Thesis (M.S.)--University of Tennessee, Knoxville, 2004. / Title from title page screen (viewed May 18, 2004). Thesis advisor: Paris Lambdin. Document formatted into pages (vii, 76 p. : ill., maps). Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 56-65).

L.G. Westerink's Thesis (doctoral)--Nijmegen University, 1948. / Text in Greek; editorial matter in English. Includes bibliographical references and index.

Thesis (Th. M.)--St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary, 2000. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 112-119).

Thesis (M. Div.)--St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary, 2000. / [Abstract]. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 60-61).

Thesis (M.A. in International Security and Civil-Military Relations)--Naval Postgraduate School, March 2002. / Thesis advisor(s): Steve Garrett, Tjarck Roessler. Includes bibliographical references (p. 67-70). Also available online.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--West Virginia University, 2003. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains xi, 134 p. : ill. (some col.). Vita. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references.

In recent years there has been a noticeable proliferation of modern information and communication technologies usage among migrant communities and their increased representation and networking online. Contemporary literature argues that current uses of ICT forge multidimensional diasporic identity and imply a stronger sense of national belonging and communal solidarity. With this argument in mind, this thesis examines the impact of communication technologies on community-making processes within Eastern Slavic diasporas in the UK. In investigating the case of Eastern Slavs in Britain, this thesis uses recent theories of diaspora that define it as a form of consciousness and a category of practice. This research is also informed by sociological theories of community, identity, nationalism, and social networks. The study is based on the combination of online and offline research techniques and includes qualitative content analysis of relevant websites, 14 expert interviews with organisers of diasporic communities, and 26 biographical interviews with members of the diaspora. The findings reveal a convergence between the processes of ‘re-invention’ of national identities in the sending countries after the collapse of the USSR and community-making in diasporas. It is argued that diasporic national belonging should be understood as oscillating between ‘supra-national’ and ‘national’ ‘imagined communities’. The former is based upon an ideology of common identity among Eastern Slavs, whether drawing upon Soviet or pre- Soviet themes whilst the latter emphasises a more separatist and narrow national identity. Analysing social networks of diasporic communities, the research shows that their development is based on particular sets of national symbols and narratives. The outcomes of investigation suggest that the expression of national identity and belonging is clear-cut on a collective level, but on the individual level it is predominantly hybrid and ambivalent.

This two-fold study examines the status of women of Afghanistan and the reality of their lives as depicted in their Persian-Dari literature and a few of their autobiographies published in English. It presents several relevant objectives: first, it argues that the highly traditional interpretations of Islam and Islamic law by certain religious authorities in the multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, multi-cultural, and semi-tribal society of Afghanistan, combined with some strong patriarchal system of the states, are the main factors imposing silence on the female population of that country. Second, to enhance this argument, the study provides a brief historical overview, with focus on women's status in Afghanistan since 1919 up to the present. Third, and most pertinent to the main subject of this project, the dissertation substantiates the above arguments by examining the portrayal of sexism, subjugation, segregation, resistance, veiling, and the overall oppression of Afghan women in women's prose, poetry, and autobiographical writings (the latter naturally have been published abroad). Finally, it argues that the absence of a strong Afghan female voice from any global dialog, along with the scarcity of academic study regarding their real status, have opened the way for a number of feminist writers and scholars to approach women's issues in Afghanistan from different perspectives that, in some cases, omit factual and realistic assessments of women's situation in that country. Documentary evidence is integrated into this study to demonstrate the courage, and the gradual awakening of Afghan women to their identity and power in the very complex society of Afghanistan, as well as their growing awareness that having a voice is vital for their survival.

In the tenth century, a confluence of two unrelated events shaped the Twelver Shia community in Baghdad: the Occultation of the Twelfth Imam in 939/329 and the takeover of Baghdad in 945 by the Buyid princes, who were largely tolerant towards their Shia subjects. Twelver intellectual life flourished during this era, led by the exegetes who are the subject of this dissertation. Chief among them were al-Shaykh al-Tusi and al-Sharif al-Murtada, who - along with many of their contemporaries - comprised a "Baghdad school" of Twelver intellectuals. This dissertation analyzes the Qur'anic commentaries (tafsir) written by this core group of medieval Twelver exegetes, most of whom lived and wrote in Baghdad, although others - such as al-Ayyashi - remained on the margins.

Nineteenth and twentieth century migratory networks had a formative, yet unrecognized, impact in the lead-up to the 1962 establishment of the Yemen Arab Republic. Migrants from Northern Yemen to Aden built discursive spaces for contesting economic and political oppression that served as a foundation for later channels of political dissidents and reformists to oppose the Imamic regime, often walking a tightrope between their own calls for reform and the interests of foreign state actors. Those spaces were preserved in the later development of similar networks after 1962 and paved the way for generations of migrants to contest or advance reigning economic and social orders via labor migration to oil-rich states.