Category: Nyheter

DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY
BERGEN SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY SEMINARS

Prof. Anh Nga Longva,
University of Bergen

THE CHRISTIAN MINORITIESIN THE MIDDLE EAST AND THE POLITICS OF PROTECTION

ABSTRACT: Ever since the Islamic conquest in the 7th century until the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire in 1923 the Christians of the Middle East have been looked upon and treated by the Muslims as protected people (ahl al dhimma). The literature on Christian minorities rightly emphasizes the impact of this 1300 year old practice on Muslim-Christian relations. The Islamic protection regime known as dhimma builds on a series of unambiguous rules and regulations which have remained unchanged over the centuries. Yet research in Lebanon reveals intriguing differences in the collective memory of the dhimma among two of the country’s largest Christian communities, the Maronites and the Greek Orthodox. Neither the history of these communities nor the history of their Churches can quite account for these differences. It is suggested in this paper that the study of the politics of protection among Middle Eastern Christian minorities will remain incomplete as long as another type of protection, extended by the European Powers in the 18th and 19th centuries through the Capitulations, is not granted the analytical attention it deserves.

Thursday, 7 February, 2008
13.15-15.00
Seminar room, 8th floor
Fosswinckelsgt. 6

Tirsdag den 5 Februar er det klart for årets første Fagfest!
Stedet denne gangen blir Macumba (nede ved fisketorget) kl 20.00

Det vil bli holdt quiz, og ellers er målet bare å kose seg og drikke øl.
Vi ønsker alle nye og gamle studenter velkommen, og håper at så mange som mulig dukker opp!

Vis større kart

DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY
UNIVERSITY OF BERGEN
Department Seminar

This paper will explore how in their dreams, folk tales and cults, Melanesians took up modern western technology as a powerful material realm for uncovering new meanings, identities and relationships. Not having access to cameras, televisions, videos, telephones, wirelesses and planes did not stop Melanesians entering into a love relationship with the utopian promise of transcendence encoded in modern technology. In taking up the Whiteman’s ways of augmenting seeing, hearing and moving, people sought to take up the position of a dominant Other which they merged with the perspective and position of the dead. Both Whites and the dead offered outside vantage points for escaping current ways of being anchored in the world. Here technology was reworked via a local ontology of mirror worlds, where the surface world and the underground world were mapped onto each other in a redoubling of existence that also offered new utopian ways of policing Melanesian subjects.

Thursday, 31. January, 14.15-16.00
Seminar room, 8th floor
Fosswinckelsgt. 6

Seminar chair: Knut Rio

Everybody is welcome!

I morgen (tirsdag 29 januar) kommer Terje Østigård (kjent fra de 7 dødssyndene), og holder foredrag om død og kremasjon i hinduismen. Foredraget vil vare i ca. 1 time, med diskusjon og evt. spørsmål etterpå.

Tid og sted er som vanlig kl.18.00 i aud. R på sydneshaugen, og dette er særlig relevant for studenter på relv103.

Ønsker alle velkommen!