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After a solid overview of the land, people, and history in Chapter 1, Chapter 2 covers religion. Jordan is still a conservative Muslim state, with a Sunni Muslim majority, that retains good relations with its citizens of other faiths. The discussion of literature and media in Chapter 3 emphasizes the pan-Arabic tradition. In Chapter 4, architecture, art, and traditional crafts in Jordan are shown to be linked to the history of the country and its religious and ethnic diversity. In Chapter 5, the cuisine and culture reveal inspiration from the region of Greater Syria. In the Gender, Marriage, and Family chapter, Shoup looks at the conservative and powerful family and changing women's roles. Highlighted in the Social Customs chapter are the topics of honor, shame, and respect, social clubs, and more on women's roles in the middle class. A final chapter on Music and Dance covers everything from their Bedouin roots to Arab rap.

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Now in a fully updated fifth edition, this premier text has been thoroughly revised to reflect the sweeping changes the past decade has brought to Europe. Long hailed for its creativity and intellectual depth, the book is now further enriched by the expertise of a new lead author, noted geographer Alexander B. Murphy. In this edition, he has focused on Europe's role in the wider world and incorporated new research and teaching approaches in regional geography. The topical organization_including environment, ethnicity, religion, language, demography, politics, industry, and urban and rural life_offers students a holistic understanding of the diverse European culture area. ... Read more

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Examines the geography, history, government, economy, and culture of Jordan. ... Read more

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Interesting insight into jordan
In the book, Cultures of the World Jordan, author Coleman South provides some interesting insights into the country of Jordan. Like other works in this series Cultures of the World, the book provides glimpses of various aspects of Jordan ranging as widely as geography to food. Since Jordan lacks the diversity of many other Middle East countries, the writer faced a greater challenge to engage the reader's interest, particularly the younger reader, for whom the series is officially designated.
he succeeds admirably. In the chapter Government, which can sometimes be dehydrated, South, after stating the official government functions for the constitutional monarchy, proceeds to discuss how the government perceives its citizens and its responsibilities to them as well as how the people see their king and government. He continues to explain how these perceptions allow society and government to integrate and build stability rather than standoff holding an 'us and them' mentality. The example of the Camel Corps (desert police) illustrates this relationship. It stands as not very functional in modern times, but it symbolizes the responsibility of government to protect the unwary traveller from the natural hazards of the desert, as well as from any potential wrongdoers.
The author also uses this probing analysis technique in the chapter on Language. After noting the signicant vocabulary and grammar differences between Arabic and English, he explains further socio-cultural differences in use of language. Arabic speakers use overstatement much more often and for a much wider range of circumstances than do English speakers. Consequently even after meticulous translation between languages, the full meanings of the speaker/writer has not been fully carried over to the listener/reader. This level of analysis is unusual for a book officially intended for young readers and it is frequently lacking in many officially 'adult works'.The photos in this book are excellent as in many other books in this series and one can gain further knowledge by studying them with care. overall the author gives the impression that he enjoyed writing this book which has, in turn, produced a very interesting book for any person, younger or adult, to read. ... Read more

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This volume presents a functional and typological study of the Iron Age artefacts recovered during six years of excavation at the site of Tall Jawa, in central Jordan. ... Read more

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Uses Michael Jordan as a vehicle for viewing the broader social, economic, political, and technological concerns that frame contemporary culture. ... Read more

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An incisive study of the past, present, and future of Jordanian and Palestinian women, women and issues of employment, education, human rights, Islamic law, and legal practice. ... Read more

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Sorry I don't have more to say right now
I had to write because Amazon has got the title of this book wrong!!It is called "Women of Jordan" (the country) not "Women of the Jordan"(the river??) ... Read more

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Politics and the Economy in Jordan is the first study in English to examine important facets of the Jordanian economic and political scene. Despite economic and political problems, this study shows that Jordan has exhibited a certain economic resilience and that a national identity has been successfully fostered. ... Read more

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"Now in its fourth edition, this leading textbook has been extensively revised to reflect the sweeping changes the past decade have brought to Europe and to incorporate new research in the field. Hailed for its creativity and intellectual depth, the book for the first time combines lead author Terry Jordan-Bychkov's decades of first-hand experience in Western and Central Europe and Bella Bychkova Jordan's expertise on European Russia to provide a comprehensive view of the region as a whole.The authors employ a humanistic geographical approach that is ideally suited to facilitate understanding of this ancient, complex culture. Their topical organization--including environment, religion, language, geogenetics, demography, geopolitics, industry, and urban and rural life--offers students a holistic understanding of the diverse European culture area. The final chapter offers a fitting capstone with its unique regional classification that pulls together all the strands of the narrative. Inclusive, intellectual, rich in ideas, lively, controversial, humanistic, and above all interesting, The European Culture Area is the text of choice for courses on the geography of Europe." ... Read more

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Great introductory text!
Dr. Jordan writes an excellent introduction to European geography.It is easy to read and understand and chapters are accompanied by lots of self-taken pictures (black and white).It begins with the question of what is Europe and who is European, a very relevant question as the European Union expands.Dr. Jordan lists a dozen empirical characteristics of Europe such as Christian and democratic that isn't universal but serves well as a fundamental description of Europe to a novice.

The best section is on the historical and cultural splits between Northern and Southern Europe, and Western and Eastern Europe.Dr. Jordan details the reasons for the splits; for example, the northerly extent of the Roman Empire and the westerly extent of Islam.

The weakest section is on the European Union which is arguably the most important issue in Europe today and essential for geographers.More detail is needed on what it does and how it works.

I highly recommend it for any geographer, political scientist, or historian interested in Europe but without a lot of background with the region. ... Read more

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The Republic of China on Taiwan is the last nation in theworld to be excluded from the United Nations. The world's seventeenthlargest economy and Asia's most vibrant democracy, Taiwan hascontinually to convince the world of its historical independence fromthe People's Republic of China. At the same time, however, forces ofhistory and contemporary economics make Taiwan's intimate cultural andeconomic ties to the mainland another crucial reality. Yet somehowunder these singular conditions, the people of the island go abouttheir daily affairs, making themselves a remarkable font of creativityand cultural innovation. The Minor Arts of Daily Life is anaccount of the many ways in which contemporary Taiwanese approachtheir ordinary existence and activities. It presents a wide range ofaspects of day-to-day living to convey something of the world asexperienced by the Taiwanese themselves. What does it mean to beTaiwanese? In what way does life in Taiwan impart a different viewof Chinese culture? How do Taiwanese envision and participate inglobal culture in the twenty-first century? What issues (cultural,social, political, economic) seem to matter most? What does "China"mean to them today?

Focusing on such broadly appealing topics as baseball, movies, gay and lesbian identity, television shows, and night markets, the contributors seek to introduce Taiwanese culture to a broad readership. In lively, non-technical prose, they approach their topics from a variety of disciplines in ways that will not only give students a comprehensive view of Taiwanese life, but also provide them with a range of theoretical perspectives with which to explore this fascinating nation. ... Read more

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Cheaper copies
I don't know why Amazon has stopped carrying the paperback version of this book. You can find new copies of the paperback version of this book at the University of Hawaii Press web page:http://www.uhpress.hawaii.edu/cart/shopcore/?db_name=uhpress&page=shop/flypage&product_id=3328&category_id=b3e6237d1b1b3b8594488ed1c40d0dfb&PHPSESSID=31e5b8112782d16da949c0ba320466ed ... Read more

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The cultural history of 20th-century Germany, more perhaps than that of any other European country, was decisively influenced by political forces and developments. This volume of essays focuses on the relationship between German politics and culture, which ismost obvious in the case of the Third Reich and the German Democratic Republic, where the one-party control of all areas of life was extended to the arts; these were expected to conform to the ideals of the day. But the relationship between politics and the arts has not always been one purely of coercion, censorship, collusion, and opportunism. Many writers greeted the First World War with quite voluntary enthusiasm; others conjured up the National Socialist revolution in intense Expressionist images long before 1933. The GDR was heralded by writers returning from Nazi exile as the anti-fascist answer to the Third Reich. And in West Germany, politics did not dictate artistic norms, nor was it greeted with any great enthusiasm among intellectuals, but writers did tend to ally themselves with particular parties. To an extent, the pre-1990 literary establishment in the Federal Republic was dominated by a left-liberal consensus that German division was the just punishment for Auschwitz. United Germany began its existence with a fierce literary debate in 1990-92, with leading literary critics arguing that East and West German literature had basically shored up the political order in the two countries. Now a new literature was required, one that was free of ideology, intensely subjective and experimental in its aesthetic. In 1998, the author Martin Walser called for an end to the author's role as "conscience of the nation" and for the right to subjective experience. This is the first book to examine this crucial relationship between politics and culture in Germany.William Niven and James Jordan are readers in German at the University of Nottingham Trent. ... Read more

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Jordan has recently come to the attention to global strategic planners.This report puts these executives on the fast track.Ten chapters provide: an overview of how to strategically access this important market, a discussion on economic fundamentals, marketing & distribution options, export and direct investment options, and full risk assessments (political, cultural, legal, human resources).Ample statistical benchmarks and comparative graphs are given. ... Read more

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Examines gender, women's involvement, and sexuality in the ideologies and strategies of a transnational Palestinian political movement.

This book focuses on the central party apparatus of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), the Democratic Front (DF) branches established in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Jordan in the 1970s, and the most influential and innovative of the DF women's organizations: the Palestinian Federation of Women's Action Committees in the occupied territories. Until now, no study of a Palestinian political organization has so thoroughly engaged with internal gender histories. In addition, no other work attempts to systematically compare branches in different regional locations to explain those differences.

Students of gender and Middle East studies, especially those with a specialty in Palestinian studies, will find this work to be of critical importance. This book will also be of great interest to those working on political protest movements and factional ties. ... Read more

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NAPA Bulletin is a peer reviewed occasional publication of the National Association for the Practice of Anthropology, dedicated to the practical problem-solving and policy applications of anthropological knowledge and methods.

• peer reviewed publication of the National Association for the Practice of Anthropology
• dedicated to the practical problem-solving and policy applications of anthropological knowledge and methods
• most editions available for course adoption

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