All entries by this author

Whither higher education? *

Mar 31st, 2011 | Filed by

And what is it, anyway? An expensive but meaningless credential, a ticket to debt, vocational training, or education?… Read the rest



British mum finds Allah in her potato *

Mar 31st, 2011 | Filed by

See? Those brown lines where it’s starting to rot? That’s Allah.… Read the rest



Mona Eltahawy on Eman Al Obeidi *

Mar 31st, 2011 | Filed by

And revolutionary women in Libya, Egypt, Saudi Arabia…… Read the rest



Susan Jacoby on that absurd heaven book *

Mar 30th, 2011 | Filed by

What is truly disturbing about this book’s huge commercial success is that it attests to the prevalence of unreason among vast numbers of Americans.… Read the rest



The uses of leisure

Mar 30th, 2011 3:45 pm | By

As Lauryn Oates points out, it’s good that Afghanistan is so happy and prosperous that its President can afford to pay attention to the elegant details of life.

The deputy governor of Helmand province has been sacked for organising a concert that featured female performers without headscarves.

Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai took the action against Abdul Satar Mirzakwal after tribal elders complained that it was inappropriate.

Karzai himself was sufficiently at leisure to fire a deputy governor for allowing two women to sing at a concert without bags over their heads.

And while we’re on the subject, notice the typical craven way the BBC puts it – “without headscarves.” Notice what an official says a few paragraphs down … Read the rest



Here come the resonant bodies

Mar 30th, 2011 12:48 pm | By

The University of British Columbia has a Theory Workshop. No really; it does.

This month’s was a Derrida one. Coming up in April there will be a Deleuze one. It looks way good.

Most of us who draw from, and aim to produce, critical theory set out to make analytical interventions in the making of political transformations. This is, after all, what sets critical theory apart from mainstream theory. The ongoing wave of revolutionary unrest in North Africa and the Middle-East provides us with an opportunity and a challenge, both of which are theoretical as well as political: to put the tool kits of our conceptual assemblages to the test and re-invent and expand our intellectual horizons in response

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Official fired because two women did not wear niqab *

Mar 30th, 2011 | Filed by

“Women do not appear in public without wearing a burka and niqab in an Islamic country like Afghanistan,” one official said.… Read the rest



Top priority for Afghanistan *

Mar 30th, 2011 | Filed by

The war? Poverty? Schools, roads, hospitals? Ravening Islamists? Corruption? Incompetence? Of course not. It’s naked female heads.Read the rest



Documentation in McGuire case *

Mar 30th, 2011 | Filed by

“The more the Jesuits learned about McGuire’s problems, the harder they worked to cover them up.”… Read the rest



Suit says Jesuits ignored warnings about priest *

Mar 30th, 2011 | Filed by

Lots of warnings, over a period of four decades.… Read the rest



It’s not just “neocons” who criticize arrests at Oda TV *

Mar 30th, 2011 | Filed by

The police raid of the news website, a fierce critic of the ruling Justice and Development Party further fueled debate on freedom of the press in Turkey.… Read the rest



Turkish journalist defends Turkish press freedom *

Mar 30th, 2011 | Filed by

Last year, the same journalist faced jail for criticising the courts.… Read the rest



Why should new atheists engage in interfaith service? *

Mar 30th, 2011 | Filed by

Why indeed.… Read the rest



Do women hate god?

Mar 29th, 2011 4:50 pm | By

Kristin Aune brings the good news. She and a colleague surveyed “nearly 1,300 British feminists” and guess what?

The results show that, when compared with the general female population, feminists are much less likely to be religious, but a little more likely to be interested in alternative or non-institutional kinds of spirituality.

That’s a relief, isn’t it? Much less likely to be religious but oh whew, a little more likely to be “spiritual.” At least they’re not all hopelessly atheistic and bad.

[Pat] Robertson was worried that feminism was challenging traditional Christian values – at least, values he considered Christian. Many liberals and feminists, concerned about the rise of fundamentalism and its erosion of women’s rights, conclude similarly that

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“Why feminists are less religious” *

Mar 29th, 2011 | Filed by

Don’t worry; they’re more spiritual, so it’s ok.… Read the rest



On reading with a modicum of scepticism

Mar 29th, 2011 | By Allen Esterson

That recycled accounts of events or reports frequently contain inaccuracies going beyond anything in the original is a phenomenon well documented in the psychological literature.[1] I recently happened upon an extreme example of this, made more notable by the fact it occurs in an issue of the highly respected magazine, National Geographic – though not, I hasten to add, the familiar English-language publication. The article in question was published in the Hungarian National Geographic in 2005, the “Einstein Year” centenary of the publication of Einstein’s celebrated 1905 articles in Annalen der Physik. It pays tribute to several individuals whom it describes as “forgotten Hungarian collaborators” with Einstein, albeit that in the next paragraph it is acknowledged that for the … Read the rest



Thai women resort to home abortions *

Mar 29th, 2011 | Filed by

A Thai government crackdown on illegal abortion clinics has seen women turn to drugs bought over the internet.… Read the rest



An interlude

Mar 29th, 2011 11:42 am | By

Oh my – this is funny – tragic but funny. Aspiring author self-destructs in public. Is urged to stop self-destructing. Continues self-destruction process. Tragic…I can’t wait to read the rest.… Read the rest



Libyan woman who claimed rape is being sued *

Mar 29th, 2011 | Filed by

“The boys she accused are bringing a case against her because it’s a very grave offense to accuse someone of a sexual crime,” said a government spokesman.… Read the rest



Muslim Brotherhood has a great new idea *

Mar 29th, 2011 | Filed by

Women-only buses. Brilliant!… Read the rest