Three Approaches to the Cultural Anthropology of the Middle East

1971 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 24-53
Author(s):  
Richard T. Antoun
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Graduate Students ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Cultural Anthropology ◽  
Middle Eastern ◽  
Field Work ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Cultural Anthropologist ◽  
Culture Area ◽  
The Social

Apart from the fact that anthropology has long been considered the bastard of the social sciences and the stepchild of the humanities, it is quite appropriate that a syllabus in Middle Eastern anthropology should follow those on geography, political science, and history. I cannot think of a single cultural anthropologist of my acquaintance dealing with Middle Eastern materials who has not urged, if not insisted, that his students familiarize themselves with the geography of the area, its ancient, medieval, and modern history, its religions, and its languages. Since most cultural anthropologists do field work in ar least one culture area, and many do it in two, the latter requirement is usually met with some degree of proficiency by anthropologists themselves and their graduate students. However, despite the obvious relevance of such great religious traditions as Islam, Christianity, and Judaism to the study of particular communities and regions within the Middle East, the acquaintance of anthropologists (not to mention students) with historical and religious materials remains sadly deficient, if only because of the richness of the literature available.

Situating Tribes in History: Lessons from the Archives and the Social Sciences

2021 ◽  
Vol 53 (3) ◽  
pp. 473-476
Author(s):  
Nadav Samin
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Middle Eastern ◽  
Record Keeping ◽  
Know How ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Many ◽  
Official Records

The tribe presents a problem for the historian of the modern Middle East, particularly one interested in personalities, subtleties of culture and society, and other such “useless” things. By and large, tribes did not leave their own written records. The tribal author is a phenomenon of the present or the recent past. There are few twentieth century tribal figures comparable to the urban personalities to whose writings and influence we owe our understanding of the social, intellectual, and political history of the modern Middle East. There is next a larger problem of record keeping to contend with: the almost complete inaccessibility of official records on the postcolonial Middle East. It is no wonder that political scientists and anthropologists are among the best regarded custodians of the region's twentieth century history; they know how to make creative and often eloquent use of drastically limited tools. For many decades, suspicious governments have inhibited historians from carrying out the duties of their vocation. This is one reason why the many rich and original new monographs on Saddam Hussein's Iraq are so important. If tribes are on the margins of the records, and the records themselves are off limits, then one might imagine why modern Middle Eastern tribes are so poorly conceived in the scholarly imagination.

MAHMUD A. FAKSH, The Future of Islam in the Middle East: Fundamentalism in Egypt, Algeria, and Saudi Arabia (Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 1997). Pp. 148. $49.95 cloth. MAHMOOD MONSHIPOURI, Islamism, Secularism, and Human Rights in the Middle East (Boulder, Colo.: Lynne Rienner, 1998). Pp. 270. $55.00 cloth.

2001 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 154-156
Author(s):  
QUINTAIN WIKTOROWICZ
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Saudi Arabia ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Middle Eastern ◽  
Explanatory Power ◽  
Science Inquiry ◽  
Middle Eastern Studies ◽  
The Social

Middle Eastern studies is frequently criticized in the social sciences for being atheoretical and descriptive. While it is effective in elucidating the complexities of societies, a lack of theory tends to isolate Middle Eastern studies from social-science disciplines, because it often lacks applicable frameworks or concepts that can be applied outside the region. A growing group of scholars is attempting to address this concern by integrating strong empirical area expertise and the rigor of social-science inquiry to enhance the explanatory power of research.

The Effect of the Political Situation in the City of Jerusalem on the Rights of the Jerusalem Women

1970 ◽  
pp. 36-47
Author(s):  
Fadwa Al-Labadi
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Middle Eastern ◽  
Colonial Period ◽  
Sexual Life ◽  
Family Status ◽  
Colonial Legacy ◽  
Legal Principle ◽  
The Social ◽  
The City ◽  
Legislative Processes

The concept of citizenship was introduced to the Arab and Islamic region duringthe colonial period. The law of citizenship, like all other laws and regulations inthe Middle East, was influenced by the colonial legacy that impacted the tribal and paternalistic systems in all aspects of life. In addition to the colonial legacy, most constitutions in the Middle East draw on the Islamic shari’a (law) as a major source of legislation, which in turn enhances the paternalistic system in the social sector in all its dimensions, as manifested in many individual laws and the legislative processes with respect to family status issues. Family is considered the nucleus of society in most Middle Eastern countries, and this is specifically reflected in the personal status codes. In the name of this legal principle, women’s submission is being entrenched, along with censorship over her body, control of her reproductive role, sexual life, and fertility.

Do We Need a Postmodern Anthropology for Mission in a Postcolonial World?

2011 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 151-169 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael A. Rynkiewich
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
United States ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
Cultural Anthropology ◽  
The United States ◽  
Symbiotic Relationship ◽  
World War ◽  
Fields Of Study ◽  
The Social ◽  
Cross Fertilization

Abstract There was a time when mission studies benefitted from a symbiotic relationship with the social sciences. However, it appears that relationship has stagnated and now is waning. The argument is made here, in the case of cultural anthropology both in Europe and the United States, that a once mutually beneficial though sometimes strained relationship has suffered a parting of the ways in recent decades. First, the article reviews the relationships between missionaries and anthropologists before World War II when it was possible to be a ‘missionary anthropologist’ with a foot in both disciplines. In that period, the conversation went two ways with missionary anthropologists making important contributions to anthropology. Then, the article reviews some aspects of the development of the two disciplines after World War II when increasing professionalism in both disciplines and a postmodern turn in anthropology took the disciplines in different directions. Finally, the article asks whether or not the conversation, and thus the cross-fertilization, can be restarted, especially since the youngest generation of anthropologists has recognized the reality of local Christianities in their fields of study.

Field Work: An Introduction to the Social Sciences.

1961 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 486
Author(s):  
Kurt W. Back ◽  
Buford H. Junker ◽  
Everett C. Hughes
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Field Work ◽  
The Social

Die Macht der Institution

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
Cultural Anthropology ◽  
The State ◽  
History Of Ideas ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
Post War

This volume examines Arnold Gehlen’s theory of the state from his philosophy of the state in the 1920s via his political and cultural anthropology to his impressive critique of the post-war welfare state. The systematic analyses the book contains by leading scholars in the social sciences and the humanities examine the interplay between the theory and history of the state with reference to the broader context of the history of ideas. Students and researchers as well as other readers interested in this subject will find this book offers an informative overview of how one of the most wide-ranging and profound thinkers of the twentieth century understands the state. With contributions by Oliver Agard, Heike Delitz, Joachim Fischer, Andreas Höntsch, Tim Huyeng, Rastko Jovanov, Frank Kannetzky, Christine Magerski, Zeljko Radinkovic, Karl-Siegbert Rehberg and Christian Steuerwald.

Reading routines: strategies of recall in graduate education

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary Alan Fine ◽  
Hannah Wohl ◽  
Simone Ispa-Landa
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Graduate Students ◽  
Doctoral Students ◽  
Graduate Program ◽  
Graduate Training ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Doctoral Program ◽  
Note Taking ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Social

Purpose This study aims to explore how graduate students in the social sciences develop reading and note-taking routines. Design/methodology/approach Using a professional socialization framework drawing on grounded theory, this study draws on a snowball sample of 36 graduate students in the social sciences at US universities. Qualitative interviews were conducted to learn about graduate students’ reading and note-taking techniques. Findings This study uncovered how doctoral students experienced the shift from undergraduate to graduate training. Graduate school requires students to adopt new modes of reading and note-taking. However, students lacked explicit mentorship in these skills. Once they realized that the goal was to enter an academic conversation to produce knowledge, they developed new reading and note-taking routines by soliciting and implementing suggestions from advanced doctoral students and faculty mentors. Research limitations/implications The specific requirements of the individual graduate program shape students’ goals for reading and note-taking. Further examination of the relationship between graduate students’ reading and note-taking and institutional requirements is warranted with a larger sample of universities, including non-American institutions. Practical implications Graduate students benefit from explicit mentoring in reading and note-taking skills from doctoral faculty and advanced graduate students. Originality/value This study uncovers the perspectives of graduate students in the social sciences as they transition from undergraduate coursework in a doctoral program of study. This empirical, interview-based research highlights the centrality of reading and note-taking in doctoral studies.

scholarly journals Il matriarcato slavo

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evel Gasparini
Keyword(s):  
Social Structure ◽  
Cultural Anthropology ◽  
Historical Sources ◽  
Close Link ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Collective Ownership ◽  
Convenient Form ◽  
The Social

This book on Slavic matriarchy is the result of the studies and researches that Evel Gasparini carried out over the span of his lifetime. Intrigued by the possibility of a close link between the collective ownership of the land and the ancient agricultural-matriarchal substrate of Slav culture, Gasparini launched on the titanic enterprise of analysing the archaeological and historical sources of early Slavic civilisation. Basing himself on a concept of culture elaborated in the ethnological field, he brought to light certain contradictions in the application of the Indo-European paradigm to Slavic culture and identified a series of elements illustrating the matriarchal substrate. Exploiting an uncommon knowledge of cultural anthropology and profound linguistic competencies, in this book Gasparini maps out a complex panorama ranging from the economy to the social structure and from the religious traditions to music and dance. Out of print for some time, the book is now proposed in a new, more convenient form, complete with an appendix on Finns and Slavs – which was originally intended as another chapter in the book but was then left out – a detailed preface by Gasparini's disciple Remo Faccani, and a bibliography of the scholar's oeuvre edited by Donatella Possamai.

SAGE Campus

2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-52
Author(s):  
Joseph R. Kraus
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Online Learning ◽  
College Student ◽  
Graduate Students ◽  
Information Literacy ◽  
Data Science ◽  
Education Students ◽  
Learning Modules ◽  
The Social ◽  
Teaching Faculty

The SAGE Campus platform provides 18 different courses with roughly 220 hours of online learning modules. The author reviewed the service from the perspective of a college student to see if it was an appropriate learning environment. The primary audience for the courses are graduate students in the social sciences, but undergraduate and graduate students of all disciplines may find courses that are worthwhile to investigate. At the time of the review, the course topics covered content such as information literacy, data management and other data science skills, research design, and how to get published. Many librarians and teaching faculty may recommend students take these courses to supplement their education. Students can learn through these courses in a self-paced manner, and there are no scores or grades associated with completion of a course. Overall, the SAGE Campus platform provides a low-stress way for students to enhance their understanding of many topics relevant to research in the social sciences.

Introduction

2018 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 315-316
Author(s):  
Rabab El-Mahdi ◽  
Ellen Lust
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Middle East ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Use Of Force ◽  
Conventional Wisdom ◽  
Modern State ◽  
Nation State ◽  
Arab Uprisings ◽  
The Social ◽  
Procedural Outcomes

The nation-state is in crisis. The increasing mobility of capital and information, unprecedented waves of people moving across borders, and rise of actors, such as ISIS, unwilling to abide by the rules of the Westphalian system, challenge the very notion of territoriality, citizenship, sovereignty, and the state's monopoly over the legitimate use of force. Studies on the Middle East and North Africa since the Arab uprisings took the region by storm, upending “conventional wisdom” held by many political scientists and scholars, have focused largely on the causes, genealogy, and procedural outcomes of the events. These are important, but as we shall see, the uprisings also highlighted the need to think carefully about how the modern state has changed, is being adapted, or has been superseded. How is the “state,” a foundational conceptual construct in the social sciences, to be located in light of these events? And to what extent do the concepts we employ and the language we use accurately reflect and allow us to interrogate realities, or do they obscure them? This roundtable aims to spark this much-needed discussion.

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