Recently the online publication Reconstruction came out with their latest issue and the unifying theme is Theories/Practices of Blogging. And in addition to a number of meatier articles on the socio-cultural implications of blogging, the issue features many different bloggers (including yours truly) talking more briefly about why they blog. Check it out.
Islam is at the heart of an emerging global anti-hegemonic culture that combines diasporic and local cultural elements, and blends Arab, Islamic, black and Hispanic factors to generate "a revolutionary black, Asian and Hispanic globalization, with its own dynamic counter-modernity constructed in order to fight global imperialism. (say what!)
Monday, November 27, 2006
theories/practices of blogging
Recently the online publication Reconstruction came out with their latest issue and the unifying theme is Theories/Practices of Blogging. And in addition to a number of meatier articles on the socio-cultural implications of blogging, the issue features many different bloggers (including yours truly) talking more briefly about why they blog. Check it out.
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
the ghost of thanksgiving past
we didn't land on plymouth rock
a time to build an alternative
national day of mourning
american muslim heritage day
in this time of war against osama...
the truth about thanksgiving
thanksgiving: a native american view
buy nothing day
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
islam and natural healing (part two)
Bone Fractures in Ibn Sina's Medicine
along with some other articles on medicine from Muslimheritage.com
After thinking a bit more about the subject of medicine I started to have two contrasting trains of thought.
First I started to think back to other posts I've written about how Islam is reminiscent of a nature-based religion. The religious calendar follows the cycles of the moon. The prayer times don't follow "clock-time" but instead depend on the position of the sun, the lengths of shadows and the appearance of the sky. Animal sacrifices vividly remind Muslims of how life depends on life. And in many other ways Islam is a "natural" path. This is fleshed out (pun intended) a little bit more in the Grenada post called where's the beef? on islam and vegetarianism which also links to yet another post on the vegan Hardline movement. An argument can definitely be made that Islam encourages a drug-free natural wholistic organic approach to health/nutrition and other areas of life.
On the other hand, the above approach can't be absolute. The human body is a complex collection of distinct interrelated systems which can get sick in a variety of ways. It would be a bit naive to totally dismiss conventional medicine and exclusively rely on "natural" methods.
Something else which occurs to me is that almost by its very nature, the practice of medicine is going to tend to be ecclectic. Not all disorders can be treated in the same way. So instead of trying to find a "pure" Islamic system of medicine it actually makes sense to combine conventional medicine with prophetic techniques and alternative approaches. For example, I've read before that Chinese Muslims have developed "Islamic" versions of Qi Gong. (If I find out much more about this I'll probably blog about it.) And I imagine that Muslims in other parts of the world have also developed their own syncretic healing methods (which will still manifest some family resemblance due to common Islamic elements).
an old but timely boondocks strip from 2003
Moderate, Reasonable Leftists argue that even though we may not support the war, what's happened has happened and there's no point in dwelling in the past. [pause] All of those people, mind you, are still mad at OJ
Monday, November 20, 2006
say hello to khalil al-puerto rikani
Saturday, November 18, 2006
farrakhan steps back
Thursday, November 16, 2006
say hello to kameelah
born and raised in east palo alto, CA, i am a dash of eclectic smarts, a pinch of unapologetic sarcasm and a sprinkle of grace all wrapped up quite nicely in a 5 foot 1 hijabi package. raised on gil-scott heron and nasheeds. i am a beautiful shade of brown, certified black person (ask me how to get your certificate!), green-tea drinker, rad. vegan, political organizer, community researcher, artist, teacher, writer, renewed marxist and professional smarty pants.
Monday, November 13, 2006
in death, unconquered
the aztec al-qaeda
see also:
palestinian che
Saturday, November 11, 2006
new muslims in spain
islam and natural healing
The whole concept of "Islamic medicine" is intriguing for the most part, but also has its limitations.
If we stick strictly to the Quran and hadith there are a number of texts which give some sort of medical advice but it is not clear that this constitutes a totally comprehensive and detailed medical theory. For example:
And your Lord revealed to the bee saying: Make hives in the mountains and in the trees and in what they build: Then eat of all the fruits and walk in the ways of your Lord submissively. There comes forth from within it a beverage of many colours, in which there is healing for men; most surely there is a sign in this for a people who reflect. (16:68-69)
or the famous hadith from Bukhari:
Abu Huraira, God be pleased with him, narrated in the correct prophet traditions that God's messenger (saaws) said: "Use this black seed regularly, because it has a cure for every disease except death"
Imam Al-Jawziyya's work also includes many other hadith (of varying degrees of authenticity) with assorted bits of advices on matters health and illness (texts on food, drink, sleep, cupping, spiritual aspects of healing and related subjects).
From a modern perspective, some of this material is challenging. As Muslims do we have to accept all of it (for example blood-letting) as sound medical advice, or can we sift through some of it and say it is not really "prophetic" but merely reflects the ordinary fallible medical knowledge which was in circulation at the time of the prophet (saaws)?
Moreover, when "Islamic medicine" was developed, doctors took the prophetic elements and inserted them into a matrix of Greek medical knowledge (e.g. Galen and Hippocrates) and so Al-Jawziyya's text also assumes the four humour theory which was current in Europe during the Middle Ages. (The resulting mix of Graeco-Arab ideas is sometimes called Unani medicine and is similar to Aryuvedic medicine. Both are still practiced today in some communities).
It makes me wonder to what extent is it possible to take the truly "prophetic" aspects of Islamic medicine and come up with a truly Islamic wholistic system? Or are we left with a few isolated remedies which are culled from the Quran and hadith and are then tossed into the context of another system (whether modern, metaphysical or alternative)? Is the answer different if we are talking about mental health as opposed to physical health?
I found the following links on the above subject but I'm not a doctor. I'm including these pages because they are interesting and topical but if you are sick and need help you should go see a qualified expert (however you define that) for advice.
The Medicine of the Prophet: A Message Par Excellence by Dr. M. Iqtedar Husain Farooqi
CrescentLife: Health & Healing: Islamic Perspective
Dr.Sharif Kaf Al-Ghazal: Islamic Medicine Online
Wikipedia: unani
www.unani.com
Medicine of the Prophet
The Sufi Enneagram Website
Thursday, November 09, 2006
islamo-futurism?
taina asili
In a lot of ways, she reminded me of one of my cousins who has also done a lot of spoken word. Actually, in my generation there are about three of us who to varying degrees have done spoken word/poetry. At one point I thought to myself that maybe there is some kind of "poetry" gene in my family which made us get on stage. But more likely some of us are "odd birds" who have a lot to get off our chests and it almost can't help but come out as poetry.
see also:
teresa vazquez
black orpheus
Monday, November 06, 2006
seeds in the wind
climbing poetree
I saw them perform recently and I got a kick out of seeing them do a piece on hip-hop which started off with Alixa making the very surprising Grenada-esque move of beatboxing while simultaneously playing a set of South American pipes!
I hope you enjoy exploring their sites and think about giving them some support for their work.
Climbing Poetree's main site
Climbing Poetree's Myspace Page
Sunday, November 05, 2006
in these times on borat
Saturday, November 04, 2006
complicaciones
The last piece on the album is a guaguanco called Complicaciones:
Que yo no quiero más complicación
La vida me traicionó
Yo la quería, ella también a mi
Yo la quería, ella también a mi
Y en un momento importuno
Ella se marchó
La mujer es como el pan
Que hay que comer lo caliente
Se lo deja enfriar
Ni el diablo le meta el diente
Quince años yo tenía
Cuando por primera vez
Dí mi voz a conocer
Y mi lírica poesía
Que yo no quiero más complicación
La vida me traicionó
No quiero complicación
La vida me traicionó
I'm just in that kind of mood.
Friday, November 03, 2006
borat and ali g
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
the confederate states of america (part two)
On slavery, the civil war and our national character:
iraq and al qaeda, america and the kkk
afrofuturism/rebirth of a nation
post traumatic slave syndrome
what a country!
On racist images and language in contemporary times:
the mexican stamp controversy
understanding pickaninnies and improving the race
rebirth of a word, a film, a slur
accepting the slurs
On prisoners and the criminal justice system:
black cats who became muslim
johnnie cochran died today
ex-prisoner rights
cagedprisoners.com
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
the confederate states of america
The film definitely had its high points, but to be honest it was not very impressive. The historical logic wasn't very persuasive. For example, originally, the South fought in order to secede from the Union but in the film, the South actually takes over the North. Not only that, the Confederate States of America then expands to the south and eventually absorbs Latin America as well. But to be fair, in the DVD interview with Kevin Willmott, the film's writer and director, he makes clear that the film was more about metaphor than historical realism. In our country there has always been a tension between the democratic, egalitarian, just principles of the "United States" and the racist, exclusionary, hierarchical, expansionist tendencies of the "Confederate States". Wlilmott's film was intended to provide a satirical look at those "Confederate" tendencies by taking them to an extreme.
For me, the most impressive aspect of the movie were the fictional commercial breaks which featured blatantly racist ads for things like the Coon Chicken Inn, Sambo motor oil or Niggerhair cigarettes. The "punchline" is that most of the ads (including those just mentioned) represent REAL products which were sold in our United States into the 40's and 50's.
Another of the more impressive commercials was a promo for a show called "Runaway" (clearly based on Cops). In the C.S.A, most vibrant expressions of Black culture had long since migrated north to Canada, so the reggae theme of "Bad Boys" was replaced by an upbeat song with more of a country twang. But there were still the same images of Black and Latino males running from white men, being restrained by officers, having guns pointed at them, etc. The obvious suggestion was that the police are just modern-day slavecatchers.
It reminded me of a spoken word piece by Detroit poet, Versiz where he describes an encounter with a traffic cop who stopped him and asked:
"So, do you know why I'm pulling you over?"
I asked if he wanted the short answer or the long one. He of course chose the wrong one so I had to give it to him. I had to give it to him the way they always give it to me. With no vaseline and with a straight face.
So I told him... "You are pulling me over because there was a corrupt system set in place used to manipulate and control the underclass through fear and intimidation, a system that you are an agent for. Now, whether or not you know your role remains to be seen so I guess the most important question is: Dude, Do you know why you are pulling me over?"
I couldn't help but smirk as I was being dragged out of the vehicle.
Of course it is fairly easy to cite other examples of artists and political writers who see similarities between the police and the prison industrial complex on the one hand, and slavery and other forms of oppression on the other. (But that's a meaty subject in itself and I'll have to explore it over several posts)
For other treatments of alternative history:
For Want of a Nail
The Guns of the South
Harry Turtledove
Bring the Jubilee
The Man in the High Castle
It Happened Here
Friday, October 27, 2006
even more heru
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
a whole new (old) world...
“Allah has servants beyond Al-Andalus, the distance between them and al-Andalus like the distance between us and al-Andalus. They do not view that any of creation has disobeyed Allah. Their stones are coral and pearls. Their mountains are of gold and silver. They do not plant nor harvest, nor do they work at all. They have a tree that grows at their doorstep which bears fruit which is their food as well as another tree with large, wide leaves from which they make their clothing.”
Just as Grenada/Granada evokes both the West Indian island and the Moor's last stand, for Hood, the passage recalls both Al-Andalus (Spain) and early European descriptions of the Caribbean.
To see Hood's post along with other folks comments, check out:
A whole new world...
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
more heru on tv
see also: we be broke while other folks' cash registers be like "i ching" "i ching" "i ching"
an inconvenient truth
BBC News: On the Alberto Fernandez interview
the 99
Here is an interview with the comic's writer/creator, Dr. Naif Al-Mutawa and here is a more detailed article (originally from the New York Times) which gets into the general background of the characters and talks about the hurdles Dr. Mutawa has had to go through in order to make the comic book a reality.
Although comic books in general feature several heroes with "Oriental" associations, believing Muslims seem to be more rare. To my knowledge, in the DC universe, the most prominent Muslim hero is the Janissary while in the Marvel universe, the most prominent hero is a mutant known as Dust. In both cases, the characters are women.
Monday, October 23, 2006
understanding the new "racial olympics"
Now, in the article Slavery, Genocide and the Politics of Outrage: Understanding the New “Racial Olympics”, Hishaam D. Aidi explores the intersections between Black Nationalism, Zionism, Black Orientalism, Afro-Arab unity, 9/11 and the current crisis in Darfur.
Sunday, October 22, 2006
ramadan fiqh: intention, mindfulness and responsibility
Zayd is a conscientious Muslim. It is the month of Ramadan. Zayd made intention to fast on the night before. He even makes the effort to follow the sunnah and gets up before fajr in order to have a little something (say some water and dates) to help him last through the day. Unfortunately, he later finds out that his clock has been slow and it turns out that at least on a few occasions he had been eating and drinking after fajr had come in, even though he sincerely believed otherwise.
Now take Jamal. Jamal is not so conscientious. He didn't bother getting up before fajr. In fact, he slept through fajr. When he woke up he sort of realized it was Ramadan and so he knew to skip breakfast but other than that he started his day much as any other day. He was absorbed in various mundane tasks and responsibilities until the middle of the day when he would normally have a lunch break. As was his habit, he goes around the corner to his usual lunch spot to order some food. He noticed he was hungrier than usual so he gets the extra large sandwich, a large pop, a side order and some dessert. After his lunch break he goes back to work and an hour after his meal it occurs to him, with the appropriate amount of shock and surprise, that he just had a full meal in the middle of the day during the month of Ramadan.
Now here's the weird part: It is my understanding (based on the fiqh books I've read) that the slow clock doesn't constitute an excuse so Zayd's fast has been broken and he has to make up the days when he accidentally broke his fast. But Jamal's fast, on the other hand, actually hasn't been broken and that he doesn't have to make up any days.
First, it would probably be good to keep in mind that the question of what breaks your fast or not is different from the question of how actions are judged spiritually or not. For example, lying, gossiping and stealing don't break your fast either but that doesn't mean these are acceptable activities to engage in. Also, I would guess that the above issue is related to how scholars of fiqh understood the relationship between intention, minddfulness and responsibility, but I myself don't have a really good understanding of what the reasoning process is. Anyone out there have a good suggestion?
not much ramadan blogging
Thursday, October 19, 2006
what and why
When I originally started this blog, my basic idea was that I was going to comment on a lot of "Black stuff" "Muslim stuff" and "Latin stuff", preferably two at a time and ideally three at a time. (This ideal is generally what I mean by "Grenada-esque") After blogging for over a year, I am a bit more aware of the patterns which show up and can be more refined in describing them.
When I surf the web, stories where Latino/Hispanic issues overlap with Islam seem to be rather few and far between compared to the other combinations so I'm the least picky about those and will add links to what I find most of the time. On the other hand, the overlap between Black/African issues and Islam is much larger by comparison so I can be a little pickier. But for a while now I've been sending most of the interesting things I find or think about in this area to the Third Resurrection.
When it comes to Afro-Latino issues I generally don't talk about music because I feel many people only recognize the musical contributions of Black Latinos and have almost no concept of anything else. I would prefer to talk about Afro-Latinos in politics, literature, science or even sports. Similarly, it is common for Muslims to be viewed through a narrow political lens so I'd rather not talk about Middle Eastern politics, and I'd prefer to talk about Arab/Muslim cultural production (poetry, music, etc.) especially in the West.
The rest of the content of Planet Grenada is more varied. Random pieces on progressive politics, race, racism and culture. An occasional piece on Afrofuturism. Pieces on religious orthodoxy and more ecclectic forms of spirituality. Whatever tickles my fancy. Sometimes I imagine that I'm somehow contributing to the "emerging global anti-hegemonic culture" refered to at the top of my blog. Other times I write just to get things off my chest. So why do you blog?
tuesday i had fruit loops: revisited
hisham aidi
many receive nothing from the fast...
"Many receive nothing from the fast except hunger and thirst."
-a hadith
winning the grandmas, winning the war
voices of resistance: muslim women on war, faith and sexuality
“There are no celebrity endorsements here for a certain kind of Islam, there is no list of permissible ingredients that can go into a canned version of good Muslimness, whether by the standards of the patriarchies inside or the colonialism outside.”I recently found out about a new book to add to my shopping list; Voices of Resistance: Muslim Women on War, Faith & Sexuality (Sarah Hussein ed.) The book is a collection of narratives and prose by Muslim women from a wide variety of cultures and backgrounds; Yemen, Iran, Palestine, Afghanistan, Kashmir, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Thailand, China, Canada, and the United States. And as implied by the above quote, the book seems to be about resisting convenient stereotypes and definitions of Muslim (female) identity.
–by Shahnaz Habib
Samar: Inside, Outside and Everywhere In Between a review by Shahnaz Habib
Amazon: Voices of Resistance
see also: living islam out loud
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
in brightest day, in blackest night
I hope y'all can forgive the mildly juvenile, but still culturally relevant diversion: I had stopped regularly reading comic books by the time that John Stewart's Green Lantern appeared. But in a lot of ways I think he is the most refreshingly universal black science-fiction superhero. In most of sci-fi, whiteness is framed as universal, and blackness is framed as provincial and local. The advanced being from the next galaxy over is generally the authoritative-sounding white man with silly putty on his face. Most black characters, on the other hand, will sound and act as if they were from 125th and Lennox Ave (give or take a light year).
In contrast to the more "ghetto-centric" blaxploitation era superheroes like Black Lighting (and variations like Black Vulcan, Soul Power, Static and Juice) or Power Man, and even in contrast to the more Afrocentric heroes like Storm or Black Panther, John Stewart is on a whole other level. (A few others in the same ballpark, which come to mind from the world outside of comic books are Mace Windu and Benjamin Sisko).
Wikipedia: Green Lantern (John Stewart)
Book of Oa: The Unofficial John Stewart Biography
Wikipedia: List of Black Superheroes
Wikipedia: History of Black Superheroes
Wikipedia: African characters in comics
Grenada's past:
race and dc comics
black comic books
birth of a nation: a comic novel
"'x-men' is not a cleverly named documentary about the nation of islam..."
on the serious tip...
aaron mcgrudder
afrofuturism/rebirth of a nation
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
a muslim response to the pope
Monday, October 09, 2006
evil eye protection
Alternatively, (to point to a commonly used example from the Quran on this point) since there is no necessary connection between fire and burning, it makes sense that God could say "O Fire! be thou cool, and (a means of) safety for Abraham!" when Nimrod tried to burn Abraham alive. Fire doesn't have the power to burn by itself.
In this view, there is also no such thing as a miracle because whether God follows his own habits or not, everything that happens is willed and created by Allah. The created world doesn't even have the power to sustain its own existence for an instant, so another consequence is that Allah is continually recreating the cosmos from moment to moment, almost like a projector shining successive picture frames on a screen.
But all the above is really a preface. To make a long story short, I mainly wanted to share that a few days ago I ran into some friends (a married couple) who generously gave me a beautiful blue fatima's hand. I had mentioned to them some "evil-eye" issues going on in my life along with my fascination with the khamsa and moments later they offered me one (which they had actually bought for themselves in Cairo). It is hanging on my shelf right now. It is definitely one of the most interesting presents I've gotten in a while. In any case, I wanted to be able to say how pleased I was with the gift, without people accusing me of shirk. I know very well that it has no power to help or harm, but ultimately that's not the point.
Saturday, October 07, 2006
a day in the life of a caribbean muslim
Thursday, October 05, 2006
people in me
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
Sunday, October 01, 2006
still muslim like me
A good discussion of this phenomenon recently appeared over at the Woman of Color blog in an entry called Ramadan, solidarity, critiques and the internet.
And in Michigan, the Arab American NOWAR Committee is co-ordinating several solidarity fasts throughout the month of Ramadan. For more information (especially if you want to participate) check here.
Saturday, September 30, 2006
ramadan reading: the virtues of dhikr and al-ghazali
Also on my Ramadan reading list is the book On Disciplining the Soul and Breaking the Two Desires by Al-Ghazali. Basically it consists of certain sections from Ihya ulum al-din (The Revival of the Religious Sciences) on asceticism and struggling against the ego, translated and annotated by T.J. Winter. I've also read this one before but I could definitely use a refresher. A few years ago I went through a period of being really excited about Al-Ghazali, but more recently I've kind of mellowed out and haven't "touched base" in a while.
Anything I could say right now about how great Al-Ghazali is would probably sound really lame so I'll just leave you with a couple of links:
A biography of Imam al-Ghazzali by Dr. G.F. Haddad
As a continuation of my muslim art of war idea, here is an excerpt from al-Ghazali on Jihad al-Nafs (with links to other scholar's comments on the same topic).
And here is a huge Al-Ghazali Website with a ton of his writings.
Enjoy.
Friday, September 29, 2006
more 9/11 blues
A Spanish university professor with a long beard and dark complexion said Thursday he was briefly forced off an Air Berlin airliner during a layover on the Spanish island of Mallorca by German passengers who feared he was an Islamic terrorist. (full story)yet another helping of the post 9/11 blues
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
the racial gap in the grandstands
See also:
latinos and baseball
blacks in cuban med school
Black Electorate: African American Education Free Outside U.S. Borders - Blacks In Cuban Med School by Zekita Tucker
Monday, September 25, 2006
latinas choosing islam over catholicism
NPR: Latinas Choosing Islam over Catholicism
see also from Grenada's past:
npr on latino/hispanic muslims
interview with samantha sanchez
south florida latina converting to islam
the emerging latino muslim community in america
many hispanics finding faith in islam
more hispanic women are converting to islam
latino muslims of the bay area
latino muslims seek answers
my journey as a muslimah
more hispanics turning to islam
ranks of latinos turning to islam are increasing
robert karimi
muslims march with latino community - july 18th
ole to allah
ramadan around the world
clippings on latino muslims
islam in latin america and latino muslims
Sunday, September 24, 2006
the akashic records
Steiner believed in something called the Akashic Records which is supposed to be a kind of comprehensive non-physical library of information which can be accessed by individuals with certain spiritual abilities.
Levi Dowling, the author of Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ claimed to have gotten the information for his gospel from the Akashic records. And according to Hakim Bey (Peter Lamborn Wilson), The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ was one of the sources (in the "ordinary" non-mystical sense) of Noble Drew Ali's Circle Seven Koran.
It occurs to me that in the Quran (and hadith) there are many different references to a Book, or the Pen, or writing (e.g. [22.70] Do you not know that Allah knows what is in the heaven and the earth? Surely this is in a book; surely this is easy to Allah.) and that possibly some of these references are consistent with the concept of the Akashic records. The Quran tends to evoke the anthropomorphic image of angels following us with pieces of paper (made from trees?) writing down what we do (in what language?) with ball-point pens. But perhaps that concrete language is really refering to something different like the Akashic records? Allahu alim.
Saturday, September 23, 2006
ramadan mubarak y'all
pope benedict: the first year
Thursday, September 21, 2006
the neocon's lexicon
ramadan on saturday?
Monday, September 18, 2006
ramadan right around the corner
more on pope benedict and islam
Also, for a more "big picture" perspective, you might want to check out: Benedict XVI and Islam: the first year by Islamic scholar, Abdal Hakim Murad
latest message from osama bin laden
Google Video: Latest Message from Osama Bin Laden
Sunday, September 17, 2006
skipping towards armageddon
I recently started and am almost finished with a book published by Soft Skull Press and written by Michael Standaert called Skipping Towards Armageddon: The Politics and Propaganda of the Left Behind Novels and the LaHaye Empire.
Overall, I would say that the book is a good survey of the subjects covered in the subtitle. Standaert explores how the Left Behind novels can be viewed as political propaganda on behalf of the Religious Right and he also explains Tim LaHaye's extensive and varied connections to extreme-right and evangelical circles.
I was a bit surprised by how far to the right some of Tim LaHaye's connections go: the John Birch Society, Christian Reconstructionist groups which want to bring back stonings and slavery, anti-semitic organizations, militias, etc. And it was interesting to see Standaert trace some of the political implications of Premillenialism (one of several possible Christian views on the end-times). Specifically, Premillenialism teaches that the Second Coming of Christ will occur before the 1000 year period of peace, justice, and prosperity. In this view, a utopian existence will be ushered in by Jesus through supernatural means, and so efforts to improve our lives through human means (the UN, international co-operation, progressive social movements) will necessarily be considered suspect.
I wouldn't insist that all Premillenialsts are like this, but I think that in many evangelicals, Premillenialsim is woven together with conservative/reactionary political ideas to form a coherent and seamless (and somewhat problematic) worldview.
Perhaps more later...
an extensive excerpt from the book (pdf)
Soft Skull: Skipping Towards Armageddon
Eight Diagrams: An interview with Michael Standaert
The Huffington Post: Boycotting the Image, but Not the Word? (about a violent video game based on the Left Behind books)
Planet Grenada's past:
number of the beast
the rapture
christian reconstructionism
wayward christian soldiers
Saturday, September 16, 2006
beyond visibility: rethinking the african diaspora in latin america
Beyond Visibility:
Rethinking the African Diaspora in Latin America
University of California-Berkeley March 1-2, 2007
Abstract Submission Deadline: November 3, 2006
In recent years there has been an explosion in scholarship that goes beyond recognizing the presence of Afro-Latin Americans and towards interrogating this topic more deeply. Through this inaugural conference,we intend to build on this momentum--advancing inter-disciplinary scholarship on the African Diaspora in Latin America by moving towards research that critically engages the theoretical and methodological challenges of this research. Organized by the Afro-Latino Working Group at UC Berkeley’s Center for Latin American Studies, we aim to create a forum for graduate students to dialogue with established scholars whose work explores the African Diaspora in Latin America. This conference will foster new dialogues about race, ethnicity, culture, society, economy,politics and nation in the academic world. The conference will feature a series of graduate student panels as well as a faculty keynote and roundtable discussion from preeminent scholars working on the African Diaspora in Latin America. We invite abstract submissions from current graduate students on a diverse array of topics and disciplinary orientations that are both theoretical and empirical in content. The conference is oriented towards graduate students pursuing projects about the African Diaspora in the Americas (including Mexico,Central and South America, and the Spanish-speaking Caribbean). Specifically, we strongly encourage papers that address under-theorized regions in the Americas as well as comparative and regional works.
We offer the following themes as submission suggestions:
Theory and Pedagogy: New Directions in the Field
Social Movements and the Politics of Race
Media and Cultural Representations
Identity, Race and Ethnicity
Migration and Transnationalism
Folklore and National Identity
Comparative Historical and Literary Analysis
500 word abstracts should be submitted to the organizing committee via email as word documents or PDF files. Please submit abstracts by November 3, 2006. Submissions should include the abstract, current contact information, presentation title and current C.V. Accepted authors will be notified by December 15, along with full submission guidelines for papersand/or presentations. Full papers are due on January 5. All papers and presentations must be available in English. Papers will be made available through the Center for Latin American Studies.Submissions and inquiries should be sent to: afrolatinogroup@berkeley.edu or via USPS to
Friday, September 15, 2006
better than pork
A priest and a rabbi found themselves sharing a compartment on a train. After a while, the priest opened a conversation by saying, "I know that in your religion you're not supposed to eat pork. Have you actually ever tasted it?"
The rabbi said, "I must tell the truth. Yes, I have, on the odd occasion."
Then the Rabbi had his turn of interrogation. He asked, "Your religion, too... I know you're suposed to be celibate, but...?"
The priest replied, "Yes, I know what you're going to ask. I have succumbed once or twice."
There was silence for a while. Then the Rabbi peeped around the newspaper he was reading and said, "Better than pork, isn't it?"
moishe and the pope
About a century or two ago, the Pope decided that all the Jewish people had to leave Rome. Naturally, there was a big uproar from the Jewish community.
So, the Pope made a deal. He would have a religious debate with a member of the Jewish community. If the representative won, the Jews could stay. If the Pope won, the Jews would leave. The Jews realized that they had no choice. They looked around for a champion who could defend their faith, but no one wanted to volunteer. It was too risky. So, in desperation, they finally picked an old man named Moishe, who spent his life sweeping up after people, to represent them. Being old and poor, he had less to lose, so he agreed. He asked only for one condition to the debate. Not being used to saying very much as he cleaned up around the settlement, he asked that neither side be allowed to talk. The Pope agreed.
The day of the great debate came. Moishe and the Pope sat opposite each other for a full minute before the Pope raised his hand and showed three fingers. Moishe looked back at him and raised his index finger. The Pope waved his hand in a circle around his head. Moishe pointed to the ground where he sat. The Pope pulled out a communion wafer and a glass of wine. Moishe pulled out an apple.
The Pope stood up and announced, "I give up. This man is too good. The Jews may stay.'
An hour later, the cardinals were all around the Pope asking him what happened. The Pope said, "First, I held up three fingers to represent the Trinity. He responded by holding up one finger to remind me that there was still one God common to both our religions. Then, I waved my hand around me to show him that God above was all around us. He responded by pointing to the ground, showing that God was also right here with us, in our midst. I offered the wine and the wafer to show that God absolves us from our sins. He pulled out an apple to remind me of original sin. He had an answer for everything. What could I do?"
Meanwhile, the Jewish community had crowded around Moishe, amazed that this old, somewhat feeble man had done what all their scholars had insisted was impossible! "What happened?", they asked. "Well," said Moishe, "first he said to me that the Jews had three days to get out of the city. I told him that not one of us was leaving. Then, he told me that this whole city must be cleared of Jews! I let him know that we were staying right here." "And then?" asked a woman. "I really don't know," said Moishe. "He took out his lunch, so I took out mine."
papal bull
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached."
The defenders of the current Pope are correct to point out that he was not saying these things himself but was only repeating a quote. On the other hand, the talk still included some misleading (although less incendiary) statements about the role of reason in Islam. And in any case, Benedict XVI has already made comments previously about the Christian (i.e. non Islamic) character of Europe and other topics which stronly suggest that his papcy does not bode well for future Muslim-Catholic relations.
Grenada's past:
ratzinger - benedict xvi
harry potter and the book-burning benedict
final call interview with immortal technique
the passing of the pope
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
our man in havana
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
the jihad of imam shamyl
Grenada's past:
so white they named white people after them
reaction mixed to schwarzenegger remarks
SANTA MONICA, Calif. -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's taped comment that Cubans and Puerto Ricans are feisty because of their mixed black and Latino "blood" set the blood of some Democrats boiling, but others say it's no big deal.
(see full story)
I'm not sure how I feel about the above. Yes, the comment is definitely ignorant and offensive but it doesn't put me in a "feisty" mood. He said it in private but apparently the recording was hacked from his office computer system so that actually raises some privacy issues which makes me a bit sympathetic to him. In the grand scheme of things, the saddest part of this whole affair is the fact that so many other elected officials have made comments which were much more ignorant and offensive but their political careers remained basically unscathed.
--
The above link died but here is a replacement.
Monday, September 11, 2006
chavez of arabia
La Voz de Aztlan: "Chavez of Arabia" Greeted as Hero in Damascus
Aljazeera: Winning Arab hearts and minds by Dima Khatib
Adisa Banjoko: I dunno why, but I'm kinda starting to dig Hugo Chavez....
cuba and the non-aligned movement summit
See Granma: Fidel recovering satisfactorily and will head the Cuban delegation
Friday, September 08, 2006
the forer effect or 'into every life a little rain must fall'
In his original study, Forer gave subjects a personality analysis followed by the following 'result':
"You have a need for other people to like and admire you, and yet you tend to be critical of yourself. While you have some personality weaknesses you are generally able to compensate for them. You have considerable unused capacity that you have not turned to your advantage. Disciplined and self-controlled on the outside, you tend to be worrisome and insecure on the inside. At times you have serious doubts as to whether you have made the right decision or done the right thing. You prefer a certain amount of change and variety and become dissatisfied when hemmed in by restrictions and limitations. You also pride yourself as an independent thinker; and do not accept others' statements without satisfactory proof. But you have found it unwise to be too frank in revealing yourself to others. At times you are extroverted, affable, and sociable, while at other times you are introverted, wary, and reserved. Some of your aspirations tend to be rather unrealistic."
Yeah, you and everyone else in the world... and so on average, Forer's subjects found the above description pretty accurate.
But think about it, even if you are 'one in a million' that means there are 6000 people just like you. I honestly believe that one of the functions of scripture is to remind us that we are not unique. We all exist in a common human condition. That's how scriptures "work". That's how texts written over a thousand years ago in a distant land can still ring true... in spite of the printing press and the internet and indoor plumbing and nuclear power and digital watches, people are still people. But more on that later.
the radical middle way
Perhaps I'll go into more detail in a later post, but at times I'm struck by the similarities in tone between orthodox Islam and Orthodox/Catholic Christianity (as opposed to Protestantism and other minority Christian movements). I have a theory. Suppose we view religions as things which may have a divine origin, but are still shaped by historical situations and also contain bits of human wisdom. Then it makes sense that those faiths which have been the "official" religion of entire civilizations and empires for a very long time will have acquired a certain sober maturity. Such faiths will have produced hundreds of great mystics, poets, philosophers, legal scholars and artists; great tyrants and great rebels. They will have spanned across various nationalities and cultures. They will have experienced periods of great prosperity and wealth and also periods of war and disorder. They will have had to find ways to inspire the greatest of saints but still speak to the greatest of sinners.
I mention all of this in this particular context because it helps make a point about the "deep" Muslim attitude towards terrorism. Orthodox traditional Islam, the Islam followed by most Muslims for most of Islamic history has been the dominant religion of an entire civilization. It has been a religion which has built into it, a certain amount of respect for authority and stability. And so its nature is to build up social institutions rather than tear them down. More later.
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
ghettonomad
"you can't keep me out of my own house"
see also:
santeria and islam
my god... othello is a good play
I was a fan of West Wing when it was on the air. And I'm recently reminded of one episode; Ellie which was full of so much political/family drama around the President Bartlet's relationship with his daughters (More than average for the show anyway) that at one point the President exclaims: My God, King Lear is a good play!
I'm just in that kind of mood. I'm hoping mine ends better.
Wikipedia: Othello
Unofficial West Wing Transcript Archive
Grenada's past:
jimmy smits and the west wing
Sunday, September 03, 2006
moore organized religion
I would say that there are two main trains of thought which push me towards Moore's way of thinking about organized religion. (And I'm not saying that I agree with him, just that I'm not unsympathetic.)
One "train" comes from thinking about the essential centrality of "La ilaha illa Allah" (no god but God) in Islam. Both too good to be true? and no god but God give orthodox references which strongly suggest that the only condition for salvation is sincere belief in "no god but God". That's it. The answer. The only requirement. Nothing else. And everything else is extra. I'm not trying to give a fatwa here. I'm just saying describing what comes to mind when I read those particular hadith.
But if tawhid is the only requirement, then what are the rest of the Islamic laws and principles for? Well, many of the religious practices (ibadat) like reading the Quran, salat, dhikr) are primarily means to reinforce and sustain a belief in La ilaha illa Allah. After all, mankind was made forgetful. Another portion of shariah's guidance provides sound advice for living a good individual life. And of course, much of the shariah is related to promoting a peaceful and justly ordered society (which some may think of as social control). In any case, I would say that the more an individual is impressed by "no god but God", then these other functions of Islamic law would tend to fade in significance along with every other trapping of organized religion. As the hadith goes:
Sahih Bukhari
Volume 1, Book 3, Number 131:
Narrated Anas:
I was informed that the Prophet had said to Mu'adh, "Whosoever will meet Allah without associating anything in worship with Him will go to Paradise." Mu'adh asked the Prophet, "Should I not inform the people of this good news?" The Prophet replied, "No, I am afraid, lest they should depend upon it (absolutely)."
A second train of thought which makes me sympathize somewhat with Moore's critical attitude towards organized religion starts with thinking about the legacy of Malcolm X. Malcolm is often presented as a "poster boy" for Sunni Islam, but if you stop to check, he actually spent much more time as a member of the Nation of Islam than he ever spent as a Muslim outside of the Nation. (He was assinated less than a year after he left the Nation). Secondly, I don't mean this as a criticism or insult in any way, but I honestly don't know how "orthodox" or "Sunni" he really was when he died. Yes, he left the clear shirk of the Nation and was disillusioned by Elijah Muhammad's adultery but I don't know what beliefs he had in terms of Abu Bakr or Ali, in terms of the validity of hadith, following a madhab, finality of prophethood, etc. For all we know, Malcolm X might have become an Ahmadiyyah had he lived longer (after all, the Nation relied on Ahmadiyyah literature in addition to the writings of Elijah Muhammad) And yet, in spite of his ambiguous orthodoxy, Malcolm X is (and rightfully so) considered one of the most exemplary Muslims America has ever produced. The fact that he was an individual commited to one God and social justice trumps more pedantic concerns about theological correctness, at least in the grand scheme of things.
Thursday, August 31, 2006
how the i ching "works"
The I Ching does not predict the future. All it does is give you something to chew on, stimulate your unconscious mind. There is absolutely no evidence that randomly throwing coins predicts future events. But reading selected passages from the book itself is quite good at shaking up your accustomed patterns of thought. And sometimes it can be eerily on point, in part because the reader brings his or her own unconscious thoughts and desires to the reading of a text that is by nature ambiguous and subject to multiple interpretations.
The rest of the entry fleshes out and develops this idea, but the above is the core.
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
alan moore and organized religion
The other day I was in my local comic book store and found a book about Moore which contained a pretty thought-provoking interview where he shares his thoughts on religion:
What I'm saying is that, to me, organised religion seems to be an accumulation of dead ritual, lifeless dogma; and largely fear-driven belief that has built up around some original kernel of genuine spiritual experience. From what I understand of the original Essenes, for example, they were Gnostics. That is to say, their spirituality was based not upon faith or belief but upon personal apprehension and knowledge, or gnosis, of the powers at work in the Universe. They didn't believe:
They knew. If there over was such a historical personage as Jesus Christ, and if this person did have a group of Apostles around him, they were not acting from belief either. Saul/Paul had the heavenly searchlight turned upon him during his day trip to Damascus. Pentecostal Fire danced on their tongues. Thomas... a pure-bred I'm-From-Missouri Gnostic if ever I heard of one... even put his hand in the wound of the resurrected messiah. Gnosis ... personal knowledge and experience of the spiritual I have no problem with.
What I do have a problem with is the middle management who have manouvered themselves between the wellspring and those who thirst in the field of spirituality just as efficiently as they've done it in every other field of human endeavour. It seems to me that when the blueprint for the modern Christian faith was first sketched out by the Emperor Constantine and his marketing department, it was constructed largely to solve a couple of immediate Earthly problems that Rome was faced with at the time. They had a city divided by different theological factions, the largest and noisiest probably being the early Christian zealots. Then there was the cult of *Mithras*, which was smaller but which included the bulk of the Roman Military. Finally there was the cult of Sol *Invictus*, the undefeated Sun, which was relatively small but very popular amongst the merchant class.
Constantine's posse came up with a composite religion to unite Rome: Christianity would incorporate large chunks of Mithraism, including the stuff about being born in a cave surrounded by shepherds and animals on the 25th of December, and would make concessions to the cult of Sol Invictus, the Undefeated Sun, by sticking a big Sun-symbol behind the messiah's head in all the publicity handouts. This is politics.
The effect in spiritual terms is to move the emphasis away from any genuine personal spiritual experience. Whereas for the original Gnostics such a personal knowledge of and direct communication with the Godhead was the cornerstone of their spiritual life, after the priesthood moved in the basic proposition was vastly different:
"You don't need to have had a transforming experience yourselves, and in fact neither do the priesthood need to have had a transforming experience. The important thing is that we have this book, about people� who lived a long time ago, and they had transforming experiences, and if you come along on Sunday we'll read to you about them, and that will be. your transforming experience." This sounds to me like a co-opting of the divine impulse a channeling of the individual's spiritual aspirations into a mechanism for social regulation.
So, no, I'm not a big fan of organised religion of any kind.
It's a lot to think about. On the one hand, I have an "inner Taliban" which is very much enamored by orthodoxy and tradition. On the other hand, another part of me is very sympathetic to Moore's point and is a spiritual "anarchist" of sorts. I feel that both tendancies are necessary and each serves as a corrective to the excesses of the other.
some previous entries which have touched on some related themes are:
the guru principle
carlos santana
protestant islam
muslim anarchism
not spiritual but religious
"'x-men' is not a cleverly named documentary about the nation of islam..."
anarchism, hollywood style
I think I'll stop here and elaborate a little more later...
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
the day after
For a while now, I've been meaning to write something more about Anida Yoeu Eseguerra on Planet Grenada. I think she has an interesting perspective because she's a Muslim spoken word artist who deals with cultural/political issues but isn't ethnically "typical" for a Muslim in America. (She describes herself as a "non hyphenated Cambodian Muslim American woman"). Since she actually wrote me an e-mail a few days ago, I figure I will actually show some love and post one her poems. (Y'all should also check her website: atomicshogun.com where she has more poems, audio and visual files of other performances, booking info, etc.)
The Day After
A Cento based on Hate Crimes filed shortly after 9/11
Awoke to signs,
“Terrorists'' sprayed in red paint across their family's driveway,
“Terrorist on board'' written on their white car.
Awoke to find,
freeway sign says, "Kill all Arabs"
elevator sign says, "Kill all towel heads"
A Pakistani Muslim living in L.A.
awoke to find his car scratched across
the right side with the words “Nuke ‘em!”
Awoke to find
300 march on a mosque in Bridgeview, IL.
300 American flags shout "USA! USA!"
Mosque awoke to find a 19-year-old shouting
"I'm proud to be American, I hate Arabs and I always have."
Firebomb tossed,
Taxi driver pulled out and beaten,
Vandals in Collingswood, N.J. attacked two Indian-owned businesses.
Vandals spray-painted "leave town."
Awoke to find
a South Asian American,
Sikh, chased by a group of four men yelling "terrorist.”
Sikh mistaken as a Muslim American.
Back up.
Sikh man, 69, shot.
Body found in a canal
He had a turban on.
Turban mistaken as a Muslim American.
A vehicle of white males,
followed and harassed a 21-year-old female.
Attackers yelled, "Go back to your own country!"
The attackers’ car pinned her against another vehicle.
Then they backed up and ran over her again.
Kimberly—a 21-year-old
Back up. A 21-year-old full blood Creek
Back up. Full blood Creek Native American
Mistaken as a Muslim American
Awoke to find,
a Pakistani native beaten by three men.
Back up. Egyptian American, 48, killed point-blank
Back up. Sikh man, 49 shot.
Shooter shouted, "I stand for America all the way."
Back up.
A man pushing a baby stroller walked by a mosque
He stopped and started yelling,
"You Islamic mosquitoes should be killed."
Mosquitoes mistaken as Muslim Americans.
Awoke to find two women speaking Spanish in a doctor's office.
A Caucasian woman yells, "You foreigners caused all this trouble,"
and begins to beat one of the women.
Spanish mistaken as Muslim.
Back up.
She asks the woman if she is Arab,
And then punches her in the eye.
Awoke to be mistaken.
A woman wearing Muslim clothing was shopping.
A Caucasian woman began attacking her and yelled,
"America is only for white people."
Back up. America mistaken for white people.
Armed man sets fire to a Seattle mosque.
300 march on mosque in Bridgeview, IL.
Mosques in Carrollton, Denton and Irving, Texas, attacked.
Muslim student at Arizona State University attacked.
Afghan restaurant in Fremont attacked with bottles and rocks.
Two suspects wrote "die" on a Persian Club booth.
A gasoline bomb is thrown
through the window of a Sikh family's home,
hitting a 3-year-old on the head.
Two women at a bagel store, attacked
for wearing a Quranic charm around her neck.
Attacker lunges,
Yells, "Look what you people have done to my people"
No one in the store tried to help.
The owner apologized to the attackers for any inconvenience.
300 march on two women
No one tried to help.
Two women awoke to find
an explosion from a cherry bomb
outside the Islamic Center of San Diego.
San Diego mistaken for Muslim Americans
"Look what you people have done to my people."
300 march on mosque in Bridgeview, IL
No one tried to help.
Sign says, "Kill all Arabs."
Sign says, "Kill all towel heads."
Towels mistaken for Muslim Americans
No one tried to help.
Vandals attack.
No one tried to help.
He had a turban on.
No one tried to help.
Sign says, "Look what you people have done”
Flags wave in an Afghan restaurant.
300 march against Spanish spoken at a doctor’s office
Spanish mistaken for Muslim Americans
300 march on two women at a bagel store
Bagels mistaken for Muslim Americans
300 wave cherry bombs.
Bombs march on 300 Sikhs,
hitting a 3-year-old on the head.
Look what you people have done.
Monday, August 28, 2006
metamorphosis boricua
First and last it should be said that changing genders is a radical decision and it is not likely that anyone would undertake such a process lightly or frivolously. But to be honest, I'm not sure how to properly understand or appreciate such a choice. (That's intended as an admission of ignorance, not a judgement.)
On the one hand, I can't help but have compassion for someone who feels so fundamentally out of place that they want to change bodies in order to be themselves.
On the other hand, in Islam there are various restrictions on certain kinds of body modifications and cosmetic procedures (e.g. tattoos, wigs, hairpieces, dying hair to look young, filing teeth etc.) to avoid vanity. And there is a general principle prohibiting "changing the creation of Allah" (taghyir khalq Allah). This restriction is certainly not absolute and I've never seen its limits precisely defined, but the principle suggests to me that we should be happy with our bodies as they are naturally and not mess with them too much without good reason.
What is "good reason"? That's not quite so clear.
In any case, there are both Sunni and Shia scholars who have given fatwas permitting sex-change operations if necessary.
See also:
the men will look like the women...
the grass is always greener...
innumerable sluts now available
Sunday, August 27, 2006
apuntes palestine
Friday, August 25, 2006
amir sulaiman: the illusion
see also:
manifest liberation: the four gates