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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>

My doctoral research concerns the use of song within narrative works in the Middle Ages. I have concentrated first on the substantial tradition in Old French of incorporating songs in this manner; and second, on the importance of this tradition to Chaucer, a poet who includes songs in nearly all his narrative poetry, and who was deeply familiar with many of the late thirteenth- and early fourteenth-century French works of this type. In order to demonstrate the connection between this very large range of French narratives and Chaucer, it has been necessary first to define the French tradition on its own terms, since even by French scholars it has rarely been treated collectively, and some of the works have barely been explored. This assessment of the French material has involved a fresh attempt to define the lyric interpolations themselves, when (as in the majority of thirteenth-century works) they take the form of brief snatches of song known as refrains. Since the nature of these refrains has been a source of controversy among French scholars, my study begins by analysing them both as texts and as melodies, in order to assess their status and function within the narratives. I then go on to discuss works ranging from Jean Renart's Guillaume de Dole to Adam de la Halle's Le Jeu de Robin et Marion, to the dits amoureux of Machaut and Froissart. The influence of this French tradition upon Chaucer is examined first of all in Chaucer's early poems, through his direct knowledge and assimilation of Machaut and Froissart and other contemporary French poets. It is then traced, more indirectly, through Chaucer's reading of Boccaccio and Boethius. I thus consider Chaucer's use of Boccaccio's Il Filostrato in the light of Boccaccio's own knowledge of this French tradition from his position in the Angevin court of Naples. In addition, by investigating French translations of Boethius's De Consolatione Philosophiae, I examine the structural importance of this work as a prosimetrum both upon French narratives containing songs, and upon Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde. In this way I aim to show that the influences upon his practice of combining lyric and narrative are both multiple and multiply connected. The aim of this dissertation is therefore two-fold: first, to contribute to the understanding of a substantial but little-known area of French studies, and second, to renew the discussion of Chaucer's relation to French love poetry by seeing his work as a late medieval development in England of a distinctive, and distinctively French mode of composition. Throughout the course of my work, my wider interest is in the way in which the juxtaposition of the two categories of lyric and narrative shows us that our understanding of medieval genre is in need of refinement. In particular, by taking account of the presence of musical notation in the manuscripts of several of the French narratives, I hope to suggest that some of our assumptions about the 'literary' nature of medieval genres should be revised, especially as works of this type often seem composed precisely in order to create and exploit contrasts of genre of a musical, as well as a poetic kind.

Abstract not available.

Abstract not available.

Based on anatomical changes known to occur in the middle ear with aging, the purpose of this study was to compare middle ear resonant frequency values of geriatric subjects to those of young adults. Measurements were obtained with two different methods: sweep frequency tympanometry and discrete multifrequency tympanometry. Results from the two methods of measurement were also compared. Furthermore, intra-subject, inter-judge, and longitudinal reliability were examined for each measurement method. Results showed no significant difference between the two age groups. However, resonant frequency values obtained with the two measurement methods differed significantly (p < 0.05). Intra-subject and longitudinal reliability measures were significantly higher for the discrete multifrequency method than for the sweep frequency method. Inter-judge reliability was 95% for both measurement methods. We therefore concluded that age does not have a significant effect on middle ear resonant frequency values. It follows that normative resonant frequency data can be applied to adults of all age groups. Furthermore, the method used to measure resonant frequency has a significant effect on the values obtained, and comparisons of resonant frequency data should not be made across measurement methods. Although we were unable to determine which measurement method is most valid, the discrete multifrequency method is more reliable within subjects and over time. / Medicine, Faculty of / Audiology and Speech Sciences, School of / Graduate

Social stratification is a major area of thought in theoretical social analysis. Although much has since been said in this area, the theories of social stratification put forward by Karl Marx remain fundamental. The necessity for a social class to possess class consciousness is basic to Marx’ theories. A middle social stratum has been rapidly growing in Brazil since the Second World War. This expansion is due to the growth of industry, urban centers, government bureaucracy, and other factors. Yet, this middle group seems to lack both an awareness of themselves as a group and a unique set of values. To some extent, the middle stratum identifies with the upper class. Clearly, the middle stratum lacks class consciousness. For this reason I refer to this group as the middle sector. The problem is: why does Brazil's middle sector lack class consciousness? The hypothesis I propose in solution to this problem is as follows: Brazil's middle sector is, in a sense, a misfit in the stream of Brazilian history. In more than four centuries of European settlement of Brazil, the society has been characterized by factors contributing to a bi-polar tendency in social stratification. In testing this hypothesis, I will examine three of the areas of factors in terms of the roles they have played in social stratification. Although the list of areas contributing to a bi-polar tendency is long, I have limited myself to the economic factor, the kinship factor, and the racial factor. These three factors will be examined throughout the course of Brazilian history. The economic structure has been largely characterized by large-scale agriculture, feudalism, and slavery. These institutions involve the control of the many by the few. Two contemporary phenomena which polarize Brazilian society have come out of this heritage: paternalistic treatment of employees, and the concentration of wealth in the hands of a relatively few. The kinship system has strengthened the bi-polar tendency in several ways. The aristocratic patriarchal family, which dominated Brazil for centuries, served to maintain the position of the upper class, and establish a dependency of the poor on the rich. The upper-class family continues today as a maintainer of the status quo. The institutions of patronship and godparenthood continue today to foster a dependency of poor on rich. Perhaps the most obvious contribution to the bi-polar tendency is seen in the historical role of the racial factor. Slavery existed from the founding of the colony until abolition in 1888. Masters were white and slaves were non-white. The non-white population continues to largely occupy the lower class, and this situation is maintained by often-subtle racial prejudice. To gain an understanding of the growth of the middle sector, a fourth factor must be noted: demographic changes. Recent phenomena are extensive European immigration, and the development of urban centers. The recent nature of these phenomena is linked to the recent growth of the middle sector. Although Brazilian society continues, in many ways, to be bi-polar, the existence of a relatively large middle sector prohibits a perfect bi-polarity in social stratification. The existence of the middle sector may be a misfit in Brazilian history in one sense, but this sector's values do not run counter to the historical flow. However, the middle sector is yet in an early stage of development. A later stage of development may include the formation of a class consciousness. / Arts, Faculty of / Anthropology, Department of / Graduate

Who were the Daughters of Allah, the three Arabian goddesses mentioned in the Qur'an and venerated by the pagan Arabs prior to the rise of Islam, and who since have vanished into obscurity? Can we reconstruct information about these goddesses by reference to earlier goddesses of the Near East? It is our intention to explore this possibility through an examination of their predecessors in view of the links between the Fertile Crescent and the Arabian Peninsula. Moving back in time from the seventh century A.D. (Arabia) through the Hellenistic Period (Syro/Phoenicia 300 B.C.-A.D. 300 ) to the end of the second millennium, we shall examine those goddesses whose attributes most closely resemble the Arabian goddesses. By necessity, we will confine ourselves primarily to the goddesses of ancient Canaan¹ (Astarte) and Syria (Atargatis), compelling resemblances of these goddesses to the Arabian goddesses of the seventh century being the basis for their selection. This exploration, then, takes place in the Fertile Crescent, that region of the Near East "forming an arc between the head of the Persian Gulf and the south-east corner of the Mediterranean Sea"². These lands are a natural physical extension of the Arabian Peninsula and its inhabitants naturally migrated into these regions. As well, there is the linguistic, and, therefore, cultural, affinity of the Semitic peoples of the Fertile Crescent with those of the Arabian Peninsula, so that a search for the heritage of the Arabian goddesses would be likely to begin here. ¹Canaan (Syria, Phoenicia, Palestine) in early times extended from Hamath in the north to Gaza (Gen.10.19), and included lands east and west of the Jordan (Josh.11.3). ²Philip K. Hitti, History of the Arabs; From the Earliest Times to the Present, 10th ed. (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1979),11. / Arts, Faculty of / Classical, Near Eastern and Religious Studies, Department of / Graduate