Asia (Geography) Archives

“Gestational Surrogacy and Hindu Bioethics: The Karma of Genetics and the Genetics of Karma” by Deepak Sarma

Sep 13, 2024Canopy ForumSeriesAsia (Geography), Bioethics, Hinduism

Image by Mariya Popovich from Pixabay This article is part of our “Religious Perspectives on Assisted Reproduction and Surrogacy” series. If you’d like to explore other articles in this series, click here. While a great deal has already been written about cross-racial surrogacy and surrogacy in India, there are, however, no significant or credible studies concerning gestational surrogacy from…

“A Belated Book Review: Rabbi Dr. Emanuel Rackman, ‘Israel’s Emerging Constitution’ (1954) and Its Continued Relevance” by Michael J. Broyde

Apr 18, 2024Canopy ForumEssaysAsia (Geography), Broyde, Michael J., Constitutional Law, Judaism, Politics

Nuremburg Trials Protocols by David Shay (CC BY 3.0 DEED) Prologue Rabbi Dr. Emanuel Rackman (b. 1910, d. 2008) was a unique figure in the Orthodox Jewish community. Besides his well-known intellectual brilliance, he was involved with nearly every important Orthodox organization in America for many decades and then moved to Israel to be the…

“Islam, Women, and Genderization in Professions: The Case of Uzbekistan” by Rahimjon Abdugafurov

Apr 11, 2024Canopy ForumLiterature HighlightsAbdugafurov, Rahimjon, Asia (Geography), Human Rights / Civil Rights, Politics, Sex and Gender

Islam, Women, and Genderization in Professions: The Case of UzbekistanRahimjon Abdugafurov The following is an excerpt from Rahimjon Abdugafurov’s chapter titled, “Islam, Women, and Genderization in Professions: The Case of Uzbekistan” featured in The Political Economy of Education in Central Asia, an open access collection of essays on Central Asia. Reprinted here with permission from…

“Iran’s Political Agenda: Women’s Bodies at the Intersection of Religion and Law” by Faegheh Shirazi

Aug 4, 2023Canopy ForumEssaysAsia (Geography), August 2023, Human Rights / Civil Rights, Islam, Shirazi, Faegheh

A sign with “Woman, Life, Freedom” (Jin, Jiyan Azadi) in Central and Northern Kurdish by Pirehelokan (CC BY-SA 4.0). As a scholar in the field of Islamic studies and material culture since the early 1990s, I have continually read and written about veiling and the hijab in Muslim cultures. In Iran, the hijab has had…

“Chinese Persecution of the Uyghur: A Case of Genocide” by Ali Çaksu

Aug 3, 2023Canopy ForumEssaysAsia (Geography), August 2023, Caksu, Ali, Human Rights / Civil Rights, Islam

Demonstration for Uyghur rights in Berlin by Leonhard Lenz (CC0 1.0). Uyghurs are a Muslim Turkic people who have been living for a few millennia in East Turkistan or Uyghuristan, which was called Xinjiang (New Territories) in the Chinese language following Chinese invasion. The Uyghur nation has members of ethnic Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyzs, Tajiks, and…

“Religion, Law, and Governance in Premodern Hindu Political Theory” by John Nemec

Jul 25, 2023Canopy ForumEssaysAsia (Geography), Hinduism, Human Rights / Civil Rights, July 2023, Nemec, John

Prambanan Temple Complex in Yogyakarta Indonesia. Photo by CEphoto, Uwe Aranas. (CC BY-SA 3.0). Political theory in premodern South Asia settled on a single model of governance at a relatively early date: kingship. This was so in large part because those who defined and controlled the intellectual and religious institutions of the day, the Brahmins,…

“Control over Bodies: Transformation of a Religious Tradition into Law” by Zahra Abedinezhad

Jun 20, 2023Canopy ForumEssaysAbedinezhad, Zahra, Asia (Geography), Criminal Law, June 2023, Politics

“Amir Kabir University Uprising September 2022” by Darafsh. (CC BY-SA 4.0). How much can a religious-political system control its citizens? The Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) legally required the hijab in 1983. Later, in 1996 and 2014, amendments were made to the penal code of Iran, but this law remained in place. According to the…

“California Dreamin’ on Caste” by Prakash Shah

Jun 15, 2023Canopy ForumEssaysAsia (Geography), Human Rights / Civil Rights, June 2023, Shah, Prakash, Sikhism

Meeting between Indian Prime Minister Modi and Vice President Harris, from Office of the Vice President of the United States (CC0). The legislative proposal, Senate Bill no. 403, has been approved overwhelmingly by the California Senate and awaits the assent of the State Assembly. It would amend several existing laws on discrimination in California to…

“Constituting Religion: Islam, Liberal Rights, and the Malaysian State” by Tamir Moustafa

Apr 15, 2023Canopy ForumLiterature HighlightsApril 2023, Asia (Geography), Islam, Moustafa, Tamir

Constituting Religion: Islam, Liberal Rights, and the Malaysian StateTamir Moustafa The following is an excerpt from Tamir Moustafa’s Constituting Religion: Islam, Liberal Rights, and the Malaysian State (Cambridge University Press, August 2018). This book is available to read via open access. Over half of all Muslim-majority countries have constitutions that proclaim Islam the religion of…

“The Effects of Proscription on the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt” by Ioana Emy Matesan

Mar 25, 2023Canopy ForumEssaysAsia (Geography), Criminal Law, Ioana Emy Matesan, Islam, March 2023

Photo by Jr Korpa on Unsplash. Introduction From its establishment in 1928 until the Arab Spring uprisings of 2011, the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood developed from a small religious study group into the most influential Islamist movement in the world. After coming to political power in 2012 during Egypt’s brief democratic transition, the group was ousted…