National Idemity, Territoriality, and Conflict： Analyzing the Ethno-Territorial Conflict of Nagorno-Karabakh in the Soviet Era

This article attempts to analyze the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between the Armenians and Azerbaijanis by focusing on place and territory as two key subjective components of national identity. Place and territory are also crucial from cultural perspective because they enable communities to express their identity in a cultural landscape. Control of the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh was essential to express territoriality that is to protect language and identity. In addition, the article examines the exclusionary treatment of Karabakh Armenians by Azerbaijan and discrimination against them as the cause of the conflict and its intensity. The article also focuses on the desire for political self-rule as a necessary condition for nationhood.

China＇s New Nationalism and Its Obscene Core

This paper examines the recent current of nationalism in China's Mainland. It takes not only nationalist intellectual texts written by Wang Xiaodong and other ＂Say-no Club＂ members into critical scrutiny, but also nationalistic sentiments frequently appeared on the Chinese web and streets since the late 1990s. The findings of the analyses proffered by this paper are expected to enhance not only the understanding of today＇s China and Chinese nationalism as a localized and ＂embedded＂ discourse/phenomenon, but also, hopefully, that of nationalism and its generative and operational mechanism in general--nationalism is an ＂obscene discourse＂ and operates in the fantastic ground while producing real violence.

Scientifical Researches and Applications Achieved in Romania in the Period of Tempus 1919-1929

At the end of 20th Century, the electric energy became a new indicator of world civilization. The era of electricity also put his mark on the Romanian alveolus of civilization. The paper deals with an analysis of the scientific researches and applications which express the results of works of eminent scientists and engineers in electro-techniques and related domains, in Romania, in the first decade of interwar period 1919-1929. The scientific activities developed in many domains of Science are sustained by the significant technical progress in Romania, in this short but relevant period of Tempus in which, in Europe and in other parts of Civitas Terra, was peace.

Berkeley Apartheid： Unfair Housing in a University Town

This essay suggests that in 1962-1963, before Birmingham and the March on Washington, a coalition of Black and White civil rights activists, labor, and religious leaders were in the vanguard of the struggle both on the Pacific Slope and in the nation. Berkeley＇s battle for fair housing represented an important phase of the civil rights struggle on the west coast and in cities where racial segregation was not based on law, but part of a conspiracy, silent but quite effective, among realtors, mortgage lenders, and renters, against Blacks and other minorities. Encouraged by state antidiscrimination legislation, Berkeley activists embarked upon a fair housing campaign based on surveys of the problem, efforts to enact legislation, and direct action. The irrationality of racists who defended their right to discriminate was one of the most singular aspects of the fair housing struggle. Though they lost at the local level, the coalition of new political forces succeeded a few months later at the state level and represented an effective force in liberal politics in the city for years to come. Because of the stiff opposition and the limits of reformers＇ liberal fair housing regulations, however, working class and poor African Americans still faced severe housing problems.

Confessional Radio Stations and Social Communication for Political Change in Africa

The role of religious groups in the political field has arised in Africa in 1990s and despite being less visible it is still active. In fact, this is the climax of a very old process in Africa. Religion always participates in politics and vice versa. It is therefore not surprising that religious groups take into account political preoccupations in their communication processes. Sometimes they get involved in political debates, particularly when the questions reveal very important choices for the Nation, as it was the case in 1960s and 1990s. But mostly, they get involved in the social field which is, for them, the key to have one foot in political field. However, beyond these considerations, this paper intends to show how the use of media by religious institutions is closely related to their understanding of the relationship between the religion as an institution, and the society.

Thomasine Logia： A Collection of Sapiential Traditions

This paper argues the sapiential characteristic of an ancient text in the history of early Christianity. Although Thomas is a creative and distinctive text for its own community, the major framework of the Logia in a textual-statistic way was based on the traditional Sophia literature that had affected the culture, custom, and authority of the Hellenised Jewish societies. Then, what kind of scrolls, books, and writings could be the religio-historical sources for Thomas？ How was Thomas transformed from those sapiential manuscripts？ While three data of ＂the Pauline Sophia concept＂, ＂the sapiential Logia of Q＂, and ＂the sapiential themes of the Jewish apocalyptic writings＂ are quite relevant, the Greek fragment of Papyrus Oxyrhynchus （P. Oxy.） 654 and NHC II, 2.32：10-51：28 will evince the new insight that the ancient Logia of the Thomasine community was not ＂the traditional Q＂, but could be ＂a new Q＂ coming from the common （oral, or written, or both） Sophia tradition, as an independently developed one.

British Early Intervention in the Slave Trade With Oman 1822-1873

This study tackles the considerable role played by the slave trade in Oman （between 1822-1873）. It also shows the direct relation between this trade and the active role played by the British government in suppressing this trade, which was supported by the law decreed by the British Parliament in 1807. This law declared the abolition of the slave trade considering in illegal in all ports under British jurisdiction and decreed a punishment of exile to all persons involved in this trade. In these circumstances Oman became one of the countries concerned and interested to work and cooperate with the British authorities to end this trade. This was shown in a number of treaties such as the treaty of 1822, 1839, 1845 with the Imam of Oman Sayyid Said bin Sultan and the treaty of 1849 with the Governor of Sohar, Sayyid Saif bin Hamud. These treaties gave the British Government, as represented by its fleet in the Indian Ocean the fight to check, inspect and confiscate any Omani ship found involved in the slave trade. This research also illustrates the role of the Omani government in enforcing these treaties by pursuing and bringing to court all those who were found guilty practicing this trade. One of the main subjects discussed during the period of study is the number of ships involved in this activity, the number of slaved carried by these ships and the legal measures taken against the owners of these ships. Both British and Omanis worked together to find effective ways and means to stop this trade. Finally this study depended on a number of British documents both published and unpublished as well as other European sources.

Co-residence in Denmark in 1801

The Danish 1801 census is available in a fully coded and standardised digital version. This makes it possible to analyse the living conditions of the Danes in new ways. A very central aspect of living conditions is household and family. The census is divided by these lines and therefore calculations of household size and complexity are straight forward and this clearly gives one side of the picture. A totally different side is co-residence analysis. This is not straight forward, but because of the standardisation it is doable. By this means, you get a picture of the likelihood that a person of a given age group lives together with specific relatives. It gives an insight into a central part of living conditions and it gives a picture of differences between sexes and urbanisations. The paper brings the two ways of description together and shows that each has something to contribute to the picture of the Danes.

Purgatorio Primo： The Tractatus de Purgatorio Sancti Patricii

The Tractatus de Purgatorio Sancti Patricii （Treatise on Saint Patrick＇s Purgatory）, written approximately 1180-1215 for a monastic audience in England, is credited with being the earliest literary vision of purgatory. The description of purgatory in the work is basic to our understanding of it even today. The work quickly became popular and was copied in a number of versions, first in Latin for the clergy, and later in many vernacular languages. The Latin versions emphasize the religious aspects of the story, including homilies, exemplary tales, and testimonials unrelated to the basic plot, while the vernacular versions highlight the adventure of the knight Owein, downplaying or eliminating entirely many of the religious features and appealing to a lay audience who sought entertainment rather than edification. This essay considers the transformation of the Tractatus, particularly in two Anglo-Norman versions, one by Marie de France, the other by an anonymous redactor, on behalf of an audience that was becoming more familiar with romances and who craved them. Finally, the image of St. Patrick＇s Purgatory is so enduring that even today its reputed location in Ireland attracts tens of thousands of pilgrims annually.

Tanure Ojaide＇s God＇s Medicine-Men and Other Stories： A Feminist Perspective

Feminist criticism, an off-shoot of the Women Liberation Movement of the 1960s, is a gender-based discourse that considers, in some details, the significance of images of women constructed by literature as derogatory and biased; hence, the need to reconstruct womanhood in literary works. From time immemorial and according to historical facts, the Nigerian woman is seen as the bolt of a repressive patriarchal structure that persistently reduced her dignity and human essence and compelled her submission to the whims and caprices of the man. Woman, therefore over the years, has been so long conditioned in the environment of masculine dominance. With the advent of modernization however the world-view of woman and man starts to experience a radical change that calls for a reconstruction of the place of woman round the globe. The enlightenment leads to the feminist criticism among others. Tanure Ojaide represents this world-view in his collection： God＇s Medicine-Men and Other Stories. The fiction is a collection of 10 short stories out of which, however, this paper studies only the first story, ＂Come Back When You Are Ready to Die＂ with a view to exposing how well Tanure Ojaide responded to feminist＇s aspiration for a non-sexiest literary representation of the woman.

The Art of War： Tradition and Innovation in the Iconographic Representation of Alentejo Fortresses （17th-18th Centuries）

The novelties in the representation of strongholds in Alentejo-southem Portugal, frontier with Spain, considered as a ＂theater of war＂ during the 17th and 18th centuries-followed European influences, which the theorists responsible for training the engineers in active in the country at this time, Luis Serrao Pimentel and Manuel de Azevedo Fortes, intend to apply. Several drawings bring testimony to this, by showing different ways of representing natural or built elements, allowing for comparisons with other regions of the country or even Europe. The comparison with earlier projects, and given the information contained mainly in the works of Luis Serr^o Pimentel and Manuel de Azevedo Fortes, lead us not only to the conclusion of the acceptance of the proposed rules, in order to enrich the profile of military engineers in Portugal, but also to notice the changes that this acceptance signified, emphasizing especially the technical and artistic sensibility of the authors of these projects of military architecture.

Social Freedom and Deprivation

What is the true sense of freedom？ Man is free and lacks freedom. The author considers the example of Louis XIV. It seemed that he held the sovereignty as the king of the absolute monarchy and the greatest freedom. But all his teeth were pulled out to protect him from illness and in his exercise as the king, he had many official obligations. Though he was king, he was free and lacked freedom. According to J. J. Rousseau （1762） who discussed the principle of freedom and oppression （deprivation）, if man realizes freedom, it needs to express his duty and subordination to the state. Therefore man is free and lacks freedom. What is the situation of contemporary citizens？ Instead of the oppression by the state, the citizen is controlled by the mass media. The best example is the drama observed about the prime ministers of Japan. There were many manipulations by the mass media. For our benefit we need to educate the persons who have good sense. We should remember that our freedom is not absolute. We are free and lack freedom, too. Often man searches freedom and comfort but often, on the contrary, he faces the lack of freedom. Electricity that is produced by a nuclear plant is useful, but the explosion of the nuclear plant creates a huge damage and tragedy, In a sense, deprivation is larger than freedom, because it could teach us self- awareness, moderation and let us know that we have enough.

History Versus Myth： The Case of One Family＇s Relocation in the United States of America

Some thinkers believe that historical accuracy deviates into myths and legends, when the subjects of discussion are powerful figures, be they human beings or gods. Such thinkers question the accuracy of works like the Odyssey, the llliad and the Bible, wondering where history meets mythology and religion. Another set of thinkers doubts if history is about truth at all. Then, a third group of thinkers wonders what light has modern technology and increased speed of travel have shed light on the subject. These are some of the issues we shall seek to examine, while narrating the story of the relocation of a recent immigrant family from the Northeast to the Midwest of the United States of America. When the date for their move finally came, friends had anxieties and mild cautions about the family＇s decision, wondering if they really understood the geography of the land along with perceived popular notions about the different sections of the big continent turned a country. Then, there was the compensatory dream, casting a different hue on the whole story. As the narrator looked for provisions in a corn field, a large brown snake lounged at her, narrowly missed her, but poured her venomous fluid into a little animal nearby, which died instantaneously. The poor creature had taken the fall for her. A preliminary attempt at dream interpretation suggested trouble ahead, but triumph at the end of the tunnel.

From Regional to Intercontinental Trade： The Successive European Trade Empires From the 16th to the 18thCentury in Asia

For a very long time, the areas available for continuous long-distance trade were limited to territories of Braudel＇s Mediterrande （1949）. Whatever the commercial organizations （merchants in the Roman or the Fatimid Empires, the Hanseatic League, the Florentine Companies） were, their trade was not able to directly handle branches more than a month＇s sailing from their main base （in the best conditions）. During the three centuries after Vasco de Gama had reached India, European trading areas dramatically expanded to the shores of Asia, and a long period of harsh competition set the East India Companies of the main European powers of the time against one another. What were the elements that allowed these companies to maintain transactions over such vast areas？ And why were some of these companies far more successful than the others？ A large set of secondary sources focusing on one company or on a particular aspect of trade （Chauduri, 1978; Israel, 1989; Subrahmanyan, 1993; Ames, 1996） exist, however, none of them treat their successive successes and failures. The aim of this paper is to briefly review these sources, to extract information from them and to compare the economic adaptations and innovations that allowed these companies to be the greatest of their time.

＂Cunning Tactics＂： Indigenous Responses to the Imposition of German Colonial Rule in East Africa

Examinations of the German colonial empire often focus on questions of ideology, metropolitan politics, or seek to address questions related to the ＂special path＂ of German history. All too often, the German invaders are portrayed as omnipotent and intellectually superior to their African allies and opponents. This paper argues for the primacy of ＂events on the ground＂, and instead focuses on the initiative and choices made by local African actors during the protracted conflict between the Germans and the Hehe in German East Africa （modem Tanzania） in the 1890s. During this conflict, African elites sought to maximize their own power, wealth, and prestige by utilizing German resources to their own ends. Overall, this work argues for the centrality of African politics and policy-making during early colonialism.

Confessions of a Closet Comic Book Reader： How Comics Warped Minds and Challenged Cultural Standards

In 1952, the federal government was called upon to investigate the comic book industry in order to determine if reading comic books influenced juvenile delinquency. The United States could not afford to look weak from any angle; the idea of Communist nations exploiting moral weakness of any kind was frightening to many. However, the Soviets were already aware of moral issues on the American home front that were affecting the health of the nation, such as civil rights, sexism （sexual confusion）, a rise in fascism, and juvenile delinquency. This study will discuss the investigation of the comic book industry as the sole contributors to juvenile delinquent issues, as Fredric Wertham charged in his book Seduction of the Innocent. In addition, this study focuses on the ways in which Entertaining Comics （EC） pushed the envelope and challenged Cold War standards of ideal middle class values. Their creative resistance led to the federal investigation which nearly destroyed the comic book industry. Through these investigations, the federal government re-defined the first amendment as it applied to this type of media as a way to curtail what they believed was the Soviet Union＇s efforts to use our own literature as a propaganda tool for their people.

The Six-Day War and Its Impact on Arab and Israeli Conflict

This article focuses on the Israel-Palestine conflict from the Six Day War perspective. The authors try to make a clarification of the Six Day War impact on Israel and its role in the regional and international scenes on the one hand, and the war＇s effect on the Arab states, including the Palestinian resistance against Israel, on the other hand. The war changed Israel＇s status from being a small state to becoming one of the most powerful regional powers. While the image of most Arab states was damaged and they lost their confidence among their peoples. The Six Day War changed the balance of power in the Middle East and intensified the Cold War following the end of the war. A climate of war was created and the individuals of both bearings, Israel and Arab countries, prepared for a new war.

Culture, Violence, and the Female Body： The Practice of Nholowemwizana Custom as a Form of Cultural Violence Amongst the Kalanga Women of Mpalawali Area in Zimbabwe

This paper is based on the interviews that the author carried out between 2005 and 2006 on the Nholowemwizana custom in Plumtree, Zimbabwe. Here the author deploys the concept of cultural violence following the peace researcher Johan Galtung, who suggested speaking of cultural violence as aspects of culture that can be used to justify or legitimize direct or structural violence, and may be exemplified by religion and ideology, language and art, empirical science and formal science （Galtung, 1969, pp. 167-191）. Using the example of the Nholowemwizana custom among the Kalanga people, the paper will highlight the extent to which women in this society have been exposed to cultural, gender based violence and direct sexual violence. However literature on Nholowemwizana is scarce in Zimbabwe. As such the paper will borrow from literature on cultural violence in general. The paper also acknowledges the fact that not all culture is violent, and that in some certain aspects of culture that permit gender based violence especially in African societies. The starting point for this paper is the question of what role cultural arguments have played in the abuse of women through the Nholowemwizana custom.

From the Observer of History to the Maker of History： Angelo Roncalli, Charles Borromeo, the Council of Trent and the Consequences for Vatican II

Fifty years after the conclusion of Vatican II, debate still continues regarding the Council, its legacy and interpretation. The now-canonised Pope John XXIII surprised many by his sudden decision to summon Vatican II in 1959 soon after his election; it was not anticipated that a ＂transitional＂ pope would haake such an audacious and daring decision that would have such major historical implications for the Catholic Church. However, John XXIII＇s ＂surprise＂ decision came after decades of research, scholarship, and reflection on the Council of Trent especially the pastoral reforms instituted by St Charles Borromeo. Angelo Roncalli＇s study of Borromeo＇s apostolic visitation to the diocese of Bergamo in 1575 was decisive in shaping the historical framework that guided his ideas, his language, and style of leadership.

The Pattern of Financial Crises in Greece＇ A Historical Perspective

The main goal of this paper is to trace the long record of financial crises from the perspective of an emerging economy. Two questions are addressed. First, what explains the incidence and severity of financial crises in an emerging market economy？ And, second, what is the role of learning; how does the country learn from its past experience in financial crises to improve institutions and develop better techniques so as to successfully manage successive crisis events？ To the best of our knowledge, this is the first attempt to provide a crisis event taxonomy looking at a systematic categorisation of the crises episodes that the country experienced over its 200-year life span, from its independence and the foundation of the Modem Greek state in 1829 to the recent 2008 crisis. To answer the above questions, I first present evidence on financial crises in Greece over a long time span of two centuries. Greece is chosen as our working template since it is a country with a rich history in financial crises. In particular, we try to identify different varieties of crises events, providing thus a crisis chronology. Moreover, we present some stylised facts on the incidence, the frequency and the severity of crises events. And second, we discuss the key determinants of the crises episodes, closely related to country specific factors, such as credit expansion, fiscal imbalances and the limited reserve coverage of the monetary base.