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This book is much more than an analysis of the schema of domination and submission as it is played out in the social drama of jinn eviction. It is also a source of information on the history and mythology of a saintly lineage, on the day to day running of a pilgrimage centre, on popular Islam, and on traditional conceptions of jinn possession.
This book is intended to construct a basis for the understanding of the rites and practices associated with exorcism, or jinn eviction as it is performed within the maraboutic institution called zawiya. Jinn eviction as it occurs in the maraboutic institution reproduces ideologies and social hierarchies of traditional society through the use of a variety of healing symbols and rituals. These symbols are delved into for the benefit of understanding the perennial cultural foundations of the discourse and practice of power in Morocco. The result is an ethnography of possession that has combined meticulous ethnographic field work with critical discourse analysis.
The main goal of the second issue of the Annual Review of the Sociology of Religion, devoted entirely to religion and politics, is precisely to question the sense of a reconstruction of the mutual and simultaneous relations between these two spheres of social life. What does this process mean and where is it taking us?
A provocative reinterpretation of accounts of spirit possession and exorcism in early Christianity The earliest Christian writings are filled with stories of possession and exorcism, which were crucial for the activity of the historical Jesus and for the practice of the earliest groups of his followers. Most critical scholarship, however, regularly marginalizes these topics or discards them altogether in reconstructing early Christian history. This innovative book approaches the study of possession from a different methodological angle by using a comparative lens that includes contemporary ethnographies of possession cross-culturally. Possession, besides being a harmful event that should be exorcized, can also have a positive role in many cultures. Often it helps individuals and groups to reflect on and reshape their identity, to plan their moral actions, and to remember in a most vivid way their past. When read in light of these materials, these ancient documents reveal the religious, cultural, and social meaning that the experience of possession had for the early Christ groups.
Over the past thirty years, religion has increasingly played a relevant role, both on a national level and in international affairs. The attempt made by politicians to reframe the policy of social cohesion in a neo-nationalist light (one land, one language, one religion = one political community), demising any kind of multiculturalism, facilitating instead a return to assimilation shaped by fear of the other (culture, religion, language, and so on), is very often associated with a restoration of the primacy of religious discourse in the public sphere. It is not just a return of religion in the public sphere, but the exploitation of religion by politics to reconstruct a social cohesion in the absence of ideological resources.
This book by Ali Foad Touba, English redactor to the cabinet of the king of Egypt recounts his two voyage to Ceylon in 1921 and 1924. He went to Ceylon in the summer of 1921 to enjoy a long due summer holiday and he confesses that he never intended to write and account of it. But in the subsequent penning of this experiences he make it to be know that 'I have merely recorded things, and gotled down my impressions just as they have accused to me from cach time I self disposed to take up my pen. In other words, I have merely brought out in print what might have conveyed in conversation, in a frank and natural way, unbounded by convention to any friend wishing to partake of my experiences in this lovely land'.
The European Witch-Hunt seeks to explain why thousands of people, mostly lower-class women, were deliberately tortured and killed in the name of religion and morality during three centuries of intermittent witch-hunting throughout Europe and North America. Combining perspectives from history, sociology, psychology and other disciplines, this book provides a comprehensive account of witch-hunting in early modern Europe. Julian Goodare sets out an original interpretation of witch-hunting as an episode of ideologically-driven persecution by the ‘godly state’ in the era of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation. Full weight is also given to the context of village social relationships, and t...
U.S. Policy Toward Syria - 1949 to 1958 is a historical document of an important phase of the history of Syria, as well as important scientific stages on the history of United States Policy towards Syria. It deals with the historical period bounded by the coup Hosni leader in March 1949 and the unity of Syria and Egypt in February 1958. Confined tracks U.S. policy toward Syria in this period, a two-lane, the first is the role of the U.S. and U.S. interests in the context of conflict and competition between Internationals as the United States was one of the main players in the stage of coups in Syria, as well as its policy that painted according to the interests and international readings. Tr...
First volume in the new series CeMIS Migration and Intercultural Studies Moroccans are one of the largest and most debated migrant groups in Belgium. Moroccan Migration in Belgium analyses diverse facets of this community from a multidisciplinary perspective and addresses the most relevant and some underexposed topics in the rapidly developing field of migration studies. Combining various academic disciplines and different research methods, the book offers a panoramic introspection into the dynamic nature of migration studies in general and Moroccan studies in particular. The contributions of established academics and young researchers will not only appeal to scientific peers working on this...
With global populations expected to exceed 9.2 billion by 2050 and available land and water resources devoted to crop production dwindling, we face significant challenges to secure global food security. Only 12 plant species feed 80% of the world’s population, with just three crop species (wheat, rice and maize) accounting for food consumed by 50% of the global population. Annual losses to crop pests and pathogens are significant, thought to be equivalent to that required to feed a billion people, at a time when crop productivity has plateaued. With pesticide applications becoming increasingly unfeasible on cost, efficacy and environmental grounds, there is growing interest in exploiting p...