"July 2005" / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 305-327) / xi, 327 leaves : ill. (some col.), maps ; 30 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, School of Architecture, Landscape Architecture and Urban Design and Centre for Asian and Middle Eastern Architecture, 2005

The identification and examination of cultural information strategies and censorship patterns used to propagate the controversial issue of the caricatures in two separate cultural contexts was the aim of this dissertation. It explored discourse used for the coverage of this topic by one newspaper in a restrictive information context and two newspapers in a liberal information context. Message propagation in a restrictive information environment was analyzed using the English daily Kuwait Times from the Middle East; the liberal information environment of the US was analyzed using two major dailies, the New York Times and the Philadelphia Inquirer. The study also concurrently identifies and elaborates on the themes and frames through which discourse was presented exposing the cultural ideologies and premises they represent. The topic was approached with an interdisciplinary position with the support and applicability testing of Chatman's insider-outsider theory within information science and Noelle-Neumann's spiral of silence theory and Herman and Chomsky's propaganda model based in the area of mass communication. The study has also presented a new model of information censorship - circle of information censorship, emphasizing conceptual issues that influence the selection and censorship of information.

The subject and the scope of this study are the challenges faced by Muslim women in contemporary societies as presented by the four prominent authors: Leila Ahmed, Elizabeth Fernea, Fatima Mernissi and Amina Wadud. The methodology applied to the literary analysis is the feminist-qualitative research approach in religious studies with specific reference to Islamic feminist studies. Many Muslim women scholars criticise the study of Third World women as objects of study-cases who are rarely heeded as serious scholars. Misconceptions about Islam and Muslim women are common in Western society. Previous studies have not dealt with the issue satisfactorily and failed to provide a holistic picture. The challenges faced by Muslim women have been interpreted against a Western feminist framework, thus causing more harm than good. The resultant predicament is the subject of this study in which Muslim women’s own attitudes and responses to their present circumstances and future prospects are explored. How and why Muslim women are challenged? How do they envisage the resolution of these challenges? The purpose of this study is to provide a framework that can give an adequate account of challenges as seen by Muslim women and to evaluate strategies that can provide suitable solutions to these challenges. Firstly, an objective Giele/Smock/Engineer framework was developed with reference to the most pressing challenges (articulated in well-documented definitions and descriptions) faced by Muslim women in contemporary societies. These key issues of women’s rights on political participation, education, work, family, and social participation were discussed and analysed in the light of this women-centred approach with specific reference to the writings of four prominent women authors: Leila Ahmed, Elizabeth Fernea, Fatima Mernissi and Amina Wadud. Each author has brought her own particular perspective and area of expertise into the discussion – sometimes arguing among with the other authors in a virtual ‘roundtable’ discussion; at times joining hands in mutual agreement. Finally, Muslim women’s struggle against injustice was subjected to critical scrutiny with particular attention to common strategies and solutions that the four authors have used and developed in the light of the modern debate. It is in the latter discussion that the study reached its ultimate goal by determining how the challenges have been met. Moreover, Islamic feminism was assessed to determine how it related to and coped with social change and how effective it has been in seeking to assert rights of and find justice for women through historical, anthropological, socio-political and hermeneutical approach. / Religious Studies / D. Th. (Religious Studies)

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s can play their most useful role only after the state is able to contain the radicals and secure conditions that are congenial for views different from those of radicals to be expressed. / India Ministry of Defense author (civilian).

This ethnographic study explored the social and cultural context of Maldivian women???s emotional, social and psychological well-being and the subjective meanings they assign to their distress. The central question for the study was: How is suffering and distress in Maldivian women explained, experienced, expressed and dealt with? In this study participant observation was enhanced by lengthy encounters with women and with both biomedical and traditional healers. The findings showed that the suffering and distress of women is embedded in the social and economic circumstances in which they live, the nature of gender relations and how culture shapes these relations, the cultural notions related to being a good woman; and how culture defines and structures women???s place within the family and society. Explanations for distress included mystical, magical and animistic causes as well as social, psychological and biological causes. Women???s experiences of distress were mainly expressed through body metaphors and somatization. The pathway to dealing with their distress was explained by women???s tendency to normalize their distress and what they perceived to be the causes of their distress. This study provides an empirical understanding of Maldivian women???s mental well-being. Based on the findings of this study, a multi dimensional model entitled the Mandala for Suffering and Distress is proposed. The data contributes a proposed foundation upon which mental health policy and mental health interventions, and curricula for training of health care providers in the Maldives may be built. The data also adds to the existing global body of evidence on social determinants of mental health and enhances current knowledge and developments in the area of cultural competency for health care. The model and the lessons learnt from this study have major implications for informing clinicians on culturally congruent ways of diagnosing and managing mental health problems and developing patient-centred mental health services.

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In the late 1300s and early 1400s, when firearms made their arrival in the lands of Islam, the various dynasties exhibited differing responses. While the Ottoman sultanate wasted no time in incorporating firearms into their formidable military machine, both the Mamluks of Egypt and the Safavids of Persia were far more reluctant in adopting the new weapons. David Avalon, investigating the question of Mamluk reluctance, identified the rigid sense of pride in the traditional forms of warfare to be found in the ruling class; however, the same attention has not yet been paid to the Safavids. A paucity of relevant references in the accounts of European travellers combined with a tendency in the Safavid sources to apply identical terms to both gunpowder and non-gunpowder weapons made the relative abundance of firearms difficult to quantify. In all, the same stubborn attitude found in the Mamluks was also found in the Safavid elite, but in the case of Persia, this cannot be considered the sole answer. Instead, the historical background and military situation also played an important role.

This ethnographic study explored the social and cultural context of Maldivian women???s emotional, social and psychological well-being and the subjective meanings they assign to their distress. The central question for the study was: How is suffering and distress in Maldivian women explained, experienced, expressed and dealt with? In this study participant observation was enhanced by lengthy encounters with women and with both biomedical and traditional healers. The findings showed that the suffering and distress of women is embedded in the social and economic circumstances in which they live, the nature of gender relations and how culture shapes these relations, the cultural notions related to being a good woman; and how culture defines and structures women???s place within the family and society. Explanations for distress included mystical, magical and animistic causes as well as social, psychological and biological causes. Women???s experiences of distress were mainly expressed through body metaphors and somatization. The pathway to dealing with their distress was explained by women???s tendency to normalize their distress and what they perceived to be the causes of their distress. This study provides an empirical understanding of Maldivian women???s mental well-being. Based on the findings of this study, a multi dimensional model entitled the Mandala for Suffering and Distress is proposed. The data contributes a proposed foundation upon which mental health policy and mental health interventions, and curricula for training of health care providers in the Maldives may be built. The data also adds to the existing global body of evidence on social determinants of mental health and enhances current knowledge and developments in the area of cultural competency for health care. The model and the lessons learnt from this study have major implications for informing clinicians on culturally congruent ways of diagnosing and managing mental health problems and developing patient-centred mental health services.