Implementing self-concept in vocational choice in the Arab Middle East

Considerations for adopting self-concept theory in vocational choice for the Arab Middle East were explored examining three limitations. The extent to which these limitations (freedom to choose occupations, availability of options, and psychological readiness) operate in the Middle East was identified. It was concluded that the self-concept theory of vocational choice is not yet viable for this area of the world. However, as the process of modernity takes place, the area can be an excellent proving ground for predictions.     

中东中世纪伊斯兰城市行政体系

传统的东方学派学者认为中东中世纪伊斯兰城市没有城市行政管理机构,没有改进自己政府服务的责任,并由此否定城市的作用,认为城市没有任何积极贡献相伴随。而笔者认为省督、法官、市场监督员和公共道德监督员、社团谢赫和少数民族社团谢赫、行会谢赫等组成了中东伊斯兰城市独特的行政体系,该体系在城市不同的方面经营着城市,使统治阶级不用建立一个真正的管理网;同时,过于严密的行政管理网络也使城市失去了自由发展的机会,成为制约城市率先瓦解封建制度的一个重要因素。     

Group Affiliations of University Students in the Arab Middle East

Summary

A study was undertaken in Morocco in order to separate the effects of age and formal schooling on the development of cognitive style. A total of 384 boys (age range: 6–22 years) were selected from environmental backgrounds including: urban/schooled, rural/schooled, urban/nonschooled, and rural/nonschooled. Results indicated that chronological age and schooling played major, but independent roles in promoting perceptual development (and “field independent” cognitive style), while childhood environment appeared to have little effect. It was concluded that general statements about the effects of cultural socialization practices on cognitive style should be tempered by considering particular environmental experiences (such as formal schooling) that may significantly influence cognitive assessment techniques that are said to measure cognitive style.     

Peacemaking and consolation in Japanese preschoolers witnessing peer aggression

This article reports developmental changes relating to reconciliation and bystanders' affiliation with victims of aggression (i.e., consolation) among 3- to 5-year-old Japanese preschool children. Use of the post-conflict-matched control (PC-MC) method revealed that the frequency with which reconciliation and consolation were offered to a victim increased steeply in 5-year-olds, compared with 3- and 4-year-olds. The complexity of contextual factors affecting the occurrence of reconciliation and the form of consolation increased with age. Consolation occurred more often before reconciliation than after among all but the 3-year-olds and occurred more often when no reconciliation occurred than when it did occur among all classes. These findings support the view that consolation functions as a substitute for reconciliation, lessening the tension experienced by the victim of aggression.     

Samuel Benjamin: Unorthodox observer of the Middle East

Artist, author, diplomat, Samuel Greene Wheeler Benjamin's long association with the Middle East provided the raw material for much of his work. A self‐confessed ‘freelance’ in an age of increasing specialization and professionalism, he had difficulty adjusting to the myriad changes in American society. To make matters worse, Benjamin held unfashionable opinions on many subjects. Nowhere were his ideas more contentious than in his writings on the Middle East, where he set out his thoughts on Islam, on the role of missionaries, on the position of minorities, on ‘Oriental’ government. His unorthodox observations frequently elicited unfavourable reviews of his work. Yet from a late‐twentieth‐century perspective, Benjamin stands out among his contemporaries in his breadth of knowledge and understanding of the Middle East. There were, to be sure, some strange and uninformed ideas scattered here and there throughout his works, but what surprises the careful reader today is the durability of many of those views written a century ago.     

Queer Migration and Digital Affects: Refugees Navigating from the Middle East via Turkey to Germany

This article explores the ways in which digital media are used as self-empowering tools by queer refugees in the course of their migration from several Middle Eastern countries via Turkey to Germany. Our discussion expands upon queer migration scholarship and insists on the need to shift attention away from refugees’ vulnerability to the empowering strategies that queer refugees develop for themselves. Based on observation and interviews conducted with queer refugees in Istanbul and Berlin, we argue that not only social media activism and interpersonal message platforms such as social networks, but also dating applications, open up opportunities for refugees to develop new coping strategies and a sense of belonging during migration. This leads us to focus on the emotional and affective value of digital media for queer refugees. While translocal digital media embed refugees within transnational networks that offer interpersonal/emotional support as well as useful tools for activism, our study reveals the restrictive power of such media. We argue that digitally circulated affects can become regulatory forces, which integrate queer refugees into European regimes of racialized and sexualized difference.