Paolo Viola a Palermo, in memoria
Salvatore Lupo
Introduzione
Francesco Benigno
La guerra nella rete. Israeliani e palestinesi nel «web»
Vittorio Coco
The War in the Net. Israeli and Palestinian Web Sites
Making allowance that Internet has represented a fundamental bend in the relation
between historiography and the public use of history, this article wants to
study in which way certain topics and problems of the Arab-Israeli conflict are
faced from a selection of Palestinians and Zionists oriented web sites. Particular
attention is given to the rhetoric strategies and to the continuous dialogue between
some of that and the traditional historiography.
Il Ramadan in tv. Analisi di un rito televisivo in un contesto d'emigrazione
Piero Cipriano
Ramadan in TV: analysis of a television ritual in an emigration context
This article analyses the ritual of Ramadan using the methods of media
ethnography. Central themes are the performance of Ramadan in contemporary
TV and its fruition in an emigration context. The author’s intent is to show the
central role that the Arab national televisions, especially the Tunisian national TV
Tunis7, play during Ramadan. In fact national televisions render the celebration
of the ritual an easier task in both national and transnational contexts, by supporting
its practice. Referring to some classical studies concerning the anthropology
of ritual, the article highlights the modalities of construction of the ritual’s
‘sacred’ times and spaces, through precise strategies enacted by televisions and
viewers. The notion of space, in particular, reinterpreted through Meyerowitz’s
notion of ‘place’ and applied to Ramadan, inscribes the television ritual within the
complex category of rites et rituels contemporains.
Misticismo islamico: riflessioni sulle pratiche di una confraternita contemporanea
Paola Abenante
Islamic Mysticism: reflections on the practices
and disciplines of a contemporary Sufi order
This article stems from some questions and reflections born during the presence
of the author in Khartoum, in the occasion of the annual festival of Shaykh
Mohammad Uthman, the saint and founder of a notorious Sudanese Sufi order,
the Tariqa Burhaniyya. The order collects disciples worldwide and counts among
them many converts that annually gather during this celebration, bringing together
their differences in the practice of the sufi path. The text tries to highlight the
elements that enable the methods of spiritual growth proposed by the Tariqa to
be rearticulated by the individuals, back home, in their proper and local contexts
of life, although keeping a tight link with the central organisation. The Tariqa proposes
a method of spiritual exercises, a sufi path, that is extremely formalised and
organised by the Shaykh but that, at the same time, leaves great autonomy to the
disciples concerning the integration of their spiritual path with daily life and contexts.
The hypothesis is that the order proposes a method that concentrates on the
ethic formation of the individual, through moral and corporeal disciplines rather
than on a rigid adherence to the rules of the Islamic law. The attention that the
method of the Tariqa Burhaniyya devolves to the practices of formation of the
disciples enables the individuals to incorporate a Sufi attitude that moulds everyday
life and can be easily rearticulated with the everyday practices, in different
contexts. The article uses and reinterprets, in this sense, the theories of incorporation
and of rituality as transformative practice, theories that have lately been introduced
in the study of Sufism in order to reintegrate mystic theory and practice.
Lo sviluppo urbano in Giordania: l'esempio di Amman
Mohammed Abu Hussein
Urban development in Jordan: the case of Amman
The author's aim is to understand the inner determinants of the huge expansion
of Amman city and its hinterland during the second half of the last century.
Among others, the author emphasizes the role playes by three elements: i m m igration
of palestinian and lebanese refugees; immigration of peasants from other
arab countries in search of jobs; the economic hegemony exerted by Amman on
other jordan towns.
Dal Corano al //web//. La carriera mediatica di Amru Khaled
Ermete Mariani
From the Koran to the Web. Amru Khaled career in the Media World
What are the consequences of globalisation on the production of Islamic
knowledge in Arabic? Amru Khaled's career, style, communicational strategies
and success with audiences are symptoms of the emergence of a new kind of «religious
man». Educated in accountancy and marketing more than in religion, the
Egyptian television-preacher uses satellite TV, Internet, books, videotapes, dvds,
conferences and charity events to attain a wider audience including not just Egytpian
Muslims but also non-Arabic speakers and those generally interested in religion.
In the article we will analyse in detail his communicational strategy as well
as its social and political consequences.
Fondamentalismo islamico
Luca Ozzano
Islamic fundamentalism
This article outlines the history of Islamic fundamentalism (according to the
definition of this concept framed by the Fundamentalism Project and other
authoritative works) dealing with its main ideas, the movements they inspired,
and the political structures in which these last acted. Finding its harbingers in
classical writers such as Ibn Taymiyyah and in the reawakening movements of the
18th and 19th Centuries, contemporary Islamic fundamentalism conventionally
begins in 1928 with the foundation of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. The article
follows its evolution throughout the 20th Century, paying particular attention
to the role played in this process by some crucial events (the Six-Day War,
the Iranian revolution, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and the Gulf War) and
the strategies pursued by both international powers and Middle East regimes; it
argues that a more varied and adaptable approach to fundamentalist movements –
with the inclusion in democratic games of their moderate wings, at least in sufficiently
stable political systems – could prove a strategy more efficient than indiscriminate
repression.
Il cambiamento senza democratizzazione nel mondo arabo
Daniela Pioppi
Change without democratization in the Arab world
The article argues that democratisation processes must be assessed structurally,
that is in terms of the institutionalisation of the participation of all social interests
in fundamental political and economic decision-making. In that perspective,
the political change that has been taking place in the Arab World in the last three
decades does not lead to a process of democratisation. Nor are recent reforms preliminary
to it. They are functional to and legitimise a restructuring of the power
system that does not change the authoritarian nature of the Arab regimes, but – on
the contrary – contributes to their continuation while, at the same time, effectively
excluding large part of the population from an active political and economic role.
Riforme economiche e processo di democratizzazione nei Paesi arabi durante l'ultimo decennio
Matteo Calabresi, Alessio Ciarlone, Valerio Crispolti
Economic Reforms and the Process of Democratisation
in the Arab Countries during the last decade
The article discusses the recent economic developments of countries located
in the Mediterranean basin in the aftermath of the Barcelona Declaration (November
1995), which established the Euro-med Partnership. The Declaration represented
the first coherent and shared attempt of integration with the European
Union countries. In this respect, our contribution focuses on: (I) evaluating the
Mediterranean country economic progresses, by means of a comparison with the
experiences of other emerging economies, like the Asian developing countries and
the Accession countries; (II) singling out the most relevant institutional reforms
that these countries are undertaking in order to grasp the benefits of the integration
with advanced economies. The article concludes that the Euro-med partnership
has.
Pianificazione, ambiente, democrazia: un incontro fra saperi. Discussione fra Mauro Agnoletti, Piero Bevilacqua, Gabriella Corona, Vezio De Lucia, Antonio di Gennaro, Maurizio Franzini, Edoardo Salzano
Mario Agnoletti, Piero Bevilacqua, Gabriella Corona, Vezio De Lucia, Antonio Di Gennaro, Maurizio Franzini, Edoardo Salzano
Planning, environment and democracy:
a discussion from different scientific perspectives
On January 29th, 2005 Meridiana hosted a debate on Planning, environment
and democracy. The debate was an opportunity for scholars working in different
fields – Mauro Agnoletti, Piero Bevilacqua, Gabriella Corona, Vezio De Lucia,
Antonio di Gennaro, Maurizio Franzini, Edoardo Salzano – to speak about the
difficult relationships between territorial planning, development problems and
environmental protection. The issues they discussed include the dialogue between
different scientific points of view in the planning decisions, the difficulties
of the democratic institutions to represent environmental sustainable interests, the
different use of natural resources in Tuscany and in the South of Italy, the effects
of environmental exploitation on the welfare of the citizens, the economic advantages
of environmental protection, the crisis of the concept of general interest.
//Private//. Come la guerra
Antonio Nicita
Islam e globalizzazione
Grazia Paciullo