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- Merli, Claudia
(författare)
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Context-bound Islamic theodicies : The tsunami as supernatural retribution versus natural catastrophe in Southern Thailand
- 2010
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Ingår i: Religion. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0048-721X .- 1096-1151. ; 40:2, s. 104-111
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- After the tsunami of 26 December 2004, local discourses in the prevalently Muslim Satun province in Southern Thailand were characterized by religious interpretations of the disaster. The range of Islamic interpretations varied, and was far from homogeneous. Statements are framed in plural theodicies and ultimately impute disasters to human responsibility, in apparent contrast to both scientific explanations and other Islamic tenets. The aim of this article is to present the range of theodicies associated with the event and to analyze their use in relation to the specific socio-historical and ethno-political context, in the words of people belonging to the Islamic and Buddhist religious élites. In these examples religious discourses leave behind the theological universalistic explanations of the existence of suffering and evil to become context bound commentaries on the state of morality of local communities, with the aim of defining social boundaries.
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| 2. |
- Merli, Claudia
(författare)
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Context-bound Islamic theodicies and their use to define local identity in the aftermath of natural hazard
- 2010
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In the aftermath of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, Muslims in the Satun province in Southern Thailand quickly espoused the explanation of the natural catastrophe as God’s wrath. This interpretation was amplified by the local production of media material by a religious teacher and by the presence of other visual items (both commercial films and Middle Eastern religious production) reinforcing this view.Apart from representing general understanding of the particular event, the use of theodicies seemed to reinforce the definition of ethno-religious boundaries and local identities. This finding suggests that in the aftermath of natural hazard, research efforts should be devoted to analyzing local discourses beyond the analytical frame of trauma relief intervention, local cohesion, and instead toward a more complex understanding of regional dynamics. The impact of theodicy goes beyond the immediate coping strategies of individuals and communities and affects the future behaviour of individuals, at least ideally.This paper analyzes the development of local media which progressed from news-reportage layout toward a more refined complex commentary with the definition of alleged proper Islamic identity and conduct. It will also argue that general theological explanations are applied locally with political, educational and disciplinary intents which must be considered during relief interventions.
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| 3. |
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| 4. |
- Merli, Claudia
(författare)
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Male and female genital cutting among Southern Thailand’s Muslims : Rituals, biomedical practices, and local discourses
- 2010
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Ingår i: Culture, Health and Sexuality. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1369-1058 .- 1464-5351. ; 12:7, s. 725-738
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper explores how local people in a province in southern Thailand perceive the practice of male and female genital cutting. In order to understand the importance placed on these practices, a comparison is drawn between the two and also between the male circumcision and the Buddhist ordination of monks as rites of passage. Discourses on the exposure or concealment of male and female bodies, respectively, witness to the relevance of both the local political-historical context and biomedical hegemony to gendered bodies. The comparisons evince the need to reflect upon the theoretical and ethical implications of studying genital cutting and focusing exclusively on one of the two practices rather than, as this paper claims to be necessary, considering them as inextricably connected.
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| 5. |
- Merli, Claudia
(författare)
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Muslim midwives between traditions and modernity: : Being and becoming a bidan kampung in Satun province, Southern Thailand
- 2010
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Ingår i: Moussons. - 1620-3224. ; 15, s. 121-135
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article portrays the life and activity of Muslim indigenous midwives in Satun province, Southern Thailand. Their art is transmitted almost exclusively through the maternal line and their traditional knowledge has been modified, transformed and reinvented but never abandoned, even as new biomedical information and techniques have been imparted during formal training. The indigenous midwives combine new knowledge with their more traditional practices such as use of incantations, ritual expertise, pre- and postpartum massages. They maintain their status in their communities thanks to their capacity to relate to both traditional and biomedical worlds. The reception of new equipment and the burden of bureaucratic control represent new elements in their lives and create a gap with the new generation of midwives.
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| 8. |
- Merli, Claudia
(författare)
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Patrescence in Southern Thailand : Cosmological and social dimensions of fatherhood among the Malay-Muslims
- 2011
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Ingår i: Culture, Health and Sexuality. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1369-1058 .- 1464-5351. ; 13:S2, s. 235-248
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper examines fatherhood among the Malay Muslims of Southern Thailand (representing a minority at the national level, but constituting the majority population in the region). Traditional practices related to birth and the postpartum period are upheld as a marker of ethnic and religious identity by such groups. Building on the concept of patrescence as ‘becoming a father’, proposed by Raphael (1975:70) the data presented show how the process of assuming fatherhood develops during pregnancy and continues after birth through a series of ritual practices in which a man contributes to female postpartum practices. The medicalisation of birth in synergy with recent literalist interpretations of Islam has impacted on these practices, making it difficult to comply with the ritual burial of the afterbirth, which constitutes the cosmological and physical anchoring of individual and ethnic identity to the soil.
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