Saudi Arabia's rapprochement with Israel: the national security imperatives

The purpose of this article is to examine the evolution of Israel's relations with Saudi Arabia since the establishment of the Jewish state in 1948. The author explains how the major events in the Middle East affected Saudi Arabia's foreign policy orientation. It shows how Saudi Arabia's policy toward Israel was affected by the deterioration in Saudi-Egyptian relations, by its quest for security in the Arabian Gulf region and by its aspiration to hegemony in the Middle East. The author argues that Saudi Arabia's policy toward Israel remained far less hostile than that of the Arab states surrounding Israel. In addition, it argues that it was not until 1973 that Saudi Arabia became seriously involved in the attempt to pressure Israel to withdraw from the territories it occupied in the Six-Day War. The author concludes by showing that neither Saudi Arabia's acquisition of the intelligence-gathering AWACS aircraft, nor Israel's invasion of Lebanon or the massacre of Palestinians in the refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila had a serious impact on the bilateral relations, and that it was not until the emergence of the Iranian nuclear threat that Saudi Arabia's relations with Israel began to improve.     

The rise of Femi‐Nazis? Female participation in right‐extremist movements in unified Germany

German feminist scholars have recently come to argue that female involvement in right‐extremist causes is grounded in gender‐specific motives. They have also begun to uncover a troubling link between new patterns of female political engagement (ranging from electoral mobilisation to violent streetfighting) and their own efforts to promote an independent women's consciousness since the 1960s. This article develops a typology of New Right women, characterised here as Femi‐Nazis, evincing different levels of sympathy for, identification with, and participation in radical and extremist movements. It then explores five issue orientations distinguishing New Right women of the 1990s from the Old and New Right men of the 1940s and 1990s, suggesting that these women have developed an independent, self‐assertive political consciousness without internalising feminism's broader aims of diversity and inclusion. The article concludes with reflections on the interplay of ‘feminist’ consciousness and ultra‐nationalist qua xenophobic attitudes, and on the dilemmas Femi‐Nazi thinking poses for feminist identity in united Germany.     

IMPARTIAL OBSERVATION AND PARTIAL PARTICIPATION: Feminist Ethnography in Politically Charged Japan

ABSTRACT

Using reflexive accounts from her own research, the author of this article discusses her struggles as a Japanese feminist anthropologist with what “contribution” actually means in different research contexts. The author compares her dissertation research on a feminist group with her ongoing research project on right-wing opponents of feminism. As a feminist, the author found it relatively easy to practice the idea of contribution with feminists as her research subjects. The situation was much more complex, however, when studying conservative opponents of feminism, whose views were directly oppositional to the author's views and to the human rights principles supported by the American Anthropological Association. By examining her fieldwork experiences on these two types of activists, the author discusses the possibilities and constraints of ethnographic practices such as participant observation, archival research, and contribution to the people anthropologists study and to feminism. The author also discusses the role that the internet is playing in current research contexts, and argues that the distinction between home and field is increasingly blurred. This study complicates the notion of “native anthropology,” contending that as the anthropologist engages deeply in politically charged situations in the field, the distinction of native versus other may no longer be accurate. By illustrating complexities surrounding the practice of fieldwork, the author complicates the notion of contribution, and shows that one possible way to grapple with the difficult question of what and to whom to contribute is to listen to diverse, complex voices, not only of feminists but also of their political opponents, antifeminist conservatives.     

Symbiosis Between Slavery and Feminism in Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda's Sab?

Abstract— Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda's novel Sub (1841) has been subject to many interpretations. Early criticism considered it as little more than a sentimental and shocking romantic story: the impossibly unconventional love of a black slave for a white woman. Later critics'have sought to establish Snb as a pioneering antislavery novel. This article will attempt to demonstrate that Avellaneda's main purpose was not to narrate a doomed love, nor to present a denunciation of slavery, but to express her feminist ideology, establishing the parallelism between the situation of black slaves and the oppression of white women in the bourgeois society of her time. However, we cannot say that Avellaneda created a symbiosis between slavery and feminism; the theme of slavery is only a metaphor, doubly shocking because it exposes her own emancipating ideas in an oppressive society that did not forgive those voices ivhich dared to transgress its norms. 0 1997 Society for Latin American Studies.     

Inscriptions of Violence in Northern Yemen: Haunting Histories,Unstable Moral Spaces

The article investigates the so-called ‘Huthi crisis’ in northern Yemen, centering on the recent confrontation between Zaydi Shi‘is and the government. The crisis is analysed in the context of local contestations over moral authority and regional developments since the late 1970s. The article shows how regional and global dynamics, notably Cold War strategic alliances, Saudi Arabia's aspirations to contain Shi‘ism on the Arabian Peninsula and American security concerns since 2001, have impacted local politics and configurations of power. The article argues that anxieties over the past remain, against the backdrop of the politicisation and repression of the Zaydi revivalist movement, depicted by the government as aiming to restore the imamate. The government was open to accusations of ambivalence towards Sunni militants, by using them alongside the army and giving them positions of power while at the same time claiming to counter their influence. Action against the Zaydis established its credentials in the ‘war on terror.’     

Post-colonial folk dancing: reflections on the impact of stage folk dance style on traditional folk dance variation in Soviet and post-Soviet Estonia

ABSTRACT

The focus of this article is on traditional folk dance in Soviet and post-Soviet Estonia. Dance variation is analyzed through the prism of postcolonial theories to reveal the sequential effects of the colonial situation developed during the Soviet period. Specific causes and characteristic traits of the Soviet influence are explored. Colonialist echoes of the Soviet regime within contemporary Estonian culture are reflected in two trends in the variation of traditional folk dance: first, “contamination” of traditional folk dance with stage dance elements promoted during the Soviet era and, second, a regular search for “genuine” folk dance as a reaction to Soviet colonial heritage.     

Our Ancestors,Our Heroes: Saudi Tribal Campaigns to Suppress Historical Docudramas

Scholars of Arab media have explored key aspects of Gulf-Levant media integration in the wake of the privatisation of Arab media over the past several decades. Their studies tend to characterise the controversies that arise from this integration in terms of the relative influence of Islamist or religious values on producers and consumers. Yet behind these Gulf-Levant tensions, this article will argue, there is also a different cultural logic at work, one that engages other dimensions of culture apart from the religious, and concerns the relationship between documentation and authority in a once predominantly nomadic society. This logic was brought to the fore over the Syrian-produced, Gulf-financed Ramadan television series, Finjān al-Damm (‘Cup of Blood’). The Finjān al-Damm controversy speaks to a number of concerns that are crucial for understanding social and political life in the Arabian Peninsula today. These include the nature of censorship in Saudi Arabia, the nature of citizen activism in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf monarchies, and the Saudi state's attitude towards tribalism. Underlying these concerns, the Finjān al-Damm story underscores a new consciousness about the relationship between documentation and authority in societies transitioning from predominantly oral to textual cultures.     

Collecting on their investments,one woman at a time: Economic partnerships among Caribbean immigrant women in the United States

ABSTRACT

This article treats rotating savings and credit associations (ROSCAs) from a constructive cultural perspective. The female-based African-Jamaican tradition of paadna (partnership) is examined within the theoretical scope of womanist (Black feminist) thought, a seminal discourse intersecting both the African diaspora and women's studies. Across the multiple scholarly approaches within women's and African diaspora studies, academic theory acquires cogency through legitimate correspondences with tangible liberating practices and traditions that can be documented and interrogated for conceptual insights. The practice of economic partnering is one such tradition that substantiates the ethical directives and imperatives of womanist theory and practice. A womanist reading of paadnas is proposed, not because the participants have any self-conscious commitment to feminism/womanism, but because of the institution's efficacy in enhancing the socioeconomic standing of Black families through a relatively small-scale capital enterprise. Through paadna networks, Jamaican women have transplanted a flexible self-help tradition to America that is arguably one of the most reliable sources of social and economic mobility among groups of African descent in the United States.     

STILL PLAYING WITH FIRE

This coauthored article is part of Sangtin Kisaan Mazdoor Sangathan's (SKMS) efforts to participate in the coproduction of dialogical/dialectical relationships between theory and practice, the lettered and the unlettered, academia and activism, and the fields inhabited by members of SKMS, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and academic scholars.We narrate two intertwined tales based on dialogues among four members of SKMS in the context of producing the first four issues of SKMS's community newspaper, Hamara Safar. The first tale focuses on the political transformation of Sangtin, an organization that was conceptualized in 1998 as an NGO for rural women's empowerment based on the mainstream donor-based model of social change. A three-year–long process of critical reflection and writing by nine women on the politics of caste, class, religion, and gender in the context of rural development and women's empowerment programs — as well as on the global politics of knowledge production — paved the way for the emergence of SKMS, an organization that today consists of over five thousand poor farmers, manual laborers, and their families, most of them dalit. SKMS believes that definitions and processes of empowerment must evolve from rural people's struggles and active participation, instead of emerging from donor institutions, NGO headquarters, university-based experts, or think tanks—and then being applied to the rural people. The second story focuses on some of the hurdles in the path of SKMS as it remains grounded in feminist principles, but refuses to work exclusively with women. Together, the two intertwined stories map the archaeology of the shift from Sangtin to SKMS and some of the larger questions pertaining to “women's issues,” “feminist politics,” and “transnational collaborations” that this shift has opened up.     

The Foundation of the Saint-Joseph University of Beirut: The teaching of the maronites by the Second Jesuit Mission in the levant

The purpose of this article is to examine the relations between Egypt and Saudi Arabia from the time of King Faisal's rise to power until President Nasser's death, via various events that shaped the Middle East. The article will also examine the main points of disagreement between the two countries, as well as the threat to the stability of the Saudi regime posed by the Egyptian President during those years. Finally, the research will examine the influence of President Nasser's death on Saudi–Egyptian relations and on the Middle East in general.     

The Shi'a of Saudi Arabia: a minority in search of cultural authenticity

This article focuses on the transformation of Saudi Shi'a resistance from one which centred on military confrontation in the 1980s to one which invokes searching for cultural authenticity (al‐asala al‐shi'iyya) in the 1990s. Today the struggle of the Shi'a for equal status among the Sunni majority draws attention to the attempts of Shi'a intellectuals to write their own regional history. Shi'a intellectuals and opposition leaders deconstruct official representations of themselves and provide alternative historical narratives which anchor their community in Saudi history and society, thus dismissing suggestions that they are a non‐indigenous community. This article examines Shi'a historical narratives in an attempt to understand the transformation in their struggle against discrimination in Saudi Arabia.     

Estonian Folklore as A Source of Baltic-German Poetry

Estonian folk tales form a common element in Estonian and Baltic-German (lyro)epic poetry. Baltic-German interest in Estonian folkloric heritage originated in the eighteenth century, when J. G. Herder first encouraged the collection of Estonian and Latvian folk songs. Systematic collection began in the 1830s, and peaked in the Estonian language area with the Estonian epic Kalevipoeg (1857–1861). Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald implemented this epic, but it was also influenced by many collectors and adaptors and was published in both German and Estonian. The myths of Friedrich Robert Faehlmann, presented in the Learned Estonian Society between 1840 and 1852, have had the biggest influence on the German-speaking audience. Literary adaptations of folk tales quickly found their way into journals, newspapers, poetry collections, and anthologies, often in the popular form of a ballad. This paper seeks to explore the role of Estonian folklore in Baltic-German lyroepic poetry.     

The feminist movement during the AKP era in Turkey: challenges and opportunities

This article explores women's rights activism in Turkey during the Justice and Development Party's (AKP) time in power (2002–present). A comparative analysis of three feminist campaigns for policy reform shows that in a context in which majority public opinion and the policy preferences of the ruling party militate against feminist policy proposals, a strong political ally (the European Union) was necessary to generate a policy change. The article also argues that the political opportunity structures within which feminists are embedded have been reconfigured over the course of the AKP's three terms in power, leaving the AKP in a stronger position to resist feminists’ demands. This explains the paradox of an internally stronger and more dynamic social movement that, nevertheless, appears to have weakened vis-à-vis the state. Furthermore, because some recent legal reforms do not significantly reflect the AKP's or much of the public's preferences, the movement has been less able to generate implementation of recent policy changes.     

“De la música y los toros”: masculinities and the representation of Carlos Vives in Ángeles Mastretta's Arráncame la vida (1985)

This article is an innovative exploration of the representation of Carlos Vives as, potentially, an exemplar of feminist masculinity in Ángeles Mastretta's best-selling novel Arráncame la vida. On a theoretical level, it attempts to add the categories of feminist masculinity and resistant masculinity to Connell's influential sociological model centred on hegemonic masculinity. In this case, though, we should note that hegemonic and patriarchal masculinity as embodied in the character of Andrés Ascencio are synonyms. On a literary level, it attempts to transform radically current understandings of Carlos Vives as a foil for Andrés Ascencio and a touchstone of change in Catalina's life by arguing that he is a key character, of equal standing with Andrés, in Mastretta's representation of Mexican men and masculinities.     

Chilean and Transnational Performances of Disobedience: LasTesis and the Phenomenon of Un violador en tu camino

This article analyses the performance Un violador en tu camino created by Chilean feminist theatre collective LasTesis, shared by millions and re-staged across the globe. It explores the relationship between the original piece and theorist Rita Segato's insights on rape culture, and how it counters aspects of this culture. It examines how the transnational spread of Un violador counters tendencies of MeToo, and examines four cases of the performance's re-staging in Latin America and beyond, showing how they make manifest the pervasiveness of rape culture as well as how groups have adapted them to speak to local issues.     

THE IMPACT OF GLOBALIZATION ON SAUDI MALE MILLENNIALS’ IDENTITY NARRATIVES

The term globalization, encompassing politico-economic and socio-cultural aspects, is widely used to describe the results of rapid modernization on Saudi Arabia in an era of rapid societal transformation. Whilst the outward signs of increased globalization in the Kingdom are highly visible, the underlying effects particularly in terms of the politico-economic and socio-cultural less so. Indeed, globalization is often characterized as inevitable or unstoppable. Yet, in a ‘globalized’ Saudi Arabia the impact of globalization is not always perceived as being positive, in particular its impact on notions of individual, national or Islamic identities. Research conducted for this article demonstrates that young Saudi men identify clearly both positive and negative effects of globalization on identity narratives, whether individual, national or Islamic. Indeed, the issue of how young Saudi men negotiate their identity in light of increased globalization raises important questions regarding the consequences of increased globalization on young Saudi men's sense of their own identity, and by extension the government's promotion of an officially sanctioned Saudi national identity, in an era of rapid societal transformation.     

The United Arab Emirates: economic vibrancy and US interests

Based in Tucson, Arizona, Dr J. E. Peterson is a historian and political scientist specializing in the Arabian Peninsula and Gulf. He received his PhD from the Johns Hopkins University and has taught at several academic institutions in the USA and worked for the US government and various research institutes. Until 1999, he served as the Historian of the Sultan's Armed Forces in the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for Security and Defence in Muscat, Sultanate of Oman, and he spent 2000–2001 at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London. His books include The Arab Gulf States: Steps Toward Political Participation (Praeger, for the Center for Strategic and International Studies, 1988), Historical Dictionary of Saudi Arabia (Scarecrow Press, 1993; 2^nd ed. Scarecrow Press, 2003) and Defending Oman: A History of the Sultan's Armed Forces (forthcoming). He has written an Adelphi Paper, Saudi Arabia and the Illusion of Security (2002). His articles on ‘Saudi-American Relations after September 11’ and ‘Bahrain's First Steps Towards Reform Under Amir Hamad’ appeared in recent issues of Asian Affairs. Dr Peterson's website is www.JEPeterson.net     

Banking on Folk Art: Banamex‐Citigroup and Transnational Cultural Citizenship

This article offers two readings of The Great Masters of Mexican Folk Art, a travelling exhibition of the Fomento Cultural Banamex, AC's folk art collection that coincided with Citigroup's buyout of Banamex, Mexico's second largest bank. The first, a political economic critique, situates the exhibition within the neoliberal economic reform of the Mexican banking system and the designs of US‐based transnational banks on migrant remittances. The second, a material culture approach, focuses on the exhibitionary strategies employed to incentivise folk art consumption as a mode of cosmopolitan citizenship.     

The Negotiated Desecuritization Of Turkey in Saudi Foreign Policy

Saudi-Turkey relations hit one of their lowest points due to the Arab uprisings and the regional shock of the Gulf crisis. The tension resulted from, and in turn exacerbated, a process of securitization of Saudi discourse, whereby officials labeled Turkey as a threat. But after three and a half years of the Gulf crisis, the Al-Ula accords allowed reconciliation among the regional states and opened the way for the construction of new understandings based on diplomacy, tolerance of differences on regional and domestic security, and respect of sovereignty. This spurred Saudi policy makers to de-securitize their discourse concerning Turkey—that is, to talk of it not as a threat, but as a potential partner. This process continues to develop gradually through cooperation on economics and investment, but it has required time to re-establish confidence among Saudi decision makers. This article analyzes the discourses of Saudi leaders and policy makers and shows how they affected Saudi Arabia's relations with Turkey, both negatively and positively.     

Women's Organisations and the Politics of Gender in Cuba's Urban Insurrection (1952–1958)

This article sheds new light on Cuba's urban insurrection to oust Fulgencio Batista by focusing on two all‐women's anti‐Batista groups. It charts the origins and developments of the groups, explores their conceptions about the importance of women's political action and examines the impact that participating in the insurrection had on group members. The article complicates long‐standing assumptions about women's low levels of participation in the insurrection and the absence of demands for gender equity among those who did participate by noting that some older women militants had histories with the feminist movement of the 1930s, and that many younger women were forced by the circumstances of the insurrection to confront and challenge contemporary gender norms.