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Copyright of Journal of Al-Frahids Arts is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Those of us whose lives have been deeply touched by the technology of papermaking -- and many others besides -- are in for a real treat this coming fall when the book On Paper is scheduled to be published. The author, Nicholas Basbanes, employs an engaging, personalized approach as he brings to life the story of how paper has enabled the progress of civilization throughout two millennia. I first learned about Nick's grand project, to capture the most intriguing aspects of paper's story, during a re-broadcast of his hour-long interview that was presented on the CSPAN TV network. His enthusiasm is infectious, and it can be an uplifting experience to have him as a tour-guide to "all things paper". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Arts & Social Sciences (JASS) is the property of Sultan Qaboos University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article focuses on a list of books related to critical interest. Some of the books are: "Homelessness, Citizenship, and Identity: The Uncanniness of Late Modernity," by Kathleen R. Arnold, "The Cambridge Companion to James Joyce," 2nd ed., by Derek Attridge, "Modernism: A Short Introduction," by David Ayer, "The X in Sex: How the X Chromosome Controls Our Lives," by David Bainbridge, "Identity: Conversations With Benedetto Vecchi," by Zygmunt Bauman, "Emerson," by Lawrence Buell, "After Criticism: New Responses to Art and Performance," edited by Gavin Butt, "Modernism, Cultural Production, and the British Avant-Garde," by Edward P. Comentale.

Many factors have been cited to explain how and why Egypt developed so quickly in ancient times. The Nile water, the annual inundation with its life-nourishing sediment, the warm climate, and a system of natural barriers to invasion all helped. Other hydraulic civilizations had some or all of these resources, but a unique resource stood out in Egypt. As it happened, that nation was the only one among early hydraulic civilizations in which the giant aquatic sedge papyrus (figs. 1–2) grew and prospered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between Africa and China is certainly gaining traction at the moment, and with this development it becomes imperative to examine the various facets that constitute what may arguably be Africa's most important relationship of the 21st Century. One facet among the many is that of inter-racialism. China's largescale direct contact with Blacks is a relatively recent occurrence, certainly not long enough for the Chinese to have formed their own definitive independent opinion of the Black race. However, as a result of China's increasing exposure to the Western world, this exposure comes with the baggage of centuries of Western denigration of Blacks through various kinds of media -- satellite tv, social media, magazines, newspapers, etc. that seek to exclude Blacks from the polity of human civilisations. According to Western measures of civilisation, the trajectory of civilisation has been the progression from pre-modernism (uncivilised), through modernism (Enlightenment), to post-modernism, this last being widely viewed as civilisation's apogee. A definitive precursor to the post-modern condition, and which also came to define its fervour and texture, is a branch of philosophy called "Existentialism". Adopting a post-colonial stance, and taking up the West on their offer of the trajectory of human civilisation, though clearly not the only one, what forms the core argument of the paper is that, as demonstrated by analyses of the local lores themselves, since time immemorial, Blacks, generally, and Malawians, in particular, have been capable of achieving such vaunted forms of introspection -- and more. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ancient Chinese civilisation developed two ideas about the ordering of large human spaces. The first was tianxia or 'all under heaven', the inclusive and cosmopolitan world as a whole, with no exterior, and governance on the basis of shared values and benefits, which first shaped statecraft in the Western Zhou dynasty (1047–1771 BCE). Second, the centralised nation-state which emerged in the Qin dynasty (221–206 BCE). Both strands have been influential through Chinese history. In the last twenty years discussion of tianxia has revived, especially through Zhao Tingyang, stimulated by globalisation and the need for practical relations beyond the nation state. This paper proposes one version of tianxia as a heuristic for understanding, rethinking and remaking ethical relations in worldwide higher education. It reviews different understandings of tianxia in China, identifies a world-centred (rather than China-centred) tianxia , and discusses the potentials of tianxia in higher education. Tianxia is appropriate to world higher education because of its spatiality and its ethical commitment to universal benefit in diverse settings on the basis of mutual respect. The article suggests four clusters of relational values that could constitute a tianxia order in higher education, and compares tianxia to existing practices of globalisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The politics of knowledge in the world are as old as the cradle of human civilisation. The stakes of knowledge politics are higher in countries that have a rich history of colonialism, such as South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe, among others. In the post-apartheid South Africa, there has been a raging scholarly and policy debate about the dynamics of the knowledge industry within our shores. At the centre of this debate has been the role of statutory institutions, such as ASSAf, NRF, universities and research councils. Despite the expressed legislative framework, the role of these institutions in terms of knowledge generation and development has not been applied in line with this framework by their administrators. The policy makers have not yet seriously held them accountable. The consequence is that these administrators have been largely acting not within the national policy framework. In fact, this discourse has largely assumed the form of a conversation between the deaf. Drawing from the fusion of an alternative Afrocentric perspective and interdisciplinary discourse analysis in its broadest form, this paper argues that statutory institutions have an important national role to play in the knowledge industry. But their activities are not above board. If left operating the way they do, their wrong activities have a potential to undermine declared policy measures to the pursuit of true and quality knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the Japanese government put forward the concept of Society 5.0 in January 2016, smart society has aroused extensive discussion in the international academic circle. However, this concept has been hardly discussed or cited in China. What is the root cause of this observation? Based on this question, this paper systematically reviews the existing literature on smart society both domestically and internationally. It provides a reverse critique of the misguided viewpoints supporting Society 5.0 from the perspectives of concept, motivation, elements, and goals. It also conducts a comprehensive analysis of the existing critical arguments against Society 5.0 in academia, considering theories, motivations, elements, and consequences, providing a forward critique. The paper further analyzes failed cases of smart society implementation, offering practical critique. By considering three perspectives, it identifies and categorizes the critical arguments against Society 5.0, forming three arrays of critique. Additionally, the paper addresses the fundamental reasons for the criticism of Society 5.0 in China and proposes an alternative vision: Civilization 5.0 as the ideal society of the future. Civilization 5.0 encompasses three transformative changes: eco-lization, intellectualization, and inclusiveness. In this new civilization, society needs to embrace ecological transformation, intellectualization, and multi-decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is about a particular construction of nationalism at the hands of Romesh Chunder Dutt (1848–1909), the well-known exponent of 'economic nationalism', in colonial Bengal from 1870 onwards till his death in 1909. In this construction of nationalism, which today scholars would best describe as 'cultural nationalism', the categories 'Hindu' and 'national' converged and became conflated. Through a discussion of Dutt's 'literary patriotism', the paper seeks to answer why it was so in the case of someone like R C Dutt, and what implications we can draw from this regarding our understanding of colonial Indian nationalism and its origins. With reference to Dutt, Sudhir Chandra pointed out that the neat distinction that we draw between 'economic nationalism' and 'cultural nationalism' is fallacious. The paper reiterates and reinforces this argument by showing how cultural and political nationalisms were enmeshed together in the case of R C Dutt. Furthermore, the glorious past that Dutt reconstructed through his literary patriotism could not but be a Hindu past; he was not a vilifier of Muslims, but somehow he shelved the question of the place of Muslims in his construction of Indian nationhood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that no form of meaningful development can be discussed without an incursion into the realm of consciousness, from which ideas emanate. This paper demonstrates that human civilization is driven by notions such as ideas, imaginations, concepts, plans, and projects which are germane to social development. An examination of Kant’s theory of concept formation reveals that though objects are given to us by means of sensibility, it is through the understanding that concepts arise. The mind therefore becomes the ‘breeding’ ground from which our ideas are generated and organized. In Kant’s analysis of the faculty of understanding, he noted that there are a priori pure intuitions and sets of categories such as Quality, Relation, Modality that organize particular sensations into unified objects of experience. This capacity of the mind enables it to produce or generate ideas within its own operations. Ideas generated are used to recreate our world. This paper provides a conceptual framework to explicate the foundation of development. Using the method of analysis, this essay concludes that the basis of development – social, economic, and cultural – is hinged on the nature and role of the mind. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Nauki o Wychowaniu. Studia Interdyscyplinarne is the property of Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Lodzkiego and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In July 1915, after hearing Jane Addams speak in London on her efforts for peace during wartime, Bertrand Russell wrote to an American friend, "You can gather what I think and feel by talking to Miss Addams. She seemed to me to have exactly the same outlook as I have." In this paper I compare how Russell and Addams used the era's scientific theories in formulating their pacifism. After recounting Addams's and Russell's experiences during the war, I show how Addams and Russell accounted for civilization's "descent into barbarism" in parallel ways. I then contrast their conceptions of what counts as progress in civilization, and show how these differences shaped their critiques of war. In the final section I compare how their responses correlated with the forms their activism took during the war. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study delves into the profound impact of waters, seas, and oceans on the historical trajectory of Southeast Asia, challenging the prevailing narratives that have often overlooked the vital contributions of the region’s seafaring ancestors. Traditionally dismissed as mere sources of inspiration, these maritime expanses were instrumental in shaping the transition from traditional kingdoms to modern nationstates in Southeast Asia. While historical theories such as the Out of Yunan and Out of Taiwan paradigms proposed by Western scholars have dominated discussions on the development of traditional civilizations in the Southeast Asian Archipelago (Nusantara), this paper advocates for a Southeast Asia-centric perspective to rectify the marginalization of historical realities. The narrative encompasses the ancient epoch and prehistoric eras marked by the migrations of Homo erectus and Homo sapiens from mainland Asia, providing a comprehensive understanding of the early evolution of maritime civilizations in the region. This exploration highlights the risks and sacrifices made by seafaring communities from B.C. to A.D., as they navigated treacherous waters and stormy weathers to ensure the legacy and continuity of future generations. Far from being trivial, their millennia-long contributions have been likened to “shipwrecks laying at the bottom of the sea in their forgotten watery graves.” By elucidating how these communities utilized seas and oceans as sources of emancipation and development, this study aims to reposition Southeast Asia as an epicentre of civilization, rivalling any in the ancient world. Ultimately, this research provides a nuanced perspective on the region’s maritime history, challenging existing paradigms and contributing to the broader international discourse on the development of civilizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the accumulation of Indian astronomical knowledge within Chinese Buddhist scriptures and its dissemination across Chinese society through a comparative study of the Modengjia jing (Ch1 of the ZKA) and the Xiuyao jing (XYJ). The period from the Ch1 of ZKA to the XYJ was a time when Buddhism was in the midst of developing and maturing within China. The Ch1 of the ZKA is regarded as the first Buddhist scripture including a complete account of Indian nakṣatra astrology and translated from Sanskrit parallel text, rather than a native work codified by Buddhists in Ancient China. The XYJ is not a translation but rather an authoritative handbook of Indian astrological knowledge taught by Amoghavajra. A detailed comparison of the contents of the two texts shows that the knowledge contained within Ch1 of the ZKA belongs to the Vedic era and that the XYJ belongs to the post-Vedic era. Beginning with the Ch1 of the ZKA and ending with the XYJ, Buddhist astronomical knowledge steadily grew. Yang Jingfeng's revision and explanation of the first fascicle of the Sutra reflects Ancient Chinese intellectuals' acceptance, digestion, and recreation of Buddhist astronomical knowledge. His abandonment of the "Calculation of weekdays" reflects the influence of the Chinese mathematical and astronomical tradition and the calendar tradition upon his perspective; perhaps this is one of the reasons why China has accepted the weekday within daily life up to the modern era. Every civilization, in learning to assimilate other cultures, has a choice between foreignization and domestication, within which a tension is reflected. Learning from foreign cultures is about keeping up with the most advanced civilizations in the world and advancing with the times, while maintaining one's own cultural identity and cultural characteristics is necessary for one's own civilization; these two notions are complementary and should not be neglected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The name of Chinggis Khan and the women who contributed to the rise of his empire have long been associated with barbarism in the West. However, the rediscovery of the Secret History of the Mongols, a medieval Mongolian epic chronicle, in 1866, and its numerous translations circulating since the mid-20th century has led Western scholars to a total revaluation of these figures. This paper analyses the representation of Chinggis Khan and his queens in the literary and cinematic adaptations of the Secret History of the Mongols produced in Europe and the United States, specifically in English, French, and Italian. It critically engages with E. W. Said's works, and with postcolonial and gender studies. The article argues that the portrayal of the Mongols has become increasingly positive in 20th and 21st century remakes of the epic chronicle, highlighting how the West reconsiders its relationship with cultural and gender otherness in an era marked by decolonisation and feminist claims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the formation of Baloch ethnic identity which has been influenced by historical, cultural, political, and socioeconomic dynamics. The study aims to investigate the historical factors such as historical roots, cultural and linguistic trends, tribalism, political contours, and challenges confronted by Baloch groups. The study explores the reasons for migrations and different civilizations in context of Baluchistan. The study found that the governmental approaches in Baluchistan have greatly influenced the process of Baloch identity formation. The study further tried to address the questions of how Baloch identity formation has been a nationalistic feeling. The paper is qualitative in nature, with many historical facts evaluated to investigate historical events and situations that influenced the creation of Baloch ethnic identity in Baluchistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the relationship between the critique of civilization, anti-imperialism, gender and representative government in the political thought of the neglected communist, environmentalist, and gay liberationist Edward Carpenter (1844–1929). In recent years, there has been a dramatic growth in the historical literatures on anti-imperialism and representative government, yet these two topics are rarely connected. Meanwhile, a voluminous literature on the concept of civilization and its role in British imperialism has largely ignored its role in justifying social and political domination in Britain itself. Carpenter's writings on these topics are important because he offers a defense of the value of representative government that is grounded in his anti-imperialism. Furthermore, his critique of civilization led him to connect problems of social domination in India to the struggles of women, homosexuals, and the working class. These groups ought in turn to be enfranchised and given roles in the functioning of the state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following Ziya Gökalp and Ali Shariati's assertion that Protestantism arose due to the influence of Islam in Europe in the Middle Ages, this study discusses the different discourses elaborated by the Turkish and Iranian authors based on this idea. The controversies surrounding modernity, westernization, colonialism, and Islam were a constant in their writings, despite the different geographical and historical circumstances. This paper discusses the logic of Gökalp and Shariati's claim that Protestantism was Islamized Christianity. The aim is to provide a detailed perspective on how this claim illuminates their broader thinking about civilization, culture, and religion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of events on and after 11 September 2001, this paper examines the genre of macro-scenarios, one-big-thing stories, which entered public debate in the post-Cold War period: ‘the clash of civilisations’, ‘the end of history’, ‘the coming anarchy’ etc. It is argued that anthropologists, as they engage with a wider public, should attend to such macro-scenarios, offering ethnographically based critiques of their oversimplifications, but without resorting only to ethnographic qualifications, exceptions and miniatures. Comparative perspectives toward emergent regularities in social life may still allow macro-anthropological contributions to public debates over possible, desirable or undesirable futures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Trans/Form/Ação is the property of Trans/Form/Acao and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The Fourth Industrial Revolution promises to transform contemporary societies. Similarly, emerging technologies are affording countless new applications that assure an overall and widespread improvement of living standards. At the same time, their potential misuse has sparked concerns. In particular, the possibility of terrorist organizations adopting such technologies has dominated the scholarly debate. Consequently, there is a growing literature that deals with the motivational and technical factors potentially underlying the malevolent resort to emerging technologies. Enthusiasm for emerging technologies is, however, only one side of the coin. The last decade has, indeed, witnessed a re-emergence of forms of Neo-Luddism. Nevertheless, a thorough understanding of these developments is still lacking. This paper investigates and maps the main debates and dynamics in the Anti-Technology Movement in order to understand the rationale behind—and the prospects of—this resurgence. In doing so, it focuses on two radical fringes, namely the Insurrectionary Anarchist Milieu and the Radical Environmentalist Milieu. The paper argues that, although based on different narratives and end goals, these milieus share a similar commitment and operational approaches as well as a marked apocalyptic millenarian thinking that has set them on an escalatory path. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on my teaching experience of nearly 20 years in the Department of Chinese Literature in mainland China, this paper discusses the functions of literary criticism, and how they differ between university education and secondary education. This paper has two main purposes: (1) by examining how Chinese literary criticism evolved since the 1980s, this article shows the important role it played in shaping the ways people think. (2) Through the observation of the new generation of young readers, this paper points out the inflexibility of the existing academic criticism. From my teaching experience, I have observed that the flourishing Chinese network literature represents, since the beginning of the new century, a whole new literary field and traditional literary criticism is facing new challenges. However, with the top-down reform of literature education, literary criticism is more related to the exam system than to the literary creation itself. This means that literary criticism still assumes a very important educational function, but is no longer adapted to the new commercial literary production. This new trend has forced academic criticism to make corresponding adjustments. This paper sees the possibility of establishing a new critical unified field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Higher education institutes create cohesive and fair societies and thus expect different outcomes in diverse geographical areas. However, in the twenty-first Century, they face issues which need solutions. This critical perspective paper traces the motifs and expected outcomes of higher education in ancient civilizations and analyses the changing roles of teachers and students in the contemporary era. This paper is qualitative and adopts the critical approach methodology to investigate, highlight and propose solutions to several unique issues faced by the higher education system in the contemporary era. This paper brings significant horizons and reveals critical insights about quality higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This section presents a bibliography of books on sociology.

Since China entered the Xi Jinping Era, the CPC has formally put forward a series of significant theories on China's future development path, including Xi Jinping Thought on Culture. These theories have sparked active discussions and responses within both domestic and international academic and theoretical circles. This paper argues that when analyzing the major relationships between Chinese civilization and other civilizations worldwide, the Chinese path to modernization and the modern civilization of the Chinese Nation, and Chinese culture and its constituent ethnic cultures, we should further elucidate relationships and adhere to the three foundational principles: subjectivity, the contemporaneity of Chinese culture, and the arterial and leading attributes of Chinese culture, which encapsulate the core issues in fostering the modern civilization of Chinese Nation. A proper understanding and nuanced handling of these issues not only bolsters the perpetuation and evolution of China's excellent traditional culture but also propels the trajectory of the Chinese path to modernization and the overarching construction of the modern civilization of Chinese Nation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The problem of interaction between man and nature throughout history is, relatively, rarely addressed by classical historiography. The session entitled Man and Nature: Between destruction and creation, organized and chaired by Prof. Tadeusz Janicki (Faculty of History, UAM, Poznań, Poland) and Prof. Dariusz J. Gwiazdowicz (Department of Forest Protection, Poznań University of Life Sciences, Poland) on 24 August 2022 as part of the XXIII International Congress of Historical Sciences Poznań 2022, was an attempt to change this tendency and broaden the existing research perspective. The papers delivered during the occassion were the starting point for the preparation of a special issue of the journal Studia Historiae Oeconomicae (SHO), the primary purpose of which is interdisciplinary reflection by specialists from various scientific disciplines on the problem of destruction of natural landscapes and creation of cultural landscapes, along with other issues concerning the interaction between humans and the natural environment from prehistoric times to the present. This special issue of SHO consists of seven articles on diverse topics, analysing human interactions with nature through different historical periods, meanwhile taking into account their economic, civil, social and climatic conditions. The result is a multifaceted mosaic of topics that constitutes an original and interdisciplinary analysis of man's relationship with nature, which may be a source of inspiration for readers and perhaps further research in this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper will examine the ways in which the prevailing representation of the legal practices and institutions related to the management and control of Indigenous families and children in Australia shifted over time from "welfare" to "cultural genocide," and how that shift can be better understood by drawing on Norbert Elias's understanding of civilizing and decivilizing processes. Policies and practices which were understood from the 19th century onwards to be aimed at promoting the welfare of Indigenous children in the interests of increasing civilization came to be regarded from the 1980s onwards as essentially violent and indeed barbaric. This was due to them being a social engineering project for the gradual and systematic annihilation of Aboriginal cultural identity, to the point of being consistent with the definition of genocide in the UN Genocide Convention, albeit as "cultural genocide." However, the term remains heavily contested, with views divided between those who think genocide should be restricted to deliberate physical killing, and those arguing for a more expansive conception of what constitutes the destruction of human life. I will argue that a turn to Elias's conception of civilizing and decivilizing processes helps to clarify what underpins the opposition between these two approaches. After examining the concepts underpinning the legal mechanisms used first to intervene into Australian Indigenous family life and then to pursue holding the responsible authorities to account through "Stolen Generations" litigation, the paper argues for a more nuanced conception of the ways in which civilizing and decivilizing processes interweave with each other in changing ways over time, generating a need to engage with the concept of a "meta-civilizing process." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper outlines the intellectual origins of this special issue in a number of conferences and workshops held between 2018 and 2021, addressing the questions of, on the one hand, how the understanding of law and legal institutions can be enhanced with reference to Norbert Elias's conception of both civilizing and decivilizing process and, on the other hand, how Elias's analysis of civilization and decivilization could be developed with a deeper engagement with the specific role of law. After a discussion of the centrality of law to civilizing and decivilizing processes, we identify the central theoretic premises that informed the call for papers and that link all the papers together. This is followed by a very brief outline of each of the nine papers, and finally some concluding reflections on the future directions that research in this field might take. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Artificial intelligence is the unification of philosophy, cognitive science, mathematics, neurophysiology, psychology, computer science, information theory, cybernetics, and uncertainty theory. Therefore, it is feasible and necessary to utilize STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Liberal Arts, and Mathematics) education to learn artificial intelligence courses. Computational thinking skills are of vital importance to high school students. This paper integrates artificial intelligence education with STEAM model with the aim of enhancing students' computational thinking skills. First, we investigate the feasibility of this model and set teaching objectives about artificial intelligence curricula. Second, artificial intelligence curricula with STEAM model is proposed to carry out interdisciplinary artificial intelligence knowledge acquisition. Finally, the effects of this model on students' computational thinking skills, learning motivation, and self-efficacy are evaluated. One hundred thirty-six participants are recruited from a high school in Beijing. The results reveal that the integration of artificial intelligence education with STEAM is able to promote computational thinking skills, learning motivation, and self-efficacy of the students in the experimental group. The main implication of this study is that artificial intelligence education in light of STEAM model can be used as a teaching guide for the combination of artificial intelligence curricula with multi-disciplinary knowledge at the primary and secondary levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

African oral tradition and literature has been relegated to the background and termed inferior because it is erroneously misconceived by the West whose written culture and civilization is presumably superior. African writers have to mobilize their intellectual energy to disprove the West by enriching their writings, culture and heritage. Again, the modern African nation especially the Nigerian nations' state is fraught with violence and injustice and therefore remains a dangerous place for creative writers, activists and investigative journalists who fictionalize realities and engage in human rights campaigns. The town crier is a character in a traditional stage that disseminates information by going around with a beaten gong. Can we assign the role of this town crier to contemporary writers, activists and journalists? This paper made enquiry into this question by following a qualitative research approach and by studying Naagbanton's writings, using Viktor Shklovsky's defamiliarisation technique as well as Susan Andt's reformist feminism. In the end, it discovered that the author has revived the African town crier culture and given it a modern outlook and the primordial town crier now has reincarnated in ace creative writers, activists and journalists who are the current advocates of information, equity and justice and who, for attesting to the truth, run great risks in the hand of state apparatus and machinery of violence like the police, the army and the State Security Services (SSS). The paper further discovered that the town crier motif in African culture now finds a new voice at the global setting in Naagbanton's works, taking both male and female gender, and that most exponents of justice, truth and equity are masked town criers. It recommends that aspects of African ancient culture should be rehabilitated to meet new trends and modern universal standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article calls the attention of interested individuals to submit article that will be presented during conferences of Associations concerning economics. The organizers of the Seventh Annual Heilbronn Symposium in Economics and the Social Sciences Christian Freiherr von Wolff that will be held on June 22-25,1995 is inviting everyone to submit abstract and correspondence relevant to the theme. Likewise, the organizers of the 22nd Annual Meeting of the History of Economics Society that will be held on June 2-5, 1995 in South Bend, Indiana is calling the same.

This paper proffers an Afromodern analysis of black liberation, embodied in the Black Lives Matter movement. In doing so, it revisits the historical concept of barbarism as a critical modality for human silencing, in order to make sense of anti-black racism in our extant social order and its re-articulation through systematic discourses of black criminality. The essay explores two dialectically opposing modernities as having differentiated effects on the construction of the human being. Euromodernity barbarizes the black subject as a carceral being, absent political speech. Afromodernity, contrastingly, fashions the black subject as a communicative being endowed with political speech and as such, black politics becomes not a relic of barbarism, but in lieu, embodies a modern re-enactment of political society. The paper concludes that Black Lives Matter functions as an Afromodern displacement of Euromodern anti-black racism by contesting American democracy as a carceral apparatus to ensure a democratic revolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pan-Asianism as a concept is conventionally associated with Japan's imperialism during the Second World War. This paper, in contrast, argues that far from being merely a language of hegemony, Pan-Asianism had a far more complex role to play in the early twentieth century. As an anti-imperial ideology, Pan-Asianism advanced a normative argument for the emancipation of Asia from Western imperialism and provided an alternative vision of civilization. As an anti-imperial strategy, Pan-Asianism offered Indian nationalist leaders in exile a necessary language to gain international support in favour of their nationalist movement. The paper explains how the ideological and strategic aspects of Pan-Asianism then affected and informed the development of contemporary international law with specific reference to the law of neutrality, the right to self-determination, racial equality, and the Monroe Doctrine. By doing so, it sheds light on an important yet ignored episode of the historical development of international law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Athar alrafedain is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper considers the question of Zion and the Diaspora pragmatically, as a question concerning the conditions necessary to ensure the continued existence of the Jewish people. My overall goal is to show that because of the differences between Jewish life in the State of Israel and the contemporary Diaspora, there is a strong difference in the challenges that confront Israeli and Diaspora Jewry; but that because of a common past (for which the adjective "Jewish" can be applied to both) on the one hand, and the global implications of the digital revolution, on the other, even these differences are rooted in a shared problematic. The first phase of discussion demonstrates that while the prevailing tendency to see the question of Zion and the Diaspora as a political one often focuses solely on contemporary issues concerning Jewish existence, a cultural view requires consideration of the past and future as well. Following this, I discuss the question of Zion and the Diaspora through the generations, noting that the continuation of Jewish life in the Land of Israel as well as in the Diaspora has historically depended upon the "midrashic" method of interpretation when confronting the junction between the diachronic and synchronic aspects of Jewish life, in order to mediate the influences coming from within and from without. The paper then considers the implications of these findings with respect to two of the major revolutions in Jewish life of the modern and contemporary periods: the effects of emancipation and the digital revolution. The final section of the paper discusses the challenges facing the existence of the Jewish people in the contemporary Diaspora and State of Israel. Here I argue that Zionism has succeeded in reconstructing, within the State of Israel, a Jewish society that carries a much greater potential for the continued existence of the Jews as a people than is possible in the Diaspora, but that because of the contemporary state of human affairs in general, it still has much to learn from Diaspora Jewry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Albaydaa University Journal is the property of Albaydha University Journal and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Acta Humana - Human Rights Publication is the property of National University of Public Service and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)