Nationalism in the Troubled Triangle. Cyprus, Greece and Turkey

Peer reviewed

Two terrestrial records of rapid climatic change during the glacial–Holocene transition (14,000– 9,000 calendar years B.P.) from Europe

Two independent multidisciplinary studies of climatic change during the glacial–Holocene transition (ca. 14,000–9,000 calendar yr B.P.) from Norway and Switzerland have assessed organism responses to the rapid climatic changes and made quantitative temperature reconstructions with modern calibration data sets (transfer functions). Chronology at Kråkenes, western Norway, was derived from calibration of a high-resolution series of 14C dates. Chronologies at Gerzensee and Leysin, Switzerland, were derived by comparison of δ18O in lake carbonates with the δ18O record from the Greenland Ice Core Project. Both studies demonstrate the sensitivity of terrestrial and aquatic organisms to rapid temperature changes and their value for quantitative reconstruction of the magnitudes and rates of the climatic changes. The rates in these two terrestrial records are comparable to those in Greenland ice cores, but the actual temperatures inferred apply to the terrestrial environments of the two regions.

Ornaments of the earliest Upper Paleolithic: New insights from the Levant

Two sites located on the northern Levantine coast, Üçağızlı Cave (Turkey) and Ksar 'Akil (Lebanon) have yielded numerous marine shell beads in association with early Upper Paleolithic stone tools. Accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dates indicate ages between 39,000 and 41,000 radiocarbon years (roughly 41,000–43,000 calendar years) for the oldest ornament-bearing levels in Üçağızlı Cave. Based on stratigraphic evidence, the earliest shell beads from Ksar 'Akil may be even older. These artifacts provide some of the earliest evidence for traditions of personal ornament manufacture by Upper Paleolithic humans in western Asia, comparable in age to similar objects from Eastern Europe and Africa. The new data show that the initial appearance of Upper Paleolithic ornament technologies was essentially simultaneous on three continents. The early appearance and proliferation of ornament technologies appears to have been contingent on variable demographic or social conditions.

Uzbekistán: la configuración de un nuevo estado. Especial referencia al estatus de la mujer

Uzbekistan has a long and interesting heritage of ancient civilization linked to the historic “Silk Road”, through which transited people, goods, ideas and cultures. The major cities of the Silk Road - Samarkand, Bukhara, and Khiva are testimonies of the past and leave a deep impression on any visitor. As time goes by, Uzbekistan has become a key country in the whole Central Asian region, because it possesses mineral, agricultural and natural resources and has a huge potential for development. It is rich in energy resources such as oil and gas, but it is very difficult to commercialize them due to its landlocked position. The historical legacy of the Republic of Uzbekistan is a valuable heritage. The above mentioned ancient cities used to be centers of science and art, where important architects created palaces, mosques, madrassas, minarets, and mausoleums of the Islamic style, that still exist today. This cultural wealth is an element of internal cohesion and external outreach towards Islamic heritage, related to such Muslim countries as Turkey and the Gulf States. Moreover, this historical and architectural heritage has enormous economic potential for tourism, which can contribute to strengthen the relations of cooperation and friendship between Uzbekistan and the International Society. The influence of tradition and culture has still a huge impact on the society. This can be felt for example, in the traditional gender roles distribution. As a result of which, meńs presence in the areas of decision making is still slightly higher than womeńs one...

Islamic Political Thought: Reviving a Rationalist Tradition

This work develops the foundations of an Islamic argument for secular, liberal democracy from within the Islamic discursive tradition. First, it challenges the presentation of contemporary Islamic political thought as a unified, continuous development of the classical canon by showing the influence of the now marginalized medieval rationalists in the development of Islamic political thought. The classical rationalist concern with divine justice forced the founders of Sunni orthodoxy to state their epistemologies and their positions on ethical ontology. The orthodox positions, and their related methods of legal-juristic reasoning, are shown to be incapable of accommodating the modern Islamic positions on political representation, slavery, and just war. This leads to the second argument of the work, that the modern Islamic discourse is better understood as a reflection of the central concern with justice and its rationalist epistemology and ethical ontology we find in the writings of classical rationalists. This argument is made by examining the works of three classical rationalists, a theologian, a philosopher, and a historian. Their political positions, shaped by their rationalism and concern with justice, challenged their orthodox contemporaries, and provide substantive critiques of the classical political accommodations, methods of politico-legal reasoning, and hence, of modern Islamist political projects. The final chapter reveals how far the mainstream of Islamic political thought has deviated from the classical discourses, since the 19th century, by adopting the language and ideals of the European Enlightenment. This shift is presented as a triumph of classical rationalism over literalism, whose epistemological foundations and ontological implications have yet to be acknowledged and appreciated.

The African-American Islamic Renaissance and the Rise of the Nation of Islam

This dissertation examines African-American Islamic culture from 1920 through 1959, a period I label the "African-American Islamic Renaissance" (AAIR). The AAIR is characterized by a significant increase in interest in Islam, extreme diversity in views about Islam, and the absence of a single organization dominating African-American Islamic culture for a significant amount of time. Previous works dealing with African-American Islam in this period have failed to fully recognize these features, particularly the last of these. As a result, explanations for the rise of the Nation of Islam (NOI) have not satisfactorily explained why it was only the NOI--and not other Islamic groups that were more popular than the NOI up until the mid-1950s--that became a "mass movement," gaining the allegiance of tens of thousands of African Americans. There has been some tendency, for instance, to assume that the NOI was the most popular African-American Islamic group by the early 1950s, a notion that is probably an inference drawn from two other popular but inaccurate assumptions: that the NOI's rise was due primarily to its radical racialized doctrines and its charismatic leaders, particularly Malcolm X, who became a popular minister for the group in the early 1950s. I argue, however, that the NOI was in fact not the most popular African-American Islamic group until at least 1955, and even as late as 1959 its official membership numbers were not particularly large by AAIR standards. Also, its doctrines were not especially unique in the AAIR, nor was its having extremely charismatic leaders. I contend that the success of the NOI in the mid-to-late 1950s was the result of three levels of changes at the time: internal, external in the AAIR community, and external in the broader U.S, culture.

Secularism, Sharia, and the Turkish Financial Markets

The financial markets in Turkey provide a laboratory to help resolve these competing views. Islamic law or Sharia contains a number of proscriptions that directly affect financial practices. The payment and receipt of interest is prohibited; so are most kinds of commercial insurance. These interpretations provided the impetus in the Islamic world for the creation of a class of banks that sought to offer Sharia compliant services. The first Islamic Banks in Turkey began operations in the 1980s. Their entry was initially tepid, in no small part because of secularist principles. Islamic financial institutions could not overtly advertise their religious orientation. The country had no “Islamic” banks, only finance houses. They were not Sharia compliant but “interest-free.” Moreover, the government left them in an uncertain regulatory status and subjected them to restrictions on growth. In this environment, the Islamic banks remained a peripheral part of the financial system. With the election of the AKP in 2002, however, the environment for Islamic banks in Turkey changed. Limitations on branch networks and capital raising were lifted. The government removed restrictions on the issuance of Sharia compliant bonds. Officials from the Islamic banks were appointed to the highest levels of government. This Article does several things. First, it examines principles of Islam that affect banking practices, with a particular emphasis on deposit insurance and credit cards. Second, the Article discusses the emergence of secularism in Turkey and the introduction of Islamic banks into the Turkish financial markets. The Article then examine their evolution, with particular emphasis on the changes implemented by the AKP. Finally, the Article examines the impact of these reforms, and what that impact says about Islamic influence in Turkey.

Uso de Google Calendar para la coordinación entre asignaturas del Grado en Ingeniería Química

Uno de los aspectos peor valorados por los estudiantes de las nuevas titulaciones de grado es la coordinación entre asignaturas del mismo curso en cuanto a la distribución de controles y otro tipo de pruebas objetivas a lo largo del cuatrimestre, que afecta a la carga de trabajo no presencial en determinados momentos. En la guía docente de cada asignatura aparece la información sobre las pruebas a realizar dentro de un cronograma aproximado por semanas, y está disponible antes del comienzo del curso. Sin embargo, esa distribución puede variar ligeramente una vez empezado el curso debido a diversos motivos, y no se dispone de la información para todas las asignaturas del cuatrimestre en un mismo documento, lo que facilitaría su visualización. En este trabajo se propone el uso de la herramienta Google Calendar con el objetivo de tener un mayor control de este aspecto y poder detectar y corregir conflictos que puedan surgir, aplicándolo al Grado en Ingeniería Química.

Massachusetts register and United States calendar, for the year of our Lord, 1802

Annotated and interleaved almanac in marble-paper hard covers with minimal annotations to the calendar pages, generally "J" and "S." The interleaved pages contain sporadic handwritten entries including brief notes about deaths in the community, Bible citations, ministers whose sermons he attended, and Corporation meetings.

Massachusetts register and United States calendar, for the year of our Lord, 1805

Annotated and interleaved almanac in marble-paper hard covers with minimal annotations to the calendar pages, generally "J" and "S." The interleaved pages contain sporadic handwritten entries including brief notes about deaths in the community, Bible citations, ministers whose sermons Pearson attended, and Corporation meetings.

Massachusetts register and United States calendar, for the year of our Lord, 1808

Interleaved almanac in marble-paper covers. The interleaved pages contain sporadic handwritten entries including notes of Trustees meetings in Andover.

Massachusetts register and United States calendar; for the year of our Lord, 1819

Interleaved almanac with hardbound marbled-paper covers. The interleaved page for June 1819 has entries noting travel and a special meeting of the Trustees in Andover.

Balkan Peninsula, 1903 (Raster Image)

This layer is a georeferenced raster image of the historic paper map entitled: Die Staaten von Südost=Europa :Rumänien, Serbien, Montenegro, Bulgarien, Kreta, Europ. Türkei, Griechenland, Redigiert v. Dr. K. Peucker ; Rudolph Maschek sculps ; Kartogr. Anst. v. Th. Bannwarth. It was published by Artaria in 1903. Scale 1:3,000,000. Covers Southeastern Europe including the Balkans and a portion of Turkey. Map in German. The image inside the map neatline is georeferenced to the surface of the earth and fit to a modified 'Europe Lambert Conformal Conic' projection with a central meridian of 24 degrees East projection. All map collar and inset information is also available as part of the raster image, including any inset maps, profiles, statistical tables, directories, text, illustrations, index maps, legends, or other information associated with the principal map. This map shows features such as drainage, cities and other human settlements, forts, roads, railroads, canals, territorial and provincial boundaries, shoreline features, and more. Relief shown by hachures and spot heights. This layer is part of a selection of digitally scanned and georeferenced historic maps from the Harvard Map Collection as part of the Open Collections Program at Harvard University project: Islamic Heritage Project. Maps selected for the project represent a range of regions, originators, ground condition dates, scales, and purposes. The Islamic Heritage Project consists of over 100,000 digitized pages from Harvard's collections of Islamic manuscripts and published materials. Supported by Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal and developed in association with the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Islamic Studies Program at Harvard University.