bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Cloning and transcriptional expression of mouse mannosyltransferase IV/V cDNA, which is involved in the synthesis of lipid-linked oligosaccharides
Authors: Nishimura Yuuki , Shimono Nanae , Yoshimoto Takashi , Kamiguchi Hiroshi , Nishikawa Yoshihisa
Published: April 2014

We cloned the mouse mannosyltransferase IV/V gene (mALG11) from FM3A cells by a bioinformatic approach. The ORF contained 1476 bp encoding 492 amino acids. The cloned mALG11 complemented the growth defect of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae ALG11Δ mutant. In addition, we detected a variant cDNA by alternate splicing that had an additional four-nucleotide ATGC insertion at base 276 of the ORF. Consequently the variant cDNA encoded a truncated protein with 92 amino acids, lacking the glycosyltransferase group-1 domain. The variant cDNA occurs in many mouse strains according to EST database searches. Moreover, we detected it in FM3A cDNA, but we did not detect any such variants in the human EST database or in HeLa cDNA, although human ALG11 (hALG11) genomic DNA has the same sequence around the intron–exon boundaries as those of mALG11 genomic DNA. Hence, we concluded that there is different transcriptional control mechanism between mALG11 and hALG11.
Measure preserving words are primitive
Authors: Puder Doron , Parzanchevski Ori
Published: April 2014

We establish new characterizations of primitive elements and free factors in free groups, which are based on the distributions they induce on finite groups. For every finite groupGG, a wordwwin the free group onkkgenerators induces aword mapfromGkG^{k}toGG. We say thatwwis measure preserving with respect toGGif given uniform distribution onGkG^{k}, the image of this word map distributes uniformly onGG. It is easy to see that primitive words (words which belong to some basis of the free group) are measure preserving w.r.t. all finite groups, and several authors have conjectured that the two properties are, in fact, equivalent. Here we prove this conjecture. The main ingredients of the proof include random coverings of Stallings graphs, algebraic extensions of free groups, and Möbius inversions. Our methods yield the stronger result that a subgroup ofFk\mathbf {F}_{k}is measure preserving if and only if it is a free factor.

As an interesting corollary of this result we resolve a question on the profinite topology of free groups and show that the primitive elements ofFk\mathbf {F}_{k}form a closed set in this topology.
Value of coastal habitats for exploited species: introduction to a theme set of articles
Authors: Seitz Rochelle D.
Published: April 2014

Many exploited fish and invertebrate species use coastal habitats during one or more life-history stages as spawning, feeding, and nursery areas; yet, the value of these habitats has not been adequately characterized. As habitat availability can be a bottleneck for many populations, concerns about habitat effects on exploited species have been increasing. We have compiled nine articles presenting the state of knowledge and future research priorities regarding the importance of habitat for exploited species. Reviews from European habitats and several geographical locations throughout the United States demonstrate the influence of coastal habitats on survival, growth, and movement, especially during the early life-history stages, in a wide variety of species, spatial scales, and habitats. Moreover, many of these species contribute substantially to commercial landings, highlighting the importance of coastal habitats to population persistence and fishery yields. Management of fishery species can also be enhanced through modelling efforts incorporating habitat. Finally, there is a need for more effort in quantifying population demographics rates, creating comprehensive habitat maps, and developing better census techniques for complex hard bottom habitats; thus, future work is needed on the value of coastal habitats for exploited species.
Social Science and the Study of Indigenous People’s Politics
Authors: Bruyneel Kevin
Published: April 2014

As a discipline, political science, particularly in the United States, takes indigenous politics for granted. This chapter examines the relative invisibility and distortion of indigenous politics in American political science, with an emphasis on sovereignty and the state on the one hand, and race and ethnicity politics on the other. In particular, it looks at scholars’ inability to recognize the value and importance of indigenous politics, their emphasis on sovereignty as an exclusive characteristic of the state, and their inability to account for or understand the political identity and politics of Indigenous people. It also considers the role of settler-colonialism in political life. The chapter concludes by suggesting ways of situating indigenous politics as its own distinct subfield of political science.
Voting Rights and Electoral Representation in the United States
Authors: McCool Daniel
Published: April 2014

Since America’s westward expansion from the East Coast and its usurpation of Indian lands, the citizenship and political participation of indigenous people have been a major source of conflict. This chapter examines the voting rights and electoral representation of Indians in the United States. It first looks at the controversy over Indian citizenship and the efforts of states to prohibit Indians from voting, then discusses the efforts of state and local governments to prevent Indians from voting on an equal basis with non-Indians, the Voting Rights Act and its impact on Indian voting, and Indian political power today. The chapter argues that Indian people have become effective participants in American politics by overcoming tremendous odds, although they still face challenges and resistance.
Jonson’s Patrons
Authors: Scott Alison V.
Published: April 2014

In a landmark essay published in 1984, Stanley Fish offered a reading of Jonson’s non-dramatic works in which he argued that Jonson persistently sought to imagine an alternate economy of patronage in his poetry and prose; one in which the value of poet and patron were mutually and interactively defined, and the patronage relation was imagined to transcend the calculation and indiscrimination of the marketplace. In 1991, Katharine Eisaman Maus presented an analogous reading of Jonson’s dramatic satire as reliant on the idea of an alternate system of exchange which transcends the marketplace. While it is a critical commonplace to note Jonson’s hypocrisy in that regard—he adopted, after all, a remarkably systematic approach to circulating his works in the commercial economies he satirised—this essay questions whether we can really think of Jonson’s idealised model of patronage exchange as ‘alternate’ to that of the market at all. Specifically, it argues that Jonson’s patrons are pivotal in the poet’s attempts to recognise a new commercial reader—capable of recognising the value of his work amidst the dross of the Protean marketplace—and that Jonson’s writing to and about his patrons invariably traversed two interrelated economies at once.
Temporal Processing
Authors: Mani Inderjeet
Published: April 2014

This chapter introduces approaches to the processing of time-related constructs in natural language. It covers information extraction systems that can interpret time expressions and create a chronology of events in a narrative, as well as systems that can generate such expressions and render an ordering of events in a fluent discourse. Annotation schemes for marking up time expressions and temporal orderings are introduced, along with automatic methods for computing such annotations. The representation of annotated temporal relations in the interval calculus is described, as is the problem of inferring a consistent set of temporal relations for a narrative. The accuracy of humans and machine annotation is examined, and a question-answering application is discussed.
Term Extraction
Authors: Korkontzelos Ioannis , Ananiadou Sophia
Published: April 2014

Automatic extraction of metadata from free text is key to digesting stored literature information, especially in dynamic and rapidly evolving fields, such as biomedicine. Besides, more and more applications heavily depend on knowledge and ontologies. Successfully recognizing or extracting terms and their relations in scientific and technical documents without human intervention is crucial to semantically structuring literature and populating ontologies. This task has been recognized as the bottleneck in exploiting fields that involve complex and dynamically changing terms, and thus has become an important research topic in Natural Language Processing. This chapter presents a brief but complete overview of automatic term recognition techniques and discusses a number of crucial practical issues. Subsequently, it focuses on evaluation, discusses available resources, and highlights a number of applications.
Paul among Jews, Greeks, and Romans
Authors: Trebilco Paul
Published: April 2014

Paul was at home in the three worlds of the title of this chapter, which formed a complex and variegated whole. Paul presents us with a range of his Jewish credentials, including that he is ‘a Hebrew born of Hebrews’ and a Pharisee. We have no reason to doubt that he was born in Tarsus and received some education in Jerusalem (Acts 22: 3). A number of dimensions of Paul’s theology can be seen to have come from his Jewish framework of thought, even as he reworks that thought in the light of his new experience in Christ. Dimensions of Paul’s language and thought can also be seen to reflect the all-pervasive Graeco-Roman culture of the day, in which Paul was thoroughly at home. He had received some elements of Hellenistic education and was both a citizen of Tarsus and a Roman citizen. All three contexts are important when we are interpreting Paul’s letters, and we would be wrong to ask if any one context should be given absolute priority. He was ideally suited then to take a Jewish Gospel to the Graeco-Roman world.
Affect, Motivation, Working Memory, and Mathematics
Authors: Moore Alex M. , Rudig Nathan O. , Ashcraft Mark H.
Published: April 2014

This article reviews the topics of affect, motivation, working memory, and their relationships to mathematics learning and performance. The underlying factors of interest, motivation, self-efficacy, and maths anxiety, as well as an approach concerning people’s beliefs about fixed versus malleable intelligence, can be grouped into an approach and an avoidance constellation of attitudes and beliefs, with opposite relationships to outcome measures of learning and mastery in maths. This article then considers the research on working memory, showing it to be central to arithmetic and maths processing, and also the principle mental component being disrupted by affective and emotional reactions during problem solving. After discussing the disruptive effects of maths anxiety, choking under pressure, and stereotype threat, the article closes with a brief consideration of how these affective disruptions might be minimized or eliminated.
Approximate Arithmetic Abilities in Childhood
Authors: Gilmore Camilla
Published: April 2014

This article reviews recent research exploring children’s abilities to perform approximate arithmetic with non-symbolic and symbolic quantities, and considers what role this ability might play in mathematics achievement. It has been suggested that children can use their approximate number system (ANS) to solve approximate arithmetic problems before they have been taught exact arithmetic in school. Recent studies provide evidence that preschool children can add, subtract, multiply, and divide non-symbolic quantities represented as dot arrays. Children can also use their ANS to perform simple approximate arithmetic with non-symbolic quantities presented in different modalities (e.g. sequences of tones) or even with symbolic representations of number. This article reviews these studies, and consider whether children’s performance can be explained through the use of alternative non-arithmetical strategies. Finally, it discusses the potential role of this ability in the learning of formal symbolic mathematics.
Developing Conceptual and Procedural Knowledge of Mathematics
Authors: Rittle-Johnson Bethany , Schneider Michael
Published: April 2014

Mathematical competence rests on developing knowledge of concepts and of procedures (i.e. conceptual and procedural knowledge). Although there is some variability in how these constructs are defined and measured, there is general consensus that the relations between conceptual and procedural knowledge are often bi-directional and iterative. The chapter reviews recent studies on the relations between conceptual and procedural knowledge in mathematics and highlights examples of instructional methods for supporting both types of knowledge. It concludes with important issues to address in future research, including gathering evidence for the validity of measures of conceptual and procedural knowledge and specifying more comprehensive models for how conceptual and procedural knowledge develop over time.
Individual Differences in Children’s Paths to Arithmetical Development
Authors: Jordan Julie-Ann , Wylie Judith , Mulhern Gerry
Published: April 2014

Cross-sectional and longitudinal data consistently indicate that mathematical difficulties are more prevalent in older than in younger children (e.g. Department of Education, 2011). Children’s trajectories can take a variety of shapes such as linear, flat, curvilinear, and uneven, and shape has been found to vary within children and across tasks (J Jordan, Mulhern, and Wylie, 2009). There has been an increase in the use of statistical methods which are specifically designed to study development, and this has greatly improved our understanding of children’s mathematical development. However, the effects of many cognitive and social variables (e.g. working memory and verbal ability) on mathematical development are unclear. It is likely that greater consistency between studies will be achieved by adopting a componential approach to study mathematics, rather than treating mathematics as a unitary concept.
Intuition in Mathematical and Probabilistic Reasoning
Authors: Morsanyi Kinga , Szucs Denes
Published: April 2014

Many people have a fragmented knowledge and understanding of the rules of mathematics and probability. As a consequence, they struggle with selecting the appropriate strategies to solve problems, and they often rely on intuitive solutions instead of normative rules. The purpose of this chapter is to introduce some typical intuitive strategies that people might apply when they solve mathematical or probability problems. Then the chapter describes the notions of primary and secondary intuitions, and gives an overview of the factors that might affect the selection of a particular intuitive strategy (such as certain individual differences variables and task characteristics). Finally, the chapter discusses the implications of these findings for researchers and educators.
Spontaneous Focusing On Numerosity and its Relation to Counting and Arithmetic
Authors: Hannula-Sormunen Minna M.
Published: April 2014

This chapter reviews recent research investigating children’s Spontaneous Focusing On Numerosity (SFON) and considers the role it might play in the development of counting and arithmetical skills. SFON refers to a process of spontaneously (i.e. not prompted by others) focusing attention on the exact number of a set of items or incidents. This attentional process triggers exact number recognition and using the recognized exact number in action. The chapter describes how SFON tendency can be assessed, and suggests the measures of it to be indicators of the amount of a child’s self-initiated practice in using exact enumeration in his or her natural surroundings. The studies show that SFON tendency in early childhood is positively and domain-specifically related to the development of numerical skills up to the end of primary school. Promoting SFON tendency could be a potential way of preventing learning difficulties in mathematics.
Linking Numbers to Space
Authors: van Dijck Jean-Philippe , Ginsburg Véronique , Girelli Luisa , Gevers Wim
Published: April 2014

Several psychophysical and neuropsychological investigations suggest that the processing of number and spatial information is strongly associated. A popular account argues that this association has its origin in the underlying mental representation of numbers taking the form of a horizontally-orientated mental number line, which is isomorphic to the representation of physical lines. Recently, however, several alternative explanations have been put forward. We describe those theories and argue that no current account is on itself able to explain the full range of observations. To do this, a hybrid account is proposed which takes into account the underlying representation, but emphasizes the processing mechanisms required by the task at hand.
Conservatory Teaching and Learning
Authors: King Mary , Nix John
Published: April 2014

The progression from enthusiast to professional is sometimes marked by full-time training in a conservatory. This chapter describes each aspect of the conservatory experience, from the selection process and successful auditioning, through undergraduate and graduate curricula, to advanced study and apprenticeships. At each stage, the similarities and differences between training programs for classical and musical theater performers are explored. Curricular descriptions include an emphasis on the roles of the singing teacher, the vocal coach, the spoken voice instructor, language teachers, movement specialists, and acting teachers. Other aspects are also considered, including coursework in music theory, music history, repertoire seminars, the study of another instrument, ensemble classes, and performance opportunities. Additional chapter resources include a list of websites of leading conservatories around the world.
The Extra-normal Voice
Authors: Edgerton Michael Edward
Published: April 2014

This chapter presents an overview of new developments in vocal exploration. Beginning with a discussion of multiple parameters involved in voice production, this chapter identifies the crucial role that non-linear phenomena has in the performance of the extra-normal voice. In this article, two related taxonomies are presented (source production related to degree of voicing; emphases within the acoustic framework of power, source, resonance, and articulation) that may be used as powerful generative tools for the production of multiple sound sources, filtering processes, and aerodynamic effects, etc. The paper then posits how scaled, multidimensional networks may be used to intelligently explore all elements of the acoustic sound production apparatus and not solely articulation, as is seen with some proponents of complex networks. In this discussion, it will be presented how fully scaling each parameter space will encompass far reaching benefits by engaging with little traversed regions of the total vocal topography.
Intersex and Transgender People
Authors: Cornwall Susannah
Published: April 2014

Intersex and transgender are discrete issues and should not be conflated. However, both phenomena, and the experiences of both groups of people, demonstrate the limitations of existing theologies of sexuality which assume stable and binary models of human maleness and femaleness. Sexual theologies for intersex and transgender people must take into account a range of issues, including the reality of variant sex and gender; the question of same-sex relationships; the theological significance of non-penetrative sexual activity; the challenges of unusual genital anatomy; ethical issues surrounding sought and unsought genital surgery; discourses of pathological versus variant embodiment; and questions of vulnerability and safety in sexual encounter. Drawing on liberationist theological goods, this chapter points to the necessity for non-pathologizing theological accounts of variant sex and gender.
Same-Sex Relations in the Biblical World
Authors: Jennings Theodore W.
Published: April 2014

While the Bible is often understood to forbid same-sex love, a closer examination reveals a wide variety of forms of same-sex love that are presupposed and even celebrated in these texts. After demonstrating that biblical texts taken to prohibit same-sex love have been misunderstood, the chapter explores multiple forms of same-sex love in the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament. Love between women in the story of Ruth, the expressions of warrior love in the stories of David and the centurion who came to Jesus, the transgendering of Israel in the prophets and the transgendering of Jesus and Saint Paul in the New Testament, even tales of sexual awakening and violence, provide a rich tapestry of same-sex love exhibited in biblical literature giving deeper meaning to the message of divine love which for Christians is exemplified by Jesus.
Reproducing Medieval Christianity
Authors: Karras Ruth Mazo
Published: April 2014

This chapter examines three ways in which ideas about reproduction loomed large in medieval Christian culture: its relation to ideas about sexuality and nature, the somewhat overlapping topic of its relation to the sacrament of marriage, and the use of fictive parenthood or reproductive metaphors in Christian thought. Medieval Judaism is used as a point of comparison to highlight what is, or is not, distinctive about Christianity. The chapter argues that although virginity and celibacy got a great deal of literary attention, reproduction was the expectation for most medieval people and a tension about its value shaped their world. The period from 1100 to 1500 is the main focus but earlier writings, especially those of St Augustine, were highly influential.
Duns Scotus on the Female Gender
Authors: Adams Marilyn McCord
Published: April 2014

Scotus’ estimate of the female gender is shaped by his view that Mary is pre-eminent among merely human saints. Because Mary must be a real mother, he rejects the Aristotelian view that mothers are merely passive causes in reproduction. Christ’s most perfect saving act preserves Mary for immaculate conception, freedom from original sin, not just from birth but from the moment of foetal animation. Gender-justice is important in the marriage contract, even though God never dispenses from life-long indissoluble monogamy to allow polyandry or to permit women to divorce. The Franciscan distinction between dominion and use allows Mary and Joseph to be really married even though both vowed chastity. Gender-justice means that right reason would never permit merely human institutions from restricting ordination to men. The command must come from Christ himself.
Friends and Friendship
Authors: Summers Steve
Published: April 2014

Friendship is understood differently across a variety of cultures, and what it means in a contemporary setting is rapidly shifting. Postmodernity offers choice and freedom in relationality, but with these opportunities comes pressure on traditional relationships, and a sense that future direction is unclear. There is a danger that friendship may lose its legacy as a socially and morally important relationship, and be viewed as a commodity to enhance one’s social status or chosen lifestyle; particularly facing the rise of ‘virtual-friendship’. Philosophers and theologians, such as Aristotle, Aelred, Aquinas and Kierkegaard have commented on friendship’s importance, and accorded it a vital place in society and in theology. So by revisiting Jesus’ statement to his disciples; ‘You are my friends’, the Church has an opportunity to reclaim friendship’s legacy, and allow the self-understanding as the ‘friends of Christ’ to transform its shape and mission.
Origins of
Authors: Treiger Alexander
Published: April 2014

This article investigates the origins ofKalāmin the debate culture of Late Antiquity. Following Michael Cook and Jack Tannous, it argues thatkalām-style argumentation has its origin in Christological debates and was then absorbed into Muslim practice through the mediation of the Arab Christian milieu in Syria and Iraq. The second part of the article considers the origins of theQadardebate (human free will versus divine predestination). Finally, the third part discusses three Muslim texts onQadar, falsely attributed to Ḥasan b. Muḥammad b. al-Ḥanafiyya, ‘Umar b. ‘Abd al-’Azīz, and al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī. It offers a critical appraisal of Josef van Ess’s reconstruction of the ‘beginnings’ ofKalām.
Early Ibāḍī Theology
Authors: Madelung Wilferd
Published: April 2014

This chapter describes the rise and early development of the Ibāḍiyya movement and its theological teaching during the first centuries of Islam. It briefly mentions the initial role of Jābir b. Zayd and Muslim b. Abī Karīma in this teaching and then discusses the theology of ʿAbd Allāh b. Yazīd al-Fazārī (second half of the second/eighth century) in detail on the basis of recently discovered treatises by him. In his argumentation against the teaching of the Muʿtazila he proves to have been a major contributor to the development of Islamickalāmtheology concerning predestination and the attributes (ṣifāt) of God. The teaching of ʿĪsā b. ʿUmayr al-Hamdānī, founder of a rival Ibāḍī sect in the eastern Maghrib, is also described.
Excursus II
Authors: Crone Patricia
Published: April 2014

This article examines the cosmological theories of the so-called Dahrīs and Zindīqs from their pre-Islamic roots until the fourth/tenth century, when they and their Muʿtazilite opponents ceased to be the predominant exponents of what we call natural science. Both Dahrīs and Zindīqs were empiricists, some in a dogmatist and others in a sceptical vein; both drew on ideas of pre-Islamic Greek and Iranian origin; and both left a deep imprint on the cosmology and epistemology of the Muʿtazilites (to whom we owe practically all our knowledge about them). Their beliefs can be followed well past the fourth/tenth century, but henceforth it was mostly as components of philosophy and (at least in post-Mongol Iran) of Sufism that they attracted attention.
Theories of Ethical Value in
Authors: Shihadeh Ayman
Published: April 2014

This article offers a new interpretation of the debate on the nature of ethical value in the developed kalām tradition. After situating the problem in the broad context of theodicy, it proposes to revise the reading, conventional since George Hourani’s studies published in the early seventies, of the ethical realism propounded in Baṣran and Baghdādī Muʿtazilism and of the rival views of classical Ashʿarism. It argues that the latter school did not subscribe to a simple divine command theory of ethics, but in fact grounded this theory in a fairly developed anti-realism, which became the basis for the more sophisticated consequentialist ethics advanced in neo-Ashʿarite sources.
Ismāʿīlī Theology
Authors: De Smet Daniel
Published: April 2014

Under the influence of Arabic Neoplatonism, the Ismā‘īlī branch of Shī‘ite Islam developed such a radical conception of the absolute transcendence of God that ‘theology’—in the sense of a ‘discourse about God’—becomes for them an impossible science. Overtly hostile to both Ashʿarism and Muʿtazilism, Ismā‘īlī authors of the Fātimid period (tenth–eleventh centuries) nevertheless introduced doctrines borrowed fromKalām, but they applied them to the first created being, the Intellect, and not to the Ultimate Principle. Hence, the Word (kalima), the Will (irāda), and the Command (amr) are identified with the Intellect; the ‘most sublime names of God’ are considered as attributes of the Intellect; their plurality does not affect the absolute unity of its essence; moreover, the Intellect is presented as the source of divine revelation.
Interpretations of Ashʿarism and Māturīdism in Mamluk and Ottoman Times
Authors: Berger Lutz
Published: April 2014

This article discusses the social setting and function of Ashʿarī and Māturīdī Sunni theology. It surveys briefly the religious policies of rulers and the process of integration of the learned hierarchy into the state bureaucracies in Mamluk and Ottoman times. It then addresses the causes for conflict between the Ashʿarī and Māturīdī schools and tries to explain how both came later to see each other as two equally valid versions of Sunni theology that only differed about minor points while uncompromisinglyḥadīth-minded traditionalists seem to have been marginalized in the religious field. The last paragraph tries to explain the conservatism and continued relevance of traditional and in some respects dated patterns ofkalāmin religious education under the Mamluk and Ottoman empires.
Striving for a New Exegesis of the Qurʾān
Authors: Pink Johanna
Published: April 2014

The article discusses Muslim attempts to develop innovative hermeneutical models for understanding the Qurʾān. It analyses the beginnings of reform in the eighteenth and mid-nineteenth centuries and the sustained efforts, starting in the late nineteenth century, to bring the interpretation of the Qur’an in line with ideas of rationalism and modernism. On this basis, the chapter presents an overview of the most important modern hermeneutical approaches to the Qur’an, some of which focus on its literary qualities, its historical context, its major themes, or its main goals, while others emphasize the Qurʾān’s inimitability in new ways or seek to expose its immediate relevance for contemporary believers. The development of these new ideas, which have often provoked severe criticism, is situated in the structural context of the emergence of colonial and nation states, mass alphabetization, and new media.
Egypt and the Later Ashʿarite School
Authors: Spevack Aaron
Published: April 2014

This chapter discusses the development and contours of late Ashʿarism in Egypt, with reference to some of the key texts, scholars, and concepts that are representative of Egyptian Ashʿarism. Evidence of a vibrant intellectual endeavour can be gleaned from the (a) continued study, development, and nuanced discussion of the rational sciences by Egyptian Ashʿarīs, (b) the prominent role that post-thirteenth-century Persian and Maghribī scholars play in the discourse, and (c) the continued discussions of philosophy, Sufi metaphysics, comparative theology, and various interpretive methodologies found in the often dismissed commentary tradition. From this vital synthesis of Maghribī, Persian, and local influences with which Egyptian scholars critically engaged, the continued vibrancy and diversity of thought is evident, thereby contributing to the growing body of literature challenging the popular theory of intellectual decline and stagnation in the Muslim world.
The Religious Policy of the Almohads
Authors: Fierro Maribel
Published: April 2014

The Almohads’ rule over the Islamic West—twelfth–thirteenth centuries, from western Lybia to the Iberian Peninsula—involved the imposition of their founder’s profession of faith stressing God’s unity (tawḥīd) on the population at large, including not only Jews and Christians who were forced to convert, but also Muslims. The original uncompromising rejection of anthropomorphism underwent changes as Almohad rule evolved from its Messianic (Mahdist) origins to the official support of philosophical inquiry. Discussion of Ibn Tūmart’s profession of faith and its links with Ibn Ṭufayl’s and Averroes’ work is complemented by an overview of the Almohad religious and intellectual elites (ṭalaba) and the development of law, theology and Sufism.
Later Ashʿarism in the Islamic West
Authors: Serrano Ruano Delfina
Published: April 2014

This chapter reviews the gradual adoption of Ashʿarism in the pre-modern Islamic west, from its introduction in Ifrīqiyā and parts of central Maghrib by the middle of the tenth century CE, passing through its subsequent propagation to and further development in al-Andalus until its dissemination in the Far Maghrib owing to the joint influence of Ifrīqī and Andalusī theologians. Special emphasis is put in the Almoravids’ contribution to this latter process and the challenges posed by Ibn Tūmart—the leader of the Almohad movement—to the local Mālikī-Ashʿarī establishment.
Theology in Central Asia
Authors: Spannaus Nathan
Published: April 2014

Despite its image as a cultural and intellectual backwater in later centuries, the scholarly environment in Central Asia, primarily in Bukhara and Samarqand, remained vibrant and active into the twentieth century. Theology was an important part of that environment, and this chapter addresses the evolution of the Sunni, Maturidikalāmtradition in Central Asia in the post-classical period (fifteenth to nineteenth centuries). Following earlier developments made by scholars such as Ibn Sīnā (Avicenna), Ibn ‘Arabī, and Taftāzānī, questions of ontology and metaphysics, such as God’s status as the Necessary of Existence, became central for Sunnikalāmin the region. Central Asianmutakallimūnincorporated ideas from a number of sources, including these earlier scholars, as well as the Shirazi philosophical school and Ahmad Sirhindī’s Sufi reformism, to form a refined discourse for sophisticated theological reasoning. Debates over issues such as the status of God’s attributes and the nature of mundane existence flourished in public disputations and commentaries and supercommentaries on important works of theology, up until the modern era.
Ḥanafī Theological Tradition and Māturīdism
Authors: Rudolph Ulrich
Published: April 2014

The theological tradition which can be traced back to Abū Ḥanīfa was initially a minor branch of Islamic theology, well established in North-Eastern Iran and Transoxania but hardly known in the central lands of the caliphate. Later on, however, its teaching became more elaborate and more prominent and was finally accepted as one of the two authoritative expressions of Sunnīkalām(the other being Ashʿarism). The chapter discusses this historical development by focusing on three of its major stages: the formation of the Ḥanafī theological tradition in the third/ninth century, its intellectual elaboration and transformation by Abū Manṣūr al-Māturīdī (d. 333/944) and the emergence of Māturīdism as a well-establishedkalāmschool in the late fifth/eleventh and early sixth/twelfth century.
Scripturalist and Traditionalist Theology
Authors: Abrahamov Binyamin
Published: April 2014

The chapter deals with two important approaches in Islamic theology, defining the terms that apply to these two trends and elucidating their main teachings. Scripturalist theology characterizes small groups in Islam which finally disappeared in the Middle Ages, however, leaving some traces on other theological schools. Contrary to the disappearance of the scripturalist theology, the traditionalist theology has remained the core of Islamic theology. It was a flexible theology that used both the Qurʾān and the Sunna and rational considerations. Through these two devices it challenged the rationalist theology and tried to refute both the rationalist methods and specific theological issues based on reason.
Federalism and American Political Development
Authors: Robertson David Brian
Published: April 2014

Federalism has influenced American political development deeply because it has been used as a powerful, enduring weapon in battles over politics and policy. The Constitution authorized the national government to exercise the tools of national sovereignty, but authorized the states to govern most of everyday life. This constitutional arrangement has encouraged interstate competition and market-driven economic growth, while it has impeded policies aimed at mitigating economic hardship and inequality. Federalism encouraged fragmented political parties and a pluralistic interest group system, splintering both organized business and trade unions and thus many political conflicts. State policy initiation has left domestic policy profoundly fragmented and unequal. Decentralized power allowed states to implement separate and inferior citizenship rights for different categories of citizens, most prominently, racial minorities and women. In turn, state laws and their legacy frequently shape national efforts to mitigate these inequalities.
The States and American Political Development
Authors: Karch Andrew
Published: April 2014

This essay contends that the American states merit a more prominent place in the study of American political development for both substantive and methodological reasons. It illustrates how the study of the states provides a more comprehensive portrayal of American politics and its evolution, offering new insights into the dynamics of institutional change, the expansion and restriction of voting rights, and the shifting contours of the American welfare state. Moreover, the states’ combination of fundamental similarity and manageable variation makes them especially well suited for evaluating causal arguments. Developmental scholars have generally not taken full advantage of the states as a research venue, but carefully designed studies of state politics have the potential to illuminate broader questions of political development.
Rhetoric and Declamation
Authors: Gunderson Erik
Published: April 2014

This chapter offers an overview of the manifold qualities of the Greco-Roman rhetorical exercise known as declamation and provides answers to basic questions about the genre. Declamation’s productive side is emphasized. The genre does not merely train orators for practice but also enables thought experiments and literary play. The rhetorical imagination is unleashed and applied to hypothetical objects. One finds in declamation ironic and absurd, yet nevertheless telling, treatments of a variety of key familial, social, and political relationships. Declamation fuses the ludic and the earnest within a set of performances that are both preparatory for something else and consequential in their own right.
Rhetoric and Comedy
Authors: Enders Jody
Published: April 2014

The rhetorical tradition demands a sense of humor. Thanks to the highly influential group of late medieval French lawyers and legal apprentices (Basochiens), we know that comedy is deeply imbricated in forensic rhetoric, declamation, and delivery (actio) as well as in the law itself. The farcical, forensic antics of the Society of the Basoche shed new light on the intertwined histories of law, rhetoric, theater, and performance studies. Inasmuch as over 200 French farces are extant—many obsessed with juridical discourse—it is clear that the comedic dimensions of rhetoric constitute far more than a silly footnote. Quite to the contrary, when learned medieval rhetoricians theorized and practiced comedy, they articulated not only a view of the five canons of rhetoric but also a dramatic response against the obscenity of social injustice. In so doing, they also showed the transcendence of an expression that remains popular today: That trial is a farce!
Rhetoric and Science
Authors: Walmsley Peter
Published: April 2014

Rhetoric was a central preoccupation of natural philosophers in eighteenth-century Europe as they strove to create audiences for their work and negotiated appropriate forms for communicating their discoveries. Focusing on two influential English scientific texts from the period—Hans Sloane’s Voyage to Jamaica (1707–25), a botanical taxonomy, and Joseph Priestley’s Observations on Different Kinds of Air (1772), a narrative of chemical experiments—this chapter explores two core rhetorical challenges that preoccupied scientific writers: the arrangement of materials (dispositio); and the establishment of the character of the author (ethos). The new science’s grappling with these problems of representation became, ultimately, transformative for rhetorical theory in the period, which repudiated classical ornament for the plain style and perspicuity. Together, Sloane and Priestley model new scientific ideals of selfless labor and careful witness that ultimately become the single, universally celebrated virtue of nineteenth-century scientific writing: objectivity.
Rhetoric, Composition, Design
Authors: Kaufer David , Wetzel Danielle
Published: April 2014

This chapter describes the foundations of a “design” approach to writing as it has emerged from a confluence of the ancient and modern rhetorical traditions and the American institution of composition. We argue that a design approach emphasizes the cultivation of forethought, reader experience, the writer’s accountability for decision-making, and a sustained attention to the way words on the page construct worlds of experience for the reader. The implementation of a design approach requires reimagining the writing classroom as a studio in which the artifacts under construction are visible to all, accessible by their public “effects,” and thus assessable by a public beyond the classroom. We offer some examples of research and case studies where this reimagining has been undertaken.
Orientalism and the American Belly Dancer
Authors: Deagon Andrea
Published: April 2014

Belly dance was introduced into America by Turkish and Arab dancers, who established the structure and aesthetics of the dance. Appropriated by non-Arab dancers for recreation and personal growth, belly dance has promulgated sensualized Orientalism and gained public notoriety that is problematic and even offensive to those whose culture it apparently represents. This chapter explores three manifestations of belly dance in America: recreational, in which “Arab” aspects are obscured or romanticized; tribal, which entangles the “Arab” and the “primitive” using Middle Eastern elements to evoke an archetypal tribe; and “Arab-centered” (Egyptian),based on the styles and aesthetics of Arab dancers. In the twenty-first century, America’s sensual, fantasy Orientalism fuels the expansion of recreational belly dance beyond the Western world. This appropriated, hybridized dance both fosters the misrepresentation of Arab culture and offers the potential for genuine artistic and cultural exchange with the Arab cultures that inspired it.
A Folklorist’s View of “Folk” and “Ethnic” Dance
Authors: Nahachewsky Andriy
Published: April 2014

For many people, “folk dance” and “ethnic dance” are roughly synonymous, used vaguely to identify colorful but marginal dance traditions. Old stereotypes and biases persist, hindering our understanding of these important spheres of dance activity. This chapter explores this conceptual terrain and proposes definitions that differentiate between the two terms and can be cross-culturally useful. The chapter reviews a number of traditions for conceptualizing “folk dance” and argues that it is sometimes desirable to associate the term specifically with dances of the peasantry (people in rural agricultural societies around the world), as well as those inspired by peasant dancing. It proposes that “ethnic dance” be used to denote any dance in which cultural boundaries are actively engaged. Three Ukrainian dance examples—hutsulka, Hopak, and The Match—illustrate the implications of these suggestions.
Poverty
Authors: Brady David , Destro Lane
Published: April 2014

This chapter reviews the scholarly literature on poverty and U.S. social policy. We contend that several social policies effectively reduce poverty. Before doing so, the chapter presents the serious problems with the official U.S. measure of poverty and advocate for alternative measures. The chapter then evaluates the evidence regarding the most salient programs, such as social insurance. Attention is paid to understudied programs regarding work-family balance and health. The chapter also discusses prominent debates including those regarding welfare reform and “moving to opportunity.” The conclusion emphasizes the limitations of the literature’s exclusive focus on the U.S. case, and argues that the field would benefit from greater incorporation of the comparative social-policy literature.
Shari‘a and Fiqh in the United States
Authors: Afsaruddin Asma
Published: April 2014

This chapter discusses the relation and differences between the legal concepts of shariʿa and fiqh and their implications for the reinterpretation and reform of specific legal rulings today by qualified American Muslim jurists and academic scholars through the process of ijtihad. It indicates some of the intra-Muslim debates concerning the purview of shariʿa, its objectives (maqasid al-shariʿa) and the particular challenges faced by the American Muslim community, which is situated within a larger secular non-Muslim polity. It then proceeds to discuss three American Muslim organizations—the Fiqh Council of North America, Karamah, and the Shura Council of the Women’s Initiative for Spirituality and Equality—and their seminal roles in spearheading innovative legal reasoning within scriptural and classical shar‘i parameters in the United States. Specific legal issues dealt with in this chapter include the articulation of a “jurisprudence of minorities” (fiqh al-aqalliyat), creation of egalitarian marriage contracts, and reinterpretation of the permissibility of adoption within Islamic law.
Islamic Organizations in the United States
Authors: Cesari Jocelyne
Published: April 2014

The status and strategies of the Islamic organizations in the United States have been dramatically changed by 9/11. The ethnic, social, and cultural diversity of these organizations has been eclipsed by the perception of the “Muslim enemy” and therefore obliged past and new leaders to adjust to the political consequences of the War on Terror and the rise of Islamophobia.
Islamophobia and Anti-Muslim Sentiment in the United States
Authors: Gottschalk Peter
Published: April 2014

Islamophobia and anti-Muslim sentiment have existed as parts of the religious landscape since Europeans first arrived in North America. The long history of these antipathies is a balance between continuities of received wisdom regarding Islam and Muslims and historically specific outbursts sparked and shaped by current social, economic, political, and military events. Tapping into enduring suspicions, some provocateurs deliberately aim to perpetuate stereotypes, broadcast misinformation, promote discrimination, and even instigate violence. A comparative logic drives the skepticism, wariness, and—occasionally—outright hostility toward, at different times, Islam as a religion, a specific Muslim, or Muslims as a religious, racial, or ethnic stereotype. This comparison presupposes a positive American norm that Islam and Muslims fail to meet in terms of theology, development, sexism, and nationalism.
Muslim Americans and the Political System
Authors: Sinno Abdulkader H.
Published: April 2014

The author surveys the politics of Muslim Americans—as instruments of political manipulation, as targets, and as agents—and the latest methodological innovations in researching them. The politics of targeting Muslims or instrumentalizing them include the use of electoral strategies that leverage negative public attitudes toward this religious minority, its political empowerment, and its civil rights. Muslim American participation in the American political arena has increased dramatically since 9/11. The author addresses the ways Muslims opt, or are able, to be active in American politics, their voting practices, how they fare when they run for office, and how they use local, state, and national governments to advance their causes. The research methods that are particularly useful to push the state of knowledge on the topic include qualitative field work, media content analysis, surveys, and experiments.