Comparative Literature Commons^™

What Guides The Iscsc?, Lynn Rhodes

Comparative Civilizations Review

Clear and well-defined bylaws are the backbone of any nonprofit organization, ensuring transparency, accountability, and effective governance. For organizations like the International Society for the Comparative Study of Civilizations (ISCSC), bylaws serve as a guiding framework that outlines decision-making processes, leadership roles, and the responsibilities of members.

Intellectual Risk-Taking And Emotional Intelligence In Educational Systems: A Comparative Study Of The Usa, Finland, Japan, And Singapore, Peter Hecht

Comparative Civilizations Review

This paper examines how intellectual risk-taking (IRT) and emotional intelligence (EI) are integrated into educational systems in the United States, Finland, Japan, and Singapore, arguing that these factors are essential for fostering creativity, resilience, and academic success. In modern pedagogy, IRT is defined as the willingness of students to engage in challenging academic tasks despite potential failure, thereby promoting innovative problem-solving and critical thinking (Beghetto 210; Dweck 6). Complementarily, EI — an individual’s capacity to recognize, understand, and manage emotions — plays a crucial role in classroom dynamics by enhancing self-regulation and interpersonal relationships (Goleman 43; Mayer et al. 197). …

Book Review: Max Weber's Sociology Of Civilizations: A Reconstruction, Stephen T. Satkiewicz

Comparative Civilizations Review

Max Weber (1864-1920) remains one of the most seminal figures in the social sciences, and his influence continues well over a century since his death. His explanation for the connections between the rise of capitalism and the Protestant Reformation still remains his most famous and most highly debated thesis. In spite of his prominence in the social sciences, Weber’s status within the civilizational field can be more ambiguous. He is not seen as a foundational figure at least when compared to others such as Pitirim Sorokin, Arnold J. Toynbee, or Oswald Spengler. That is not to say Weber is never …

The Fragrance Muse: Musk As A Symbolic Tapestry In Classical Persian Poetry, Akbar Shirini, Shen Xudong, Zhao Dan

Comparative Civilizations Review

This paper explores the symbolic representation of musk in classical Persian poetry, uncovering its role as a multifaceted emblem of Iranian cultural identity and human experience. Drawing on a qualitative analysis of primary texts from the Ganjoor archive and secondary sources, the study traces musk’s historical significance across China, Iran, and Islamic world. In China, musk is prized for its rarity, medicinal properties, and metaphysical roles; in Iran, it intertwines with mythology, Zoroastrian cosmology, and trade; in Islamic contexts, it holds commercial and therapeutic value, cherished by figures like Mohammad. Within Persian poetry, musk transcends its material origins, symbolizing blackness …

Towards The Systematic Cross-Civilizational Comparison: How Civilizations Work Case 2: The Indic Civilization, Monika Monika

Comparative Civilizations Review

Building on Liah Greenfeld’s (2024) framework of Systematic Cross-Civilizational Comparison, as outlined in her Spring 2024 CCR essay, this paper examines the cultural realities of the Indic civilization. Civilizations differ at both the individual level, including cognitive aspects (the structure and content of thought), moral dimensions (values and principles guiding behavior), and emotional patterns (typical emotional responses); and the societal level, i.e., distinct institutions, institutional systems, and historical trajectories (Greenfeld 2024).

In each civilization, these modal dimensions stem from and are shaped by the first civilizational principles — the foundational ideas framing the reality unique to that civilization. In Indic …

Full Issue

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

Sociological Dichotomies Of Mława, Poland, Over Time: Misplaced Concreteness, Individual Triumph, Social Tragedy, Joseph Drew

Comparative Civilizations Review

For many years, I have been an active member of the International Society for the Comparative Study of Civilizations and Editor-in-Chief of its journal, the Comparative Civilizations Review. Since the 1960s, I have also been a university administrator and a professor, globe-trotting to learn about societies near and far, their rises and falls. Yet even though I lived and worked in Prague, as president of a university, not far from the Polish border, I had never set foot in that country, notwithstanding that my paternal grandfather came from there.

Translation And Migration, Utopia And Dystopia: Representations Of The Labor Of Cultural Mediation In Fictional Eastern Europe And The Real Us-Mexico Border, James L. Richie Iv

Vernacular: New Connections in Language, Literature, & Culture

With the publication of Moira Inghilleri’s book, Translation and Migration (2017), the linguistic act of translation and the social phenomenon of migration have been linked in the world of interdisciplinary studies, yet this linkage may obscure the relevance of works in which only one phenomenon (translation or migration) is presented. A case study in which a work exploring migration can be contrasted with a work exploring the function of translation may reveal in one another the social forces that condition both practices. In Lucas Pope’s independently created video game Papers Please (2014), the player embodies a border patrol agent in …

Laina Farhat-Holzman: Distinguished Iscsc Author, Incisive Thinker, Fearless Commentator, Innovative Leader, Joseph Drew

Comparative Civilizations Review

It is a sad duty to report that a luminary who was long associated with this journal and with the leadership of the International Society for the Comparative Study of Civilizations, Dr. Laina Farhat-Holzman, has died.

Literary Executor Of The Estate Of Christopher Dawson, Julian Scott

Comparative Civilizations Review

Christopher Dawson was a historian of religion and culture who wrote and lectured in England and America between the 1920s and his death in 1970. The author of this review, Dawson’s grandson and literary executor, argues not only that Dawson is very interesting to read as a historian, but also that many of his insights and proposals — such as his writing on European unity, nationalism, the consequences of a secularized culture and the conflict between humane individualism and state totalitarianism — remain highly relevant today. This article highlights some of Dawson’s most interesting and insightful ideas and aims to …

Ccr Style Guide For Submitted Manuscripts, Carolyn Carpentieri Potter

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

Full Issue

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

Editor’S Note: Want To Help Develop A Textbook On Comparative Civilizations?, Joseph Drew

Comparative Civilizations Review

Is anyone here in the United States or elsewhere teaching a course in the comparative study of civilizations at the undergraduate level these days?

Since I was thinking about organizing the writing of a textbook on the topic, I began recently by considering what the major areas were to be covered in such a book. What, I wondered, have been the significant approaches scholars have taken over the past century or so to address the fluid, debatable, tenuous meanings and shapes of civilizations?

Ethiopia: Ancient Glory, Awaiting Recovery, Tseggai Isaac

Comparative Civilizations Review

The name Ethiopia is associated in the Book of Genesis with the creation of the world, indicating a sacred and ancient heritage. We find Ethiopia mentioned as having relations with the ancient Biblical nations such as Israel, Egypt, Assyria, and Mesopotamia. Ethiopians get uplifting gratification in reading specific scriptural references from the Bible and applying them to the country. These Biblical allusions include discussion of the Queen of Sheba and her son, King Menelik the First, born from her relationship with King Solomon, who was himself the son of King David, the founder from whom came the lineal parentage of …

Russia’S Geopolitical Civilizational Narratives And Strategic Direction In The Contemporary Multipolar World Order, Sharyl Cross, Igor Okunev

Comparative Civilizations Review

This article sets forth the foundations for recent geopolitical civilizational narratives in Russia that are influencing Moscow’s contemporary foreign policy behavior and the future direction of the Russian “civilizational state” in the global multipolar world order. This article is not intended to provide justification for Russia’s foreign policy choices and actions, but rather the purpose is to explain Moscow’s official geopolitical narratives, and thus to provide a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of the considerations informing Russia’s foreign policy behavior.

Vladimir Putin has been at the helm of leadership in Russia exerting unparalleled influence as President and Prime Minister since …

Front Matter

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

Christopher Dawson And The Challenges Of Interdisciplinary Studies, Joseph T. Stuart

Comparative Civilizations Review

The following interview was conducted by Ms. Bibi Pelic, the Director of Communications for the International Society for the Comparative Study of Civilizations. The recording is available on the ISCSC YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=so-hS2SdoZc

How Companies Heal And Maintain Health: A Unique Function Of Corporate Museums In Japan, Aki Kinjo

Comparative Civilizations Review

Capitalism is embedded in our civilization. Despite its faults, weaknesses, and sins, modern civilization cannot prosper without capitalism. Companies are the engine of capitalism. Yet, just like humans, companies make mistakes, sometimes gross. How do companies overcome unforgivable mistakes? This paper argues that corporate museums in Japan play an important role in helping companies heal from their sufferings, recover, and maintain organizational health.

I deploy a cultural approach to management, analyzing corporate museums as a platform for conveying explicit and hidden narratives. A cultural approach to Japanese management helps us understand why Japan has so many corporate museums, well …

How The State Replaces Civilization: The Japanese Exception, Robert Bedeski

Comparative Civilizations Review

By conceptualizing civilization and state as integrated systems consisting of interacting subsystems, their similarities and differences can be analyzed. The central hypothesis is that civilization consists of three material subsystems — economy, government, and knowledge — and one non-material subsystem, transcendence. When the transcendent subsystem is diminished or destroyed by decree or overwhelming rational and scientific evidence, the emergence of the state occurs as in the cases of the Mongol Empire, the Soviet Union, and communist China.

The apparent universality of this observation is countered by an examination of the Japanese civilization and state, where imperial transcendence dominated and reinforced …

The Rise Of China And The Concept Of Civilization: Constructing A Conceptual Apparatus For Cross-Civilizational Comparisons, Liah Greenfeld

Comparative Civilizations Review

The Rise of China and the Concept of Civilization: Constructing a Conceptual Apparatus for Cross-Civilizational Comparisons

The paper examines the deficiencies of the current understanding of “civilization” in the social science literature, among others exemplified by “civilizational analysis,” and proposes a new concept that adds to the conceptual apparatus of sociological theory — a new, fully independent of others, variant of the cultural process. This independence makes distinctions between civilizations as the root cause of socio-cultural diversity.

Combined with the idea of humanity as a culturally constituted reality sui generis, this concept allows the construction of the theoretical scaffolding …

Civilization, Civilizations, Civilizational State: Untangling Civilizational Discontents In International Relations Theory, Vlad Alalykin-Izvekov

Comparative Civilizations Review

Recently, a herd of terminological hybrids have trampled onto the field of International Relations Theory. These include civilizational state, civilization-state, state-civilization, civilizational nation-state, civilizational privilege, and geopolitical civilizational narrative. What do those notions tell us about global tendencies and trends today?

This paper explores the origin, evolution, and meaning of these terms; it also proposes solutions for problems of a nascent, multi-polar, and multi-civilizational world within the framework of an Integralistic Paradigm in IR Theory.

Books Of Interest Spring 2025, Stephen T. Satkiewicz

Comparative Civilizations Review

Books that may be of interest to scholars of the comparative study of civilizations and may add significantly to the body of scholarship in the civilizational field are highlighted in this new regular feature. These books are also available for book reviews in future editions of Comparative Civilizations Review. Any suggestions for books to be added to this list may be emailed to Book Review Editor Stephen T. Satkiewicz: [email protected].

The Germanic Legends Of The Gold Of The Rhine And Their Āryan Sources, Alexander Jacob

Comparative Civilizations Review

Medieval German legends regarding the gold of the Rhine have both a mythological source, as the gold of the Nibelung dwarf Andvari, and a historical Burgundian one, as a hoard possessed by the Burgundian princes. Here we point to more ancient sources of these legends, ones that are to be found in the cosmological myths and rituals of the Āryans.

Civilizational States And Nation States: A Few Preliminary Thoughts, Stephen Satkiewicz

Comparative Civilizations Review

Over the first two decades of the 21st century, the older certainties that shaped how we looked at the world have been shaken to their core. Most conceptions of how the world works were the byproduct of the postwar order that governed during the Cold War (1945-1991) and were expanded in the immediate post-Cold War era of the 1990s and early 2000s.

Hans Holbein's Portrait Of Henry Viii: England's Own Personal Jesus, Amy Pitsor

Best Integrated Writing

Pitsor explores the possibility that Holbein’s late-stage change in the composition of the portrait from a three-quarter view of Henry to a frontal view held a motive to present Henry as the head of the newly established Church of England and as equal to the pope, and possibly to Christ himself.

La Falta De Los Supermercados En El Oeste De Dayton: Cómo Obtienen Los Estudiantes Comida Fresca En Los Desiertos Alimentarios (Un Ensayo Expositivo-Argumentativo, Catherine Iacobacci

Best Integrated Writing

After having learned about how poverty can affect children’s educational outcomes in one of her classes, Iacobacci wanted to learn more about how the issue affected the area where she lived and went to school. What she found out was incredibly shocking, and only furthered the idea that students are struggling with opportunity gaps, not achievement ones. Unfortunately, due to discriminatory loan practices from long ago, children from the 21st century are suffering physically, emotionally, and academically.

The Journey Within: My Travel Journel, Devonique Jones

Best Integrated Writing

This project is a multigenre research exploration that delves into Jones's personal journey of self discovery and growth during her first solo trip.

Investigation Of Ndv In Southern African Waterfowl Reveal Insightful Geographic And Biodiversity Trends To Help Contain The Virus, Lauren Goodwill

Best Integrated Writing

This study assesses the infection rates and trends of Newcastle disease in southern African waterfowl, a project carried out by Emily Murphy in Dr. Jeffrey Peters’ laboratory

Analysis Of The Integration Of Race And Cultural Concordant Doulas Into The Birth Experience Of African American Women, Cherissa Garcia

Best Integrated Writing

Garcia's study looks at how integrating race and cultural-concordant doulas into the birth experience of African American women would impact outcomes. She found similar studies that provided strong evidence to support doula integration. However, most did not select study populations that appropriately reflected the African American women at increased risk of poor outcomes. As a result, Garcia designed a study that looked at race and cultural concordance between doulas and patients from a wide range of SES backgrounds and varying degrees of pregnancy risk.