by
Mirsepassi, Ali.
Call Number
955.05 21
Publication Date
2000
Summary
"In this study, Ali Mirsepassi explores the concept of modernity, exposing the Eurocentric prejudices and hostility to non-Western culture that have characterized its development. Focussing on the Iranian experience of modernity, he charts its political and intellectual history and develops a new interpretation of Islamic Fundamentalism through the detailed analysis of the ideas of key Islamic intellectuals. The author argues that the Iranian Revolution was not a simple clash between modernity and tradition but an attempt to accommodate modernity within a sense of authentic Islamic identity, culture and historical experience. He concludes by assessing the future of secularism and democracy in the Middle East in general, and in Iran in particular. This book will be essential reading for scholars and students of social theory and change, Middle Eastern Studies, Cultural Studies and many related areas."--Jacket.
Format:
Electronic Resources
Relevance:
0.0539
by
Hanson, Susan, 1951-
Call Number
508 22
Publication Date
2004
Summary
It is through brief moments in our lives that the spiritual most often communicates itself. Fleeting as they are, these small encounters with the "familiar wild" instruct us in dealing with change and loss. They are the icons that point not so much to answers, but to a way of living in the tension between life and death. Each of these essays represents one moment. Most of them occur very close to home. There is nothing exotic about any of the landscapes Susan Hanson depicts--the oak mottes and scrub of the South Texas Plains, the rocks and rivers of Central Texas, the soil in her own backyard--yet these are the sorts of landscapes that teach and nurture all of us who care to see them. This way of seeing the world--as an undivided whole of the physical and the spiritual--is nutritive, healthful. The vision is partial, but all vision is partial, and it is in the pieces, the glimpses, the tastes, that we acquire a sense of the whole. Divided into three sections, the book addresses the questions of how we deal with change and loss in our lives. In "Innocence," the essays are marked by a spirit of curiosity, wonder, and adventure. The middle section reflects a growing awareness of loss, both personal and in the natural world. In "Grace," the final essays point toward the possibility of reconciliation with loss--a reconciliation mediated through nature. Written as reflections, rather than full-blown arguments, Icons of Loss and Grace offers no final resolution to the questions it presents. Yet in these essays we may recognize that delight and sorrow are soul mates, that loss and redemption are a part of the same sacred ground, and that pain can evolve into grace.
Format:
Electronic Resources
Relevance:
0.0516
27.
by
Inscoe, John C., 1951-
Call Number
974.00496073 22
Publication Date
2001
Format:
Electronic Resources
Relevance:
0.0516
by
Harrison, Selig S., author.
Call Number
327.7305193 22
Publication Date
2002
Summary
Nearly half a century after the fighting stopped, the 1953 Armistice has yet to be replaced with a peace treaty formally ending the Korean War. While Russia and China withdrew the last of their forces in 1958, the United States maintains 37,000 troops in South Korea and is pledged to defend it with nuclear weapons. In Korean Endgame, Selig Harrison mounts the first authoritative challenge to this long-standing U.S. policy. Harrison shows why North Korea is not--as many policymakers expect--about to collapse. And he explains why existing U.S. policies hamper North-South reconciliation and reunification. Assessing North Korean capabilities and the motivations that have led to its forward deployments, he spells out the arms control concessions by North Korea, South Korea, and the United States necessary to ease the dangers of confrontation, centering on reciprocal U.S. foce redeployments and U.S. withdrawals in return for North Korean pullbacks from the thirty-eighth parallel.
Format:
Electronic Resources
Relevance:
0.0495
by
Phiri, Isaac, 1962-
Call Number
261.70968 21
Publication Date
2001
Summary
As the population of Africa increasingly converts to Christianity, the church has stepped up its involvement in secular affairs revolving around the transition to democracy in nations such as Zambia, Zimbabwe, and South Africa. Comparative in approach, the author analyzes patterns of church-state relations in various sub-Saharan countries, and contends that churches become more active and politically prominent when elements and organizations of civil society are repressed by political factors or governing bodies, providing services to maintain the well-being of civil society in the absence of those organizations being repressed. The author concludes, that once political repression subsides, churches tend to withdraw from a confrontation with the state and their political role becomes unclear. This unique book advances the idea that in pluralist Africa, churches should focus their influence and resources on nurturing the fragile multiparty democracies and promoting peace and reconciliation. In his analysis of church-state relations in sub-Saharan Africa, Phiri shows how churches are drawn into confrontation with the state by the repression of civil society and that once civil society is liberated, direct church-state confrontation diminishes. In South Africa, churches led by figures such as Bishop Desmond Tutu assumed a major role after nationalist movements such as Nelson Mandela's African National Congress were banned and their leaders jailed. In Zimbabwe, the church assumed a confrontational role in 1965 after political movements were banned and their leaders exiled. In Zambia, churches became confrontational when the single-party rule repressed all opposition and supported the rise of the prodemocracy movement that ended Kenneth Kaunda's twenty-seven-year rule. Examining these situations and others in different parts of Africa, Phiri illuminates the major issues and conflicts and suggests ways in which the church can continue to help promote smooth transitions to democracy.
Format:
Electronic Resources
Relevance:
0.0477
by
Aureli, Filippo, 1962-
Call Number
303.69 22
Publication Date
2000
Summary
Annotation Aggression and competition are customarily presented as the natural state of affairs in both human society and the animal kingdom. Yet, as this book shows, our species relies heavily on cooperation for survival as do many others & mdash;from wolves and dolphins to monkeys and apes. A distinguished group of fifty-two authors, including many of the world's leading experts on human and animal behavior, review evidence from multiple disciplines on natural conflict resolution, making the case that reconciliation and compromise are as much a part of our heritage as is waging war. Chimpanzees kiss and embrace after a fight. Children will appeal to fairness when fighting over a toy. Spotted hyenas, usually thought to be a particularly aggressive species, use reconciliation to restore damaged relationships. As these studies show, there are sound evolutionary reasons for these peacekeeping tendencies. This book also addresses the cultural, ecological, cognitive, emotional, and moral perspectives of conflict resolution.
Format:
Electronic Resources
Relevance:
0.0477
by
Hoffman, Barbara G.
Call Number
398.08996345 21
Publication Date
2000
Summary
In 1985, while she was an apprentice griot or jelimuso, Barbara G. Hoffman saw and recorded a remarkable event that took place in the small town of Kita, Mali. For four days, thousands of griots from all parts of the Mande world gathered together to talk, sing, and make music in celebration of the opening of the new Hall of Griots and the installation of the recently named Head Griot. This unprecedented assembly, unheard of in the history of the Mande, also marked the end of the two-year long 'War of the Griots'; a deadly conflict fought with the tools of the griot verbal masters - words, reputations, and sorcery. "Griots at War" captures griots in action as they made speeches, sang songs of praise, and danced in honor of their renewed unity. Hoffman's discerning transcription and examination of the speeches not only reveals the oratorical skills of griots, but their skill in using history, metaphor, religion, proverbs, and praise to mend a community that had been torn apart by war. But Hoffman discovers a startlingly keen edge to the griots' words. Who intervenes, and how, when war breaks out in the griot community? The speeches made at Kita expose both griots and nobles engaged in behaviours that were strikingly unexpected of people of their status. Hoffman shows that griot public oratory also functions to delineate the boundaries of griot castes and to persuade other castes to recognise and respect what gives each caste its unique identity. While the verbal art of griots has been well documented in the form of epic poetry, "Griots at War" brings their formidable linguistic abilities to the fore as they negotiate, reestablish, and assert their cultural power. This exceptional book offers surprising and important insights into the multiple meanings of Mande culture, caste, and identity.
Format:
Electronic Resources
Relevance:
0.0466
by
Bottoms, Bette L.
Call Number
346.730135 22
Publication Date
2002
Summary
Children, Social Science, and the Law integrates social science research, social policy, and legal analysis related to children and the law. It provides the most cutting-edge information available on topics such as child abuse, children's eyewitness testimony, divorce and custody, juvenile crime, and children's rights.
Format:
Electronic Resources
Relevance:
0.0445
by
Bosco, Ronald A.
Call Number
814.3
Publication Date
2003
Summary
In sixteen essays of wit, rage, and reconciliation, Embalming Mom chronicles loss and renaissance in a life that reaches from Florida to Arizona across to England and home again. Burroway brilliantly weaves her way through the dangers of daily life--divorcing her first husband, raising two boys, establishing a new life, scattering her mother's ashes and sorting the meager possessions of her father. Each new danger and challenge highlight the tenacious will of the body and spirit to heal.
Format:
Electronic Resources
Relevance:
0.0388
by
Harris, Jonathan M.
Call Number
338.927 21
Publication Date
2001
Format:
Electronic Resources
Relevance:
0.0342
Limit Search Results
Narrowed by: