This book brings together a collection of essays written by the author over several years, some appearing for the first time in English / This book will appeal to both academics and students of early Islam

This book is an analysis of both contemporary Tokyo and the contemporary Olympic Games, emphasizing the role of late-stage capitalism and political economy in shaping both. The 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games were mired in scandal from the beginning of the bidding process all the way through to the end of the games. This was further exacerbated by the emergency postponement to 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic, with many public opinion polls supporting further postponement or cancelation in 2021. The contributors to this volume look at the Tokyo 2020 Games in the context of other modern games and the struggle to use the games as an economic stimulus. They reveal the reality of the Olympic development in Tokyo based on evidence and concrete policy analysis. This is a valuable resource for scholars both of contemporary Japan and of the Olympics and other mega-events.

This book initiates multipolar climate/clime studies of the world's altitudinal and latitudinal highlands with terrestrial, experiential, and affective approaches. Framed in the environmental humanities, it is an interdisciplinary, comparative study of the mutually-embodied relations of climate, nature, culture, and place in the Himalaya, Andes, and Arctic. Innovation-driven, the book offers multipolar clime case studies through the contributors' historical findings, ethnographic documentations, and diverse conceptualizations and applications of clime, an overlooked but returning notion of place embodied with climate history, pattern, and changes. The multipolar clime case studies in the book are geared toward deeper, lively explorations and demonstrations of the translatability, interchangeability, and complementarity between the notions of clime and climate. "Multipolar" or "multipolarity" in this book connotes not only the two polar regions and the tectonically shaped highlands of the earth but also diversely debated perspectives of climate studies in the broadest sense. Contributors across the twelve chapters come from diverse fields of social and natural sciences and humanities, and geographically specialize respectively in the Himalayan, Andean, and Arctic regions. The first comparative study of climate change in altitudinal and latitudinal highlands, this will be an important read for students, academics and researchers in environmental humanities, anthropology, climate science, indigenous studies and ecology.

Why is it so hard for international development organizations—even ones as well-resourced and influential as the World Bank—to generate and sustain change in the way things are done in those countries where they work? Despite what, in many cases, is decades of investment and effort, why do partner governments continue to engage in those traditional patterns and styles of public service management that international development organizations have sought to supplant with methods that are supposedly more accountable, efficient, and effective? This book provides an answer to these questions. However, rather than pathologizing partner governments as the source of the problem—that is, rather than maintaining the distinction between doctor (international development organizations) and patient (partner governments), wherein the patient is seen as unwilling to take their medicine (enacting "good governance" practices)—this book instead reframes the relationship. The central argument is, first, that the programs and projects of international organizations are introduced into and are constrained by multiple layers of ritual governance, that is, performative acts and cultural logics that intersect with and reinforce the political, economic, and social structures in and through which they operate. As is shown, the contextual factors that guide governance practices are largely beyond the reach of the international development organizations; the relevant logics have their roots in state ideology but also extend back to the colonial logics that continue to operate at the heart of the state apparatus. The second the central argument is that international aid organizations and the governments with which they work are engaged in a "ritual aid dance" where each actor plays a part but does not (and cannot) acknowledge the ways that it depends on the other for its own gain. This relationship can be considered a dance because each participant responds to and needs the other, and because both sides do so in ways that are carefully choreographed, with the overall trajectory or contours of the dance being more or less known to the participants. These arguments are based on research on the World Bank’s efforts over the course of several decades to encourage, through its financing, projects, and technical assistance, the implementation of social sector reform in Indonesia related to decentralization, community participation, and school-based management.

This book is about the conflict which resolved the Greek–Turkish War of 1919–1922: the Great Offensive. On 26 August 1922, the army of the GNA executed the Great Offensive against the Greek defence line extending from the Bay of Gemlik to the Meander River. The Turkish Forces split the Greek Army into two large groups, annihilated one of the groups in the field at the Battle of Dumlupınar on 30 August and pursued the remaining forces of the Greek Army towards the Aegean and Marmara coasts until 18 September. Within these 24 days, the face of Western Anatolia changed unalterably: numerous towns, villages and cities of Western Anatolia were reduced to ashes. This conflict was a turning point in the histories of Turkey and Greece, as it played a significant role in shaping the present-day demographic and geopolitical landscapes of both nations. It resulted in a population exchange in 1923 that dramatically altered the lives of Muslims in Greece and Greek Orthodox people in Turkey and paved the way to the foundation of the Republic of Turkey. Despite the outcome of this war and the existence of a rich literature on its military and political history, the landscapes, memoryscapes and material culture have not been systematically investigated. This book bridges that gap via an archaeological, historical and oral-historical study of the Great Offensive and its aftermath. With its wide chronological perspective, this book is not a pure analysis of a historical war, it is instead a journey into the foundation myth of the Turkish Republic and the ideological foundations of the Turkish state.

This book helps readers to understand communication and society in contemporary China through systematic analysis of multimodal discourse at the national, institutional, and individual levels. China has undergone profound changes during the past decade or so. Politically, the Chinese government has been more proactive in domestic governance and foreign policies, as manifested in the Chinese Dream campaign and the national image publicity films respectively. Hand-in-hand with the socio-political change is the rapid development of new media, which has been changing how corporates do business, how institutions brand their images, as well as how individuals construct their identities and social relations. These developments have brought about significant changes to the discursive practices at the national, institutional, and individual level, characterized by the extensive use of multimodal resources and distinct promotional purposes. Feng systematically investigates and discusses the new discursive features in relation to relevant socio-cultural contexts. The analysis and discussion provide researchers with a social semiotic perspective on various aspects of communicative and social changes in contemporary China. The book also contributes to the growing field of multimodality by developing a set of cross-disciplinary analytical frameworks to deal with complex discourse forms in print media, moving images, and new media. The research findings provide a unique Chinese perspective on a broad spectrum of issues such as discursive governance, nation branding, university marketization, and identity performance. The book is relevant not only to discourse analysis and multimodality, but also to other disciplines which will benefit from a systematic understanding of Chinese discourse, such as cultural studies, communication studies and area/China studies.

The book explores the pressing problem of rural violence in contemporary Nigeria by assessing the changing patterns of conflict and response across the country. Rural violence in Nigeria is becoming an increasingly pressing concern, with cattle rustling, banditry, kidnapping and farmer-herder conflicts putting immense pressure on the state’s institutional preparedness and the response capacity of the government, military and other security agencies. Drawing from the expertise of a wide range of African development, governance and security researchers and practitioners, this book assesses the severity of the current problem of rural violence, and provides a critical analysis of the various national and state responses to rural violence in Nigeria. Ultimately, the book aims to provide suggestions for restoring peace, security and development in Nigeria. This book will be of interest to scholars, researchers and administrators across Political Science, Security Studies, Rural Studies, and Regional Studies in Africa.

Provides an accessible study of the interactions of these two cultures, written by an author with expertise in the languages of both cultures.

Provides an accessible study of the interactions of these two cultures, written by an author with expertise in the languages of both cultures.

This book is an introduction to Pablo González Casanova, giant of Latin American sociology. It examines his work across history, sociology, political science, and anthropology, exploring in depth his writings on the university, democracy, the new sciences, alternatives to capitalism, the humanities, equity with social justice, patriarchal domination, and the struggle for planet earth. This book provides insights into a foundational Latin American perspective on global realities. It argues that Pablo González Casanova contributes original elements for the construction of a critical theory in the social sciences and humanities of Mexico, Latin America, and the Caribbean. With an enriching interdisciplinary perspective, this book will be of interest to scholars from a range of specialized interests in sociology, political science, philosophy, anthropology, cultural studies, scientific epistemology, methodology, and critical thinking in the alternative field to capitalism.

This book initiates multipolar climate/clime studies of the world's altitudinal and latitudinal highlands with terrestrial, experiential, and affective approaches. Framed in the environmental humanities, it is an interdisciplinary, comparative study of the mutually-embodied relations of climate, nature, culture, and place in the Himalaya, Andes, and Arctic. Innovation-driven, the book offers multipolar clime case studies through the contributors' historical findings, ethnographic documentations, and diverse conceptualizations and applications of clime, an overlooked but returning notion of place embodied with climate history, pattern, and changes. The multipolar clime case studies in the book are geared toward deeper, lively explorations and demonstrations of the translatability, interchangeability, and complementarity between the notions of clime and climate. "Multipolar" or "multipolarity" in this book connotes not only the two polar regions and the tectonically shaped highlands of the earth but also diversely debated perspectives of climate studies in the broadest sense. Contributors across the twelve chapters come from diverse fields of social and natural sciences and humanities, and geographically specialize respectively in the Himalayan, Andean, and Arctic regions. The first comparative study of climate change in altitudinal and latitudinal highlands, this will be an important read for students, academics and researchers in environmental humanities, anthropology, climate science, indigenous studies and ecology.

This book scrutinises how three small Scandinavian countries – Norway, Sweden and Denmark – developed a unique foreign policy that brought Israel and the Palestinians to the negotiating table. Bringing together the field of soft power diplomacy with the field of conflict mediation, the text analyses the specific type of peace diplomacy offered by Scandinavia. It identifies the different methods and policies of the three Scandinavian countries, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of their mediation strategies. Close examination of the historical record through primary and secondary sources in five languages reveals how Scandinavian involvement worked over almost three decades and to what extent it shaped the content of the Oslo peace talks. The author documents how the Scandinavian countries employed soft power diplomacy to enlist the aid of more powerful countries and international institutions to compensate for their limited authority and legitimacy, and how they used the Middle East peace process to strengthen their own national interests, financial standing and international status. The book will appeal to scholars, diplomats, politicians, educators and students interested in Scandinavian foreign policy and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The first serious attempt that challenges the theoretical foundation of Bernhard Karlgren’s system which has dominated Chinese phonological study for a century Proposes a new theory of dental-pivot hypothesis in the deng-rhyme studies A clear account of the difference of the two major arguments on the nature of qieyun, the basic material in Chinese phonological study

Are we seeing the presidentialization of politics in Japan? Certainly, many recent prime ministers have demonstrated powerful leadership, notably Junichiro Koizumi and Shinzo Abe. While the phenomenon of presidentialization has been much discussed for years, the Japanese case has not received much attention in the English language. Iwasaki analyses the state of Japanese politics using the established analytical framework of presidentialization – looking at leadership power resources, leadership autonomy, and the personalization of the electoral process – and assesses the factors that have been claimed to lead to similar changes in other countries. He argues that there are also unique variables that contribute to the presidentialization of Japanese politics. Most notably, the introduction of public subsidies to political parties and electoral reform in 1994. A valuable contribution to the global scholarship on presidentialization, which will be of particular interest to scholars of Japanese politics.

The book studies the development of Japan’s Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP) vision. As strategic competition grows, the lessons from the pandemic, the deepening Sino-US rivalry, and the United States losing grip on the current world strategic environment all compel Japan to focus its attention on the Indo-Pacific region. The volume examines Japan's foreign policy through an analysis of its strategic agenda, economic calculations, maritime security concerns, and soft power policies. It looks at Japan’s relations with United States, Australia, India, Vietnam, Africa, South Korea, Indonesia, and the United States in the context of Japan’s bilateral and multilateral arrangements. An important contribution to the study of politics in the Indo-Pacific region, the book will be an indispensable resource for students and researchers of political science, international relations, foreign policy, geopolitics, security studies, strategic studies, as well as area studies – namely East and Southeast Asian studies and Indo-Pacific studies.

-Written in a style that is engaging and accessible to a wide range of readers, from students to practitioners -Each chapter includes reflection exercises, discussion questions and suggestions for further reading, and the case studies include examples taken from around the world -The new edition includes increased coverage of environmental accessibility, Covid-19, and intersectionality

Updates the scholarship of the previous edition and includes seven brand new chapters. Has a companion website containing images, videos, further reading lists and discussion questions Teaches students to build theory from cultural objects Designed for undergraduate teaching by experienced teachers of Japanese popular culture

Modern Chinese for Heritage Beginners aims to serve as a stepping-stone for Chinese heritage language learners' future Chinese learning, inspiring them to reflect on their identities, learn Chinese American history, and embrace their cultural heritage. The book starts with talking about individuals and families and then expands to the Chinese and Asian American communities in the U.S. and eventually to the entire American society, all from the unique perspective of Chinese American students. Taking a macro approach (Kagan & Dillon, 2008) that builds learners' literacy skills on their initial abilities in speaking and listening, each lesson starts with listening and speaking activities and then moves to reading and writing. The content complexity and language difficulty are balanced to present rich content that matches students' critical thinking abilities in a language appropriate for their literacy level. Lively and humorous language makes the book a joy to read. Each lesson has a conversation and an essay to expose students to informal and formal registers. Moreover, authentic tasks are designed to facilitate students' language output, following the three modes of communication promoted by the American Council on Teaching Foreign Languages: interpersonal, interpretive, and presentational. This theme-based Chinese textbook is written for high school and college-level Chinese heritage language learners.

Modern Chinese for Heritage Beginners aims to serve as a stepping-stone for Chinese heritage language learners' future Chinese learning, inspiring them to reflect on their identities, learn Chinese American history, and embrace their cultural heritage. The book starts with talking about individuals and families and then expands to the Chinese and Asian American communities in the U.S. and eventually to the entire American society, all from the unique perspective of Chinese American students. Taking a macro approach (Kagan & Dillon, 2008) that builds learners' literacy skills on their initial abilities in speaking and listening, each lesson starts with listening and speaking activities and then moves to reading and writing. The content complexity and language difficulty are balanced to present rich content that matches students' critical thinking abilities in a language appropriate for their literacy level. Lively and humorous language makes the book a joy to read. Each lesson has a conversation and an essay to expose students to informal and formal registers. Moreover, authentic tasks are designed to facilitate students' language output, following the three modes of communication promoted by the American Council on Teaching Foreign Languages: interpersonal, interpretive, and presentational. This theme-based Chinese textbook is written for high school and college-level Chinese heritage language learners.

1) This book presents a comprehensive account of the eminent Bengali writer and activist, the Ramon Magsaysay Awardee Mahasweta Devi's oeuvre in its full range and versatility. 2) It draws attention to Devi's role as a woman writer with a difference and her image outside Bengal. 3) This book will be of interest to departments of South Asian Literature and Cultural studies across UK.

The "Russian Idea" in International Relations identifies different approaches within Russian Civilizational tradition - Russia's nationally distinctive way of thinking - by situating them within IR literature and connecting them to practices of the country's international relations. Civilizational ideas in IR theory express states' cultural identification and stress religious traditions, social customs, and economic and political values. This book defines Russian civilizational ideas by two criteria: the values they stress and their global ambitions. The author identifies leading voices among those positioning Russia as an exceptional and globally significant system of values and traces their arguments across several centuries of the country's development. In addition, the author explains how and why Russian civilizational ideas rise, fall, and are replaced by alternative ideas. The book identifies three schools of Russian civilizational thinking about international relations - Slavophiles, Communists, and Eurasianists. Each school focuses on Russia's distinctive spiritual, social, and geographic roots, respectively. Each one is internally divided between those claiming Russia's exceptionalism, potentially resulting in regional autarchy or imperial expansion, and those advocating the Russian Idea as global in its appeal. Those favoring the latter perspective have stressed Russia's unique capacity for understanding different cultures and guarding the world against extremes of nationalism and hegemony in international relations. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of Russian foreign policy, Russia-Western relations, IR theory, diplomatic studies, political science, and European history, including the history of ideas.

The essays in this volume cover lyric, hagiography, clerical verse narrative, frontier balladry, historical and codicological studies, and include the draft of an unpublished essay found amongst Professor Deyermond's papers. Professor Alan Deyermond was one of the leading British Hispanists of the last fifty years, whose work had a formative influence on medieval Hispanic studies around the world. There were several tributes to his work published during his lifetime, and it is fitting that this one, in his memory, should be produced by Tamesis, the publishing house that he helped establish and to which he contributed so much as author and editor right up to his death. The contributors to this volume are some of Professor Deyermond's former colleagues, doctoral students, and members of the Medieval Hispanic Research Seminar. Given Professor Deyermond's breadth of expertise, the span of the essays is appropriately wide, ranging chronologically from the thirteenth to the sixteenth century, and covering lyric, hagiography, clerical verse narrative, frontier balladry, historical and codicological studies. The volume opens with a personal memoir of her father by Ruth Deyermond, and closes with the draft of an unpublished essay found amongst Professor Deyermond's papers, and edited by his literary executor, Professor David Hook. Andrew M. Beresfordis Reader and Head of Hispanic Studies at the University of Durham. Louise M. Haywood is Reader in Medieval Iberian Literary and Cultural Studies, and Head of the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at the University of Cambridge. Julian Weiss is Professor of Medieval & Early Modern Hispanic Studies at King's College London.

This book offers an anthropological account of Sri Lanka’s Eelam Wars III and IV. It is based on the life-narratives of ex-servicemen who fought on the frontlines. The volume approaches militarism as a practice of masculinity. It explores the sense of embattlement that young recruits feel, which stems from the inner war between notions of bodily deference instilled in childhood and having to conduct offensives on the battlefield. Thus though they wish to move smoothly into the assault techniques learnt in combat-training, they sometimes find their bodies are acting-out a different trajectory; engaging in acts of spectacular violence or simply running away. It traverses themes such as masculinity and Sinhala society, British martial masculinity vs the composed body in Sinhala discourse, combat-training and the battlefield. The author traces the ways in which troops tried to negotiate the thin line between valour and violence in a context in which the enemy’s suicide fighters engaged in the more extreme code of sacrificing-the-body, which derided the very manliness of soldiers who couldn’t prevail against them. She argues that the Sri Lankan experience has resonance for soldiers on battlefields everywhere, who become embattled when confronted by adversaries whose practice seems to diminish their own manliness. Rich in ethnographical narratives, this book will be interest scholars and researchers of war studies, gender studies, masculinity studies, peace and conflict studies, ethnic studies, political science, international relations, sociology, social anthropology, cultural studies, and South Asian studies, especially those concerned with Sri Lanka.

In managing national security, how Realist is India in terms of cultivating and using power and especially military power? A conventional view of India is that it has been uncomfortable with Realism or 'power politics' as a guide to policy. This volume shows that been more Realist than is generally recognized and that it has increasingly become comfortable with power in the service of its interests. The essays in this volume * Examine the different aspects and types of realism in India's national security policy * Include a range of perspectives from academics as well as former military officers and diplomats * Focus on India's military and foreign policy in dealing with China, Pakistan, the United States, Southeast Asia, and West Asia. This key volume will be indispensable to scholars and researchers of politics and international relations, defence and strategic studies, and South Asian studies and to government officials, journalists, and general readers interested in the external dimensions of India's national security