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Archived Theses
Impact of modernization on Pashtun culture and the role of Sen's capability approach
There have been suggestions from the literature that contemporary forces are straining the cultural harmony of Pashtuns in Pakistan, in addition to there being a need for a more holistic approach to development in the region. Therefore, this thesis attempts to answer two valuable questions: first, how is modernization impacting Pashtun culture, and second, is Amartya Sen's freedom-centered Capability Approach able to identify and resolve the challenges of modernization within the Pashtun context? Nobel Laureate economist Amartya Sen's Capability Approach—which sees human freedom as the centerpiece of development rather than the mere increase in material wealth--is a breakthrough in development studies. Due to the flexible applicability of Sen's approach, this thesis attempts to innovate from his ideas by evaluating the cultural "capabilities" of Pashtuns. Likewise, this work also critiques Sen's approach and philosophical assumptions; it concludes that his own normative worldview misses the deeper challenges of modernization. Field research was personally conducted in Pakistan for the purpose of this study--revealing primary knowledge of Pashtun culture and local perceptions. The results of this study suggest that certain cultural features of Pashtuns—their social village complex (Hujra) and traditional legal execution institution (Jirga) are facing challenges in modernity while their dynamic moral worldview system (Pakhtunwali) is at risk of losing its original significance. There are three reasons for this: urbanization, bureaucratization, and technology. This thesis utilized a mixed-method approach which consisted of both qualitative discourse, and opinion-based quantitative survey data. Yet the survey size was not large enough to make a conclusive claim—rather wishing that further studies may be inspired by this work. It is hoped that this research will benefit area and development studies in Pakistan, as well as inspire a much-needed application of Sen's Capability Approach within the context of preserving traditional cultures.
From partisan interventions to mediation: The changing roles in Turkish foreign policy
This thesis seeks to assess whether third parties intervening in conflicts can play both partisan and non-partisan (mediator) roles, and interrogate the effects of playing both roles in global conflicts. The thesis adopts a qualitative content analysis approach. This research method has come into wide usage in International Relations research in recent years and describes a constellation of analytical approaches ranging from interpretive analyses to strict textual examinations. The study is related to third-party conflict intervention and its impact on international and regional politics. As a third-party actor, this thesis argues that the role of Türkiye has been changing as partisan or mediator depending on Türkiye's national security interests and the power projection of the other major actors which intervene in the specific conflicts. To explain and understand third-party conflict intervention, there are four cases have been tested and discussed; First, Türkiye plays a partisan role in the ongoing Libyan conflict by deploying military forces to support the Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA) in its fight against the Libyan National Army (LNA). Secondly and thirdly, despite facing opposition to its military incursions in Syria and Iraq, Türkiye continues to play partisan roles in the two conflicts by deploying military forces against the PKK and its affiliate, the YPG. Finally, Türkiye plays a non-partisan role in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine by offering to serve as a mediator on a wide range of issues, including a possible cessation of hostilities and a return to the negotiating table.
The contested grounds of human rights in Islam and the West: A comparative study
In this thesis we explore the problem of the contested grounds of human rights in Islam and the West. While we live in an era in which human rights are at the center of our global moral discussions, human rights have been challenged for their bias in Eurocentric ethics and anthropologies. At the same time human rights were secularized in the twentieth century and divorced from their historical theological underpinnings, without being supplanted by any viable philosophical alternative. This has left modern human rights philosophically ungrounded and in need of a theory of justification. The current "crisis of human rights" has instigated new scholarship on the philosophical grounds of human rights, especially in Christian and Jewish ethics. The Islamic legal tradition is notably absent from this debate. Research on Islam and human rights almost exclusively focuses on a "narrative of conflict" and lacks a sustained engagement with classical Islamic law (fiqh) and legal philosophy (uṣūl al-fiqh). Both Orientalists and human rights lawyers have claimed Islam has no conception of human rights and is merely a "duty-based system". This thesis moves beyond the reductionism of legal Orientalism and approaches Islamic law discursively as a legal-philosophical tradition that can make worthwhile contributions to contemporary philosophical debates. Through the frameworks of comparative legal studies and conceptual history (Begriffsgeschichte), this thesis traces premodern human rights discourses in medieval and early modern Islam and the West. In doing so, we explore how human rights were conceptualized, justified and grounded, and how they may speak to our current moral concerns today.
What If ? Science fiction Hollywood films as a cultural artifact: A showcase of Western worldview
In a « disenchanted » West, to use Max Weber words, a predictable world, where modern science, secularism, impersonal market economy and bureaucracy reign supreme, science fiction as a field of speculation, prediction, warnings or as a lab of the future is undeniably popular in cinemas this last two decades. As cultural artifacts, they offer ready to be used reading grids to make sense of a society that becomes more complicated with each passing day. As Walter Lippmann (1997) argued that cinema has "authority over the imagination" and since "The films of a nation reflect its mentality", as perfectly stated by Kracauer (1947), I analyzed how Science Fiction Hollywood films, considered as a cultural artifact, act as a showcase of western worldview, shaping our understanding and expectations of both present and future ? In front of recurrent themes, such as « natural » disasters, wars, dehumanization and social fractures, I chose and examined through discourse and film analyses seventy science-fiction Hollywood films and did six case studies : Avatar, Interstellar, Inception, Jurassic World, Black Panther and Hunger Games. Through a symptomatic interpretation, I systematically analyzed patterns and elements, (codes in Roland Barthes' words), whose frequency is revealing of their cultural relevancy. Science fiction films are as much a product of the society as a producer of discourse within the society, showcasing the Western world, both feeding on and feeding its fears, hopes, visions of the future and featuring archetypes of threats and heroes. I thus analyzed the films through three main axes, guiding my quantitative and qualitative analysis, loosely mimicking Joseph Campbell's hero's journey : the novum, the threat and the savior.
A historical, comparative approach to state formation in Europe and the Ottoman Empire: From the Medieval ages to the modern era
This thesis starts from a dissatisfaction with essentialistic approaches to the formation of modern nation-states in Europe and across the former territories of the Ottoman Empire. There has always been a Eurocentrist tendency to create a dichotomy of feudalism vs non-feudalism (or Oriental Despotism, or the Asiatic Mode of Production), and to derive or deduce all subsequent development from these supposedly unchanging identities. This is a fundamentally monocausal perspective. It overlooks the contingent, multifactoral unfolding of history. Against it, I follow a historical sociology that is not strictly deterministic, but allows for accidents, including mistakes on the part of (and from the perspective of) the various actors involved. Thus an attempt is made to look beyond the basic historical fact of fief-based states in both East and West, to the different power configurations resulting therefrom. To that beginning, I add, first, the impact of the Military Revolution on the genesis of the modern state. Second, I add the impact of Nationalism, filling up existing containers with new content to go from the modern state to the nation-state. Third, by bringing in imperialism and colonialism, I try to go outside Europe to see what happened elsewhere. This kind of comparative exercise is a valid sub-field for civilization studies.
Improvement or degeneration of fiqh? A critical study of the Majalla
This thesis critically engages with the concept of fiqh and its manifestation in the form of the Majalla. Problems are occasioned when human predicaments are expressed in textual form. Does fiqh fare better in this than law as conceptualized in the West? Does a fiqh paradigm change for the worse when a fiqh text is taken as a code? The Majalla presents an interesting case which is at a critical juncture in history. In the beginning, I critically investigate how fiqh compares with the Western legal paradigm in its conceptual and philosophical underpinnings. I then address the most pertinent question of whether the historical circumstances surrounding the Majalla represent a paradigm shift or a break in the fiqh tradition, arguing that while the former is unwarranted the latter seems to be. In Chapter 4, I survey some of the historical debates that surrounded the making of the Majalla, which provides a more nuanced picture of its substance and form. In Chapter 5, I address the concept of codification and investigate the imperatives motivating that phenomenon. I conclude that the same text, if posited in circumstances where modern understandings of codification are prevalent would presumably manifest a degeneration of fiqh as the imperatives that inhere in a fiqh paradigm are different. Chapters 6-7 address a deeper philosophical comparison of fiqh and law, where I address the notion of a 'gap' and demonstrate how it occurs at two occasions in the fiqh paradigm which affirms the character of fiqh as rooted in discovery rather than performativity. Thereafter, I further explore these notions concluding that legislating a fiqh text like the Majalla confuses the fiqh paradigm by imposing a configuration of roles that is not suited to that paradigm.
Yunus Emre and the voice of the ineffable absolute (Hakk)
In this work I seek to analyze the work of Yunus Emre in order to understand its reception, or rather lack of reception, and muted acclaim, in many circles. His poetry needs to be better known in an English-speaking academic context where, unfortunately, interest in the esoteric dimension of Islam, especially in languages which are not Arabic or Persian, is still very limited. On the contrary, what is too often highlighted is the more exoteric aspects that are usually linked to the legal dimension and more closely related to the Arabic language. I tried to find an answer to the following: what is the understanding of language in Yunus Emre? This question arises from the observation that the whole Divan is pervaded by a constant concern regarding the origin and nature of the same poet's words. We can speak of an obstinate self-enquiry with respect to the poetic gesture. Why is there this centrality of the language in Yunus Emre‟s poetic production? What is the main aim of this self-enquiry in his poetry? What are the ethical consequences of Yunus Emre‟s understanding of language? I have discovered that in general esotericism is a dimension that remains on the fringes of academic inquiry. This is true whether it is Islamic, Christian or Jewish esotericism, or even other traditions less studied in academia. Unfortunately, the post-enlightenment rationalist approach to the construction of knowledge has generally marginalized these types of knowledge. For this reason, there is still a need to shed light on other ways of engaging with the koranic revelation. Yunus Emre, with his poetry in vernacular Turkish and his esoteric perspective, in my opinion can and should play a key role in the creation of a counter canon that can complexify such an important historical phenomenon as Islam within world history.
Islamic books and their impact on the public sphere in Egypt in the 20th century
This research conducts a thorough examination of the production, distribution, and consumption of Islamic literature in Egypt from the 20th century to the present. It encapsulates the influence of historical, political, social, and technological factors on the industry. The study explores the oscillation between tradition and modernity in Islamic publishing, framing it as an arena where ideologies and visions are contested and redefined. The research highlights the complexities of Islamic literature, not merely as repositories of religious knowledge, but as spaces where narratives intersect and clash. Attention is drawn to the "Market Islam" phenomenon, underscoring tensions between authentic religious expression and capitalist globalization. The resurgence of authoritarianism and its impact on free discourse within the public sphere is also addressed. The study identifies challenges such as censorship, digitalization, and piracy, advocating for a proactive approach emphasizing quality, translation efforts, and digital engagement. In conclusion, the research envisions a renaissance in Islamic thought and literature, suggesting that publications can serve as platforms for negotiating narratives within the broader public domain. The study emphasizes adaptive strategies to preserve Islamic publishing's rich heritage and underscores its pivotal role within the public sphere.
The new warring states era: Reviving of Legalism in China
An attempt to explain China from a Confucian perspective and the assumption that China would become more democratic and liberal with its economic prosperity has ostensibly proved to be wrong. Despite China being second in GDP and first in the middle-class number, it is still not democratic and Xi Jinping's autocratic style is at odds with the benevolent ruling method advocated by Confucius. It seems that academic stereotypes that apply historically progressive approaches in China studies and put Confucianism at the center of Chinese political culture need to be revised. To this end, this paper tries to answer two specific questions which are why the historical approach is more appropriate for China study and what kind of governing style China trying to implement under the leadership of Xi Jinping. By shedding light on the most recent scholarly discussion on the methodology among Chinese scholars and examining the influence of the Legalist school of thought on the Chinese administrative culture, this study asserts that rather than the modernization approach, the historical political approach needs to apply to China studies methodologically and China's political culture should not always be studied from the Confucian perspective, but the Legalist school of thought also seriously takes into account. As to the second question, the present article claims that present-day China is on the way to reviving the Han style governing method under the national project "revitalizing the excellent Chinese culture".
Anti-Muslim racism in Finland: Finnish female muslim converts' experiences on racialization and misrecognition
This thesis explores the experiences of Finnish female Muslim converts on antiMuslim racism, racialization, and misrecognition. The research is rooted in the criticism of the current status quo regarding race relations in Finnish society. The study will thus explore how whiteness as a phenotype and as a socially constructed racial category has been part of the Finnish identity construction throughout history. The experiences of Finnish female Muslim converts on anti-Muslim racism are to be seen as a continuum of the historical "ethnoculturalization" of the Sámi and the Roma and the racism they have faced. The study also considers the Tatar Muslim minority's position in Finnish society, comparing their status as "Finnishized" Muslims to the other Muslim communities, who are by anti-Muslim racist terms defined as racial and cultural Others. The study will also analyze gendered forms of anti-Muslim racism, focusing on the Orientalist stereotype of an "oppressed Muslim woman." The interviews conducted for this thesis will also explore the concept of agency in the converts' narratives of their conversion stories and the Du Boisian doubleconsciousness to analyze how the stereotype is reflected in the female converts' identities as Muslim women in public. Keywords: Anti-Muslim Racism; conversion; misrecognition; racialization; Finnish Muslims; female Muslims.