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This thesis discusses the architecture of early Islamic Iran (16-450/637-1059). To better understand the architectural history of this period, it is necessary to specify in detail how it took shape and to describe its features. Hitherto, no fully comprehensive study has been carried out on this subject. Most of the earlier attempts in that direction are the products of Western scholars. Few of these can be regarded as fully comprehensive - however worthy they were in their own time - in the light of the huge amounts of information now available. This mass of new material, a good deal of it unearthed in the decades since the Islamic Revolution, at last makes it possible to outline in detail the architectural characteristics of this early period. The proposed study will build on the work done by earlier scholars in the field, both western and Iranian, among which two lengthy studies are of particular value. Mehrdad Shokoohy in his unpublished Ph. D. thesis, Studies in the early mediaeval architecture of Iran and Afghanistan (Edinburgh, 1978), describes twelve buildings in 2 Iran and Afghanistan which he dates to the early mediaeval period. This research - some of which has been published in article form1- introduces some monuments that are little known, but there is still ample room for more detailed conclusions and analysis to clarify the evolution of Iranian architecture in this period. The latest study, Frühe Iranische Moscheen (Berlin, 1994), has been carried out by Barbara Finster. This book explains the different types of early mosques in Iran, with much material from literary sources to supplement the author’s own fieldwork. Since the Islamic revolution in Iran (1357/1979), Iranian specialists have carried out some significant architectural and archaeological research; some of this work has not been published yet while other work has been published only in Persian and is difficult of access. In the course of restoration operations in key historical monuments much new and important material has been assembled, though much of this has not been reported yet. To gather together and to order all of this new information is one of the most important aims of my study. Its primary aim is to understand the characteristics and the underlying principles of early Islamic Iranian architecture. In what follows, I shall try to explain how and why this early (and neglected) period holds the key to understanding the Islamic architecture of Iran. It is essentially a transitional period, a time of laying the foundations for what was to come. It documents the earlier experiments in building types, structural techniques and architectural decoration. We see here the earliest attempt of Islamic architecture in Iran to find a distinctive voice. Only few buildings survive – thought it is very likely that more will be 3 found in years to come - but their wide range of form, style, material and decoration reveals a national tradition that – even thought it was still in the process of tradition that was already, in key ways, different from that of the other Islamic lands. The thesis tries to explain how the heritage of pre-Islamic Iranian architecture evolved and how it laid the foundations for Iranian, and especially Saljuq, architecture. Thus, to create a solid base for studying the later period is an important supplementary aim of this thesis.

<p> The purpose of this grant proposal was to develop a program, identify potential funding sources, and write a grant to fund an Afghan domestic violence program that offers culturally competent services to Afghan women survivors of domestic violence in the San Francisco Bay Area. An extensive literature review was conducted to explore how culture affects perceptions of domestic violence within immigrant communities and the ways in which those perceptions can impede access to domestic violence intervention services. Findings show that while violence against women in Afghan culture is a serious problem, awareness about and services for Afghan women and families in the United States for domestic violence are virtually nonexistent. The proposed program will provide Afghan-specific domestic violence direct services, raise community awareness and train mainstream providers on cultural competency. The actual submission and/or funding of this grant proposal were not requirements for the successful completion of this project.</p>

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Since the beginning of this century, inacculturation which is the full acceptance of foreign ideas and concepts, have produced a negative impact on the Arab/Islamic socio-cultural milieu. Instead of the synthesised approach to the transfer of ideas and concepts or in another word acculturation the inacculturation approach resulted on many socio-cultural contradictions on the Arab/Islamic built environment. Every built-environment consists of distinctive features that relates to social, cultural, economical and environmental parameters inherent in that particular built-environment. Before the 1950s, the built-environments of the country of Saudi Arabia were a natural continuation of city-building techniques throughout history. The most significant period that affected that urban continuity was the advent of the religion of Islam. However, since the 1950s, fast and dramatic changes had occurred in the built-environment that had affected it in social and cultural terms. These urban changes were not synthesised with the socio-cultural norms and ways of life of the residents of these built-environments. In another word, the process of urban inacculturation instead of acculturation had been taking place in the urban spatial structures of the country’s cities and towns. This study attempts to understand and explain the process of urban change that had occured since the 1950s. The city of Arriyadh was chosen for an in-depth investigation as a case study for this research. The case study approach starts by analysing the city urban development from the traditional to the contemporary. Then, using both quantitative and qualitative approaches, it examines the socio-cultural contradictions, urban identity and perceptions of the built-environment. The study reveals that the traditional built-environment had less socio-cultural contradictions, clear urban identity and perceived in positive terms. While the contemporary built environment resulted in socio-cultural contradictions, and ambiguous and distorted urban identity and perceived as containing negative social, cultural, and environmental and economical handicaps.