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Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, 2008. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on May 11, 2009). Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 69-08, Section: A, page: 3166. Adviser: Hasan El-Shamy.

<p> The dissertation examines Saudi oil policy, focusing mainly on the first half of the 1980s. In this period, Saudi Arabia played a "swing producer" role to control oil prices in the world oil market. This behavior of Saudi decision-makers can be understood within the economic framework of the "dominant producer" model. After interdisciplinary research on previous political and economic studies of Saudi oil policy, the dissertation concludes that the basic notion of Saudi oil policy as a "swing producer" was intended to meet Saudi Arabia's long-term political and economic interests. It was therefore logical for Saudi officials to implement the oil policy of "swing producer" to maximize the long-term economic value of Saudi oil, since this would also contribute to the political consolidation of the Saudi regime. However, there are several questions still remaining in the details of this oil policy. In contrast to the argument of the "dominant producer" model, why did Saudi Arabia try to achieve relatively high oil prices at the expense of its already reduced market share during this period? If Saudi oil policy as a "swing producer" was derived primarily from the state's long-term economic interests, why did it suddenly give up this role in the summer of 1985? To answer these questions, it was necessary to examine Saudi oil policy since December 1976, because it was at this point that the state began to implement an oil policy based on its national interests. After a comprehensive study on Saudi oil policy during boom and slump periods, I have identified the main priorities of Saudi oil policy in these two different periods, and have tried to draw a conclusion that provides the readers with plausible answers to the main questions in my dissertation.</p>

Persia's importance in the latter part of the nineteenth century stemmed from her position between the rapidly expanding Russian empire on one side and Great Britain's Indian empire on the other. Three departments in London the Foreign Office, the India Office, and the War Office were concerned with the affairs of that country. This study is, in part, an analysis of their interests. British statesmen approached the Persian problem from two points of view. Some favoured building the country into a strong and truly independent buffer state. Then Persia, like Afghanistan, would constitute a substantial outwork in Indian defence and a barrier to the Russian movement south. Others, however, believed that the obstacles in the way of reform and regeneration were too great to be surmounted. Their alternative was agreement with Russia and the eventual division of the country into spheres of influence. In the years of this study, from 1885 to 1892, Lord Salisbury was the dominating personality in foreign affairs. As a result of his previous service as Secretary of State for India he was keenly aware of the problems of Central Asia. Persia figured more prominently in his plans than in those of many of his colleagues. He upheld the principle of the buffer state, and he sent Sir Henry Drummond Wolff to Tehran for the purpose of giving life to that policy. Wolff's years in Persia, 1888 to 1891, were successful ones. He sponsored measures, such as the opening of the Karun river to navigation and the establishment of the Imperial Bank, which would promote the welfare of Persia as well as strengthen the position of England there. Simultaneously, however, he carried on the negotiations for an understanding with Russia.

<p> In this dissertation, I explore agricultural practices as a window into ecocultural communication. Using agricultural practices of villagers in Village G, Oman, as a case study, I explore the ways in which villagers and government officials conceptualize humanature relations and the forces that enhance and/or impede these relations. My specific goals for this study were: (1) to build an interpretive understanding of ecocultural orientations of villagers and officials in Oman and how they conceptualize their humanature relations; (2) to critically examine ideologies and uncover structural forces that enable/constrain humanature relations; and (3) to co-create community engagement work that honors the ecocultural wisdom of farmers, promotes economic viability, and enhances ecocultural sustainability. Accordingly, I ask a set of three questions: RQ 1: What grassroots core ecocultural premises do Omani villagers communicate?, RQ 2: What core ecocultural premises do official government documents and officials discourse communicate in Oman?, and RQ 3: How does analysis of core components of critical community engagement inform researcher-villager-governmental collaborations to design sustainable practices? To answer these questions, I collected data through focus groups, individual interviews, participant observation and official government documents. Using Cultural Discourse Analysis (Carbaugh, 2007) and Community Engagement Framework (Collier, 2014) I identify three ecocultural premises in grassroots discourse: (1) <i>Relations-in-place </i>, (2) <i>kinship-in-place</i> and (3) <i>nurturance-in-place </i>, and four ecocultural premises in governmental discourse: (1) Modern agriculture is more effective than traditional agriculture, (2) Imported food and modern technology feed a growing population, (3) Technologized farming attracts youth, (4) Modern agriculture and profit-motivated practices achieve sustainability but traditional farming is not sustainable. I offer a date palm metaphor as an organizing principle that depicts humanature relations and the contextual factors that enhance and/or hinder these relations. Because date palms have shown resilience over harsh ecological conditions when water was scarce in Oman and heat was high, in this project, I use the date palm as a metaphor that exhibits an alternative discourse to globalized neoliberal ideological discourses.</p><p>

This study contributes to the cultural and intellectual history of the early modern Middle East by analyzing how books were produced and circulated, and which audiences existed for various types of books in the Ottoman capital, Istanbul. Focusing on the 17th century, I draw upon the material evidence of manuscripts, statistical and network analysis of archival sources, as well as upon narrative and biographical texts. My analysis shows the limitations of conventional socio-economic categories for writing Ottoman cultural history, and argues for a new approach to writing cultural history. Because almost all of the books in Istanbul were produced by hand, this research offers a counterpoint to the much-explored narrative of printed books. In early modern Istanbul, book-making was highly decentralized. Readers could and did create their own books, sometimes for reasons of economy and sometimes to achieve a special closeness to the work. In fact, the quintessential book in early modern Istanbul was not a fancy volume, but a humble personal notebook created from folded leaves of paper and filled with excerpts or short treatises. Because it was possible to copy and own just the portion of a book that was of interest, fragmented and partial texts were the norm. As a result, libraries that collected reliable and complete texts were an essential part of book circulation. These libraries were set up for copying as much as for reading. I introduce an exemplar manuscript that was held for this very purpose. Ownership of books was most highly concentrated among those who bore the title of efendi. Men, especially wealthy men, were also more likely to be bookowners than others, but book ownership was not widespread. However, people from every segment of society came into contact with books and the texts they contained, often as listeners rather than readers. This dissertation inverts a common paradigm for writing cultural history. Rather than map cultural currents onto predetermined social groups, I begin with clusters of books that anecdotally or statistically belong together. I then use manuscript evidence such as reading statements, as well as probate inventories, to suggest their audiences. Each book had its natural ecology: the texts with which it naturally belonged because of how it was used and by whom. Books had affinities that crossed traditional subject boundaries. For example, the constellation of medrese books most frequently owned together includes law, grammar, and lexicography. Less rarified books also had their own ecologies. A single title might appear both as a deluxe book intended for display in a refined home and as a scrappy storybook meant to be read aloud in a boisterous coffeehouse setting. In such a way, some texts could transcend social categories altogether. / History

This dissertation focuses on preachers as key actors in the rise of a political public sphere in the early modern Ottoman Empire. Recently, literature on the political importance of corporate bodies and voluntary associations has transformed the understanding of the early modern Ottoman polity. Emphasis has shifted from the valorization of centralized institutions to understanding power as negotiated between the court and other stakeholders. My dissertation joins in this collective effort by way of studying preachers, and through them examining the negotiation of religious authority between the central administration and civic groups. I depict preachers as “mediating” religious power between the elite and the non-elite, and between the written and the oral cultures. I argue that the production of religious doctrine and authority took place at this intermediary space of encounter. This study of early modern Islam with reference to the frame of public sphere has two main implications. Firstly, I present a “preacher-political advisor” type in order to demonstrate that the critical potential of religion was preserved in a new guise. Secondly, I show that informal circles of education gained primacy in the seventeenth century, giving rise to the vernacularization of formal sciences. The close reading of the manuscript sources left by preachers and their pupils also constitutes the first systematic exploration of the intersection between orality and literacy, and an important contribution to the study of Ottoman popular culture. / Middle Eastern Studies Committee

<p> Palestine exists in our minds, not in nature. If Palestine doesn&rsquo;t exist, why do we identify with it? We identify with Palestine, first, because it has a name. In fact, we <i>only</i> identify with places we&rsquo;ve named. Unnamed places, such as 22&deg;29'05&rdquo;N 22.48 to 53&deg;46'19&rdquo;E 53.77, have no identities based on them. But we don&rsquo;t identify with every place we&rsquo;ve named. We need to hear stories about a place if we are going to identify with it, stories about famines and wars, conquests and tribes, history, geography, economy, archeology and millions more topics. The more engaging the stories, the more likely we are to identify with places like Palestine. We also make maps of places like Palestine. The more maps we make, the more likely we are to identify with places like Palestine as well. Finally, we distinguish Palestine from other places. We exaggerate its glory and beauty and claim we have a special relationship to it. This dissertation explains when, how and why it all happened.</p><p>

Abstract not available.

Abstract not available.