Boundary Ethics of Mythic Belonging: Tribal, Us-ness, Identity, Saved/Heathen

The terrorists of today are the heroes of tomorrow: the anti-British and anti-American insurgencies in Iraqi history

by Fanar Haddad

‘Belonging’ and ‘otherness’: sex equality in banking in Turkey and Britain

by Mustafa Ozbilgin

Özbilgin M. and Woodward, D. (2004) ‘Belonging’ and ‘otherness’: sex equality in banking in Turkey and Britain, Gender, Work and Organization, 11, 6: 668-688.   

The struggle for sex equality at work has largely been achieved in the developed world, it is claimed. The number of... more The struggle for sex equality at work has largely been achieved in the developed world, it is claimed. The number of well-qualified young women entering white-collar employment and achieving promotion to first-line and middle management positions now matches or exceeds their male peers. Many young women have high career aspirations and argue that sex discrimination no longer exists. However, this perception is overoptimistic. Major sex inequalities persist at senior management level in the salaries and benefits offered to female and male staff and in access to certain favoured occupations and sectors of employment. Questionnaires,
interviews and documentary evidence from three Turkish and six British banks and high street financial organizations showed that their claimed commitment to equal opportunities by sex was not matched by their practices. Members of managerial elites (who were almost exclusively male) held firm views about the characteristics of ‘the ideal worker’, which
informed organizational ideologies, including human resource policies and practices concerning recruitment and promotion. They also permeated organizational cultures, which affected employees’ working practices and experiences. The outcome of these internal negotiation processes was to differentiate between a favoured group of staff seen as fully committed to
the companies’ values, who were promoted and rewarded, and an ‘out’ group, whose members were denied these privileges. This distinction between ‘belonging’ and ‘otherness’ is gendered not only along the traditional lines of class, age, sexual orientation, religion and physical ability, but also along the new dimensions of marriage, networking, safety, mobility
and space. Despite local and cross-cultural differences in the significance of these factors, the cumulative disadvantage suffered by women staff seeking career development in the industry was remarkably similar.

"The Saint Has Been Stolen": Sanctity and Social Change in a Tribe of Eastern Morocco

by Michael Marcus

American Ethnologist, Vol. 12, No. 3 (Aug., 1985), pp. 455-467

A religious dispute between Moroccan tribespeople is examined in detail, illustrating the relationship of competing... more A religious dispute between Moroccan tribespeople is examined in detail, illustrating the relationship of competing types of belief to social changes that have redefined the boundaries of community within a rural society. Traditionally symbolizing the unity of peaceably coexisting tribal segments, a Muslim saint today provides the means by which a polemic is established between competing groups. The disenfranchisement of one "holy" lineage from sharing in the revenues produced by the saint's cult is related to (a) its members' involvement in extratribal networks of political and economic activity, and (b) the contesting of its leadership status by members of rival descent groups, who remain more closely bound to purely local concerns. Its meaning renewed but altered, the cult plays a key role in legitimating exclusive resource allocation at the local level. [popular religion, regional cults, Moroccan Islam, Muslim saints, North African tribes]

History on the Moroccan Periphery: Moral Imagination, Poetry, and Islam

by Michael Marcus

Anthropological Quarterly, Vol. 58, No. 4, Self & Society in the Middle East (Oct., 1985), pp. 152-160

Alternative modes of historical discourse and of knowing about the past are evident in Moroccan accounts of a struggle... more Alternative modes of historical discourse and of knowing about the past are evident in Moroccan accounts of a struggle between tribespeople, townspeople, and the state which seeks to rule over both groups. Local knowledge conveyed through tribal poetry contrasts significantly with an official version of events and challenges its authority on Islamic grounds. At issue is the person of the ruler and the nature of his relationship to the ruled. It is suggested that an understanding of interpretive differences in the cultural forms which are expressive of "history" from different points of view can be valuable in attempts at discerning the course of contemporary local religious and political trends.

"Horsemen are the Fence of the Land": Honor and History Among the Ghiyata of Eastern Morocco

by Michael Marcus

In Honor and shame and the unity of the Mediterranean
Author: David D Gilmore
Publisher: Washington, D.C. : American Anthropological Association, ©1987.
Series: Special publication of the American Anthropological Association, no. 22. Republished 2011.