Author: Caterina Boccato
Affiliation: INAF – Astronomical Observatory of Padova
Country: Italy
Title: The Moon for Islam: An Astronomy Outreach Activity from an Intercultural Perspective
In this talk I present some results of my post-graduation masterÕs thesis in 2017.
The vocational masterÕs title was: ÒIntercultural Studies, theory and practice for the reception of asylum seekersÓ. The whole work is based upon a specific activity of Astronomy public outreach with a group of Imams from different Islamic countries, which is an undoubtedly underrepresented group, at least in Europe.
Even if in Italy there are more than six million Muslim refugees (most of them from Syria or sub-Sahara Africa), they are very often discriminated for their ethnicity, culture and religion; we had hence difficulties in communicating for the language used and for a gap on basic scientific knowledge. But the differences are more complex and subtler than these. This is the reason why I tried to do a psycho-sociological analysis of this meeting, going deep into the field of intercultural studies stressing those aspects related to stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination.
The occasion was the beginning of Ramadan on May 27th, 2017 (repeated one year later on May 16th, 2018).
One important Italian Imam asked to have the possibility to watch the first sliver of the waxing moon (which ratifies the beginning of Ramadan) by the means of telescopes and with the support of professional astronomers. The main point is that, on the basis of the generic KoranÕs indication, it is no more necessary to take in account the distinction among different sighting places but, on the contrary, itÕs desirable to follow one single worldwide sighting. This is not a trivial point mainly for the Islamic migrants in countries where Islam is not the major religion. The goal of the Imam who contacted me was clear: he wanted his group of imams understand that all the celestial motions are precisely calculated and well known in advance. We hosted them in our Observatory where we had a dialogue to explain them the mutual motions of Earth, Moon and Sun and what are their effects on EarthÕs surface according to latitude and longitude.
While doing the report and the analysis of these meetings I stressed not only the astronomical concepts but also the aspects of social psychology that are particularly relevant to intercultural communication, as a greater understanding of certain social psychological concepts may increase the effectiveness of such POE activities.
References:
[1]: Lanaya L. Ethington, B.A. Social Psychological Concepts in the Context of Intercultural Communication
Dublin City – University School of Applied Language and Intercultural Studies – Master of Arts July 2002
[2]: Mucchi Faina, Angelica, Comunicazione interculturale Il punto di vista psicologico-sociale Editori Laterza, 2014 – ISBN: 9788858114476
[3]: Maalouf, Amin, On Identity Imprint: Vintage 2000 ISBN: 9781860467295