#ClassificationMatters | Discourse! September 2021 (with video)

In the first Discourse! episode of the new season, RSP co-founder David Robertson is joined by Ting Guo and Jacob Barrett to discuss three stories in which classification matters. In the first, they look at the recent New York Times article which asks explicitly, “What counts as religion?” when it comes to vaccine resistance. In the second, they discuss how religious groups from conservative Jews to the Satanic Temple are challenging Texas’ abortion ban. In the third, they discuss how the image of Muslim women and the supposed religious nature of misogyny and authoritarianism plays into how states like Afghanistan are portrayed and managed by European and American powers.

Related Resources

• “Vaccine Resisters Seek Religious Exemptions, But What Counts as Religious?“
• “Why the Satanic Temple Backs Big Abortion“
• “Texas’ Abortion Ban Is Against My Religion. As A Rabbi, I will Defy It if Necessary“
• “Revisiting Aisha“
• “Explainer: How Dangerous Is Afghanistan’s Islamic State?“
• “Afghanistan | ‘Most of the women who wear the hijab are not oppressed’: Boushra Almutawakel, author of the image that went viral after the Taliban’s irruption“
• Do Muslim Women Need Saving? – Lila Abu-Lughod
• Religious Difference in a Secular Age: A Minority Report – Saba Mahmood

Check out the video of this episode!