The molecular basis of autosomal recessive diseases among the Arabs and Druze in Israel

The Israeli population mainly includes Jews, Muslim and Christian Arabs, and Druze In the last decade, data on genetic diseases present in the population have been systematically collected and are available online in the Israeli national genetic database (). In the non-Jewish population, up to 1 July 2010, the database included molecular data on six diseases relatively frequent in the whole population: thalassemia, familial Mediterranean fever (FMF), cystic fibrosis, deafness, phenylketonuria and congenital adrenal hyperplasia, as well as data on 195 autosomal recessive diseases among Muslim Israeli Arabs, 11 among the Christian Arabs and 31 among Druze. A single mutation was characterized in 149 out of the 238 rare disorders for which the molecular basis was known. In many diseases, mutation had never been observed in any other population and was present in one family only suggesting that it occurred as a de novo event. In other diseases, the mutation was present in more than one community or even in other populations such as Bedouins from the Arab peninsula or Christians from Lebanon. In the 89 other disorders, more than one mutation was characterized either in the same gene or in more than one gene. While it is probable that most of these cases represent random events in some cases such as Bardet Biedl among the Bedouins, the reason may be a selective advantage to the heterozygotes.     

Ethiopian mitochondrial DNA heritage: tracking gene flow across and around the gate of tears

Approximately 10 miles separate the Horn of Africa from the Arabian Peninsula at Bab-el-Mandeb (the Gate of Tears). Both historic and archaeological evidence indicate tight cultural connections, over millennia, between these two regions. High-resolution phylogenetic analysis of 270 Ethiopian and 115 Yemeni mitochondrial DNAs was performed in a worldwide context, to explore gene flow across the Red and Arabian Seas. Nine distinct subclades, including three newly defined ones, were found to characterize entirely the variation of Ethiopian and Yemeni L3 lineages. Both Ethiopians and Yemenis contain an almost-equal proportion of Eurasian-specific M and N and African-specific lineages and therefore cluster together in a multidimensional scaling plot between Near Eastern and sub-Saharan African populations. Phylogeographic identification of potential founder haplotypes revealed that approximately one-half of haplogroup L0–L5 lineages in Yemenis have close or matching counterparts in southeastern Africans, compared with a minor share in Ethiopians. Newly defined clade L6, the most frequent haplogroup in Yemenis, showed no close matches among 3,000 African samples. These results highlight the complexity of Ethiopian and Yemeni genetic heritage and are consistent with the introduction of maternal lineages into the South Arabian gene pool from different source populations of East Africa. A high proportion of Ethiopian lineages, significantly more abundant in the northeast of that country, trace their western Eurasian origin in haplogroup N through assorted gene flow at different times and involving different source populations.     

Making muslim babies: Ivf and gamete donation in sunni versus shi’a islam

Medical anthropological research on science, biotechnology, and religion has focused on the “local moral worlds” of men and women as they make difficult decisions regarding their health and the beginnings and endings of human life. This paper focuses on the local moral worlds of infertile Muslims as they attempt to make, in the religiously correct fashion, Muslim babies at in vitro fertilization (IVF) clinics in Egypt and Lebanon. As early as 1980, authoritative fatwas issued from Egypt’s famed Al-Azhar University suggested that IVF and similar technologies are permissible as long as they do not involve any form of third-party donation (of sperm, eggs, embryos, or uteruses). Since the late 1990s, however, divergences in opinion over third-party gamete donation have occurred between Sunni and Shi’ite Muslims, with Iran’s leading ayatollah permitting gamete donation under certain conditions. This Iranian fatwa has had profound implications for the country of Lebanon, where a Shi’ite majority also seeks IVF services. Based on three periods of ethnographic research in Egyptian and Lebanese IVF clinics, this paper explores official and unofficial religious discourses surrounding the practice of IVF and third-party donation in the Muslim world, as well as the gender implications of gamete donation for Muslim marriages.     

Muslim immigrants and religious group feelings: self-identification and attitudes among Sunni and Alevi Turkish-Dutch

Affective ratings of multiple religious (sub)groups (Muslims, Christians, Jews and non-believers, as well as Sunni, Alevi and Sjiit Muslims), the endorsement of Islamic minority rights and religious group identification were examined among Sunni and Alevi Turkish-Dutch participants. The findings show that both groups differ in important ways. Some Alevi participants considered themselves Muslims but others interpreted Alevi identity in a secular way. The Sunnis were quite negative towards Jews and non-believers, they more strongly endorsed Islamic minority rights and they had very high Muslim group identification. Furthermore, the Sunnis were negative towards Alevis and the Alevis were negative towards the Sunnis. Muslim group identification was positively and strongly related to feelings towards Muslims and to the endorsement of Islamic group rights.     

Vertebral pathologies and related activity patterns in two mediaeval populations from Spain

The main aim of this study was to explore the usefulness of several types of vertebral pathology as activity markers in osteological populations. A total of 2165 vertebrae from 124 individuals were studied. They were derived from cemeteries in two villages: Villanueva de Soportilla (Burgos, north of Spain), with a Christian population, and La Torrecilla (Granada, south of Spain), inhabited by Muslims. Degenerative joint diseases, Schmorl's nodes, compression fractures and spondylolysis with spondylolisthesis were analysed in individuals and separate vertebral pieces. All pathological conditions, except compression fractures, were significantly more frequent in males than in females, reflecting more intensive labour conditions for males. They were significantly more frequent in males from Villanueva, a border population of peasant-soldiers, than in males from La Torrecilla. They were also significantly more frequent in females from Christian Villanueva than in those from Muslim La Torrecilla, where the women mainly worked at home. The benefits and limitations of the study of these vertebral pathologies are discussed.     

Intermarriage and reciprocal household exchange practices in a mixed community in Roti,Indonesia

For several generations, intermarriage has been common between indigenous Rotinese Christians and migrant Muslims and their descendants in the Indonesian village of Oelua on Roti Island. Muslims have engaged with the customary institutions upheld by indigenous Rotinese Christians—namely, those associated with marriage proposals and bridewealth. They have also engaged in reciprocal inter‐household exchanges to raise the cash to pay for weddings and bridewealth, as well as for other life cycle events such as funeral feasts and gatherings in the post‐funeral mourning period. This article argues that intermarriage and inter‐household monetary exchanges are important, among other factors, in promoting low conflict relations between the two groups, primarily because of the regular opportunities generated to interact in both public and private spheres. Marriage preferences in Oelua are changing, however, with young Muslim men preferring to marry women who subscribe to the same religion and similar customs. Muslim attitudes are also changing with respect to their involvement in inter‐household reciprocal exchanges, with many wanting to engage in different ways, or not at all. The article discusses what these changing attitudes and practices may mean for maintaining congenial inter‐group relations between Christians and Muslims in the future.     

Racial and ethnic differences in perceptions of discrimination among Muslim Americans

I use data from the 2011 Pew Survey (N?=?1,033) to examine the prevalence and correlates of perceived discrimination across Muslim American racial/ethnic groups. Asian Muslims report the lowest frequency of perceived discrimination than other Muslim racial/ethnic groups. Nearly, all Muslim racial/ethnic groups have a few times higher odds of reporting one or more types of perceived discrimination than white Muslims. After controlling for socio-demographic characteristics, the observed relationships persist for Hispanic Muslims but disappear for black and other/mixed race Muslims. Women are less likely than men to report several forms of discrimination. Older Muslims report lower rates of perceived discrimination than younger Muslims. White Muslim men are more likely to report experiencing discrimination than white, black and Asian Muslim women. The findings highlight varying degrees of perceived discrimination among Muslim American racial/ethnic groups and suggest examining negative implications for Muslims who are at the greatest risk of mistreatment.     

Spectrum of mutations in Lebanese patients with phenylalanine hydroxylase deficiency

Phenylketonuria is an autosomal recessive inborn error of metabolism resulting from phenylalanine hydroxylase deficiency. Genetic basis of phenylalanine hydroxylase deficiency has been reported in various European and Asian countries with few reports available in Arab populations of the Mediterranean region. This is the first pilot study describing phenotype and genotype of 23 Lebanese patients with phenylketonuria. 48% of the patients presented mainly with neurological signs at a mean age of 2 years 9 months, as newborn screening is not yet a nationwide policy. 56.5% of the patients had classical phenylketonuria. Thirteen different mutations were identified: splice site 52%, frameshift 31%, and missense 17% with no nonsense mutations. IVS10-11G>A was found mainly in Christians at high relative frequency whereas Muslims carried the G352fs and R261Q mutations. A rare splice mutation IVS7+1G>T, not described before, was identified in the homozygous state in one family with moderate phenylketonuria phenotype. Genotype–phenotype correlation using Guldberg arbitrary value method showed high consistency between predicted and observed phenotypes. Calculated homozygosity rate was 0.07 indicating the genetic heterogeneity in our patients. Our findings underline the admixture of different ethnicities and religions in Lebanon that might help tracing back the PAH gene flux history across the Mediterranean region.     

‘Shrinking Worlds’: Cronulla,Anti‐Lebanese Racism and Return Visits in the Sydney Hadchiti Lebanese Community

By drawing on observations gained from ethnographic fieldwork in western Sydney with immigrants who are Maronite Catholics from Hadchit, North Lebanon, I demonstrate the pervasiveness of anti‐Lebanese racism in Australia and the way it cuts across class, gender and religion within the Lebanese community. My fieldwork was conducted around the time of two pivotal events: the 2005 Cronulla Riots in Sydney and the July 2006 war in Lebanon. By focusing on the experience of racism within the Hadchiti community, I show that the problems the Lebanese face in Australia cannot be attributed only to their economic disadvantage, low education and religious difference. On the contrary, the Hadchiti experience shows that Australia has a ‘glass ceiling’ and that there are distinct limits to the ability of successful Lebanese to translate their success into national belonging in Australian society. This has been particularly acute for the second generation of Hadchitis in Australia and has contributed to their search for transnational belonging back in Lebanon. During return visits to Hadchit, members of the second generation strive to find a place in the society their parents left behind, only to discover that they are considered to be ‘Australian’ rather than ‘Lebanese’. Thus, they are trapped in a migration process that renders them out of place in both Australia and Lebanon.     

Mitochondrial evidence for the origin of hamadryas baboons

Baboons (Mammalia: Primates, Papio) are found primarily on the continent of Africa, but the range of hamadryas baboons (Papio hamadryas) extends to the Arabian Peninsula, and the origin of Arabian populations is unclear. To estimate the timing of the divergence between Arabian and African hamadryas populations we analyzed mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequences from individuals of Arabian and African origin, and from representatives of the other major baboon taxa. The oldest hamadryas mitochondrial lineages in the Arabian Peninsula form an ancient trichotomy with the two major African lineages. This suggests that Arabia was colonized by hamadryas very soon after the appearance of the distinctive hamadryas phenotype, both events perhaps coinciding with a mid-Pleistocene stage of dry climate and low sea-level. The most closely related Arabian and African mtDNA haplotypes coalesce at approximately 35 ka, suggesting that no gene flow between African and Arabian baboons has occurred since the end of the last ice age, when a land bridge at the southern sill of the Red Sea was submerged. The mitochondrial paraphyly of Ethiopian hamadryas and anubis (P. anubis) baboons suggests an extensive and complex history of sex-specific introgression.     

Mobilising mosques? The role of service attendance for political participation of Turkish and Moroccan minorities in the Netherlands

Religious service attendance has been identified as an important source of political participation among Christians and Muslims in the USA. In Europe, where religion is seen as a barrier rather than a bridge to Muslims’ integration, the role of mosque attendance for the political participation of Muslims remains understudied. This study asks whether the politically mobilizing role of service attendance extends to Muslim minorities in Europe. We examine direct and indirect effects of the frequency of religious service attendance on organizational participation, political trust and voting intentions among large nationwide samples of Turkish and Moroccan minorities in the Netherlands using multi-group structural equation modelling. Our results show that service attendance relates positively to engagement in both co-ethnic and mainstream organizations. These two forms of civic engagement translate into a greater intention to vote among Turks, but not Moroccans.     

Genetic structure of Euclea schimperi (Ebenaceae) populations in monsoonal fog oases of the southern Arabian Peninsula

Euclea schimperi, a widespread Afromontane shrub or tree, occurs in the Arabian Peninsula in fragmented, semi-evergreen or evergreen woodland refugia in wet escarpment localities of the western and southern mountain chains. In the southern coastal mountains, the (semi-) evergreen woodland with E. schimperi is close to its ecological limit and consequently today very rare, with the exception of the monsoonal fog oases of east Yemen and south Oman in the central south coast of the Arabian Peninsula. Due to the steep precipitation gradient from the centre to the western edge in this monsoon affected area, E. schimperi is found in two different habitat types: in continuous woodland belts in the Hawf and Dhofar mountains, and in isolated, scattered woodland patches in the Fartak Mountains. Ten populations (138 individuals) from across the southern Arabian distribution area of the species were analysed using chloroplast microsatellites and AFLP fingerprinting to a) reconstruct the phylogeographical pattern of E. schimperi on the southern Arabian Peninsula and b) to evaluate the consequences of population fragmentation on the genetic diversity harboured in isolated patches vs cohering stands. Phylogeographical reconstructions show that the distribution area of E. schimperi in the southern Arabian Peninsula is characterised by a geographical split that separates the southwestern populations (representated by material from Jabal Eraf and Jabal Uthmar), from the southcentral populations, which themselves are split from each other into a western (Ras Fartak) and an eastern refugium (Hawf/Dhofar). The analysis of the within-population genetic diversity in E. schimperi populations resulted in a slightly, but not significantly higher genetic variation in small and isolated woodland patches (H_S=0.302) compared to larger, cohering stands (H_S=0.291).     

Emotions of the weak: violence and ethnic boundaries among Coptic Christians in Egypt

This article offers a theoretical framework to understand Muslim–Christian relations in contemporary Egypt. I argue that the interdependence of power relations, emotions, and symbolic boundaries are the key to understanding minority emotions as a political product and a boundary marker. Particular emotions of Christian minorities invoked during interactions and non-interactions with Muslim neighbours reveal the distance between the two groups, while cultivating cohesion among Christians. Data collected from participant observation in public spaces of a religiously tolerant neighbourhood in Cairo and in-depth interviews with 27 Coptic Christians show that indirect violence and daily microaggressions, triggered by the power disparity, unfold internalized fear and ‘righteous indignation’, negative feelings including anger and irritation against unjust treatment. Findings also discuss Coptic strategies to dismiss negative emotions. The interdependent framework, which has been largely understudied, expands our scope of understanding how power relates to minority emotions and symbolic boundaries between ethnic and religious groups.     

Systematics and phylogeography of Acanthodactylus schreiberi and its relationships with Acanthodactylus boskianus (Reptilia: Squamata: Lacertidae)

Acanthodactylus is a widespread lacertid genus occurring from the Iberian Peninsula and western North Africa to western India including the Middle East, Cyprus, and the Arabian Peninsula. The genus is in dire need of a taxonomic revision, and the phylogenetic relationships amongst and within its species remain unclear. In particular, the taxonomy and relationship of the allopatric, narrow‐ranged Acanthodactylus schreiberi and its close relative, the widespread Acanthodactylus boskianus asper, are poorly understood. We estimated the phylogenetic and phylogeographical structure of A. schreiberi across its distribution range, and evaluated its relationships to A. b. asper, using mitochondrial and nuclear data. The phylogenetic results indicate that both species are paraphyletic, with A. schreiberi nested within A. b. asper, and the subspecies A. schreiberi syriacus nested within a distinct lineage of A. b. asper. We suggest that the group is in need of a taxonomic revision because the identified lineages and genetic diversity are incongruent with the currently recognized taxonomy. We tentatively conclude that A. schreiberi is restricted to Cyprus and Turkey, reduced to a single form, and that the populations in Lebanon and Israel belong to A. b. asper. © 2014 The Linnean Society of London     

Homegrown foreigners: how Christian nationalism and nativist attitudes impact Muslim civil liberties

Building from the literature on racialization of Muslims, we argue that there are two unique dimensions to anti-Muslim attitudes: Christian nationalism and nativism. Christian nationalism subscribes to the idea of Christianity as being central to American identity, and nativism provides insight into the monopolies regulating citizenship. We then test this framework’s hypotheses on data drawn from the General Social Survey in 2014 to see if these two dimensions predict support for civil rights infringements of Muslim-Americans compared to other outgroups, including atheists, communists, and racists. The results indicate both Christian nationalism and nativism have significant and negative effects on Muslim civil liberties. We also find some differences between the effects of Christian nationalism and nativism on Muslim civil liberties compared to the other outgroups. We interpret these results as an indication that nativism works as an ordering principle to reconstitute who counts as American and who does not.     

Of Chicks,Lice and Mackerel: Carnival and Transgression in a Cosmopolitan Spanish Enclave in Morocco

In 2006, a group of Ceutan Carnival performers were sued for their anti-Muslim lyrics, resulting in a convoluted trial that took six years to resolve. Ceuta is a small, cosmopolitan Spanish enclave on the Mediterranean coast of Morocco. Its Christian, Muslim, Hindu and Jewish communities are tenuously held together by the City-led ideology of convivencia, that challenges mono-cultural models of Spanishness in favour of the idea that that Ceuta's ethno-religious groups live in harmony, all being validly Spanish. This paper contends that the Ceutan Carnival does not fit functionalist theories describing it as a stress-tap that reproduces power-relations by temporarily allowing their transgression. The long-drawn-out trial, which incurred vicious feuds, spiked tensions between Christians and Muslims, collapsed ‘convivencia’, and challenged the authority of State institutions, suggests that the Ceutan Carnival is an uncomfortable space, better understood if treated as a Foucaultian ‘mirror’, a space where society appears to itself as dangerously anarchistic, making individuals long for, not resist, State control.     

Nationalist Anxiety or the Fear of Losing Your Other

The nation of the nationalists is always conceived to be in crisis. There is always an other standing between them and ‘it’. ‘It’ is often the impossible goal of a ‘totally gratifying nation’. Within a psychoanalytic framework, gratifying this nation is perceived as a fantasy, an object-cause of desire (Lacan), that is, a practical impossibility that neverthless keeps the practitioner trying to reach it. Within such a framework the other standing between the nationalists and their goal becomes a necessary subjective construction which allows the conversion of the impossibility of the nationalist fantasy into deferred possibility. The crisis presented by nationalist thought as triggered by the presence of the other is in fact a mode of reproducing the nationalists' belief in themselves and their nation. The ‘real’ crisis is when nationalists ‘lose’ their other and are forced to face the impossibility of the desired nation. Such situations can be described as states of nationalist anxiety. This paper, based on research during the civil war in Lebanon, examines certain events where the Lebanese Christian Nationalists were faced with the threat of losing their Muslim other. The paper describes the states of anxiety generated by this ‘threat’ and the nature of the strategies the Christian militias deployed to bring their state of anxiety to an end.     

Islamic gatherings: experiences of discrimination and religious affirmation across established and new immigrant communities

To what extent are perceptions of discrimination associated with religious affirmation among Muslim minorities in the Netherlands? Drawing on recent nationally representative surveys among self-identified Muslims from five ethnic groups in the Netherlands, we test boundary conditions of reactive religiosity. Our findings indicate that for Muslims from established immigrant groups, perceptions of discrimination are associated with more frequent religious attendance, but that this is not the case for Muslims from smaller, less established ethnic communities. Findings are interpreted using a boundary framework.     

Eurasian and African mitochondrial DNA influences in the Saudi Arabian population

Background  

Genetic studies of the Arabian Peninsula are scarce even though the region was the center of ancient trade routes and empires and may have been the southern corridor for the earliest human migration from Africa to Asia. A total of 120 mtDNA Saudi Arab lineages were analyzed for HVSI/II sequences and for haplogroup confirmatory coding diagnostic positions. A phylogeny of the most abundant haplogroup (preHV)1 (R0a) was constructed based on 13 whole mtDNA genomes.