bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Early Jesuit Visions of Education
Authors: Bruno-Jofré Rosa , Jofre Ana
Published: January 2024

Founded by Ignacio de Loyola, the Society of Jesus was approved by Pope Paul III in 1540 and suppressed by Pope Clement XIV in 1773. The Jesuits’ vision of education, which was transformative and student centered, thus showing awareness of the rise of individuality, was framed by The Spiritual Exercises (1548), Chapter IV of their Constitutions (1558), and, especially, the Ratio Studiorum (1599). Their conception of education integrated humanism and medieval scholasticism, embraced Aristotelian conceptions, and adopted the theology of Thomas Aquinas. It intersected humanism and confessionalization. A major aim was to prepare a male Catholic leadership for the new order of things; hence, the emphasis was on the creation of colleges and also universities. Funding of their colleges and universities often led to questionable practices such as slavery. Their educational work was framed by a developing geopolitical context of coloniality, and the ministry followed colonization and trade involving the Americas, Asia, Africa, and Europe, generating powerful networks and embodying a form of globalism with precursory transnational characteristics. The Jesuits often acted as cultural brokers and interlocutors with local cultures. See interactive map.

There was an interplay between the Jesuits’ educational work and their research in math and areas of science with the contextual intellectual and political configurations of emerging ideas and discoveries, particularly in the 16th and 17th centuries, and they tried a degree of articulation with new ideas. The 17th century witnessed the dispute of the Jesuits with the Jansenists around human freedom and divine grace, as well as the decline of scholasticism and Aristotelianism, but also a spiritual renewal that opened the Church to the needs of the people, resulting in basic education for poor children as a response to the Reformation, while the 18th century brought a scientific and philosophical movement. Within the patriarchal setting of the Church, there was a realization that women were needed outside the cloister in the educational enterprise. The 18th-century scenario was not easy for the Jesuits, who could not articulate their thinking within new emerging configurations of political and intellectual ideas as they had done in the 16th century. Interaction with location, the historicity of experience, and the Jesuits’ search for knowledge and the role the schools played in the formation of thinkers of modernity give reasons, among others, to decenter the analysis of the Society. See concept map of contexts.
Researching Relationships Between Rural Education, Space and Social Justice
Authors: Cuervo Hernan
Published: January 2024

The relationship between rural schooling, space, and theories of justice is important to understand the challenges and opportunities faced by individuals (e.g., students, teachers, principals) learning and teaching in rural places. To understand these challenges and opportunities, social justice needs to be comprehended at the level and setting where it is being enacted. This need for a contextualization of social justice, rather than universal and impartial notions of the concept, contributes to make visible the structures and relationships that constitute the space of rural schooling. This is important because the entrenched inequities experienced by rural school participants (e.g., students, staff, and the community) can only be fully addressed through a plural conceptualization and practice of social justice. This plurality needs to include a politics of distribution and a politics of recognition if it aims to make rural school spaces equitable and just.

The work of Iris Marion Young, Nancy Fraser, and Axel Honneth has been key to theorize the plural conceptualization of social justice in the intersection with space and rural education. Their scholarly work has been crucial because traditionally, a politics of distribution has tended to be the main social justice dimension applied in educational policies to redress perennial inequalities, such as shortage of staffing. This has produced a shortcoming and one-size-fits-all approach that can homogenize the diversity of rural spaces and schools. Against this dominance of distributive justice, a politics of recognition, through the work of Young, Fraser, and Honneth, is key to enhance the resignification and value of the rural space, knowledge, and schooling. To illustrate the need for a plural approach to social justice, two issues in rural education are particularly important: the constitution of the rural school curriculum and the perennial problem of recruiting and retaining school staff. While distribution of resources is important, at the core of both issues is a need for the social respect and cultural resignification of rural knowledge, experiences, and ways of life. This approach that takes recognition theory seriously into account, as well as distributive justice, helps to better understand how rural schooling can be socially just.
The Line of Control in Kashmir
Authors: Bouzas Mato
Published: January 2024

The ceasefire line that has divided the disputed formerly princely state of Jammu and Kashmir (1846–1947) since 1949, following the involvement of the United Nations (UN) to end the first India–Pakistan war for the control of that state, was renamed in 1972 the Line of Control (LoC). The LoC is the result of the Simla Agreement that ended the 1971 war between India and Pakistan and marked the diminishing role of the UN in the conflict. Although the LoC is formally referred to as a border, it is very much contested, not only by the states of India, Pakistan, and the wide spectrum of Kashmiri nationalism but also, more broadly, by those living in the nearby areas on both sides who have been affected by this construct in multiple ways. As an ambivalent border, the LoC not only divides people, land, and resources—separates several political-administrative spatial units—but is also on its own a producer of a space, the symbolic and material meaning of which varies over time.

From an initial (thin) line formed to delineate an end of hostilities as part of the Karachi Agreement of 1949, and, presumably, invite further negotiation, the LoC has turned in the two first decades of the 21st century into a (thick) fortress due to technological and military advances that allow a more effective control of territory. India’s fencing of the side it controls after the 2000s, initially to stop cross-border terrorism, re-creates an illusion of state spatiality that also justifies further compartmentalization and incorporation of the space under its control, as has been exemplified in the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019. The limited cross-LoC mobility for people and goods established after 2005, following the India–Pakistan dialogue, is a highly bureaucratized process. As a result of this monitoring of mobility, the LoC is becoming more border-like.
Karamoja Historical Perspective
Authors: Mirzeler Mustafa
Published: January 2024

The 18th and 19th centuries in northern Uganda’s Karamoja were characterized by successive social, political, economic, and ecological disruptions that led to transformation. Among the major causes of disruption were the expansion of pastoralism; the onset of the ivory trade; epidemics and droughts; the incursion of Swahili, Ethiopian, and early European ivory traders; and Britain’s establishment of colonial rule. The Karimojong were members of an agropastoral community in the arid zone who encountered Ethiopian and Swahili ivory traders and, later, the British colonial state. The traders brought with them cattle. Later, guns were introduced to protect the family herd, as well for raids. In exchange for cattle and guns, Karimojong-speaking communities offered the ivory traders security, knowledge of the locations of elephants, and their labor, leading to the decimation of the elephant population for the global ivory markets. From this interaction, a new way of raiding and plundering evolved that had never been part of the community and that did not reflect the traditions of a people that respected life and property.

Karimojong-speaking people’s conflict in the early 21st century has its roots in economic interaction with ivory traders and the colonial states’ concerted efforts to control traditional leadership and raiding patterns. These efforts caused the emergence of small-scale thefts, which afflicted the dry zone with a vigorous form of political anarchy. Thus, the traders and the emerging colonial state were forged in an area troubled by successive devastating famines and wars, triggering one of the most lawless forms of pastoralism. The viciousness of the intercommunity conflict escalated, continuing even after the abrupt departure of the British colonial state in the 1960s.
The History of Cookbooks
Authors: Notaker Henry
Published: January 2024

The history of cookbooks describes the development of an old literary genre with an explosive growth from the last part of the twentieth century. Cookbooks are primarily collections of culinary recipes, written instructions often based on earlier oral communication. The cookbooks are handwritten, printed, or digitized in various forms on the internet. Most interest has been given to printed cookbooks, first published in Italy, France, and Germany in the fifteenth century and later spread globally. These books may build on local traditions, but many of them are translations from foreign languages, adapting advanced technology to local cuisine. The cookbook belongs to the handbook genre within nonfiction literature and has certain characteristics in composition, structure, literary style, format, typeface, design, and illustrations, features interesting for the student of book history, bibliographical science, and literature. The authors of the earliest printed books were men, many of them the printers or booksellers who published the books, but women took gradually over in northern Europe and the United States from the eighteenth century and in southern Europe only in the twentieth century. Most cookbooks include recipes for all sorts of culinary products, but there are also special books on one particular foodstuff, one particular type of dish, and special diets such as vegetarian, vegan, paleolithic, kosher, and halal. Cookbooks are important sources for the development of culinary traditions but also for any historical study. Apart from the practical instructions, cookbooks contain statements and references to social status, health, local produce, manners and customs, religion, taste, and aesthetics.
Food and Religious Rituals
Authors: Brumberg-Kraus Jonathan
Published: January 2024

Food rituals, whether articulated intentionally or performed unconsciously in our biologically necessary acts of eating, do nothing less than construct and maintain our fundamental relationships in the world, and define who or what we are in it. In that sense, one might say that all food rituals are religious, though that depends on very specific definitions of “ritual” and of “religion.” One should distinguish between rituals in the weak sense (habitual patterned behaviors performed unconsciously) vs. rituals in the strong sense (performed with explicit, conscious intention). However, all rituals are performances of myths, that is, the basic stories we live by, whether or not one practicing them makes their intentions explicit. Food rituals are religious in that they govern and express the fundamental relationships we have in the cosmos: who or what we eat; with whom we eat; and for whom we are “food.” Food rituals create and sustain worldviews, and so are all fundamentally religious or religion-like.

To distinguish between the way critical comparative scholars of religion use the terms “religion” and “religious” and their use in common parlance, it makes sense to underline that “religious food rituals” normally refers to food rituals in the strong sense. Thus, religious food rituals often involve specific words or scripts (eating and talking, eating and reading), as well as other nonverbal cues and modes of paying attention: music, costumes, special props, accentuated or exaggerated gestures, and designated authoritative officiants. For example, the Jewish Passover seder, Christian communion and Lenten fasting, Aztec human sacrifice, Muslim observance of halal rules and Ramadan fasting, Jain or Buddhist vegetarianism, and many forms of Hindu puja are rituals in the strong sense. Examples of food rituals in the weak sense are secular veganism; shopping for food in grocery stores; Weight Watcher dieting; or eating meals in a breakfast, lunch, and dinner sequence (Mary Douglas). These rituals imply certain assumptions about our relationships to animals and plants, capitalist consumer culture, ideals of beauty and well-being, and our identification with special social groups (e.g., family, national cultures, geographic regions). In other words, they too are enactments of the stories we live by.
Economic Impacts Assessment: Indirect Impact Estimation
Authors: Okuyama Yasuhide
Published: January 2024

The indirect impact of disasters results from the ripple effect of damage and the consequent business interruptions of damaged facilities. The amount of financial support for recovery and reconstruction is often determined using the appraised value of damaged assets, such as buildings, equipment, roads, bridges, and lifelines. The estimated indirect impact has been utilized to present the extent and severity of a disaster and evaluate the pre-disaster preparedness and mitigation. Although it can potentially become more significant than the damage or initial business interruptions, its estimation poses a few issues, such as the quality of input data, the choice of estimation method, and the inclusion of disaster features—for example, a resilience and behavioral effect. A wide range of studies have been performed to estimate the indirect impact using various methods and deriving numerous results. The estimation of indirect impact has become increasingly important for not only policy decision-making in the public sector but also supply chain management in the private sector because climate change appears to be increasing the intensity and frequency of natural hazard occurrence, and the intertwined global economy tends to propagate a shock in one country to other countries.
Aesthetically Ideal Breasts Created With Artificial Intelligence: Validating the Literature, Racial Differences, and Deep Fakes
Authors: Wiegmann Aaron L , O’Neill Elizabeth S , Sinno Sammy , Gutowski Karol A
Published: January 2024

Background

A female's breasts are integrally tied to her identity and sense of femininity. Despite extensive study of breast aesthetics, there is no discrete formula for the “ideal breast” to guide the aesthetic surgeon. Racial and cultural differences heavily influence preferences in breast morphology. Artificial intelligence (AI) is ubiquitous in modern culture and may aid in further understanding ideal breast aesthetics.

Objectives

This study analyzed AI-generated images of aesthetically ideal breasts, evaluated for morphologic differences based on race, and compared findings to the literature.

Methods

An openly accessible AI image-generator platform was used to generate images of aesthetically ideal Caucasian, African American, and Asian breasts in 3-quarter profile and frontal views using simple text prompts. Breast measurements were obtained and compared between each racial cohort and to that of previously described ideal breast parameters.

Results

Twenty-five images were analyzed per racial cohort, per pose (150 total). Caucasian breasts were observed to fit nicely into previously described ideal breast templates. However, upper-to-lower pole ratios, nipple angles, upper pole slope contours, nipple–areolar complex positions, and areolar size were observed to have statistically significant differences between racial cohorts.

Conclusions

Defining the aesthetically ideal breast remains a complex and multifaceted challenge, requiring consideration of racial and cultural differences. The AI-generated breasts in this study were found to have significant differences between racial groups, support several previously described breast ideals, and provide insight into current and future ethical issues related to AI in aesthetic surgery.

Level of Evidence: 5
Translation and the homosexual canon: Thomas Cannon’s 1749 ‘Ancient and Modern Pederasty Investigated and Exemplify’d’
Authors: Ingleheart Jennifer
Published: January 2024

This paper analyses the fragmentary apologia for pederasty by Thomas Cannon. Published in pamphlet form in 1749, it was suppressed and prosecuted, and lost to history until its recent recovery. The recovery of the text is only partial, as it was preserved in quoted excerpts in the wording of the indictment against it. Despite its fragmentary state, it is one of the earliest defences of same-sex love, and classical texts and examples naturally form a major part of its argument. Although Cannon’s treatise is important for the history of sexuality and translation studies, it has received limited attention from classicists, despite containing multiple translations from classical authors, together with Cannon’s editorial comments. This paper explores the contribution of the pamphlet to the history of sexuality, through a focus on Cannon’s translations.
Weighing the risks and benefits of anticoagulation in atrial fibrillation: a case report of left atrial appendage absence in a patient referred for procedural occlusion
Authors: Lapetina Arroyo Roberto , Barrios Brian Monge , Rivera Hilton Franqui , Gotay Antonio Orraca , Marrero Gonzalez Amanda
Published: January 2024

Background

The absence of the left atrial appendage is an exceedingly rare structural variant that could have important implications for anticoagulation regimens in patients with atrial fibrillation.

Case summary

We report the case of a 63-year-old Puerto Rican female with a history of hypertension, cerebral artery aneurysms, and type 2 diabetes mellitus who suffered multiple haemorrhagic strokes. The patient had never received anticoagulation therapy. During the indicated stroke work-up, the patient was found to have paroxysmal atrial fibrillation. Given the patients high risk for thromboembolism and contraindications to anticoagulation therapy, the patient was referred for left atrial appendage occlusion. Pre-procedural transoesophageal echocardiography failed to identify the left atrial appendage. Evaluation by way of cardiac computed tomography confirmed absence of the left atrial appendage. Left atrial appendage occlusion could not be carried out. The patient had been deemed being at high risk of bleeding, was not anticoagulated, and was instead closely followed. The patient has not had thrombo-embolic events nor has she experienced a haemorrhagic stroke recurrence at follow-up appointments.

Discussion

To our knowledge, this is the first such case report that reports left atrial appendage absence in the setting of multiple haemorrhagic strokes. Given the rarity of the condition and lack of available guidelines, the most viable way to currently manage this patient population is on a case-to-case basis. However, we propose that absence of the left atrial appendage could confer a decreased risk of thrombo-embolic phenomena in patients with atrial fibrillation.
Cangrelor in a challenging scenario of concomitant ischaemic stroke, pulmonary embolism, and ST-elevation myocardial infarction: a case report
Authors: Oliveri Federico , Tua Lorenzo , Camporotondo Rita , Gritti Valeria , Leonardi Sergio
Published: January 2024

Background

Antithrombotic therapy in acute patients with both high ischaemic and bleeding risks remains challenging.

Case summary

We presented a challenging case involving a 48-year-old man referred to our hospital for headache and a left superior quadrantanopia. A CT scan revealed a right inferior occipital lobe ischaemic stroke. During the hospital stay, the patients developed pulmonary embolism (PE), and ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). A triple antithrombotic therapy was indicated, but the patient presented with high bleeding (anaemia, active malignancy, ischaemic stroke) and ischaemic (ischaemic stroke, PE, and superimposed STEMI) risks. In this critical acute setting, prolonged cangrelor infusion of reduced dosage, coupled with aspirin and enoxaparin, proved an effective and safe antithrombotic approach.

Discussion

Prolonged cangrelor bridging at a reduced dose of 0.75 μg/kg/min may represent an effective and safe option in acute patients requiring P2Y12 inhibition and presenting both high ischaemic and high bleeding risks.
Short of capacity? Why the government must address the capacity constraints in the English National Health Service
Authors: Charlesworth Anita , Rachet-Jacquet Laurie , Rocks Stephen
Published: January 2024

A decade of low investment in the English National Health Service (NHS) resulted in strong headline productivity growth but undermined the health system's resilience and left it exposed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Projected demographic pressures, driven by the aging of the baby-boom generation and the rise in multi-morbidity levels in the population, will add pressures to already stretched health care resources. As the NHS faces the twin challenges of recovering services after the pandemic and meeting care needs from an aging population, our projections of demand for care indicate the NHS almost certainly needs significantly more beds as well as more staff. Productivity improvements in hospital care can reduce the amount of additional resources needed, but this will require significant concomitant investment in community-based health and long-term-care services.
The Jew in the Jamaican, the Amalgam in the Attic: A New View of Bertha Mason in Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre
Authors: Stepakoff Shanee
Published: January 2024

In this essay, I extend the existing scholarship on the character of Bertha Mason Rochester by providing historical and textual evidence that Brontë represents Bertha’s ethnocultural background as an amalgam of Jamaican, Jewish, and Creole. In support of this thesis, I examine passages focusing on Bertha’s father and brother, and I describe the cultural meanings of Spanish Town (Jamaica) and Madeira (Portugal) with regard to Caribbean Jewish creole communities in the nineteenth century and their complex ties to England and the Continent. In contrast to previous claims (e.g. Heidi Kaufman’s), I argue that Brontë imbues Bertha with a literal (vs merely symbolic) Jewish lineage. Also, I consider Brontë’s portrayal of Bertha in relation to gender-specific tropes about Jews, which were familiar to Brontë and her Victorian readers. Furthermore, I discuss the sociopolitical zeitgeist during Brontë’s formative years and in the period in which she wrote Jane Eyre, with an emphasis on the pervasive attempts to evangelize England’s Jews and the vigorous debates about whether to grant Jews political rights in England. Additionally, I examine the phrase ‘stiff-necked’ as it is used in the novel and in the King James Bible, positing that it signifies an unwillingness to change. On the basis of these various forms of evidence, I argue that Brontë’s construction of Bertha as having hybridized Jewish origins helps make her an embodiment of radical otherness and stagnation. In this conceptual framework, the polarity between the ability versus inability to grow emerges as a core theme within the novel.
Culture and Creativity in Organizations
Authors: Miron-Spektor Ella , Paletz Susannah B. F.
Published: January 2024

Creativity is culture dependent. Culture influences how individuals and groups in organizations create new ideas and define and value creativity. In this chapter, we review recent research to highlight new developments in understanding individual and team creativity across cultures. Integrating different streams of research, we review research on cultural values, tightness–looseness, logic, and implicit theories. We discuss the effect of culture on the ability to generate novel and useful ideas and the impact of cultural systems on how people define, evaluate, and develop their creative ideas. Given the increasing reliance on multinational workforces and cross-country transitions of employees, we also consider the impact of multicultural experiences on creativity and the effectiveness and challenges of culturally diverse groups in innovative settings. Finally, we suggest several fruitful directions for future research, including expanding to different tasks, creative processes, and cultures.
Leaders, Followers, and Culture
Authors: Hanges Paul J. , Forgo Emily E. , Butler Alexander I.
Published: January 2024

In this chapter, we highlight the role that DeRue’s (2011) leader–follower double-interact model plays as a critical, but previously unexplored, mediator for the societal culture-leader/follower interaction relationships. In the proposed model described in this chapter, societal culture influences the frequency and dispersion with which group members can temporarily enact and practice their leadership styles (i.e., DeRue’s double-interact patterns). As a result of these cultural modifications, the double-interact patterns will affect (1) leader and follower schema content, structure, and accessibility; (2) leader and follower identity development and centrality; and (3) regulatory fit or nonfit among group members. All of these factors have been shown to be very important factors affecting leader–follower interactions. Throughout this chapter, several hypotheses for future research are discussed.
Culture and Organizations
Authors: Fischer Ronald , Ferreira Maria Cristina
Published: January 2024

We provide a review of recent theoretical and methodological advances in the field of culture and organizations. First, we review clusters of culture definitions and discuss major frameworks that have guided international business research. Complementary to these etic approaches, we highlight emic studies that provide culture-specific insights into effective work behaviors. We then describe recent advances in complex systems and evolutionary research that advance our understanding of both cultural similarities and differences, specifically focusing on explanations of why cultural differences may emerge in specific situations and points in time. We finish by discussing methodological and theoretical challenges for the next decade. Some of these challenges, such as the issue of cultural bias and equivalence, are well recognized but continue to pose significant challenges. Other areas, such as big data and massive improvements in statistical computing as well as increasing multiculturalism, offer new opportunities and challenges for organizational researchers.
Recruiting and Selecting with Culture in Mind
Authors: Ryan Ann Marie , Derous Eva
Published: January 2024

Organizations operate in a global marketplace for talent. Multinational organizations have moved to adopt centralized employee selection systems, to improve their selection of those for cross-cultural assignments, and to broaden the scope of their recruitment efforts across borders. In all of these efforts, it is important to consider culture in design and implementation efforts. While much has been written on topics such as establishing the measurement equivalence of selection tools across cultures, ensuring positive applicant reactions, and the like, there are emerging issues that require greater theoretical and practical focus. After providing a high-level review of the research to date on culture and recruitment and employee selection, we focus on several focal areas related to assessing cultural competencies in selection, cultural equivalence of selection tools, and use of technologically enhanced methods across cultures. We end with recommendations for future research and practice.
The Study of Work Motivation across Cultures
Authors: Chen Gilad , Kirkman Bradley L.
Published: January 2024

Despite decades of scholarly attention to theories of motivation, relatively little focus has been placed on cultural differences in motivation theories and constructs. To address this problem, we selectively review the motivation literature, focusing on theories and concepts involving goal-related processes and their antecedents. We then review research examining the main and moderating effects of national culture at individual and collective (i.e., team, organizational, national) levels of analysis. We offer five theoretical insights: (1) Motivation involves many complex, interrelated processes; (2) cultural differences affect various motivational processes and outcomes in distinct ways; (3) individualism–collectivism and power distance have dominated attention related to motivation compared to other cultural values; (4) cultural differences are not well integrated with comprehensive motivation models; and (5) there is a pressing need to better understand both cultural influences on self-regulation (i.e., goal-striving) processes and the role of collective-level cultural differences in motivational processes.
Reconsidering Assumptions about Organizational Justice through the Lens of Culture and Moral Philosophy
Authors: Pandey Niti , Rupp Deborah E.
Published: January 2024

This chapter reviews the scope and impact of organizational justice research through lenses that consider both culture and moral philosophy. Our review summarizes justice research by broad topical areas (employee-level issues, employment practices, and organizational characteristics), considering in particular the extant cross-cultural research to date within each category. Building on the work of Shao and colleagues (2013), we present a framework that further integrates multiple philosophical traditions (natural law, deontology, contractualism, utilitarianism, social recognition, Confucianism, Hinduism, and Buddhism) to more fully conceptualize justice motives as they are held across cultures. Our goal is to encourage new theorizing that examines justice as an organizing principle for social cooperation that is sensitive to cultural differences. We conclude by suggesting avenues for new research, specifically aimed at addressing emerging social issues affecting workers around the world.
The Mughal Empire, Bengal, and the Eighteenth Century
Authors: Curley David L.
Published: January 2024

Mid-twentieth-century Indian historians blamed the break-up of the Mughal Empire on high land taxes and peasant rebellions or the unchecked growth in claims on the imperial treasury. Later revisionist history has argued that many autonomous regional states emerged in the context of newly buoyant regional economies rather than in fiscal crisis. Bengal in the first half of the eighteenth century has been a key example for this argument. Historians have cited growing Dutch and English textile exports as the stimulus for increased trade in a highly monetized commercial economy. Counterarguments suggest systemic barriers to growth in the larger context of Bengal’s “old regime” agrarian economy. A second revisionist argument discards the colonial idea of “decadence.” Using vernacular histories and literature, historians have argued that in eighteenth-century Bengal both “Muslim” and “Hindu” religious identities were being consolidated in a creative and dialogic process. Bengal is important in this context, because it is one of only two regions where there was a long-term process of converting the peasants to Islam. Local mosques, schools, and shrines of pirs supported by tax-free land grants were key institutions in the process of conversion, as were new vernacular texts, and translations of authoritative Islamic texts. A “Hindu” identity also was becoming more common through support for Brahman scholars, priests, and temple worship, and for similar texts and translations, while some common sentiments, especially about proper gender roles for women and about good rulers, and some marginal spaces for common worship, were also preserved.
Aramaic Legal Language from Palmyrene Monumental Inscriptions
Authors: Cussini Eleonora
Published: January 2024

This contribution investigates Palmyrene legal language in the framework of the Aramaic legal tradition. The chapter readdresses the issue of sale of immovable properties at Palmyra and the formulation of the original contracts. The analysis focuses on the extant monumental inscriptions, including new evidence from the Palmyrene epigraphic corpus. Key formulas recording sale of funerary properties and the provisions regarding inheritance and easements are examined in an effort to reconstruct sections of the original contracts, which were written on perishable writing material, such as parchment and perhaps also on papyrus, and to reconstruct study the language of sale at Palmyra. Although these original contracts have not survived, elements of Palmyrene legal language are embedded in extant funerary inscriptions, and additional legal terms can be gleaned from other Palmyrene inscriptions as well.
Palmyrene Coinage
Authors: Kristensen Nathalia Breintoft
Published: January 2024

This chapter examines the Palmyrene coinage, both those coins locally struck in Palmyra and circulated within the city and those coins minted in Antioch and Alexandria but issued under the authority of Palmyra’s queen Zenobia in the name of herself and her son Wahballath after her conquest of Egypt and subsequent rebellion against Rome. While the former type was meant to circulate locally within Palmyra, the latter was intended to circulate widely in the newly founded Kingdom of Palmyra and the Roman East. The two types of coinage are widely different and were intended for different audiences and will not be treated as a Palmyrene unity. The two types are considered separately in this chapter.
Urban Layout and Public Space
Authors: Intagliata Emanuele E.
Published: January 2024

Although the origin of Palmyra goes back to at least the Bronze Age, it is from the Hellenistic period that archaeological evidence from this site becomes more frequent. The process of monumentalization of the settlement peaked between the first and third centuries, when the majority of the public monuments known at this site were constructed. The aim of this chapter is to provide the reader with a brief overview of some of the most important public monuments of Palmyra before and after the events of 272–273 that brought the settlement to its knees. These include the agora complex, the theatre, the amphitheatre, colonnaded streets (with a specific focus on the Great Colonnade), and marketplaces.
The Fortifications and Military Architecture of Palmyra
Authors: Juchniewicz Karol
Published: January 2024

This chapter discusses current issues concerning the Palmyra fortifications as well as the overall military architecture of the city. The city walls have seen their share of discussion and controversy regarding their chronology. In this chapter, chronological aspects of particular sections of the defensive works are addressed. The prevailing view on this issue, regarding the fortifications of Palmyra as the work of Diocletian, later rebuilt by Justinian, is presented and challenged by new research based on the analysis of the archaeological material and the study of the architecture and masonry of the military structures. The new approach proposes that the fortifications were constructed by Aurelian and rebuilt by Diocletian.
Built for Eternity
Authors: Henning Agnes
Published: January 2024

Extending around the ancient oasis city, the necropoleis of Palmyra feature over four hundred built funerary monuments that were used as family tombs. Three basic tomb types have been identified: tower tombs, hypogea, and temple tombs. On the basis of surviving foundation texts in reference to a foundation date, it may be observed that the tower tombs represent the oldest monument group, dating to the end of the first century bc. In the course of the first century ad, tower tombs and hypogea were built simultaneously. Whereas the underground burial monuments continued into the second and third centuries ad, the temple tombs replaced the towers around the mid-second century ad. Generally, the funerary monuments of Palmyra show that, over the course of their three-hundred-year history, the families’ desire to represent themselves increased steadily, which also caused increasingly elaborate furnishing of the tombs. The mode of representation was similar in all tomb types.
Public Sculptures from Palmyra
Authors: Wielgosz-Rondolino Dagmara
Published: January 2024

Like many Graeco-Roman cities of the East, Palmyra expressed its own civic, communal, and political identity through inscriptions and sculptures set up in public. Hundreds of public statues, known mainly through their inscriptions, provide significant evidence that contributes to the knowledge of Palmyrene society. Along with written record of Palmyra’s past, these works of art preserve a collective memory of a city where statues of living and deceased individuals stood together and were important elements of the city’s public landscape. The honorific statues, made of various materials such as limestone, bronze, and marble, decorated streets, squares, and other public spaces in Palmyra, creating an impressive sculptural panorama in the middle of the desert.
Wall Paintings and Stucco Work in Palmyrene Funerary Hypogea
Authors: Eristov Hélène , Vibert-Guigue Claude , Blanc Nicole
Published: January 2024

In the four necropoleis of Palmyra, only six tombs have revealed paintings and stuccoes. Unlike sculpted decoration, a wall plaster is fragile and very sensitive to humidity and abrasion; consequently, little remains of these features in Palmyra. The tombs with paintings and stuccoes extant are those of the Three Brothers, of Zabad’ateh and Neša, of Hairan, of Atenatan, of Dionysus, and of Abd’Astor. Scholarly knowledge of these tombs is based mainly on old publications because only two tombs were visible in 2011. Their figurative iconography (portraits, myths, Victories) and their architectural, animal, and vegetal decoration are inspired by traditional local elements and Graeco-Roman references.
Palmyra and the Military
Authors: Intagliata Emanuele E.
Published: January 2024

Palmyra was more than a caravan city. Throughout the Roman period, it served as an important recruitment centre for auxiliary units to the Roman legions. Palmyrenes were exceptionally skilled archers and riders, swelling the ranks of the Roman army in auxiliary alae, numeri, and cohorts of sagittarii (archers) and dromedarii (camel riders). In late antiquity, Palmyra maintained its function as a recruitment centre, but its military importance grew considerably after the strengthening of the eastern frontier under the reign of Diocletian, when a monumental camp, the so-called Camp of Diocletian, was constructed within its urban perimeter. This chapter will briefly explore the relation between Palmyra and the military in the Roman and Late Antique periods.
Palmyra in Late Antique and Medieval Times
Authors: Kowalski Slawomir P.
Published: January 2024

The fall of Zenobia introduced a new period in the history of Palmyra. After its capture by the army of the Emperor Aurelian, the city under the Tetrarchy became a military base within the framework of the reorganized defences of the eastern frontier of the Roman Empire. Palmyra, strongly under the influence of the state authorities, became a typical provincial town of the region. It lost its local identity, with Greek remaining the only official language, outside the military context where Latin was formally dominant. The conquest by the Muslim army marks another significant change. Palmyra was no longer a frontier military base but became a centre for local trade and the tribal stronghold of the ruling Umayyad dynasty. Later in the Middle Ages Palmyra was reduced to a fortified settlement within the enclosure of the Bēl temple. The process of change is discussed in reference to historical and archaeological evidence according to the major factors of the military presence and the subsequent influence of Christianity and Islam.
The History and Current Status of the Psychology of Religion and Spirituality
Authors: Hood Ralph W.
Published: January 2024

Religion and spirituality were major concerns of the early American psychologists. Many of the early psychologists sought to give reductionist explanations for both religion and spiritual phenomena as they sought to dissociate psychology from the popular cultural association of psychology with parapsychology and spiritualism. William James was the most notable exception, insisting on the possible ontological reality of both religious and psychic phenomena. Psychoanalysis influenced by the French medical tradition continued exploring religion, with Sigmund Freud offering an explanation of religion first simply as an illusion but finally as a mass delusion, thereby linking religion and madness. As American psychology sought to emulate the German tradition of experimental psychology within the limits of natural science, interest in religion waned. The reemergence of a psychology of religion came in the 1960s, partly influenced by interim concerns with prejudice and cognitive dissonance theory, both of which had a marginal concern with religion. The cultural unrest of the 1960s rekindled interest in new religious movements and psychedelic states of consciousness, both of which fueled the psychology of religion. The field is now well established with a division in the American Psychological Association and an APA journal. However, two psychologies have emerged. One committed to naturalism and the other to a postmaterialist psychology, each with radical different ontological assumptions and criteria for appropriate methods.
Counseling and Psychotherapy Within and Across Faith Traditions
Authors: McMinn Mark R. , Neff Megan Anna , Snow Kimberly N. , Schollars Nicholas
Published: January 2024

This chapter begins with general considerations for religiously and spiritually oriented psychotherapy, including the importance of seeing religion and spirituality as dimensions of cultural diversity, considering clients’ welfare and autonomy, and maintaining competence. Four types of religious and spiritual intervention approaches are then discussed: assimilative, accommodative, collaborative, and emergent. Assimilative approaches introduce spiritual interventions or considerations into a standard psychotherapy approach. Accommodative approaches involve adapting a standard psychotherapy regimen to include religious or spiritual matters. Collaborative approaches entail a mental health professional and religious leader working in tandem for the sake of clients’ welfare. Emergent approaches are innovative, new developments that have not yet been fully established. Next, specific issues related to counseling within (when the client and counselor share the same beliefs) and across (when the client and counselor hold differing beliefs) faith traditions are offered. The chapter concludes with some thoughts regarding future directions of religious and spiritual interventions in counseling and psychotherapy.
Spirituality and Recovery From Psychosis and Serious Mental Disorders
Authors: Lukoff David , Hall Will
Published: January 2024

This chapter summarizes theory, research, and treatment regarding spirituality and recovery from psychotic disorders and severe mental disorders. The incorporation of spirituality into the recovery model was initiated by patients/consumers starting in the 1970s and has become widely accepted in the United States and around the world. Research shows the generally beneficial effects of spirituality on health, including mental health problems; surveys document the role that spiritual beliefs and practices play in many who are recovering from psychosis and severe disorders and the importance of religious coping for people facing serious mental health problems. Some successful therapeutic approaches for integrating spirituality into recovery are discussed.
Consciousness, Spirituality, and Postmaterialist Science
Authors: Schwartz Gary E.
Published: January 2024

Consciousness and spirituality are inherently experiential processes. The definition of “spirituality” ranges from (a) personal opinions regarding the meaning of life and being part of something greater, through (b) experiences of transcendental states and oneness, to (c) beliefs regarding the existence of spirit, life after death, reincarnation, angels and guides, and some sort of omnipresent infinite intelligence and power. Academic psychology has typically taken a materialistic view toward consciousness and spirituality; both are interpreted as neurobiological processes shaped by genetics and developmental and cultural factors. However, as reviewed in this chapter, contemporary consciousness research provides emerging proof-of-concept evidence suggesting that (a) mind is separate from brain, (b) spirit and soul are comparable to energy and information that persist in the vacuum of space, (c) people can receive intuitive information that is accurate and useful in their individual and collective lives, (d) physical and psychological health can be fostered by active loving spiritual processes, and (e) contemporary technology can be developed to enable practical communication with spirit. The evidence points toward the emergence of a postmaterialist paradigm in psychology and science in general.
Progress in Physics and Psychological Science Affects the Psychology of Religion and Spirituality
Authors: Worthington Everett L.
Published: January 2024

This chapter argues that general culture is strongly influenced by three assumptions that have derived from modern science. These include the following: (1) big numbers in time and space make anything thought to be statistically possible to eventually be thought of as likely; (2) optimism that this will eventuate in progress; and (3) life is all about relationships. The main implication of these assumptions is that the psychology of religion will soon become the psychology of religion and spirituality. Based on a review of quantum mechanics and cosmology (with brief forays into biology and psychology), there are five types of spirituality: (a) religious spirituality, (b) human spirituality, (c) nature or environment spirituality, (d) cosmos spirituality (or transcendent spirituality), and (e) self-spirituality. Each of these is defined in terms of close or intimate connection or relationship with a different object, and each has been formed primarily by the wonder, awe, and lack of determinancy found in different fields of study—theology, psychological science, biological science, and physics, respectively—and life being fundamentally probabilistic at the core. The chapter speculates on the future of the field of psychology of religion and spirituality, identifying four points: there is still room for new researchers, the field is increasingly relational, it is probabilistic, and it will still have room for religion.
The Digitalization of Permanent Missions to International Organizations
Authors: Bouchard Caroline
Published: January 2024

This chapter explores the factors that shape the digitalization of the permanent missions established by member states at the headquarters of international organizations. It discusses how digital technologies influence behaviours, patterns of use, procedures, and norms in these entities’ diplomatic activities (negotiations, networking, public diplomacy). It also considers the use of digital tools by permanent missions in their daily work. The chapter focuses on the case of the permanent missions to the United Nations (UN) in New York. These missions resemble traditional embassies in their organizational design, but function in the UN system, a complex environment guided by specific rules of procedures and norms of interaction. The chapter suggests that domestic, regional, and international factors affect the digitalization of permanent missions to the UN. It highlights that this process has not been a uniform experience and that the digital divide and exclusion continue to be challenging for the UN diplomatic community.