University of Chicago
Bucknell University
Lingnan University
University of Missouri, St. Louis
University of Massachusetts Boston
Xavier University - Cincinnati
The University of San Francisco
University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
Utah State University
Speaking Back Through Stories: Storytelling And The Politics Of Resistance,
2026
Yenne Kids' Academy
Speaking Back Through Stories: Storytelling And The Politics Of Resistance, Korka Sall
Wagadu: A Journal of Transnational Women's & Gender Studies
Black women have long served as storytellers, knowledge producers, and custodians of collective memory across Africa and its diaspora. Through oral traditions, literature, and film, they have created networks for the circulation of knowledge while fostering Pan-African consciousness, preserving cultural heritage, and educating communities about identity, justice, and self-determination. Their narratives challenge systems of colonialism, patriarchy, and historical erasure by centering Black women's voices and lived experiences within transnational conversations about history, culture, and belonging. This paper examines Aminata Sow Fall's Le Revenant (1976), Bessie Head's short story "Life" (1977), and Diabou Bessane's documentary Les Mamans de l'Indépendance …
A Poetic Call For And A Reflection And Commentary On Clarity, Understanding, Hope, Courage, And Compassion,
2026
UMass Boston
A Poetic Call For And A Reflection And Commentary On Clarity, Understanding, Hope, Courage, And Compassion, Carroy U. Ferguson
Psychology Faculty Publication Series
Finding a published poem I had written as a teenager, titled “The Heavens Weep.” this article uses that poem as the basis for a commentary that reflects on the state of the world today (2026), As a commentary, the article uses the poetic and metaphoric words in the poem as a relevant "reality check" for what is still going on today. In essence, the commentary is about a call for Clarity, Understanding, Hope, Courage, and Compassion, or what I call Archetypal Energies, Higher Vibrational Energies that operate deep within our individual and collective psyches to creatively urge us to "see" …
Table Of Contents,
2026
Brigham Young University
End Matter,
2026
Brigham Young University
Full Issue,
2026
Brigham Young University
Introduction To Liah Greenfeld’S Scholarship On Nationalism, Civilizations, And Humanity,
2026
The University of Nottingham, Ningbo, China
Introduction To Liah Greenfeld’S Scholarship On Nationalism, Civilizations, And Humanity, Zeying Wu
Comparative Civilizations Review
This introduction to the special issue of Comparative Civilizations Review, dedicated to the late Professor Liah Greenfeld, summarizes her original approach to the study of nationalism, civilization, and humanity. It describes her groundbreaking contributions across multiple disciplines ⎯ including sociology, political science, anthropology, economic history, and psychiatry ⎯ and introduces Greenfeld’s comparative civilizations project, an ambitious endeavor to which she dedicated her final years. The introduction concludes by examining examples of her influence on the work of scholars around the world featured in this special issue and how her intellectual legacy provides vital frameworks for understanding the world in …
Towards The Systematic Cross-Civilizational Comparison: How Civilizations Work Case 3: The Chinese Case,
2026
Beijing Forestry University
Towards The Systematic Cross-Civilizational Comparison: How Civilizations Work Case 3: The Chinese Case, Tiantian Wu
Comparative Civilizations Review
Drawing on Liah Greenfeld’s (2024) framework of Systematic Cross-Civilizational Comparison, this study examines Chinese civilization as an enduring and culturally autonomous system shaped by its unique first principles, “the Great Unity”, which integrates Confucian orthodoxy, political legitimacy, and cultural tradition into a coherent worldview. Historically, this framework justified dynastic rule through moral virtue and the Mandate of Heaven, forming a durable model of statecraft that incorporated Taoist, Legalist, and Buddhist influences. Expressed and perpetuated through the Chinese language, these principles have systematically shaped the civilization’s modes of thought, ethics, and emotional patterns. Although the Opium War and subsequent “Century of …
A Historical Inquiry Into The Cpc’S Century-Long Evaluation Of Confucianism And Its Return To The “Great Unity” Cultural Tradition,
2026
Shanxi University & Boston University
A Historical Inquiry Into The Cpc’S Century-Long Evaluation Of Confucianism And Its Return To The “Great Unity” Cultural Tradition, Ye Liu
Comparative Civilizations Review
Since its founding, the Communist Party of China (CPC) has undergone a complex trajectory in its attitude toward Confucius and Confucianism — from fierce critique to rational inheritance, and then to confident promotion. This century-long evolution profoundly reflects shifts in the CPC’s revolutionary tasks and ideological orientations at different historical stages, and it also mirrors the continuity and transformation of the Chinese civilization’s “Great Unity” (大一统) cultural tradition within a modern political context. This evolution can be divided into four stages: the revolutionary period, the Mao Zedong period after the founding of the PRC, the reform and openingup period, and …
The First Principles Of Chinese Civilization: Relationalism And Pragmatism,
2026
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
The First Principles Of Chinese Civilization: Relationalism And Pragmatism, Sai Zhang, Yongnian Zheng
Comparative Civilizations Review
This article examines the first principles of Chinese civilization, relationalism and pragmatism, through Liah Greenfeld’s (2024) definition of civilization as a distinct cultural reality. By comparing Chinese civilization with others, particularly in the context of globalization, we seek to identify its distinctive characteristics. Our overview analysis draws on interdisciplinary literature (including linguistics, philosophy, sociology, political economy, and social psychology). We argue that the complexities of Chinese civilization require a nuanced understanding of its first principles, which are codified in language and cognition. The article explores how these principles manifest in mainstream thoughts such as Confucianism and Legalism, influencing social structure …
Temporal Legitimacy And Civilizational Logic: A Sociological Perspective On The Foundational Principles Of Chinese Civilization,
2026
Ritsumeikan University
Temporal Legitimacy And Civilizational Logic: A Sociological Perspective On The Foundational Principles Of Chinese Civilization, Yuk Man Cheung
Comparative Civilizations Review
This article departs from the recent social-scientific analytical framework for comparative civilizations proposed by the sociologist Liah Greenfeld (2024a, 2024b, 2025) and puts forward several basic conjectures regarding the analysis of the characteristics of Chinese civilization, with the aim of assisting our understanding, execution, and integration of empirical studies. Precisely because these are conjectures, they differ from conventional academic research–especially the case-study-oriented research style dominant in contemporary Anglophone academia. Accordingly, this article can only be regarded as an attempt that, starting from sociological theory, offers preliminary conjectures and tentatively constructs a theoretical framework within which specialists from different fields may …
Cognitive Foundations Of The Absence Of Antisemitism In Japan: Towards A Civilizational Perspective,
2026
Chuo University
Cognitive Foundations Of The Absence Of Antisemitism In Japan: Towards A Civilizational Perspective, Chikako Takeishi
Comparative Civilizations Review
This paper explores the gap between civilizations in the forms antisemitism takes and the cognitive modes on which it is based, given its significance for comparative civilizational analysis. Antisemitism is characterized by two features — the expressive nature of violence and an orientation toward the elimination of an entire group — which are particularly salient compared to other forms of anti-sentiment familiar in the age of nationalism. In the first section of this paper, I argue that antisemitism exhibiting these features has not been present in Japanese history. The subsequent sections, building on Greenfeld’s theory of civilization, examine existential envy …
Children’S Literature As A Site Of Cross-Civilizational Analysis: Hong Kong In Crisis After 2019,
2026
University of Tsukuba
Children’S Literature As A Site Of Cross-Civilizational Analysis: Hong Kong In Crisis After 2019, Faye Dorcas Yung Schwendeman
Comparative Civilizations Review
This paper applies Liah Greenfeld’s cross-civilizational framework to Hong Kong children’s literature published from 2017 to the present, with emphasis on post-2019 works. Existing scholarship argues that 2019 marked the crystallization and mass diffusion of Hong Kong national consciousness; a nationalism lens therefore helps explain the intensified production of Hong Kong-centered narratives, civic pedagogy, and Cantonese-language transmission. I argue, however, that nationalism does not fully account for a crisis register that becomes salient in parts of the corpus: texts that frame the conflict as a struggle over singular truth, counter-memory, and intolerable contradiction, and that assign to ordinary people a …
The “Original Spirit” Of Chinese Civilization: Wang Huning And The Indigenization Of Reform In Post-Mao China,
2026
Brandeis University
The “Original Spirit” Of Chinese Civilization: Wang Huning And The Indigenization Of Reform In Post-Mao China, Chandler Rosenberger
Comparative Civilizations Review
For several centuries, modernizing intellectuals in China have struggled with the question of how to move their country forward against the inertia of a large peasant population rooted in millennia-old traditions. The Communist Party of Mao Zedong tried to fill that peasantry with revolutionary fervor, but grew fearful as chaos quickly destroyed traditions and reforms alike. In the last three decades, however, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) seems to have found a way to engage the population in modernizing within their own familiar cultural framework. Guided by chief ideologist Wang Huning, the CCP has embraced a civilizational approach to reform …
The Concept Of A ‘State-Civilization’ In Russia: The Contest For National Dignity In The Form Of A Civilizational Analysis,
2026
Chelyabinsk State University
The Concept Of A ‘State-Civilization’ In Russia: The Contest For National Dignity In The Form Of A Civilizational Analysis, Ivan Nokhrin
Comparative Civilizations Review
This article examines the contemporary Russian concept of the “state-civilization” as articulated in official discourse, educational materials, and nationalist thought. It argues that the notion of Russian civilization functions primarily as a symbol of national dignity and exceptionalism rather than an analytically coherent concept. Through analyzing narratives surrounding traditional values, state-centrism, family, and patriotism, the study demonstrates that these themes largely reproduce longstanding patterns of Russian nationalism and its opposition to the West. Drawing on Greenfeld’s theory of civilization, the article contends that Russia is best understood as part of the broader monotheistic civilization rather than a distinct civilization of …
The Family As A Mechanism Of Civilizational Continuity: Absorption, Localization, And Rejection Of Modern Values In The Indic Case,
2026
Comparative Civilization Forum
The Family As A Mechanism Of Civilizational Continuity: Absorption, Localization, And Rejection Of Modern Values In The Indic Case, Monika Monika
Comparative Civilizations Review
Contrary to the common view that the family socializes the individual into a given culture, this paper insists that the family performs a far more profound, indeed, a constitutive function. It is not simply the first school of civilizational values; it is the primary institutional site through which a civilization reproduces its symbolic order and, in so doing, acts as the gatekeeper of civilizational continuity and change. It is here that a civilization’s foundational principles are first internalized; and it is here, too, that modern values, or new norms thrust upon it by encounters with alien civilizations ⎯ are first …
Liah Greenfeld And Civilizational Dialogue: For Continuing A Legacy,
2026
Jawaharlal Nehru University
Liah Greenfeld And Civilizational Dialogue: For Continuing A Legacy, Manindra Nath Thakur
Comparative Civilizations Review
One fine morning, I dropped into my room at the Centre for Political Studies, JNU. Monika took an appointment to meet and discuss her project. I was curious to know about her work and wanted to see if there was anything to learn from it. Within no time, I discovered that she was influenced by a professor and that we had many common concerns. I listened carefully and was convinced by her impression. We decided to initiate a conversation. Suddenly, a few months later, she informed me about Liah Greenfeld’s sad demise. Our conversation could not take off.
Reflection On Liah Greenfeld’S Influence On My Work: National Consciousness And The Sociological Imagination,
2026
St. George's University
Reflection On Liah Greenfeld’S Influence On My Work: National Consciousness And The Sociological Imagination, Oliver Benoit
Comparative Civilizations Review
Few scholars have influenced my intellectual development as much as Liah Greenfeld. While my academic interests emerged from an attempt to understand the Grenada Revolution and its collapse in 1983, it was Greenfeld's work that provided clarity to the questions I asked and the conceptual tools I employed to answer the question: What caused the collapse of the Grenada Revolution? Her scholarship redirected my attention away from conventional explanations rooted exclusively in economics, ideology, or political institutions and toward the cultural foundations of modernity itself. More specifically, Greenfeld's theory of nationalism provided a framework through which I came to embrace …
Unconventionality In Liah Greenfeld's Thought,
2026
Bates College
Unconventionality In Liah Greenfeld's Thought, Francesco Duina
Comparative Civilizations Review
As certainly all of her readers recognize and many of the contributions to this special issue will point out, Liah Greenfeld’s writings covered an almost unparalleled breadth of themes and empirical levels ⎯ from the very macro to the very micro. Hence, she produced seminal contributions to the study of empires, globalization, states in history, nationalism, economic systems, the arts, religions, groups and organizations, terrorism, animals and humans, the social sciences, science in general, mental illnesses, and the mind. Most recently, she had turned her attention to civilizations (Greenfeld, 2016, 2025). The rigor of her writing was equally impressive: it …
Following Through Dialogues: A Chinese Scholar’S Reminiscence Of Professor Liah Greenfeld,
2026
Beijing Normal University
Following Through Dialogues: A Chinese Scholar’S Reminiscence Of Professor Liah Greenfeld, Xinqi Jia
Comparative Civilizations Review
Ordinarily, a Chinese teacher of ethics who had never set foot in a Western country before the age of forty and a Jewish-American sociologist born in the former Soviet Union would have no reason to cross paths. Yet, throughout 2010, they spent an entire year in Boston in close contact. Should anyone someday write a biography of the late Professor Liah Greenfeld, this story alone would be excellent material for exploring how her theory has influenced the world, and how, as an outstanding theorist, she continually expanded the boundaries of our understanding of it.
Liah Greenfeld On Antisemitism As A Defining Characteristic Of The Monotheistic Civilization,
2026
King’s College London and Bar-Ilan University
Liah Greenfeld On Antisemitism As A Defining Characteristic Of The Monotheistic Civilization, Efraim Karsh
Comparative Civilizations Review
One cannot overstate the scholarly and intellectual loss occasioned by the untimely death of Boston University Professor Liah Greenfeld. Through her prodigious interdisciplinary research, Professor Greenfeld has established herself as one of the foremost social science theorists of our time and a worthy heir to the great firstgeneration nationalism scholars, in particular Eric Hobsbawm, Ernest Gellner, and Anthony Smith.
