1,720,991 research outputs found
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Female religious authority in Muslim societies: the case of the Dāʿiyāt in Jeddah
Full text linkThe purpose of this dissertation was to explore how uninstitutionalised female preachers, or dāʿiyāt, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia construct authority in a context in which male ulama dominate the production of religious knowledge and represent the apex of the religious and social hierarchy. The study was broad, descriptive, and explanatory and drew primarily on the framework known as ‘accountable ethnography’. Data collection occurred between June and December 2009 and consisted of observations, interviews, and collection of literary artefacts, which were reviewed alongside literature published internationally. A flexible mode of inquiry was employed, partly in response to constraints on public religious discourse imposed in Saudi Arabia after September 11, 2001. The study concludes that the dāʿiyāt construct authority predominantly by relying on male ulama as marjiʿiyya diniyya (religious frame of reference) when issuing fatwas, as pedagogical models, as sources of charismatic inspiration, and as providers of personal recommendations. The dissertation also addresses a set of ‘alternate’ strategies of authority construction employed by Dr Fāṭima Nasiīf. Almost uniquely, this dāʿiyā is found to construct authority that goes beyond reproduction of institutionalised views by developing scholarly arguments to support interpretations of Islamic texts that are responsive to women’s perspectives and needs. In doing so, she expands the parameters of religiously permissible practice while remaining, for her part, within the confines of orthodox practice. Thus, although her society and most researchers perceive knowledge as a masculine attribute in the Saudi religious sphere, in matters relating to women, as well as through active leadership in ritual practice, Dr Fāṭima demonstrates that the dāʿiya can become the authority. Nevertheless, for her and for the other dāʿiyāt, the study finds that legitimatising female religious authority depends upon maintaining the established social order, including the hierarchy that places women in a subordinate position to men
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Neo-traditionalism in the West: navigating modernity, tradition, and politics
No full textThe present thesis studies the emergence of neo-traditionalism, its public pedagogues and their students (seekers of sacred knowledge), in the West. These pedagogues, many of whom Western-born converts, emerged in the 1990âs after having culminated their studies in the âtraditional centresâ of knowledge in the Muslim world. They came back with the intent of transmitting the âtraditionalâ knowledge they attained to the wider Muslim community. Of these, this research focuses primarily on Hamza Yusuf, Abdal Hakim Murad, and Umar Faruq Abd-Allah. To their community of followers and students â known as âseekers of sacred knowledgeâ, they represented a connection to an authentic religious tradition marginalised by modernist voices. Their religious discourse was both highly intellectual and deeply spiritual; at a time when there was a seeming decline in both intellect and spirituality. The shuyÅ«kh disseminate their traditional knowledge in religious retreats. These retreats â oftenâ are isolated from the modern world and imbued with traditional symbolism. In these spaces, the shuyÅ«kh provide the desirable orientations to the sacred world in Islam, and a rejection of the modern world around them. That is, the retreat provides both 'ways of seeing' as well as 'what is to be seen' as part of Islam within modernity. The central thrust of the sites of the transaction of sacred knowledge is to 'school' the learners into different narratives of the spiritual decline under modern condition. In the Muslim specific context, this led to the rise of different modernist post-colonial movements and activist tendencies. Such trends obscured Muslim metaphysical outlook. The shuyÅ«khâs critiques of modernity and discourses on the side lining of metaphysics interpret these in terms of the wider political and social principles. This research shows, on the one hand, how the neo-traditionalist shuyÅ«kh conceive of modernity, tradition, and how that impacts their political discourse on issues such as dissent, race, belonging, and gender. The research highlights how the critique of âmodernityâ is interlinked and reaffirms notions of authority and stability. On the other hand, it shows, through field interviews with seekers who attended their religious retreats, how young Muslims negotiate and navigate these discourses on modernity, tradition, and politics.</p
Camera Iranica: Popular digital photography in/of Iran
Full text linkThis thesis explores the contemporary genre of popular digital photography, with a specific look at photographs taken in/of Iran. It focuses on the contemporary practice of 'photoblogging' or photography-based weblogging. Photoblogs are the result of the daily posting of digital photographs concerning everyday life in Iran on personal blogs specifically dedicated to photography. The title of the thesis, Camera Iranica, refers to the subject and scope of the study, as well as to its digital-ethnographic field site. I demarcate this as a conceptual and transnational cultural field, encompassing the multitude of places and spaces, on- and offline in which Iranians across the world engage in the practice of producing and viewing popular digital photography. Iranian photoblogs are shown to operate in a manner contingent upon a particular 'visual legacy' of contested cultural identity politics since the Islamic Revolution of 1979, propagated inside Iran and in 'the West'. The thesis traces the social, economic and political implications of developments in photography and digital technologies in Iran in light of this backdrop, and explores how and why Iranians in Iran and abroad are taking up popular digital photography for visual storytelling projects, with 'Iran' as their visual subject. Based on the study's empirical findings, I extrapolate theoretical arguments concerning historical and cultural understandings of digital photographs shown and seen in online environments, and propose innovative methodological strategies for digital-visual anthropologists to continue work in these fields
Environmentalism in Qatar: examining the influence of Islamic ethics on environmental thought and practice
Full text linkThis thesis examines environmental discourses of state and non-state actors in Qatar, with a particular focus on how Islamic ethical values and teachings influence environmental thought and practice. Aside from its economic value as a leading liquid natural gas exporter, Qatar holds significant status as one of the most affluent Arab Muslim states vying for political and economic power regionally and globally while facing numerous environmental vulnerabilities (e.g., water scarcity, rising temperatures, air/water pollution, desertification, biodiversity loss, and sea level rise). Despite its constitutional identity as an Arab Muslim country, gaping rifts exist between Qatar’s interest in preserving its cultural, religious, and natural heritage on one hand, and its environmental realities and practices on the other.
This study investigates the apparent disconnect between state aspirations and industrial/energy praxis causing or exacerbating regional/global environmental risks and social inequities—especially between wealthy Qataris and migrant laborers. Utilizing an environmental governance framework and critical discourse analysis, this research unveils power asymmetries between state and non-state actors in Qatar and elucidates the ways in which non-state actors struggle to access environmental data, establish non-governmental organizations free from strict government oversight, and mobilize to resist the hegemony of state and corporate powers. This study also demonstrates how state authorities and their corporate allies adopt predominately technocratic and market-based approaches to resolving environmental problems and maintain control over environmental discourses and decisions while actively depoliticizing climate discourses. In aiming to bridge theoretical religious ideals with environmental practice, this research also investigates reasons why Islamic environmentalism does not feature more prominently in the country. Although some state-sponsored environmental initiatives inspired by religious values and teachings have yielded educational, scientific, and charitable benefits, this study reveals how most environmental activism of non-state actors remains highly state-controlled, apolitical, areligious, and dominated by non-Arab expatriates—with minimal to no representation from Qatari citizens.
Based on these findings, this thesis argues that the rise of a successful and sustainable environmental movement in Qatar necessitates 1) greater contribution and public engagement from indigenous Qataris, 2) tactful and incremental politicization (particularly from citizens holding greater social/political influence than expatriates/migrants), 3) more intersectional approaches to tackling the country’s most pressing socio-environmental needs, and 4) greater synergistic collaboration between religious scholars, imams, and activists to advance ecological consciousness and environmental education based on Islamic ethical and scriptural paradigms echoing and bolstering noble Arab virtues. In centering the voices of indigenous, religious and non- state actors, this inter-/transdisciplinary research demonstrates the numerous ways in which environmental struggles to protect natural resources and habitats in an extractivist, monarchic Muslim state intersect with social struggles to secure people’s dignity, health, faith, and basic human rights
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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