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2667:11 [2016/05/16 22:40] – [Key ideas for this week] Ryan Schram (admin)2667:11 [2021/06/29 02:27] (current) – external edit 127.0.0.1
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 ryan.schram@sydney.edu.au ryan.schram@sydney.edu.au
  
-18 May 2016+24 May 2017 
 + 
 +Available at http://anthro.rschram.org/2667/11
  
  
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 Keane, Webb. 2009. “Freedom and Blasphemy: On Indonesian Press Bans and Danish Cartoons.” Public Culture 21 (1): 47–76. doi:10.1215/08992363–2008–021.  Keane, Webb. 2009. “Freedom and Blasphemy: On Indonesian Press Bans and Danish Cartoons.” Public Culture 21 (1): 47–76. doi:10.1215/08992363–2008–021. 
  
-## Other readings ##+### Other readings ###
  
 Bellah, Robert N. 1967. “Civil Religion in America.” Daedalus 96 (1): 1–21. http://www.robertbellah.com/articles_5.htm.  Bellah, Robert N. 1967. “Civil Religion in America.” Daedalus 96 (1): 1–21. http://www.robertbellah.com/articles_5.htm. 
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-## Key ideas for this week ##+## A critique of liberalism ## 
 + 
 +* Western societies tell a story of themselves in which the present social order represents the emancipation of the individual and a recognition of the individual's natural rights.  
 +* In this story, history moves from traditional institutions which limit people's freedom to a new, rational order in which people can choose their own destiny.  
 +* According to Marx, a liberal state governs citizens as individuals, and hence denies that they are also necessarily part of actual communities.  
 +* This ideology disguises the alienation which makes liberal citizenship possible and thus serves the interests of the bourgeoisie. 
 +* Marx's critique of liberalism is, in that sense, an extension of our critique of Western secularism from last week.  
 + 
 +## Civil religion 
 + 
 +* The question of this week--//Do liberal societies need beliefs?//--can be read as asking whether a liberal society needs to give citizens a substitute for their communal religious identities.  
 +* Robert Bellah: "Civil religion" 
 + 
 +## Blasphemy  
 + 
 +* The question of this week can also be read as asking something else: f there is a risk of a liberalism becoming a civil religion, is there a way we can imagine a liberal society which is safe for all kinds of religion? 
 +* Should liberal societies prohibit blasphemy?  
 + 
 + 
 +## Why might blasphemy be threatening to society? 
  
 * "Speech acts" according to J. L. Austin. * "Speech acts" according to J. L. Austin.
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   * locutionary, illocutionary, perlocutionary   * locutionary, illocutionary, perlocutionary
 * Fighting words, hate speech, "trigger warnings." * Fighting words, hate speech, "trigger warnings."
-* Blasphemy, and blasphemy laws. + 
-* Should blasphemy be illegal? Why or why not?  +## Laws against blasphemy 
-* Laws against proselytism around the world (Fox 2015: 193).  + 
-* Semiotic ideology+ 
 +  *     Proselytising by all is illegal: Bhutan, Nepal, Greece. 
 +  *     Proselytising to members of the majority is illegal: Algeria, Morocco, Iraq* 
 +  *     Proselytising is restricted: Venezuela (indigenous), Oslo (against evangelical Christians). 
 +  *     Foreign visas denied to missionaries: China, Costa Rica, Kazakhstan, Denmark. 
 +  *     China only allows proselytising in recognized places of worship. 
 +  *     Malaysia sets very high restrictions on conversion from Islam. 
 + 
 +(see Fox 2015: 193).  
 + 
 + 
 +## Semiotic ideology 
   * Like language ideology, or the indexicality of language, register, ritual, and style.   * Like language ideology, or the indexicality of language, register, ritual, and style.
-  * More generally, an implicit cultural 'theory' of how communication works, and the connection between communicator, message and world.+  * More generally, an implicit cultural 'theory' of how communication works, and the connection between communicator, code, message and world. 
 + 
 +Communicator--Message--Code--World 
 + 
 + 
 +## The Danish cartoon controversy and Terry Jones  
 * Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartooons controversy, September 2005 to January 2006 (University Post Newsroom 2015). * Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartooons controversy, September 2005 to January 2006 (University Post Newsroom 2015).
 * Terry Jones and threatened Qu'ran burning, July to September 2010 (Derby 2010). * Terry Jones and threatened Qu'ran burning, July to September 2010 (Derby 2010).
 * What is this conflict really about? * What is this conflict really about?
   * Mahmood: assimilative versus representational ideologies of meaning. Is it that simple?   * Mahmood: assimilative versus representational ideologies of meaning. Is it that simple?
-  * Another case of iconophilia? The [[http://http://rschram.org/2014/02/10/haus/|Zurenuoc affair]] in Papua New Guinea. +  * Another case of iconophilia? The [[http://rschram.org/2014/02/10/haus/|Zurenuoc affair]] in Papua New Guinea.  
  
 ## References ##  ## References ## 
2667/11.1463463628.txt.gz · Last modified: 2016/05/16 22:40 by Ryan Schram (admin)