Reviews

The Shadow of God and the Hidden Imam: Religion, Political Order, and Societal Change in Shi'ite Iran from the Beginning to 1890 Said Amir Arjomand. Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1984. $24.00.

Bibliography on Qajar Persia Shoko Okazaki & Kinji Eura, eds. Osaka University of Foreign Studies, Japan, 1985, xvi, 163 pp.

The Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. 2, The Median and Achaemenian Periods Ilya Gershevitch, ed. Cambridge University Press, 1985, xv, 946 pp., 48 plates.

Shah of Shahs Ryszard Kapuscinski. Translated from Polish by William R. Brand and Katarzyna Mroczkowska‐Brand. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, a Helen and Kurt Wolff book, 1982. $12.95.

The Iranian Revolution: Thanatos on a National Scale Gholam R. Afkhami. Washington, D.C.: The Middle East Institute, 1985. $24.95.

Shi'ism, Resistance, and Revolution Martin Kramer, ed. Boulder: Westview Press, 1987, x, 324 pp., index.

Labour Unions and Autocracy in Iran Habib Ladjevardi. Syracuse University Press, 1985, 328 pp., including appendices, notes, bibliography, index. $29.95

Iran: At War with History John W. Limbert. Boulder: Westview Press, 1987, xviii, 186 pp., index. $28.00.

Finding Hoseyn Colin MacKinnon. New York: Arbor House, 1986, 306 pp. $16.95 cloth.

An Introduction to Shi'i Islam, The History and Doctrines of Twelver Shi'ism Moojan Momen. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1985, xxii, 397 pp. 32 pages of halftones, three appendices, notes, and select bibliography. $25.00 (cloth).

Fundamentals of Islamic Thought: God, Man and the Universe Ayatullah Murtaza Mutahhari. Tr. R. Campbell. Ed. and intro. Hamid Algar. Berkeley: Mizan Press, 1985, 219 pp., index to p. 235. $19.95. Pb. $8.95.

Man and Islam Ali Shari'ati. Translated by Fatollah Marjani. Houston: Filing, 1981, xxi, 128 pp. $4.95.

A Manual of Classical Persian Prosody Finn Thiesen. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1982.

The Left in Contemporary Iran: Ideology, Organization and the Soviet Connection Sepehr Zabih. London: Croom Helm, 1986. 239 pp., including appendices, bibliography, index.     

Contouring the Cataclysm: A Geographical Analysis of the Effects of the Minoan Eruption of the Santorini Volcano

This study is a step forward in understanding the palaeoenvironmental effects of the Minoan eruption of Santorini (1627–1600 BCE). We employ geostatistics to produce a prediction map for the thickness of the tephra fallout over the Eastern Mediterranean, and we reconstruct the effects by comparisons with recent eruption analogues. Based on the geostatistical map, the amount of environmental disruption over so far undocumented areas is estimated by comparison with archaeological sites where emplaced Minoan tephra has been recorded before. Nevertheless, independent field evidence suggest that the environment responded differently in places, occasionally posing challenges to the presented interpolation. A second line of evidence coming from contemporaneous fluvial archives provides clues for a widespread ‘Minoan flood’ over a large part of the Eastern Mediterranean, associated with the eruption itself. This simultaneous hydrological event may have had a counterbalancing effect on the impacts of the Minoan tephra cover, and could explain the sporadic discrepancies between the predicted effects and the palaeoenvironmental evidence. Traces of the effects of this extraordinary volcanic event are also sought in the regional Late Bronze Age literature.     

Preparation of Engineering Geological Maps of Bam City Using Geophysical and Geotechnical Approach

Engineering geological mapping was carried out at a scale of 1:25000 in the city of Bam, located in southeastern Iran, to provide engineering geological information as a base for seismic microzonation of the city. In this study, Seismic Refraction and Vertical Seismic Profiling (VSP) surveys were employed along with boreholes in order to identify the characteristics of subsurface material in Bam city. A number of different kinds of maps of the city were prepared consisting of Iso-depth, Iso-velocity, and Iso-Poisson's Ratio maps. The study also involves trial pitting and continuous core recovery, in-situ, and laboratory tests. Borehole data, index properties of soils, and standard penetration test results were used to assess subsurface conditions. Geophysical and geotechnical data were combined to simulate geotechnical boreholes and prepare engineering geological maps to provide basic data for seismic geotechnical microzonation to facilitate in the reconstruction of the city of Bam.     

Labour Geography of the National Question in Times of Decolonisation: Sharecropper Politics in Western Punjab,c. 1945–1953

This article examines the labour geographies of nationalism through sharecropper “articulations” of anti-colonialism. I study the Punjab Kisan (peasant) Committee at the eve and dawn of Pakistan’s independence from British colonialism. I analyse their actions and claims through newsletters, activist memoirs, and colonial reports. I situate them in relation to other social and political forces: the state, landlords, and Muslim nationalists. Whereas labour geography has often ignored nationalism, I outline an approach for the sub-field to address this gap. First, subaltern nationalisms re-articulate labour, land, gender, and religion in place-specific ways. Second, exclusionary and liberatory nationalisms are variegated responses to the dynamics of being integrated to an imperialist world-economy. This study found these multi-religious peasant committees articulated sovereignty over labour, land, and social reproduction with the national question. Further, this article contributes to the subaltern and labour historiography of Pakistan.     

ON BEING NOT EVEN ANYWHERE NEAR ‘THE PROJECT’: WAYS OF PUTTING OURSELVES IN THE PICTURE

This paper challenges current constructions of “the project” in radical geography by examining the phenomenon of “missing sisters.” We discuss the social construction of lesbians and disabled women as invisible “others” and how this is manifest in Geography. We argue that disabled women and lesbians have had their experiences and lives marginalized; both in the geographic literature and through practices of exclusion. We call for a reconstructed radical geography which includes lesbians and disabled women, on their own revolutionary terms, in the production of knowledge and in political practice. Such an inclusionary project will enrich our understanding of geographic processes and strengthen our efforts to build political strategies of resistance to contemporary forms of oppression and marginalization.