Pickets,Protests and Purses in the American Civil Rights Movement

At first glance, perhaps nothing seems more mundane and apolitical than a purse. But purses have always been much more than a fashion accessory. This article analyses how southern Black women – both the legendary and the lesser known – in the ‘classical’ phase of the Civil Rights Movement used purses to appear as respectable ladies' when their dress and comportment were under close surveillance. Yet they simultaneously used their purses as private, female-controlled spaces that aided them in achieving a wide variety of social, economic and political objectives. In fact, many southern Black women used their purses to hide critical items needed to prepare themselves and protect their bodies as they voted, sat-in, rode on public transportation and integrated schools. Using oral histories, memoirs, newspaper and magazine stories and photographs, this article argues that Black southern female activists used purses primarily as ‘toolkits’. In the process, it reveals that Black southern women's participation in the armed self-defence movement is far more significant than scholars have appreciated.     

Territoriality, social justice and gendered revolutions in the speeches of Malcolm X

Geographers have, in recent years, attempted to develop an anti-racist research and teaching agenda. Critical to this endeavour has been an engagement directly with the theories and philosophies of key activists and scholars, such as W. E. B. DuBois and Richard Wright. Contributing to this effort, I provide a study of Malcolm X. As an activist and outspoken member of the African American Civil Rights Movement during the 1950s and 1960s, Malcolm X re-articulated Black radical thought in significant ways. In particular, Malcolm X placed a territorial dimension at the heart of the Civil Rights Movement and in so doing re-conceptualized the theoretical and practical linkages between the African American movement and other 'Third World' movements. The immediate purpose of this paper therefore is to delineate the territorial dimensions of the revolutionary thought of Malcolm X. Heuristically, this paper is situated within four broad areas of inquiry: revolutions and social movements; the thinking of space; anti-racist geographies; and the imbrication of gender and revolutionary thought. More broadly, however, this paper reiterates the call for a more sustained engagement by geographers on the theories and philosophies of Black radical intellectuals.     

‘They Finally Found Out that We Really Are Men’: Violence,Non‐Violence and Black Manhood in the Civil Rights Era

This article explores how peaceful protest and armed resistance reflected and shaped certain gender identities in the southern US civil rights movement and the Black Power movement, and reveals much about the significance of violence for ‘marginalised masculinities’ within the African American freedom struggle of the 1950s and 1960s. In the Deep South, civil rights organisers found that their non‐violent strategy's connotations of effeminate submissiveness hampered attempts to win over black men to the movement's cause. Conversely, those African Americans who decided to use armed force to protect the movement against racist attacks were proud of their ability to defend themselves and their communities. A comparison of armed resistance efforts in southern civil rights campaigns with those of post‐1965 Black Power groups such as the Black Panther Party shows both commonalities and differences with regard to the inter‐relationship between self‐defence and gender. In the southern movement, the affirmation of manhood remained a by‐product of the physical imperative to protect black lives against racism. Among Black Power militants and their black nationalist precursors, self‐defence, while initially intended to stop police brutality and other racist oppression, ultimately became mainly a symbol of militant black manhood. The Black Power movement's affirmative message countered stereotypes of black male powerlessness and instilled a positive black identity into many activists, but the gendered discourse it produced also tended to perpetuate black women's subordination.     

From Islamism to nationalism in Aceh,Indonesia

ABSTRACT. This article analyses a dramatic political transformation in Indonesia's Aceh province. In the 1950s, an Islamic rebellion (Darul Islam) aimed not to separate Aceh from Indonesia, but rather to make Indonesia an Islamic state. A successor movement from the 1970s was GAM, the Free Aceh Movement. GAM, however, was essentially secular‐nationalist in orientation, sought Aceh's complete independence and did not espouse formal Islamic goals. The transformation is explained by various factors, but the key argument concerns the relationship between Islam and nationalism. The defeat of Darul Islam had caused Aceh's Islamic leaders to focus on what they could achieve in Aceh alone, ultimately giving rise to Acehnese nationalism and the secessionist goal. However, Islam remained a point of commonality with, rather than difference from, majority‐Muslim Indonesia. The logic of nationalist identity construction and differentiation thus caused Aceh's separatist leaders, despite being personally devout, to increasingly downplay Islamic symbols and ideology.     

伊罗生与中国民权保障同盟——兼析同盟与中国共产党的关系

本文根据伊罗生档案中所发现的一些材料并结合其他史料,对美国记者伊罗生在20世纪30年代中国民权保障同盟中的活动和作用作了重新述评。伊罗生不仅是中国民权保障同盟的积极参与者,也是最先提出发起中国民权保障运动的人,开展这一运动的建议是他在与中国共产党、宋庆龄及其他人士反对国民党白色恐怖统治斗争中紧密合作的产物。伊罗生的活动也清楚地展示了中国民权保障同盟与中共的直接关系。组织中国民权保障同盟是中共在与国民党较量中,其城市地下工作路线、策略发展过程中的重要一页。伊罗生的参与则丰富了这一斗争的内容。     

The Dark Tree: Jazz and the Community Arts in Los Angeles

In her 2005 article, "The Long Civil Rights Movement and thePolitical Uses of the Past," Jacquelyn Dowd Hall called on scholarsto complicate the story of civil rights by looking beyond atraditional narrative that begins in 1954, ends in 1965, focuseson the South, and features Martin Luther King, Jr. as the leaderof a single-voiced chorus of interracial activists who overcameracial barriers nonviolently. The recent wave of histories aboutarts movements in African-American communities (e.g., Pointfrom Which Creation Begins: The Black Artists’ Group ofSt. Louis, by Benjamin Looker, 2004,     

‘Access to Women’: Securing Mormon Whiteness in the US Army's Regulation of Commercial Sex in Chihuahua, 1916

This article argues that Mormon colonists – once refugees who had sought freedom from persecution for their sexual practices – asserted a white middle-class respectability as they cooperated with the US Army and corresponded with officers on the management of the soldiers’ sexual conduct. Their success depended heavily on shared understandings of the race and gender of the people involved. That is, they leveraged prevailing assumptions about Black soldiers’ bodies as aggressive and in need of sex, about white Mormon women's bodies as vulnerable and about Mexican women's bodies as racially in-between and thus suitable for the sexual service-work of enlisted men, pliable and ready to be made ‘accessible’ to soldiers. John Pershing, when asked to explain his decision to build the brothel, justified his choice by saying he had all Black troops at the camp and that nearby Mormon colonists had complained of these Black men meeting women outside for sex. This article explains how, why, for whom and to what end Pershing's explanation worked.     

The Regional Context of Islam in Russia: Diversities along the Volga

A noted investigator of Russia's ethnic and geopolitical affairs presents case studies of six regions (in aggregate home to ca. 5.8 million Muslims, or over one-third of Russia's total) within the Volga and North Caucasus districts in an effort to demonstrate the importance of the regional context in which Russia's Muslims reside. Drawing upon field interviews (through March 2006) and information from local media, the author shows how the milieu in which Islam is practiced diverges markedly across regional boundaries. The diversities are traced to location, history, ethnocultural affiliation, number of adherents, educational resources, and relations between Islamic leaders and government officials. Also analyzed is the role of the two major competing spiritual centers of Islam in Russia, and the sense of regional self-identity. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: H70, Z10, Z12. 1figure, 28 references.     

Islam in China: From Silk Road to Separatism

Islam came to China via the Silk Road, the great trading route beginning in the ancient Chinese capital of Xian. Islam flourished during the brutal but religiously tolerant Mongol Yuan dynasty. Harsh repressive measures were employed against the rebellious Muslims of the Qing dynasty. Islam has survived the tumultuous 20^th century and has experienced a revival in the new millennium. Following a brief historical overview, including some of China's relevant history of insurrection, rebellion and reforms, the nature of the Muslim community in China, along with pressing contemporary issues, will be outlined and discussed.     

Children's agency and Islam: unexpected paths to solidarity

This ethnographic study analyzes the experiences of Palestinian children's agency of religion and its manifestation in religion as resistance while it is fighting the globalized hegemony. Children's agency of religion as resistance is cultivated within the debate of Islamist movements and the evolution of Palestinian national identity while it serves as a call for global solidarity. It is this creative construct of agency of religion that transcends borders and distinguishes itself from the old generation method of resistance. The differences between generations on this construct, as described by children's agency and their ability to transform, is constructed by particular meanings of Islamist symbols and rejects the assumption that children's roles are defined. The agency of religion as resistance evolves as the role of religion in national discourse is deliberated in secularism and sectarianism. In 2005/2006, I was awarded the Rockefeller Fellowship in the Anthropology Department of Johns Hopkins University. The award was for my work on children's political socialization in the Middle East. I also have been active with international studies: in 2009, I collaborated with the Children's Rights Unit, Institut Universitaire Kurt Bösch, Switzerland on the research project, Living Rights: Theorizing Children's Rights in International Development. I am serving as research member on the Joint Learning Initiative on Children and Ethnic Diversity (JLICED), Division of Children's Rights. My work has been published in the Journal of Qualitative Inquiry, Childhood, Children's Geographies, Journal of Mix Method Research and others. View all notes     

Book Reviews

Robert J. C. Young, Colonial Desire: Hybridity in Theory, Culture and Race Carole Boyce Davies, Black Women, Writing, and Identity: Migrations of the Subject Maria Luddy, Hanna Sheehy Skeffington Gail Bederman, Manliness and Civilization: A Cultural History of Gender and Race in the United States, 7880–7977 Anne McClintock, Imperial Leather: Race, Gender and Sexuality in the Colonial Conquest Miranda Shaw, Passionate Enlightenment: Women in Tantric Buddhism Vron Ware, Beyond the Pale. White Women, Racism and History Mrinalini Sinha, Colonial Masculinity: The ‘Manly Englishman’ and the ‘Effeminate Bengali’ in the Late Nineteenth Century Bina Agarwal, A Field of One's Own: Gender and Land Rights in South Asia Francine Masiello, Between Civilization and Barbarism: Women, Nation, and Literary Culture in Modern Argentina Gertrude M. Yeager (ed.) Confronting Change, Challenging Tradition: Women in Latin American History Susan K. Besse, Restructuring Patriarchy: The Modernization of Gender Inequality in Brazil, 1914–1940 Richard C. Trexler, Sex and Conquest: Gendered Violence, Political Order, and the European Conquest of the Americas Megan Vaughan, Curing Their Ills: Colonial Power and African Illness Henrietta L. Moore and Megan Vaughan, Cutting Down Trees. Gender, Nutrition, and Agricultural Change in the Northern Province of Zambia, 1890–1990 Shula Marks, Divided Sisterhood: Race, Class and Gender in the South African Nursing Profession Heike Becker, Namibian Women's Movement 1980 to 1992: From Anti-Colonial Resistance to Reconstruction     

Human Rights Provisions in the Second Amendment to the Indonesian Constitution from Shar?‘ah Perspective

Abstract: The paper examines provisions of the Second Amendment to the 1945 Indonesian Constitution dealing with equality, women's rights, freedom of religion and freedom of opinion, and then compares the terms of those provisions with similar provisions in the Cairo Declaration on Human Rights, the Universal Islamic Declaration of Human Rights (UIDHR) and the constitutions of several majority Muslim nations. On the basis that, unlike the Cairo Declaration, the UIDHR and the other constitutions, the Indonesian constitutional provisions make no explicit reference to Shar?‘ah or Islam despite the fact that Indonesia is the largest Muslim country in the world, the author concludes that Indonesian political parties who participated in enacting the amendments adhere to a substantive view of the Shar?‘ah.     

What Osama bin Laden Did Not (Want to) Know: Manly Palmer Hall,Islam, and Conspiracism

A copy of The Secret Teachings of All Ages (1928) by Manly Palmer Hall (1901–1990) was listed among the books possessed by Osama bin Laden (1957–2011) in his last lodgings. The prolific Canadian-born, US-American author advanced a positive interpretation of Islam within an esotericist worldview. By meticulously scrutinising primary sources, this article aims at mapping his conception of Islam and understanding its role within Hall's interpretation of history. Furthermore, drawing upon scholarly discussions of conspiracism, as well as on examinations of bin Laden's figure and messages, this article assesses whether Hall can be described as a conspiracist author and whether his interpretation of history and Islam could have fascinated the founder of Al Qaeda.     

Crossing the Border from Slavery to Freedom: The Building of a Community at Buxton,Upper Canada

In November 1849, the first settlers arrived at what was to become the Buxton Settlement, the most successful all-black community established in Canada prior to the U.S. Civil War. A community soon had been established, a community based on freedom and hope for the future. In the late 1850s, Buxton's population reached close to 700 inhabitants. Three schools and four churches of differing denominations served the community's needs. Several graduates from Buxton's schools attended various colleges to study law, medicine, or for the ministry. A lumber mill and brick-making facility promoted community industry. The settlement boasted a two-story brick hotel, a general store, and a post office. Buxton's rich history lends itself to the study of several topics vital to the social history of both Canada and the United States, particularly the development and strength of a true community: Buxton became an interactive community based on self-reliance and independency.     

State politics,railroads, and Civil Rights in South Carolina, 1883–89

In 1889 the General Assembly of South Carolina repealed the state's Civil Rights Act (1870), following a protracted debate that had been prompted by the United States Supreme Court's decision in the Civil Rights Cases (1883). This article examines in detail the contours of the civil rights controversy in South Carolina and, in doing so, identifies a number of competing dynamics, among them outside corporate interests (in this case, railroads), local state interests, and regional loyalties. Taken together, these different factors demonstrate conclusively that civil rights in South Carolina during the 1880s was a contested space. They also shed important new light on the development of de jure segregation in the South and, in particular, the complex relationship between Jim Crow legislation and the social and economic issues related to railroad expansion.     

Recent developments in social and cultural geography in Spain

Controversy has erupted in Selma, Alabama, over recent efforts to commemorate the career of Nathan Bedford Forrest, a Confederate cavalry officer and founding member of the original Ku Klux Klan. More generally, the controversy in Selma is emblematic of an enduring regional pattern in which contests over the future are couched in terms of the past. Relative to other media, monuments appear to be trustworthy and lasting. Despite this appearance of historical consensus and stability, the city's public spaces are the product of and conduit for ongoing politics. The current conflict pits memorial activists associated with the Civil Rights Movement against neo‐Confederates. Interpreted in the context of Selma's increasing promotion of Civil Rights heritage and the recent election of the city's first African American mayor, the Forrest affair highlights the utility of the concept of symbolic accretion for understanding the complexities of commemorating antagonistic histories in the same place. Symbolic accretion describes the appending of commemorative elements onto already existing memorials. The situation in Selma suggests two different types of symbolic accretion, allied and antithetical. More generally, the act of commemoration itself may be understood as a process of accretion in that heretofore anonymous spaces are formally recognized via the grafting of memorial elements.     

Book Reviews

Books reviewed: Ronaldo Munck, Contemporary Latin America Carmen Diana Deere and Magdalene León, Empowering Women: Land and Property Rights in Latin America Annelies Zoomers and Gemma van der Haar (eds), Current Land Policy in Latin America: Regulating Land Tenure under Neo‐liberalism Annelies Zoomers (ed.), Land and Sustainable Livelihood in Latin America Sudipta Kaviraj and Sunil Khilnani (eds), Civil Society: History and Possibilities Rajesh Tandon and Ranjita Mohanty (eds), Does Civil Society Matter? Governance in Contemporary India Ha‐Joon Chang, Globalization, Economic Development and the Role of the State Yilmaz Akyüz (ed.), Developing Countries and World Trade: Performance and Prospects George Monbiot, The Age of Consent: A Manifesto for a New World Order Paul Kennedy, Dirk Messner and Franz Nuscheler (eds), Global Trends and Global Governance Paulette Goudge, The Whiteness of Power: Racism in Third World Development and Aid John Clark (ed.), Globalizing Civic Engagement: Civil Society and Transnational Action Julian Le Grand, Motivation, Agency and Public Policy: Of Knights and Knaves, Pawns and Queens Richard Robison and Vedi R. Hadiz, Reorganising Power in Indonesia: The Politics of Oligarchy in an Age of Markets Sara Oldfield (ed.), The Trade in Wildlife: Regulation for Conservation Patricia L. Howard (ed.), Women & Plants: Gender Relations in Biodiversity Management and Conservation Ernest Aryeetey, Julius Court, Machiko Nissanke and Beatrice Weder (eds), Asia and Africa in the Global Economy Jane I. Guyer, Marginal Gains. Monetary Transactions in Atlantic Africa Amanda Hammar, Brian Raftopoulos and Stig Jensen (eds), Zimbabwe's Unfinished Business: Rethinking Land, State and Nation in the Context of Crisis D. John Shaw, Sir Hans Singer: The Life and Work of a Development Economist     

Rescuing “Diversity” from Affirmative Action and Campus Activists

Although diversity is constantly celebrated, the word is regularly used in a distorted if not dishonest manner. In connection with Fisher v. University of Texas and the 2003 Supreme Court cases involving the University of Michigan, for example, critics of racial preferences who promote color-blindness have been portrayed as enemies of “diversity.” Scrutinizing the recent explosion of racially themed campus protests reveals tendencies that are even more alarming. First, activists are demanding rapid increases in the hiring of minority faculty and staff while ignoring the antidiscrimination mandates imposed by the Civil Rights Act. Novel dangers to academic freedom and intellectual rigor, moreover, have been surfacing as student groups assert imperious authority over university affairs, threaten to squelch criticisms of Black Lives Matter, and demand that professors be evaluated for “microaggressions.”     

Islam and the rural landscape: discourses of absence in west Wales

This paper explores the relationship between the presence and absence of Islamic communities in western Wales. Commencing with a discussion of the literatures on the geographies of Islam and rural exclusion, I argue that both sets have neglected research on rural religious communities. Discussion is centred upon the visual absence of Islam in the area, as local mosques are predominantly housed in contingent or non-purpose-built buildings. Using interview data, I examine the implications of these absences for local Muslims' experiences of rural landscapes, and discuss the juxtaposition between the visual absence of cultural indicators of Islam and the contingent strategies these communities employ to meet their religious needs. Adopting Nancy Fraser's concept of a subaltern counterpublic, I argue that the contingent presence in the landscape brings organisational possibilities. However, the lack of visibility of these counterpublics also brings challenges, fragmenting the community and creating difficulties for individuals to access particular services. This subterranean ontology has implications not only for liberal ideas of publicity and privacy, but also for inclusive citizenship in an era when debates about multiculturalism centre on accommodating religious needs.     

The Coverage of Saudi Arabia in the “Introduction to Sociology” U.S. Textbooks between 2001 and 2015

This article discusses the coverage of Saudi Arabia in “introduction to sociology” textbooks in the context of two variables — the September 11, 2001 attack, and globalization. The study covers 24 major textbooks, all published between 2001 and 2015. The textbooks were chosen with the help and consultation of many colleagues in numerous sociology departments throughout various parts of the United States. Also, the publishers of sociology textbooks were consulted throughout the process of selection. The method of investigation was content analysis which relied heavily upon studying the content of the text. The findings were organized in the following subsections: Islam; the Wahhabi version of Islam; Politics; September 11th and Bin Laden; Women in Saudi Arabia; Human Rights and Civil Rights Abuses; Social Media; Miscellaneous Positive or neutral comments on Saudi Arabia; Visual Sociology; and closing remarks. The finding of the article is more or less negative, as textbooks rarely mentioned positive things about Saudi Arabia.