Western Scholars Research Articles

The Spacetimes of the Scythian Dead: Rethinking Burial Mounds, Visibility, and Social Action in the Eurasian Iron Age and Beyond

The Eurasian Iron Age Scythians, in all their regional iterations, are known for their lavish burials found in various kinds of tumuli. These tumuli, of varying sizes, are located throughout the Eurasian steppe. Based, at least partially, on the amounts and types of grave goods found within these mounds, the Scythians are usually modeled as militant, patriarchal mobile pastoralists, with rigid social structures. Yet, such interpretations are also due to accounts of Scythian lifeways provided by “classical” societies from the Greeks to the Persians, who saw the Scythians largely as barbarians, much like their neighbors to the north of the Greeks, the “Celts”. Despite recent interrogations of the barbarian trope, and the opportunity to dissect the classic formula of large mounds = elevated status, I contend that many studies on Scythian mortuary practices remain monolithic and under-theorized, especially by Western scholars. Drawing upon different conceptual and methodological frameworks, I present alternative, multi-scalar understandings of Scythian mortuary landscapes. Utilizing a spacetime-oriented, dialogical approach supplemented with geographic information systems, I interrogate how and why various meanings and experiences may have intersected in these protean Scythian landscapes of the dead, rather than reducing them to monolithic symbolic proxies of ideological status.

Knowledge production at a crossroads: rising antidemocracy and diminishing academic freedom

ABSTRACT This essay links the global shift toward antidemocracy with the global attack on higher education. I argue that rising far-right politics in many countries is also politicizing higher education, in turn diminishing the freedom to research, think and teach. This is apparent across Europe, the Americas, Middle East, Asia, Africa and among supposedly leading liberal democracies such as the United States. A common strategy in far-right attacks on higher education has been to limit scholars’ claim to collective institutional autonomy and reduce scholarly conversation to an individual’s right to free speech. The new UK Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023 illustrates this reductionism explicitly. To counter this trend, I argue for reframing academic freedom as social responsibility to wider societies, underscoring its collective dimensions and legibility and applicability to nonacademic audiences. This reframing is particularly important in global north countries given the dominance of the Euro-American academy in knowledge production, and the relative power of western scholars to push back against intellectual censorship. Drawing on the recent wave of political activism across social movements and union mobilization in the United States, I argue this presents an opportunity for connecting the defense of higher education with the defense of wider concerns around issues such as the climate crisis, labor conditions, anti-racism, conflict and abortion rights. I conclude that shifting the narrative about academic freedom is essential for building transnational support across class, race, ethnic, religious, gender and educational differences, and resisting escalating attacks on universities and colleges around the world.

From East to West: Carl W. Ernst's insight into sufism's impact on islamic studies in America

With its global expansion and incorporation of elements from other religions, Sufism presents an intriguing field of study for Western scholars interested in the mystical and societal influence of Islam. This article aims to explore the impact of Sufism on existing Islamic studies in America. The study adopts a qualitative approach, relying on library research to analyze the origin, development, and evolution of ideas through the works of Carl W. Ernst. The research findings demonstrate that Sufism has had a significant impact on the advancement of Islamic studies, particularly in fostering a deeper understanding and respect between American society and Muslims. By promoting love, compassion, and unity, Sufism plays a vital role in bridging misconceptions and facilitating peaceful coexistence.

The Baron von Münchhausen of British Travel Writers: Edmund Spencer and his Travels in Circassia

Abstract The article is devoted to a critical analysis of the legacy of Edmund Spencer – a nineteenth century British travel writer and author of numerous books and articles on Circassia and the Caucasus. The widespread use of Spencer’s work by historians notwithstanding, until now there has been no published biography of the author, which led to a proliferation of claims about his background and the timing and circumstances of his visit to Circassia. This article contributes to the correction of this omission by presenting the results of the latest biographical research on Edmund Spencer, based on manuscript and printed primary sources. Despite doubts expressed by some historians about the existence of such a person, the article conclusively proves that Edmund Spencer was indeed a real historical personage. Furthermore, since until now no attempt has been made to evaluate the reliability of Spencer’s works on Circassia as historical sources, the article examines references to Spencer in contemporaneous manuscript sources, such as the British, French and Russian diplomatic, military and intelligence correspondence and reports, finding that available documentary evidence refutes the author’s claim of a visit to the interior of Circassia. The attitudes of Western scholars of the period and of foreign visitors to Circassia raise further serious doubts about the authenticity of Spencer’s travelogues. The article calls into question Spencer’s account of his travels in Circassia as a source of geographic, ethnographic and sociological knowledge, concluding that it was a nothing more than a fabrication.

Freedom Of Expression In Islam “Is Freedom of Expression in Islam compatible with Article 10 of ECHR?”

A predominated opinion has emerged in the West that Islam disregards Human Rights, especially the Freedom of Expression. Many Western scholars have explicitly expressed their views through literature. This article examines Islam's freedom of expression and its compatibility with Article 10 of ECHR. Some research has been carried out to understand the clear picture of freedom of expression in Islam and its limitations. However, no research has been conducted on the proposed topic of Freedom of Expression in Islam and its compatibility with Article 10 of ECHR. This study, therefore, attempts to fill the gap in this much-debated arett7a. This study is based on theoretical research and uses secondary data. It adopts an explanatory research design based on the literature, articles, books, newspapers, electronic media, and reports of international bodies such as the UN, ECtHR caselaws, Human Rights Watch Reports, Amnesty International and Liberty reports. The research has found that Islam propagates the same views as adopted by the ECHR and the ECtHR, where disturbing the peace of the community has been restricted. Still, on the other hand, the revolt against the dictatorial and tyrant government has been promoted. Therefore, the principles of freedom of expression and its limitations are identical in Islam and ECHR. These findings conclude that the opinion being expressed in the West about Islam is unsubstantiated, therefore making these opinions biased and discriminatory.

Power, knowledge, and being: the emergence and persistence of coloniality in Libya

ABSTRACT This article contributes to the debate on coloniality (Quijano 2000a, b) by analysing the case of Libya, an Italian colony from 1911 to 1943. It demonstrates how the triple form of domination – ontological, epistemological and political-military-administrative – to which Libya was subjected during Italian colonisation, has survived its end and persists to this day in the relations between Libya and the Western world. From an ontological perspective, the Italians developed a racist representation of the Libyans, which was both the cause and the consequence of a conscious disregard of its specificities. Today, domination endures in the label attributed to Libya as a ‘failed state’, along with a general disinterest in the complexity of its history and society. From an epistemological perspective, the production of knowledge about Libya was dominated by Western scholars. This led to a Western perspective in which the agency of the Libyans was often neglected and to the spread of analytical and conceptual frameworks that serve the imperialistic claims of Western powers. Some of these colonialist analytical frameworks still exist in academia today. From a political-military-administrative perspective, the tendency of the Italians to exacerbate internal divisions while simultaneously imposing an inefficient model of a unified state remains relevant. This article makes two contributions: it is a case study and a theoretical one.

Mary’s Prophethood Reassessed: Overlooked Medieval Islamic Perspectives in Contemporary Scholarship

This paper offers a reevaluation of contemporary Western scholarship concerning the historical discourse on Mary’s prophethood within Islamic tradition. Recent research has primarily focused on Andalusian scholars, such as Ibn Ḥazm and al-Qurṭubī, and has neglected an essential aspect: the acknowledgement of Mary’s prophethood by Abū al-Ḥasan al-Ash‘arī, one of the founders of Orthodox Sunni theology. As a result, modern studies have reached conclusions lacking a solid foundation, due to their failure to consider this significant perspective. By incorporating this overlooked perspective, this study seeks to provide a more thorough and coherent understanding of the historical debates surrounding Mary’s prophethood.

‘Understanding socialism from the outside and from the inside’ – Interview with Alberto Chilosi

Alberto Chilosi is a former Professor of Economic Policy in the Department of Economics at the University of Pisa, Italy. After obtaining a degree in Law at Pisa, he earned a scholarship to Warsaw, receiving a Diploma in Economic Planning in 1968 and a Doctorate in Economics in 1972. He has been mainly active in the area of Comparative Economics, the Economics of Socialism, and the Economics of Transition. As a chairman of the Italian Association of Comparative Economic Studies, he has cooperated to organise the founding of the European Association of Comparative Economic Studies, serving as a member of its first Executive Committee. As a Senior Associate Member of St Antony’s College, University of Oxford (UK), he has taken part in its research in the area of Economics of Eastern Europe. He has also contributed in the areas of Macroeconomics and Growth Theory. While there are numerous examples of Western scholars who have studied the socialist system from the outside, as well as Eastern scholars who have studied it from the inside, Chilosi represents a rare case of a scholar who has managed to study the system from both perspectives simultaneously.

The trope of the Native American in nineteenth-century British and American accounts of South East Asia

ABSTRACT The nineteenth century witnessed the expansion of Western colonial power and influence across both mainland and maritime South East Asia, along with the publication of a growing number of books about the region and its peoples by Western scholars, travellers and colonial administrators. This was also a time when pseudo-scientific theories of racial difference were rife and deemed respectable in Western academic and political circles. This article looks at how some British and American authors were inclined to examine South East Asians through the lens of racial theory, and how in the course of doing so were also inclined to compare some South East Asian ethnic groups to the natives of America. In the course of doing so, Native Americans were invariably seen and cast as a homogenous racial group that was then located at the bottom of a hierarchy that differentiated between superior and inferior races. The repeated deployment of the trope of the Native American, as the embodiment of inferiority and savagery, was an instance of racial stereotypes being instrumentalized at a global level as part of a new pan-Atlantic Anglo-American discourse of race and racial difference.

To Fill “a Gap in Indian History”

This essay examines the category of “Company” painting, shorthand for painting associated with the East India Company, which dominates the art historiography of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century South Asia. Using the archive of Mildred Archer (1911–2005), the British Library curator who formalized this approach in Western scholarship in tandem with scholarly commentaries by art enthusiasts P. C. Manuk (1873–1946) and Rai Krishnadas (1892–1980), we highlight the complexities of Company painting as both modality and practice. Providing insight into the little-recognized role of Ishwari Prasad (1870–1949), whom Archer and Manuk lauded as the last living artist of the Mughal tradition, we examine his vanguard formulation of a Kampani qalam (“Company style”), where he reframed Mughal art in the era of Company mercantilism and thriving exchange between European and Indian artists at Patna. Further, Prasad emerges as a key interlocutor between the critic and educator E. B. Havell (1861–1934) and the artist Abanindranath Tagore (1871–1951), integrating Mughal and Company lineages within the growing pan-Asian sensibility at the Calcutta School of Art. Foregrounding Prasad's obscured history illuminates how ideas of Mughal, Company, and Modern art belonged to a common intellectual ferment; yet these approaches took separate paths in post-independence India. In tracing the genealogy of Archer's Company painting, we recover multiple voices and strands of artistry informing its gestation in addition to its colonial legacy, complicating Archer's focus on it as an artistic inheritance of the British Empire.

Major Trends in Public Sector Innovation: A Bibliometric Analysis

It is well known that innovation plays a substantial role in the public sector. However, there are concerns about how far public sector innovation (PSI) research has contributed in providing ideas to the government in formulating and implementing public policy. This study intends to investigate how PSI research has progressed and been disseminated, explore major topics mentioned in PSI studies and determine the primary players in PSI studies. This research analysed the bibliometrics of scholarly publications on public sector innovation as of August 2021, as documented in the Scopus database. We analysed the evolution of PSI research in 53 years by assessing published studies, source titles, types of sources and documents, as well as the languages in which the papers have been published. We additionally analysed PSI's main research topics by examining popular subject categories, the most often used keywords and title analysis. Finally, we investigated the key actors in PSI research by focusing at the biggest contributions nations to PSI studies, the major establishments involved, as well as authorship and citation analysis. The conclusions suggested that during the initial stages of PSI development half a century ago, public sector innovation attracted the interest of Eastern and Western scholars, as well as the number of books and articles published each year which have increased dramatically. Although there has good inter-country cooperation exists, a deficit in PSI research also exists from specific nations compared to the rest of the globe. Our results contribute significantly to public sector innovation inclusiveness.

Writing Red Taylorism into management history

An increasing number of Western scholars are currently arguing that socialist transition theory may provide solutions to industrial relations and management problems that capitalism struggles to resolve. I add to this effort by introducing the debate on whether scientific management could assist the transition from capitalism to socialism that was undertaken in the United States through the first two decades of the 20th century. By so doing, I make two contributions. First, I show that socialist theory has a substantial lineage within management studies from which current progressives might draw lessons. Second, I add to the literature that has problematised the authoritarian depiction of Taylorism that is orthodoxy in the management and industrial relations literature. I do so by showing that a significant body of theorists and practitioners believed scientific management could assist populations to move beyond capitalism. Some welcomed this possibility, while others viewed it as a dire threat, requiring that Taylorism be demonised.

Формування культури безпеки майбутніх фахівців з цифрових технологій як наукова проблема

The article examines the current problem of forming a safety culture of future specialists in digital technologies studying in technical institutions of higher education. An analysis of the conceptual and categorical apparatus of the study was carried out, in particular the terms: computer literacy, cyber literacy, Internet literacy, electronic literacy, information literacy, digital literacy, cyber safety. The latter term has been used by Western scholars who consider it in the context of the use of digital technologies and computers. Therefore, they understand cyber security as the formation of safe behavior in the online environment, based on the responsible use of the Internet and mobile technologies, as well as implemented measures that counteract possible risks. The use of the concept of digital literacy is proposed, as it includes not only the ability to use computer technologies, but also the ability to analyze information in the online environment, taking into account social, cultural, political and educational aspects in one's professional activity.
 The results obtained as a result of the analysis of psychological-pedagogical and methodical literature on the problem of forming a culture of safety in professional activity indicate that, despite certain achievements, this direction has not received conceptual clarity. Currently, even the term "safety culture of professional activity" does not have a scientifically based definition. Theoretical searches indicate the need to clarify its content and structure. In particular, for digital professionals, understanding and implementing a security culture becomes an integral part of their professional development. This involves not only technical skills, but also a deep understanding and internal adaptation of values and approaches that contribute to ensuring cyber security in the modern digital environment on the one hand, and on the other hand - compliance with the requirements for the organization of work in the process of professional activity.

وحی اور نبوت اور مغربی مصنفین : منٹگمری واٹ اور رابرٹ سپنسر کی آراء کا تقابلی جائزہ

It is an undeniable truth that the channel through which revelation became known to humankind is prophethood. Both revelation and prophethood are thus intertwined; the explanation of one will remain wanting without reference to the other. But majority of the Orientalists have tried their best to criticize and accuse Qur’anic revelation with a lot of misconceptions and allegations concerning wahy since dawn. So, this paper tries to find out the Orientalists view and concept on wahy based on the writings of western scholars. This paper gives high focus on analyzing their concepts and views related the issue and to answer and rectify the misconceptions describing the real facts and teaching of Islam in the issue related to wahy. So, this paper will be helpful to establish fact on Qur’anic revelation to the Prophet. Like other Orientalists, William Montgomery watt and Robert Spencer have actually denied Islamic scholars views about revelation and Prophet hood in their Qur’an commentaries. In this paper, an effort has been made to examine the arguments of both western scholars and to deduce the actual position about this topic. In this research written with a descriptive, comparative and analytical approach, it is proved that according to Quran, sciences of Tafsir and Hadith literature, history and logic, the explicit concepts of both scholars about revelation of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) are baseless and have been rejected with the arguments given by the majority of the Muslim scholars and thinkers.

The Islamic Cultural Heritage as a “Problem”: Is Arab Political Science Culturalist?

The study of political culture in the Arab world presents us with a paradox: albeit cultural explanations of Arab politics by Western scholars (e.g., Huntington 1993) have been widely criticized from within the region as latter-day Orientalist views, the cultural approach remains one of the leading analytical approaches employed in Arab social sciences. Central to this tradition is the idea that Arab societies have specific cultural characteristics that contribute to, or are the cause of, the region’s general “backwardness,” especially politically. Collectively known as critics of al-turāth (cultural heritage), this school of thought sparked important scholarly debates in Arab academic circles. This paper reflects on these debates, mainly focusing on how Arab political science, broadly defined, has considered the role of culture as a potential explanatory variable for the endurance of authoritarianism in the Arab world and the failure of democratic transitions. Several influential Arab intellectuals adopt the cultural approach, but they do not necessarily define culture in static, primordial, or fixed terms. If Arab political culture is deemed problematic, it can still be changed. For this academic tradition, the “critical intellectual” is a central agent for any sociocultural and political change.

Taking a chance on China: African student‐entrepreneurs in greater Zhejiang Province

AbstractDriven by macro‐level investment and strategic competition, engagement between China and African countries has expanded significantly in recent years, giving rise to increased migration flows between the two regions. Wary of Beijing's growing influence on the continent, Western scholarship and media often portray China as extractive and neo‐colonialist, whereas Africa and Africans are depicted as passive and lacking agency. This study examines an important yet understudied group operating at the crux of contemporary Sino–African relations that challenges these assumptions: young, African student‐entrepreneurs studying and working in China. Drawing on data from 10 months of ethnographic fieldwork and interviews with African student‐traders, as well as Chinese university administrators, students, and officials, this study finds that African student‐traders have developed a set of strategies that allow them to navigate, exploit and reconfigure Chinese structures as they pursue their entrepreneurial aspirations, suggesting that the Sino–African relationship is far from one‐sided.

Beyond Borders: Unpacking us Military Involvement in Afghanistan as a Case Study in the Islamic World

Purpose: This study seeks to assess the adherence to international law in the 2001 U.S.-led military intervention in Afghanistan, prompted by the September 11 attacks. Additionally, it aims to investigate the impact of the Greater Middle East Initiative on U.S. policy towards the Islamic World, specifically Afghanistan, providing insights into legal intricacies and broader consequences. Theoretical Framework: This article engages in discussions among Western scholars on the Afghanistan war and U.S. military involvement but distinguishes itself by incorporating insights from Middle Eastern scholars. It aims to enrich the discourse by integrating perspectives from within the Middle Eastern scholarly community, offering a comprehensive view of these complex subjects. Methodology: Employing historical, descriptive, and in-depth analytical research methods, this study examines events around September 11, 2001, providing essential context for the subsequent U.S. military intervention. Descriptive methods offer a detailed account of the post-9/11 shift in U.S. policy, while in-depth analytical methods scrutinize legal dilemmas arising from the intervention, contributing to a comprehensive understanding of historical context, U.S. policy decisions, and legal complexities. Results: The results and discussion section explores the historical evolution of U.S. military engagement in 21st-century Afghanistan, analyzing its strategic shifts and the Taliban's adaptation to guerrilla warfare. It critically evaluates the international legal aspects of the Afghan War, assessing the legitimacy of the U.S.-led military intervention based on UN conventions, historical precedents, and key principles such as the right to legitimate defense, urgency, and proportionality. Conclusions: The aftermath of September 11, 2001, marked a transformative moment in U.S. policy towards Afghanistan and the broader Middle East, leading to the consequential Afghan War. Despite its geopolitical significance, the absence of explicit UN Security Council authorization prompts a critical examination of the war's legitimacy, revealing lapses in meeting criteria for the right to individual or collective legitimate defense and urging a reevaluation of established narratives in international relations and global politics.

The Study of Music Theatre in the Russian Context: Italian Contributions and the Current Debate

The two main narratives that coexist in Russian musicological literature – notably in the field of opera – fall within the branches of russkaja and zarubežnaja muzyka. The first is inward-looking, self-referential, aiming at enhancing the peculiarities of the original, peculiar, and autochthonous contribution to Russian musical culture; the other studies Western music and its evolution separately from the previous one. This approach differs from Western scholarship, which today tries to integrate the Russian musical phenomenon into the global horizon. While this difference can be explained through historical reasons, much remains to be done regarding communication between scientific communities and the coordination of efforts made to study sources that are still too dispersed and difficult to submit to an overall view. Observing the current state of research, my contribution highlights potential directions in the frame of Slavic studies, such as the reception of Western opera in Russia, the mobility of musicians and musical assets, the reception and evolution of aesthetic thinking, and the vocabulary with which this was expressed, particularly in the imperial era.

Images of the Qur’an in Western scholarship: a socio-narrative approach

Images of the Qur’an in Western scholarship: a socio-narrative approach

Returning to Evolved Nestedness, Wellbeing, and Mature Human Nature, an Ecological Imperative

Why is humanity destroying its wellbeing and its habitat, Earth? The suggestion here is that the dominant culture has unnested itself from humanity’s millions-year-old adaptive heritages, impairing evolved capacities and human potential in a feedback loop of greater disconnection and destruction. Humanity’s heritage is to be nested horizontally, respectful of deep history and future generations, nested developmentally with evolved ways of raising children to foster thriving, and nested vertically, consciously participating in Earth-cosmos dynamism. Nestedness fosters capacities that are often missing in westernized peoples: ecological relational consciousness and knowhow, which were central to human adaptation. The dominant culture undermines their development. Mainstream western scholarship has accepted the slippage in baselines, collaborated with industrialized-capitalism culture and its intentional divorce from Nature’s ways, and is now caught and caged in the limitations of its models and metaphors. Enmeshed in the dominant culture, modernist psychology largely ignores species-normal child raising, human nature and capacities found all over the world among nomadic foraging societies and other traditional societies. In order to reverse the dominant culture’s destruction of planetary integrity, biological and cultural diversity, psychology must transform itself to help reestablish evolved practices and support deep nestedness, thereby helping restore human and Earth wellbeing.