Browsing by Author "Andersson, Ann-Cathrine"

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ISLAM PÅ NÄTET - Ett svenskt muslimskt cyberlandskap i förändring
(2013-08-06) Andersson, Ann-Cathrine; University of Gothenburg/Department of Literature, History of Ideas, and Religion; Göteborgs universitet/Institutionen för litteratur, idéhistoria och religion
This study is based on the discussion of the rapid development and use of the Internet and its role in transforming the religious landscape. More specifically it focuses on the Swedish Muslim cyber landscape and how this has changed over the passed twelve years. Göran Larrsons study Svenska cybermuslimska miljöer i början av det 21 århundradet (Swedish Cybermuslim Enviroments in the start of the Twentyfirst Century) from 2001, is being used as a starting and reference point. The general purpose of this essay is to study religious change online. The specific aim is to investigate if and in that case, how and why the Swedish cyber-Islamic landscape has changed and developed in the last twelve years. The questions to be answered in this study are: - What Muslim actors (groups, individuals and organizations) are represented on Swedish web pages in 2013? - Have the Swedish Muslim cyber landscape changed with respect to the number of web pages, content and actors since 2001, and can these changes be understood and analyzed with the help of existing research on religion and new media and Islam and Muslims in Sweden? The result of this essay shows that there has been a dramatic change regarding the activity in the Swedish Muslim cyber landscape. There has been an increase of four hundred percent in the number of pages, from thirty-two in 2001 to hundred and forty 2013. Amongst other things the study reveals that more different interpretations and expressions of Islam can be found in the Swedish Muslim cyber landscape today compared to 2001, and there seem to be a larger degree of competition between groups and interpretations today. These changes are analysed and discussed with previous research and the possible explanations to this dramatic change on-line is linked to changes off-line, such as increased individualisation and relativization of religious authority, where alternative interpretations of Islam (both conservative and liberal) take more space. The changes in the Swedish Muslim cyber landscape may also reflect a larger degree of competition between Muslim groups and orientations off-line. Many Muslims in Sweden experience a situation of discrimination which also contribute to an increased activity online when the internet can be a place for marginalized voices to be heard. In the chapter's concluding section speculative questions are being raised about which groups dominate the Swedish cyber-Muslim environment.
Röster från täckta ansikten
(2011) Andersson, Ann-Cathrine; Backelin, Louise; Göteborgs Universitet/Sociologiska institutionen
This study is based on the debate in Sweden over the past two years about a possible ban on face veils in schools, workplaces and public spaces. The aim of this paper is to shed light on one perspective that is often overlooked in this debate: that of the women who actually wear the face veil. Our study is based on conversational interviews with five women who are currently wearing, or have been wearing, face veils. We have also studied the debate in the Swedish national press and summarized their arguments for and against a ban on face veiling. For the purposes of this paper three overarching themes were investigated: Firstly we investigated the theological and internal Islamic debate on face veiling. Secondly, we focused on the debate surrounding a possible ban in the Swedish media. Our third focus is the women we have interviewed, and how their views relate to those expressed in the previous two realms. The primary questions to be answered in this study are: - How do the women we have interviewed motivate their wearing of the face veil? - What arguments were put forward in the debate on a possible ban on face veils in Swedish national press during the periods: 2009-09-20 2009-10-31 and 2010-08-01 2010-08-31? (These dates correspond with statements by various politicians favoring a ban, and with a report made to the Discrimination Ombudsman by a woman who wear the face veil. Two events that made the debate about a possible ban particularly topical.) - How do the women we have interviewed relate to the arguments put forward in the debate on the possible ban on face veils in Swedish national press? The five women we have interviewed were all born and raised in Sweden, and four out of five converted to Islam in their late teens or early twenties. We have found in this study that the women have various different motivations for their wearing of the face veil. Their interpretations and readings of the sources in Islam (The Quran and sunna) support their view that the face veil is a desirable practise within Islam. The women also points to the wearing of the face veil as enhancing their relationship with God. As previous research has shown, the veil is an important part in constructing a new religious identity as a Muslim woman. But the face veil cannot be reduced to a mere statement of a new religious identity; the spiritual reasons are a significant part of why these women wear the face veil. All the women stress the fact that they have made the decision to wear the face veil of their own free will, some to the vexation of their families. The women we have interviewed find the arguments favouring a ban (such as difficulties of communication, the face veil as a sign of gender inequalities and extremism etc.) to be superficial and often without grounds. The pro-ban arguments put forward in the debate voice concerns that the women themselves do not relate to. It seems clear that the debate attributes more meaning and symbolism to the veil and the women who wear it, than it can possibly contain, and the women relate to, such as Islamic extremism, the threat of the "other", anti democratic values etc.