Manger L., LaBianca Ø.S. (eds.) Global Moments in the Levant. A Unifob Global Research Project

BRIC, 2009. — 347 p. — ISBN 978-82-7453-073-7.Global moments are breakthrough events that change people’s lives and their futures. They are developments that typically call for significant adaptation leading to new forms of cooperation or conflict. Few places on earth can rival the Levant (Palestine, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria) when it comes to both incubating global moments and having to cope with their consequences.
What has made this region a virtual cauldron of global moments is its strategic location astride a vital intercontinental land bridge connecting the continents of Africa, Asia, and Europe. This location has made it a crossroads of cultures and civilizations, a corridor of communication and commerce, and a highway of military movement and intrigue since the dawn of settled life.
The Global Moments in the Levant research programme seeks to delineate what the salient theoretical and methodological implications are of the fundamental methodological assumption that the insights derived from historical and archaeological study of the past are relevant for understanding the present situation in the region and that, in turn, the findings of ethnographic studies carried out in the present have relevance not only for today, but also for understanding the past.Foreword.
Introduction.
Øystein S. LaBianca and Leif Manger, Tells, Texts and Ethnography: An Introduction to the Global Moments in the Levant Project.
Project Sketches.
Leif Manger, Globalization as Long-term Historical Process Randi Haaland, Cooking Pots and Baking Ovens: Neolithic Origins of African and Ancient Near Eastern Foodways.
Thomas Levy, Journey to the Copper Age: The Beginnings of Copper Smelting and Metallurgy in Southern Jordan and Israel.
Nils Anfinset, From Village to City? The Socio-economic Transitions of the 6th-4th Millenia B.C.
Øystein S. LaBianca, Tall Hisban, Jordan: Window on the March of Empires and the Hardy People that Outlasted Them.
Bert de Vries, The Paradox of Power: An Archaeology of Security in the First Millennium A. D.
Bethany Walker, Slaves on Horses: The Legacy of the Mamluks in Jordan.
Kamal Abdulfattah, Throne Villages of Palestine: Social Life of the Palestinians During Ottoman Times.
Anders Bjørkelo, Ottoman Reforms and Socio-economic Change in 19th Century Transjordan, with Comparative References to the Sudan.
Inger Marie Okkenhaug, Missionaries as Agents of Modernization: “Welfare Encounters” in Palestine and Syria During Late Ottoman Times and the Mandate Period.
Nefissa N.A. Naguib, Politics of Memory and Nostalgia for Things: Armenian Diasporas in the Middle East.
Knut Vikør, Women Between Shari’a and Society: Islamic Law and the Family in Current Discussions.
Rania Maktabi, Family Law, Gender and Citizenship.
Anh Nga Longva, Learning to Live Apart: Education and Sectarianism in Lebanon.
Are Knudsen, From Refugees to Revolutionaries: Camp-Based Palestinians in Post-Civil War Lebanon.
Kjersti G. Berg, Gendering Palestinian Refugees: United Nations Relief and Works Agency 1949-2007.
Janne Bjorheim Bøe, When Providers Can’t Provide: Consequences of the Occupation of Palestine for Gender Roles and the Patriarchy.
Lars Gunnar Lundblad, Mobilizing Charity Under Occupation: How Palestinian Islamic Welfare Institutions Work.
Bård Kårtveit, Christian Palestinians on the West Bank: Identity, Migration and Transnational Networks.
Frode Storaas: Filming the Everyday lives of Palestinians in Israel.
Research Themes.
Inger Marie Okkenhaug and Nefissa Naguib, Relief and Welfare.
Nefissa Naguib and Randi Haaland, Foodways and Food Systems: The Cultural Elaborations, Production and Sociability of Food.
Øystein S. LaBianca, Bert de Vries and Bethany Walker, Imperial Projects in the Levant.
Anders Bjørkelo, Kamal Abdulfattah and Bethany Walker, Commercial Elites.
Nefissa Naguib and Inger Marie Okkenhaug, Gender and Global Moments.
Thomas Levy, Stephen Savage, Chaitan Baru and Øystein S. LaBianca, MedArchNet: Towards Cyberinfrastructure for World Cultural Heritage - Developing a Portal for Cultural Heritage Information Management, Research, and Education.
Leif Manger, Comparing Global Moments over Time: Some Theoretical and Methodological Implications.
Annual GML Workshops.
Summaries of presentations compiled by Bert de Vries.
Comprehensive Bibliography.