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Surrounded by myths and stereotypes, Islam is one of the least understood religions in the West. Interpreting Islam provides a penetrating guide to the diversity and richness of contemporary knowledge about Islam and Muslim society in general.

Résumé Tout en offrant un aperçu du développement de l'ethnographie en Irlande du Nord et en République d'Irlande, cet article suggère que le « lieu » ( place ) et la localité ( locality ) restent au cœur de l'analyse anthropologique, même si, en réponse aux changements traversés par la société et la culture irlandaises, et aux réorientations de la théorie sociale, les définitions du terrain ( field ) ont évolué.

This paper examines the relationship between fertility and mode of mate selection in Urban Nigeria. Data for the study were derived from a 1987/88 survey of nine cities in the North, South-east and Southwest of Nigeria. Ever married women, aged 15 to 49 years, in selected households were interviewed. In addition to information on socio-economic characteristics, respondents also provided information on modes of mate selection, on perceptions of roles within marriage, on desired and achieved family sizes, and on childrearing practices. Distributions of women. by mode of mate selection (family or selt) and socioeconomic variables show that women in family arranged unions marry much earlier (and hence have longer duration of exposure to childbearing oriented sexual relations), have lower levels of education before marriage, marry much older men and are less disposed to the use of contraception. With respect to fertility, our results show that the fertility of women in family arranged unions is generally higher than that of women in self arranged unions. In order to understand more adequately how mode of mate selection relates to fertility, regression models, in which three sets of test variables were controlled, were estimated. Separate estimates were obtained for women aged 15 to 24 years, 25 to 34 years and 35 years and above, respectively. The results show that the difference in fertility between the two groups of women is statistically significant and that the difference is attributable mainly to differences in prenuptial levels of education and in duration of marriage. The findings reinforce - the call for improved education of women and programs of public education that encourage higher ages at marriage.

By comparing the attitudes and responses to religious intermarriage in Northern Ireland and Pakistan this paper seeks to uncover some of the less obvious reasons for the hostility shown to such marriages. Although viewed negatively in both places, intermarriage provokes greater antagonism in Northern Ireland than in Pakistan. While this is closely related to the different political circumstances of the two countries, it is also related to the way that men and women are perceived in each rlace and to the power which they are thought Lo exercise in different contexts. In some cases intermarriage becomes a political issue and the paper looks at the consequences which this has for how we conceptualise the relationship between domestic and public domains.

If memory was simply about past events, public authorities would never put their ever-shrinking budgets at its service. Rather, memory is actually about the present moment, as Pierre Nora puts it: "Through the past, we venerate above all ourselves." This book examines how collective memory and material culture are used to support present political and ideological needs in contemporary society. Using the memorialization of the Troubles in contemporary Northern Ireland as a case study, this book investigates how non-state, often proscribed, organizations have filled a societal vacuum in the creation of public memorials. In particular, these groups have sifted through the past to propose "official" collective narratives of national identification, historical legitimation, and moral justifications for violence

Sexual transgression, social order, and the self / Hastings Donnan and Fiona Magowan -- Sexually active virgins : negotiating adolescent femininity, colour, and safety in Cape Town / Marie Rosenkrantz Lindegaard and Ann-Karina Henriksen -- Summer sex : youth, desire, and the carnivalesque at the English seaside / Suzanne Clisby -- A curious threesome : transgression, conservatism, and teenage sex in the 'free house' in Northern Ireland / Rosellen Roche -- Zoosex and other relationships with animals / Rebecca Cassidy -- Dancing sexuality in the Cook Islands / Kalissa Alexeyeff -- "Let them hear us!" : the politics of same-sex transgression in contemporary Poland / Monika Baer -- Taming the bush : morality, aids prevention, and gay sex in public places / Laurent Gaissad -- Transgression and the making of "western" sexual sciences / Mark Johnson -- What constitutes transgressive sex? : the case of child prostitution in Thailand / Heather Montgomery -- Courting transgression : customary law and sexual violence in aboriginal Australia / Fiona Magowan -- Managing sexual advances in Vanuatu / Ingvill Kristiansen