Introduction to Cognitive Cultural Studies (Johns Hopkins UP, 2010)

Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies, 2024

The Bisya region is rich in archaeological heritage, with thousands of protohistoric funerary monuments (fourth-first millennium BC), making it an ideal place to study the diversity of burials in the region. This article presents the results of two survey and excavation seasons in the Bisya region. Remote sensing identified over 5500 tombs in a vast area, and ground surveys made it possible to document their variability and spatial distribution. The article discusses the architectural diversity, topographical location, and chronological assignment of these tombs and sheds light on the transition from the Hafit to the Umm an-Nar period as well as on further possible reuses. The excavation of three tombs (Tomb F4170, Tomb F2276, and Tomb F4169), revealed their architectural features and deposits and shed light on their possible dating. The imported pottery found in Tomb F4169 indicates connections with Mesopotamia, Iran, and Baluchistan. Beads, small objects, and copper alloy artefacts were recovered, providing further insight into the burial practices and trade networks of the time. This research in the Bisya region contributes with new data to our understanding of the burial landscape and socio-cultural development during the Early Bronze Age in the Arabian Peninsula, illuminating the architectural evolution and the trade and cultural networks in which the population was involved.

Turkish Studies, 2024

The quantity and quality of the political, economic, social and cultural changes in the Ottoman Empire in the nineteenth century are quite evident and concrete. Cultural change in the Ottoman Empire constitutes a wide range from daily life to reading culture, from the changing nature of cultural production to the endeavour to understand the world outside the Ottoman Empire. There are many studies on the impact of the high Ottoman bureaucracy, one of the actors of this change, on the change in the fields listed above, except for the cultural field. But, it cannot be said that studies on the dimensions of the cultural interest and production of this segment of the bureaucracy are not yet sufficient. The subject of this article is an attempt to reveal the cultural capital, reading habits and predispositions of Hüseyin Hüsnü Efendi, who rose to the highest position of the Ottoman Ilmiye class, the position of Sheikhulislam, based on his library. As a member of the high scholarship, the library dominates with classical works related to his field, in other words, Islamic sciences. In addition to Islamic sciences, Hüseyin Hüsnü Efendi's library includes a vast collection of books on history, politics, literature, vocabulary, geography, philosophy, medicine, and astronomy, all of which contribute to the worldly knowledge known as âdâb/edeb in Islamic tradition. In this sense, Hüseyin Hüsnü Efendi's listed books suggest that the classical texts of Islam formed the basis of his cultural capital and predisposition. When we look at the books in the genre of Edeb, we can see a distinct lack of interest and curiosity in the works produced outside the Islamic geography, especially in Europe. Moreover, this lack of interest and curiosity is valid not only for the European literary genres such as novels, political novels, law, history and philosophy that have influenced Ottoman culture since the late nineteenth century, but also for the works on the political, geographical and cultural situation of the world outside the Ottoman Empire. Moreover, the works of prominent writers of the late Ottoman literature such as Şinasi, Recaizâde Mahmud Ekrem, Halid Ziya, Samipaşazâde Sezai are not available in the library.

Journal of the American Academy of Religion, 2024

This article explores the ritual functions of medical and mythical embryologies in Jewish ritual texts from late antiquity to the present. Together these sources tell three stories that show the development of participatory models of ritual efficacy. The first is the integration of medical embryologies into Jewish ritual practice. The second is that of a growing collaboration between human and divine in reproduction, and in prayer, through shared experience, shared embodiment and affect, and mutual mimesis that together constitute a powerful methexis. These in turn grant increased access to power. The third story is the growing maternalization of the divine, which in turn amplifies human-divine collaboration and inter-embodied participation in pregnancy. Thus from the period of late antiquity to early modernity, we see the ritualization of embryologies, remythologized to articulate an emerging theology of divine maternity and of inter-embodied human-divine participation in reproduction.

Bulletin of Pure and Applied Sciences. Vol.40 B (Botany), No.1., 2021

While several reviews on potential applications of electroculture are available, in this survey we discuss these issues from history, starting from earliest experiments by Ross. And in the last section, we discuss possible application of laserculture, another form of potential improvement. It is our hope that what we present here may be found useful for improving agricultural performance in many countries, as well as reducing dependence on fertilizer.

1993