IAFS/JWST 3650

Religious Narratives

Jewish History Job Candidates• Amos Bitzan, “Reading the Talmud like Rousseau's 'Julie':

How Female Pleasure Readers and their Critics Transformed Modern Judaism, 1770-1870” (Tues, 22 Jan, 5pm, HLMS 211)

• Liora Halperin, “Babel in Zion: Hebrew and the Politics of Language Diversity in Mandate Palestine” (Mon, 28 Jan, 5pm, HLMS 141)

• Jessica Marglin, title TBA (Tues, 5 Feb, 5pm, HLMS 201)• Saskia Coenen Snyder, title TBA (Tues, 12 Feb, 5pm,

HLMS 201)

Outline

• Reading maps: vulnerability• Intro to religions• Quiz

Part I:Reading Maps of Israel and

Palestine (cont.)

Reading Maps of Israel and Palestine

• Themes:– Sacred claims to territory– Erasure– Palestinian homeland(s)– Weapons– Vulnerability

Mapai Poster(early 1950s)

• “Growth under Siege”

• Depicts Israel under attack from all sides

• Perceived threats from land, sea, & air

Vulnerability (Israeli)

Christine Leuenberger and Izhak Schnell,“The politics of maps: Constructing national territories in Israel” Social Studies of Science 40:6 (Dec 2010) 813-814.

Likud Election Poster (1981)

• “Likud will prevent this! 2.5 million Israelis are within firing range if an ‘Arafat state’ is founded.”

• Depicts serious threat due to Israel’s lack of strategic depth

Vulnerability (Israeli)

Christine Leuenberger and Izhak Schnell,“The politics of maps: Constructing national territories in Israel” Social Studies of Science 40:6 (Dec 2010) 823-825.

Original source unknown (2000s, revised 2010)

• “Loss of Land” over time

Vulnerability (Palestinian)

Original source unknown (2007)

• “Map of occupation” coupled with iconic images

• Roughly same dates as previous poster

Vulnerability (Palestinian)

Original source unknown (2009)

• “Stealing of Pal. Land by the Zionist State”

• Emphatic coloring

Vulnerability (Palestinian)

Israel Ministry ofForeign AffairsWebsite (2013)

• Size comparisons to European and South American countries, and the US and US states (plus Turkey and India)

Vulnerability (Israeli)

Israel Ministry ofForeign AffairsWebsite (2013)

• Size comparisons emphasize Israel’s smallness

Vulnerability (Israeli)

Zionist PR FirmPoster (~2004)

• “Israel is tiny! . . . . Imagine living in New Jersey while most people living in the other 49 states want to see you destroyed.”

Vulnerability (Israeli)

Conclusions

• Maps used by range of Israeli and Palestinian groups to convey their arguments

• Images of the same (or roughly the same) territory or iconography can be used to support opposing arguments

• Groups on both sides address both internal and external audiences

Conclusions

• Hobsbawm:– many national symbols are “invented

traditions”– Invented traditions use history as legitmator

Conclusions

• Nations claim to be natural and ancient, but are constructed and new

• Maps help construct the nation

Part II:Introduction to Religions

Religious Narratives

• Narratives can be constructed to serve specific goals– via invention of tradition (Hobsbawm)– via remembering and forgetting

(Renan)• Role of religion in narratives re conflict

Arguments

• Can’t generalize re Jewish, Muslim, or Christian views

• Religion plays a role in how (some) people think about this conflict

Religion in the Middle East

• Terminology– Middle East vs West Asia– BC/AD vs BCE/CE

• Terminology– Middle East vs West Asia– BC/AD vs BCE/CE

Intro: Judaism

• 3500 years old• Est. by Abraham and Moses• Jews as God’s chosen people

Intro: Judaism

• Monotheistic• Focus on Jerusalem

Intro: Judaism

• Rabbis interpret God’s instructions

• Torah = “teachings”– “Promised land”

given to Jews

Intro: Judaism

• 1st c CE: Roman dispersion of Jews• Jewish diaspora: W Asia, N Africa,

Europe• Oral tradition (Mishnah) and commentary

(Gemara) form Talmud (intstruction)

Intro: Christianity

• 2000 years old• Monotheistic, based on scripture

Intro: Christianity

• Based on teachings of Jesus Christ• Christ both divine and human• Christ’s death and resurrection provided

salvation and eternal life

Intro: Christianity

• 1st three centuries: spread into W Asia, N Africa, and Europe

• Bible = Old and New Testament

Intro: Christianity

• Holy Land and esp. Jerusalem sacred• Birth in Bethlehem• Miracles at Galilee• Death and resurrection at site of Church

of Holy Sepulchre

Countries withLargest Muslim Populations?

Country 2009 Muslim Population

Percentage of Muslims

Indonesia 202,867,092 88.2%Pakistan 174,082,000 96.3%India 160,945,000 13.4%Bangladesh 145,312,000 89.6%Egypt 78,513,000 94.6%Nigeria 78,056,000 50.4%Iran 73,777,000 99.4%Turkey 73,619,000 ~98%Algeria 34,199,000 98.0%Morocco 31,993,000 ~99%

Intro: Islam

• God’s multiple revelations• Moses, Abraham, Jesus revered as

prophets

Intro: Islam

• ~1300 years old• Monotheistic• Koran revealed to Prophet Muhammad in

7th c. CE

Intro: Islam

• Spread from 7th c. on through W Asia, N Africa, parts of Europe

• Five central requirements:– Faith– Prayer– Zakat [alms]– Fasting– Hajj [pilgrimage]

Islam

= “struggle, striving” • Jihad = جهاد

British Perceptions of Islam

• British concerns about Muslim violence• Fears of fanaticism and jihad• But Islam not monolithic

Islam

http://www.al-islam.org/gallery/photos/d8.gif

= الله = “the God”

• Allah