Anthropology/ Sociology

Through observation, participation, questioning, and living with the people of the United Arab Emirates, Dr. Kanafani has gathered interesting and original information on food and body rituals, reporting on habits and practices in coastal cities as well as in desert dwellings, oases, and settlements. This volume presents the author's observations and interpretations, along with thirty-eight photographs, seventy drawn figures, and a bibliography.

​​This book was published during the period of the Lebanese civil war. Therefore, the fieldwork on which its conclusions are based was carried out under extremely difficult circumstances. Nevertheless, the book provides a unique insight into the state of children in a country where civil war raged for ten years. Health, education, child care institutions, and the psychological and physical effects of war are all surveyed and discussed. Implications for action and a summary of major recommendations for action are also included. Sadly, the book will be of value in other parts of the world where the young are most affected by continuing conflicts.

In this small volume, former AUB President Harold Hoelscher elaborates on material previously presented in the course of three public lectures presented in January 1980 at the American University of Beirut. The author's thesis is that perceptions of technology as either “good" or “bad" are invalid. “Rejection of technology is the rejection of a tool to solve a problem"; yet whether that problem should be solved and by what means are totally different questions. Because of the general nature of Dr. Hoelscher's arguments, the book focuses on questions of continuing relevance about the role of technology in the modern world. ​