during different historic periods, land of iran has been invaded by alien tribes and iranian written works such as religious, scientific and historic books have been subjected to detruction and demolition for several times. many historical evidences have referred to background of this issue and at the same time they testified that iranian cultural written hertage has been subjected to recovery ...

The new research programme of the Social Movements and Political Culture in Africa (SMPC) theme group is primarily based on work undertaken by the Culture, Politics and Inequality in Africa (CPI) theme group, which will round off its research in 2007. Since 2002, this theme group – with six core members and five associate members – has been concentrating on the dynamics of formations of power a...

Multiple literatures suggest that the following factors may figure prominently in explanations of women's increasing empowerment: (1) socioeconomic development; (2) rising gender-egalitarian attitudes that transform economic development into a cultural process of human development; (3) historical legacies stemming from a society's cultural and political traditions; and (4) institutional design ...

This article tries to demonstrate that Islam recognizes women’s social presence and endorses their participation in political, economic, and cultural activities in society. The claim is supported by the Quranic reports of women’s social activities in the past nations and by a number of jurisprudential verses (āyāt al-aḥkām) pertaining to social matters. Further evidence for th...

Using Western theories and perspectives as models, this chapter discusses the cultural interpretation of dying and death in a non-Western society. Also discussed, based on the historical, political, and cultural history of Nigeria, are the implications of dying and death for death preparation, the problem of deathcausation diseases without external symptoms, and the special plight of widows. Su...

the alsace-lorraine region in france has been at the center of many fateful events, such as two world wars, due to its distinct geographical placement between two important european countries – that is, france and germany. the identity of the alsace-lorraine population has had many links with germany because of geographical, linguistic and historical features that the two share. moreover, throu...

Refugees from Burma have comprised the largest group of refugees resettling in the United States over the past decade, with nearly 90,000 people, and 19 percent of the total refugee population. However, very little literature exists that describes the cultural context and displacement experiences of this population. This article addresses that gap in the literature by examining historical, soci...

Political Institutions and Regimes since 1600: A New Historical Data Set Do national political institutions matter for social developments and changes? If so, how, where, and when do the critical conditions occur, and how long is the causal time lag? What are the patterns of interaction between political regime types and institutional changes from one country to another? These are some of the q...