The American Midwest


Book Description

This first-ever encyclopedia of the Midwest seeks to embrace this large and diverse area, to give it voice, and help define its distinctive character. Organized by topic, it encourages readers to reflect upon the region as a whole. Each section moves from the general to the specific, covering broad themes in longer introductory essays, filling in the details in the shorter entries that follow. There are portraits of each of the region's twelve states, followed by entries on society and culture, community and social life, economy and technology, and public life. The book offers a wealth of information about the region's surprising ethnic diversity -- a vast array of foods, languages, styles, religions, and customs -- plus well-informed essays on the region's history, culture and values, and conflicts. A site of ideas and innovations, reforms and revivals, and social and physical extremes, the Midwest emerges as a place of great complexity, signal importance, and continual fascination.




Muslim Minorities in the West


Book Description

Nineteen international academics contribute fifteen chapters to this text examining issues faced by Muslim minority communities in the U.S., Europe, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and the Caribbean. The essays explore the movement of these minority communities from positions of invisibility to greater public visibility within their adopted countries. They reveal the challenges faced by Muslims as they seek to assume their legitimate places in Western societies which may or may not be willing to accept their presence or their demands. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR.




Arab Americans in Michigan


Book Description

The state of Michigan hosts one of the largest and most diverse Arab American populations in the United States. As the third largest ethnic population in the state, Arab Americans are an economically important and politically influential group. It also reflects the diversity of national origins, religions, education levels, socioeconomic levels, and degrees of acculturation. Despite their considerable presence, Arab Americans have always been a misunderstood ethnic population in Michigan, even before September 11, 2001 imposed a cloud of suspicion, fear, and uncertainty over their ethnic enclaves and the larger community. In Arab Americans in Michigan Rosina J. Hassoun outlines the origins, culture, religions, and values of a people whose influence has often exceeded their visibility in the state.







Women's Mental Health


Book Description

​This book focuses on the social and societal context of women's mental health. Drawing from multidisciplinary perspectives and scholarship, it pays particular attention to how women's mental health is experienced at the personal level, yet it is influenced by their relationships and interacts with the larger societal context (such as prevailing gender equality policies, income distribution, role burden, peace and security). Specific attention is given to the positive aspects of women's mental health (such as agency, resilience) and how women’s personal relations across diverse domains (such as family, work, neighbourhoods) are constructed and influenced by, and in turn influence, broader societal structures/ policies/ opportunities. A unique feature of this book is that, at the end of each chapter, there is a Response section written by a non-academic such as a community member, practitioner or policy maker in which the invited authors respond to the chapter texts in the form of narrative, poetry, and/or prose, according to their various backgrounds, interests, and experiences.​




Arab Approaches to Conflict Resolution


Book Description

This book examines Arab approaches to mediation, negotiation and settlement of political disputes. This book proposes that two clusters of independent variables are potentially responsible for the distinctive nature of Arab conflict resolution. Firstly, those linked with Arab political regimes and imperatives, and secondly those linked with Arab and /or Islamic culture. The text also focuses on the Arab League and its history of involvement in crisis and conflict situations, along with the roles of individual leaders, emissaries and extra-regional actors such as IGOs (Inter-Governmental Organisations) in undertaking mediation initiatives. IGO and Arab League activity has taken on new importance since the various intervention attempts in connection with the 'Arab Spring' since 2011. During the negotiation process, most Arab regimes tend to view conflicts within a broad historical context and Islamic culture prioritises the cohesion of the community and internal stability of the state over individual autonomy. This has created an authoritarian style of leadership, and in practice, leaders in the Middle East have had near absolute authority in the decision-making process—a fact which will have a lot of weight in conflict management and whether peace will endure for a long period of time. This book is unique in studying these clusters through comparative systematic case study analysis of events prior to and subsequent to the 'Arab Spring', augmented by a quantitative analysis of sample data on Arab disputes, compiled from a larger and newly augmented study comprising the years 1945-2000. Complementary data from the Uppsala Conflict Data Program’s (UCDP) data base of armed conflicts since 1975 is also utilized. This book will be of much interest to students of conflict resolution, peace and conflict studies, Middle Eastern politics and IR in general.







Islamic Values in the United States


Book Description

This ethnography of immigrant Muslims examines five Northeastern communities, providing an intimate look at what it means to be a practicing Muslim in America at a time when Islam is in the forefront of international news.