Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Institutes, Studies and Programs

  • Centre for Ethnic and Minority Studies (London, UK), click here
  • Institute for the Study of Minority Issues (North Carolina Central University), click here
  • Kurdish Human Rights Project http://www.khrp.org/

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Suggested Readings

"Nation & community: a Symposium on the role of minorities in the process of nation-building”, Seminar, no.132, 1970
Akiner, Shirin, Central Asia: conflict or stability and development?, (Minority Rights group 1996)
Ali, Ameer, “Muslim factor in Sri Lankan ethnic crisis”, Journal of Muslims Minority Affairs, vol.17, no.2, 1997
Al-Rasheed, Madawi, “Saudi Arabia’s Islamic opposition”, Current History, vol.95, no.597, January 1996, pp.16-22
Andrews, Peter Alford, ed, Ethnic Groups in the Republic of Turkey, (Wiesbaden: Reichart, 1989)
Baram, Amatzia, “Territorial nationalism in the Middle East”, Middle Eastern Studies, vol.26,
no.4, October 1990, pp.425-48.
Barth, F. Ethnic Groups and Boundaries: The Social Organisation of Culture and Difference, (London: Allen & Unwin, 1969).
Chaliand, Gerard, A People without a Country: The Kurds and Kurdistan, (New York: Olive Branch Press, 1993)
Chaszar, Edward. International Protection Of Minorities In The Middle East: A Status Report. 1986.
Dillon, Michael, “Muslims in post-Mao China”, Journal of Muslims Minority Affairs, vol.16, no.1, 1996
Esman, Milton and Rabinovich, Itamar Ethnicity, Pluralism and the State in the Middle East, (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1991)
Faksh, Mahmud A. “The Alawi Community Of Syria: A New Dominant Political Force” Middle Eastern Studies, V.20 N.2, 1984,
Firro, Kais. Political Behaviour Of The Druze As A Minority In The Middle East - A Historical Perspective. 1986.
Freitag, Ulrike “Writing Arab history: The search for a nation”, BRIJMES, Vol.21, no.1, 1994, 19-37
Furrer, Priska, “Turkey's Alawites As Outsiders” Swiss Review N.08, 1996,
Gaborieau, Marc, “Varying identities of Nepalese Muslims”, CSSAAME, vol.16, no.2, 1996
Ganguly, Sumit, “Ethno-Religious conflict in South Asia”, Survival, vol.35, no.2, 1993
Ghaussy, Saadollah. The Role Of Minorities In The Middle East: The Case Of Kurdish Question. 1986.
Gotlieb, Yosef Self-Determination In The Middle East
Gupta, Dipankar, “Secularisation and Minoritisation: limits of heroic thought”, Economic and Political Weekly, vol.30, no.35, 1995
Gurr. T.R. and Harff, B. Ethnic Conflict in World Politics (Boulder, CO: Westview, 1994)
Hasan, Mushirul, "Minority identity and its discontents: Ayodhya and its aftermath”, South Asia Bulletin, vol.14, no.2, 1994
Hourani, Albert Habib, Minorities In The Arab World
Huang, I-Shu, “National minorities of China”, China Report, vol.32, no.1, 1996
Hudson, Michael Arab Politics: Search for Legitimacy, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1977)
Israeli, Raphael, “A new wave of Muslim revivalism in China”, Journal of Muslims Minority Affairs, vol.17, no.2, 1997
Jiryis, Sabri, The Arabs in Israel, (New York: Monthly Review Press, 1976)
Kedourie, Elie “Anti-Shiism In Iraq Under The Monarchy” Middle Eastern Studies, V.24 N.2, 1988,
Khuri, Fuad I. "The Ulama: “A Comparative Study Of Sunni And Shi'a Religious Officials” Middle Eastern Studies, V.23 N.3, 1987,
Kumaraswamy P.R. Political Legitimacy of the Minorities: Israeli Arabs and the 1996 Knesset Elections, (The Emirates Occasional Paper No. 20), (Abu Dhabi: Emirates Centre for Strategic Studies Research), 1998, pp.61.
Kumaraswamy, P R, “Problems of studying minorities in the Middle East” Alternatives (Istanbul), vol.2, no.2, Spring 2003, pp.244-64
Laiq, Jawid, “Ethnopolitical issues in South-East Asia”, Economic and Political Weekly, vol.23, no.18, 1988
Landau, Jacob, The Arab Minorities in Israel, 1967-91: Political Aspects, (Oxford: Clarenden Press, 1993)
Lewis, Bernard The Jews of Islam, (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1984).
Low, Linda, “The overseas Chinese connection: the ASEAN perspective” South East Asian Journal of Strategic Studies, vol.23, no.2, 1995
Mallat, Chibli “Religious Militancy In Contemporary Iraq: Muhammad Baqer As-Sadr And The Sunni-Shia Paradigm” Third World Quarterly, V.10 N.2, 1988,
Mann, Otto, “China's restless minorities”, Swiss Review, no.4, 1997 Matthews, Bruce, “Religious minorities in Myanmar - hints of the shadow”, Contemporary South Asia vol.4, no,3, 1995
Mcdowall, David. Minorities In The Middle East. 1992.
Mclaurin, Ronald De, The Political Role Of Minority Groups In The Middle East
Nehme, Michel G. Identity And Fear: A Survey Study Of The Arab East. 1996.
Nisan, Mordechai. A New Perspective On Israeli-Arab Peace: Minority Rights In The Middle East. 1984.
Nissan, Elizabeth, Sri Lanka: a bitter harvest, (Minority Rights Group, 1996)
Norbu, Dawa, “China's policy towards its minority nationalities in the nineties”, China Report, vol.27, no.3, 1991
Pipes, Daniel “The Alawi Capture Of Power In Syria” Middle Eastern Studies, V.25 N.4 1989,
Razi, G. Hossein “Legitimacy, religion and nationalism in the Middle East” American Political Science Review, vol.84, no.1, March 1990
Said, Edward, Covering Islam: How the media and the Experts determine how we see the rest of the world, (Vintage, 1997)
Said, Edward, The Edward Said Reader, (Vintage, 2000)
Schahgaldian, Nikola B. “Sectarian Politics And The Islamic Challenge In Syria” Middle East Insight, V.04 N.02, 1985,
Schulze, Kirsten Ed. Nationalism, Minorities And Diasporas
Sheffer, Gabriel. Middle East Diasporas: Introductions And Readings. 1997.
Sivan, Emmanuel “Sunni Radicalism In The Middle East And The Iranian Revolution” IJMES V.21 N.1, 1989,
Tapper, Richard Editor. Some Minorities In The Middle East. 1992.
Teitelbaum, Joshua. Ideology And Conflict In A Middle Eastern Minority: The Case Of The Druze Initiative Committee In Israel. 1985.
Thornberry, Patrick, Minorities and human rights law, (Minority Rights Group, 1991)
Van Bruinessen, Martin, “Kurds, Turks, And The Alevi Revival In Turkey” Middle East Report N.200, 1996
Whitley, Andrew, “Minorities and the stateless in Persian Gulf politics”, Survivial, vol.35, no.4, 1993
Wilson, Jeyaratnam, “The politics of ethnicity and Ethno-Nationalisms in South Asia”, Contemporary South Asia, vol.2, no.3, 1993
Zaidi, S. Akbar, “Religious minorities in Pakistan today”, Journal of Contemporary Asia, vol.18, no.4, 1988
Reports:
Amnesty International Reports
Human Rights Watch Reports
Minority Rights Group Reports
Religious Freedom Report (US State Department)

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Course Outline

1. Minorities in world politics

  • Problems of definition, Classification and Identification of minorities


  • Types of Minorities Ethnic, national, religious, political minorities


  • Diaspora/Migrant Communities

2. Approaches to minorities

  • Multicultural societies, democracies, non-liberal societies


  • Legal approaches to minorities


  • Constitutional recognition, guarantees, affirmative action; Positive discrimination

3. Political system and Minorities

  • Multicultural societies, Democracies and minorities, Non-liberal societies;


  • Minorities political rights and participation


  • Civil society, religion and minorities

4. Minorities and international relations

  • Conflicts: Civil wars, Inter-religious conflicts, Inter-state conflicts


  • Regional approach to minorities


  • UN Human Rights Convention
    Practices of OSCD, Arab League


  • Minorities and national self-determination


  • Minorities and Human Rights

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Assignments

The course will primarily focus on Minorities in the Middle East. As part of the sessional work, it would include the following assignments.

Notes:
a. Assignment 1 and 2 would be oral presentations while the 3rd one would be a written paper.

b. While selecting options, same country/minority group should NOT be repeated. For example if Turkey is the focus of Assignment 1, then it should not the focus of assignments 2 and 3.

Assignment 1

Textual analysis of Constitutions of the Middle East.
Due date 8 February 2011
Marks 10

Assignment 2
Assessment of the Religious Freedom Report of the US State Department
Due date: 28 February 2011
Marks 10

Assignment 3
Term Paper on specific minority groups
Due date 10 March 2011
Marks 20
This would be a 1500 word written paper and would be factual in nature.

Class performance
Marks 10

END SEMESTER
Marks 50


Friday, January 7, 2011

Class Timings

WE would be meeting as per the following time table
  • Tuesdays between 2.30 to 5.00 PM and
    Thursdays between 4.30 to 6.00 PM
Students hours

  • Thursdays between 9.30 to 11.00 AM

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Focus

Though global in its overall approach, the course will primarily focus on the following countries/territorial areas of the Middle East.

Algeria; Bahrain; Egypt; Iran; Iraq; Israel; Jordan; Kuwait; Lebanon; Libya; Morocco; Oman; PNA; Qatar; Saudi Arabia; Sudan; Syria; Tunisia ; Turkey; UAE; Yemen