Reviews for Language

The average rating for Language based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2010-11-22 00:00:00 greg holm In Chapter 15, The Ambiguities of Women, Lindholm argues that the inferior status of women in Islam is not based on its religious tenets, but stems from historical and cultural traditions. He provides background in a section titled, "Women in Middle Eastern Consciousness": In terms of popular attitudes, women are seen as "a separate human species that is naturally stupid, lazy, untrustworthy, polluting, obstinate, emotional, willful, talkative, greedy, and innately immoral" (228). All inferior or negative traits can be described as feminine. If men did not keep women under control the world would be destroyed. Women's inferiority is legally encoded. Men can obtain divorce easily, women not at all. A woman's testimony is worth half that of a man. A woman is worth only half the blood-money of a man. Women inherit lesser shares of their patrimony, if they inherit at all. However, the law does prohibit female infanticide and women whose husbands divorce them are supposed to get their dowries back. In contrast, Sunni Islam uses feminine imagery to portray the unity of the Islamic community. Sufism also has a positive attitude toward women. Lindholm also draws an interesting parallel between contemporary political changes and the declingin status of women, arguing that there was a "correlation between increasing governmental authoritarianism and the solidification of the sexual hierarchy" (234) starting in the Abbasid period. "The widespread institutionalization of concubinage... undercut the claims of a man's legitimate wives just as rulers undercut the claims of their kinsmen by the recruitment of slaves armies and bureaucracies".

Review # 2 was written on 2020-07-19 00:00:00 Julie James A thorough ethnography which highlights the wealth of knowledge that bilingual children have. A fundamental read for parents, teachers or anyone interested in bilingual education.