The Misinterpretation of Women's Status in the Muslim World

Spiritual equality, responsibility, and accountability for both men and women are well‐developed themes in the Qur'an. Spiritual equality between men and women in the sight of God is not limited purely to religious issues, but is the basis for equality in all aspects of human endeavor. This article's main interest is in the woman's status, and her role within the Arab countries. Islam is the main religion—its principles, values, and practices are dominant in the region. Therefore, this article introduces and discusses the misinterpretation of women in Islam, with special consideration of Muslim women's rights and their roles within the Muslim society. This will help to enhance future discussions of social behavior, values, and attitudes toward women in Islam. In the last few decades there has been a great misunderstanding in many aspects of public consciousness about the role of women in Arabic society. There is a significant gap between the status of males and females. However, this gap is more evident in rural areas. The level of women's rights and roles in many Arabic countries prevents women from improving their economic growth and development. This gender gap is the result of social, religious, cultural, and gender inequality. More specifically, it results from structural constraints faced by women. Gender inequality is not a new issue, nor is it only Muslim women who are suffering from this inequality. There is gender discrimination almost everywhere. The Qur'an is the basis of Islam, and encompasses rules, legislation, examples, advice, history, and system of the universe. It draws a picture of the earth and describes the roles of human beings. The Qur'an is the answer to the spiritual and material needs of the Islamic society, and is an exposition and an explanation of all aspects of life.     

Factors Associated with Married Iranian Women's Contraceptive Use in Turku,Finland

Iranians are one of Finland's major immigrant groups. Like other asylum seekers in Finland, the Iranians brought with them their own cultural practices, attitudes and beliefs regarding marriage and family structure. The aim of this research was to study factors associated with married Iranian women's contraceptive use in Finland. A total of 120 married women with more than one child were interviewed in Turku, a costal city situated about 200km from Helsinki, the capital of Finland. The questionnaires gathered information about the respondents' socio-demographic status, knowledge and use of contraception, number of children, length of time in Finland, education level and other social characteristics. Our research shows that the social factors that are associated with the Iranian women's contraceptive use are mainly due to changes in their conditions of life and adaptation to the Finnish society.     

Iranian University Students' Politics in the Post-Reform Movement Era: A Discourse Analysis

Based on the discourse analysis of the statements of the university student organizations in the period between 1996–2006, this paper will address the pros and cons of five approaches to politics in the post-reform movement era based on five discourses among university students in the past decade of Iranian politics and their consequences for reshaping the Iranian polity. This article first discusses five socio-political processes, i.e., Islamicization, social differentiation, limited political competition, transformation of Shi'ite authority, and personalization of power, which led to four social and political schisms in Iranian society; inequality; political, social, and cultural discrimination; and secular/Islamist tension. Referring to these schisms, political discourses shape the ideologies and actions of Iranian student movements. These discourses are social justice, tradition, totalitarianism, pluralism, and Islamic democracy. Even if these discourses were no more than intellectual pronouncements by the university students, they have been powerful enough to extend to the Iranian political society.     

Adapting Antonak and Harth's Mental Retardation Attitude Inventory for Kuwait's Culture

The purpose of this research was to adapt Antonak and Harth's (1994) Mental Retardation Attitudes Inventory for the Kuwaiti culture and to investigate its four‐dimensional structure. The study also aimed at identifying a unidimensional subset of items besides examining the quality of the identified items and the overall inventory. The 34 ‐item adapted inventor y was administered to 56 4 college students. Item analysis indicated that 29 items have had good psychometric characteristics. However, the exploratory factor analysis, cross‐correlations of scale and item scores, and correlations among scales did not support the four‐dimensional structure of the adapted inventory. Further, the sample was split into two random halves. A uni‐dimensional subset of 20 items was identified in one sample by iterative factor analyzing the item data and discarding items with small loadings. The other sample was used to cross‐validate uni‐dimensionality of the identified items. Analysis indicated that scores of the 20‐item inventory have high Cronbach coefficient alpha, and high stability and generalizability coefficients. Partial support for the validity of the scores had been ascertained by comparing the scores of male and female students, and by regressing the inventor y scores on indicators of familiarity with individuals with mental retardation. Findings were discussed with reference to Kuwaiti culture. Over the last two decades, inclusion has internationally become a critical part of the reform efforts to improve the delivery of services to individuals with Mental Retardation (MR). This trend focuses on increasing the opportunities for the placement of these individuals in the same social and educational set tings as individuals without MR. The new arrangements for providing services have created challenges to people without disabilities concerning acceptance, integration, and inclusion of individuals with MR into the mainstream of society (Praisner, 2003). Many researchers (e.g. Priestly, 1998; Yazbeck McVilly & Parmenter, 2004) have convincingly argued that these challenges have their roots in the societal norms and values that concurrently developed throughout the unfolding history of the meaning of MR. As Priestly (1998) noted, although people with differences have existed in all societies, the degree to which they were integrated or excluded varied according to predominant cultural perceptions. Yazbeck, McVilly and Parmenter (2004) suggested that people's attitudes toward individuals with MR are socially constructed and are acquired through experience over time. Individuals with MR are often judged by people based on their disability instead of their whole lives and what they may accomplish and experience during their life (Blatt, 1987). Consequently, People may rely on false generalization and develop negative attitudes towards individuals with MR. Makas, Finnerty‐Fried, Sugafoos, and Reiss (1988) noted that for nondisabled persons, positive attitude toward people with disability is usually conceptualized as being ‘nice’ and ‘helpful’, whereas for a person with a disability, the attitude would be dispensing with the category of disability entirely. A study of community attitudes in one state of Australia found that up to 86% of respondents reported feeling ‘uncomfortable’ when interacting with individuals with disabilities (Enhance Management, 1999). Another study (European Commission, 2001) found that 40% of Europeans reported feeling ‘uneasy’ in the presence of people with disabilities. Attitudes manifest themselves as positive or negative reactions toward an object, driven by beliefs that impel individuals to behave in a particular way (Yuker, 1988). They comprise a complex of feelings, desires, fears, convictions, prejudices, or other tendencies learned through varied experiences that give rise to a set or readiness to act toward a person in a certain way (Chaiken & Stangor,1987). This means that attitude is not behavior, but the precondition of behavior. In addition, Myers, Ager, Kerr, and Myles (1998) identified three types of attitudes that influence how non‐disabled people interact with, and include or exclude people with disabilities: (1) A preparedness to engage with people as consumers, neighbors, or friends; (2) a lack of awareness about individuals with MR; and (3) a wariness or hostility regarding the idea of community integration. Research has shown that the third type of attitudes, which represents negative and non‐acceptance of individuals with MR is commonly observed (Gething, 1994; Schwartz & Armony‐Sivan, 2001). Such negative attitudes in a society may present people with MR as a burden on the welfare system. Moreover, people might not see individuals with disabilities as possessing a valuable social role or possessing the same abilities and characteristics that the majority of people possess. Tus, individuals with MR may not be accepted or included in society and may often be treated badly. In turn, Wolfensberger (1988) indicated that individuals with MR, being in a devalued position, would behave badly as they think that this is what is expected of them. As integration of persons with MR is increasingly becoming a global reality, Kuwait has designed social policy aimed at promoting acceptance and inclusion of people with disabilities into the mainstream of society. To implement the policy of integration, the Kuwaiti government is continually forming inclusive services for individuals with MR. The recent policy of inclusion (law 13/96), which has been adopted in 1996, asserts that people with disabilities have a fundamental right to live and grow within their local communities. This law has spawned an expanded system of services to encourage people with disabilities to live like people without disabilities. Inclusion policies give individuals with MR the right to be involved in the same situations as people without MR. For example, more individuals with MR, for example, are being employed. Moreover, most children with Downs syndrome now attend Kindergarten and are included in social programs for children in the general population. The general goal of all types of services provided for individuals with MR is to improve their participation in society. Although the Kuwaiti government has shown a growing interest in the integration of individuals with MR, the chances of these individuals being able to integrate into mainstream society would depend on the attitude of others, such as students, teachers, coworkers, social workers, professionals, towards them. These attitudes, as found in many Western studies (Antonak & Harth, 1994; Gordon, Tantillo, Feldman & Perrone, 2004) are, for the most part, negative, which may contribute to negative outcomes on the part of individuals with MR (Byon, 2000). According to Wright (1983), disability situations are vulnerable to fundamental negative attitudes, and this would seem to be even truer in the culture found in Kuwait. In Kuwaiti culture, disability has stigmatizing effect on members of the immediate and extended family; families tend to keep members with MR out of the sight of other people. This contributes to social exclusion of people with MR. There is also the traditional common belief that disability is related to (1) God's willing that the parent should have a child with a disability, (2) God is punishing the parent, (3) God is testing the parent, or (4) God is selecting the parent for an unknown reason. Commonly, persons with MR have been considered burdensome and shameful, because they are incapable of contributing to traditional social obligations and roles. While those traditional beliefs still exist, the law 13/96 was legislated to support the integration of persons with MR into various aspects of life. Consequently, we expect that people in the society would react to this trend with frustration, anger, or refusal. Usually, people in Kuwait have little or no information about individuals with MR; thereby uninformed determinations, such as stereotypes, reflect their attitudes toward these individuals. According to Blatt (1987), a stereotype will fill in the cracks and unanswered questions in a situation with which people are not familiar. Langer (1989) in her theory of ‘mindfulness’ also shows that stereotype is ‘premature cognitive commitments’ that leads people to make judgments without enough information and reflection. Moreover, the society labels given to individuals with MR are often accompanied with stigma and negative connotations. This situation makes it difficult for those individuals to be included into society and be accepted for what they actually are and not for what others assume them to be. According to Biklen and Bogdan (1977), this type of discrimination is called ‘handicapism’ and is defined as‘…a set of assumptions and practices that promote differential and unequal treatment of people because of apparent or assumed physical, mental, or behavioral differences’ (p.206). These perceptions may prevent individuals with MR from being accepted, and they might be viewed, based on Erikson's theory, as a pseudo species, or as less than human (Smith, 1981). Furthermore, professionals', leaders', and students' views and beliefs about the integration of individuals with MR into society may result in slowing the process of inclusion and discouraging people from accepting these individuals as what they are. For example, though senior staff in Kuwait's Ministry of Social Affairs succeeded in including children with Downs syndrome into public kindergarten, no other effort has been made since 1996 to integrate other children with disabilities into inclusive educational settings. More critical is that, while leaders make efforts toward inclusion, they continue to support the permanent residence of individuals with MR in social welfare institutions and urge the government to provide free health, social and educational services for the residents. Ahmad (2004) found that between 1992 and 2002, there was an increase in the number of children, and males and females adults with MR who live in the Social Welfare Institution for permanent care. The number of residents with MR has increased from 223 to 296. According to Philips (1992), leaders' and professionals' beliefs about individuals with MR could have commenced with the industrial revolution that brought with it the practice of classifying people who were different, and who were not able to pursue personal dreams or act as the industrial society required. Leaders and professionals may perceive individuals with MR, as Blatt (1987) stated, blessed innocents or surplus population that is unnecessary and expendable. These beliefs may never give the individuals with MR an adequate opportunity to present themselves and their abilities to others. Praisner (2003) suggested that leaders' attitudes are the key factor in successful inclusion. Due to leadership position, leaders' and professionals' attitudes about inclusion either could result in increased opportunities for individuals with MR to be served in different settings or increased efforts to support the segregated special education services. According to Goodlad and Lovitt (1993), leaders and professionals have the decision to develop an inclusive setting, if they (1) make and honor commitments, (2) do what they say in formal and informal settings, (3) express interest in inclusion, (4) act and make their actions known, and (5) organize their staff and their physical surroundings to implement inclusive programs. As Praisner (2003) stated, the success of inclusion depends on how leaders exhibit behaviors that advance the integration, acceptance, and success of individuals with disabilities in general settings. Researchers (e.g., Horne, 1985) have also shown that students' positive attitudes may increase their willingness to work with individuals with MR, and lead to removal of barriers to integrate them into society. The positive attitudes of students may help to encourage the establishment of policies and the allocation of resources to increase the integration of individuals with MR into different settings in the society (Yazbeck, et al., 2004). To enhance the policy of inclusion in Kuwait, society needs to evaluate some of its structures and change people's attitudes to fit the needs of individuals with MR instead of making these individuals fit society's structures. Helping individuals with MR to be included into society and establish socially valued roles would not be difficult if the attitudes of society are less restrictive and less resistant to change. As Kuwait continues to develop social and educational policy about inclusion, researchers must pay attention to the connection between integration and attitudes. The provision of educational and social opportunities for individuals with MR can be legislated by Kuwait's government, but acceptance from other people cannot be ensured without knowing people's beliefs and thoughts about persons with MR. Developing an understanding of the attitudes that is predominant in society, which in turn influences the actions of its members, is critical if we plan for social changes and for evaluating the effectiveness of public policy on promoting an inclusive society (Schwartz & Armony‐Sivan, 2001). Given that there are negative attitudes toward people with MR, particular care must be taken to monitor changing social attitudes toward these individuals to identify any serious impediment to the progress of their inclusion in different settings: schools, workplace, and the wider community. Research that is relevant to individuals with disabilities (e.g. Geskie & Salasek, 1988; Antonak & Harth, 1994) has revealed the need for researchers to investigate the attitudes of people toward MR. Wolfensberger (1983) suggested that the key to changing how people are valued socially is to change the perceptions people have about individuals who may differ from the norm. Research, however, has indicated that the investigation of attitudes toward individuals with MR requires a psychometrically sound instrument. It is crucial to conduct research to gather accurate information about these attitudes; it would clarify people's awareness of persons with MR, and assist in evaluating intervention programs and developing appropriate course work for special education fields. Further, it would inform public policy decisions, funding priorities, and service delivery, which in turn, enhance the likelihood of achieving successful integration and improving qua lit y of life for persons with MR (Antonak & Harth, 19 94; Schalock, 1990). Accurate measurement of attitudes could also lead to early detection of negative attitudes, such as personal prejudices, misconceptions, and irrational fears of professionals, social workers, and teachers when they first get involved in disability work settings. Furthermore, it would help in providing a baseline for monitoring changes in their attitudes over time (Byon, 2000). Changing attitudes would help in supporting efforts of individuals with MR to become autonomous (Philips, 1992), and help to decrease the resistance of others to allow people with MR to make decisions about their own lives and to be independent (Schalock, 1990). As the history of the deinstitutionalization movement has shown, becoming autonomous and independent are not as simple as releasing people from state facilities and hoping they survive on their own. Autonomy and independence are based upon choice‐making, and choice‐making must be taught to people with MR, as they have never been allowed to make their own choices and do not know how to rationally choose for themselves. However, as Crutcher (1990) noted, personal choice is based on opportunity, and opportunity is accessible only when society decides it should be. Therefore, in order for individuals with MR to have the opportunity to make their own decisions and be successfully included in society, special effort must be taken to change peoples' attitudes towards them. Moreover, a psychometrically sound instrument of attitudes helps researchers to assess with known precision respondents' feelings about individuals with MR (affective aspect of attitudes), and their conceptions about them (cognitive aspect of attitudes). On the affective side, there are feelings of approval or disapproval of individuals with MR in the society. On the cognitive side, there are beliefs, knowledge, and expectations that affect people's behavior towards individuals with MR. The affective and cognitive aspects affect the respondents' opinions of what services should be provided for individuals with MR and what policy should be adopted. These also assist in the design, implementation, and evaluation of social intervention program and strategies geared toward removing barriers to integration (Geskie & Salasek, 1988). The present study focused on adapting, for use in Kuwait, the Mental Retardation Attitude Inventory‐Revised (MR AI‐R) of Antonak and Harth (1994). The MRAI‐R was chosen because of the limitations of the MR attitudes' instruments in the Gulf States, and in particular the lack of such an instrument in Kuwait. After reviewing literature, it seemed that there was only one measure of attitudes; an inventory developed by Qaryauti (1988). Despite the claimed appropriateness of Qaryauti's scale, we decided to use the MRAI‐R of Antonak and Harth for several reasons. First, Qaryauti's scale was based on Western instruments that Antonak and Harth criticized and motivated them to construct the MRAI‐R. In contrast, Antonak and Harth constructed the MRAI‐R based on a review of more than 50 years of the attitude literature, and developed their inventory on the most available valid instrument. Second, by reviewing the items of the MRAI‐R and Qaryauti's scale, it was clear to us that the MRAI‐R is more consistent with the requirements of the law 13/96 that was mandated in Kuwait to assure the right of individuals with MR to be included into public schools, workplace, and the wider community (see Table 1). Third, the MRAI‐R, unlike Qaryauti's scale, incorporates several components of attitudes: (1) the integration‐segregation of individuals with MR in various school programs, workplace, and community; (2) the willingness of people to be associated with individuals with MR (Social Distance); (3) the rights of individuals with MR to be included in schools, communities, and the workplace (Private Rights); and (4) the derogatory beliefs of people about the moral character and social behavior of individuals with MR. Of the 22 items in Qaryauti's scale, 13 were related to derogatory beliefs, six to social distance, and only three to private rights and integration‐segregation. Fourth, many transcultural researchers have used the MRAI‐R in populations as diverse as the United States, Australia, and Korea. In the US, Ward (1998) used the MRAI‐R to explore relationships between empathy and attitudes among 200 parents and adult consumers with developmental disabilities. Also, Yozwiak (2002) utilized the MRAI‐R to examine the beliefs and attitudes of 210 community members toward a child with MR who was a witness to a sexual abuse case. In an Australian study, Yazbeck and others (2004) used MRAI‐R to examine differences in attitudes between students and professionals in disability services, and persons in the general community (N=492). In Korea, Byon's study (2000) used the MRAI‐R to investigate the effect of social desirability on attitudes toward MR, and to compare the relationships between attitude measures (both direct and indirect measures) and behavioral outcome indicators. Obviously, findings from a large number of studies using the MRAI‐R contribute to its validity. In contrast, we failed to find any study in which Qaryauti's scale was used. Based on the above arguments, it seems that the MRAI‐R would be useful in needs assessments, especially in schools and mental health clinics. For example, when the ministry of education decides to implement the inclusion policy in schools, there would be a need to assess attitudes of teachers and students towards students with MR. The results of such assessment would help in designing programs that improve attitudes as needed. The MRAI‐R can also be useful for social workers, professionals, and researchers who work in a variety of primary social welfare settings. It helps them to identify and target those people who are the most in need of training and preparation to change their attitudes toward MR. In a wider scale, non‐profit organizations can use results of assessing attitudes in advocating the rights of those individuals. In general, the primary usage of the MRAI‐R could be: (1) screening for early identification of negative attitudes; (2) assessing attitudes of specific groups toward persons with MR; (3) pre‐ or post‐ measurement in intervention studies; and (4) helping researchers who aim at studying the effects of attitudes on different variables in the life of people with MR (i.e. job satisfaction, life satisfaction, family relationship, social support), or the relationship between attitudes and demographic variables (i.e. gender, age, marital status, employment, educational status, familiarity with individuals with MR). Following the recommendation of Antonak and Livneh (1988) that researchers should use the existing instruments and stop creating new ones, the purpose of the present study is to develop an Arabic inventory of attitudes toward individuals with MR by adapting the MRAI‐R to be suitable for use in Kuwait. Specifically, the study aimed at: (1) revising the MRAI‐R items to make them suitable to Kuwait's culture; (2) investigating the suitability of the four‐factor‐structure of the MRAI‐R for measuring attitudes toward individuals with MR in Kuwait; (3) selecting a uni‐dimensional subset of items, if the four‐factor‐structure was not confirmed; and (4) examining the psychometric characteristics of the adapted inventory. We decided to carry out this study on college students for various reasons: (1) college students are prospective educators or professionals who will be either dealing with people with MR or making decisions that affect their lives; (2) college students in Kuwait play an active role in social change and in changing public opinions;(3) they are representative cross‐section of Kuwaiti society; (4) a sample of college students is more easily acquired than a sample from the general population.     

Effect of a Disability Course on Prospective Educators' Attitudes Toward Individuals with Mental Retardation

Prospective educators who completed a course about social work with disabilities were participants in a study that investigated whether attitudes toward individuals with mental retardation (MR) would be enhanced by the information provided in the course. The quasi‐experimental design of the study involved a control group together with a pretest and a posttest, and several demographic and experiential variables. The study used a version of the Mental Retardation Attitude Inventory‐Revised that Kandari and Salih (in press) adapted for the Kuwaiti culture. Results revealed that the course did not influence students' attitudes toward individuals with MR. The authors discussed the findings in relation to determining the changes needed in the course's curriculum and evaluating the information provided for prospective educators in order for them to support the integration of individuals with MR into mainstream society. Throughout history, society's attitude towards individuals with Mental Retardation (MR) has been predominantly negative. Society has created an ‘out‐group’ of people who may be seen as less than human because they are disadvantaged in terms of some abilities and characteristics such as intelligence, self‐consciousness, and the ability to have human relationship that the majority of its citizens possess. The history of segregation of individuals with MR has reinforced this notion by adopting the term ‘handicap’ or ‘disability,’ which signifies the presence of an inherent difference between them and other people. Such segregation can negate the fact that one is a human being; depriving him\her of enjoying the benefits afforded to those without disabilities (Philip, 1992). Smith (1981) provides an example of the danger of society's beliefs about individuals with MR as being less than human. He brings to attention that fetuses with Downs syndrome are usually aborted because, when they are born, they would not meet certain minimum requirements for being human. They would be severely mentally retarded and uneducable, and would thus be a burden on their families and society. The danger of such beliefs is that individuals with MR may begin to internalize these inaccurate assumptions and thus tend to fulfill the society's expectations (Phillip, 1992). Over the last few decades, a strong movement in special education and related human services fields toward ‘normalization’ has given people with MR more opportunities to participate in various activities with people without disabilities. Changes in the provision of services to persons with disabilities have focused on increased inclusion in educational, employment, and social arenas (Antonak & Livneh, 1988). However, barriers, including the attitudes of educators, employers, co‐workers, and others, still stand between persons with MR and full inclusion (Geskie & Salesk, 1988). In Kuwait, the law of the disabled (13\96) assures the right of persons with disabilities to be included in different settings (e.g., schools, workplace, social activities, and wider community). Although Kuwaiti government has shown growing interest in the integration of individuals with MR, the chances of these individuals to integrate into mainstream society would depend on the attitudes of others (e.g. students, prospective educators, teachers, co‐workers, social workers, professionals) toward them. These attitudes, as found in many Western studies (e.g. Antonak & Harth, 1994; Gordon, Tantillo, Feldman & Perrone, 2004) are for the most part negative, which may contribute to negative outcomes on the part of individuals with MR (Byon, 2000, Special Olympics, 2003). For example, Parent, Hill and Wehman (1989) found that non‐disabled co‐workers focused on the disabled personal characteristics rather than specific job competencies. The impact of these negative attitudes may have significant consequences for both social and vocational lives of persons with MR. Mest (1988) have found that negative attitude leads to self‐isolation of persons with MR. Rusch, Hughes, Johnson and Minch (1991) found that stigma negatively affected social relationships between workers with MR and their peers without MR. As literature has shown, the provision of educational and social opportunities for individuals with disabilities can be legislated, but acceptance from other people cannot be ensured. Experts agree that complete integration and acceptance of individuals with disabilities might happen following long‐term changes in attitudes (Beattie, Anderson & Antonak, 1997). According to Langer's (1989) theory of ‘mindfulness’, changing people's attitude depends on providing enough information relevant to the problem of interest. People change their understanding of concepts based on their becoming mindful of them. Taba (1966) suggests that concepts' formation involves three stages: (1) Identifying information relevant to a problem, (2) grouping information on the basis of some similarity, and (3) developing categories and labels for the groups (Taba, 1966). With regard to MR, people might change their attitudes if they are encouraged to identify the construct of MR and then group subsequent information with enough details to form groups of categories without simply stereotyping. This is because people usually stereotype others and judge them without enough information and reflection (Langer, 1989). Thus, only continued mindfulness toward individuals with MR can eliminate stereotypical thinking and lead to their acceptance as fellow human beings in various settings. Gordon, Feldman, Tantillo, and Perrone (2004) suggested that greater awareness of disability issues results in improving social attitudes about disabilities and helps in removing attitudinal barriers. Henry, Keys, Balcazar, and Jopp (1996) also found evidence that training in inclusion philosophy increases awareness associated with positive inclusion's attitudes among staff members who work in mental disability settings, when compared to general population. There is some evidence showing that as they gain more information about individuals with MR and their conditions, their attitudes become more positive (Lawrence, Glidden & M‐Jobe, 2006; Sadek & Sadek, 2000). Conaster and Block (2001) found that instructors who taught aquatics classes to students with disabilities felt able to handle their academic coursework and experiences during the academic year. Teachers who felt competent had also more favorable beliefs and positive attitudes toward individuals with disabilities. In a related finding, Irish physical educators showed significant positive attitudes related to their previous experiences in teaching students with mild‐moderate MR (Meegan & Macphail, 2006). Folsom‐Meek and Rizzo (2002) claimed that educational preparation helps to enhance attitudes toward working with individuals with disabilities. Castoria (1986) found that understanding of the intent and concept of mainstreaming, and adequate‐to‐good training emerged as positive factors that influenced elementary and junior high school teachers' attitudes toward youngsters with special‐needs. Based on the above arguments, perceptions and attitudes of prospective educators can be enhanced by the provision of appropriate coursework related to disabilities. Otherwise, prospective educators would continue, like many people, to believe that individuals with MR are not capable of dealing with the everyday facets of life (Hunt, 2004). More seriously, educators may feel uncomfortable dealing with students with MR who happen to enroll in their classes. A study of community attitudes in one state of Australia found that up to 86% of respondents reported feeling ‘uncomfortable’ when interacting with individuals with disabilities (Enhance Management, 1999). Another study (European Commission, 2001) found that 40% of Europeans reported feeling ‘uneasy’ in the presence of people with disabilities. The coursework would thus help to increase prospective educators' willingness to work with individuals with MR, interact with them, and support their integration into society (Horne, 1985). Lack of interest and negative attitudes on the part of prospective educators may directly influence their abilities to interact with individuals with MR in a disability‐related job (Schlachter & Duckitt, 2002). Hatton, Emerson, Rivers, Mason, Swarbrick and Mason (2001) claimed that lack of interest in MR by staff members (e.g., social workers, counselors) usually discourages them from dealing with individuals with MR, and may result in their leaving the job. Although researchers (e.g. Hatton, Emerson, Rivers, Mason, Swarbrick and Mason, 2001; Larson and Lakin, 1999) found that low salary and high job stress can lead staff members to leave their jobs, Osborne and Williams (1982) indicated that lack of interest in MR was the major reason of leaving the job among social workers. Providing coursework related to disabilities increases prospective educators' awareness of disability. Gaining this awareness, they can identify and counter inequality of opportunities for individuals with MR, inaccessibility of resources, and other environmental influences that add to their powerlessness. Prospective educators usually play an active role in social change and in changing public opinion. The awareness of the disability would help them to change society's response to persons with MR, as it is affected less by public policy and more by the prevailing societal attitudes. Myers, Ager, Kerr, and Myles (1998) suggested that increasing people's awareness of individuals with disabilities would present them as having worth and value as human beings no matter how they may differ from what society considered the “norm”. Prospective educators need to become aware of handicapist language, stereotypes, and prejudices that exist in literature so that they might better promote understanding and appreciation of people with disabilities. A course dealing with disabilities would be helpful for educators to encourage understanding by accurately and respectfully portraying well‐adjusted and productive individuals with MR, due to the fact that most literature presents and reinforces prejudicial and stereotypical images of characters with MR (Catlett, Martin, and Craig, 1993; Marsh, 2003). As part of the graduation requirements, Kuwait University requires prospective educators in the Social Work Department to take courses that focus on provision of educational, social and health services to special needs groups, such as the Social Work With Disabilities (SWWD) course which has two broad goals: (a) To increase prospective educators' knowledge of individuals with disabilities, and (b) to improve prospective educators' skills to deal with individuals with disabilities in the jobsites. These goals are accomplished through a combination of presenting information, guest speakers and direct contact with the instructor. Although the course deals with different types of disabilities (learning disabilities, MR, behavior and emotional disorders, and physical disability), the present study focuses on MR and students' attitudes toward them. In a study of Ahmad (2004) in Kuwait, findings showed that 40% of respondents in 15 workplaces related to mental disabilities reported a shortage of Kuwaiti professionals (social workers, counselors, psychologists) who work with the individuals with MR, and 46.7% of them reported lack of volunteers who are in direct contact with those individuals. Most research on attitudes toward MR in educational settings has focused on assessing attitudes of individuals (e.g., Lyons & Hayes, 1993; Corrigan, Green, Lundin, Kubiak, & Penn, 2001), with little attention given to effective strategies to promote positive attitudes toward individuals with MR. The assessment of attitude of prospective educators and whether it is affected by the SWWD course is important for several reasons. First, as educators, we have the opportunity to evaluate the course with regard to an important learning outcome. This evaluation could lead to a deeper analysis of the students' learning needs, and modification of the course's performance objectives, instructional materials, instructional strategies, and assessment strategies (Miller, 1996). Second, knowing whether the course has an effect on changing students' attitude would thus help professionals and social service providers to know whether educators would have the potential to contribute to or hinder the independence of persons with MR (Antonak & Livneh, 1988). Third, as the service model in Kuwait begins to emphasize the role of persons with MR in designing and requesting services that foster independency, the role of prospective educators in this process is likely to be affected by their attitudes as an intervening variable or variable that might indirectly influences behavior (Miller, 1996). Negative attitudes, as an intervening variable, might not directly cause negative behavior toward individuals with MR, but is likely to affect behavior in an indirect way, and hence affect the opportunity for inclusion in the lives of persons with MR. Attitude can motivate behavior in either a dynamic or directive manner (Miller, 1996). The broad question of the present study was: Would teaching the SWWD course improve prospective educators' attitudes toward individuals with MR? The present study investigated this question by assessing the attitudes of prospective educators (experimental group) toward individuals with MR before and after studying the course. The study also assessed the attitudes of another group of students (control group) who were, at the same time, taking another course. The present study anticipated that the attitudes of prospective educators toward individuals with MR would become positively different, as they gain more information about MR during the course of study. We thus hypothesized that taking the SWWD would improve attitude of a prospective educator toward people with MR.     

Women as Pilgrims: Memoirs of Iranian Women Travelers to Mecca

A hitherto neglected aspect of the Iranian women's lives and activities is their traveling and travelogues. A number of Iranian women pilgrims to Mecca and the Shi'ite holy shrines of Mesopotamia during the past four centuries have left behind memoirs of their travels. They recorded interesting details about their spiritual experience as pilgrims to the holy lands of Islam and of the difficulties of the journey, especially the notoriously dangerous land route from Iran to Mecca through the Arabian Desert. This paper examines four examples of that genre, the oldest dating from the early eighteenth and the other three from the late nineteenth centuries. As expected, the authors were all members of upper class families: one was a princess, another a former queen, and the other two were also affiliated with the ruling families in one way or another. However, they shared the same goals with all other female, and male, pilgrims: to perform their Muslim religious duty of hajj and to do it right. They all wrote about their spiritual satisfaction but also of the disadvantages and the extra burden that a woman experienced in her pilgrimage journey, simply for being a woman.     

Attitudes toward War in the United States and Iran

Understanding the determinants of attitudes toward war is important for the prevention of military conflicts and the promotion of peaceful conflict resolution. To examine American and Iranian attitudes toward war, questionnaires were administered to American and Iranian college students in the United States and Iran respectively. The results of the study revealed that American students generally have more positive attitudes toward war than Iranian students. Since most Iranians in the sample experienced eight years of war with Iraq whereas Americans never had direct experience of war, it was predicted that direct experiences of military action could explain this cross-national difference. Among Iranians those who experienced the Iran–Iraq war had more negative attitudes toward war compared to Iranians who did not have such experiences. The results further demonstrated that being authoritarian, religious and male were independently related to having positive attitudes toward war in both samples.     

Habermas and Iranian Intellectuals

In this paper, we discuss the impact of Jürgen Habermas' ideas on Iranian intellectuals who live in Iran. The upshot of the paper is that in present day Iran, where the society is going through a significant transitional period, various intellectual groups have reacted differently towards the ideas of the German philosopher-sociologist. While the orthodox left-wing (ex-Marxist) intellectuals and the conservative right-wing writers have, by and large, tended to ignore his views, a younger generation of the left-wing intellectuals and a number of the Muslim intellectuals with left-wing/socialist tendencies, have tried, each in their own ways, to ‘adopt’ Habermas' ideas in pursuit of their own projects/research programs.     

Responding to the ‘crisis of masculinity’: the perspectives of young Muslim men from Glasgow and Edinburgh,Scotland

Debates about the so-called crisis of masculinity have tended to focus on the experiences of white working class young men and black young men to the exclusion of other groups of men. This article seeks to redress this omission by exploring young Muslim men's knowledge and understanding of the crisis of masculinity and the ways in which they respond to such discourses. Using qualitative data collected during interviews and focus groups with young Muslim men – mainly of Pakistani heritage – living in Glasgow and Edinburgh in Scotland, I demonstrate that young Muslim men's responses to the crisis of masculinity debate are informed by a complex range of issues including their own class position, familial and related gendered expectations alongside the young men's interests in sport and leisure activities.     

An Ethnography of Teaching Archaeology

The purpose of this article is threefold. First, it refers to the ethics and logos of my courses in archaeology of the Near East and Israel attended by both Jewish and Arab students whose spatialisation of history and memory is different. The courses cover two periods: a—from prehistory to about 1,000 B.C; b—Christian and Muslim eras. Although these courses put much emphasis on Israel, the major sites of the Near East are well represented. Second, this article delineates some problems in the epistemology of Israeli archaeology, especially the slender consideration given to recent postmodern attitudes. Third, this article maps out an alternative way of teaching archaeology in contested regions such as Israel where different communities have their own mappings of the past. This alternative way provides the students with tools to evaluate the creation of knowledge about the past, and to reflect on their own social and relative positions in Israeli society. Dedicated to my teacher and friend, the late Prof. Moshe Kochavi     

Children's perceptions of and attitudes towards,transport modes: why a vehicle for change is long overdue

Overreliance on car transportation impacts negatively on children's health, safety and well-being. This paper presents research that investigated children's perceptions of, and attitudes towards, transport modes. Primary children completed a pictorial questionnaire (n?=?486), 119 participated in focus groups (n?=?27). The findings suggest that children learn about transport modes from different interacting sources, both through experiential and vicarious mediums. The author concludes that the social emphasis on cars can have an intellectual impact that is detectable in the perceptions and attitudes of many children. It is argued that current policy for reducing car use in the UK has a narrow focus and does not address the role of social and cultural factors in car usage and dependency. Suggestions for new initiatives aimed at the family and the media are described.     

The Spatial Organisation of Women's Soccer in Adelaide: Another Tale of Spatial Inequality?

Although sport is considered an important component of Australian society and a precious vehicle of social interaction, sports geography remains in many ways a neglected field of investigation. Nevertheless, geographical studies of sports can add valuable insights to more acknowledged geographical discourses. They can also contribute to regional sporting success. This paper analyses the current spatial organisation of women's soccer in Adelaide and outlines the unequal spatial expression of its recent professionally‐oriented approach, the achievement phase. A significant proportion of Adelaide's female population experiences limited opportunity to participate fully in the sport. The sport therefore fails to maximise its human resources and its spatial organisation constitutes a limit to the competitiveness of South Australian women's soccer as a system. The paper uses the concept of social capital to explore the unequal engagement of four sub‐regions in women's soccer. Many of the areas experiencing relative exclusion from women's soccer are the same ones that suffer the most from disengagement from the global economy. In those areas, socio‐economic disadvantage is matched by limited opportunities for self‐fulfilment through sport, and the effectiveness of social networks is weaker. This work aims to provide information for South Australian women's soccer institutions to foster enhanced equity in terms of access to the sport in metropolitan Adelaide. It also provides a base from which to investigate the reasons behind sub‐regional differences in the ability to produce quality players, knowledge that, if applied to these less productive areas, may contribute to the general enhancement of overall sporting outcomes.     

State repression in the Iranian bazaar, 1975–1977: The anti-profiteering campaign and an impending revolution

This article examines state repression in the Iranian bazaar during the anti-profiteering campaign from 1975–1977. While many have argued that the anti-profiteering campaign helped spark the revolutionary mobilization of the bazaar itself, this article posits that scholars should also consider the notion that the campaign helped to foster popular support for the revolutionary movement as a whole. Given the bazaar's ties to middle and lower classes of Iranian society, as well as their status as the country's “economic barometer,” this article presents the theory that the anti-profiteering campaign played a role in generating popular discontent against the former regime in the period just prior to the 1979 Revolution.     

The Madrasas of Oxford: Iranian Interactions with the English Universities in the Early Nineteenth Century

Against the background of the Russo-Persian wars of the early 1800s, the Iranian government sponsored a series of Iranian students to travel to the homeland of its erstwhile British allies in search of the new scientific and technological learning. Along with members of the Iranian embassies to London in the same period, the students were the first Iranians to acquire extensive and direct knowledge of British society as it entered the industrial era and the earliest to gain access (albeit short-lived) to the English universities. Yet in spite of the practical agenda of the students and their sponsors, on reaching Britain the students found it necessary to engage extensively with the evangelical and more generally religious agendas of their British co-operators. In reconstructing in detail the intellectual circles in which the Iranian students moved in England between 1815 and 1818, the article uncovers the series of religious negotiations that were a necessary part of Iran's early path to modernization.

In Oxford there are twenty big madrasas and five small madrasas they call “halls.”

Mirza Saleh Shirazi, 1818

     

Iranian Women's Perspectives on Violence against Women in Iran and the UK

This study explores the perspectives of female Iranian students living in both Iran and the UK concerning violence against women. A qualitative approach, in the form of in-depth interviews, was carried out with 21 participants. Drawing on Stark's concept of “liberty crime” the research found that the participants, regardless of their country of residence, perceived violence against women (VAW) as denying the opportunity for equal personhood by stripping away the victim's sense of self. However, the scope of what was considered to be liberty crime was affected by the individual participants’ religious beliefs and their degree of acceptance of the Iranian state's gender ideology. The research highlighted the extent to which different forms of VAW are interlinked and combine in order to control and subjugate women irrespective of their country of residence.     

Chinese factor in the space,place and agency of female head porters in urban Ghana

Migrating from northern Ghana to the coastal capital Accra in search of work, female head porters (‘kayayei’) find themselves in social structures and spatial orders that are imbued with various relations of seniority and power that constrain newcomers' entrepreneurial options. Yet, with the recent arrival of Chinese entrepreneurs in the social arena of Accra's marketplace, these power relations and gate-keeping mechanisms have begun to change. In this article, we analyse how female head porters perceive and appropriate the opportunities that arise as a result of the Chinese being seen by both they themselves and others as outsiders to Ghanaian society. By unintentionally enabling head-load carriers to extend their actual and symbolic claims to spatial realms that they were previously excluded from, the Chinese traders are facilitating head porters' expanded role within the social construction of place and space in Ghana's main urban market centre. They are therefore altering the patterns of everyday interactions between these head-load carriers and their environment.     

Iran's global reach: The Islamic Republic of Iran's policy,involvement, and activity in Africa

The aim of this study is to analyze the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI)'s policy toward and involvement in the African continent as a case study of the IRI's global policy and reach. The aspiration of the IRI's leadership for international standing and support coupled with a desire to export its revolutionary model and extend its influence beyond its borders have shaped its activity on many continents, including Africa. Africa's strategic location, past colonial experience, political position, rich resources, large Muslim population, and economic attractiveness have all contributed to shaping the IRI's activity within it. This study analyzes IRI's foreign policy in general and its implementation in Africa in particular, identifying the different historical phases of its activity in Africa, distinguishing between the various African regions, the main Iranian organizations involved therein, the means of and channels for Iranian involvement in Africa, and the reasons for IRI's gains and losses on that continent. The study shows how the Islamic regime has managed, during its 40 years of rule, through pragmatism and resilience, to gain influence and support, has endeavored to balance its losses, and has adapted to new circumstances in the African continent.     

The Iranian Diaspora in Sydney: Migration Experience of Recent Iranian Immigrants

Recent research has found that discrimination against Islam and Muslims is deeply rooted in Australia. This report explores whether or how recent Iranian migrants have experienced racism, discrimination, or Islamaphobia in Sydney. These questions are explored by focusing on their experiences and issues regarding their making of new lives in Australia. This article suggests that recent Iranian migrants are experiencing far less discrimination than other Muslim diasporas in Sydney. Concluding that despite recent reports by some researchers grouping various Muslim populations together as regards Islamaphobia, there is a necessity for investigating discrimination, stereotyping, and Islamaphobia against particular diasporas to determine the needs of the Muslim population at large.     

Quality Challenge in Iran's Higher Education: A Historical Review

Higher education at Iran's state-run universities is not supported by a deeply-rooted tradition of quality assessment. For several decades, Iranian universities have not been able to monitor themselves and develop efficient, internal structures of quality assurance. The academics' attempts at internal monitoring have failed, giving way to a system of bureaucratic supervision and control. Recent changes in Iran have given rise to new concepts, including the principle of universities' self-evaluation, based on academic autonomy and scientific freedom. But the dominant tendency in Iran's political structure and administration is still toward external, bureaucratic control. The conflict between more or less advanced texts and typically solid structures is a reflection of inconsistencies within the Iranian society, pursuing its transitional stage.