BRILL

An ethnography of knowledge; the production of knowledge in Mupfurudzi resettlement scheme, Zimbabwe.

Mudege (sociology, U. of Zimbabwe) examines the pathways by which knowledge about hybrid maize was disseminated among farmers in a resettlement area in Shamva, southeastern Zimbabwe. The people were being resettled from different agro-ecological regions with different knowledge and approaches to agriculture and farming, so new knowledge had to be produced and socialized. In addition to spending 30 months doing her own fieldwork beginning in 2001, she drew on a huge database of quantitative information that was available from previous studies of the same community going back to 1984. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Etymological dictionary of Egyptian; v.3: m-.

This volume continues the impressive undertaking of Takács (Eötvös Loránd University, Hungary), presenting the Afro-Asiatic parallels to the Egyptian roots with initial m-. New to this volume is full discussion of Semitic loan-words throughout and the inclusion of both primary and secondary literatures of Egyptian philology. An exhaustive bibliography is included; there is no index. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Etymological dictionary of the Hittite inherited lexicon.

In this substantial volume, Kloekhorst, a comparative linguist who's part of the Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Project, presents a revision of his PhD dissertation carried out at Leiden U., The Netherlands. As preparation for the dictionary which forms the bulk of the volume, Kloekhorst presents a systematic and thorough discussion of the phonetic and phonological interpretation of Hittite orthography and a discussion of the historical morphology. Overviews of the sound laws that occurred between the reconstructed PIE mother language and Hittite of the Hittite nominal system are discussed and a morphological interpretation of the Hittite verbal system is described at length. The general introduction discusses the history of the study of Hittite and the texts. The dictionary presents etymological treatment of all relevant Hittite words, with discussion and analysis of different interpretations. A full bibliography is included. As is typical for this publisher, this is a beautifully produced and bound book. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Etymological dictionary of the Slavic inherited lexicon.

Derksen (Leiden U.) presents a reference text based on a database created within the context of the Indo-European Etymological Dictionary project financed by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research. The fourth volume in the series, the text provides an up-to-date etymological account of the Slavic inherited lexical stock, which combines recent insights from the field of comparative Indo-European linguistics with modern Balto-Slavic accentology. The lemmata of the dictionary are alphabetically arranged Proto-Slavic etyma. Each entry consists of several fields containing the evidence, reconstructions, and notes. A detailed introduction to the text explains the origin of the dictionary, the theoretical framework guiding its development, and the contents and significance of the individual fields. Also included is an extensive list of references, and 95 language indices. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Facts and artefacts; art in the Islamic world; festschrift for Jens Kröger on his 65th birthday.

This Festschrift on Islamic art is arranged by the medium used: glass, metal, rock crystal, ivory etc. Many of the authors present a study of a particular piece of art such as the "Emerald" of Charlemagne, now known to be lead glass, or a gilt glass bottle thought to come from twelfth-century Iraq. Others cover groups of artifacts, metal door-knockers, ivory boxes made for the Crusader market, enameled dragon art from Tibet. There are four essays on Islamic illustrated manuscripts including one on a world map from Moghul India. Another traces the theme of the sacrifice of Isaac in manuscripts, a reminder that some forms of Islamic art, human beings may be portrayed. There is a section on different ways in which Islamic art has influenced Western artists as disparate as Giotto and Louis Comfort Tiffany. A final three articles on architectural art round out this impressive collection. Each essay is accompanied by bland and white illustrations of the art being discussed. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Flores Florentino; Dead Sea Scrolls and other early Jewish studies in honour of Florentino García Martínez.

A wonderfully international spread of nearly 50 scholars pen the same number of essays in honor of Florentino García Martínez (professor, Catholic U. of Louvain, Belgium; and theology and religious studies, U. of Groningen, Germany); he's an academic with an extraordinary career spanning the last four decades. The essays are a token of gratitude from many colleagues and admirers for Martínez's contributions to Early Jewish Studies, including not only Qumranica but many other fields of Second Temple Judaism, from late biblical texts and Septuagint to early rabbinic writings. Included essays appear in four languages — English, French, Spanish, and Italian; and the book also includes Martínez's bibliography as well as indexes of both primary and secondary sources. The genuine respect for Martínez apparent in the introduction and the high level of scholarship of the authors and their contributions speak well for both the man and this publication. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

The founder of the Hare Krishnas as seen by devotees; a cognitive study of religious charisma.

Not Krishna himself, but A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami, also called Bhakhtivedanta Swami Prabhupada, who arrived in New York City in September 1965, gathered a group of enthusiastic devotees around himself, and within a hear and a half was sending disciples to San Francisco. Finnish scholar of comparative religion Ketola (Church Research Institute, Tampere) investigates how these devotees thought of him, noting that accounts of his life and work lack the usual miraculous birth, miracles, visions, charismatic teachings, and the like. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

From coffee to tea cultivation in Ceylon, 1880-1900; an economic and social history.

First, its coffee plants rotted. Then, the bottom fell out of the coffee market. In the early 1880s colonial Ceylon faced disaster, but within ten years it was surviving, then thriving as a major cultivator of tea. Wenzlhuemer (British studies, Humboldt-U. zu Berlin) well describes how the colony in essence changed technologies in a remarkably short time, describing the unique geography of Ceylon, its fates as it changed from an ancient and sovereign nation to a colony to three different European nations, its population's ethnicity and religion, the rise of coffee as a principle export, the resources the nation used to make the transition to tea, the alternatives, the systems of administration and education and the development of new elites, the role of immigrants to Ceylon and religious revivals (Christian, Buddhist, Hindu and Muslim), and the shifts in thought that had to come before Ceylon became a temple of tea. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Functional jurisdiction in the law of the sea.

This, one of the oldest facets of international law, has been shaped since 1982 by the framework set by the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. That framework is built upon zonal analysis, which creates judicial zones and stipulates the rules of each, and topical analysis, which addresses such activities as fishing, research and pollution. This monograph examines the significance of current developments within the 1982 framework, explaining the manifestations of jurisdiction, such as territoriality and universality as well as the protection principle, and such challenges as the exclusive economic zone and fisheries jurisdiction in the high seas. It closes with analyses of challenges to the allocation of jurisdiction in the deep sea, including an proposed institutional approach, and of the high seas, including limitations to flag state jurisdiction. The bibliography here is comprehensive. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Gesammelte Beiträge zur deutschen und europäischen Universitätsgeschichte; Strukturen — Personen — Entwicklungen.

Moraw, a leading constitutional historian of the later middle ages, gives significant insights into the inside workings of universities in Germany and greater Europe. He begins with a survey of the slow, subtle, but occasionally startling changes as patronage. Professors' expectations and students changed. He then closely examines the universities at Prague, Krakow, Heidelberg, and elsewhere in Europe, including a long-range study of Giessen, and provides a comprehensive series of studies on the typical career of the German professor and the life trajectories of students and graduates. Along with these papers, Moraw covers the Repertorium academicum Germanicum project (from 1250 to 1550), and a full bibliography of his works on the history of universities. Primarily in German with the paper on the careers of graduates in English. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

The gods of the city; Protestantism and religious culture in Strasbourg, 1870-1914.

Revising his 1996 doctoral dissertation for the University of Chicago, Steinhoff (modern European history, U. of Tennessee-Chattanooga) explores the transformation of religious communities through the turn of the 20th century, and the role of their members and institutions in constructing urban modernity. His case study is the Lutheran community in the highly competitive confessional climate of Strasbourg in Alsace-Lorraine as the territory was passed back and forth between Germany and France over two generations. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Going Dutch; the Dutch presence in America, 1609-2009.

Goodfriend (history, University of Denver), Schmidt (history, University of Washington) and Stott (art history, University of Denver) have edited this compilation of essays on the history of the Dutch experience in America. Beginning with the early Dutch colonies in what is now New York and how they differed from the English ones, the book covers such diverse topics as Washington Irving's view of the Dutch in upstate New York, the attempts by immigrants to build "little Hollands" in the Midwest, the increased interest in Dutch art by 19th-century collectors, and Dutch influence in architecture today. The concluding essay examines the concept of "Dutchness" both in America and the Netherlands today. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

The halakah of Jesus of Nazareth according to the Gospel of Matthew.

American Conservative rabbi Sigal (d. 1985) came to see the halakhah, or law, of the New Testament as an integral part of the sequence of Jewish law from the Old Testament to the Mishnah. Here he looks specifically at the law proffered by Jesus of Nazareth on Sabbath and divorce as recorded in the Gospel of Matthew. The study was first published in 1986 by the University Press of America. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

The historiographical concept 'system of philosophy'; its origin, nature, influence, and legitimacy.

Catana (philosophy, U. of Copenhagen) assumes that it is possible to understanding philosophical texts of the past with a reasonable and qualified degree of objectivity, so therefore does not invite social constructionism, constructionism, or deconstructionism to the discussion; they have never contributed to the historiography of philosophy anyway, he says. Exploring the history of the history of philosophy as a distinct discipline, he looks at its origin, nature, and influence; and at the strengths and weaknesses of this historiographical concept as a tool for philosophers. He pays particular attention to Jacob Brucker and Giordano Bruno, but ranges from Plato to Skinner. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

The historical foundations of world order; the tower and the arena.

In this remarkable history, Johnston (d.2006) explores the concept of unified world order — essentially a unifying worldview — throughout history, from classical Greece and Rome to post-9/11 America. The basis for his history is to trace the history and development of the field of international law (in which he had a celebrated career, teaching at several universities in Canada and the U.S., and working for several Canadian and American agencies). The volume begins with two chapters describing the system of international law, with individual sections devoted to the law of the sea, transportation, treaties, the Arctic environment, and sovereignty and security. Subsequent chapters examine the concept of order and authority through history, with attention to both western and Asian culture (Johnston's specializations included China). The work is written in accessible language and will be of interest to scholars and students in the field of international law as well as those interested in world history and historiography. Martinus Nijhoff is an imprint of Brill. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Historic waters in the law of the sea; a modern re-appraisal.

Simmons (Trinity College, Dublin, and marine law and ocean policy, National U. of Ireland, Galway) examines the historic waters in the Law of the Sea doctrine and its current status, especially in light of contemporary international law developments, such as recent decisions of the International Court of Justice that address the doctrine in cases in the US. He uses Alaska v. US, a case for which he acted as expert witness, as a study to consider the various aspects of international legal rules on US domestic historic maritime claims. Following a discussion of general issues relating to historic waters (definitions, history and legal sources, and terminology), he moves on to an examination of the types of waters to which historic claims can be made. He then considers the case of bays and coastal archipelagoes (the El Salvador/Honduras case), and problems with exceptional title, ancient rights, and burden of proof. Subsequent chapters cover a historical example from Russia in 1821, origins of historical claims to waters, legal requirements, exercise of authority, and other issues and requirements. Martinus Nijhoff is an imprint of Brill. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

The Hittites and their world.

The Hittites and their accomplishments were once virtually unknown, obscured by the distance of time in the Late Bronze Age. However, a century of archeological discovery and philological investigation have brought the civilization back into the light. Collins (Middle Eastern studies, Emory U.), who is also Acquisitions Editor for the Society of Biblical Literature, provides many analogues with the biblical world, as Hittite history spans the period from the nineteenth to the eighth centuries BCE, and identifies significant contributions of Hittite studies to biblical interpretation in her analysis of their history, politics, society and religion. She provides a very useful index of ancient texts along with a subject index and another of modern authors, and includes a number of fascinating monochrome photographs of artifacts. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

In the presence of Sai Baba; body, city, and memory in a global religious movement.

Srinivas (anthropology, U. of California-Davis) traces the transformation of Indian religious figure Shirdi Sai Baba (d. 1918) from a mendicant to a guru during his lifetime, and his continuing posthumous transformation into a divine incarnation by the global Sathya Sai Baba (b. 1926) movement, one of several that inherited or claimed his charismatic legacy in post-colonial times. She examines what she calls the Sai Baba movement, which fuses the two figures, in the cities of India and in Nairobi and Atlanta. The moral and somatic economy of the movement, she finds, struggles to transcend or transmute a de-divinized world and create new sensibilities and practices of space, citizenship, and sociality. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

India and international law; v.2.

This book is the second volume in a two-volume set written to inform readers on the international law as applied and practiced by India as a party to several multilateral and regional treaties and instruments. The contributors, all academics and lawyers in India, focus not only on State practice through executive and administrative measures, but also on the process of transformation of international law into municipal law and the pro-active role of the Indian judiciary. The book reviews the current state of the field, then looks at major developments and emerging areas and explores Indian's position on them. Some topics examined include nuclear weapons proliferation, climate change and energy law, family law and religion, and violence against women. Unlike the first volume in the set, this second volume contains a subject index, a bibliography, and a table of national case law. The book is intended to promote teaching and research of international law in university law departments and law schools, to bring Indian scholarship to the attention of the world community, and to provide ideas and suggestions to policy-makers in international law. Patel is a staff member of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, The Netherlands. Nijhoff is an imprint of Brill. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Index Islamicus; a bibliography of publications on Islam and the Muslim world since 1906, Edition 9. (CD-ROM--stand alone)

This CD-ROM is the 9th edition, containing all yearbooks from 1906- 2005 and including records from 2006. This is a stand-alone CD-ROM version of the Index, which is a massive bibliography listing European-language books, articles in periodicals and collective volumes, reviews, and some online electronic texts related to all aspects of Islam and the lives of Muslims, past and present. Publications listed cover all the countries of the world in which Muslims are the majority, as well as Muslim minorities elsewhere. The pre-Islamic Arabian background (Jahiliya) is included, as well as most aspects of the history and languages of the pre- and non-Muslim Turkic peoples. Entries provide, where appropriate, information on the author, title, wording on the title page, name of publisher, place and year of publication, name of series, and number of volumes and pages. Entries are organized by general discipline or geographic area, but readers may also locate works using the subject and name indexes. Over 500 periodicals were surveyed to produce the Index.. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Indian Islamic architecture; forms and typologies, sites and monuments.

Burton-Page (1921-2005) was a scholar of Indian art and archaeology at the University of London. Michell, a student of his there, has collected 40 articles of his from the second edition of the Encyclopedia of Islam and added two from elsewhere for this collection discussing specific sites and monuments. Also included are a portfolio of 63 black-and-white photographs illustrating such forms and typologies as mosques, tombs, and canals; a glossary of Indian architectural terms; and a composite and updated bibliography. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Index of verb forms in Thucydides.

Stork (Greek emeritus, Leiden U.) has compiled all verb forms in the Historiae of Thucydides, with the total number of times the verbs occur and cross references to the compounds. He provides two appendices to verb forms in the manuscript versions but which have been removed by conjecture from the printed text and all attested variant readings. The result is valuable for those who are conducting research into the verb system in Thucydides in particular but also into Ancient Greek and its lexography, morphology and the semantics of the verb systems. The verb forms are listed according to the grammatical categories of person. number, mood, tense, aspect, voice gender and case. Stork has used the Oxford text of the Historiae for his basis. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Index; volumes 301-310.

Designed to support rather than replace the general indexes of the Collected Courses for 2003 and 2004, this provides timely, organized references for about ten volumes of the Courses. It includes separate tables of decisions cited in French and in English, details on supplementary information, a complete list of courses, an index of authors and detailed lists of all the other publications of the Academy. This volume includes descriptions of monographs of the Centre for Studies and Research on international criminal justice and food supply security, along with material on economic sanctions in international law and lists of workshops. Nijhoff is an imprint of Brill. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Inscribing devotion and death; archaeological evidence for Jewish populations of North Africa.

To believe Christian rhetoric, North African during late antiquity was teeming with Jews not only spewing religious error, but probably eating Christian babies as well, however the archaeological evidence for such Jewish presence is obscure at best. Stern (religion, U. of Southern California) explores the artifacts and interpretations of them that may indicate the presence of Jews, Jewish influence, maybe just a cosmopolitan empire. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Instructions for the netherworld; the Orphic gold tablets.

Bernabé and San Cristóbel (both ancient Greek, U. Complutense, Madrid) published the Spanish edition of the tablets in 2001; the English edition has been updated with new tablets found and new readings or interpretations since then as well as their joint work editing a comprehensive volume on Orpheus and the Orphic tradition. The small gold tablets, found in graves throughout the Greek speaking world mostly from fourth to third centuries BC, contain brief texts that are poor in script and spelling but rich in clues to the nature of ancient Greek religion. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Inscribing South Asian Muslim women; an annotated bibliography & research guide.

Aftab (history and women's studies University of Karachi, Pakistan) has assembled an impressive bibliography of articles and sources for the study of Muslim women, primarily in India and Pakistan. Subjects range from women in the Koran to women's religious practices to the modern position of women in the Islamic state. Each entry is concisely annotated. A much-needed resource. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

International and foreign legal research; a coursebook.

Designed as a coursebook for classes in foreign and international legal research, Hoffman (international and foreign legal research, U. of California, Berkeley Law School) and Rumsey's (foreign and international legal research, U. of Minnesota) text is also suitable as a research guide for librarians, students, law professors, and other researchers outside the classroom setting. Several chapters cover general concepts: basic information on types of law and sources, English translations of foreign legal materials and how to find them, introductory and background sources, using commentary and analysis documents to help set the context and identify relevant law, and strategies and tools for Internet research. Subsequent chapters focus on particular subjects of international law: public international law, foreign and comparative law, international organizations, and international topics. A companion Web site will help users stay up-to-date on new sources and strategies. Martinus Nijhoff is an imprint of Brill. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

International encyclopedia of comparative law; v.4: Persons and family.

Work on this major reference began in the 1960s and half of the chapters were completed by the late 1970s. As both society and family law has changed since then, Mary Ann Glendon (Harvard Law School) provides an introduction to the volume (written in October 2003) describing the social and legal changes that have taken place since 1974, developments in the law of persons and the family from 1971- 2003, and future trends in order to supplement the original introductory chapter that was written earlier. The remaining chapters present substantial treatment of topics that include the law of persons, formation of marriage, interspousal relations, divorce, creation of relationships of kinship, and intra-family torts. The family in post-socialist countries is discussed in a chapter by three law professors who teach at the U. of Belgrade and the Max-Planck- Institute in Hamburg, Germany. Other contributors are in England, Austria, Belgium, and Israel. Martinus Nijhoff is an imprint of Brill. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

International human rights litigation in U.S. courts, 2d ed.

In recent years, US federal courts have upheld the right to pursue international human rights litigation in their jurisdiction pursuant to the Alien Tort Statute. In this book, the authors (civil rights lawyers primarily affiliated with the Center for Constitutional Rights) provide a guide to determining whether a case is appropriate for such a path and how to proceed with the steps of the litigation. They discuss the Alien Tort Statute and other statutory and common law grounds for human rights claims and explain international law violations that may be the basis for a federal lawsuit. They also discuss possible defenses, including the political question and related doctrines; immunities; and the role of the executive branch in triggering defenses. They provide procedural guidance on investigating and developing a case and drafting and filing the complaint, through discovery, proof, default judgments, trials, and remedies. Finally, they examine the specialized area of human rights litigation based on historical injustices, particularly the Holocaust. Martinus-Nijhoff is an imprint of Brill. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

International migration and national development in Sub-Saharan Africa; viewpoints and policy initiatives in the countries of origin.

Fourteen international academics and researchers contribute 14 chapters exploring the link between international migration and national development, as seen from the perspective of countries of origin in the South, and aiming to counterbalance the northern bias in the current practice of policy making. The book is the output of a research project by the same name, undertaken by the Dutch government in collaboration with the Human Resources Development Centre at Lagos, Nigeria. The text identifies the dominant view and policy initiatives in the different countries of sub-Saharan Africa; compares how these relate to migration policies in other regions of the world — the Philippines, Mexico, and China — that have considerable experience in managing migration and using diasporas as a motor for development; and explores how consistent migration policies — particularly international labor migration — could contribute toward poverty alleviation. For academics, researchers, and policy makers. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

The integration of cultural considerations in EU law and policies.

Article 151(4) of the Treaty establishing the European Community provides that the Community "shall take cultural aspects into account in its actions under other provisions of this Treaty, in particular in order to respect and to promote the diversity of its cultures." Calling the exact degree of influence and implications of this clause "unclear," Psychogiopoulou (a research fellow at the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy, Greece) attempts to assess its legal value. He first sketches the broad contours of Community cultural activity in order to place Article 151(4) in its proper context. He then analyzes the commonalities and divergences between Article 151(4) and other cross-sectional clauses of the Treaty in order to determine if it stands on an equal footing with similar provisions in terms of legal force and institutional and procedural arrangements for implementation, finding that it is in fact a much weaker clause. He then examines the actual attention that has been paid to Article 151(4) in the cases of the internal market and competition policy areas. Martinus Nijhoff is an imprint of Brill. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

The international ombudsman yearbook; v.9, 2005.

Edited by the International Ombudsman Institute and Reif (no attribution provided), this book includes a series of essays on the role of the ombudsman, primarily in the public sector. Topics include observations on the relationship between jurisdiction, outcome, and satisfaction; and human rights and migration in Mexico. The book also includes an ombudsman bibliography and a listing of contributors to the yearbook from 1981-2005. Nijhoff is an imprint of Brill. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

International review of biblical studies; v.53, 2006-2007.

This is a yearly review of article on all aspects of Biblical studies. The articles are in a number of languages but the synopses are mainly in English or German. The arrangement is by subject matter: texts, exegesis, history etc. An index of authors and more specific topics is provided. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Introduction to public law; a comparative study.

Public law, explains Zoller (public law, U. of Paris II), is concerned with relations between the state and its citizens, and she contends that even deep in today's cult of the individual, where all matters are considered to be between private persons, public law is important for constructing and maintaining the rules that govern such private law. Introduction au droit public was published in 2006 by Éditions Dalloz; her translation departs from the French only to reflect divergences of legal concepts and terms. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Interpreting welfare and relief in the Middle East.

Ten academics and scholars from the U.S. and Europe contribute 11 chapters examining welfare in the Middle East from 1850 to 2005, a period characterized by colonizations, occupations, wars, and conflicts resulting in unmet needs and broken down institutions. While past and ongoing studies of welfare activities in the Middle East have focused mainly on religious doctrine and political positioning, the current text turns the reader's attention to gender, family, local practices, community and state relationships. Topics include the involvements and impact of women as active supporters and benefactors, individual responses to multinational relief, communal charitable commitments, the long historical involvements of specific families in providing local public services, the care of orphans, charitable work in Aden and the advancement of women, the UN Relief and Works Agency's gendered refugee projects, and the relations between humanitarianism and government. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)