To me, there is not a large difference between restricting an ethnicity and restricting a religion. Ethnicity and religion are both groups to which people associate themselves. By restricting one or the other, a leader is reducing the diversity of the state. The only difference I can see it that you can change a religion, but you cannot change an ethnicity. People can convert themselves to new religions, however, they cannot change their background.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Tolerance and Diversity
The main Islamic empires that we have studied are the Savafid empire, the Ottoman empire, and the Mughal empire. The Savafids welcomed ethnic diversity, but did not allow any religious diversity. Every person in the Savafid empire had to be Shia Islam. They did welcome ethnic diversity. They opened up their society to other ethnicities, like Persians, but the newcomers had to be Shia. In the Ottoman empire, was very tolerant in both ethnicity and religion. They had a very diverse population with many religions and ethnicities. The Mughal empire was tolerant with both Hinduism and Islam. Instead of choosing one religion to confine it's people, Akbar created a cult combining the popular religions, and making himself the one being worshipped.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Frannie, I completely agree with your last paragraph. Race and ethnicity go hand in hand, so if an empire is going to ban one, they might as well ban the other. If the leaders of an empire wanted all the people to be of the same ethnicity and religion then they should exile people that are different.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that religion and ethnicity are both part of a person's identity. However I do see a big difference between the two, mainly that one can be changed while you are just born into the other. I know that religion and birth are usually associated, but I still feel that there is a difference between restricting where your people are from and what they believe.
ReplyDeleteWhile I agree that ethnicity and religion are very closely related, and that it is impossible to change your heritage (without a time machine), I think that religion is not something that changes quite as easily as you make it sound. Restricting ethnicity is not something you can get around by changing yourself, but it is also difficult to change religion. While many do get converted, there are some who hold on to their personal beliefs, and there have unfortunately been many who have died rather than change their religion. I'm not completely disagreeing with everything you say, just pointing out that religion can have as much as or more of an effect on people's lives than diversity.
ReplyDeleteWhoops. When I said "diversity" in my last sentence I meant "ethnicity."
ReplyDelete