Nejla Demirkaya – författare

Sammelband aus dem Jahr 2023 im Fachbereich Theologie - Hinduismus, , Sprache: Deutsch, Abstract: Dieser Sammelband besteht aus vier Hausarbeiten. Der erste Essay zielt darauf ab, die potenzielle Anfälligkeit junger Hindus in den USA für Hindu-Nationalismus zu erforschen. Durch die Untersuchung der vielfältigen identitätsformenden Einflüsse, denen junge Hindus in einer multikulturellen Gesellschaft wie den USA ausgesetzt sind, wird die Frage nach ihrer Neigung zur Anhängerschaft nationalistischer Ideologien untersucht. Ziel der zweiten Arbeit ist es, das Kastensystem im Hinduismus umfassend zu beleuchten, um die Frage zu beantworten, ob es für die hinduistische Gesellschaft in Indien eher ein Segen oder ein Fluch darstellt. Durch die Untersuchung der Entstehung, Begründung, Merkmale und aktuellen Entwicklungen des Kastensystems werden sowohl positive als auch negative Aspekte herausgearbeitet, um eine fundierte Schlussfolgerung zu ziehen. Die dritte Arbeit vergleicht die Verehrungsrituale der Religionen Hinduismus und Jainismus miteinander. Der Fokus liegt auf dem Ritual der puja, wobei die Objekte der Verehrung in beiden Religionen betrachtet und auf Unterschiede in der geistigen Haltung, den angewandten Praktiken und den zugrunde liegenden Zielen eingegangen wird. Zusätzlich wird die Frage nach gemeinsamen Traditionen oder eigenständigen Ritualen innerhalb dieser Verehrungspraktiken erörtert.Die Übergangsrituale im Hinduismus, fokussiert auf Hochzeitsrituale, werden in der vierten Arbeit analysiert und detailliert beschrieben. Die Einleitung kontextualisiert die Bedeutung von Übergangsritualen im allgemeinen Lebensverlauf und hebt die Rolle von Ritualen für den sozialen Zusammenhalt hervor. Darüber hinaus werden die Phasen von Übergangsriten anhand von Arnold van Genneps Modell und Victor Turners Erweiterungen erläutert. Der Hauptteil widmet sich den Übergangsritualen im Hinduismus, insbesondere dem Vivâha (Hochzeitsritual), unter Betonung seiner Symbolik, Bedeutung und sozialen Aspekte.

Seminar paper from the year 2014 in the subject Orientalism / Sinology - Islamic Studies, grade: 1,3, University of Gottingen (Centre for Modern Indian Studies), course: Religion, health and medicine in India, language: English, abstract: For the past decade, the Islamic faith, especially when represented by minority communities living in Western countries, has repeatedly been the subject of heated debate in the political and the public sphere. Its followers are consequently confronted with the predicament of living in accordance to the prescriptions of their faith and being compelled to justify it. In this regard, Islamic adherence could very well be assessed as quite a burden. However, religion and spirituality have long since been recognised as beneficial to the coping process in times of emotional and psychological distress, albeit predominantly in the Christian context. Acknowledging the special situation of Muslims in Western countries , this paper aims to provide an analysis of the situation of Muslims with mental health issues living in a non-Islamic society, namely the multicultural, secular societies of the UK and the USA. It furthermore seeks to establish in what ways the Islamic religion influences the patients' outlook on themselves and their choices of treatment. It presumes that anti-Muslim bias, unfortunately widespread in the West, has its impact on its victims' psychological well-being. Not merely belonging to a minority group, but one that is continuously hated against, might prove to be a factor that negatively affects the psychological health of Muslims. Numerous questions are inherently connected with this approach: How does affiliation to Islam influence adherence to treatment regimes? Do Muslims in the West generally oppose biomedicine? Or are biomedical and traditional treatment complementary in the minds of the sick? Does Islam promote behaviour beneficial to mental health or does it rather constitute a risk factor? Does the simple fact of following Islam present Muslims living in the West with conditions harmful to their mental health?

Seminar paper from the year 2014 in the subject History - Asia, grade: 1,3, University of Gottingen (Centre for Modern Indian Studies), course: Health and Medicine in South Asia: A Historical Perspective, 1750-1950, language: English, abstract: Even to modern scientists, certain aspects of leprosy such as its exact mode of transmission and point of onset remain a matter of research. How much greater the confusion in regard to leprosy must have been in colonial times, when Western medicine as we know it today was just beginning to evolve, is easily understood by looking at the many different, even contradictory attitudes towards the disease and the ways of dealing with its sufferers in British India. Using the example of the main institutions designated for the housing and the care of India's "e;lepers"e;, the leprosy asylums, the many different motives and ideologies partaking in the medical, public and political discourse on this ancient disease shall be identified and discussed, seeking to show the many interconnections between colonial interests, public pressure, medical perspectives and missionary agenda. Did colonial intervention root in medical or rather pragmatic considerations? What religious ideologies nurtured the wish for the confinement of "e;lepers"e;? How much influence did Indian public opinion exert on the way leprosy was dealt with? This paper thus attempts to reveal the inner workings of the colonial state by looking at the many agents taking part in public health decisions and policies.

Seminar paper from the year 2015 in the subject Asian studies, grade: 1,0, University of Gottingen (Centre for Modern Indian Studies), course: Disability and Society - Global Historical Perspectives, language: English, abstract: The Indian feminist movement has until recently neglected the plight of those women that are not healthy and functional in the normative sense, but rather impaired and thus, almost consequently, disabled. By taking disability into account, the general burden of being born female might become evident in even sharper contrast. In order to achieve a more complete picture and understand the mechanisms behind gender ideologies in the context of disability, the situation of the disabled men needs to be considered as well. This way, a comparative analysis of the impact gender ideologies exert on persons with disabilities (PWD) of different sexes is possible. How does incapacity, physical or intellectual, affect the standing of a PWD in the eyes of their community and subsequently their general outlook in life? In what ways does the experience of disability influence the perception and performance of culturally determined gender roles and gender identities?Due to India being so culturally diverse, no single formulation can be given that encompasses all the different ways in which disability is viewed and experienced. The study of the disabled experience of men and women in relation to gender is impossible without taking into account the ideological background upon which gendered ideals, norms and expectations are socially constructed. Thus, before delving deeper into the literature review, an outline of the construction of personhood as well as the perspectives on disability in the Indian context shall be given. Afterwards, an analysis of the different gender-specific challenges, but also opportunities for identity negotiation of men and women with disabilities is attempted consecutively. In this section it will be shown that men generally suffer from the same normative ideals as women, albeit to a lesser extent depending on their impairment, its degree and also their social setting.

Essay from the year 2013 in the subject Asian studies, grade: 1,0, University of Gottingen (Centre for Modern Indian Studies), course: Untouchability and religious identity in modern India, language: English, abstract: This paper will deal with the concept of race as configured by low caste movements in India and social reformers seeking to abolish Untouchability and to improve the status of lower castes by way of opposing Brahmin hegemony. It will be shown that the formulation of a distinct racial identity often goes hand in hand with the rejection of Hinduism, the religion the discriminatory caste system originated from. Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries there have been many different strategies by means of which the Untouchables have tried to escape their subjugated position within the discriminatory Hindu social order. Along inevitably came the need for the formulation of a separate identity that, obviously, did not emphasise their supposed ritual impurity or their long history of oppression, but rather a prestigious heritage and equality, if not superiority not only in a moral, but cultural and even biological sense. In line with the nationalist movements of the late 19th and early 20th centuries that drew much of their inspiration from Orientalist knowledge and colonial ethnographic theories regarding the racial origins of Indian society, another factor may have contributed to the Untouchables rejection of Hindu orthodoxy: That of a racialised thinking and pronounced, separate ethnic identity. Thus, in what ways is the Untouchables rejection of Hinduism related to racial ideologies?

Essay from the year 2012 in the subject Indology, grade: 2,0, University of Gottingen (Centre for Modern Indian Studies), course: Sex and Society: The Anthropology of Reproduction in India and the US, language: English, abstract: India suffers from two crucial demographic crises that not only endanger the country's political stability but also the lives and health of millions of its inhabitants: Overpopulation and gender imbalance. Both demographic phenomena are highly interconnected, yet they move in opposite directions: While overpopulation is going to remain a problem for the coming decades, recent developments give reason to hope for a stationary population, provided that fertility rates on state level either remain as they currently are or decline even further. Gender imbalance, however, continues to worsen in large parts of India. The protection of women s rights and the enhancement of their social and economic status are given utmost priority in the global battle against overpopulation and anti-female discrimination; many scholars argue that these may even be the single most important steps towards creating peaceful and just conditions for everybody. But can there be a panacea for the population problems of a country as complex and diverse as India? This essay attempts to show that women s rights and empowerment have partially already proven to be the key solution, although it can unfold its potency only in conjunction with further factors and as an accompaniment of social developments that are often culturally and regionally specific.