Beginning with the myth of origin that joins every young Zaramo woman to her origins as she is initiated into the secrets of life and womanhood, the book then provides us with an historical account of the Tanzanian coast around Dar es Salaam as a background to the persistence of the cultural institutions to which the reader is introduced. Statements and narrations by Salome as a representative of the modern educated Zaramo people intersperse the author's descriptions of the rituals of womanhood, of individual and social healing, and of the ways conflict is symbolically manipulated and managed. Rituals are seen in their vibrant role, not as remnants of tradition, but as means of handling encroaching external pressures on the community. These pressures include, commercialization of livelihood, development thrust in the form of villagization, or the ongoing process of losing land rights. The book shows that a people will counteract the threat of social disintegration by overemphasizing their core values in an attempt to create strong communication forces and instruments of power. A good introduction to contemporary African issues, Third World women's studies, and ethnographic anthropology.

Many new social and economic organizations are emerging in different parts of Asia Pacific which have skillfully adapted western capitalism to suit their own specific requirements. They have also put to effective use their own social and cultural values to get the best economic results. Japan used its heritage of associated living to overcome adversarial labour and management relations; Singapore made use of Confucial emphasis on social discipline and respect for merit to build a meritocratic society; Indonesia used its genius for eclecticism to build its own brand of social pragmatism, and then used it for economic growth; Thailand used the concept of merit in Theravada Buddhism to accelerate economic growth; and Malaysia used its own growing pragmatism to balance conflicting ethnic demands. The book examines the variety of address their respective core development issues and simultaneously register an explosive economic growth.

At the cutting edge of political theory, this first volume in the "Taking on the Political Series" reflects the conceptual foundations of the series, opening up space to the political by engaging in and redefining polemics. In recognition of the collapse of the traditional belief in strong foundations for the political domain and the ungrounding of politics generally, the authors introduce and map the concept of afoundationalism while tackling such themes as social structure, ethical argumentation and political organization. Provocative and engaging, this book will change ways of thinking about and approaching political theory both in teaching and research.

This book offers a theoretical intervention into the normative ideals of public space that are deeply rooted in Western urbanism. It disrupts the binaries of presence/absence, inclusion/exclusion by presenting a series of case studies that vividly convey the complexity and vicissitude of grassroots spatial practices. It engages powerfully with the question of what constitutes the "urban public" in our everyday cities. Moreover, it provides a fresh perspective on the proliferating scholarship on Chinese urbanism in the reform era by seriously considering the ways in which ordinary urban inhabitants respond to and negotiate the impacts of rapid social change and the reshuffling of the systems of values and ideologies. The urban public, therefore, is analyzed as an important field in which identities and cultural differences are formed and performed. This book is a worthwhile read for anyone interested in theories of urban public space in general or urban transformation of post-reform China in particular.

Using the cheap desktop publishing techniques of 'zine culture, and supplementing them with an extensive presence on the World Wide Web, the Bad Subjects Production Team has produced one of the only successful political 'zines in the US, as well as one of the first--and longest-running--on-line publications in the world.

Bad Subjects offers a critique of the post-1960s left in the United States, and attempts to reclaim a utopian vision for a political movement which has become fragmented and cynical about the possibility of social transformation. Indeed, Bad Subjects itself is simultaneously a valuable resource and an inspiration, a record of what politically-engaged cultural criticism can achieve, and an example of a progressive political community making use of new technologies.

Offering a way out of vulgar multiculturalism--based on separatism and the idea of "authenticity"--into a critical identity politics founded on coalitions, hybridity, and class consciousness, Bad Subjectsspeaks to readers both in and outside of the academy. Taking their cue from the feminist slogan, "the personal is political," and from Marxist injunctions to study "everyday life," Bad Subjects covers everything from popular culture and high technology to economic restructuring and political organizing, from Raymond Williams to The Dead Kennedys.

In the terrain of cultural criticism, Bad Subjects is an off-road vehicle roaring away from the beaten path.

In the wake of the 2008-2009 economic recession, this revealing work offers a psychological explanation of how we as a nation grapple with self-control and how we can develop a new and healthier generation. As J.R. Slosar shows in this urgent, sometimes startling volume, the nation's fast-and-loose approach to money was in fact a symptom of a more widespread pattern of excessive behavior. In The Culture of Excess: How America Lost Self-Control and Why We Need to Redefine Success, Slosar portrays an America where the drive to succeed and the fear of missing out manifested itself not only in self-entitled corporate fraud, but in everything from sharp rises in obesity and cosmetic medical procedures to equally troubling increases in eating disorders, panic attacks, and outbreaks of uncontrollable rage. The Culture of Excess is the first book to assess the impact of economic and social factors on the nation's psychological well-being. Narcissism, productive narcissism, psychopathy, rigidity and self destruction, perfectionism, the illusion of success, and identity achievement all come into play as Slosar diagnoses the psychological drivers behind this indulgent age, offering his prescription for helping "Generation Me" become "Generation We." Numerous vignettes and case studies illustrate the major themes of the book Dozens of research citations at the end of each chapter An extensive bibliography referencing 75 professional journals and 48 books A comprehensive index

The explorations of 18th-century travellers to the "European frontiers" were often geared to define the cultural, political and historical boundaries of "European civilization". In an age when political revolutions shocked nations into reassessing what separated the civilized from the barbaric, how did literary travellers contemplate the characteristics of their continental neighbours? Focusing on the writings of British travellers, we see how a new view of Europe was created, one that juxtaposed the customs and living conditions of populations in an attempt to define "modern" Europe against a "yet unenlightened" Europe.

Finalist, 2018 National Jewish Book Award for Modern Jewish Thought and Experience, presented by the Jewish Book Council Winner, 2019 Jordan Schnitzer Book Award, in the Jewish Literature and Linguistics Category, given by the Association for Jewish Studies A fascinating glimpse into the world of the coffeehouse and its role in shaping modern Jewish culture Unlike the synagogue, the house of study, the community center, or the Jewish deli, the cafe is rarely considered a Jewish space. Yet, coffeehouses profoundly influenced the creation of modern Jewish culture from the mid-nineteenth to mid-twentieth centuries. With roots stemming from the Ottoman Empire, the coffeehouse and its drinks gained increasing popularity in Europe. The "otherness," and the mix of the national and transnational characteristics of the coffeehouse perhaps explains why many of these cafes were owned by Jews, why Jews became their most devoted habitues, and how cafes acquired associations with Jewishness. Examining the convergence of cafes, their urban milieu, and Jewish creativity, Shachar M. Pinsker argues that cafes anchored a silk road of modern Jewish culture. He uncovers a network of interconnected cafes that were central to the modern Jewish experience in a time of migration and urbanization, from Odessa, Warsaw, Vienna, and Berlin to New York City and Tel Aviv. A Rich Brew explores the Jewish culture created in these social spaces, drawing on a vivid collection of newspaper articles, memoirs, archival documents, photographs, caricatures, and artwork, as well as stories, novels, and poems in many languages set in cafes. Pinsker shows how Jewish modernity was born in the cafe, nourished, and sent out into the world by way of print, politics, literature, art, and theater. What was experienced and created in the space of the coffeehouse touched thousands who read, saw, and imbibed a modern culture that redefined what it meant to be a Jew in the world.

Ned Rorem, composer and writer, is both a gifted memoirist and one of our most acerbic cultural commentators. This anthology of his musings on music, people, and life surveys the full range of his literary achievement and reflects the evolution of his sensibilities. The first part of the book is devoted to writing of an autobiographical nature, including ruminations on being alone and on becoming a composer. The second part focuses on music and individuals from Bartok and Ravel to Edith Piaf and the Beatles. The final part consists of portraits and memorials of such figures as Martha Graham, Paul Bowles, Marc Blitzstein, Frank O'Hara, Allen Ginsberg, and Truman Capote. The book also includes a lengthy conversation on the art of the diary.

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"An important contribution to our understanding of the talkshow genre and its cultural political funtion."
-- "American Journal of Sociology"

"A wide-ranging exploration of some key theoretical issues in cultural sociology centerting on subjectivity, sense-making, and cultural heirarchy."
--"Contemporary Sociology"

"A cogent analysis of our culture."
--"The Times"

When "The Phil Donahue Show" topped the ratings in 1979, it ushered in a new era in daytime television. Mixing controversial social issues, light topics, and audience participation, it created a new genre, one that is still flourishing, despite being harshly criticized, over two decades later. Now, the daytime TV landscape is littered with talk shows. But why do people watch these shows? How do they make sense of them? And how do these shows affect their viewers' sense of what constitutes appropriate public debate?

In Talking Trash, Julie Engel Manga offers a fascinating exploration of these questions and reveals the wide range of reasons viewers are drawn to "trash talk." Focusing on such shows as "Oprah!, Jerry Springer, Ricki Lake, Jenny Jones," and "Maury Povitch," and drawing upon interviews with women who watch these shows, Talking Trash is the first examination of the talk show phenomenon from the viewers' perspective. In taking this approach, Manga is able to understand what talk shows mean to the women who watch them. And by refusing to judge either the shows or their viewers as good or bad, she is able to grasp how viewers relate to these shows-as escape, entertainment, uninhibited public discourse, or an accurate reflection of their ownhardships and heartaches. Manga concludes that while the form of "trash-talk" shows may be relatively new, the socio-cultural experience they embody has been with us for a long time.

Absorbing, entertaining, and keenly perceptive, Talking Trash illuminates the complex viewer response to "trash talk" and examines the cultural politics surrounding this wildly controversial popular phenomenon.

This study seeks to explore the myriad forms of representation of the French public as a whole, and of specific socio-cultural groups in French society, by means of collectively-shared myths and metaphors. The book also examines visual, linguistic and textual media, and political participation and practice. It considers diametrical questions of belonging or marginality, social struggle or social cohesion, and explores how the various forms of identity are created and maintained. The approach is multidisciplinary, using recent research in various disciplines from contributors in France and the UK. The book aims to provide a coherent and multi-faceted study of socio-cultural identity and citizenship in France.

This book reconsiders audiovisual culture through a focus on human perception, with recourse to ideas derived from recent neuroscience. It proceeds from the assumption that rather than simply working on a straightforward cognitive level audiovisual culture also functions more fundamentally on a physiological level, directly exploiting precise aspects of human perception. Vision and hearing are unified in a merged signal in the brain through being processed in the same areas. This is illustrated by the startling 'McGurk Effect', whereby the perception of spoken sound is changed by its accompanying image, and counterpart effects which demonstrate that what we see is affected by different sounds accompanying sounds. This blending of sound and images into a whole has become a universal aspect of culture, not only evident in films and television but also in video games and short Internet clips. Indeed, this aesthetic formation has become the dominant of this period. The McGurk Universe attends to how audiovisual culture engages with and mediates between physiological and psychological levels.

The topic of memory has shot to prominence in recent years, engaging the attention of academics and a wider public alike. This is partly due to a spate of anniversaries and commemorations of events, such as the Holocaust and the Second World War, whose significance for the present is affirmed even as their meanings continue to be debated. In Germany and France, contested memories, representations and commemorations of this period have become virtually a defining feature of their respective political cultures. Equally contested are France's memories of a decolonization process whose legacy still makes its presence felt in the political landscape. This book uses the concept of 'vectors' of memory to designate the conduits of that memorial activity, and examines in detail a range of vectors - historiography, war crimes trials, novels and films - that have focused public attention and debate in this era of so-called 'commemorative obsession'. More than a descriptive summary of such developments, the author elucidates the identity politics that is being expressed through these channels. In the course of these investigations, concepts such as 'sites of memory', 'testimony', and 'trauma' - much invoked in recent work on 'collective memory' - are critically examined in a number of historical, juridical and representational contexts.
Interdisciplinary in its scope and in the manner in which it bridges historiographical and cultural analysis, this book will appeal to students and scholars of history, cultural and media studies, French and German political culture, Holocaust studies and postcolonialism.

Few historical events have resonated as much in modern British culture as the Second World War. It has left a rich legacy in a range of media that continue to attract a wide audience: film, TV and radio, photography and the visual arts, journalism and propaganda, architecture, museums, music and literature. The enduring presence of the war in the public world is echoed in its ongoing centrality in many personal and family memories, with stories of the Second World War being recounted through the generations. This collection brings together recent historical work on the cultural memory of the war, examining its presence in family stories, in popular and material culture and in acts of commemoration in Britain between 1945 and the present.

World's fairs contributed mightily to defining a relationship between religion and the wider world of human culture. Even at the base level of popular culture found on the midways of the earliest international expositions--where Victorian ladies gawked at displays of non-Western, "primitive" life--the concept of religion as an independent field of study began to take hold in public consciousness. The World's Parliament of Religions at the Chicago exposition of 1893 did as much as any other single event to introduce the idea that religion could be viewed as simply one concern among many within the rapidly diversifying modern lifestyle.

A chronicle of the emergence and development of religion as a field of intellectual inquiry, Exhibiting Religion: Colonialism and Spectacle at International Expositions, 1851-1893 is an extensive survey of world's fairs from the inaugural Great Exhibition in London to the Chicago Columbian Exposition and World's Parliament of Religions. As the first broad gatherings of people from across the world, these events were pivotal as forums in which the central elements of a field of religion came into contact with one another.

John Burris argues that comparative religion was the focal point for early attempts at comparative culture and that both were defined more by the intercultural politics and material exchanges of colonialism than by the spirit of objective intellectual inquiry. Equally a work of American and British religious history and a cultural history of the emerging field of religion, this book offers definitive theoretical insights into the discipline of religious studies in its early formation.

Oxford Studies in Early Modern Philosophy is an annual series, presenting a selection of the best current work in the history of early modern philosophy. It focuses on the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries - the extraordinary period of intellectual flourishing that begins, very roughly, with Descartes and his contemporaries and ends with Kant. It also publishes papers on thinkers or movements outside of that framework, provided they are important in illuminating early modern thought. The articles in OSEMP will be of importance to specialists within the discipline, but the editors also intend that they should appeal to a larger audience of philosophers, intellectual historians, and others who are interested in the development of modern thought.

This book builds on the notion that social pathology differs from society to society and that the sense of character that develops in each society is specific to different perceptions of interpersonal obligations and responsibilities in that society. The book deals with the cultural and psychological effects of social change relevant to the study of modernity and postmodernity. It deals with particular social issues such as war and conflict, juvenile delinquency, problems of social ecology and religious revivalism, all reflecting the stresses of modern life and social change within very concrete, particular environments. Braun and his contributors show how individual character and civil society evolve together to create culturally specific trajectories of social change.

This unique collection frames the classic debates on objects and aims to generate new ones by reshaping the ways in which the object can be taught and studied, from a wide variety of disciplines and fields. The Object Reader elucidates objects in many of their diverse roles, dynamics and capacities. Precisely because the dedicated study of objects does not reside neatly within a single discipline, this collection is comprised of numerous academic fields. The selected writings are drawn from from anthropology, art history, classical studies, critical theory, cultural studies, digital media, design history, disability studies, feminism, film and television studies, history, philosophy, psychoanalysis, social studies of science and technology, religious studies and visual culture. The collection, composed of twentieth and twenty-first century writing also seeks to make its own contribution through original work, in the form of twenty-five short 'object lessons' commissioned specifically for this project. These new and innovative studies from key writers across a range of disciplines will enable students to look upon their surroundings with trained eyes to search out their own 'object studies'.

A study of the American cultural wars taking place in controversial museum exhibitions Museums have become ground zero in America's culture wars. Whereas fierce public debates once centered on provocative work by upstart artists, the scrutiny has now expanded to mainstream cultural institutions and the ideas they present. In Displays of Power, Steven Dubin, whose Arresting Images was deemed "masterly" by the New York Times, examines the most controversial exhibitions of the 1990s. These include shows about ethnicity, slavery, Freud, the Old West, and the dropping of the atomic bomb by the Enola Gay. This new edition also includes a preface by the author detailing the recent Sensation! controversy at the Brooklyn Museum. Displays of Power draws directly upon interviews with many key combatants: museum administrators, community activists, curators, and scholars. It authoritatively analyzes these episodes of America struggling to redefine itself in the late 20th century.

Derrida's claim that 'without deconstruction there can be no responsible political thought' is one of his most provocative, and one that even his most vocal admirers have been reluctant to endorse fully. Deconstruction and Democracy evaluates and substantiates Derrida's assertion, assessing the importance of this eminent contemporary philosopher's work for political thought. From the early 1980s onwards, Derrida has addressed political subjects more and more explicitly; here Alex Thomson argues that the time has come for a fresh understanding of deconstruction -- one that acknowledges its relevance for, and potential contribution to, political thinking. The book provides cogent analysis and exegesis of Derrida's often rather abstruse and impenetrable political writings; explores the implications for political theory and practice of Derrida's work; and brings Derrida's work into dialogue with other major strands of contemporary political thought. Deconstruction and Democracy is the clearest and most detailed engagement available with the politics of deconstruction, and is a major contribution to scholarship on the later work of Jacques Derrida, most notably his Politics of Friendship.

Nineteenth-century fiction writer and journalist Rebecca Harding Davis (1831-1910) is best known for her novella Life in the Iron Mills. Its publication in 1861 launched her stunning fifty-year career that yielded a corpus of some 500 published works, including short stories, novels, novellas, sketches, and social commentary. Davis's unique mode of writing anticipated literary realism twenty years before the time usually associated with its genesis. Today, her life and work continue to figure prominently in the study of American literature and culture. Rebecca Harding Davis: Writing Cultural Autobiography is the annotated edition of her 1904 autobiography, Bits of Gossip, and a previously unpublished family history written for her children. The memoirs are not traditional autobiography; rather, they are Davis's perspective on the extraordinary cultural changes that occurred during her lifetime and of the remarkable - and sometimes scandalous - people who shaped the events. She provides intimate portraits of the famous people she knew, including Emerson, Hawthorne, Louisa May Alcott, Ann Stephens, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and Horace Greeley. Equally important are Davis's commentaries on the political activists of the Civil War era, from Abraham Lincoln to Booker T. Washington, from the ""daughters of the Southland"" to Lucretia Mott, from Henry Ward Beecher to William Still. Whereas Bits of Gossip expands our understanding of Davis as cultural critic and observer of life, the family history offers new information on Davis's early life and the influences that led her to become one of the nineteenth century's pioneering Realists and cultural commentators. Together they bring a human voice to the nineteenth-century American milieu.

This collection of Cuban legends, compiled by the ronowned essayist and literary critic Salvador Bueno, brings readers the best of a time-honored tradition of storytelling in Cuba. These tales, passed on from generation to generation throughout the island, are here retold by a diverse group of prominent Cuban literary figures. Their stories embrace a broad spectrum of Cuban history from the remote past to the modern era. The book features stories of the Taino and Siboney, the island's original inhabitants, accompanied by narratives about Afro-Cuban religious and cultural traditions, and finally tales that are typically ""Cuban"" because they illustrate both the cohesion of the various strands - Hispanic, African, and indigenous - that define Cuban nationality and the patriotism and love of freedom exemplified in the celebrated struggles against Spanish colonialism. Cuban Legends brings to life the stories of unforgettable people and words that have survived the passage of time. They are both witty and wise, and capture the essential spirit of Cuban culture.

As blogs have evolved over the last few years, they have begun to take on distinct characteristics depending on audience and purpose. Though political blogs remain the most high profile (and most read), other types of blogs are gaining in strength and visibility. This book-a follow-up volume to Barlow's Rise of the Blogosphere, which examined the historical context for the modern blog-provides an examination of the many current aspects of the blogosphere, from the political to the professional to the personal, with many stops in between. Given that millions of blogs have been created over the past five years and yet more come online at an undiminished rate, and given that enthusiasm for both reading them and writing them has yet to wane, it is likely that the blog explosion will continue indefinitely. As blogs have evolved over the last few years, they have begun to take on distinct characteristics depending on audience and purpose. Though political blogs remain the most high profile (and most read), other types of blogs are gaining in strength and visibility. This book-a follow-up volume to Barlow's Rise of the Blogosphere, which examined the historical context for the modern blog-provides an examination of the many current aspects of the blogosphere, from the political to the professional to the personal, with many stops in between. Areas covered include the personal blog; the political blog; the use of blogs by various religious communities both for discussion within communities and for outreach; the growth of blogs dedicated to specific geographic communities, and their relations with older local media; blogs dedicated to technical subjects, particularly relating to computers; blogs and business; blogs sparked by video games, movies, music, and other forms of entertainment; and more. Given that millions of blogs have been created over the past five years and yet more come online at an undiminished rate, and given that enthusiasm for both reading them and writing for them has yet to wane, it is likely that the blog explosion will continue indefinitely.

A critical reading of both literary and non-literary German texts published between 1490 and 1540 exposes a populist backlash against perceived social and political disruptions, the dramatic expansion of spatial and epistemological horizons, and the growth of global trade networks. These texts opposed the twin phenomena of pluralization and secularization, which promoted a Humanist tolerance for ambiguity, boosted globalization and spatial expansion around 1500, and promoted new ways of imagining the world. Part I considers threats to the political order and the protestations against them, above all a vigorous defense of the common good. Part II traces the intellectual and epistemological upheaval triggered by the spatial discoveries and the new methods of visual and verbal representation of space. Part III examines the nationalistic backlash triggered by the rising global trade and related abusive trading practices and by perceived undue foreign influences. It is the basic premise of this book that the texts examined here protested the observed disruptions of the status quo and sought to reestablish a stable imperial order in the face of political and social upheaval and of the felt cultural decline of the German nation.