Book review

Oriental Carpet and Textile Studies

vol. III, no. 2., ed. Robert Pinner and Walter B. Denny. Published by the Islamic Department of Sotheby’ s and OCTS, Ltd., London (n.d., 1990?). 262 pages, with 12 colour plates and many black and white illus. and diagrams; soft‐bound with colour cover.

Textile Conservation and Research

by Mechtilde Fleury‐Lemburg. Bern, Switzerland: Abegg Stiftung. 1988, 532 pp.

An Introduction to Kurdish Rugs and Other Weavings

William Eagleton. New York, Interlink Books. 1988. 144 pp., 124 full‐page color plates.

Kordi: Lives, Rugs, Flatweaves of the Kurds in Khorasan

Wilfried Stanzer, Vienna, Adil Besim. 1988. 220 pp., 78 full‐page color plates, 48 color figures in text.

Carpets in the Baluch Tradition

by Siawosch Azadi. English trans. by Maria Schlatter and Robert Pinner. Klinkhardt and Biermann, Munich, 1986.

Armenian Rugs: Fabric of a Culture. An Exhibition at the Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies

August 17‐October 29, 1988. Co‐sponsored by the Armenian Rug Society. Ed. Pamela B. Nelson. 40 pp; colour and black and white photographs, maps and “selected bibliography”. Philadelphia: Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies, 1988.

Women's Costume of the Near and Middle East

by Jennifer Scarce, London and Sydney: Unwin Hyman Publishers, 1987. pp. 192     

Deciding How to Decide: Cultural Theory and Rule Making in Collaborative Watershed Organizations

The growing field of collaborative governance has long sought to explain processes of collective decision making. Insights from institutional analysis highlight the influence of rules in shaping collective decisions. Yet, less is known about how such rules are created; in other words, how collaborative organizations decide how to decide. By drawing on concepts from Cultural Theory, we examine the connections between worldviews and decision rules across four collaborative watershed organizations in Ohio, United States. Results from this comparative case analysis indicate correlations between the group dimension of worldview and decision rules about choice, as well as between the grid dimension of worldview and two different types of decision rules, choice and aggregation. These results highlight the explanatory value of integrating aspects of Cultural Theory with the Institutional Analysis and Development framework. Results also suggest how governments might more effectively engage with collaborative organizations.     

Red Brick in the Land of Steady Habits: Creating the Univeristy of Connecticut, 1881-2006

At first blush, the opportunity to read the history of a universityfrom which you did not graduate, for which you do not work,or near which you do not live, may not sound all that appealing.However, to dismiss Bruce M. Stave's Red Brick in the Land ofSteady Habits: Creating the University of Connecticut, 1881–2006would be a mistake of considerable proportions, for not onlyis the volume enlightening with regard to higher education inthe United States over the course of the twentieth century,it is also the proverbial "good read." Stave,     

Territorial Appeals in Post‐Wall German Filmmaking: The Case of Good Bye,Lenin!

Abstract: How do institutions, markets, and stakeholders influence what stories are feasible and profitable for filmmakers to tell? This article discusses appeals to territorial interest and identity in filmmaking in post‐wall Germany and the conditions that shape them. By tracing the emergence of the film Good Bye, Lenin! (2003), we see how the project accumulated support from some territories and not others; how filmmakers persuaded colleagues and critics of their interpretation's legitimacy; and how individuals and institutions shape how the film would be used and remembered. My objective is to draw attention to the messiness and uncertainty as multiple stakeholders align, contest, or subsume competing appeals that would be otherwise invisible in a “finished” film. Addressing those interested in the geopolitics of cultural production, the article argues for more attention to the behind‐the‐scenes negotiations in funding, production, and distribution processes in order to keep issues of power and dependence visible.