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Syed Ali on Interrogating Ethnography

This paper offers an Islamic perspective on the issues of female migrants, mainly in domestic work, and the Islamic ethics that pertain to their contemporary circumstances in Qatar. It uses intersectionality theory to argue that multiple identity categories of migration, ethnicity and class are important along with gender to better analyse power relations and discrimination facing female migrant domestic workers. It refers to Islamic egalitarian and humanitarian teachings as an ethical framework for legislative and cultural reforms. The paper also offers some real-life examples to illustrate the issues and challenges facing migrant domestic workers in Qatar. In the end, some recommendations and implications are offered.

News coverage of the shootings in Orlando highlighted a tension between the two frames broadcasters used in their reporting. Was this a homophobic hate crime or was this terrorism? Many elided the difficulty by calling it homophobic terrorism, but this could not resolve the tension. This article contends that because terrorism is closely equated with radicalized Muslims, the tension was sublimated into an existing orientalist frame where homophobia became a marker of fundamentalist Islamic culture. Instead, this article argues, these two frames should not be taken as cause and effect but as problems that share a common ailment: the presence of toxic masculinities. Beginning from a position that sees masculinity as constituted through violence in patriarchal culture, this article works through the idea that when there is a disillusionment with violence, masculinity under patriarchy turns toxic. What emerges then is not merely violence but "rage" as the praxis of toxic masculinities.

The purpose of this study was to understand the relationship between happiness and housing prices in Canada. The happiness data were obtained from the General Social Survey between 2009 and 2013, asking respondents to report overall happiness level by using scale ranging between 1 to 10 points. House Price Indexes at the provincial level were constructed to cover the same period. The relationship between average house price change and average happiness was estimated using Ordinary Least Square and Logistic Regression techniques. Individual's characteristics were used as control variables. The study found that average happiness level is positively and significantly related to the change in housing prices for one group and not for another - for homeowners but not for renters. In addition, individuals with better health are much happier than individuals with poor health. Similarly, individuals with higher income are happier than individuals with less income. The implication of this study is that the government should design attractive policies to encourage homeownerships.

A panel discussion brings together four luminaries of fiction and creative non-fiction: Suketu Mehta, Suki Kim, Teju Cole, and Andrew Aciman.