‘I don’t know anybody who said, “oh great, let’s get measles”’: a qualitative study of responses to childhood vaccinations (MMRV) among Orthodox Jews in Jerusalem following the 2018-19 measles outbreaks

Measles outbreaks have emerged among religious minorities in the global north, which cross regional and national boundaries and raise implications for measles elimination targets. Yet, studies are ambiguous about the reasons that underlie non-vaccination in religious populations, and whether and how religious “beliefs” influence vaccine decision-making among populations with suboptimal vaccination coverage. In 2018-19, Israel experienced the largest measles outbreaks in a quarter century – the burden of which disproportionately affected Orthodox Jewish neighbourhoods in Jerusalem. The objective of this study was to explore how Orthodox Jewish households in Jerusalem responded to the measles outbreaks in their neighbourhoods and how they viewed childhood vaccination (MMRV) during a public health emergency.Research methods primarily consisted of 25 in-depth semi-structured interviews conducted with 23 household heads, and 2 public health professionals involved in planning and implementation of vaccination services. Thematic analysis generated five key themes, i) where the issue of sub-optimal vaccination uptake was perceived to be located; ii) how responsive people and services were to the measles outbreaks; iii) the sources of information used in vaccine decisions by religious parents; vi) whether vaccination was deemed a religious issue; and v) how vaccination influenced social relations within religious neighbourhoods.Results demonstrate parental investment in protecting child health, with decisions around vaccination reflecting vaccine efficacy and safety, and the risk of measles transmission. Household heads across all Orthodox Jewish backgrounds were not apathetic towards measles transmission. No religious “beliefs” were identified for non-vaccination among the household heads in this cohort. Rather than relegating suboptimal vaccination uptake among religious minorities and populations as an issue of religious “beliefs,” quality social science research should examine – and clearly convey – how religion influences vaccine decision-making. Such clarity can help to avoid stigmatizing religious minorities and populations, and to plan for appropriate vaccination programmes and promotion campaigns.

Religious Division and Otherness as Portrayed in 'Shame' and 'The Ministry of Utmost Happiness'

After the partition of India in 1947, religion has become a major catalyst for division and othering in most of South Asia. Bangladeshi author and activist Taslima Nasrin was exiled from her country, primarily for revealing the mistreatment of the Hindu minorities in Bangladesh in her novel Shame. Indian author Arundhati Roy has also faced severe backlash due to her portrayal of the mistreatment of the Muslims in India in her novel The Ministry of Utmost Happiness. Religion has become an extremely fraught issue in South Asia, making almost any criticism of religious fundamentalism a highly perilous endeavor. Yet, both Nasrin and Roy had the courage to do that. This paper explores how the aforementioned novels expose the process of othering of the religious minorities in India and Bangladesh by highlighting the retributive nature of communal violence which feeds on mistrust, hatred, and religious tribalism – a cursed legacy that can be traced back to the violent partition of the Indian subcontinent based on the two-nation theory.

Emotion and Reason in Political Language

This paper studies the use of emotion and reason in political discourse. Adopting computational-linguistics techniques to construct a validated text-based scale, we measure emotionality in 6 million speeches given in U.S. Congress over the years 1858-2014. Intuitively, emotionality spikes during times of war and is highest in speeches about patriotism. In the time series, emotionality was relatively low and stable in earlier years but increased significantly starting in the late 1970s. Across Congress Members, emotionality is higher for Democrats, for women, for ethnic/religious minorities, for the opposition party, and for members with ideologically extreme roll-call voting records.

The Perception of Minorities toward the Turkish State: The Case of Ethno-religious Communities

The relationship between state and non-Muslim communities has been a delicate issue since the founding of the Turkish Republic despite the principle of secularism stated in its constitution. Against this background, the association of national identity with Sunni-Islam has been the main marker of inclusion/exclusion to the national identity. Especially since 2002 when the Justice and Development Party (JDP) came to power, the debates with regard to freedom of religion and the rights of religious minorities came to fore. Over the course of decades there have been numerous studies approaching the state’s perspective towards religious minorities. However, there are still scarce amount of academic studies that focuses on citizenship experiences of the members of these communities in their daily and social life practices. In this article, we first provide a historical perspective of the state towards religious minorities from the establishment of the Republic until today including the JDP period. In the second part of this study we aim to explore recasting perspectives of the non-Muslim minorities over the previous decade by taking the standpoint of the members of Greek Orthodox, Jews and Armenian communities. To this end, we conduct in-depth interviews with the members of these communities who are residing in Istanbul. Finally, new negotiation fields which have been flourishing among these communities will be addressed.

Religious policy of Sultan Abdul-Hamid II in the Syrian vilayets of the Ottoman Empire (1876-1909): methods and symbols

The author examines the religious and political course of the Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II (1876-1909), aimed at strengthening the unity of the Ottoman state and society based on the principles of Islam, and the implementation of this strategy in the Syrian provinces of the Ottoman Empire. The research is based on reports of contemporaries, as well as research works in Russian and English. Particular attention is paid to the strategic role of Ottoman Syria (including Lebanon and Palestine) in the context of strengthening the religious authority of the Sultan as the caliph of all Muslims and recruiting prominent ideologues and supporters of Islamic traditionalism from the Syrian vilayets to serve the Sultan. The author especially examines the role of wo representatives of the Muslim intellectual elite: the Sufi sheikh Abu-l-Huda al-Sayyadi as a close associate of the Sultan who provided patronage to the conservative ulama, as well as Ahmad Izzet Pasha al-Abid, who became the main inspirer of the Hejaz Railway. The article also reveals the features of the state policy towards religious minorities (both Muslim and non-Muslim) and migration processes in the Syrian provinces. With the weakening of the international positions of the Ottoman Empire and the strengthening of foreign interference, Syria set an example of relatively successful modernization based on Islamic tradition. At the same time, confessional identity continued to dominate over ethnicity, and the emerging feelings of Arab and Syrian patriotism did not conflict with the principle of Islamic unity of the subjects of the Sultan-Caliph.

DOMESTIC PROBLEMS FACED BY FEMALE MINORITIES IN SOUTH EASTERN COUNTRIES SPECIFICALLY PAKISTAN

This study is about domestic problems faced by female minorities in South Asian countries specifically Pakistan. The study focused on racial, caste and religious minorities, focused on domestic issues like forceful change of religion and other domestic problems. There is no disputing the reality that men are given preferential treatment over women in a variety of situations. The questionnaire of this research revealed some critical results regarding domestic problems faced by the female minorities in Pakistan. The research revealed that verbal violence is more dominant among the forms of domestic violence faced by minority women and that women do face these problems because they belong to a minority.

Cultural Deference, Community Survival

After the military defeat of the Tamil insurgency in Sri Lanka, nationalist sectors backed by Sinhala Buddhist ideology turned to religious minorities in search of new enemies of the State. These have included Muslims and Evangelical Christians who are described as foreign intruders that contaminate the traditions of the nation. Catholics have been spared of accusations of proselytism and the introduction of foreign cultures partly due to the Church leadership’s explicit stance against Evangelical missionary activities and its support of Sinhala nationalist discourse. Catholic communities of Sri Lanka thus find themselves in an ambiguous position: incorporated into the national citizenry, yet a visible minority anxious not to become marginalized like other religious minorities.

Thinking the Question of Religious Minorities in Colonial South Asia

This conceptual essay pivots on the following problem: Tethered to a context of Muslim empire, how is the legacy of the premodern Islamic legal tradition engaged and negotiated in the modern colonial moment in South Asia, marked by the loss of Muslim political sovereignty and the emergence of South Asian Muslims as a minority community? It engages this question through the example of intra-Muslim debates and contestations on the boundaries of friendship between Muslims and non-Muslims in modern South Asia, with a focus on the thought of certain prominent traditionalist ‘ulama’.