Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2024 March 19

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March 19

Academic background of Richard V. Weekes

Hi, I hope you guys are doing well!

I need information on the academic background of the editor Richard V. Weekes. He's the author of Muslim People: A World Ethnographic Survey; ISBN 9780837198804.

Tell me about the era he wrote in. I want to know more about him because I want to use his book as a ref for an addition on an already created Wiki article on a tribe from the Indian subcontinent. Your help will be much appreciated! Sir Calculus (talk) 08:52, 19 March 2024 (UTC)

Not much to be found, really. There is a brief biography on the back of an Indian edition of his book on Pakistan, here (born in 1924, not much of an academic background, but he was with the US Information Service and other organisations). --Wrongfilter (talk) 10:11, 19 March 2024 (UTC)

Richard V. Weekes was appointed Assistant Director of the Office of International Affairs of the University of Houston in 1966.^[1] Quoting from the announcement, "A graduate of Oberlin College and Columbia University, he has spent 15 years in international service. Prior to his arrival in Houston, he was Assistant Representative with the Ford Foundation in Rio de Janeiro. Other positions have included foreign correspondent for Time Magazine in London, press officer in Karachi, Pakistan, development officer in Turkey, and head of the Iran Foundation. He is author of Pakistan: The Birth and Growth of a Muslim Nation, published by Van Nostrand, 1965."

The first edition of the survey was published in 1978, so one may reasonably assume it took its definitive shape in the period 1975–7. The introduction starts with the sentence "There are more than 720 million Muslims in the world."^[2] This fits with other estimates from around that period (1971: between 400 and 500 million Muslims^[3]; 1975: between 650 and 750 million Muslims^[4]; 1978: approximately 821 million Muslims^[5]).

Using it as a source for a statement, it is important to identify not only the editor of the book, but also the author and title of the contribution that contains the specific content supporting the statement.  --Lambiam 12:20, 19 March 2024 (UTC)

Thank you @Lambiam, I really appreciate this! Regarding the specific contribution in the Survey, the author is Allen K. Jones (Allen Keith Jones), the title of the contribution is "Sindhis". The edition is 2nd. He has authored "Muslim politics and growth of the Muslim league in Sind, 1935 - 1941" and "Politics in Sindh, 1907-1940: Muslim identity and the demand for Pakistan". Sir Calculus (talk) 16:12, 19 March 2024 (UTC)

Estimate of all war-related deaths in Gaza

Is there a reliable estimate anywhere of all deaths in Gaza related to the Israel-Hamas war, including starvation and disease as well as the deaths mentioned in that article? Is there a count of excess deaths? Kk.urban (talk) 16:53, 19 March 2024 (UTC)

See our article on Casualties of the Israel-Hamas war. --Cookatoo.ergo.ZooM (talk) 17:54, 19 March 2024 (UTC)

Would they be counting the deaths of people who died of normal causes like heart attacks or pneumonia? Kk.urban (talk) 00:53, 20 March 2024 (UTC)

The official stats of the ministries fully controlled by Hamas (Gaza Health Ministry, Gaza information ministry) are somewhat suspect, since they include close to 500 from the Al-Ahli hospital explosion, where almost certainly much fewer died, and often claim a rather low percentage of adult male deaths, among other reasons. In previous Gaza conflicts, there was some on-the-ground checking of casualty figures by groups independent of Hamas, but that doesn't exist now. AnonMoos (talk) 19:06, 19 March 2024 (UTC)