纸草纸与"文明"的流失

19世纪末,古埃及、阿拉伯伊斯兰的大量珍贵纸草纸文献被走私到海外,散落在世界各地.今天,无论存放在何地的纸草纸文献都面临自燃被毁的危险.如何保护、修缮、研究、解读这些文献,是阿拉伯世界行动起来的时候了.     

阿拉伯人的文房三宝

汉语中,有“文房四宝”之称,指的是纸、墨、笔、砚。阿拉伯人不称为“四宝”,但他们却有“三宝”,即纸、墨汁、笔。阿拉伯人的“文房三宝”制作历史悠久,品类繁多。纸是不可缺少的文具。伊斯兰教初期,不少《古兰经》经文就是写在羊皮纸上的。公元570年以后,波斯人控制了阿拉伯半岛南部,营建了许多制革工场,促进了半岛制革工业的发展。当时的萨那、扎比德(今阿拉     

阿拉伯帝国的造纸业及其影响

造纸术是中国最伟大的发明之一,它和印刷术、指南针、火药同列为中国的四大发明。四大发明的西传,是通过阿拉伯人的中介作用实现的。其中,阿拉伯帝国造纸业的兴起和发展,对于推动造纸术的西传,推动阿拉伯帝国文化的繁荣起了重大的作用。自从公元105年蔡伦发明植物纤维造纸后不久,中国纸就越过葱岭,传入亚洲西部地区。而     

楔形文字所记载的阿拉伯

“阿拉伯”一词最早见诸历史文献,是公元前853年,即在亚述王沙尔马那塞尔三世(公元前858-824)的楔形文字泥板文书中.此后,用楔形文字书写的泥板文献记载阿拉伯史料的,就更多了.这些文献大都属亚述帝国时代,内容主要是有关亚述同阿拉伯人的战争.新巴比伦,特别是巴比伦王那波尼德时代,也有类似的文献.这些记载阿拉伯的史料与希罗多德等古典作家们记录的资料相比,不仅丰富,而且更为准确,对了解和研究伊斯兰前,尤其是公元前的古代阿拉伯的政治、军事、社会、经济、商业,具有重要的价值.     

阿尔及利亚国立图书馆

阿尔及利亚全国最大也是非洲最大的图书馆——阿尔及利亚国立图书馆座落在首都阿尔及尔市中心。这里藏书在百万册以上,其中具有科学、艺术价值的阿拉伯文、土耳其文和波斯文珍贵文献手稿就有九千份左右。在这里还可以借阅十一至十三世纪的阿拉伯文手抄文献、波斯大型彩画和其他宝贵资料。     

纳赛尔的阿拉伯统一思想及其当代影响

阿拉伯统一是纳赛尔主义的核心。阿拉伯统一思想并非纳赛尔的发明，但对于阿拉伯统一的途径、依靠的基本力量、统一的原则等关键问题，纳赛尔在理论和实践上都进行了深入探索。强调阿拉伯世界的政治团结和统一，突出埃及在阿拉伯统一中的核心作用，将阿拉伯统一与社会革命相联系等都是纳赛尔阿拉伯统一思想的重要特点。纳赛尔主义所强调的阿拉伯团结思想、社会公正思想以及宗教政策对当前阿拉伯世界的团结和现代化仍有很强的现实意义。     

纳赛尔的阿拉伯统一思想及其当代影响

阿拉伯统一是纳赛尔主义的核心。阿拉伯统一思想并非纳赛尔的发明，但对于阿拉伯统一的途径、依靠的基本力量、统一的原则等关键问题，纳赛尔在理论和实践上都进行了深入探索。强调阿拉伯世界的政治团结和统一，突出埃及在阿拉伯统一中的核心作用，将阿拉伯统一与社会革命相联系等都是纳赛尔阿拉伯统一思想的重要特点。纳赛尔主义所强调的阿拉伯团结思想、社会公正思想以及宗教政策对当前阿拉伯世界的团结和现代化仍有很强的现实意义。     

全球化进程中的阿拉伯经济

进入21世纪，阿拉伯经济面临机遇更面临挑战。全球化推动了阿拉伯经济私有化、区域化和一体化的进程，也使阿拉伯经济受到单一化、依附化和边缘化的挑战。在全球化条件下，阿拉伯经济能否消除欧美经济集团争夺的阴影，摆脱战争和冲突的危机，开创阿拉伯经济一体化的新局面，顺利融入全球化经济，直接关系到阿拉伯经济在全球化中的生存空间和发展前途。     

阿拉伯国家支持巴勒斯坦事业的双重性

基于阿拉伯民族主义共同利益，阿拉伯国家均支持巴勒斯坦人事业，这为巴勒斯坦人的长期斗争提供了可能。然而，在支持巴勒斯坦人的同时，阿拉伯各国又有着不同的利益考量，这对巴勒斯坦问题产生了一些消极影响。阿拉伯国家对巴勒斯坦问题的政策，在深层次上反映了阿拉伯民族主义和地方阿拉伯民族主义之间的关系，即阿拉伯民族主义往往是实现地方阿拉伯民族主义利益的一种工具或手段。     

阿拉伯国家政治制度变革的动因与挑战

阿拉伯国家政制变革的根本原因包括阿拉伯国家的开明领导、国民和妇女的变革要求等。为适应阿拉伯国家政治现代化进程的需要，阿拉伯国家的开明领导早在20世纪90年代初便开始致力于政制变革，如适度扩大公民政治参与、扩大公民自由、提高妇女地位等。但由于历史、宗教、文化等原因，阿拉伯国家的政制变革进展缓慢，在新的历史时期，阿拉伯国家的政制变革进程仍然面临严峻挑战。     

Politique et expertise scientifique. La régulation européenne des médicaments

A study of the EU system for regulating medicinal products is used to show the usefulness of distinguishing between policy-making and scientific expertise when analyzing political decision-making. This approach presupposes identifying the characteristics of scientific expertise. The experts responsible for assessing drugs have to combine knowledge and action. Questions are raised about how work is shared between decision-makers and experts. In the case of medicinal products, the work of experts has absorbed decision-making. Lest we waver between explanations in terms either of science or else of politics, it is necessary to substantively identify expertise’s political dimensions. Two conceptions — the “healthy man’s” and the “sick man’s” — of the purpose of assessing medicinal products stand out in debates; but political authorities pay no heed to them.     

The electronic face of government in the internet age: borrowing from Murray Edelman

The issue of legitimation by political elites has been a central concern of political scientists for many years. This article draws upon the work of Murray Edelman who was instrumental in analysing this relationship between rulers and ruled, the relatively powerful and relatively powerless, through an understanding of language, symbolism and the manipulation of information. It concludes with the contention that the Internet offers the prospect for governments to create new 'electronic faces', which act to support a symbolic architecture of power.     

Wedding the dragon: The powerful feminine as seen in Jewish women’s dreams

Abstract

This article addresses the theological and liturgical problem of incorporating mythic traditions of the divine feminine into contemporary practice, given the typically essentialist nature of these traditions. The article considers the dream practice of a Jewish women’s learning community, the Kohenet Hebrew Priestess Institute, and applies this practice to several “dragon dreams” in which dragons appear as powerful, erotic, sacred figures that “queer” the divine feminine by offering a norm-upending vision of what the feminine is and does. These dragon dreams provide a powerful alternative to traditional Jewish images of the female dragon in which the dragon represents the demonic feminine. I suggest that dreams can offer a “queering” of mythic images of the sacred feminine because they contain images that have mythic depth but also upend norms and expectations. The article then explores how these dragon images have made their way into the liturgy and theology of the Kohenet Hebrew Priestess Institute.     

Un atelier d’écriture internationale : l’OCDE au travail. Éléments de sociologie de la forme « rapport »

The writing of a “transversal” report on employment at the OECD is examined by focusing not on the finished product but, instead, on the drafting of the report. This approach allows for exploring the dynamics of power at work inside the OECD. It opens toward broader considerations about how this type of international organization produces knowledge in economics and weaves relations, throughout the long process of drafting the report, with those who requested it. This article analyzes how economic issues are assembled through a succession of intermediate studies and reshaped through an asymmetrical competition between services. By making visible the process of constructing the position of “institutional author”, this analysis repositions on new grounds the problem of “influence”, which usually arises in organizations of this sort.     

WHAT IS THE MULTITUDE?

Nicholas Brown and Imre Szeman continue their conversation with Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri. (See ‘The Global Coliseum: On Empire’ in Cultural Studies, 16.2, (March 2002), p. 177–192). In this new interview they press the authors of Empire and Multitude on questions that have arisen both out of their own involvement with the theoretical issues generated by Empire and from new areas opened up by Multitude. Why is the multitude not a class? How can the unity of a political project be maintained in the multiplicity of the multitude? Is democracy still a project for the future? Can a political subject constitute itself outside the structure of sovereignty? In other words, what is the multitude?     

DEFINING MOMENTS: THE TENSION BETWEEN RICHNESS AND REACH

The defining moments of traditional spatially based higher education are made up of fixed and fluid experiences. These 'moments' are now creaking as funding per student falls and the romanticized ideal of an education detached from 'real' life falters under the weight of highly variable student experiences. Distance learning in all its guises has always been regarded as inferior by those embedded in the traditional system. However more and more students demand something different from costly campus-based education. It is time for a more open discussion about the tensions between richness and reach and the role that new facilities like the Internet could play in reaching more students without wallowing in the nostalgia that often accompanies such debates.     

A Stylistic Analysis of Hemingway’s A Clean,Well-Lighted Place

One important theme of Hemingway＇s A Clean, Well-Lighted Place is the nothingness of life itself, At the beginning of this short story, Hemingway presents a setting--the cafe, which is familiar to us, and then moves our attention to focus on the characters within that setting, The story is told through the dialogues between the two waiters and is in third-person narration, In the following paragraphs we will focus on stylistic characteristics of this short story,     

Recruitment of foreign male and female fighters to Jihad: Morocco’s multifaceted counter-terror strategy

Field research on ‘young Moroccan Jihadists in Syria and Iraq from northern Morocco’ unexpectedly revealed the mundane factors behind their recruitment represented in the self-realization and the search for heroism, adventure and money, were the main reasons for the recruitment of young people in northern Morocco terrorist organizations, especially the Daesh. The religious factor is secondary. To combat terrorism and extremism which is spreading in the MENA region requires political will. Appropriate laws should be enacted as soon as possible and policies must be implemented to ensure border control, the closure of financing ports, propaganda platforms, anti-addiction, etc.     

INFORMATION-CENTRED DESIGN: A methodology for designing virtual meeting DESIGN environments

Development of single-user computer applications has often been based on user-centred or task-centred design methodologies, with some success. These methodologies are also useful for guiding the development of multi-user CSCW applications whenever the basic characteristics of the users, or the type of tasks for which the system is being designed are identifiable. The effectiveness of these methodologies as a basis for the design of virtual meeting environments for supporting community-based activities, on the other hand, is rather limited. This is mainly due to the fact that for such systems it is not generally possible to identify the user or task requirements, as these vary considerably from one community to another, or even within the same community over a period of time. New methodologies need to be devised, or existing methodologies have to be modified, to direct the development of virtual environments for which the characteristics of the users or their activities are not known in advance. This paper introduces the concept of information-centred design. Information-centred design, though not fully devised yet, focuses on the identification of the type of information, as well as the way it is collected and utilized by the users of a virtual meeting environment. This pool of information, which plays an important role in facilitating interaction and communication between the members of a community, could be defined as their communal memory.     

La contingence et le travail de conception. Définir,organiser, délibérer

The activity of a design office consists in producing plans for things that do not yet exist. If, through poor management, the designers fail to anticipate accurately what the product will be, work will be inappropriately allocated and divided. Given the uncertain nature of the activity and the outcome, designers are simultaneously involved in the process of producing technical solutions, a process of organisation — through constant reallocation of tasks — and a political process of ironing out disagreements — through the exploration of multiple heterogeneous possibilities.