Welcome to this AMA which today features a roster of panelists willing and eager to answer your questions on Modern Islam. We will be relaxing the 20-year rule somewhat for this AMA but please don't let this turn into a 9/11 extravaganza.
/u/howstrangeinnocence Modern Iran | Pahlavi Dynasty: specializes in the cultural and intellectual history of nationalism in nineteenth and twentieth century Iran under the Qajar and Pahlavi dynasties. Having a background in economics, he takes special interest in the development of banking that is consistent with the principles of sharia and its practical application through the development of Islamic economics.
/u/jdryan08 Modern Middle East: studies the history of the Modern Middle East from 1800 to present with a focus on the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey. His dissertation addresses the development of political ideology in the late Ottoman/Early Republican period. As far as religion is concerned, he is interested how secular governments mobilized religion and how modernist Islamic thinkers re-formulated Islamic political thought to fight imperialism and autocracy in the 19th and 20th century.
/u/keyilan Sinitic Linguistics: My undergrad work was on Islamic philosophy and my masters (done in China) was Chinese philosophy with emphasis on Islamic thought in China. This was before my switch to linguistics (as per the normal flair). I've recently started research on Chinese Muslims' migration to Taiwan after the civil war.
/u/UrbisPreturbis Balkans: Happy to write on Muslim history in the Balkans, particularly national movements (Bosnia, Kosovo, Albania), the relationship between Muslims and non-Muslims in Balkan states, the late Ottoman Empire, urban culture and transformation. This panelist will join us later today (around 3pm EST / 8pm GMT).
/u/yodatsracist Moderator | Comparative Religion: studies religion and politics in comparative perspective. His dissertation research is about religion and politics in contemporary Turkey, but is trying to get papers published on the emergence of nationalism and the differing ways states define religion for the purposes of legal recognition. He is in a sociology department rather than a history department so he's way more willing to make broad generalization (a.k.a. "theorize") than most traditionally trained narrative historians. He likes, in Charles Tilly's turn of phrase, "big structures, large processes, huge comparisons".
May or may not also be joining us at some point
/u/johnleemk Modern Southeast Asia | Colonialism | U.S. Civil War: I'm most knowledgeable about the interplay of Islam with politics in Malaysia, as that's where I am from and what my research has focused on. I can speak to a lesser degree about the interplay between Islam and politics in southern Thailand and also Indonesia.
/u/VetMichael Modern Middle East
Please note: our panelists are on different schedules and won't all be online at the same time. But they will get to your questions eventually!
Also: We'd rather that only people part of the panel answer questions in the AMA. This is not because we assume that you don't know what you're talking about, it's because the point of a Panel AMA is to specifically organise a particular group to answer questions.
109 Answers 2014-02-19
What are the origins of this tradition?
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I read mixed points of view, Christian say he dead but seem to have a weak story to base it on and Pagan say he not, but it's hard to tell if that because they just don't want him to be. So reading on the net has been almost pointless. From a historical point of view where did the story of Pan's death come from?
1 Answers 2014-02-19
If there was a time of keeping bloodlines pure, when did that start? Did the concepts ever trickle down to other social classes and cause gene pool problems there as well?
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Hi guys, I have a project I'm working on which requires unbiased primary sources on the Warsaw ghetto (demographics, population density, supplies, mortality rates, etc.). I've been scouring the net and my library for information about it, but I mostly seem to find holocaust denialist websites and websites referring to a book I can attain within my timeframe whilst providing incomplete information.
I'd really appreciate it, thanks!
Alternatively: Are there any better subreddits where I could ask for help? I figure I'll post this to /r/favors and /r/ask, but if there are any other good subs for this kind of stuff I'd appreciate you mentioning them.
Cheers!
1 Answers 2014-02-19
The Globe and Mail recently posted this photo and accompanying caption on their Facebook page, which I found remarkably interesting. The questions it raises in my minds:
-Is this real? A cursory Google search shows some supporting evidence, but that's hardly a review of the literature.
-Had anything of that nature ever been attempted before or after?
-Were there other fundraising efforts of similar complexity?
I realize that this is a little bit of an obscure topic, but any answers would of course be much appreciated.
1 Answers 2014-02-19
Are the Geneva and Hague Conventions separate from one another or are they joined together? I only ask because the famous "Geneva Protocol" (banning bio-chemical weaponry) is in the Hague Conventions and they both address war time regulations on an international scale. Are the Hague conventions written inside the Geneva Conventions or are they separate from one another?
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Or in general: early feudal society (9th-10th centuries). I've read M. Bloch, but want more :-)
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I have a basic understanding of Thomas Paine's role in the American Revolution, but I was also reading about John Stuart Mill and was intrigued to find out that he worked at the East India Company before writing "On Liberty" etc.; I was wondering, especially in regards to Mill and Bentham as well as similar philosophers who espoused personal liberty and happiness, about a few things:
How far their ideas spread to conquered states if at all, and if so what effects did they have?
Were goverments aware of the problems they could pose, and therefore actively suppressed the spread of these ideas? Did this position change after the effect Thomas Paine had on the American Revolution?
Or was the mode of thought at that time so different from what it is now that it was even conceived that these ideas could be applied or absorbed by foreign populations?
1 Answers 2014-02-19
Also if anyone can recommend a book on this subject that would be great (especially one that deals with the actual occupation and the treatment of natives rather than just the military campaign)
1 Answers 2014-02-19
I'm never studied American History thoroughly, so that's my reasoning behind this question. Why did the American government encourage people to move west and civilize the lands? (Great Plains, California, Oregon etc.) Was it simply because these lands boasted large amounts of agricultural land or because the population in the east coast was booming?
Is there a more complex reason for the expanision and colonisation of the West?
If someone could explain to me, I would be extremely happy!
2 Answers 2014-02-19
Why did the Japanese military lack a semi-automatic rifle during the war? The U.S had the Garand, the Germans had the Gewehr 41, and the Soviets the SVT and SVS-36. However I did see they copied the M1 Garand. However only 250 were made. What took them so long to develop one?
Also did the Japanese have any higher or equal technology compared to the U.S atomic bomb or German V-2 rockets?
Lastly how much did the Japanese spend researching weapon technology? It seems most of the known weapons of the army (type 99 machine gun and type 100 sub-machine gun) did not enter service until the beginning of the war.
5 Answers 2014-02-19
Also, would the Xia/Shang people have been Han Chinese, or is it believe that they were a Pre-Han people that was assimilated by later Han migrations?
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We hear of the persecution of people like Galileo by the Catholic church, where science clashed with church doctrine. What about other cultures? Did this dichotomy exist in the Muslim world? What about India or China?
Is science vs religion a European thing?
1 Answers 2014-02-19
I've always been a bit puzzled in how much of a coin toss it seems to be. For example:
I can't seem to find a rule of thumb or common element there that would predict which language will become dominant. Does it have to do with the proportion of the invading population compared to locals? Does it have to do with which group is more socially advanced?
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With all the fuss about the Affordable Care Act, I looked backwards in time and saw that the Clinton administration really blew it. Why did this happen? Do you all think that past policies had anything to do with Clinton's failure? or did the current political environment do this to him? (Lewinsky, for example).
I think Clinton's failure can teach us all a lesson that's becoming increasingly relevant. With the mountain opposition to the ACA, I think its time to put some historical context behind previous healthcare reform plans and learn from the past.
1 Answers 2014-02-19
This has been bothering me for a while, now; I know that lots of American Indians died from Afro-Eurasian illness, but I'm curious as to how, and to what extent, life changed for various peoples after the fact.
1 Answers 2014-02-19