Erik Meinema
Biographic Data
| ID | 244452 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Erik Meinema |
| GIVEN NAMES | Erik |
| FAMILY NAME | Meinema |
| SIGNATURE | MEINEMA E |
| AFFILIATIONS | Utrecht University |
| ORCID | 0009-0004-2930-7476 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 9 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 11 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 9 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2020 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Reverberations of Ga Tradition in the Secular State of Ghana
Religious Plurality in Africa
Mixed Messages
Muslim political dissent in coastal East Africa
This article stages a comparative analysis of Muslim politics in coastal Kenya and Tanzania between 2010 and 2023. We explore parallels, discontinuities, and entanglements between different expressions of - and responses to - Muslim political dissent. Our insights are drawn from ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Dar es Salaam, Malindi, and Zanzibar City. We begin by investigating a sharp rise of militant jihadi activity across the region, exami…
Witchcraft, Terrorism, and ‘Things of Conflict’ in Coastal Kenya
This chapter focuses on the coastal Kenyan town of Malindi, where concerns about witchcraft and terrorism reflect and inform tensions and conflicts, which sometimes result in violence. The chapter argues that discourses about witchcraft and terrorism both provide a way of speaking about hidden enemies who are thought to covertly plot violence that disrupts social relations from within. State actors and others often attempt to expose these hidden …
Material Perspectives on Religion, Conflict, and Violence
How do objects become contested in settings characterized by (violent) conflict? Why are some things contested by religious actors? How do religious actors mobilize things in conflict situations and how are conflict and violence experienced by religious groups? This volume explores relations between materiality, religion, and violence by drawing upon two fields of scholarship that have rarely engaged with one another: research on religion and (vi…
Beyond 'radical' versus 'moderate'? New perspectives on the politics of moderation in Muslim majority and Muslim minority settings
Muslims are increasingly conceived through a binary frame of ‘radical’ versus ‘moderate’. In this thematic issue, we critically explore how the dichotomy of ‘radical’ versus ‘moderate’ is constructed and mobilized in different Muslim majority and Muslim minority settings across the world, and we examine the active role played by Muslims in upholding, appropriating, and/or subverting this binary frame. How do Muslims present themselves, their reli…
Countering 'Islamic' violent extremism? The implementation of programs to prevent radicalization by Muslim-led civil society organizations in Malindi, Kenya
This article explores how Muslim-led civil society organizations (CSOs) implement programs to Counter Violent Extremism (CVE) in Malindi, Kenya, while adapting these programs to both their local context and the CVE-policies of Western donors. So far, little research has been done on how East-African Muslims relate themselves to (global) anxieties about Islam and violent extremism. Taking theories within the anthropology of secularism as an analyt…
Is Giriama Traditionalism a Religion? Negotiating Indigenous African Religiosity in 'Interfaith' Cooperation in Coastal Kenya
This article explores how Giriama elders represent their 'traditional religion' (dini ya jadi) through 'interfaith' cooperation with Christians and Muslims in the coastal Kenyan town of Malindi. Based on extensive ethnographic research, the article analyses how Giriama Traditionalism relates, in complex and ambivalent ways, to normative assumptions and ideals with regard to what religion entails, and in turn how Giriama elders seek recognition as…
Idle minds' and 'empty stomachs
This article analyses how concerns about youth and violence intersect with the politics of managing religious coexistence in the coastal Kenyan town of Malindi. During extensive ethnographic research, I noticed that Muslim, Christian and 'Traditionalist' leaders, politicians and NGO officials often fear that the 'idleness' of young people leaves them susceptible to various immoralities, including political violence and 'violent extremism', that t…
Idle minds' and 'empty stomachs
This article analyses how concerns about youth and violence intersect with the politics of managing religious coexistence in the coastal Kenyan town of Malindi. During extensive ethnographic research, I noticed that Muslim, Christian and 'Traditionalist' leaders, politicians and NGO officials often fear that the 'idleness' of young people leaves them susceptible to various immoralities, including political violence and 'violent extremism', that t…
Material Perspectives on Religion, Conflict, and Violence
How do objects become contested in settings characterized by (violent) conflict? Why are some things contested by religious actors? How do religious actors mobilize things in conflict situations and how are conflict and violence experienced by religious groups? This volume explores relations between materiality, religion, and violence by drawing upon two fields of scholarship that have rarely engaged with one another: research on religion and (vi…
Beyond 'radical' versus 'moderate'? New perspectives on the politics of moderation in Muslim majority and Muslim minority settings
Muslims are increasingly conceived through a binary frame of ‘radical’ versus ‘moderate’. In this thematic issue, we critically explore how the dichotomy of ‘radical’ versus ‘moderate’ is constructed and mobilized in different Muslim majority and Muslim minority settings across the world, and we examine the active role played by Muslims in upholding, appropriating, and/or subverting this binary frame. How do Muslims present themselves, their reli…
Countering 'Islamic' violent extremism? The implementation of programs to prevent radicalization by Muslim-led civil society organizations in Malindi, Kenya
This article explores how Muslim-led civil society organizations (CSOs) implement programs to Counter Violent Extremism (CVE) in Malindi, Kenya, while adapting these programs to both their local context and the CVE-policies of Western donors. So far, little research has been done on how East-African Muslims relate themselves to (global) anxieties about Islam and violent extremism. Taking theories within the anthropology of secularism as an analyt…
Is Giriama Traditionalism a Religion? Negotiating Indigenous African Religiosity in 'Interfaith' Cooperation in Coastal Kenya
This article explores how Giriama elders represent their 'traditional religion' (dini ya jadi) through 'interfaith' cooperation with Christians and Muslims in the coastal Kenyan town of Malindi. Based on extensive ethnographic research, the article analyses how Giriama Traditionalism relates, in complex and ambivalent ways, to normative assumptions and ideals with regard to what religion entails, and in turn how Giriama elders seek recognition as…
Idle minds' and 'empty stomachs
This article analyses how concerns about youth and violence intersect with the politics of managing religious coexistence in the coastal Kenyan town of Malindi. During extensive ethnographic research, I noticed that Muslim, Christian and 'Traditionalist' leaders, politicians and NGO officials often fear that the 'idleness' of young people leaves them susceptible to various immoralities, including political violence and 'violent extremism', that t…
Beyond 'radical' versus 'moderate'? New perspectives on the politics of moderation in Muslim majority and Muslim minority settings
Muslims are increasingly conceived through a binary frame of ‘radical’ versus ‘moderate’. In this thematic issue, we critically explore how the dichotomy of ‘radical’ versus ‘moderate’ is constructed and mobilized in different Muslim majority and Muslim minority settings across the world, and we examine the active role played by Muslims in upholding, appropriating, and/or subverting this binary frame. How do Muslims present themselves, their reli…
Countering 'Islamic' violent extremism? The implementation of programs to prevent radicalization by Muslim-led civil society organizations in Malindi, Kenya
This article explores how Muslim-led civil society organizations (CSOs) implement programs to Counter Violent Extremism (CVE) in Malindi, Kenya, while adapting these programs to both their local context and the CVE-policies of Western donors. So far, little research has been done on how East-African Muslims relate themselves to (global) anxieties about Islam and violent extremism. Taking theories within the anthropology of secularism as an analyt…
Is Giriama Traditionalism a Religion? Negotiating Indigenous African Religiosity in 'Interfaith' Cooperation in Coastal Kenya
This article explores how Giriama elders represent their 'traditional religion' (dini ya jadi) through 'interfaith' cooperation with Christians and Muslims in the coastal Kenyan town of Malindi. Based on extensive ethnographic research, the article analyses how Giriama Traditionalism relates, in complex and ambivalent ways, to normative assumptions and ideals with regard to what religion entails, and in turn how Giriama elders seek recognition as…
Witchcraft, Terrorism, and ‘Things of Conflict’ in Coastal Kenya
This chapter focuses on the coastal Kenyan town of Malindi, where concerns about witchcraft and terrorism reflect and inform tensions and conflicts, which sometimes result in violence. The chapter argues that discourses about witchcraft and terrorism both provide a way of speaking about hidden enemies who are thought to covertly plot violence that disrupts social relations from within. State actors and others often attempt to expose these hidden …
Material Perspectives on Religion, Conflict, and Violence
How do objects become contested in settings characterized by (violent) conflict? Why are some things contested by religious actors? How do religious actors mobilize things in conflict situations and how are conflict and violence experienced by religious groups? This volume explores relations between materiality, religion, and violence by drawing upon two fields of scholarship that have rarely engaged with one another: research on religion and (vi…
Muslim political dissent in coastal East Africa
This article stages a comparative analysis of Muslim politics in coastal Kenya and Tanzania between 2010 and 2023. We explore parallels, discontinuities, and entanglements between different expressions of - and responses to - Muslim political dissent. Our insights are drawn from ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Dar es Salaam, Malindi, and Zanzibar City. We begin by investigating a sharp rise of militant jihadi activity across the region, exami…
Religious Plurality in Africa
Mixed Messages
Reverberations of Ga Tradition in the Secular State of Ghana
Sociology (8 works) · Law (7 works) · Political science (7 works) · Anthropological Studies and Insights (5 works) · Global Maritime and Colonial Histories (5 works) · Islam (5 works) · Politics (5 works) · African history and culture analysis (4 works) · Criminology (4 works) · Gender Studies (4 works)