The material presented in this volume significantly extends what has been known to date of Asian textiles produced from the Tang (618-907) through the early Ming period (late 14th-early 15th century), and new documentation gives full recognition to the importance of luxury textiles in the history of Asian art. Costly silks and embroideries were the primary vehicle for the migration of motifs and styles from one part of Asia to another, particularly during the Tang and Mongol (1207-1368) periods. In addition, they provide material evidence of both the cultural and religious ties that linked ethnic groups and the impetus to artistic creativity that was inspired by exposure to foreign goods.

For its citizens, contemporary Central Asia is a land of great promise and peril. While the end of Soviet rule has opened new opportunities for social mobility and cultural expression, political and economic dynamics have also imposed severe hardships. In this lively volume, contributors from a variety of disciplines examine how ordinary Central Asians lead their lives and navigate shifting historical and political trends. Provocative stories of Turkmen nomads, Afghan villagers, Kazakh scientists, Kyrgyz border guards, a Tajik strongman, guardians of religious shrines in Uzbekistan, and other narratives illuminate important issues of gender, religion, power, culture, and wealth. A vibrant and dynamic world of life in urban neighborhoods and small villages, at weddings and celebrations, at classroom tables, and around dinner tables emerges from this introduction to a geopolitically strategic and culturally fascinating region.

Family remains the most powerful social idiom and one of the most powerful social structures throughout the Arab world. To engender love of nation among its citizens, national movements portray the nation as a family. To motivate loyalty, political leaders frame themselves as fathers, mothers, brothers, or sisters to their clients, parties, or the citizenry. To stimulate production, economic actors evoke the sense of duty and mutual commitment of family obligation. To sanctify their edicts, clerics wrap religion in the moralities of family and family in the moralities of religion. Social and political movements, from the most secular to the most religious, pull on the tender strings of family love to recruit and bind their members to each other. To call someone family is to offer them almost the highest possible intimacy, loyalty, rights, reciprocities, and dignity. In recognizing the significance of the concept of family, this state-of-the-art literature review captures the major theories, methods, and case studies carried out on Arab families over the past century. The book offers a country-by-country critical assessment of the available scholarship on Arab families. Sixteen chapters focus on specific countries or groups of countries; seven chapters offer examinations of the literature on key topical issues. Joseph’s volume provides an indispensable resource to researchers and students, and advances Arab family studies as a critical independent field of scholarship.

This study is divided into three chapters. Chapter one deals with the Kurds and their country Kurdistan. It covers a short account on the geography of the area, the population of the people, situation of the Kurds in the countries where they live, their origin and their language and literature. In chapter two the following two points are discussed: 1.The appearance of the first Kurdish newspaper. 2.A general survey of the previous works on the Kurdish newspapers and periodicals. Chapter three covers in chronological order, the Kurdish newspapers and other periodical publications from 22nd April 1898, the date of the first Kurdish newspaper KURDISTAN until 14th July 1958. Each entry where possible, is given a full bibliographical description, followed by the locations of the surviving issues in all libraries in Kurdistan and abroad. There follows a detailed discussion on the political and historical circumstances, the editor(s), owner, manager(s), contributors, contents, frequency, number of issues published, the income and financial position and the printing press(es)used. This chapter also reveals the following facts: 1.Most of these publications had short lives. 2.All these publications were subsidised by their owners and editors. 3.During this period (1898 1958) there were no daily Kurdish newspapers. 4.Their contents were mostly political and literary.

This text analyses how modern Jordanian identity was created and defined. The author studies two key institutions, the law and the military, and uses them to create an analysis of the making of modern Jordanian identity.