their local traditions, especially if such traditions clash with their adopted countries? legal systems. Coping with competing and conflicting ways of life is among the greatest challenges facing German Turks and French Algerians or English Pakis, who too often find themselves caught between the pull and push of local and global forces. It is clear that asserting homeland traditions and customs while trying to attempt to win recognition from countries in which they reside is no mean task. Ultimately, it is up to Muslim diaspora in the West to decide which aspects of their indigenous culture to retain and which parts to give up. It is equally important to remember that some Western countries have straddled multiculturalism and assimilation policies, but that they have failed to effectively pursue either. The Turkish minority in the Netherlands has expressed deep resentment toward the policy of cultural assimilation without rightful/proper integration. Since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States, Muslim immigrants living in the United States have become the targets of indiscriminate media attack. Ironically, however, such media bias has strengthened Muslims? religious identity. Consequently, many Muslims have turned to their own local networks and local identity as an effective way to safeguard themselves vis-à-vis social stigmatization and discrimination. In a paradoxical way, the upshot has been huddling through one?s enclave?ethnic, religious, national, or otherwise?to feel secure and safe. The corrective to militant Islamism, which is a tiny minority of the world?s 1.2 billion, is to integrate mainstream, moderate Islamists into the political process. Without inclusionary politics, the Islamic radicals are likely to prevail in the political struggle over who gets to define globalization and who gets to control modernity. |
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