Digital Commons Network^™

Becoming Good: Muslims Pursuing Moral Personhood In A Rural French Town, Clayton S. Van Woerkom

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines how members of a Muslim community (made up of migrants and their descendants from various parts of North Africa, West Africa, Turkey, and elsewhere) in a small town in France seek to become moral persons through Islam. I argue that this quest for moral recognition is informed simultaneously by Islamic and French Republican values, which my French Muslim interlocutors usually conceive of as being consistent with one another. I contrast this analysis with other scholarly approaches to Islam in France that have generally explored the way non-Muslims perceive Islam to be at odds with Frenchness, how Muslims …

Healing Practices And Ritual Feasts Among The Nabateans: A Study Of Absorbed Residues From Ceramics On The Ad-Deir Plateau, Jake Hubbert

Theses and Dissertations

Eastern Cistern B on the Ad-Deir Plateau is unusual in its breadth and variety of ceramic vessels represented by thousands of sherds. These sherds raised significant questions about the purpose and use of the vessels that they originally came from. This thesis argues that the ceramic vessels that were deposited in Eastern Cistern B represent the deposited remains of an ancient Nabataean ritual feast. Furthermore, this thesis also helps to answer the questions surrounding what the ceramic containers once held and their relationship to that ritual meal. This thesis identified residues absorbed within the ceramic fragments through the use of …

Viejo Period Architecture In The Casas Grandes Region Of Northern Mexico, Samuel J. Jensen

Theses and Dissertations

The Casas Grandes region of northern Mexico is an understudied, though important, part of the culture area that has come to be known as the Northwest/Southwest (NW/SW). What studies have been conducted in the Casas Grandes region have focused on the Medio Period (approximately 1200-1450 AD) and the large site of Paquimé. Only a small amount of research has been conducted on the preceding Viejo Period (approximately 700-1200 AD). In this thesis, I create a clearing house of published Viejo Period architectural features excavated in the Casas Grandes region. I also analyze those features to develop our understanding of the …

Full Issue

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Journal Devoted To Questions Of Ancient Transoceanic Contacts

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

Academia has often ignored controversial evidence of early cultural contact between the Old and New Worlds. Pre-Columbiana: A Journal of Long-Distance Contacts brings attention to rigorous scholarship supporting diffusionist claims while meeting the demands of scholarly and scientific objectivity. Developed by Stephen C. Jett, a geography professor at the University of California, Davis, the interdisciplinary journal offers studies that have been reviewed by a panel of scholars that includes John L. Sorenson, a BYU emeritus professor of anthropology and FARMS associate who has published widely on the subject.

New Festschrift Explores Scripture And Ancient World

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

When Richard L. Anderson retired from the Religious Education faculty at Brigham Young · University in 1996, the Department of Religious Education and FARMS agreed to sponsor a Festschrift (a compilation of essays written in honor of an individual) that would commemorate his distinguished academic career. The positive response from Anderson's friends and colleagues who wished to contribute to the publication has resulted in two volumes of scholarly articles.

Evidence Surveyed For Book Of Mormon Authenticity, Old World-New World Contacts

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

Two recent magazine articles on topics of interest in Book of Mormon studies are available from FARMS as reprints (see the order form).

The first article, "Mounting Evidence for the Book of Mormon," by Daniel C. Peterson, appeared in the January 2000 issue of the Ensign magazine. The article explains the role of Book of Mormon scholarship, notes the tremendous surge in publications of that kind in recent years, and highlights secondary evidence that supports the book's claim to ancient origins and inspired translation.

Language Ideology In The Actfl Speaking Proficiency Guidelines, Sonja A. Mecham

Theses and Dissertations

This paper examines language ideology in the ACTFL (American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages) 2012 speaking proficiency guidelines using the method of critical rhetoric analysis. Language ideologies, a concept borrowed from linguistic anthropology, are the ways people and organizations conceptualize and talk about language. In this paper, I explore how the ACTFL speaking proficiency guidelines discuss proficient language. Since these guidelines are widely used and highly respected, it is necessary for those who use them to understand what ideologies of proficiency they express. Therefore, this study also discusses how the language ideologies in the guidelines may impact consequential …

Utah Lake Culture Case, Anna Neumiller

Instructional Psychology and Technology Graduate Student Projects

This project is a take-home box with physical and digital components for families and teachers to use with their students. It is aimed at teaching about Utah Lake, the water cycle within the context of Utah Lake, and the people who have interacted with the lake over time. The box includes information about the cultures and history surrounding Utah Lake, its ecology and environment, its current relevance to surrounding areas, and what locals can do to ensure its protection for the future. The box is geared toward grades 4-7 and correlates with the Utah State Curriculum. As an overarching goal, …

The Naci Way: Connecting Native Groups And Teachers Through Culturally Responsive Instructional Design, Stephanie West, Heather Francis, Cally Flox, Brenda Beyal, Emily Soderborg, Jason Mcdonald

Instructional Psychology and Technology Graduate Student Projects

In 2018, the BYU ARTS Partnership Native American Curriculum Initiative (NACI) was developed in response to teacher questions regarding the teaching of Native topics. Despite increased movements towards reconciliation, Native groups continue to be marginalized in Westernized educational settings. Additionally, teachers lack clear guidelines regarding the respectful teaching of Native topics. Describing the challenges we, the NACI team members, faced in our four-year journey partnering with Native groups in Utah, we outline key instructional design decisions we made and identify the culturally responsive principles that guided those decisions. We also advocate for the application of culturally responsive principles and practices …

Explaining Guatemalan Vigilantism, Bryant Mcconkie

Sigma: Journal of Political and International Studies

Ripped from his home in Concepción, Guatemala, the evening of October 13, 2015, Mayor Bacilio Juracán was brutally beaten, doused with gasoline, and burned to death by attackers convinced he had orchestrated the murder of a political rival they supported. In just this one isolated incident, the town hall, various cars, and at least six additional buildings were burned along with the mayor (“Linchan y Queman” 2015). A growing number of similar lynchings—vigilante attacks in which victims of the mob are severely injured or killed—across Guatemala have thrust Guatemalan vigilantism into the public consciousness, perplexing governments and political theorists alike …

On Civilizational Strategic Studies, Stephen T. Satkiewicz

Comparative Civilizations Review

Given the on-going crises around the world, especially the current war in Ukraine, it has become imperative to analyze the strategic interests of the major geopolitical players in the world. Samuel P. Huntington formulated his controversial “Clash of Civilizations” thesis almost thirty years ago, but this topic has received a resurgence of interest due to Christopher Coker’s research on “civilizational states.” Coker takes this concept a bit further by arguing that different geopolitical actors disagree on how the world should be ordered.

Now is perhaps the most opportune time to examine the relevance of civilizations as well as civilizational theory …

Brown Bag Wrap-Up

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

The last five brown bag lectures of 1999 covered a range of interesting topics related to Bible and Book of Mormon studies. Sponsored by FARMS, these noontime lectures at BYU continue to keep the campus community and others abreast of current research on the scriptures.

Tibetan-Mongolian Glossary Donated

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

Recently FARMS received a 16th-century glossary of Tibetan religious terms from Malan Jackson, director of the Center for International Studies at Utah Valley State College. The glossary, which translates many Tibetan words into Mongolian, was originally compiled to assist Mongolian Buddhist monks who chanted Tibetan scriptures but did not know the original meanings. The unbound glossary is wrapped in a worn, brown cloth and measures two feet long, four inches wide, and one inch thick. Each page contains three rows of Tibetan and Mongolian characters finely penned in red and black ink.

Farms Web Site Sports New Look And Services

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

FARMS has redesigned its Web site in an attempt to better serve its members and visitors to the site. New graphics and navigational features make it easier to find, access, and view information. A considerable amount of new content has been added.

An Evaluation Of Epa Communication On Climate Change From 1997 To 2022, Adam Johnson

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Because the United States is responsible for such a large percent of the world’s emissions, its actions to combat climate change is especially significant. As the main speaker for the U.S. on climate change, it is important the EPA uses effective communication strategies. In this paper we evaluated the effectiveness of the EPA’s communication. To do so, we evaluated publicly available press releases from the EPA from 1997 to 2022. To measure effectiveness, we incorporated a range of factors that climate communication experts have identified as particularly important. Our analysis found that the EPA effectively communicates in light of some …

Full Issue

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Treatise On Ethics Launches Eastern Christian Texts Series

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

The Institute is pleased to announce the publication of the first volume in the Eastern Christian Texts series, part of the Middle Eastern Texts Initiative. The Reformation of Morals was written by Yahyå ibn ‘Ad• (893–974 C.E.), one of the most important Christian authors to have written in Arabic. Although devoutly Syrian Orthodox, Yahyå ibn ‘Ad• studied in Baghdad under the Muslim philosopher al-Fåråb• and counted Muslims and Christians of all sects among his own disciples. He was a leading figure in the 10th-century translation movement in Baghdad and the author of numerous works of philosophy and theology.

New Review A Double Issue

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

The latest FARMS Review of Books is actually two issues in one. It reviews 15 books in the usual categories of Book of Mormon, Mormon studies, and biblical studies but also devotes more than 100 pages to a multipronged response to an evangelical book titled The New Mormon Challenge: Responding to the Latest Defenses of a Fast-Growing Movement.

Full Issue

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Jbms Welcomes New Editor

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

The Institute welcomes S. Kent Brown as the new editor of the Journal of Book of Mormon Studies. A professor of ancient scripture at Brigham Young University and former associate editor of the Journal, Brown is its third head editor.

New Volume Honors Truman G. Madsen

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

The distinguished career of Truman G. Madsen has earned him wide respect in and outside of LDS circles as an outstanding teacher, scholar, researcher, speaker, university administrator, church leader, and religious ambassador. With the publication of Revelation, Reason, and Faith: Essays in Honor of Truman G. Madsen, the Institute pays tribute to this remarkable man whose many accomplishments include helping to advance Book of Mormon scholarship and related interests of the Institute.

Full Issue

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Joseph Smith Right On Target, New Book Shows

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

In his writings over the years, Hugh Nibley has often pointed out “hits” and “bull’s-eyes” in the Book of Mormon—details about the ancient world that were unknown until recent times but that Joseph Smith got right anyway. Serious Book of Mormon research took shape in the early 1900s but has accelerated in recent decades, establishing an entire field of scholarly endeavor and yielding many clues to the book’s ancient origins.

The Cycles Of Progress And Regress In Ethiopian Civilization And Politics, Tseggai Isaac Phd

Comparative Civilizations Review

This is a study of the historical traditions of Ethiopia and their value as basis for national identity considering the inescapable evolutionary trajectories of modernization.

Specific watershed events with catastrophic effects besieged Ethiopia, resulting in the precipitous decline of the values, dignity, and solemnity of the Ethiopian State. Challenges that contributed to the distancing of Ethiopia’s institutional identity from the loftiness of its roots will be covered.

The political and religious history of Ethiopia will be highlighted to establish landmark events of history, politics, and religion. Specific crises resulting in shifts in values, as well as various reactions to these …

Book Review: Duane W Roller. Eratosthenes’ Geography: Fragments Collected And Translated, With Commentary And Additional Material, Tseggai Isaac

Comparative Civilizations Review

Duane W. Roller brought back to life the enigmatic and flamboyant Eratosthenes by capturing the rich details of Eratosthenes’ intellectual background, his personal life, Eratosthenes’ Geographika; and how Eratosthenes was received by contemporary and nascent critics in later years and decades. Eratosthenes was practical and controversial in the sense that he seemed to use unorthodox methodology of practical observation combined with creative and inventive scientific and mathematical intricacies to explain, define, and analyze his findings. He was flamboyant and fertile in his discoveries and the breadth of his creative imaginations of unparalleled perspicuity. Roller observed:

The discipline of geography …

Book Review: Katell Berthelot. Jews And Their Roman Rivals: Pagan Rome’S Challenge To Israel, Joseph Drew

Comparative Civilizations Review

This is a magisterial work, one which sets high the bar in the comparative study of civilizations. In it, Prof. Katell Berthelot covers the sweep of 600 years, from the second century, BCE, to the fourth century, CE, as she analyzes the extensive impact of Rome on Jewish ideas of law, religion, and peoplehood and, secondarily, the corresponding impact of their rivals, the Jews, on Roman society and history.

Book Review: Robert Irwin. Ibn Khaldun: An Intellectual Biography, Leland Conley Barrows

Comparative Civilizations Review

Robert Irwin (b. 1946), a British historian, novelist, and essayist, became so enthralled by Arabic Muslim society, politics, language, literature, and culture that while reading modern history at Oxford University in the 1960’s, he became a Muslim during his first summer vacation which he spent at a Sufi Alawi foundation in Algeria. In parallel, he developed a fascination for the Tunisian polymath, Wali al-Din ‘Abd al Rahman Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406) who has been variously described as the greatest Muslim intellectual, the greatest social scientist of the Middle Ages, the founder of Sociology and the critical study of history, and a …

Full Issue

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Nibley Fellowship Application Deadline, Guidelines

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

Each year at about this time we remind graduate students about the Nibley Fellowship Program. Those interested in applying for the first time or who wish to renew their fellowships for the 2002/ 2003 academic year must do so by 30 June 2002.