Convention Theory sees government, market, community and general public work with each other by coordination. Over time, this coordination yields faith and trust, i.e. public good for all. This research employs Convention Theory as an aid to understanding the public disputes brought by two new urban renewal policies in Hong Kong before and after the 1997 handover. It compares two major cases representing the two new policies. Through an examination of the processes of these social disputes and each patty's justifications in the different, case studies, this thesis explores the differentiation between them in terms of people's and specific communities' expectation, faith and trust in public policies under the British administration and the new Hong Kong SAR administration. It brings in historical and political contexts to illustrate how and why people frame a new public policy with established social conventions so as to judge its impacts on self, community and public interests. A new public policy that becomes a cause for public dispute inevitably jeopardises this coordination. A change in suzerainty, then, sharply exposes work of this underlying coordination and its jeopardy. This explains the very different evaluations and actions by groups facing the same policy concurrently. Further, the thesis attempts to ascertain the reasons for such difference. Time plays a crucial role in this framework, one that supplements the critical ambit of Convention Theory. The time frame for the two case studies (1988-2008) allows for a comprehensive and continuous comparison of co-ordination, confidence and tmst between communities, society and government before and after Hong Kong's suzerainty changed from Britain to China in 1997. By contextualising two cases; the first evolving over the years 1988-2004 and the second, 2002-2008, this thesis assesses the impact of this change, both in terms of the evolution of governmental and administrative bodies and their affect on perceptions of justice, faith and trust, and on people's perceptions of how this change affected both their own self-interest as well as the interest of Hong Kong per se. Hence this study applies Convention Theory and extends it through its analysis of the role and impact of contextual socio-political change during this time. The in-depth comparative analysis reveals how the pursuit of collective private interests at the community level later evolves into a pursuit for democracy, which links the community to a wider public-whose support it both solicits and wins-as a counterweight to widespread morally and politically iniquitous, unjust and indefensible outcomes. Thus, the evidence furthers Convention Theory's dynamic view of a community's collective cognition and critical capacity that transmutes from the private and familiar to incorporate the public in the transformation from a private dispute made public. This thesis argues that the social values

This study is concerned with the issue of using the microcomputer in teaching Arabic Grammar (verbal sentences) in the intermediate schools of the State of Kuwait. It lays down some of the essential foundation work necessary for bringing about systematic and constructive improvements in the teaching of Arabic Grammar by computers. However, our main concern in this study is, as we have said, with the teaching of one of the aspects of Arabic Grammar, in the above situation. Although the use of computers for this purpose has only just begun, the perspective of our approach will hopefully to some extent, encourage their wider use. The present study is divided into five chapters. Chapter one offers a general introduction to the main subject. The hypotheses made in this chapter constitute the general framework for the following chapters. The teaching of Western languages by computer as opposed to the non-availability of such methods in the Arab world, is discussed in chapter two. Chapter three provides a background on which the practical side of our study is based. The sources and methodology of our experimental work in this thesis are also treated in this chapter. vii Chapter four is concerned with the results of this experiment and the measurement of pupils' achievements in Arabic Grammar during the experiment. A comparison between the traditional method and that of the computer is established by means of analysing the data concerned. The last chapter concludes with suggestions for further specific research needed in this field.

<p> "Kara kagami" (The Mirror of China) is something of an enigma&mdash;only six of an original ten scrolls survive, and there is no critical edition with comprehensive annotation or previous translation. A work composed for Imperial Prince-cum-Shogun Munetaka by the scion of a distinguished line of Confucian scholars, Fujiwara no Shigenori, on a topic of pressing interest in the thirteenth century&mdash;the fate of Continental China&mdash;it embodies many of the characteristic concerns of Kamakura Japan. Tensions between privatization and circulation of learning, imperial and warrior authority, Japan's envisioning of China and her relations thereto, as well as a larger cosmological narrative all run through the work. Yet they do so ways that challenge now long-held ideas of language, stance towards the Continent and its traditions, and narratives of generic development and resistance. </p><p> This dissertation explores the ways in which "The Mirror of China" defies familiar-yet-pass&eacute; conceptions of medieval Japan. It examines afresh how three issues in medieval discourse&mdash;language selection, portrayals of China, and narrating Japan&mdash;are refracted in "The Mirror of China" in order to better understand text-based claims of political, cultural, and philosophical authority. "The Mirror of China"'s linguistically diverse manuscripts invite question of the worldviews or allegiances of identity a multilingual text can intimate. Its depiction of China and the implied narratives such a vision creates likewise differ markedly from those of contemporary works. And lastly, the linguistic and thematic innovation it brings to the Heian genre of "Mirror" writing marks a previously obscured turning point in medieval historiographic writing, one that allows an appreciation of the genre as a medieval experiment in crafting histories as legitimating narratives. Drawing on multiple understudied works in addition to better-known writings, this dissertation provides a new understanding of how medieval thinkers exploited languages, images, and traditions in order to create their own visions of authority.</p>

<p> This study focuses on the Chinese community of Manila from 1570 to 1770, revealing that the community was not an insular, ethnic enclave unified in its efforts and aspirations but one made up of different groups with varying goals. Not all Chinese saw the Spanish presence as conducive to their livelihoods but certain sectors of the community did. I argue the collaboration of these elements within the Chinese community was essential in maintaining the Spanish presence in Manila. Those whose interests most closely aligned with Spanish aims included a small group of wealthy Chinese merchants involved in supplying the Manila-Acapulco galleon trade with merchandise (mainly silk), merchants and artisans in the Chinese quarter called the Pari&aacute;n and Chinese leaders who acted as middlemen linking the needs of the regime with Southern Fujianese workers to supply the city with services, food, and labor. In return, Spaniards provided New Spanish silver, government monopolies and recognition of the authority of Chinese elites over laborers. In that way, the Spanish empire in the Asia-Pacific region was a collaborative enterprise, constructed in the cooperation of various interest groups. </p><p> When the abuses of Spanish authorities threatened the lives of those they ruled, Chinese intermediaries could not maintain their claims of mitigating the demands of the regime on behalf of Chinese workers and lost control of those under their supervision. In 1603, 1639, and 1662, Chinese laborers raised the banner of revolt. These moments of violent rupture with the colonial order indicate that mediation was crucial to preserving the Spanish presence in Manila. Coercion could put down threats to control but on its own could not hold colonial society together. </p><p> The Chinese, with others, created the ties that bound colonial society together through kinship and credit networks for mutual aid. <i>Compadrazgo </i> (coparenthood), <i>padrinazgo</i> (godparenthood), and marriage connected Chinese to colonial society and provided a means of profit, protection and recruiting labor. These links persisted into the nineteenth century and helped the Chinese shape the ecology of Manila to their purposes, albeit within the confines of Spanish sovereignty. </p><p> Sources: baptismal records, notarial books (<i>protocolos de Manila </i>), court cases.</p>

No description available.

This thesis describes the social organisation of Kurdish refugee communities and is a contribution to the theoretical discussion of the concept of diaspora. Field research methods were used in this comparative sociological study among Kurdish refugees from Turkey, Iraq and Iran, who live in exile in Finland and England. The writer uses rich ethnographic material to describe the social organisation of the Kurdish refugee communities. The thesis introduces new arguments about, and suggests a rethinking of, the process of integration among refugees. In many different ways refugees living in exile have a continuous relation to their societies of origin. The thesis describes various transnational social relations and networks among the Kurdish refugees. It is argued that the Kurds in exile can be regarded as a diaspora. The concept of diaspora highlights the refugees' continuous relation to their countries of origin. However, the transnational social networks and associations can also be important resources for the refugees in their new country of settlement. There is also reason to remember the importance of social structures and exclusionary policies in the country of settlement. The comparison of the two different countries of settlement shows that these structures and policies have a great impact on how the refugees will be integrated into the receiving society. It is argued that a study of refugee communities needs to take into account refugees' relations to both the society of origin and the society of settlement. The writer emphasises that a diaspora can be understood as a transnational social organisation relating both to the country of origin and the country of settlement. Thus, it is argued that the concept of diaspora is a useful analytical tool for an understanding of the transnational social reality in which refugees live.

The aim of this thesis is to explore the way in which sexualities and identities are involved in the creation of patriarchal relations, ethnic hierarchies and colonial power in the context of "Comfort Women". The women were considered sexual slaves for Japanese soldiers during World War II. I attempt to show the It) ways in which masculinity, femininity, and national identity were re/constructed through the enforcement of the subject-positionings of gender, colonialism and nationalism. The questions I raise and attempt to answer are: What kinds of masculinity and femininity of the Japanese soldiers and Korean "Comfort Women" respectively, and the national identities of both, were re/constructed through the comfort station system? How were the positionings of the "Comfort Women" enacted through daily practices and ideology, and what were the consequences of the re/construction of their identity? Finally, how did the "Comfort Women" position themselves in the face of the imposition of gender and national identities, by Japanese colonial and Korean nationalist power? I use personal narratives, including testimonies and life histories of the former Korean "Comfort Women" and Japanese veterans obtained from my interviews with them as well as from testimonies already released. I interviewed thirteen former Korean "Comfort Women" and seventeen Japanese veterans. Thirteen out of the veterans were 'rehabilitated' in China after World War El, the remaining four were not. I also occasionally use official documents on the comfort station system, which were issued by the Japanese military and the Western Allies. I argue that the development of gender and national identities contributed to the construction of Japanese colonialism, and that the "Comfort Women" system helped to produce and reproduce Japan as an imperial state with power over the lives and human resources of the colonies. In particular, the maintenance of the military system depended on the circulation of these concepts of masculinity and femininity. The regulation of masculine and feminine sexuality and national identities through the military comfort station system was a crucial means through which Japan expanded its colonies by military means.

This study critically examines the position of women in post-colonial societies across the Arab region and the structuring of female experience and gender by patriarchy, class, literacy, religion and historical conditions such as colonization, neo-imperialism and the rise of capitalism. The male writing of the female body and the perception of the latter as a field of power within the Arabo-Muslim culture constitutes the framework of the thesis. This critical approach also informs the growing feminist scholarship on the subject of the so-called Arab woman in the area under study. The notion of the feminine delivered by male dogmatic discourses, whether old or new, traditional or modern, orthodox or profane, is briefly presented in the first part of the dissertation while the deconstruction of such a referential setting by feminist academic work is undertaken in Part two as an attempt to integrate notions of womanhood, sexuality, identity, culture, religious belief, statehood, and material factors into a discursive order. Sexual difference becomes problematized within the critical assessment of the fictional voices developed by women, their exploration of concepts of sexual behaviour and their analysis of how gender ideology permeates the modernist endeavours of the post-colonial state in its efforts at development. A significant predicament is highlighted by the thesis: the cultural discourse on women, enduringly linked to their functions within the private realm, copulation and reproduction, as indicated by both the fictional and the scholarly literature, clashes with the developmentalist endeavours which require active roles within the public sphere. The conflict and indeterminacies generated by such a discrepancy are projected as an essential framework for understanding the construction of women as the 'subordinate sex' at various levels. It is also read as a fundamental dilemma that post-colonial societies across the Mediterranean have yet to address in order to resolve, at least partly, their present socio-economic crisis. The notion of woman is further essentialized within concepts of difference drawn by other dominant discourses examined in Part three. Perspectives of neo-colonialism emanating from the post-industrial First World become a framework in which to insert the work of feminist academics from North Africa and the Middle East as well as definitions of women, whether in the world at large or in more academic terms. The furthest concern of the debate on the 'women question' is to underline however the significance of feminism to operate as a major socio-political force within the post-colonial world. The findings of this research already indicate that the various movements for female emancipation taking place in the region open up new possibilities of struggle for economic growth, equality and secular democracy.

No description available.

Previous attempts at understanding Revelation have stressed the common links between it and the rest of the New Testament writings, or else have tended to ignore entirely its distinctive perspective on the world. This thesis illuminates the content of John's unique message in respect to its particular life-situation. There are nine chapters and the first deals with a review of the date and authorship of the Apocalypse while the second looks at how genre criticism can help us understand the audience's predispositions and the author's strategy. The third chapter is also concerned with literary criticism in that it looks at how John presents himself to his audience and how this gives us clues to his social standing within the seven assemblies named in the text. Chapters four and five look in detail at John's use of two important titles, God as 'the Almighty' and Jesus as 'the Lamb'. Chapter six deals with the usefulness of sociology in helping us understand the dynamics of the life-setting in Asia Minor by reference to research on sects and millenarian movements. Chapter seven covers the manner in which Rome ruled and compares this to the brutal and vindictive images in Revelation. Chapter eight looks at how the Apocalypse differs from the indigenous religions of Asia Minor (especially the cult of Ephesian Artemis), the Jews in Sardis and the early Christian works of 1 Peter and Ignatius of Antioch. The ninth chapter forms our conclusions. John of Patmos wrote an apocalypse to seven named assemblies in Western Asia Minor. This was a genre with which his audience was familiar. He attempted to gain their confidence in Rev 1-5 by using a number of literary devices which stressed that he was a legitimate bearer of a transcendent message. The message was so unusual in its malevolent imagery that he needed to assure his audience that they could be confident in accepting his analysis of the world around them. John and his followers can be best characterised as a revolutionist sect and even a millenarian movement. Such groups separate themselves from the wider world and expect its imminent end. They tend to come from marginalised groups deprived of power and status. John's message was unique among the early Christian texts in that it presents Jesus in the role of a theriomorphic avenger and God is seen as the Almighty who wreaks indiscriminate torture and then utterly destroys his enemies. Such images are drawn as a counterpoint to John's understanding of Roman rule as violent and repressive. In response to this understanding he forms a theology based on brutality, vengeance and cruelty and desires power, honour and wealth, the crucial values in the Roman world, for the Almighty God and his most ardent followers.