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[Kitāb Ṭayf al-Khayāl: A New Edition of Ibn Dāniyāl's Work on Life in Middle Ages Cairo]
ينقلنا كتاب طيف الخيال إلى عالم سحري لم يخطر على بالنا وجوده قط: عالم القاهرة السري في القرون الوسطى. حيث يقدم لنا سردية تاريخية مغايرة تمامًا للتاريخ الرسمي المعتاد الذي يهيمن عليه السلاطين والأمراء والعلماء والأكابر ، ليحتل العامة البسطاء صدارة المشهد، وعبر بابات ابن دنيال يمكننا التلصص على تفاصيل حياتهم ومعتقداتهم، والطريقة التي رأوا بها حكامهم، ومساخرهم التي لا حد لها، فضلًا عن ألوان المتع السريّة التي مارسوها بشراهة منقطعة النظير. نُشرت بابات ابن دانيال عدة مرات من قبل، في نشرات منقوصة وغير مشروحة، حيث تحرّج المحققون من إيراد مقاطع كاملة من البابات بحجة إسرافها في البذاءة وعدم ملاءمتها للذوق العام! ولأول مرّة بعد أكثر من قرن منذ اكتشاف جورج جاكوب لمخطوطات الكتاب يتم نشر مسرحيات الظل الثلاث لابن دانيال كاملة بلا حذف في طبعة نقدية مميزة معتنى بها ،تشتمل على شروح وكشافات تحليلية فريدة . تُبرز أهميتها وتُمهد الطريق أمام الباحثين لتقديم مزيد من الدراسات العلمية عن بابات ابن دانيال بالغة الثراء.

Kitāb Ṭayf al-Khayāl transports us to a magical world previously unknown to us: the secret Cairo in the Middle Ages. It presents an entirely different historical narrative from the conventional history dominated by sultans, princes, scholars, and elites. Instead, it brings the common people, the ordinary, to the forefront. Through the writings of Ibn Dāniyāl, we get a glimpse into the details of their lives, beliefs, how they perceived their rulers, and the boundless extravagances they indulged in, along with the secretive pleasures they passionately pursued. Babat Ibn Daniyal has been published multiple times before, in incomplete and unexplained editions, with investigators hesitating to include complete sections, citing their explicit content and perceived impropriety
The volume aims to establish the influence of German or Rhenish mysticism on English religious thought, chiefly in the 17th-century. The English reception of such German mystical authors as Meister Eckhart, the anonymous author of Theologia Germanica, Johannes Tauler, Nicholas of Cusa, Sebastian Franck, Hans Denck, Valentin Weigel, and Jakob Böhme has been hitherto little studied. Such English readers as Henry More, Anne Conway, John Sparrow, John Everard, Giles Randall, and several Cambridge Platonists established a lineage that connected these mystics, and created a philosophical bridge between England and Germany. The volume highlights the international legacy of these mystical writers by adopting the perspective of historico-philosophical engagement with sources, placing them within the theological milieu of their time. 

Abstract

This paper analyzes emerging issues on the use of electronic resources (e-resources) by academic staff in public universities in Tanzania. Notable issues include factors influencing adoption of e-resources by academic staff. A quantitative research design based on a cross-sectional survey of academic staff in four public universities was used. The study was informed by the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) with demographic and institutional factors like awareness on ICT policy and regulations added. A sample of 292 academic staff obtained through a combination of stratified and random sampling was used. Cross-tabulations and Chi-Square statistics were used for analysis of association to establish the influence of the factors on adoption. Through TAM, perceived benefits were measured by eagerness for promotion and increase in income. Perceived ease of use was measured by capacity built on ICT use and perception on ICT infrastructure. Awareness was measured by members’ recognition of ICT policy and regulations. The findings show that experience, age, and awareness have a significant correlation with e-resources adoption. Also, the mostly accessed and used e-resources by academic staff are scholarly search engines such as Google Scholar.

In: The African Review

Abstract

Debates on citizenship are never conclusive as this is an evolving idea and practice. Formal citizenship in Kenya has its genesis prior to independence when the country was drafting its 1963 Independence Constitution. Before then, most Kenyans were considered subjects by the colonial administration, governed by a racialised hierarchical colonial order. This phenomenon changed in postcolonial Kenya as the nation’s primary focus was on eliminating these racial hierarchies to include those previously excluded as citizens. However, some of the statutory provisions on citizenship were contentious as they promoted discrimination and inequalities. The endorsement of Kenya’s new constitution in 2010 is termed transformative as it addresses the controversial provisions on citizenship. Through secondary source research, this paper aims to trace the development of formal citizenship in Kenya from colonial times to date and maps out the milestones made over time and space in citizenship on its acquisition, duality and statelessness.

In: The African Review

Abstract

This article reviews the teaching of international relations in relation to the deployment of racist tropes to understand the current war on terror. It elaborates on how the justification for the U.S. Africa Command changed over time from fighting terror to confronting Russia and China in the big power game. The paper argues that the rift in the U.S. military since the January 6, 2021 insurrection is only one manifestation of the coalescing of forces of conservatism who are opposed to the restructuring of the international political economy. The emergence of military forces in West Africa opposed to the U.S. has brought about a discussion about the U.S.A. being pushed to the margins in Africa. This racial project has created global chaos, and the task of scholars dedicated to peace is to push for the dismantling of the U.S. Africa Command as one component of the global anti racist project.

In: The African Review
Author:

Abstract

The Ukraine crisis has morphed into a political minefield for countries far removed from the war zone. While some states have been vociferous in supporting sanctions against Moscow or denouncing Kyiv’s ambition to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), others have ‘played it safe’ by maintaining a neutral position. Tanzania abstained in most of the voting rounds at the United General Assembly (UNGA) on the crisis. The Russia-Ukraine conflict has had significant economic effects on the country, but its diplomatic relations with these belligerent parties have remained unscathed. But what has been Tanzania’s position on the Ukraine crisis since 2014? What has been the voting trend at the UNGA by the country and other East African Community (EAC) partner states on the Ukraine crisis? These are some of the questions that the current article seeks to answer.

In: The African Review
In: Contemporary Arab Affairs
Free access
In: Contemporary Arab Affairs

Abstract

This research article analyses the complex interplay between international law and Islamic law in shaping the possibilities for Palestinian (armed) resistance against Israeli occupation. It uses “interaction” (between two legal systems with much epistemological overlap) as a lens with which to ground this meta-analysis, understanding international law and Islamic law as necessarily co-constitutive. Following a historical and macro-scale examination of this relationship, the research article then applies the analysis to Mandate Palestine, identifying a Palestinian “state of exception” that excludes Palestinians from international law’s ‘protective jurisdiction’. As such, the article situates Palestinian (armed) resistance within the gap that emerges between international law’s colonial reverberations and Islamic law’s emancipatory potential.

In: Contemporary Arab Affairs
Author:

Abstract

This paper discusses the phenomenon of state failure in general and uses the current Libyan state as a case study by tracing the historical path of the formation of the modern Libyan state, specifically the impact of the legacy left by the Gaddafi regime on three main variables: authority, legitimacy, and institutional capacity. It addresses the following question: How did the historical legacy of the Gaddafi regime contribute to the crisis of the Libyan state after 2011? The study is based on the hypothesis that personal authoritarian regimes, such as Gaddafi’s, have the most detrimental impact on institutions in relation to the monopoly of violence, legitimacy, and capacity. This is because the ruling elites in personalistic authoritarian regimes are often unable to restrain the decisions and actions of the head of the regime, who often seeks to dismantle institutions that could limit their power. This contrasts with other types of authoritarian regimes (monarchy, military, one-party) that may, to some extent, maintain institutional rules for governance and the transfer of power.

In: Contemporary Arab Affairs