bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Captive Self: The Art of Intrigue and the Holy Roman Emperor’s Resident Ambassador at the Ottoman Court in the Sixteenth Century
Authors: Radway Robyn Dora
Published: June 2019

In 1580-1581, the Austrian Habsburg ambassador to the Ottoman court shared news of a remarkable letter and self-portrait that had arrived from an Ottoman subject in Habsburg captivity. Tracing the scramble for details on the matter and its import for Habsburg-Ottoman diplomacy reveals the structure, contours, and challenges of the Habsburg mission in Constantinople. The article argues that the image and the accompanying letter may be a forgery seeking to place the ambassador and the peace he was to uphold in jeopardy. Instead, the ambassador himself was captive to the factions, rivalries, and shifting loyalties in the borderlands that played out in the diplomatic culture of Ottoman Constantinople. This reveals the possibilities, limits, and ranges of control that early modern resident ambassadors had of their missions.
Regulation and Intellectual Change at the Paris Goldsmiths’ Guild, 1660-1740
Authors: Bycroft Michael
Published: June 2019

Economic historians have shown that the regulations of craft guilds were a source of innovation rather than inertia in the economy of early modern Europe. Historians of science have shown that craftsmen contributed to the scientific revolution in the same time and place. But very little is known about the role of guild regulation in intellectual (as opposed to social, political and economic) change. This paper shows that regulation went hand-in-hand with intellectual change at the Paris guild of goldsmiths in the decades around 1700. In this period the wardens of the guild developed sophisticated techniques for organizing and disseminating their large archive of legal documents. They also published two books on the natural history of precious stones that broke with the learned tradition of writing on this topic. The reform of the archive and the reform of natural history were undertaken by the same goldsmiths, for similar reasons, using analogous literary techniques.
Michał Boym, the Sum Xu, and the Reappearing Image
Authors: Grusiecki Tomasz
Published: June 2019

By examining images of the imaginary Chinese animal Sum Xu, this essay engages with questions about artistic origins and authorial originality, two art-historical concepts that so often exclude peripheral artists and their supposedly derivative artworks. Drawn by the Polish-Ruthenian Jesuit Michał Boym, the Sum Xu challenges the conventional accounts of images’ origins. As will be demonstrated, Boym’s image cannot be associated with a single place; its visual form derives its appearance from a multitude of sources, and the creature’s erratic afterlives further destabilize the concept of origin as an authorial act tied to a singular moment in space and time.
Secularism and State Neutrality: The 2015 Muslim Protest of Discrimination in the Public Schools in Ghana
Authors: Bolaji M.H.A.
Published: June 2019

Pluralism is a discernible feature of many modern states. However, among the variants of pluralism, religious pluralism appears to be the most intractable in many modern states because faiths and values underpin the conflicts that are associated with it. As one of the legacies of the Enlightenment, secularism is a normative prescription for managing religious pluralism. Nevertheless, while many African states profess to be secular, more often than not there are no concrete strategies to objectify the secular arrangement thereby provoking questions on the status quo. Such was the case with the 2015 Muslims’ protest of discrimination in the public basic and second cycles schools in Ghana. Through primary (interviews and archival and historical documents) and secondary data, this paper examines the protest in light of the secularist arrangement. It first reviews the contours of the secularist’s lenses. Second, it historicizes Muslim-Christian relations in Ghana. It also analyzes the checkered partnership between the state and the Christian missions in the provision of education. Moreover, it evaluates the debates that ensued and the ambivalent communiqué that the National Peace Council (NPC) issued. The paper concludes with a note that underscores the dynamics and tensions that characterize many plural societies in their attempt to objectify the secularist principle.
Creating a Place of Prayer for the ‘Other’: A Comparative Case Study in Wales Exploring the Effects of Re-shaping Congregational Space in an Anglican Cathedral
Authors: ap Siôn Tania
Published: June 2019

Provision of spaces for personal prayer and reflection has become a common phenomenon within historic churches and cathedrals in England and Wales, offering an example of devotional activity that operates largely outside that of traditional gathered congregations, but also in relationship with them. Over the past decade, the apSAFIP (the ap Siôn Analytic Framework for Intercessory Prayer) has been employed to examine the content of personal prayer requests left in various church-related locations, mapping similarities and differences in pray-ers’ concerns. Building on this research tradition, the present study examines whether changes to physical environment in an Anglican cathedral in Wales has an effect on the personal prayer activity occurring within it, with a particular focus on intercessory prayer requests.
Differences Between Religious and Secular Women Students in Judging Processes
Authors: Rauchberger Nirit , Kaniel Shlomo , Gross Zehavit
Published: June 2019

This study examined the differences between religious and secular women in the process of judging a dramatic, complex event from a structural viewpoint, both multidimensional (large number of causes and effects, causes in different categories, large number of actors) and one-dimensional. The event was the evacuation of the Israeli settlements from the Gaza Strip, which took place in Israel in 2005. The participants were 244 Jewish women students, self-defined as religious or secular, who reported negative emotions in relation to the evacuation. Despite differences between the religious and secular women in the content and intensity of the emotions aroused, differences were not found in the pattern of connections (i.e. the structure) between the variables in the model. That is to say, the difference in the respondents’ political or religious tendencies did not affect their judgment structures. We also found that a multidimensional perception of the event will tone down the severity of the judgment, regardless of the judge’s views regarding the content of the event.
What Does the Liberal-Conservative Scale Measure? A Study among Clergy and Laity in the Church of England
Authors: Village Andrew
Published: June 2019

The Liberal-Conservative (LIBCON) scale is a seven-point semantic differential scale that has been widely used to measure identity within the Church of England. The history of the development of liberalism in the Church of England suggests that this scale should be associated with specific beliefs and attitudes related to doctrine, moral issues and church practices. This study tests this idea among a sample of 9339 lay and ordained readers of the Church Times (the main newspaper of the Church of England) using twelve summated rating scales measuring a range of beliefs and attitudes. Of these twelve variables, eleven were correlated with the LIBCON scale. Discriminant function analysis produced a linear function of these variables that correctly identified 35% of respondents on the scale, and 69% to within one scale score. The best predictors were scales related to either doctrine or moral issues, and these performed consistently across traditions (Anglo-catholic, Broad church or Evangelical) and between clergy and laity. Scales related to church practices suggested ‘conserving tradition’ was also involved in the liberal-conservative dimension, but this was less so for clergy and for Evangelicals. The scale is commended as an empirical measure of one dimension of Church of England identities, especially if used alongside a parallel scale measuring church tradition.
Getting the Job Done: Bolstering American Mediation on Palestine. An Israeli Plan for American Mediation of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
Authors: Golan Galia
Published: June 2019

Inasmuch as the 2015 Israeli elections brought to power a Netanyahu-led coalition even more ideologically opposed to the creation of a Palestinian state than the previous coalitions, the absence of political will to reach agreement would appear to prejudge the outcome of any future negotiations should they take place. For this reason, recommendations to improve American mediation efforts remain in the realm of theory, but nevertheless may provide useful suggestions for the more basic step of returning the sides to serious negotiations.
The IMO Initial Strategy for the Reduction of GHGs from International Shipping: A Commentary
Authors: Chircop Aldo
Published: June 2019

In 2018 the IMO adopted the initial Strategy for the international shipping industry’s reduction of global greenhouse gas emissions towards achieving the goal set in the 2015 Paris Agreement. At this time the Strategy is no more than a preliminary structure to frame the measures that will need to be adopted for the short, medium and long terms. In the short term (2018–2023) a first suite of measures will be adopted, and the initial Strategy will be revised and adopted as changed in 2023 with proposed measures for the medium term (2023–2030) and long term (2030–2050 and beyond). New international standards, tools and best practices will be needed to supplement the existing energy efficiency management rules in the International Convention on the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, 1973/78. This article discusses the Strategy and the role of the IMO in leading the shipping industry on the road to decarbonization.
Revisiting the Place and Use of Territorial Autonomy under International Law
Authors: Nam Nora Ho Tu , Fessha Yonatan
Published: June 2019

Increasingly, territorial autonomy features centrally in constitutions that seek to accommodate minority groups. What is not clear, however, is the place of territorial autonomy under international law. While often lauded as a means to manage ethnicity and increasingly recognised as an institutional solution by the constitutions of many countries, the question remains as to whether territorial autonomy has a basis under international law. The quest for the basis of territorial autonomy under international law begins with Article 27 of the ICCPR, followed by a discussion on Article 25 of the ICCPR, common Article 1 of the ICCPR and ICESCR and finally customary international law. The article argues that international law does not provide the basis for minority groups to claim territorial autonomy. It does not, however, exclude the state from providing territorial autonomy as one positive measure it can take to ensure the protection of the rights of the minority.
Bridge over Troubled Water – A Semantic Approach to Purposes and Goals in International Criminal Justice
Authors: Heinze Alexander
Published: June 2019

International tribunals are both legal and political institutions and their list of goals is manifold. Hard cases carry an inflated reference to ‘purposes’ and ‘goals’ of these institutions – despite the herculean task of achieving these goals, the inherent tension between them and the lack of a ranking order. This article borrows from studies of both the politics of organisational decision-making and language philosophy to determine the meaning of ‘purpose’ and ‘goal’. Against the common understanding that uses both terms interchangeably, a distinction between ‘purpose’ and ‘goal’ goes beyond a mere semantic description and can actually offer a classification that might be used as a coarse screen to separate ‘core goals’ from other goals, provide a weak ranking order and relativise the alleged obligation to achieve these goals.
Why Retain Membership of the International Criminal Court?
Authors: Perez-Leon-Acevedo Juan-Pablo
Published: June 2019

Among international criminal tribunals (‘icts’), the International Criminal Court (‘icc’) for the first time introduced victim participation and reparations for victims. Against potential African withdrawals from the
icc Statute, this article seeks to demonstrate the need to retain membership of the icc under victim-oriented considerations. Despite its deficits and limitations, the icc is arguably an important judicial forum for victims of mass atrocities committed in Africa for three arguments. First, human rights are invoked as a standard to examine the legitimacy of the decisions of the icc, African Union (‘au’), and African states. Second, international and African regional human rights law on victim rights binds African states. Third, since au regional criminal justice initiatives present important deficits and limitations in terms of victim rights, they are unfit to replace the icc.
Exit Clauses in Regional Human Rights Systems
Authors: Cowell Frederick
Published: June 2019

Regional human rights bodies, such as the European Court of Human Rights and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, have constituent instruments which contain clauses allowing states to leave the institution. Given that regional human rights tribunals have the power to issue rulings against states, these clauses have been relatively underused. This paper argues that this is due to the socialisation of states within regional human rights regimes. Exit clauses are a reflection of underlying political forces behind a regional human rights bodies’ formation. They also play an important and under-examined role in state socialisation once a state is a member of a regional human rights body.
The Kurds of Khorasan
Authors: Ali Madih &# Abbas-&#
Published: June 2019

The article is a demographic survey on the Kurds in Greater Khorasan including presently three separate provinces within the territorial-administrative system of Iran. The research is mainly based on the field materials; the author had identified most of the Kurdish populated localities in situ, though the data obtained from the local municipalities were also taken into consideration. The paper includes a comprehensive list of all the villages and rural centres of Greater Khorasan with compact and mixed Kurdish population, according to the minor administrative divisions, šahrestāns, i.e. districts. The biggest part of the Khorasani Kurds is sedentary, although there are also some groups of seasonal pastoralists. All the Kurds of Khorasan are Shi'ites. Generally, there are 696 villages with a compact or prevailing Kurdish population registered on the territory of Greater Khorasan. The total number of the Khorasani Kurds can be estimated around one million.
The Molokans in Armenia
Authors: Haytian Aram
Published: June 2019

The Molokans are a Russian sectarian group formed in the 18th century. They reject the institute of Church and the church hierarchy. The members of this group refuse to worship icons and everything that is human-made, as well as the Cross as the instrument of murder. The real Christians, they believe, must worship only the living God and recognise the Bible as the Word of God. From the beginning of the 19th century, by the initiative of the Russian Orthodox Church, the Russian government started to relocate those who rejected the Orthodoxy, including the Molokans, to the remote areas of the Empire. In Transcaucasia the Molokans were allowed to settle in the provinces of Tiflis, Erivan (Yerevan), Elizavetopol, and Baku. For the time being, most of the Molokans living in Armenia retain the communal mentality, that has allowed them for nearly two centuries to preserve their cultural and religious identity and traditions. On the other hand, individual cases of active integration have always resulted in a departure from sectarianism, which does not necessarily cause the loss of self-awareness. The article gives a detailed description of the history of the Molokan colonies in Armenia.
The Curse of Māmā ‘Ismat
Authors: Kirakosian Hasmik
Published: June 2019

The article examines an obscure phrase in Azari, attested in Raudāt al-jinān wa jannāt al-jinān by the 16th century Iranian historiographer Hāfiz Husayn Karbalāy ī -Tabrīzī. The author makes an attempt to restore the original text and to newly translate the phrase, which is in fact a cursing formula.
Did Mani Travel to Armenia?
Authors: Gardner Iain
Published: June 2019

This paper will present new evidence to resolve a long-standing problem in the biography of Mani, the founder of Manichaeism, who lived in Sasanian Iran during the third-century A.D. There are a number of important early references to Armenia in Manichaean texts. These include a Sogdian account of how Mār Gabryab brought the religion to Armenia and contains the earliest known literary reference to the name of the capital city of Erevan; and various notices of Mani’s own Letter to Armenia in Arabic, Middle Persian and Sogdian. But the principal focus for this paper is to resolve the question as to whether Mani himself travelled to Armenia in the early/mid 270s A.D. The account of his final travels, before his imprisonment and death under King Bahrām I in Gondēšāpūr, has been the subject of sustained debate since late antiquity. The early Christian polemical tradition represented by the Acts of Archelaus (ca. 330 A.D., extant in Latin, with parallels and elaborated traditions in Greek, Syriac etc.) placed him in the mysterious Castellum Arabionis near the border of the Roman Empire, and in the 19th-century it was common to locate this in Armenia. However, discoveries of primary Manichaean texts in Coptic and Middle Iranian languages in the 20th century turned attention to sites in Mesopotamia. This paper aims to reconcile these accounts and will utilise a newly-edited Coptic source to demonstrate that Mani did, indeed, travel to Sasanian Armenia in the company of a local nobleman named Baat.
Legitimization of Statehood and its Impact on Foreign Policy in De Facto States: A Case Study of Abkhazia
Authors: Hoch Tomáš
Published: June 2019

In many respects, de facto states play a highly specific role as actors within the international system of sovereign states. The lack of international recognition has tangible political and economic impacts on the functioning of such states, and so the attempt to persuade domestic actors and the international community of the legitimacy of their claims to independence ranks among the most important components of these states’ policy—not only in foreign policy, but also in domestic policy. The aim of this text is to contribute to our understanding of how internal legitimization strategies for Abkhazian statehood are constructed and how they impact upon the foreign policy of this de facto state. Field research was carried out via interviews with important official state representatives of Abkhazia and important non-state actors—including journalists and representatives of nonprofit organizations, universities, the Church and other key institutions, which influence public opinion within and beyond this de facto state.
Russia and the Georgian and Ukrainian Conflicts: Some Remarks
Authors: Rezvani Babak
Published: June 2019

This paper critically discusses the current mainstream views on Russia’s involvement in Georgia and Ukraine and implements geopolitical reasoning and analyses. Russian Foreign policy is guided both by (neo-)realist and constructivist theoretical perspectives. However, reviewing Russia’s policy in its near abroad, it appears that it is formed on reactive decisions the results of which may not always be understood as advantageous from a rational actor perspective. In the Post-Soviet Space, Russia behaves in accordance with its imperial experience, which bestows upon its geopolitical interests a layer of moral obligation, combining with either altruism or expansionism, or with both at the same time. The Russian alliance with Iran, and their interventions in Syria, are explained mainly by security concerns. Russia’s support of separatism in South Ossetia, Abkhazia and Eastern Ukraine, and incorporating Crimea, do not yield advantageous results for the Russian interests from a rational actor’s perspective.
Fake News and the Jesus Historian
Authors: Le Donne Anthony
Published: June 2019

This article surveys a cultural phenomenon in American popular media that complicates how the historical Jesus is received: fake news. It suggests that fake Jesus news relates to the problems we face in Donald Trump-related political discourse. Moreover, the present political climate will make it even more difficult for professional historians to be heard and trusted by the general public.
Memory and Narrative – and Time
Authors: Byrskog Samuel
Published: June 2019

This article seeks to develop the recent attention to memory by outlining a hermeneutical approach that links memory closely to philosophical reflections on referentiality, narrativity and temporality. From insights of modern and ancient theories of memory, the the present approach insists that memory is referential in that its images are held to derive from outside memory, that it is narrative in that it is believed to picture a socially conditioned reality, and that it is temporal in that it depends on time in order to navigate between the past and the present. This hermeneutical approach is form-critically and rhetorically relevant, because it becomes visible in the uses of forms taught in the Progymnasmata, especially in the attempt to present them with convincing clarity, as seen in the combination of two chreiai and one diēgēma Mark 1:29–39. Further study of the hermeneutics of memory will redirect our concept of history and reveal the extent to which memory served the early Christians in their search for existential meaning and identity.
Constructing a Contractualist Egalitarianism: Equality after Scanlon
Authors: O’Neill Martin
Published: June 2019

T. M. Scanlon’s work on the value of equality provides the resources for developing a powerful and distinctive contractualist egalitarian view. This view acknowledges a range of egalitarian concerns, of a diverse nature, and points us towards a picture of the place of equality in the normative landscape that is richer and more complex than some other alternative views. I describe the outlines of this contractualist egalitarian view, addressing questions regarding its strength and scope. I then discuss the relationship of equality to other values, such as fairness and community (or fraternity), and examine the contrast between contractualist egalitarian and luck egalitarian views. I conclude with a sketch of some of the practical implications that might follow from further pursuit of Scanlon’s insights on the value of equality, in the hope that this may suggest an interesting direction of travel for further work.
Reply to Serena Olsaretti
Authors: Scanlon T. M.
Published: June 2019

The paper examines how the value of choice account is supposed to explain the significance of choice in the justification of moral principles and social institutions and policies, responding to some questions and objections raised by Serena Olsaretti.
Reply to Zofia Stemplowska
Authors: Scanlon T. M.
Published: June 2019

Describes the author’s value of choice account of responsibility and examines a response by Stemplowska to an objection to this account, raised by Alex Voorhoeve. Argues that the problem raised by Voorhoeve’s example concerns the way in which risk is taken into account in contractualism rather than the value of choice account of responsibility. Departs from the author’s earlier work in arguing that the risk of harm should sometimes be taken into account on an ex ante rather than an ex post basis.
Constructing a Good Life
Authors: Lott Micah
Published: June 2019

In The Value of Living Well, Mark LeBar develops a position that he calls “virtue eudaimonism” (ve). ve is both a eudaimonistic theory of practical reasoning and a constructivist account of the metaphysics of value. In this essay, I will explain the core of LeBar’s view and focus on two issues, one concerning ve’s eudaimonism and the other concerning ve’s constructivism. I will argue that, as it stands, ve does not adequately address the charge of egoism, once that charge has been formulated in the strongest way. I will also argue that a substantive constructivism like ve must have considerably less explanatory power than any (successful) constructivism that appeals to a formal characterization of agency. Although my remarks are largely critical, I offer them in a spirit of sympathetic engagement with LeBar’s impressive book.
Rawlsian Perfectionism
Authors: Wall Steven
Published: June 2019

This paper presents and defends a Rawlsian argument for perfectionist state policies. The argument draws on Rawls’s discussion of the “Aristotelian Principle,” highlighting the complex relationship between this principle and the social bases of self-respect. The paper explains how Rawls’s discussion and endorsement of this principle has significant and unappreciated implications for his account of the human good and the state’s role in promoting it in a well-ordered society. Although Rawls explicitly rejected state perfectionism, the paper shows how his conception of justice has the resources to respond to the important criticism that it is insufficiently responsive to the claims of human excellence. Rawlsian perfectionism, in this way, strengthens Rawlsian justice by removing an important reason for rejecting it.
Epistemic Foundations of Political Liberalism
Authors: Peter Fabienne
Published: June 2019

At the core of political liberalism is the claim that political institutions must be publicly justified or justifiable to be legitimate. What explains the significance of public justification? The main argument that defenders of political liberalism present is an argument from disagreement: the irreducible pluralism that is characteristic of democratic societies requires a mode of justification that lies in between a narrowly political solution based on actual acceptance and a traditional moral solution based on justification from the third-person perspective. But why should we take disagreements seriously? This—epistemic question—has not received the attention it deserves so far. I argue that the significance of public justification can be explained through the possibility of reasonable disagreement. In a reasonable disagreement, the parties hold mutually incompatible beliefs, but each is justified to hold the belief they do. I shall use the notion of a reasonable disagreement to explain the possibility of an irreducible pluralism of moral and religious doctrines and, on that basis, why the justification of political institutions has to be public.
A Historical and Comparative Survey of the Chinese Presence in the Latin American and Caribbean Region, with a Focus on the Anglophone Caribbean
Authors: _ _
Published: June 2019

In this paper, I first broadly map the historical patterns of Chinese presence in the Latin America and Caribbean (lac) region, as a way of distinguishing the primary locations and forms of incorporation and settlement. This historical context provides a baseline from which to examine patterns of the new post-1980s instantiations of Chinese presence in the wider lac region and Central America and Caribbean (cac) sub-region, with particular reference to the English-speaking Caribbean, and, even more specifically, the Eastern Caribbean group of islands with no historical antecedent of an older Chinese diaspora. To highlight this specificity, I include findings from preliminary research conducted in several of these islands, and examine some of the key emerging configurations and complications of the new dual presence in the Anglophone Caribbean of the Chinese state and private entrepreneurial immigrant.
Representation of Diasporic Chinese Wen Masculinities in A Native of Beijing in New York and A Free Life
Authors: _ _
Published: June 2019

This article mainly draws on Kam Louie’s wen/wu paradigm of Chinese masculinities and R. W. Connell’s concept of hegemonic masculinity to examine the representation of diasporic Chinese wen masculinities in the popular Chinese television drama A Native of Beijing in New York and Ha Jin’s novel A Free Life. The article argues that the two texts suggest there is no monolithic and static diasporic masculinity among contemporary immigrant Chinese wen men in the US; rather, immigrant Chinese wen men are constantly negotiating, forming and performing their diasporic masculinity according to their specific financial conditions, personal aspirations, as well as the economic situations in China.
Into the New Wonder House
Authors: Paul Paramita
Published: June 2019

This article explores a series of images at the Foguangshan He Hua Temple in Chinatown Amsterdam, the Netherlands. It considers images in the temple’s halls and on its websites, and it investigates the spectacle of He Hua’s activities, to understand how these images contribute to debates on Chinese transnational experience. What are visual forms of He Hua’s images? How do they comment on the nature of “Chineseness” and cultural identity for one of the oldest Chinatowns in Europe? The article argues that the He Hua Temple is a new “Wonder House”, in Stanley Abe’s use of the term. It functions as an established site of knowledge, where objects are recast and appropriated into a new taxonomy of order. The article shows that the temple is an effort at artistic world-making, and that it exists as a space for questioning issues of tradition, culture and identity.
Ankersmit’s Leibnizism
Authors: Fairbrother Daniel
Published: June 2019

This paper takes as a starting-point the ostensibly enormous distance between Frank Ankersmit’s Leibnizian concerns in the philosophy of historiography and the contents of works of history. Sections 1, 2 and 3 display this distance by juxtaposing the details of a historical example with the basic features of Leibniz’ philosophy and Ankersmit’s mediation of it. Section 4 discusses the relationship between Ankersmit’s Leibniz-inspired apriorism and empirical historiography. Sections 5 and 6 explain the Leibnizian logic standing behind Ankersmit’s ideas about historical representations as self-sufficient semantic (“intensional”) objects. Sections 7 and 8 consider some objections to Ankersmit’s Leibnizism and his likely replies. Section 9 emphasises just how committing is Ankersmit’s claim that historical representations are “strong individuals”. A final comment on how to view the distance between Ankersmit’s Leibnizism and the contents of works of history is offered in section 10.
Medicine in the Thought and Action of the Emperor Julian
Authors: Swist Jeremy J.
Published: June 2019

This paper assembles evidence from the full scope of Julian’s writings that the emperor had a pronounced interest in medicine and human health, which impacted both his rhetorical and real approach to political, philosophical, and religious problems. His initiatives aimed to promote doctors, medical research, and public health. He emphasized a holistic view of bodily and spiritual health in his version of theurgic Neoplatonism. Medical frames of reference also played an appreciable role in his anti-Christian program. Finally, he himself and others styled him as a physician-king on a divine mission to heal the Empire of the Christian disease.
The Order of the Kushite Kings According to Sources from the Eastern Desert and Thebes. Or: Shabataka was here first!
Authors: Jurman Claus
Published: June 2019

The correct order of the first two kings of the Twenty-Fifth Dynasty has been the subject of a growing debate since Michael Bányai proposed a revision of the traditional chronological model in 2013. By placing Shabataka1 before Shabaka Bányai challenged the commonly accepted view according to which it was Shabaka who established the Twenty-Fifth Dynasty and secured Kushite control over all of Egypt after having re-conquered the North and disposed of his adversary Bocchoris of the Twenty-Fourth Dynasty. Since then Bányai’s proposal of modifying the sequence of the Kushite kings, thus making Shabataka Bocchoris’ opponent, has received a growing number of supporters who have brought forward additional arguments in favour of it.

The present article introduces new arguments based on a careful analysis of prosopographic, archaeological, and epigraphic data from the Eastern Desert and Thebes—especially relating to the Kushite Nile Level Records at Karnak—which provide the strongest evidence for the sequence “Shabaka—Shabataka” hitherto adduced.
Agents of Construction
Authors: Brown Marina Wilding
Published: June 2019

This new analysis of the interaction between graffiti and their physical context examines the functionality of rock inscriptions for the ancient Egyptians and finds that the annexation and redefinition of the landscape was a key factor motivating the production of rock art and rock inscriptions spanning the Egyptian Predynastic and Dynastic Periods. Casting off the modern, negative, connotations of “graffiti,” new research comparing ancient and modern graffiti traditions—including a proper understanding of the territorial and artistic implications of modern “gang” graffiti—illuminates certain functional parallels and assists in the formulation of a new framework based on Alfred Gell’s theory on the material agency of art and subsequent critiques. In this framework graffiti simultaneously mark territorial boundaries and work actively to create and maintain territory on an ongoing basis. The application of the framework to an ancient Egyptian case study illuminates the dynamic relationship between rock inscriptions and site formation.
Ethnicity in Ancient Egypt: An Introduction to Key Issues
Authors: Moreno García Juan Carlos
Published: June 2019

The study of ethnicity in the ancient world has known a complete renewal in recent times, at several levels, from the themes studied to the perspectives of analysis and the models elaborated by archaeologists, anthropologists, sociologists and historians. Far from traditional approaches more interested in detecting and characterizing particular ethnic groups (“Libyans,” “Medjay”) and social organizations (“tribe,” “clan”, etc.), in identifying them in the archaeological record through specific markers (pottery, ornaments, weapons, etc.) and, subsequently, in studying their patterns of interaction with other social groups (domination, acculturation, assimilation, resistance, centre periphery), recent research follows different paths. To sum up, a deeper understanding of ethnicity in ancient Egypt cannot but benefit from a close dialogue with other disciplines and is to enrich current debates in archaeology, anthropology, and ancient history.
Hyksos Research in Egyptology and Egypt’s Public Imagination: A Brief Assessment of Fifty Years of Assessments
Authors: Schneider Thomas
Published: June 2019

This contribution will look at the impact that the discovery of the site of Tell el-Dabʿa (Avaris), the capital of the Hyksos, has had on the discipline of Egyptology—in other words, to assess in what ways the disciplinary and public narrative about the Hyksos Period has (or has not) changed as a consequence of the discovery of Avaris.1 It will become clear that the cultural specifics of Avaris and its historical place have had a varied reception, and that the diverging representations that can be encountered pay tribute to different strategies of acceptance or denial that perpetuate certain traditions of scholarly and public engagement with ancient Egypt.
Ethnicity: Constructions of Self and Other in Ancient Egypt
Authors: Smith Stuart Tyson
Published: June 2019

The construction of ethnic self and other played a central role in ancient Egyptian ideology as well as at a more quotidian level. Ethnic groups are usually seen as self-defined, distinctive entities, often corresponding neatly to political or cultural units, but in reality, expressions of ethnic identity are mutable and socially contingent. Adopting a multi-scalar approach informed by practice theory, this paper examines ancient Egyptian constructions of ethnicity, taking into account ideological and elite expressions of ethnic identity from art and texts and everyday practices revealed by archaeology. A carefully contextualized analysis shows how pejorative constructions of an ethnic other by the state contrast with more positive interactions and patterns of mutual influence at a more individual level.
The Bulghar Region as a “Land of Ignorance”: Anti-Colonial Discourse in Khvārazmian Connectivity
Authors: Bustanov Alfrid K.
Published: June 2019

Hagiographic sources from nineteenth-century Inner Russia and Khvārazm indicate the existence of a cluster of Muslims opposed to the state-supported Islamic institutions of the Russian Empire. Many Muslim scholars of the period did not accord the Volga-Ural region the status of an ‘abode of Islam,’ as they considered it to be a ‘land of ignorance.’ This paper examines the significance attached by Muslims of Inner Russia to the pious rhetoric of resettlement from a ‘land of ignorance’ to the ‘abode of Islam’. I argue that the opposition to the already well-established imperial structures in the Volga-Urals resulted in the formation of a powerful migrant community near Urgench, Khvārazm, that used the Naqshbandiya-Mojaddediya Sufi networks as a stable bridge to home.
Religion, Mediatization, and ‘Complementary Learning Processes’ in Swedish Editorials
Authors: Lövheim Mia
Published: June 2019

This article analyzes positions and arguments in editorials from Swedish newspapers during the period of 1976–2010 regarding the place of religion in modern, democratic society. Starting from Habermas’ call for changes in European political discourse in a post-secular situation, the article analyzes whether signs of ‘complementary learning processes’ can be found in the editorials, where alternatives to a secularist understanding of religion are expressed. Findings suggest that mediatization through increased politicization of the daily press contributes to a re-articulation of the former secularist discourse in Swedish editorials. A salient theme in this alternative discourse is the tension between religious freedom and other citizen rights.
Religious Superdiversity and Gray Zones in Public Total Institutions
Authors: Becci Irene
Published: June 2019

Out of several years of research experience in the field of religion in prison, this article proposes some reflections on how to consider both a superdiverse situation and power issues in public total institutions. It proposes to use the notion of ‘gray zone,’ which refers to both the fluidity of current religious practices in contrast to a clear-cut distinction between secularity and religion and to an ambiguous positioning of actors in the complex field of institutional power relations. First, the author discusses briefly the structural locations of religion in European public total institutions and the ways these have been studied. Second, the focus shifts to those locations and uses of religion that are informal and that open up what the author calls a ‘gray zone.’ The concluding remarks highlight the complex power issues and relations at work in the realm of such a gray zone.
Catholic Chaplains in Public Institutions: Contextual Opportunities and Institutional Inertia in Spanish Hospitals and Prisons
Authors: Martínez-Ariño Julia , Griera Mar
Published: June 2019

This article analyses the roles of Catholic chaplains amidst secularisation and diversification in Spain. Instead of focussing on highly politicised and controversial issues, we examine lower-profile negotiations taking place in secular public institutions. With this micro-sociological approach, we move the analysis beyond the official stand of the national Catholic hierarchy and examine everyday interactions and negotiations between front-line Catholic actors, civil servants, and religious minorities’ leaders who share—and compete for—time, space, and material and symbolic resources in public hospitals and prisons. We argue that rather than resisting the changes strenuously, Catholic chaplains strategically re-define and diversify their roles by taking advantage of contextual opportunities, institutional factors, and organisational inertia. This attitude, which diverges from the more confrontational stance of the hierarchy in the public sphere, allows them to adapt to the environment and maintain their position and relevance within these institutions.
Blurred Religion in Contemporary Sweden: Health Care Institutions as an Empirical Example
Authors: Nordin Magdalena
Published: June 2019

The aim of the article is to highlight the blurred religious situation in contemporary Sweden on an individual level by studying religious needs and practices among patients in the Swedish health care system. Focus is on how religious issues are handled by the health care givers and how patients wish it would be handled. The empirical material for the article is twenty-seven in-depth interviews with former patients and representatives from the health care chaplaincy. The results of the study show that there can be a need for religion when one is hospitalized, that these patients wish that their religious needs and practices would be respected and facilitated, and that the blurred religious situation in Sweden is prevalent at the hospitals, but the hospitals—being foremost affected by the processes of secularization—have a tendency not to take this into consideration.
Challenging Secularities, Challenging Religion: ‘Secularist Ex-Muslim Voices’ in the British Debate on Islam and Freedom of Expression
Authors: Vliek Maria
Published: June 2019

This article uses the interpretative device of ‘multiple secularities’ to interrogate the presence of ‘secularist ex-Muslim voices’ in the British debate on Islam and freedom of expression. By contrasting Britain with the Netherlands, where these voices are currently relatively absent, it will examine ‘secularist ex-Muslim voices’ as expressed at the International Conference on Freedom of Conscience and Expression in London, July 2017. It argues that these voices have surfaced here due to Britain’s particular history of secularity for the sake of accommodating diversity. They challenge institutionalized levels (state-church relations, multiculturalism, and communitarianism) and social and cultural forms (debate on freedom of expression and Islamophobia). These voices are relatively absent in the Netherlands due to its dominant secularity for the sake of social/national integration. Due to the particular histories of secularity, reference problems that surface in Britain have less bearing on the Dutch situation. These voices have, therefore, been relatively absent.
Biological Correctness: Thomas Hobbes' Natural Ethics
Authors: Reiners Derek
Published: June 2019

This article argues that underlying Thomas Hobbes' prescription for concentrated power is system of ethics based on his understanding of human nature and the biological processes that govern natural human function. His thesis in Leviathan is not so much an argument for how rulers should rule as much as it is an argument for why individuals should allow themselves to be ruled in a specific manner. The justification for accepting rule comes from right reason which, in turn, comes to us from the dictates of the biological organism. If the biological organism is functioning correctly, it supports those processes and impulses which drive self-preservation. Anything that corrupts these natural processes and impulses are said to contravene right reason. Ultimately, the author believes that theoretical discourse concerning the essential interplay between political ethics and human nature should include consideration of Hobbes alongside Aristotle, David Hume, and others.
Granting Legal Personhood to Nature in the European Union: Contemplating a Legal (R)evolution to Avoid an Ecological Collapse? (Part 1)
Authors: Schoukens Hendrik
Published: June 2019

Over the past decade, the debate on Rights of Nature as a promising novel discourse within the ever-changing context of environmental governance has gained considerable traction. An increasing number of countries, amongst whom New Zealand and Ecuador, has moved to explicitly grant legal personhood to nature, with some national courts following suit. Underlying this trend is the need to correct the prevailing instrumentalist approach to nature, which sees nature merely as an object. For now, the idea of giving certain procedural and substantive rights to nature has passed relatively unnoticed in the European Union (eu), which prides itself over its set of progressive environmental directives and regulations. This paper, which is published in two parts, posits that a rights-based approach to nature might be relevant for the eu as well, seeing that anthropocentric frames are still permeating many of the eu’s environmental strategies. Having conducted an in-depth case-law analysis of a string of relevant decisions of the Court of Justice of the eu as regards the procedural and substantive underpinnings of Rights of Nature, it is argued that some of the most well-known eu environmental directives, such as the Habitats Directive and the Water Framework Directive, can effectively be used as a catalyst on a path towards a more ecocentric approach to eu environmental governance. That said, the lack of standing for nature in its own right before eu courts, which is at the forefront of the first part of this article, remains one of the most prominent legal obstacles on the road towards a more rights-based approach to nature conservation. In the remainder of this article, it is argued that introducing a rights-based approach through the adoption of a new directive might sound appealing yet would ultimately be unable to comprehensively implement the rationale underpinning Rights of Nature. Seeing that a reform of the eu Treaties in light of a more rights-based approach towards nature appears unlikely for now, the first, concrete manifestations of nature’s rights in the eu will probably be seen at Member States’ level.
“A Permitted Haven in a Heartless World: Colleges and Churches in South Korea in the 1950s”
Authors: Kim Dong-Choon
Published: June 2019

In the 1950s, Christianity and educational achievement were the primary means for Koreans to break through the misery and powerlessness that the conflict from June 1950 to July 1953 had caused. Along with education, religion was a promising route in securing familial welfare for South Koreans. Among the several religions and denominations, Protestant churches were more popular for the uprooted people residing in urban areas. These two privately motivated daily activities—education and religion—captured the concern of the Korean people who had lost everything during the war. Under President Syngman Rhee’s “police state” and infrastructural ruin, religious and educational institutions filled the vacuum in the Republic of Korea that the Korean War had left in civil society. The Korean “habitus” of family promotion in the 1950s foretold the fast economic growth of the 1960s and 1970s. This paper will show how South Korea, during that decade, witnessed the formation of a new familialism, which tended to focus on the family’s fortune and money as a final goal. Ethical understandings and political decisions were secondary to the main priority of family promotion.