The book describes the impact of cultural perceptions on rulers behaviors in the United Arab Emirates, once the Trucial States. Despite differences in size, economic resources, and external political pressures, the seven emirates' rulers utilized very similar cultural expectations to gain the support of others. The author describes what has generally been only touched upon before--the significant but largely invisible roles women and marriage play in the political process of tribal societies.

The Greater Middle East poses major challenges for the United States. Yet despite decades of intense involvement in Middle Eastern affairs, most Americans still know little about the cultures of the region. Simple Gestures describes one American's efforts over forty years to better understand the society in the countries where she lived and worked: Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. In her multiple roles, Andrea Rugh came to know people from many walks of life. As a mother, she became friendly with local families. As the...

Written for practitioners and practitioners-in-training of education development, this book reviews education issues in developing countries and provides in-depth case studies from Egypt, Pakistan, and Afghanistan.

This book is an exciting study of clothing as a complex cultural expression. The author analyses contemporary social meanings found in the symbols of dress and shows the way groups and individuals use the symbols like a language to reveal or conceal significant aspects of their personal identities. Reveal and Conceal contains thirty-three line drawings, clearly depicting the various modes and differences in dress. Forty-eight photographs are included in the book, most of which were taken by the author during her extensive interviews with the women and men of the Egyptian villages and cities...

Christians in the Middle East have come under increasing pressure in recent years with the rise of radical Islam. Nowhere is this truer than in Egypt, where the large Coptic Christian community has traditionally played an important role in the country's history and politics. This book examines Christian responses to sectarian pressures in two contexts: nationally as Church leaders deal with Egyptian presidents and locally as a community of poor Christians cope in a mostly-Muslim quarter of Cairo. This intensive study, based on the author's five years of research in Bulaq, looks at existential...

Written for practitioners and practitioners-in-training of education development, this book reviews education issues in developing countries and provides in-depth case studies from Egypt, Pakistan, and Afghanistan.

The book describes the impact of cultural perceptions on rulers' behaviors in the United Arab Emirates, once the Trucial States. Despite differences in size, economic resources, and external political pressures, the seven emirates' rulers utilized very similar cultural expectations to gain the support of others.