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Investigates the new world of computer conferencing and details how writers use language when their social interaction is exclusively enacted through text on screens.

Examines the everyday experiences of high school seniors as they choose their colleges and demonstrates that college choice is a more complex social and organizational reality than has been previously understood.

Examines public and private writings of low-income, urban, pre-adolescent girls, illuminating ways that girls' voices are often silenced in schools and society.

Examines the impact of coca and the cocaine trade on the Latin American country most affected by it, Bolivia.

Focuses on authorial representations of contested reality in qualitative research.

This sweeping discussion of the philosophy of evolutionary biology is based on the revolutionary idea that species are not kinds of organisms but wholes composed of organisms.

Explores the shortcomings of teacher education and proposes design principles for rethinking teacher preparation. Establishes a reform agenda for teacher education faculties.

A corrected and extensively annotated version of the sole meeting between two of the most important figures in twentieth-century intellectual life.

Cuts across perceptual psychology, art, television, film, literature, advertising, and political communication to give the reader critical insight into the holistic logic and emotional power of the images that dominate our lives.

Essays and case studies by anthropologists provide insight into what measures might be necessary to mitigate the potentially harmful effects of tourism on host communities.

Analyzes and illustrates the demonization of women and Jews in medieval sermon stories, retelling over one hundred of these tales in modern English.

Links the plight of contemporary urban dwellers of African descent across North America, Europe, the Caribbean, Latin America, and sub-Saharan Africa, examines their coping strategies, and advocates social policies sensitive to their cultural and societal differences.

This volume continues the stories of the Israelite patriarchs and prophets who figured in Volume II, as well as of the semi-mythical rulers of ancient Iran. In addition to biblical, Qur'anic, and legendary accounts about Moses, Aaron, and the exodus of the Children of Israel from Egypt; of the Judges, Samuel and Ezekiel; and of Saul, David, and Solomon, it includes a version of Iranian prehistory that emphasizes the role of Manuchihr (Manushihr in Arabic) in creating the Iranian nation and state.Woven into these accounts are stories about figures belonging to the very earliest literatures of the Middle East: the mysterious al-Khidwith echoes from the epic of the Sumero-Akkadian hero Gilgamesh; the legendary exploits of Dhu l-Qarnayn, mirroring the ancient romance of Alexander; and incorporating elements about the encounter of King Solomon and Bilqis, the Queen of Sheba, of Jewish midrash and South Arabian lore.The Islamic empire was at its political and economic height during the tenth and eleventh centuries, and a new civilization was forged at the caliphal court and in society at large. One of the literary triumphs of that civilization was this rich and colorful tapestry belonging to the Islamic genre of "tales of the prophets." The tales in this volume show how threads from all the ancient civilizations of the Middle East were incorporated, absorbed, and Islamized in the brilliant fabric of that new civilization.

This book shows that failure to assess the significant cultural differences between China and the West has seriously affected our understanding of both classical and contemporary China, and makes the translation of attitudes, concepts, and issues extremely problematic.

This volume chronicles the history of the Islamic state in the years A. H. 74-81 (A. D. 693-701), after the final defeat of Ibn al-Zubayr in Mecca put an end to twelve years of civil war and reunited the empire under the rule of the Marw¿nid caliph 'Abd al-Malik. Syria and the Hijaz enjoyed a period of relative peace during this time, and stability and consolidation were furthered by such basic administrative reforms as the institution of an official Islamic coinage. Pacification of Iraq, where Kh¿rijite rebel bands still roamed and mutiny was spreading among the government forces, was entrusted by 'Abd al-Malik to the victorious general al-¿ajj¿j ibn Y¿suf. Al-¿abar¿ i gives a detailed account of this iron-fisted governor's administration, concentrating on his war against the redoubtable Shabib b. Yazid, a Kh¿rijite guerilla leader with a band of a few hundred men who held out against all odds and twice even entered the capital at al-Kufah and prayed in its mosque. Vivid eyewitness reports from participants on both sides of this conflict provide a valuable picture of Arab life in Iraq at this time, as well as evidence for the ideology of the Kharijites and the sources of discontent in the wider society.Attention is also given to developments in the frontier provinces of the east, eventually also placed under the authority of al-¿ajj¿j. In Khurasan, the vicious tribal feuds that had interrupted the policy of continued conquest were gradually resolved and campaigning resumed. In Sijistan, a crushing defeat of Arab troops led al-¿ajj¿j to outfit the "Peacock Army," a force of unprecedented size and impressiveness, which, when it rebelled under its leader, Ibn al-Ash'ath, was to offer the governor the gravest challenge of his career.

This book takes a genuinely new spiritual stance reflecting the emergence of a post-modern science and differing from the relativistic nihilism that calls itself postmodern but is really modernism extended to its limit.Based on a direct experience of reality as divine, this postmodern spirituality transcends modernity's individualism and patriarchy, its forced choices between dualism and materialism, anthropocentrism and relativism, supernaturalism and atheism, intolerance and nihilism. Bringing moral and ethical values back into rational discourse, this book provides a critique of various aspects of modern society--political, economic, social, agricultural, and technological aspects. This criticism, informed by the postmodern worldview, points toward a more satisfying form of personal existence and a sustainable form of global order.

Ibn al-'Arabi is still known as "the Great Sheik" among the surviving Sufi orders. Born in Muslim Spain, he has become famous in the West as the greatest mystical thinker of Islamic civilization. He was a great philosopher, theologian, and poet.William Chittick takes a major step toward exposing the breadth and depth of Ibn al-'Arabi's vision. The book offers his view of spiritual perfection and explains his theology, ontology, epistemology, hermeneutics, and soteriology. The clear language, unencumbered by methodological jargon, makes it accessible to those familiar with other spiritual traditions, while its scholarly precision will appeal to specialists.Beginning with a survey of Ibn al-'Arabi's major teachings, the book gradually introduces the most important facets of his thought, devoting attention to definitions of his basic terminology. His teachings are illustrated with many translated passages introducing readers to fascinating byways of spiritual life that would not ordinarily be encountered in an account of a thinker's ideas. Ibn al-'Arabi is allowed to describe in detail the visionary world from which his knowledge derives and to express his teachings in his own words.More than 600 passages from his major work, al-Futuhat al-Makkivva, are translated here, practically for the first time. These alone provide twice the text of the Fusus al-hikam. The exhaustive indexes make the work an invaluable reference tool for research in Sufism and Islamic thought in general.

Kundalini's power lies dormant in humans until it is awakened. The awakened Kundalini expresses the primal divine impulse and ultimately joins the individual with the divine. The development of the book parallels the development of the Kundalini within. Part One exposes the awakening and unfolding of the Kundalini; Part Two describes the piercing of the energy centers and the stages of ascent through the body; and Part Three examines Kundalini's relation to sexual expression.The book provides a deep understanding of Tantra and of the underlying purpose of Tantracism. The author carefully considers the Caryakrama practices of sexual expression as a means of awakening and controlling Kundalini.Silburn draws together passages from the Trika, Krama, and Kaula systems ranging through Abhinavagupta and Lalla and provides both translation and commentary for them. Chapters on the Chakras, the Nadis, and on mantras further elucidate the topic and lead to a forceful conclusion: Kundalini is the source of ultimate human knowledge and power.

In this book, you can see how the divine has been perceived in feminine form. Here are ten of the best known goddesses from a variety of cultures -- East and West, past and present. A wide range is presented, from the fierce Durga, to the gentle, but firm, Sita; from the erotic goddeses Inanna and Aphrodite, to the chaste figures of Mary and Athena; from goddesses closely associated with material wealth such as Laksmi, to ethereal goddesses such as Kuan-yin.Each goddess is treated separately in considerable detail to provide a distinct and clear portrait of her special "personality" and meaning within her own cultural context. At the same time, each chapter has a similar structure and style to enhance comparisons among the goddesses. An attempt is made in each case to draw upon both elite and popular sources of information. The Introduction and Conclusion consider important central questions closely connected with goddess scholarship, for example, the possibility of a prepatriarchal culture in which goddess worship was central, the difficulty of recovering female religious experience in goddess traditions that exist in male-dominated cultures, and the extent to which an overarching goddess theology can be implied in the goddess traditions that remain known to us.

This book is a unique study of Shi'a Islam as it lives in the minds and hearts of people in a Southwest Iranian village. The central segment of the text is presented in the form of edited interviews conducted in the course of anthropological fieldwork both before and after the Iranian revolution. The individuals, representing all major socio-economic and educational backgrounds, speak in their own words. Loeffler discovers that what people make of their religion is characterized by not only an unexpected diversity, but by an astounding sophistication. His format of presenting these views gives justice to the highly individualized character of religious worldviews. This feature has gone unrecognized in Islamic studies because the preferred methodology of working with composite and generalized accounts has made it impossible to detect.In his conclusion, Loeffler formulates a new theory of religion based on the emerging paradigm of evolutionary epistemology and the dialectic between the individual and the religious system. This area of Islamic studies remains untouched by scholars preoccupied with historical texts and orthodox doctrines of established religious authorities.

This volume deals with the last two and a half years of the Prophet's life. In addition to the three major expeditions to ¿unanyn, T¿'if, and Tab¿k, it describes in detail the circumstances surrounding the illness from which he died and the subsequent crisis of leadership faced by the nascent Muslim community. The author depicts with admirable fairness all the various opinions and divisions that existed within the community. He also presents a vivid picture of the Prophet's physical appearance, his personal life, and his marriages. Among other topics discussed in this volume are all the deputations that came to Medina; a summary of all the expeditions and raiding parties; and his scribes, freedmen, horses, camels, goats, swords, coats of mail, and so on. It also covers the apostasy of Musaylimah, Aswad, and ¿ulhahah and the Prophet's attempts to deal with them.The translation not only preserves the original lively flavor of al-¿abar¿ but also, in its annotations, draws extensively on both parallel Arabic sources and the intensive research of recent years. Readers who seek a deeper understanding of the Prophet's personality and of the reasons for antagonisms engendered among various factions will find this volume most informative.

The sixth volume of the translation of al-¿abar¿'s History deals with the ancestors of Müammad, with his own early life, and then with his prophetic mission up to the time of his Hijrah or emigration to Medina. The topics covered mean that this volume is of great importance both for the career of Muhammad himself and for the early history of Islam. Al-¿abar¿ was familiar with, and made use of, the main early source of these matters, the Sirah or life of Müammad by Ibn Is¿¿q, a work which is still extant. Although his own treatment is briefer than that of Ibn Is¿¿q, it complements the latter in important ways by making use of other sources. Where Ibn Is¿¿q gave only the version of an event which he preferred, al-¿abar¿ includes any variants which he considered of value. Thus he mentions the dispute about the first male to become a muslim--'Ali or Ab¿ Bakr or Zayd--and has also several variant accounts of the call to hostility toward Muhammad from many of the leading Meccans and their attempts to put pressure on his family to stop his preaching. The negotiations with the men of Medina which eventually led to the Hijrah are fully described, and there is then an account of how Müammad escaped an assassination attempt and arrived safely in Medina. A concluding section discusses some chronological questions. This volume does not merely give a straightforward account of the earlier career of Müammad and the beginnings of Islam, but also contains valuable source-material not easily accessible otherwise, or not accessible at all.

This volume deals with the part of ¿abar¿'s great History covering the first fifteen years of the caliphate of the Umayyad Hish¿m ibn 'Abd al-Malik, which represents almost the last period of universal political unity in Islamic history. Tabari's work is generally recognized as among the most important sources for Hish¿m's reign. Here the bitter fighting faced by the Muslim forces on the frontiers receives extensive and graphic coverage. In particular, the unrewarding and continous war against the pagan Turks in Khurasan, a struggle that did so much to alienate the troops and thus to spread disaffection with Umayyad rule, is recorded in much more detail than elsewhere. Military disasters such as the Day of Thirst, the Day of Kamarjah, and the Day of the Defile are vividly portrayed.¿abar¿ also devotes considerable attention to the growing internal problems that clouded the latter days of Hish¿m's rule, including the persistent contest for power between the great tribal groupings and the struggle of non-Arab Muslims for better status for themselves in the Islamic state. The burgeoning fiscal difficulties that threatened the state under Hish¿m are also highlighted. Additionally, there are many reports of the easliest 'Abb¿sid revolutionary activity. This volume is not only essential for the study of the reign of Hish¿m but also for understanding the background of the Umayyads' downfall and the establishment of 'Abb¿sid rule, laying bare some of the roots of the final breakdown of Islmaic political unity.A discounted price is available when purchasing the entire 39-volume History of al-¿abar¿ set. Contact SUNY Press for more information.

This volume of al-¿abar¿'s History covers nearly a quarter of a century, and after covering the very brief caliphate of al-H¿d¿, concentrates on that of H¿r¿n al-Rash¿d. During these years, the caliphate was in a state of balance with its external foes; the great enemy, Christian Byzantium, was regarded with respect by the Muslims, and the two great powers of the Near East treated each other essentially as equals, while the Caucasian and Central Asian frontiers were held against pressure from the Turkish peoples of Inner Eurasia. The main stresses were internal, including Sh¿'ite risings on behalf of the excluded house of 'Al¿, and revolts by the radical equalitarian Kh¿rijites; but none of these was serious enough to affect the basic stability of the caliphate.H¿r¿n ar-Rash¿d's caliphate has acquired in the West, under the influence of a misleading picture from the Arabian Nights, a glowing image as a golden age of Islamic culture and letters stemming from the Caliph's patronage of the exponents of these arts and sciences. In light of the picture of the Caliph which emerges from al-¿abar¿'s pages, however, this image seems to be distinctly exaggerated. Al-Rash¿d himself does not exhibit any notable signs of administrative competence, military leadership or intellectual interests beyond those which convention demanded of a ruler. For much of his reign, he left the business of government to the capable viziers of the Barmak¿d family--the account of whose spectacular fall from power forms one of the most dramatic features of al-¿abar¿'s narratives here--and his decision to divide the Islamic empire after his death between his sons was to lead subsequently to a disastrous civil war. Nevertheless, al-¿abar¿'s story is full of interesting sidelights on the lives of those involved in the court circle of the time and on the motivations which impelled medieval Muslims to seek precarious careers there.A discounted price is available when purchasing the entire 39-volume History of al-¿abar¿ set. Contact SUNY Press for more information.

Volume I of the thirty-eight volume translation of ¿abar¿'s great History begins with the creation of the world and ends with the time of Noah and the Flood. It not only brings a vast amount of speculation about the early history of mankind into sharp Muslim focus, but it also synchronizes ancient Iranian ideas about the prehistory of mankind with those inspired by the Qur'an and the Bible. The volume is thus an excellent guide to the cosmological views of many of ¿abar¿'s contemporaries. The translator, Franz Rosenthal, one of the world's foremost scholars of Arabic, has also written an extensive introduction to the volume that presents all the facts known about ¿abar¿'s personal and professional life. Professor Rosenthal's meticulous and original scholarship has yielded a valuable bibliography and chronology of ¿abar¿'s writings, both those preserved in manuscript and those alluded to by other authors. The introduction and first volume of the translation of the History form a ground-breaking contribution to Islamic historiography in English and will prove to be an invaluable source of information for those who are interested in Middle Eastern history but are unable to read the basic works in Arabic.

Here Grof presents a useful model of the psyche-a model extended by his thirty years of studying non-ordinary states of consciousness. It is useful for understanding such phenomena as shamanism, mysticism, psychedelic states, spontaneous visionary experiences, and psychotic episodes. The model is also useful in explaining the dynamics of experiential psychotherapies and a variety of sociopolitical manifestations such as war and revolution.This book might have been entitled Beyond Drugs. The second part describes the principles and process of the non-pharmacological technique developed by the author and his wife, Christina, for self-exploration and for psychotherapy. Grof explores in detail the components of this technique. He describes its method, its effective mechanisms, as well as its goals and potential. Its practice is simple, since it utilizes the natural healing capacity of the psyche.

In addition to the apocalyptic prospect of global nuclear destruction, there are other dismal scenarios involving resource and environmental issues that are less imminent but still serious in the long term. Past analyses, seeking remedies, have focused on symptoms rather than causes. They represent extensions and expressions of the same philosophies and strategies that created these situations.This book brings a fresh and optimistic perspective to the problem area. It explores modern consciousness research and transpersonal psychology for practices that accelerate the development of consciousness. It covers a wide range from laboratory techniques of experimental psychiatry, transpersonal psychotherapies, and Jungian psychology to the Oriental and Western mystical traditions.

This book examines in depth the century-long struggle of Black laborers in the iron and steel industry of western Pennsylvania. In the process it shows how the fate of these Black workers mirrors the contemporary predicament of the Black working class and the development of a chronically unemployed underclass in America's declining industrial centers. Dickerson argues that persistent racial discrimination within heavy industry and the decline of major industries during the 1970s are key to understanding the social and economic situation of twentieth-century urban Blacks.Through a blend of historical research and contemporary interviews, this study chronicles the struggle of Black steelworkers to gain equality in the industry and the setbacks suffered as American steelmaking succumbed to foreign competition and antiquated modes of production. The plight of western Pennsylvania's Black steelworkers reflects that of Black laborers in Chicago, Gary, Detroit, Cleveland, Youngstown, Birmingham, and other major American cities where heavy industry once flourished.