This work traces the history of the Medieval Jain community, focusing on the engagements of the Jains with the imperialo authority in the Mughal provinces of Ajmer, Awadh, Allahabad, Bihar, Delhi, Gujarat, Lahore and Malwa. It examines the trajectories of Jain community formation under the Mughals in India by scrutinizinh the everyday reproduction of a religious minority ruled by a monarchical dynasty belonging to another religious affilation. The endeavour is to gain insights on how diverse complexities of early modern South Asian society were dealt with. One can argue that soci-economicrealties and cultural considerations had a significant influence in the evolution of the inter-community relationship amd state formation in early modern South Asia. An analysis of the ideological underpinnings of the political processes into their relations with the Jains reflects the subtleties of the making of Mughal India. Although most of the Jains were traders and merchants, their relations with the Mughal state can be examined beyond the technicalities of economic considerations. The extensive use of contemporary Jain literary genres, like vigyaptipatras, in this work may thus widen the horizons of the history of Jain 'pasts' and Mughal historiography.

This history of Roman Palmyra offers an examination of how the Palmyrenes constructed and maintained a unique identity, individually and collectively, amid progressive communal changes.

Community, home, and identity are concepts that have concerned scholars in a variety of fields for some time. Legal scholars, sociologists, anthropologists, psychologists, and economists, among others, have studied the impacts of home and community on one's identity and how one's identity is manifested in one's home and in one's community. This volume brings together some of the leading thinkers about the connections between community, home and identity. Several chapters address how the law and lawyers contribute (or detract) from the creation and maintenance of community and, in some cases, the conscious destruction of communities. Others examine the protection of individual and group identities through rules related to property title and use of such things as Home and 'identity property'.

This multidisciplinary volume documents the resurrection of the importance of narrative to the study of individuals and groups and argues that narrative may become a lingua franca of future debates in the human sciences.

Most of the essays in this volume stem from the special sessions of the Historiography Seminar of the Canadian Society for Biblical Studies, held in the late spring of 2007 (University of Saskatchewan). The papers in these focused sessions dealt with issues of self-identification, community identity, and ethnicity in Judahite and Yehudite historiography. The scholars present addressed a range of issues, such as the understanding, presentation, and delimitation of “Israel” in various biblical texts, the relationship of Israelites to Judahites in Judean historical writings, the definition of Israel over against other peoples, and the possible reasons why the ethnoreligious community (“Israel”) was the focus of Judahite/Yehudite historiography. Papers approached these matters from a variety of theoretical and disciplinary vantage points. For example, some pursued an inner-biblical perspective (pentateuchal sources/writings, Former Prophets, Latter Prophets, Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah), while others pursued a cross-cultural comparative perspective (ancient Near Eastern, ancient Greek and Hellenistic historiographies, Western and non-Western historiographic traditions). Still others attempted to relate the material remains to the question of community identity in northern Israel, monarchic Judah, and postmonarchic Yehud.

This book is a social psychological inquiry into identity in modern society. Starts from the social psychological premise that identity results from interaction in the social world. Reviews and integrates the most influential strands of contemporary social psychology research on identity. Brings together North American and European perspectives on social psychology. Incorporates insights from philosophy, cognitive neuroscience, psychology, cultural studies, anthropology and sociology. Places social identity research in a variety of real-life social contexts.

This collection of essays contextualizes the history and current state of the social science method in the study of the Hebrew Bible. Part 1 traces the rise of social science criticism by reprinting classic essays on the topic; Part 2 provides "case studies," examples of application of the methods to biblical studies.