Carved and engraved bone pins from the Koster, Black Earth and Modoc Rockshelter sites have been used by Professor Richard Jefferies to investigate the development of regional-scale interaction between hunter-gatherer groups of the Midwest Middle Archaic. Using that same data, this pilot study suggests that these artifacts may also be representative material embodiments of inherent social contradictions within and between hunter-gatherer societies at an even earlier date. These contradictions and the conflicts that arose from them may rival in importance ecological and demographic paradigms as catalysts for sedentism and territoriality in the Middle Archaic Midwest.

The interplay of religion and politics has been a consistent theme in the comparativepolitics of identity, and more specifically with regard to Middle Eastern politics Yetcoverage of religion and politics in the region is generally focused on the Muslimmajority and neglects the existence and impact of non-Muslim religious elements inMiddle Eastern societies. The most prominent of these are the various groups ofChristian Arabs.This work begins with a reassessment of common comparative theoretical approaches tothe study of religion and politics. It introduces a critical and dynamic constructivistapproach to religion, defining it as belief'. Using belief the political environment, andrelative demographics as a guide, it creates four general types of Christian groups as ameans to understand Christian group activation. These types match up with three generalmodes of engagement with the outside political culture in Middle Eastern contexts:competitive-nationalistic systems, neo-millet systems, and secular non-sectarian systems.These analytical tools are applied to the political activity of Christian groups in threeMiddle Eastern polities: Egypt, Lebanon, and Palestine. In Egypt, a stable neo-milletsystem is the result of the dominance of a single deferential organization amongChristians: the Coptic Orthodox Church. In Lebanon, years of competitive nationalisticpolitics have given way to an emergent neo-millet system as a result of the decline inidentity-based nationalistic parties and the increasing prominence of the traditionalChurch hierarchy. Among Palestinians, nominalism, deference, and voluntaristicactivism mix to create a neo-millet system with aspects of other systems of engagement.This study concludes that neo-millet systems are the natural outcome of a stronglyidentity-focused religious belief system among Arab Christians, one the author terms"tower-keep" theology. However, the dynamics of change fostered by new styles ofbelief, the challenges of responding to an eroding population base, and the influence ofdiaspora communities and coreligionists abroad all point to new systems of engagementto come in the future.

<p> This dissertation provides a history from below of Palestinian national movement and Arab society during the tumultuous decade of the 1930s. It argues that the influence and authority of the small group of factionalized and disunited notable politicians that are conventionally understood to have monopolized the leadership of the national struggle during the era of British Mandatory rule has been greatly overstated. This is especially so for the restive and rebellious middle period of the Mandate (1929-1939), during which the movement turned from a conciliatory and quietist strategy of gentlemanly diplomacy preferred by elite politicians to confrontation, mass mobilization and armed struggle, culminating in "the Great Revolt" (1936-1939), a prolonged anti-colonial rebellion against both British rule and the Zionist project it sponsored. By examining the political practices, organizing, self-understanding, and leadership capacities of "youth" and peasants, the dissertation explicates the eclipse of elite preeminence within the national movement and the rise of the new, horizontally-organized social forces that reshaped and radicalized Palestinian politics in the 1930s. </p><p> The dissertation first explores the proliferation of youth associations in the early 1930s and illuminates how the rise of youth as an assertive, ambitious, and politically frustrated element had profound ramifications for the tactics, strategy, and trajectory of the national movement. The narrative then turns to track the decomposition of the Arab rural order from the late Ottoman era to 1936, paying particular attention to the crisis of the countryside under the British, who fecklessly intensified pre-existing tendencies towards peasant destitution, bankruptcy, and dispossession, thereby helping to create a disaffected class of uprooted ex-peasants. The final section analyzes the Great Revolt, focusing on the critical roles of youth, peasants, and workers in initiating and propelling it and on the popular and revolutionary institutions that organized and sustained it against great odds for over three years. This section also interrogates British counterinsurgency, highlighting the role of specific forms of colonial violence, especially collective punishments, in ending the rebellion, and with it the ascent of popular forces within the national movement.</p>

During excavations at the Middle Kingdom settlement site of Kahun Petrie assembled a corpus of over 600 objects (mainly sherds but also a few wooden implements) incised with marks. These are now housed in British Museum, The Petrie Museum and the Manchester Museum, and constitute the largest corpus of Middle Kingdom marks from one site still accessible. The material was only partially published by Petrie and the marks have never been analysed in relation to the objects on which they are incised. The first step has been to compile a catalogue of all incised objects. This is presented as accompanying data. Chapter 1 offers a reconstruction of the excavation at Kahun based on Petrie's published and unpublished records, to gain a better understanding of the excavation, the site, and also how the material now in England was assembled. In the second chapter the pottery types with marks are described and compared with the contemporary pottery corpus of the Eastern Delta and Memphis/Fayum region. The intent is to propose a chronological sequence for the pottery and the marks, and also to check whether the marks are characteristic of a limited range of pottery types, or are widespread. Chapters 3 and 4 discuss respectively the typology of the marks incised before and after firing. In Chapter 5 the sites where Middle Kingdom pottery incised with marks has been excavated are assembled and listed from North to South. Chapters 6 and 7 discuss the other two classes of objects with marks recovered at Kahun: foreign pottery and wooden tools. The last chapter offers a general overview, including a comparison of the marks incised on pottery with other marking systems and also with the emerging 'alphabetic' scripts of the Late Middle Bronze Age.

This dissertation reports on the experiences of a small group of teachers and administrators as they endeavoured to reform the middle years curriculum of an international school in Japan. This single case study is based primarily upon the observations of the researcher, a middle school teacher at the school and a key participant in the reform process. This study is positioned in the naturalistic paradigm which allows for the accumulation of sufficient knowledge to lead to a holistic understanding of middle years curriculum reform within this context.Reforming the middle years of schooling has received renewed attention in recent years. A new paradigm is emerging about the nature of schooling in this significant stage of life that is now recognised as crucial to the formation of attitudes, values, and habits of mind that shape the individual‘s identity and development as an adult. Despite the growth and status of international schools, very little is known about the nature and processes of middle years curriculum reform in this context. The central aim of this study was to provide a detailed and authentic account of the process of curriculum reform that can validate, guide and extend the current body of knowledge on middle years curriculum reform and is meaningful and useful to educators in the international school context.Three dimensions of reform emerged in this study: the process of reform, identified as a multidimensional and interconnected process that ventured through six identifiable phases; the product of the reform, the Humankind Curriculum, was found to have its core features grounded in shared understandings of effective middle schooling; and the dynamics of change, which revealed a professional learning community as the catalyst for change, with the interplay of relational trust, leadership, interpersonal relationships and collaboration as empowering the capacity for reculturing the middle school. While the findings contribute to the current body of knowledge on middle school reform in the international school context, they also provide direction for further discussion, exploration and research.

Thesis (M.S. in Joint Campaign Planning and Strategy)--Joint Forces Staff College, Joint Advanced Warfighting School, 2007. / Vita. "National Defense Univ Norfolk VA"--DTIC cover. "15 May 2007." Includes bibliographical references (p. 78-83). Also available via the Internet.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Westminster Theological Seminary, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 257-261).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--George Mason University, 2008. / Vita: p. 138. Thesis directors: Joan Packer Isenberg, Charles L. Thomas. Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Education. Title from PDF t.p. (viewed July 2, 2008). Includes bibliographical references (p. 131-137). Also issued in print.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--George Mason University, 2008. / Vita: p. 261. Thesis director: Elizabeth G. Sturtevant. Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Education. Title from PDF t.p. (viewed July 8, 2008). Includes bibliographical references (p. 244-260). Also issued in print.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Texas at Arlington, 2009.