Search results for: modernity and tradition

Authors: Indrani Chattopadhyaya

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This paper seeks to examine how identity – a cultural self-image of a group of people develops – how they live, they think, they celebrate and express their world view through language, gesture, symbols, and rituals. 'Culture' is a way of life and 'identity' is assertion of that cultural self-image practiced by the group. The way in which peoples live varies from time to time and from place to place. This variation is important for their identity. Archaeologists have classified these patterns of spacial variations as 'archaeological culture.' These cultures are identified 'self-consciously' with a particular social group indicating ethnicity. The ethnic identity as archaeological cultures also legitimizes the claims of modern groups to territory. In prehistoric research problems of ethnicity and multiculturalism, stylistic attributes significantly reflect both group membership and individuality. In India, anthropologists feel that though tribes have suffered relative isolation through history, they have remained an integral part of Indian civilization. The term 'tribe' calls for substitution with a more meaningful name with an indigenous flavour 'Adivasi' (original inhabitants of the land).While studying prehistoric rock paintings from central India - Sonbhadra (Uttar Pradesh) and Bhimbetka (Madhya Pradesh), one is struck by the similarity between stylistic attributes of painted motifs in the prehistoric rock shelters and the present day indigenous art of Kol and Bhil tribes in the area, who have not seen these prehistoric rock paintings, yet are carrying on with the tradition of painting and decorating their houses in the same way. They worship concretionary sandstone blocks with triangular laminae as Goddess, Devi, Shakti. This practice is going on since Upper Palaeolithic period confirmed by archaeological excavation. The past is legitimizing the role of the present groups by allowing them to trace their roots from earlier times.

Keywords: ethnic identity, hermeneutics, semiotics, Adivasi

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Authors: Alexandra Amling, Emina Sadic

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The migration routes linking the Horn of Africa to Europe shift in response to political and humanitarian developments across the region. Abrupt changes to those routes can have profound effects on the relative ease of movement and the well-being of migrants. Somali migrants have traditionally been able to rely on a sophisticated, well-established, and reliable network of smugglers to facilitate their journey through the Sahel to Libya, but changes to the routes have undermined those networks. Recently, these shifts have made the journey from Somalia to Europe much more perilous. As the Libyan coast guard intensifies its efforts to stymie boats leaving its coast for Italian shores, arrivals in Spain are trending upwards. This paper thus, will examine how the instability in transit countries that are most commonly used by Somali migrants has had an impact on the reliability of their massive network of smuggling, and how resurgence in the Western route toward Spain provides a potentially new opportunity to reach Europe—a route that has rarely been used by the Somali migrant population in the past. First, the paper will discuss what scholars have called the pastoralist, nomadic tradition of Somalis which reportedly has allowed them to endure the long journeys from Somalia to their chosen destinations. Facilitated by relatives or clan affiliation, Somali migrants have historically been able to rely on a smuggling network that – at least tangentially – provided more security nets during their travels. Given the violence and chaos that unfolded both in Libya and Yemen in 2011 and 2015, respectively, the paper will, secondly, examine which actors in smuggling hubs increase the vulnerabilities of Somalis, pushing them to consider other routes. As a result, this paper will consider to what extent Somalis could follow the stream of other migrants to Algeria and Morocco to enter Europe via Spain. By examining one particular group of migrants and the nature and limitations of the networks associated with their movements, the paper will demonstrate the resilience and adaptability of both the migrants and the networks regardless of the ever-changing nature of migration routes and actors.

Keywords: Europe, migration, smuggling networks, Somalia

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Authors: Amandeep Kaur

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All religions enlighten truth which provides spiritual tranquility. But, the language of these holy books is not easy to understand because these have divine language. That's why hermeneutical Study is necessary to understand these Scriptures. There is a separate theoretical framework to study all the disciplines of language, literature, religion etc. Similarly the discipline of interpretation has its own theoretical framework known as hermeneutics. It is a science of interpretation that put forward the best ways and methods of interpretation. But in this modern world, hermeneutics is considered as a theoretical-cum-philosophical discipline. It is vast study of understanding texts. Hermeneutics is especially related to the study of religious scriptures like the Bible, the Qur'an, the Vedas and the Shri Guru Granth Sahib and many more. It is mainly the Western concept which has a great old tradition because it used the Bible as the foremost holy scripture for definition and interpretation. The Discipline of the Indian hermeneutics was led by Mimamsa School. The reference of the word hermeneutics in works of Ancient Greek philosophers indicates towards the antiquity of this word. Shri Guru Granth Sahib's schools of interpretation like Udasi, Nirmala, Sevapanthi and Gyani came into existence to interpret the discourse of Shri Guru Granth Sahib. These are sects of Sikhism and have great contribution to interpret and preach Guru Granth Sahib's revelation. This research paper will represent the comparative study of these sects methods, tools and styles of interpreting the meaning of this holy book. Interpretation is basically textual based process. So, all these schools have chosen Guru Granth Sahib for textual study. Some of the schools have done a whole interpretation of Guru Granth Sahib. But, some of them have done only interpretation of prominent banies i.e Japuji Sahib, Anand Sahib, Assa-di-war etc. This study will also throw lights on sect's historical background and contribution. At last conclusion of this paper is that all the schools have done gurbani interpretation according to their own philosophical and theological point of view. These schools have many similarities and differences among their way of interpretation. It will be discussed briefly.

Keywords: Gyani, hermeneutics, Mimamsa, Nirmala, Sevapanthi, Udasi

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Authors: Jukka Törrönen

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In the article, we examine the interplay between the practices of heavy drinking and exercise among young people as patterned around the ‘social’ and ‘physical health’ approaches. The comparison helps us to clarify why young people are currently drinking less than earlier and how the neoliberal healthism discourse, as well as the feminine tradition of taking care of one’s body, are modifying young people’s heavy drinking practices. The data is based on interviews (n = 56) in Sweden among 15-16-year-olds and 18˗19-year-olds. By drawing on Pierre Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus, field, and capital, we examine what kinds of resources of wellbeing young people accumulate in the fields of heavy drinking and exercise, how these resources carry symbolic value for distinction, and what kind of health-related habitus they imply. The analysis suggests that as heavy drinking is no longer able to stand as a practice through which one may acquire capital that is more valuable than the capital acquired in other fields, this lessens peer pressure to drink among young people. Our analysis further shows that the healthism discourse modifies young people’s heavy drinking practices both from inside and from outside. The interviewees translate the symbolic value of healthism discourse to social vulnerability and deploy it for the purposes of increasing one’s social status among peers. Moreover, our analysis demonstrates that the social spaces and positions in intoxication and exercise are shaped by gendered dualisms of masculine dominance. However, while the interviewees naturalize the gender binaries in intoxication as based on biological drives, they understand gender binaries in exercise as normative social constructions of neoliberal society. As these binaries emphasize the struggle for recognition of the symbolic value of bodily look, they may shift young men’s attention from risk-taking to issues that traditionally have been female concerns.

Keywords: young people, decline in drinking , health, intoxication, exercise, Bourdieu

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Authors: Sofia Serra-Dawa

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Adult relationships accrue on a variety of past social experiences, intentions, and emotions that might predispose and influence the approach to and construction of subsequent relationships. The Adult Attachment Theory (AAT) proposes four types of adult attachment, where attachment is built over two dimensions of anxiety and avoidance: secure, anxious-preoccupied, dismissive-avoidant, and fearful-avoidant. The AAT has been studied in multiple settings such as personal and therapeutic relationships, educational settings, sexual orientation, health, and religion. In music scholarship, the AAT has been used to frame class learning of student singers and study the relational behavior between voice teachers and students. Building on this study, the present inquiry studies how attachment types might characterize learning relationships of music students (in the Western Conservatory tradition), and whether particular instrumental experiences might correlate to given attachment styles. Given certain behavioral cohesive features of established traditions of instrumental playing and performance modes, it is hypothesized that student musicians will display specific characteristics correlated to instrumental traditions, demonstrating clear tendency of attachment style, which in turn has implications on subsequent professional interactions. This study is informed by the methodological framework of Adult Attachment Scale-R (Collins and Read, 1990), which was particularly chosen given its non-invasive questions and classificatory validation. It is further hypothesized that the analytical comparison of musicians’ profiles has the potential to serve as the baseline for other comparative behavioral observation studies [this component is expected to be verified and completed well before the conference meeting]. This research may have implications for practitioners concerned with matching and improving musical teaching and learning relationships and in (professional and amateur) long-term musical settings.

Keywords: adult attachment, music education, musicians attachment profile, musicians relationships

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Authors: Sharon Cayzer-Haller, Shir Ginosar-Yaari, Ariel Knafo-Noam

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The 21st century emerged as the digital century, and it is marked by a wide range of technological developments and changes, followed by potential changes in human communication skills. This technological revolution has changed human means of communication in many different ways: children and adolescents are spending much of their time in front of screens, participating in all sorts of online activities (even more so since the outbreak of COVID-19). The current study focuses on the role of values in adolescents' online bystanders' behavior. Values are cognitive, abstract representations of desirable goals that motivate behavior, and we hypothesized finding significant associations between specific values and differential online bystanders' feelings and behavior. Data was collected through online questionnaires that measured the participants' values, using Schwartz's short version of the Portrait Values Questionnaire (Schwartz, 2012). Participants’ online behavior was assessed in a questionnaire addressing reactions to situations of cyber shaming and cyberbullying, and specifically positive feelings and pro-social behavior (e.g., more supportive reactions) toward the victims, as opposed to different offensive behavioral reactions (such as laughing at the victim or ignoring the situation). Participants were recruited with a commercial research panel company, and 308 Israeli adolescents' values and online behavior were examined (mean age 15.2). As hypothesized, results show significant associations between self-transcendence values (universalism and benevolence) and conservation values (conformity, tradition, and security). These two groups of values were positively correlated with pro-social bystanders' feelings and behavior. On the opposite side of the values scale, the value of power was negatively associated with the participants' pro-social behavior, and positively associated with offensive behavioral reactions. Further research is needed, but we conclude that values serve as crucial guiding factors in directing adolescents' online feelings and behavior.

Keywords: adolescents, values, cyberbullying, online behavior, power

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Authors: Andreas Johansson

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Conceptual understanding needs to be grounded on observation of physical phenomena, experiences or metaphors. Observation of physical phenomena using demonstration experiments has a long tradition within physics education and students need to develop mental models to relate the observations to concepts from scientific theories. This study investigates how live and video experiments involving an acoustic trap to visualize particle-field interaction, field properties and particle properties can help develop students' mental models and how they can be used differently to realize their potential as teaching tools. Initially, they were treated as analogs and the lesson designs were kept identical. With a design-based approach, the experimental and video designs, as well as best practices for a respective teaching tool, were then developed in iterations. Variation theory was used as a theoretical framework to analyze the planned respective realized pattern of variation and invariance in order to explain learning outcomes as measured by a pre-posttest consisting of conceptual multiple-choice questions inspired by the Force Concept Inventory and the Force and Motion Conceptual Evaluation. Interviews with students and teachers were used to inform the design of experiments and videos in each iteration. The lesson designs and the live and video experiments has been developed to help teachers improve student learning and make school physics more interesting by involving experimental setups that usually are out of reach and to bridge the gap between what happens in classrooms and in science research. As students’ conceptual knowledge also rises their interest in physics the aim is to increase their chances of pursuing careers within science, technology, engineering or mathematics.

Keywords: acoustic trap, design-based research, experiments, variation theory

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Authors: Hemalatha Jain, M. Vasantha

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Patteda Anchu is one of the first variety of sari woven centuries ago in Gajendragarh village from Gadag district of north Karnataka. The sari played a significant role in bringing together the socio-cultural aspect in ancient days. It was used as wedding sari for bride and also to adorn goddess Yellamma Saundatti by the devotees. Indian traditional art and crafts were rich in culture and diversity, however with the onset of liberalisation and end of the license raj lot of traditional Indian artwork are on the verge of extinction today. Patteda Anchu is one of the examples of traditional art lost to globalisation. The main aim of the study was to document the ancient weaving tradition of the Patteda Anchu and revive by exploring the weaving possibility as yardage with different product layout. To accomplish the formulated objectives a exploratory cum diagnostic study was planned. Data was collected through observations and interviews schedule during the field visits in Gajendragarh village. There are very few weavers weaving on traditional looms and many weavers who have moved to weaving other sari's or construction work were interviewed to understand the downfall of the sari. The discussions and interviews conducted with the local weavers, shop keepers, sales agents, weaving society, NGOs and Self help groups helped in unearthing the new opportunities to develop products for the local and national market and help start weaving of Patteda Anchu and expand its market. The handloom art details in terms of raw materials, loom set up, dyeing, types of Patteda Anchu, weaving process and colors were documented through photographs, video recordings and supplemented with notes. Based on the analysis of the feedback gathered it was recommended to develop products on the handloom without changing the width frame or design of the traditional weaving methods. The weavers, weavers society and other cooperatives centres also were in consent with the new product development which will help sustain the Patteda Anchu.

Keywords: Gajendragarh, patteda Anchu sari, revival of traditional art, weaving, handloom

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Authors: Masyitah Abd Aziz, Mohd Sabere Sulaiman, Norsiah Hassan, Jamilah Halina Abdul Halim, Mohd Saipul Asrafi Haron

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A well-defined terminology of ‘Marseilles’ clay roof tiles in conservation works will easily characterize the communication delivery between expert and layperson, which will help people effectively understand to such specific knowledge areas. While it reduces ambiguity and increases clarity, the communication will translate very fast as it encourage an important factor in quality of the preservation of cultural heritage for future generations. The experts in conservation works faces many important terms, and indeed the very basic terminology in conservation areas were misunderstood. Thus, there were such terminology that being taken for granted and just follow seriously the tradition of the common practitioner without having any precise knowledge of what it entails. This study aims to investigate on the misconception of the terminology of ‘Marseilles’ clay roof tiles that being used in Malaysia’s conservation work. To avoid confusion of the terminology of ‘Marseilles’ clay roof tiles that will be followed through by the next generation, observation, interviews, and readings from the literature reviews on the terminology of the roof tiles has been done. It shows some evidence that ‘Marseilles’ were referring specific to French type roof tiles that developed by the Gilardoni Brothers in 1851. It was also found in Mangalore as the pioneered manufacturer in the 1860s by The Common Wealth Trust Ltd (Basel Mission tile factory). The interlocking clay roof types that has been used in Malaysia have the similarity and are influenced by both Europe and India. However, ‘Marseilles’ terminology was commonly used in Malaysia’s conservation works which led to the misconception of the real interpretation of all interlocking clay roof tiles type. The future generations will found that the well-defined terminology will gives a specific impact on conservation method and techniques. These range of applications to which roof tiles terminology will direct the future experts to make realistic suggestion for a future sustainable conservation approaches. Furthermore, it should contributes value added to conservation knowledge as well as holistic references for next generation.

Keywords: interlocking roof tiles, marseilles, misconception, terminology

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Authors: Federica Floridi

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The long tradition of contrastive idiom research has essentially been focusing on three domains: the comparison of structural types of idioms (e.g. verbal idioms, idioms with noun-phrase structure, etc.), the description of idioms belonging to the same thematic groups (Sachgruppen), the identification of different types of cross-linguistic equivalents (i.e. full equivalents, partial equivalents, phraseological parallels, non-equivalents). The diastratic, diachronic and diatopic aspects of the compared idioms, as well as their syntactic, pragmatic and semantic properties, have been rather ignored. Corpora (both monolingual and parallel) give the opportunity to investigate the actual use of correlating idioms in authentic texts of L1 and L2. Adopting the corpus-based approach, it is possible to draw attention to the frequency of occurrence of idioms, their syntactic embedding, their potential syntactic transformations (e.g., nominalization, passivization, relativization, etc.), their combinatorial possibilities, the variations of their lexical structure, their connotations in terms of stylistic markedness or register. This paper aims to present the results of a contrastive analysis of Russian and Italian idioms referring to the concepts of ‘beginning’ and ‘end’, that has been carried out by using the Russian National Corpus and the ‘La Repubblica’ corpus. Beyond the digital corpora, bilingual dictionaries, like Skvorcova - Majzel’, Dobrovol’skaja, Kovalev, Čerdanceva, as well as monolingual resources, have been consulted. The study has shown that many of the idioms that have been traditionally indicated as cross-linguistic equivalents on bilingual dictionaries cannot be considered correspondents. The findings demonstrate that even those idioms, that are formally identical in Russian and Italian and are presumably derived from the same source (e.g., conceptual metaphor, Bible, classical mythology, World literature), exhibit differences regarding usage. The ultimate purpose of this article is to highlight that it is necessary to review and improve the existing bilingual dictionaries considering the empirical data collected in corpora. The materials gathered in this research can contribute to this sense.

Keywords: corpora, cross-linguistic equivalence, idioms, Italian, Russian

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Authors: Benjamin Obeghare Izu

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In Africa, indigenous musical practices are the focal point in which most cultural practices revolve, and they are the conduit mainly used in transmitting Indigenous knowledge and values. They serve as a means of documenting, preserving, transmitting indigenous knowledge, and re-enacting their historical, social, and cultural affinity. Indigenous musical practices also serve as a repository for indigenous knowledge and artistic traditions. However, these indigenous musical practices and the resulting cultural ideals are confronted with substantial challenges in the twenty-first century from contemporary cultural influence. Additionally, indigenous musical practices' educational and cultural purposes have been impacted by the broad monetisation of the arts in contemporary society. They are seen as objects of entertainment. Some young people are today unaware of their cultural roots and are losing their cultural identity due to these influences and challenges. In order to help policymakers raise awareness of and encourage the use of indigenous knowledge and musical practices among African youth and scholars, this study is in response to the need to explore the components and functions of the indigenous knowledge system, values, and musical tradition in Africa. The study employed qualitative research methods, utilising interviews, participant observation, and conducting related literature as data collection methods. It examines the indigenous musical practices in the Oba of Benin Royal Igue festival among the Benin people in Edo state, Nigeria, and the Ovwuwve festival observed by the Abraka people in Delta state, Nigeria. The extent to which the indigenous musical practices convey and protect indigenous knowledge and cultural values are reflected in the musical practices of the cultural festivals. The study looks at how indigenous musical arts are related to one another and how that affects how indigenous knowledge is transmitted and preserved. It makes recommendations for how to increase the use of indigenous knowledge and values and their fusion with contemporary culture. The study contributes significantly to ethnomusicology by showing how African traditional music traditions support other facets of culture and how indigenous knowledge might be helpful in contemporary society.

Keywords: African musical practices, African music and dance, African society, indigenous musical practices

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Authors: Katarina Revocati Mteule

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The background of this research arises from global demands for fair business opportunities. As one of responses to these demands, nations embarked on reforms in commercial laws. In 1990s Tanzania resorted to economic transformation through liberalization to attract more investments included reform in commercial laws enforcement. This research scrutinizes the effectiveness of reforms in Tanzania in comparison with Canada and Singapore and the role of technology. The methodology to be used is doctrinal legal research mixed with international comparative legal research. It involves comparative analysis of library, online, and internet resources as well as Case Laws and Statutory Laws. Tanzania, Canada and Singapore are sampled comparators basing on their distinct level of economic development. The criteria of analysis includes the nature of reforms, type of technology, technological infrastructure and human resource technical competence in each country. As the world progresses towards reforms in commercial laws, improvements in law, policy, and regulatory frameworks are paramount. Specifically, commercial laws are essential in contract enforcement and dispute resolution and how it copes with modern technologies is a concern. Harnessing the best technology is necessary to cope with the modernity in world businesses. In line with this, Tanzania is improving its business environment, including law enforcement mechanisms that are supportive to investments. Reforms such as specialized commercial law enforcement coupled with alternative dispute resolutions such as arbitration, mediation, and reconciliation are emphasized. Court technology as one of the reform tools given high priority. This research evaluates the progress and the effectiveness of the reforms in Commercial Laws towards friendly business environment in Tanzania in comparison with Canada and Singapore. The experience of Tanzania is compared with Canada and Singapore to see what to improve for each country to enhance quick and fair enforcement of commercial law. The research proposes necessary global standards of procedures and in national laws to offer a business-friendly environment and the use of appropriate technology. Solutions are proposed in tackling the challenges of delays in enforcing Commercial Laws such as case management, funding, legal and procedural hindrances, laxity among staff, and abuse of Court process among litigants, all in line with modern technology. It is the finding of the research that proper use of technology has managed to reduce case backlogs and time taken to resolve a commercial dispute, to increase court integrity by minimizing human contacts in commercial law enforcement which may lead to solicitation of favors and saving of parties’ time due to online service. Among the three countries, each one is facing a distinct challenge due to the level of poverty and remoteness from online service. How solutions are found in one country is a lesson to another. To conclude, this paper is suggesting solutions for improving the commercial law enforcement mechanisms in line with modern technology. The call for technological transformation is essential for the enforcement of commercial laws.

Keywords: commercial law, enforcement, technology

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Authors: Lim Pey Huan

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Yi-Kuan-Tao has been developing in Malaysia for nearly 60 years. It was initially introduced from mainland China and later from Taiwan starting from the 1970s. Yi-Kuan-Tao was considered a 'new religion' for the local Chinese community in Malaysia in its early stages, as Chinese immigrants primarily practiced Taoism, Buddhism, Christianity, or Catholicism upon settling in the region. The overseas propagation and development of Yi-Kuan-Tao today primarily occur through Taiwanese temples, which began spreading abroad as early as 1949. Particularly since the 1970s, with the rapid economic growth of Taiwan, various branches of Taiwanese Yi-Kuan-Tao have gained economic strength to propagate abroad, further expanding the influence of Yi-Kuan-Tao overseas. Southeast Asia is the region out from Taiwan where the propagation and development of Yi-Kuan-Tao are fastest and most concentrated. With approximately over 6 million Chinese inhabitants, Malaysia's pursuit of traditional Chinese culture has led to a flourishing interest in Yi-Kuan-Tao, particularly its advocacy of the unity of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism, with an emphasis on promoting Confucian thought. Moreover, Taiwan's rapid economic development since the 1970s has enabled Yi-Kuan-Tao to allocate significant human and financial resources for external propagation efforts. Additionally, Malaysia's government has adopted a relatively tolerant policy towards religion since that time, further fostering the flourishing development of Yi-Kuan-Tao in Malaysia. Furthermore, this thesis aims to strengthen the lineage and continuity of the Yi-Kuan-Tao tradition, particularly the branch of Fa Yi Chong De, through the perspective of Heavenly Mandate (天命). By examining the different origins and ethnic backgrounds, it investigates how the Malaysian Chinese community has experienced different changes through the cultural baptism of religion, thus delving into the religious influence of Yi-Kuan-Tao. Given that the Fa Yi Chong De Academy in Taiwan is currently in an active development and construction phase, academic works related to Yi-Kuan-Tao will lay a more solid academic foundation for the future establishment of the academy.

Keywords: initial exploration, cultural shifts, Yi-Kuan-Tao, Malaysian Chinese community

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Authors: Nancy Retzlaff, Sarah J. Berkemer, Trudie Strauss

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In the last couple of decades, the advent of digitalization of any kind of data was probably one of the major advances in all fields of study. This paves the way for also analysing these data even though they might come from disciplines where there was no initial computational necessity to do so. Especially in linguistics, one can find a rather manual tradition. Still when considering studies that involve the history of language families it is hard to overlook the striking similarities to bioinformatics (phylogenetic) approaches. Alignments of words are such a fairly well studied example of an application of bioinformatics methods to historical linguistics. In this paper we will not only consider alignments of strings, i.e., words in this case, but also alignments of syntax trees of selected Indo-European languages. Based on initial, crude alignments, a sophisticated scoring model is trained on both letters and syntactic features. The aim is to gain a better understanding on which features in two languages are related, i.e., most likely to have the same root. Initially, all words in two languages are pre-aligned with a basic scoring model that primarily selects consonants and adjusts them before fitting in the vowels. Mixture models are subsequently used to filter ‘good’ alignments depending on the alignment length and the number of inserted gaps. Using these selected word alignments it is possible to perform tree alignments of the given syntax trees and consequently find sentences that correspond rather well to each other across languages. The syntax alignments are then filtered for meaningful scores—’good’ scores contain evolutionary information and are therefore used to train the sophisticated scoring model. Further iterations of alignments and training steps are performed until the scoring model saturates, i.e., barely changes anymore. A better evaluation of the trained scoring model and its function in containing evolutionary meaningful information will be given. An assessment of sentence alignment compared to possible phrase structure will also be provided. The method described here may have its flaws because of limited prior information. This, however, may offer a good starting point to study languages where only little prior knowledge is available and a detailed, unbiased study is needed.

Keywords: alignments, bioinformatics, comparative linguistics, historical linguistics, statistical methods

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Authors: Hannah Dean

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The growth ideology, and its association with progress, is an important construct in the narrative of modernity. This ideology is embedded in neoclassical economic growth theory which conceptualises growth as linear and predictable, and the entrepreneur as a rational economic manager. This conceptualisation has been critiqued for reinforcing the managerial discourse in entrepreneurship studies. Despite these critiques, both the neoclassical growth theory and its adjacent managerial discourse dominate entrepreneurship studies notably the literature on female entrepreneurs. The latter is the focus of this paper. Given this emphasis on growth, female entrepreneurs are portrayed as problematic because their growth lags behind their male counterparts. This image which ignores the complexity and diversity of female entrepreneurs’ experience persists in the literature due to the lack of studies that analyse the process and contextual factors surrounding female entrepreneurs’ experience. This study aims to address the subordination of female entrepreneurs by questioning the hegemonic logic of economic growth and the managerial discourse as a true representation for the entrepreneurial experience. This objective is achieved by drawing on Schumpeter’s theorising and narrative inquiry. This exploratory study undertakes in depth interviews to gain insights into female entrepreneurs’ experience and the impact of the economic growth model and the managerial discourse on their performance. The narratives challenge a number of assumptions about female entrepreneurs. The participants occupied senior positions in the corporate world before setting up their businesses. This is at odds with much writing which assumes that women underperform because they leave their career without gaining managerial experience to achieve work-life balance. In line with Schumpeter, who distinguishes the entrepreneur from the manager, the participants’ main function was innovation. They did not believe that the managerial paradigm governing their corporate careers was applicable to their entrepreneurial experience. Formal planning and managerial rationality can hinder their decision making process. The narratives point to the gap between the two worlds which makes stepping into entrepreneurship a scary move. Schumpeter argues that the entrepreneurial process is evolutionary and that failure is an integral part of it. The participants’ entrepreneurial process was in fact irregular. The performance of new combinations was not always predictable. They therefore relied on their initiative. The inhibition to deploy these traits had an adverse effect on business growth. The narratives also indicate that over-reliance on growth threaten the business survival as it faces competing pressures. The study offers theoretical and empirical contributions to (female) entrepreneurship studies by presenting Schumpeter’s theorising as an alternative theoretical framework to the neoclassical economic growth theory. The study also reduces entrepreneurs’ vulnerability by making them aware of the negative influence that the linear growth model and the managerial discourse hold upon their performance. The study has implications for policy makers as it generates new knowledge that incorporates the current social and economic changes in the context of entrepreneurs that can no longer be sustained by the linear growth models especially in the current economic climate.

Keywords: economic growth, female entrepreneurs, managerial discourse, Schumpeter

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Authors: Sabika Khalid, Endale Fantahun Tadesse

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Unlike other professional sectors, a great deal of studies has addressed the overwhelming gender disparity phenomena in the early childhood education (ECE) workforce, which is acknowledged for the dominance of women over men teachers. The irony of ECE being a gendered working environment is not only observed in societies that are ruled by gender roles but also in Western countries that claim to margin the gender gap in several professions. The participation of male teachers in ECE across most countries ranged from 1% to 3% of the total preschool or kindergarten teachers. When it comes to a dynamic Chinese society tempered with a deep-rooted tradition and cultural ideology, the ECE has no less place for males, and males have a low place for ECE. According to the Ministry of Education of China (2020), there are over 5 million kindergarten teachers and staff members, while only 2.3% are accounted for male teachers. The traditional gender-based discourse asserts that giving care and guidance for young children related to nurturing ‘mothering’ labels the profession in ECE as women’s work derived from originated from their ‘naturality.’ Although a large volume of evidence sheds light on the cause for low male teachers, the perception of parents, female teachers working with male teachers, and the experience of male teachers working in ECE, less is known and understood before being a teacher. Hence, this study argues that the promotion of the involvement of male teachers in light of their masculinity identity asset in the children's learning environment is comprehended to understand the construction of male student teachers' (preservice) professional identity during early childhood teacher training that allows obtaining substantial evidence that provides a feasible and robust implication in the preparation of competent and professional male preschool teachers that understand, cherish, and bring harmony in Chinese ECE through professionalism socialization with the stakeholders. This study intended to reveal male ECE preservice teachers’ knowledge of their professional identity, i.e., how they perceive themselves as a teacher and what factors agents these perceptions towards their professional identity.

Keywords: male teachers, Early Childhood Education (ECE), self-identity, perception of stakeholders

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Authors: Ningfei Xiao, Simon Twose, Hannah Hopewell

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In urban settings worldwide, artists and researchers have drawn from shamanic healing, providing insightful responses to the environment. This project is a transdisciplinary creative research project where architecture and art practice draw from shamanic healing and provide the potential to expand knowledge of public space and inspire more aesthetic explorations of public spatial visions. The research started from the encounters with the Ewengki/Evenki shaman tribe in settlement areas of northern China in 2019 and extended through the partnerships with Maori artists in Poneke Aotearoa, New Zealand, in 2023. Based on the learnings and collaborations with female indigenous tradition practitioners and the healing that the researcher received from the land, a spatial installation exhibition was developed in this project. Indigenous practices are intricately woven with contemporary technology, merging visuals, soundscapes, and other non-visual aesthetics influenced by the researcher's personal experiences of embodied shamanic healing with brainwave generative technology. This synthesis seeks to ritualize and reimagine future public spaces, encompassing streetscapes and greenscapes from China to Aotearoa, and fostering connections between urbanized human body, mind, spirit, and land. In doing so, the project presents a feminist posthuman inquiry into how individuals perceive materiality within the context of a future city. Grounded in creative research and embodied methodologies, this paper focuses on the conceptual and autoethnographic aspects of visual-non-visual aesthetics and their creative representation. Through the exploration of aesthetics beyond the visual realm within urban and spatial contexts, this project showcases the spatial installation exhibition as an example of shamanic influence and related response to public space through embodied artistry and transdisciplinary creative inquiry.

Keywords: aesthetic, embodiment, visual and/or non-visual, spatial installation, shamanic healing, public space

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Authors: Biniam Tedros Kahsay, Yohannes Yebabe Tesfay

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Eritrea is a country in the East of Africa. The country is a neighbor of Djibouti, Ethiopia, and Sudan and is bordered by the Red Sea. The country declared its independence from Ethiopia in 1993. Thus, Eritrea has a lot of commonalities with the Northern Part of Ethiopia's tradition, religion, and languages. Many economists suggested that Eritrea is in a very strategic position for world trade roots and has an impact on geopolitics. This study focused on identifying the most important factor in boosting the Eritrean Economy. The paper collected big secondary data from the World Bank, International Trade and Tariff Data (WTO), East African Community (EAC), Ethiopian Statistical Agency (ESA), and the National Statistics Office (Eritrea). Economists consider economic and population growth in determining trade belts in East Africa. One of the most important Trade Belt that will potentially boost the Eritrean economy is the root of Eritrea (Massawa)->Eritea, (Asmara)->Tigray, (Humora)->Tigray, (Dansha)-> Gondar-> Gojjam-> Benshangual Gumuz => {Oromia, South Sudan}->Uganda. The estimate showed that this is one of the biggest trade roots in East Africa and has a participation of more than 150 million people. We employed various econometric analyses to predict the GDP of Eritrea, considering the future trade belts in East Africa. The result showed that the economy of Eritrea from the Trade Belt will have an elasticity estimate of 65.87% of the GDP of Ethiopia, 3.32% of the GDP of South Sudan, and 0.09% of the GDP of Uganda. The result showed that the existence of war has an elasticity of -93% to the GDP of the country. Thus, if Eritrea wants to strengthen its economy from the East African Trade Belt, the country needs to permanently avoid war in the region. Essentially, the country needs to establish a collaborative platform with the Northern part of Ethiopia (Tigray). Thus, establishing a mutual relationship with Tigray will boost the Eritrean economy. In that regard, Eritrean scholars and policymakers need to work on establishing the East African Trade Belt to boost their economy.

Keywords: Eritrea, east Africa trade belt, GDP, cointegration analysis, critical path analysis

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Authors: Anders Troedsson

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For us humans, risks are intimately linked to human vulnerabilities - where there is vulnerability, there is potentially insecurity, and risk. Reducing vulnerability through compensatory measures means increasing security and decreasing risk. The paper suggests that a meaningful way to approach the study of risks (including threats, assaults, crisis etc.), is to understand the vulnerabilities these external phenomena evoke in humans. As is argued, the basis of risk evaluation, as well as responses, is the more or less subjective perception by the individual person, or a group of persons, exposed to the external event or phenomena in question. This will be determined primarily by the vulnerability or vulnerabilities that the external factor are perceived to evoke. In this way, risk perception is primarily an inward dynamic, rather than an outward one. Therefore, a route towards an understanding of the perception of risks, is a closer scrutiny of the vulnerabilities which they can evoke, thereby approaching an understanding of what in the paper is called the essence of risk (including threat, assault etc.), or that which a certain perceived risk means to an individual or group of individuals. As a necessary basis for gauging the wide spectrum of potential risks and their meaning, the paper proposes a model of human vulnerabilities, drawing from i.a. a long tradition of needs theory. In order to account for the subjectivity factor, which mediates between the innate vulnerabilities on the one hand, and the event or phenomenon out there on the other hand, an ensuing ontological discussion about the timespace characteristics of risk/threat/assault as perceived by humans leads to the positing of two dimensions. These two dimensions are applied on the vulnerabilities, resulting in a modelling effort featuring four realms of vulnerabilities which are related to each other and together represent a dynamic whole. In approaching the problem of risk perception, the paper thus defines the relevant realms of vulnerabilities, depicting them as a dynamic whole. With reference to a substantial body of literature and a growing international policy trend since the 1990s, this model is put in the language of human security - a concept relevant not only for international security studies and policy, but also for other academic disciplines and spheres of human endeavor.

Keywords: human security, timespace, vulnerabilities, risk perception

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Authors: Venera Goxha

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Property and inheritance rights for women whose husbands were killed or disappeared during the last war in Kosovo is the purpose of this study, respectively, the access of these women to family real estate. The case study is about women whose husbands were killed or disappeared during the last war in Kosovo and who, on this occasion, earned the title of 'widow'.The research is conducted in the villages of Krusha e Vogël - Municipality of Prizren, and Krusha e Madhe - Municipality of Rahovec, one of the most suffered villages from the recent war in Kosovo. Krusha e Vogël, as a result of the recent war, has 113 male victims, or 70% of all men from the age of 13 to the age of 77, leaving widows and orphans. In the village of Krusha e Madhe, 243 Albanians were massacred by Serbs living in the same village, leaving widows and orphaned children alive. According to these data, most of the Krushian families, as heads of households, have surviving wives and widows. Therefore, being the head of the family and facing a mountain of challenges, such as economic, social, and cultural, the issue of how these women have approached the property and family heritage is considered. The equal right to property and inheritance is a right that is guaranteed to women with all legislation in force, starting from the Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo onwards. Article 7 of the Constitution of Kosovo and the subsequent legal framework recognizes the equality of women and the equal division of property between heirs, daughters, and sons. However, some of the legislation does not successfully reflect the current reality in Kosovo. All these ambiguities follow from the ‘patriarchal law’ of the Albanians in the time of the early Middle Ages, later known as the ‘Kanun of Lekë Dukagjini’. At the time it was written and applied, it weighted the law in force, but later over time, it passed into tradition, culture, and mentality. The Kanun of Lekë Dukagjini, in no context, has treated women equally to men. The female, according to the Kanun, was a working tool, a creature to be born, to work, to carry, to raise children, and to remain faithful to the husband even when the husband is not faithful.

Keywords: property rights, heritage, widows, code

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Authors: Kaleb Shiferaw, Berhanu Geberemedhin

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Ethiopian farmers have a long tradition of beekeeping and the country has huge potential for honey production. However traditional mode of production still dominates the sub sector which negatively affect the total production and productivity. A number of studies have been conducted to better understand the working honey production, however, none of them systematically investigate the extent of technical efficiency of the sub-sector. This paper uses Stochastic Frontier production model to quantifying the extent of technical efficiency and identify exogenous determinant of inefficiency. The result showed that consistent with other studies traditional practice dominate small scale honey production in Ethiopia. The finding also revealed that use of purchased inputs such as bee forage and other supplement is very limited among honey producers indicating that natural bee forage is the primary source of bee forage. The immediate consequence of all these is low production and productivity. The number of hives the household owns, whether the household used improved apiculture technologies, availability of natural forest which is the primary sources of nectar for bees and amount of land owned by the households were found to have a significant influence on the amount of honey produced by beekeeper. Our result further showed that the mean technical efficiency of honey producers is 0.79 implying that, on average honey producer produce 80 percent of the maximum output. The implication is that 20 percent of the potential output is lost due to technical inefficiency. Number of hives owned by a honey produces, distance to district town-a proxy to market access, household wealth, and whether the household head has a leadership role in the PA affect the technical efficiency of honey producers. The finding suggest that policies that aim to expand the use of improved hives is expected to increase the honey production at household level. The result also suggest that investment on rural infrastructure would be instrumental in improving technical efficiency of honey producer.

Keywords: small-scale honey producer, Ethiopia, technical efficiency in apiculture, stochastic frontier analysis

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Authors: A. R. Nor Azlina, H. Salwana, I. Zuraeda, A. R. Rashidah, O. Normah

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Transitioning towards globalization in the business environment has necessitated more essential growing changes such as competition, business strategy, innovation in technology and effectiveness of societal trends on adopting corporate governance are seen to be drivers of the future. This transformations on business environment has a significant impact to organizations’ performances. Many organizations are demanding for more proactive entrepreneurs with dynamic team, who can run and steer their business to success. Changing on strategy, roles, tasks, entrepreneurial skills and implementing corporate governance in relationship development is important to enhance the organization’s performance towards being more cost-efficient and subsequently increase its efficiency. Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in most developing countries are contributors to the economic growth of a nation. However, the potential of Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) is always overlooked in contributing towards SMEs development. The adoption of corporate governance and accountability in MFIs as driving forces for these SMEs is not incorporated in measurements of organization performance. This paper attempts to address some of the governance issues associated with dimensions of accountability in improving performances of microfinance institutions. Qualitative approach was adopted in this study to analyze the data collected. The qualitative approach emerges as contributing factor in understanding and critiquing accountability processes, as well as addressing the concerns of practitioners and policymakers. A close researcher engagement with the field which concerns process, embracing of situational complexity, as well as critical and reflective understandings of organizational phenomena remain as hallmarks of the tradition. It is concluded that in describing and scrutinizing an understanding of managerial behavior, organizational factors and macro-economic relationship in SMEs firm need to be improved. This is also the case in MFIs. A framework is developed to explore the linkage of corporate governance and accountability issues related to entrepreneurship as factors affecting MFIs performances in facing ongoing transformation of organization performance within Malaysian SMEs industries.

Keywords: accountability, corporate governance, microfinance, organization performance

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Authors: Yu-Shun Elisa Pong

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American composer John Cage (1912-1992) is an influential figure in musical, visual and performing arts after World War II and has also been claimed as a forerunner of the western avant-garde in the artistic field. However, the crucial factors contributed to his highly acclaimed achievements include the Zen enlightenment, which he mainly got from Japanese Zen master D. T. Suzuki (1870-1966). As a kind of reflection and afterthought of the Zen inspiration, John Cage created various forms of arts in which visual arts have recently attracted more and more attention and discussion, especially from the perspectives of Zen. John Cage had started to create visual art works since he was 66 years old and the activity had lasted until his death. The quality and quantity of the works are worthy of in-depth study— the 667 pieces of print, 114 pieces of water color, and about 150 pieces of sketch. Cage’s stylistic changes during the 14 years of creation are quite obvious, and the Zen elements in the later works seem to be omnipresent. Based on comparative artistic study, a historical and conceptual view of Zen art that was formed initially in the traditional Chinese and Japanese visual arts will be discussed. Then, Chinese and Japanese representative Zen works will be mentioned, and the technique aspect, as well as stylistic analysis, will be revealed. Finally, a comprehensive comparison of the original Oriental Zen works with John Cage’s works and focus on the influence, and art transformation will be addressed. The master pieces from Zen tradition by Chinese artists like Liang Kai (d. 1210) and Ma Yuan (1160-1225) from Southern Sung Dynasty, the Japanese artists like Sesshū (1420-1506), Miyamoto Musashi (1584-1645) and some others would be discussed. In the current study, these art works from different periods of historical development in Zen will serve as the basis of analogy, interpretation, and criticism to Cage's visual art works. Through the perspectives of the Zen authenticity from Asia, we see how John Cage appropriated the eastern culture to his innovation, which changed the art world forever. And it is believed that through a transition from inter-, cross-, toward trans-cultural inspiration, John Cage set up a unique pathway of art innovations.

Keywords: John Cage, Chinese Zen art, Japanese Zen art, visual art

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Authors: Orly Redlich

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In the age of social distance, which has been added to an individual and competitive worldview, it has become important to find a way to promote closeness and personal touch. The sense of social belonging and the existence of positive interaction with others have recently become a considerable necessity. Therefore, this theoretical paper will review one of the familiar and common concepts among different cultures around the world – birthday. This paper has a theoretical contribution that deepens the understanding of the birthday concept. Birthday rituals are historical and universal events, which noted since the prehistoric eras. In ancient history, birthday rituals were solely reserved for kings and nobility members, but over the years, birthday celebrations have evolved into a worldwide tradition. Some of the familiar birthday customs and symbols are currently common among most cultures, while some cultures have adopted for themselves unique birthday customs, which characterized their values and traditions. The birthday concept has a unique significance in Judaism as well, historically, religiously, and socially: It is considered as a lucky day and a private holiday for the celebrant. Therefore, the present paper reviews diverse birthday customs around the world in different cultures, including Judaism, and marks important birthdays throughout history. The paper also describes how the concept of birthday appears over the years in songs, novels, and art, and presents quotes from distinguished sages. The theoretical review suggests that birthday has a special meaning as a time-mark in the cycle of life, and as a socialization means in human development. Moreover, the birthday serves as a symbol of belonging and group cohesiveness, a day in which the celebrant's sense of belonging and sense of importance are strengthened and nurtured. Thus, the reappearance of these elements in a family or group interaction during the birthday ceremony allows the celebrant to absorb positive impressions about himself. In view of the extensive theoretical review, it seems that the unique importance of birthdays can serve as the foundation for intervention programs that may affect the participants’ sense of belonging and empowerment. In the group aspect, perhaps it can also yield therapeutic factors within a group. Concrete recommendations are presented at the end of the paper.

Keywords: birthday, universal events, positive interaction, group cohesiveness, rituals

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Authors: Sabah Khan

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The idea of universal Islam tends to exaggerate the extent of homogeneity in Islamic beliefs and practices across Muslim communities. In the age of migration, various Muslim communities are in diaspora. The immediate implication of this is what happens to Islam in diaspora? How Islam gets represented in new forms? Such pertinent questions need to be dealt with. This paper shall draw on the idea of religious transnationalism, primarily transnational Islam. There are multiple ways to conceptualize transnational phenomenon with reference to Islam in terms of flow of people, transnational organizations and networks; Ummah oriented solidarity and the new Muslim public sphere. This paper specifically deals with the new Muslim public sphere. It primarily refers to the space and networks enabled by new media and communication technologies, whereby Muslim identity and Islamic normativity are rehearsed, debated by people in different locales. A new sense of public is emerging across Muslim communities, which needs to be contextualized. This paper uses both primary and secondary data. Primary data elicited through content analysis of audio-visuals on social media and secondary sources of information ranging from books, articles, journals, etc. The basic aim of the paper is to focus on the emerging Muslim public sphere and the role of media in expanding public spheres of Islam. It also explores how Muslims in diaspora negotiate Islam and Islamic practices through media and the new Muslim public sphere. This paper cogently weaves in discussions firstly, of re-intellectualization of Islamic discourse in the public sphere. In other words, how Muslims have come to reimagine their collective identity and critically look at fundamental principles and authoritative tradition. Secondly, the emerging alternative forms of Islam by young Muslims in diaspora. In other words, how young Muslims search for unorthodox ways and media for religious articulation, including music, clothing and TV. This includes transmission and distribution of Islam in diaspora in terms of emerging ‘media Islam’ or ‘soundbite Islam’. The new Muslim public sphere has offered an arena to a large number of participants to critically engage with Islam, which leads not only to a critical engagement with traditional forms of Islamic authority but also emerging alternative forms of Islam and Islamic practices.

Keywords: Islam, media, Muslims, public sphere

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Authors: Srećko Favro, Dora Mužinić

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The eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea has been a significant part of the most important traffic corridors since Antiquity due to its position as the deepest indented bay of the Mediterranean and numerous bays on the coast and is-lands. The central place throughout history was occupied by the central part - Split-Dalmatia County, with its center in Antica in Salona and later in Split. Nowadays, in addition to its traffic and economic importance, this area is also important for tourism, an area where Croatia develops its economy and realizing its economic growth. Nautical tourism is the most important form of the tourist economic sector that uses the geographical features of the Croatian Adriatic water area and achieves the greatest growth based on tour-ist trends in the world (coronavirus - separation from the masses, adventure tourism - own arrangements) and thus opens up the possibility of develop-ment for other parts of the tourist economy. This will be described in the ex-ample of the business of the Split-Dalmatia County shipping company from Krilo Jesenice, which operates as a mini-cruising service provider, the lead-ing form of cruising in Croatia. The advantages that this type of tourism provides to travelers in terms of customized itineraries, high-quality services, an intimate atmosphere, and a unique experience through familiarization with local culture and tradition will be considered. Through direct primary research and analysis of available secondary research data, an attempt will be made to show how traditional Croatian mini cruisers manage to stand out in a competitive tourist environment. Their impact on the local economy, sus-tainability, and environmental protection will be considered, as well as how they are integrated into the tourist offer of other destinations in Croatia. In addition, the challenges and opportunities that arise in the maintenance and development of traditional Croatian mini cruisers will be discussed, includ-ing issues such as infrastructure, staff training, and market trends.

Keywords: croatia, adriatic, cruising, nautical tourism, mini cruise

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Authors: Vusala Amirbayova Yusif

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As we know the formation of new composer’s schools is determined not with the national belonging, but firstly with the development of the national spirit and eternal traditions. The formation of ancient musical traditions with the classical European genre and forms stand in the center of music art with Azerbaijani written tradition. Though this duty is actual for the neighboring eastern countries (for example, Iran, Turkey, Arabian countries, India), it has not been realized in the same level in real creative practice. It is necessary to mention that, the symphonic mughams formed from the joining of Eastern mugham-magam and classical music forms of Western symphony have been greeted with amazement and it was valuable practice in national composer’s art. It is true that, the new examples of the genre were formed in the next years (S.Alasgarov, T.Bakikhanov and etc.) and F.Amirov came back to the genre of symphonic mugham as he created Gulustani-Bayati-Shiraz”in,-1970. New tendency has begun to show itself in the development of national symphonic genre. The new attitude for mugham traditions showed itself in symphonic creative work of A.Malikov, A.Alizada, M.Guliyev,V.Adigozalov. The voice of mugham mentality has entered the depth of the Azerbaijan symphony, has determined the meditation spirit, dramatist process and content. This movement has formed the new notion of “mugham mphonism” with new meaning by our musicologists. In the modern musical science, in addition to traditional methods and procedures, the formation of new theories and approaches caused to the further increase of scientific interest towards the problem of artistic content in the art of composition. The initiative has been made to have overall look on this important subject as an example of the creativity of FikratAmirov (1922-1984)and JovdatHaciyev(1917-2000), the great composers of Azerbaijan and to analyze his some symphonic works from this point of view in the current report. In this connection, main provisions of the new theoretical concept that were comprehensively annotated in the article of Russian musicologist V. Kholopova named "Special and non-special musical content" were used.

Keywords: content, composer, music, mugham symphony

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Authors: Merve Palanci

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This paper aims to reveal and analyze methodology debates on Qur’an Commentary in Turkish Scholarship and to make sound inductions on the current situation, with reference to the literature evolving around the credibility of Hermeneutics when the case is Qur’an commentary and methodological connotations related to it, together with the other modern approaches to the Qur’an. It is fair to say that Tafseer, constituting one of the main parts of basic Islamic sciences, has drawn great attention from both Muslim and non-Muslim scholars for a long time. And with the emplacement of an acute junction between natural sciences and social sciences in the post-enlightenment period, this interest seems to pave the way for methodology discussions that are conducted by theology spheres, occupying a noticeable slot in Tafseer literature, as well. A panoramic glance at the classical treatise in relation to the methodology of Tafseer, namely Usul al-Tafseer, leads the reader to the conclusion that these classics are intrinsically aimed at introducing the Qur’an and its early history of formation as a corpus and providing a better understanding of its content. To illustrate, the earliest methodology work extant for Qur’an commentary, al- Aql wa’l Fahm al- Qur’an by Harith al-Muhasibi covers content that deals with Qur’an’s rhetoric, its muhkam and mutashabih, and abrogation, etc. And most of the themes in question are evident to share a common ground: understanding the Scripture and producing an accurate commentary to be built on this preliminary phenomenon of understanding. The content of other renowned works in an overtone of Tafseer methodology, such as Funun al Afnan, al- Iqsir fi Ilm al- Tafseer, and other succeeding ones al- Itqan and al- Burhan is also rich in hints related to preliminary phenomena of understanding. However, these works are not eligible for being classified as full-fledged methodology manuals assuring a true understanding of the Qur’an. And Hermeneutics is believed to supply substantial data applicable to Qur’an commentary as it deals with the nature of understanding itself. Referring to the latest tendencies in Tafseer methodology, this paper envisages to centralize hermeneutical debates in modern scholarship of Qur’an commentary and the incentives that lead scholars to apply for Hermeneutics in Tafseer literature. Inspired from these incentives, the study involves three parts. In the introduction part, this paper introduces key features of classical methodology works in general terms and traces back the main methodological shifts of modern times in Qur’an commentary. To this end, revisionist Ecole, scientific Qur’an commentary ventures, and thematic Qur’an commentary are included and analysed briefly. However, historical-critical commentary on the Quran, as it bears a close relationship with hermeneutics, is handled predominantly. The second part is based on the hermeneutical nature of understanding the Scripture, revealing a timeline for the beginning of hermeneutics debates in Tafseer, and Fazlur Rahman’s(d.1988) influence will be manifested for establishing a theoretical bridge. In the following part, reactions against the application of Hermeneutics in Tafseer activity and pro-hermeneutics works will be revealed through cross-references to the prominent figures of both, and the literature in question in theology scholarship in Turkey will be explored critically.

Keywords: hermeneutics, Tafseer, methodology, Ulum al- Qur’an, modernity

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Authors: Mohammad Anwarul Kabir, Fayezul Islam

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Language invariably is learned / taught to be used primarily as means of communications. Teaching a language for its native audience differs from teaching it to non-native audience. Moreover, teaching a language for communication only is different from teaching it for specific purposes. Arabic language is primarily regarded as the language of the Quran and the Sunnah (Prophetic tradition). Arabic is, therefore, learnt and spread all over the globe. However, Arabic is also a cultural heritage shared by all Islamic nations which has used Arabic for a long period to record the contributions of Muslim thinkers made in the field of wide spectrum of knowledge and scholarship. That is why the phenomenon of teaching Arabic by different educational institutes became quite rife, and the idea of teaching Arabic for specific purposes is heavily discussed in the academic sphere. Although the number of learners of Arabic is increasing consistently, yet their purposes vary. These include religious purpose, international trade, diplomatic purpose, better livelihood in the Arab world extra. By virtue of this high demand for learning Arabic, numerous institutes have been established all over the world including Bangladesh. This paper aims at focusing on the current status of the language institutes which has been established for learning Arabic for specific purposes in Bangladesh including teaching methodology, curriculum, and teachers’ quality. Such curricula and using its materials resulted in a lot of problems. The least, it confused teachers and students as well. Islamic educationalists have been working hard to professionally meet the need. They are following a systematic approach of stating clear and achievable goals, building suitable content, and applying new technology to present these learning experiences and evaluate them. It also suggests a model for designing instructional systems that responds to the need of non-Arabic speaking Islamic communities and provide the knowledge needed in both linguistic and cultural aspects. It also puts forward a number of suggestions for the improvement of the teaching / learning Arabic for specific purposes in Bangladesh after a detailed investigation in the following areas: curriculum, teachers’ skills, method of teaching and assessment policy.

Keywords: communication, Quran, sunnah, educational institutes, specific purposes, curriculum, method of teaching

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Authors: Rafikoddin Kazi

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Almost all the major religions of the world condemn the transactions based on interest which promotes self-centered and materialistic thinking. Still, it is amazing to note that it has become the tradition of transaction at world level hence it is called traditional financial system. The main feature of this system is that it considers economic aspects of the transaction only. This system supports the economic development and not the welfare of humankind. However, it is worth mentioning the fact that, except Islamic financial system no other financial system stood in front of it as a viable alternative system. Although many countries have tried to create financial infrastructure and system, still the Malaysian Islamic financial system has got its own peculiarity. It has made tremendous progress in creating sound Islamic Financial system. However, the historical aspect of this country which has passed through Islamic and traditional financial system has got its own advantages and disadvantages. The advantageous factor is that, despite having mix and heterogeneous culture, it has succeeded in creating Islamic Financial System based on the dual legal system to satisfy the needs of multi-cultural factors. This fact has proved that Islamic Financial System does not need purely Muslim population. However, due to adoption of the dual legal system, several legal issues have been taken place. According to this system, the application of Islamic Law has been limited only up to some family and religious matters. The rest of the matters are being dealt with under the traditional laws, the principles and practices of which are different from that of the Islamic Legal System. The matter becomes all the more complicated when the cases are partially or simultaneously concerned with traditional vis-à-vis Islamic Laws as it requires expertise in both the legal systems. However, the educational principles and systems are different in respect of both the systems. To face this problem, Shariah Advisory Council has been established. But the Multiplicity of Shariah authorities without judicial power has created confusion at various levels. Therefore, some experts have stressed the need for improving, empowering the Islamic financial, legal system to make it more integrated and holistic. In view of the above, an endeavor has been made in this paper to throw some light on the matters related to the adoption of the dual legal system. The paper is conceptual in nature and the method adopted is the intensive survey of literature thereby all the information has been gathered from the secondary sources.

Keywords: Islamic financial system, Islamic legal system, Islamic capital market (ICM) , traditional financial system

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