This dissertation argues that the concept of authority should be more central in the academic study of international relations. Authority can be understood as a social relationship in which a certain group or individual is understood as appropriate for directing social activity.…
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This dissertation offers new perspectives on al-Tirmidhī’s contribution to the Sūfī doctrine of sainthood and to the development of early Islamic mysticism. Included in this study is codicological work that presents al-Tirmidhī’s Kitāb al-Hikma for the first time in print. The f…
This dissertation explores the relationship between the ancient Israelite HOH and the members of his family as portrayed in the prescriptive texts of Deuteronomy. In choosing the prescriptive texts, this study distinguishes between the actual (what was) and the ideal (what shoul…
Taalibe Baay, or Disciples of the Senegalese Shaykh `Ibrāhīm (Baay) Ñas, form a transnational network defined primarily by relations of religious apprenticeship and co-discipleship. Whereas several major Islamic adherences in Senegal arose as quasi-political intermediaries betwe…
This dissertation focuses on the political implications of education in Senegal from 1884 to 1914, a period during which French colonial officials created significant numbers of new schools and reformed existing ones. It asks how the development of colonial schooling in Senegal …
This study explores the roots of the first conquest of Muslim territory accomplished by the united principality of Catalonia and Aragon, known today as the Crown of Aragon, and the course of incorporation and consolidation by Christian rulers and settlers over one-hundred fifty …
Through a study of the efforts of the rabbis of the Movement for Progressive Judaism in Israel to build and lead value-based and participatory communities, this dissertation attempts to expand our theoretical understanding of authority. It attempts to develop Weber's elusive fou…
In recent decades in Newfoundland, a sustained interest in Christian symbols, stories, and values has been paired with increasing criticism of Christian religious institutions and agents. Newfoundland's burgeoning tradition of professional humour has reflected this changing set …
This dissertation examines the ways in which early Christian authors chose individual figures from the group of Jesus' companions and claimed apostolic authority for their message. It indicates ways in which the usage of the name of a particular apostle operated as a useful tool…
This dissertation proposes an explanation for how Islamic senses of divinity, prophets, and the afterlife influence perceptions of the legitimacy of various political and religious leaders and male heads of families in the rural northern part of the Fouta Djallon region of Guine…
This dissertation compares the textual practices of two modern Shi`i Muslim diaspora communities that trace their heritage through the Isma`ili Fatimid dynasty (909-1171 CE, North Africa, Egypt, Levant). These communities, the Da'udi Bohra Musta`li-Tayyibis and the Qasim-Shahi N…
This dissertation discusses the Sudanese Mahdiyya, focusing on how symbols, ceremony and ritual of the nascent Islamic state in the first Islamic century, as well as symbols of Islamic mysticism, were employed by the Mahdist elites to enunciate power, authority and legitimacy in…
My thesis deals with the complex relationship between religion, society, and politics in the pre-colonial southwestern Sahara, an area where Islam was a powerful unifying force of a tribal virtually stateless society. In this society, two major social groups competed for power a…
The status of freedom of expression in Kenya improved considerably in the 1990s. By the early and mid 2000s, Kenyans could express themselves without fear that the state would arrest, detain, or otherwise interfere with their expression. This relatively expansive freedom was the…
This ethnography examines Trinidadian politics by exploring everyday forms of participation in authority and what they signal about governance of public life. It first delves into the relationships, values and actions that most matter to ordinary women and men. More specifically…