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      • Trusted Partner
        Children's & YA
        January 2011

        The Boy Who Saw the Color of Air

        by Abdo Wazen

        In his first YA novel, cultural journalist and author Abdo Wazen writes about a blind teenager in Lebanon who finds strength and friendship among an unlikely group.   Growing up in a small Lebanese village, Bassim’s blindness limits his engagement with the materials taught in his schools. Despite his family’s love and support, his opportunities seem limited.   So at thirteen years old, Bassim leaves his village to join the Institute for the Blind in a Beirut suburb. There, he comes alive. He learns Braille and discovers talents he didn’t know he had. Bassim is empowered by his newfound abilities to read and write.   Thanks to his newly developed self-confidence, Bassim decides to take a risk and submit a short story to a competition sponsored by the Ministry of Education. After winning the competition, he is hired to work at the Institute for the Blind.   At the Institute, Bassim, a Sunni Muslim, forms a strong friendship with George, a Christian. Cooperation and collective support are central to the success of each student at the Institute, a principle that overcomes religious differences. In the book, the Institute comes to symbolize the positive changes that tolerance can bring to the country and society at large.   The Boy Who Saw the Color of Air is also a book about Lebanon and its treatment of people with disabilities. It offers insight into the vital role of strong family support in individual success, the internal functioning of institutions like the Institute, as well as the unique religious and cultural environment of Beirut.   Wazen’s lucid language and the linear structure he employs result in a coherent and easy-to-read narrative. The Boy Who Saw the Color of Air is an important contribution to a literature in which people with disabilities are underrepresented. In addition to offering a story of empowerment and friendship, this book also aims to educate readers about people with disabilities and shed light on the indispensable roles played by institutions like the Institute.

      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        2021

        Women Emirate? The Female Politicians of Muslim World

        by Natalia Malynovska

        If you ask someone the name of a famous politician, you will probably hear a European or American name. And this will once again confirm how little we know about women in politics from other parts of the world. In our book you will find stories of famous politicians and statesmen from different Muslim countries. These women not only became the first parliamentarians, prime ministers, ministers, speakers of parliament in their countries, but went through a thorny path, became influential and famous both at home and abroad. The book will help to understand the Muslim world and the nature of women’s rights in Islam, the contradictions and combinations of feminism in the conventional «West» and «East». The author examines social movements and organizations public campaigns and protests in Muslim countries that have influenced women’s political rights and led to significant changes in the Middle East and beyond.

      • Trusted Partner
        Technology, Engineering & Agriculture
        May 2022

        Advances in Fig Research and Sustainable Production

        by Moshe A Flaishman, Uygun Aksoy

        The common fig (Ficus carica L.) is one of the oldest fruits domesticated by humans, and is native to southwest Asia and the Mediterranean. Figs have been associated with health and prosperity since ancient times. They are rich in fibre, potassium, calcium, and iron, as well as being an important source of vitamins, amino acids, and antioxidants. In recent years, increased consumption has caused fig production to shift to new countries such as Mexico, Brazil, India, and China. However, fig is a challenging fruit crop to grow. It is susceptible to insect pests and diseases as well as injuries from abiotic stress during fruit development and ripening. As a delicate fruit it also requires complicated postharvest procedures and climate change presents additional challenges. Comprising 29 chapters written by international experts, the book includes sections on: History Biology and Orchard Management Fruit Ripening and Postharvest Management Pests and Diseases Omics Analysis Cultivars and Breeding Products and Trade. This volume serves as a comprehensive reference for current and future practices of fig production, consumption, research and innovation, and is essential for academic researchers, and those involved in research and development in the fig industry.

      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        November 2023

        Rethinking Norman Italy

        Studies in honour of Graham A. Loud

        by Joanna Drell, Paul Oldfield

        This volume on Norman Italy (southern Italy and Sicily, c. 1000-1200) honours and reflects the pioneering scholarship of Graham A. Loud. An international group of scholars reassesses and recasts the paradigm by which Norman Italy has been conventionally understood, addressing varied subjects across four key themes: historiographies, identities and communities, religion and Church, and conquest. The chapters revise and refine our understanding of Norman Italy in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, demonstrating that it was not just a parochial Norman or Mediterranean entity but also an integral player in the medieval mainstream.

      • Trusted Partner
        Biography & True Stories
        December 2018

        Ji Kang: The Prominent Celebrity in Wei and Jin Dynasties

        by Pi Yuanzhen, Huang Dingsan

        Ji Kang (223-262) was a renowned ideologist, litterateur, musician, painter in the Wei and Jin dynasties in Chinese history. The book serves as a biography of Ji Kang with the illustration of his life stories to introduce the lengendary life of Ji Kang and explore the historical implication.

      • Trusted Partner
        The Arts
        May 2021

        Development, architecture, and the formation of heritage in late twentieth-century Iran

        A vital past

        by Ali Mozaffari, Nigel Westbrook

        This book analyses the use of the past and the production of heritage through architectural design in the developmental context of Iran, a country that has endured radical cultural and political shifts in the past five decades. Offering a trans-disciplinary approach toward complex relationship between architecture, development, and heritage, Mozaffari and Westbrook suggest that transformations in developmental contexts like Iran must be seen in relation to global political and historical exchanges, as well as the specificities of localities. The premise of the book is that development has been a globalizing project that originated in the West. Transposed into other contexts, this project instigates a renewed historical consciousness and imagination of the past. The authors explore the rise of this consciousness in architecture, examining the theoretical context to the debates, international exchanges made in architectural congresses in the 1970s, the use of housing as the vehicle for everyday heritage, and forms of symbolic public architecture that reflect monumental time.

      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        July 2024

        British Bangladeshi Muslims in the East End

        The changing landscape of dress and language

        by Fatima Rajina

        Drawing on the everyday experiences of 43 British-Bangladeshi Muslims living in East London, this book explores stories of migration and belonging vis-à-vis dress and language. In narrating those stories, the book is framed within the broader socio-political conversations happening regarding Muslims in Britain and their 'place' in this society. Recent work on Muslims focuses on their religious identity and its formation, not paying attention to the role of dress and language. With the former, much of it tends to, obsessively, focus on Muslim women only. This book, alternatively, explores religious identity formation in addition to examining the British-Bangladeshi Muslim community's relationship with their ethnic identity vis-à-vis dress and language. As such, the analysis provides a rich, bottom-up analysis of the community, and readers will be able to understand a community holistically, away from the over-sensationalised community within broader socio-political context.

      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        June 2013

        Islam and identity politics among British-Bangladeshis

        A leap of faith

        by Ali Riaz

        This book probes the causes of and conditions for the preference of the members of the British-Bangladeshi community for a religion-based identity vis-à-vis ethnicity-based identity, and the influence of Islamists in shaping the discourse. The first book-length study to examine identity politics among the Bangladeshi diaspora delves into the micro-level dynamics, the internal and external factors and the role of the state and locates these within the broad framework of Muslim identity and Islamism, citizenship and the future of multiculturalism in Europe. Empirically grounded but enriched with in-depth analysis, and written in an accessible language this study is an invaluable reference for academics, policy makers and community activists. Students and researchers of British politics, ethnic/migration/diaspora studies, cultural studies, and political Islam will find the book extremely useful. ;

      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        December 2024

        Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United States

        Power, identity and strategy in the Persian Gulf triangle

        by Luíza Cerioli

        This book offers a nuanced snapshot of the complex geopolitical dynamics in the Persian Gulf, underlining the interaction between Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the US. Examining their interwoven relations since the 1970s, Luíza Cerioli's framework reveals how changes in US-Saudi ties have ripple effects on Iran-US and Iran-Saudi relations and vice versa. Using a historical lens, she explores how enduring US-Saudi connections hinge on order expectations, delves into the cognitive factors shaping US-Iran enmity and traces the source of oscillation in the Saudi-Iran ties. Employing Neoclassical Realism, the book investigates status-seeking, national identities and leadership preferences, offering a deeper understanding of the region's multipolar system. By combining International Relations and Middle East Studies, Cerioli's work contributes to both fields, unravelling the intricate interplay between international structures, regional nuances and agency in shaping Persian Gulf geopolitics.

      • Trusted Partner
        Business, Economics & Law
        January 2024

        Capitalism in contemporary Iran

        Capital accumulation, state formation and geopolitics

        by Kayhan Valadbaygi

        By situating Iran within the neoliberal global capitalism and resulting geopolitics, this book traces the patterns of capital accumulation and transformations in class and state formation emanating from it. It shows that Iranian neoliberalisation has brought about two capital fractions, namely the internationally-oriented capital fraction and the military-bonyad complex. It substantiates that the co-existence of these competing class fractions with different accumulation strategies has generated hybrid neoliberalism. The book further demonstrates how this new class formation has reorganised the function and operation of state institutions and transformed state ideology. By documenting the ways in which Iranian neoliberalisation has reshaped the subaltern classes and formed Iran's volatile foreign policy, it also provides a novel account of major events and processes in contemporary Iran, such as the post-2017 wave of uprisings, the nuclear programme and international sanctions.

      • Trusted Partner
        Business, Economics & Law
        December 2018

        Islamic Tourism

        Management of Travel Destinations

        by Ahmad Jamal, Kevin Griffin, Razaq Raj

        Islamic tourism is tourism primarily undertaken by its followers within the Muslim world. It is not just motivated by religious feeling - it also includes participants pursuing similar leisure experiences to non-Muslims but within the parameters set by Islam, and destinations are therefore not necessarily locations where Shari'a or full Islamic law is enacted. Demand for Islamic tourism destinations is increasing as the Muslim population expands worldwide, with the market forecast to be worth US$238 billion by 2019. This book bridges the ever-widening gap between specialists within the religious, tourism, management and education sectors through a collection of contemporary perspectives. It provides practical applications, models and illustrations of religious tourism and pilgrimage management from a variety of international perspectives and introduces theories and models in an accessible structure. The book: - Includes a range of contemporary case studies of religious and pilgrimage activity - Covers ancient, sacred and emerging tourist destinations - Reviews new forms of pilgrimage, faith systems and quasi-religious activities A timely re-assessment of the increasing linkages and interconnections between Muslim consumers, this book provides an important overview of the subject for researchers of religious tourism, pilgrimage and related subjects.

      • Trusted Partner
        Memoirs

        The Self: Between Existence and Creation

        by Bensalem Himmich

        Far more than a straightforward autobiography, celebrated Moroccan writer and former minister of culture Bensalem Himmich diffuses life with literary and intellectual dimensions.   Himmich opens his book with a discussion on autobiographical writing, followed by chapters on the author’s early life, starting with his childhood in Meknes. In Paris, he completes a doctorate degree and there marries a Greek woman, Paneyota. The heroic figures of his “rebellious youth” are Marx and Sartre, and the challenges of these and other radical thinkers, in both Arabic and European languages, find their way into his doctoral thesis, Ideological Patterns in Islam: Ijtihad and History (in Arabic, 1990). Subsequent chapters move into the domain of creation, with four categories reflecting the author’s literary, intellectual, linguistic, and cultural interests. Starting with an epigraph of Italo Calvino, the “literary” chapter focuses on the novel, its history, and its complexities. The chapter on the “intellectual” dimension turns on the author’s lifelong interest in the two pillars of philosophy and history. For Himmich, philosophical thought is “the creative and innovative force through which truths and meanings are sought.” The two-part “linguistic” chapter opens with a discussion of identity as “a constantly developing entity”. In the second part he expresses disapproval of the worldwide prevalence of “Anglo-American English” and the weakening effects that a lack of language authority has on the sense of national identity. The “cultural” chapter includes Himmich’s observations from his career, including the poor state of public education and a decline in reading in Morocco. He also considers his time as the Moroccan Minister of Culture and the inevitable complexities of the political system within which he had to operate. The penultimate chapter entitled “My Polemics” offers four of his own polemical stands: on fundamentalist trends—specifically Islam and “Islamism”; on the prevalence in Moroccan publications of the Latin alphabet; and specific issues with the well-known littérateurs Adonis and Youssef Ziedan. The work closes with the author’s reflection on the emergence of a new and negative kind of cultural “hegemony”, the awareness of which he attributes with gratitude to Edward Said and the latter’s interpretation of the work of Franz Fanon.

      • Trusted Partner
        March 1988

        Religiöse Entwicklungen im Islam

        Beobachtet in Marokko und Indonesien

        by Clifford Geertz, Brigitte Luchesi, Bassam Tibi

        Clifford Geertz formuliert zunächst einen allgemeinen Rahmen für die vergleichende Erforschung von Religion und wendet sein anthropologische, soziologische und historische Perspektiven integrierendes Konzept bei der Untersuchung der Entwicklung vermeintlich ein und desselben Glaubenssystems - des Islam - in zwei ziemlich gegensätzlichen Zivilisationen - Indonesien und Marokko - an. Eine Sozialgeschichte der Vorstellungskraft bietet Clifford Geertz für Marokko und Indonesien. Darauf aufbauend formuliert er im letzten Kapitel einige allgemeinere Bemerkungen zur gesellschaftlichen Rolle der Religion.

      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        2010

        Cossacks and Janissaries. Ukraine in the Christian-Muslim wars of 1500-1700

        by Taras Chukhlіb

        The book explores the place and role of the Cossacks and nobility of Ukraine-Rus’ as well as the Cossack state (Hetmanate) in the European-Ottoman wars. The book’s author depicted the long period of confrontation between the Christian and Islamic civilizations in the late Middle Ages and the early modern period, important for the world historical process. The reader's attention is drawn not only to the military actions of the Cossacks against the Ottoman Empire, whose elite unit was the Janissary Corps, but also to the illustration of the peaceful relations of Ukraine with the Ottomans and Girays during the years 1500-1700.

      • Trusted Partner
        Colonialism & imperialism
        August 2004

        Religion Versus Empire?

        British Protestant missionaries and overseas expansion, 1700–1914

        by Andrew Porter

        This is the only book that addresses the relations between religion, Protestant missions, and empire building, linking together all three fields of studyby taking as its starting point the early eighteenth century Anglican initiatives in colonial North America and the Caribbean. It considers how the early societies of the 1790s built on this inheritance, and extended their own interests to the Pacific, India, the Far East, and Africa. Fluctuations in the vigour and commitment of the missions, changing missionary theologies, and the emergence of alternative missionary strategies, are all examined for their impact on imperial expansion. Other themes include the international character of the missionary movement, Christianity's encounter with Islam, and major figures such as David Livingstone, the state and politics, and humanitarianism, all of which are viewed in a fresh light. This monumental study shows that the missionary movement had a far more complex and ambiguous relationship with the Empire than has previously been thought, and will be widely welcomed by students and scholars of imperial history and the history of religion.

      • Trusted Partner
        February 2000

        Kibla – Reisen in die Welt des Islams

        by Juan Goytisolo, Christian Hansen, Thomas Brovot

        Juan Goytisolo ist ein Reisender zwischen den Welten. Der Umstand, daß der gebürtige Spanier abwechselnd in Paris und in Marrakesch lebt, prädestiniert ihn zum Mittler zwischen Orient und Okzident. Seine ebenso sachkundigen wie einfühlsamen Essays und Reportagen tragen dazu bei, die Stereotypen und Klischees zu korrigieren, die bis heute das Bild des Islam im Westen prägen, und beleuchten eine Wirklichkeit jenseits der Legenden, die seit Jahrhunderten den Blick des Abendlands auf das Morgenland verstellen. Goytisolo, der die Welt des Islams zwischen Tanger, Timbuktu und Samarkand bereist hat, fordert uns auf, eine faszinierend vielseitige und lebendige Kultur zu entdecken, deren reiches Erbe vielerorts Gefahr läuft, von der wirtschaftlichen und kulturellen Globalisierung überrollt zu werden. Seine Themen reichen von der Geschichte der Muslime in der sich auflösenden Sowjetunion über türkische Busbahnhöfe, die jemenitische Architektur und den Islam in Schwarzafrika bis hin zum Treiben der Gaukler auf dem Djemaa el-Fna in Marrakesch. Dabei versäumt es Goytisolo nicht, auf eine gefährliche Alternative hinzuweisen, die heute für viele muslimische Länder zu einem Teufelskreis zu werden droht: die Alternative, sich zwischen einer die Identität verbürgenden Tradition und Notwendigkeit des Wandels entscheiden zu müssen.

      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        April 2022

        Chinese religion in contemporary Singapore, Malaysia and Taiwan

        The cult of the Two Grand Elders

        by Fabian Graham

        In Singapore and Malaysia, the inversion of Chinese Underworld traditions has meant that Underworld demons are now amongst the most commonly venerated deities in statue form, channelled through their spirit mediums, tang-ki. The Chinese Underworld and its sub-hells are populated by a bureaucracy drawn from the Buddhist, Taoist and vernacular pantheons. Under the watchful eye of Hell's 'enforcers', the lower echelons of demon soldiers impose post-mortal punishments on the souls of the recently deceased for moral transgressions committed during their prior incarnations. Chinese religion in contemporary Singapore, Malaysia and Taiwan offers an ethnography of contemporary Chinese Underworld traditions, where night-time cemetery rituals assist the souls of the dead, exorcised spirits are imprisoned in Guinness bottles, and malicious foetus ghosts are enlisted to strengthen a temple's spirit army. Understanding the religious divergences between Singapore and Malaysia (and their counterparts in Taiwan) through an analysis of socio-political and historical events, Fabian Graham challenges common assumptions about the nature and scope of Chinese vernacular religious beliefs and practices. Graham's innovative approach to alterity allows the reader to listen to first-person dialogues between the author and channelled Underworld deities. Through its alternative methodological and narrative stance, the book intervenes in debates on the interrelation between sociocultural and spiritual worlds, and promotes the destigmatisation of spirit possession and discarnate phenomena in the future study of mystical and religious traditions.

      • Trusted Partner
        May 1985

        Wie entsteht Religion?

        by Alfred North Whitehead, Hans Günter Holl

        Religion in the Making – so der englische Originaltitel – besteht aus vier Vorlesungen, die Whitehead 1926 gehalten hat. In der gleichen Perspektive, wie er in den ein Jahr früher gehaltenen Lowell Lectures, die unter dem Titel Wissenschaft und moderne Welt erschienen sind, Entwicklung und Wirkung der modernen Wissenschaft analysiert hatte, verfolgt er in Wie entsteht Religion? die Ziele, »eine gedrängte Analyse der vielfältigen Faktoren in der menschlichen Natur vorzulegen, die in ihrem Zusammenwirken eine neue Religion entstehen lassen, den unausweichlichen Wandel der Religion im Zusammenhang mit dem Wandel des Wissens darzustellen und insbesondere die Aufmerksamkeit darauf zu richten, wie die Religion von unserer Auffassung jener beständigen Elemente abhängt, vermöge derer es in der Welt eine feste Ordnung gibt – beständige Elemente, ohne die es keine sich verändernde Welt geben könnte«.

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