The Quest For Community And Identity

This collection of essays engages two of the most fundamental social and political issues of our time: community and identity. Wrestling with the perplexities of these two issues within the Africana world, the contributors delve into the influences of a postmodern world of globalization with outdated, crumbling forms of identity and sociality. In the wake of such an order, new forms of identity and community must be established. Birt has collected an informed group of contributors here, who lay the foundation for a new approach to finding community and identity in the Africana world.

One of the leading thinkers to emerge in the postwar conservative intellectual revival was the sociologist Robert Nisbet. His book The Quest for Community, published in 1953, stands as one of the most persuasive accounts of the dilemmas confronting modern society. Nearly a half century before Robert Putnam documented the atomization of society in Bowling Alone, Nisbet argued that the rise of the powerful modern state had eroded the sources of community—the family, the neighborhood, the church, the guild. Alienation and loneliness inevitably resulted. But as the traditional ties that bind fell away, the human impulse toward community led people to turn even more to the government itself, allowing statism—even totalitarianism—to flourish. This edition of Nisbet’s magnum opus features a brilliant introduction by New York Times columnist Ross Douthat and three critical essays. Published at a time when our communal life has only grown weaker and when many Americans display cultish enthusiasm for a charismatic president, this new edition of The Quest for Community shows that Nisbet’s insights are as relevant today as ever.

This concise history tells the story of Turkey, a country caught between the ideologies of East and West. From its beginnings as a disparate group of tribes to its status as the first secular republic in the Islamic world, Ahmad provides a full survey of Turkey’s chequered past. Covering nearly 1,000 years of history, from the eleventh-century invasion of Anatolia to attempts at European integration and involvement in the 2003 war with Iraq, Ahmad unpicks the debates and puts historical disputes in context. This updated edition also examines the problems faced by modern Turkey, from the rise of Islamic militancy to current political tensions in Turkey’s government. Whether student, general reader or first-time visitor, this wide-ranging account will be greatly appreciated by all those with an interest in the past, present and future challenges facing this diverse, and often misunderstood, country.

There are groups in society that experience profound social problems. Others betray a growing social malaise. Massive academic underachievement, family dysfunction, substance misuse, violence, and delinquent behavior are some of the major crises afflicting groups in the United States and Canada, including Aboriginal people, African Americans, and certain Hispanic groups.^LTaylor adds to this list the escalating number of so-called street kids roaming inner-city streets. To a lesser but no less frightening extent, he includes what has traditionally symbolized society's most privileged group-young white men. He asserts that while these are not the only groups who stand out as noticeably disadvantaged, they are among the most visible and, due to his research and activities, allow him to test his arguments and offer his proposals for change. Drawing upon his research experience in Canada, the United States, South Africa, and Indonesia, Taylor examines the impact of assimilation and the policies of cultural diversity and multiculturalism on these groups. He offers surprising insights into the causes of group malaise and individual failure, and his conclusions are bound to be of significant interest to scholars, students, and researchers involved with intergroup dynamics and cultural diversity.

Contains 3 articles which discuss Canadian native people's maintenance of a separate identity. Contents: "Indian identity and social conflict" by James S. Frideres, "A people apart: the ethnicization of the Inuit of the eastern Canadian arctic" by John S. and Carolyn J. Matthiasson, and "Occupational prestige ratings among high school students in the Canadian arctic" by Hyman Burshtyn and Derek G. Smith.

The book seeks to provide an understanding of Southest Asia as a region, the problems of statehood faced by the individual countries, and the search for regional order, peace and stability. It also explores Southeast Asia's adaptation to the changing world order, and long-term changes in terms of economic, political, and security implications.

How to define a Chinese national identity remains as hotly contested a question among today's Chinese citizens as it has been among foreign observers. This volume brings together ten new essays by an interdisciplinary group of leading sinologists and offers a comprehensive framework for understanding the nature of Chinese national identity in past and contemporary settings.