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Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Ethnic studies
Black celebrities in America have always walked a precarious line
between their perceived status as spokespersons for their race and
their own individual success -and between being "not black enough"
for the black community or "too black" to appeal to a broader
audience. Few know this tightrope walk better than Kanye West, who
transformed hip-hop, pop and gospel music, redefined fashion,
married the world's biggest reality TV star and ran for president,
all while becoming one of only a handful of black billionaires
worldwide. Despite these accomplishments, his polarizing behavior,
controversial alliances and bouts with mental illness have made him
a caricature in the media and a disappointment among much of his
fanbase. This book examines West's story and what it reveals about
black celebrity and identity and the American dream.
Today, when one thinks of the border separating the United States
from Mexico, what typically comes to mind is a mutually unwelcoming
zone, with violent, poverty-ridden towns, cities, and maquiladoras
on one side and an increasingly militarized network of barriers and
surveillance systems on the other. It was not always this way. In
fact, from the end of Mexican-American War until the late twentieth
century, the border was a very porous and loosely regulated region.
In this sweeping account of life within the United States-Mexican
border zone, Michael Dear, eminent scholar and co-founder of the
"L.A. School" of urban theory, traces the border's long history of
cultural interaction, beginning with the numerous Mesoamerican
tribes of the region. Once Mexican and American settlers reached
the Rio Grande and the desert southwest in the nineteenth century,
new forms of interaction evolved. But as Dear warns in his bracing
study, this vibrant zone of cultural and social amalgamation is in
danger of fading away because of highly restrictive American
policies and the relentless violence along Mexico's side of the
border. Through a series of evocative portraits of contemporary
border communities, he shows that the 'third space' occupied by
both Americans and Mexicans still exists, and the potential for
reviving it remains. Yet, Dear also explains through analyses of
the U.S. "border security complex" and the emerging Mexican
"Narco-state" why it is in danger of extinction. Combining a broad
historical perspective and a commanding overview of present-day
problems, Why Walls Won't Work represents a major intellectual
intervention into one of the most hotly contested political issues
of our era.
Dzailoszyce in Polish is also known as Zaloshitz in Yiddish,
Dzyaloshitse in Russian, and Dzialoshitz, Zalazhtsy, Zaleshits,
Zaloshits and Salshits. Dzia oszyce is a small town in southeastern
Poland, 27 miles northeast of Krakow, that sits on a fertile plain
surrounded by mountains. The first Jews arrived there in the 16th
century, attracted perhaps by the fact that Dzia oszyce was on the
trade route from Krakow to the north. By 1820, 75 percent of the
town's 1700 residents were Jews; in the late 1930s, more than 80
percent of its 8,000 residents were Jewish. Most Jews in Dzia
oszyce made their living through trade or crafts. The town was
surrounded by small villages inhabited by peasants. Jewish peddlers
went from village to village selling merchandise and purchasing
agricultural products. While most Jews in Dzia oszyce were not very
prosperous, some owned large estates in the surrounding areas, and
the proprietors of most flour and barley mills, the oil refinery,
and the town power plant were Jews. Religious life centered around
the beautiful town synagogue and the small Hasidic houses of
prayer. Communal life was organized through the kahal community
council] and khevres societies] with various functions. In the
interwar period, theater productions and sports events were
popular. Zionist organizations sprang up and trained young people
to be pioneers; a sizeable number emigrated to Palestine. During
the war, mass killings and deportations virtually destroyed the
Jewish community. Some were sent to their deaths at the Be ec camp,
others to the Krakow ghetto and then to P aszow. Today, the
formerly Jewish town has no Jews and only 1200 inhabitants. This
Yizkor book, written originally in Yiddish and Hebrew by former
residents as a memorial to their beloved town, provides a vivid
portrayal of what Jewish life was like in Dzia oszyce before and
during the war.
The "Handbook of Multicultural Mental Health, Second Edition,
"discusses the impact of cultural, ethnic, and racial variables for
the assessment, diagnosis, treatment, service delivery, and
development of skills for working withculturally diverse
populations. Intended for the mental health practitioner, the book
translates research findings into information to be applied in
practice.
The new edition contains more than 50% new material and includes
contributions from established leaders in the field as well as
voices from rising stars in the area. It recognizes diversity as
extending beyond race and ethnicity to reflect characteristics or
experiences related to gender, age, religion, disability, and
socioeconomic status. Individuals are viewed as complex and shaped
by different intersections and saliencies of multiple elements of
diversity.
Chapters have been wholly revised and updated, and new coverage
includes indigenous approaches to assessment, diagnosis, and
treatment of mental and physical disorders; spirituality; the
therapeutic needs of culturally diverse clients with intellectual,
developmental, and physical disabilities; suicide among racial and
ethnic groups; multicultural considerations for treatment of
military personnel and multicultural curriculum and training.
Foundations-Overview of Theory and Models Specialized Assessment
in a Multicultural Context Assessing and Treating Four Major
Culturally Diverse Groups in Clinical Settings Assessing and
Treating Other Culturally Diverse Groups in Clinical Settings
Specific Conditions/Presenting Problems in a Cultural Context
Multicultural Competence in Clinical Settings"
This book is a translation of the Ruzhany Memorial (Yizkor) Book
that was published in 1957 in Hebrew and Yiddish; it is based upon
the memoirs of former Jewish residents of the town who had left
before the war. Ruzhany, called Rozana in Polish and Ruzhnoy in
Yiddish, is now a small town in Belarus. It was part of Russia at
the time of World War I and Poland afterwards for a short period,
and then the Soviet Union. In 1939, the Jewish population was at
its peak 3,500, comprising 78% of the town's population. In
November 1942, every Jewish resident was murdered by the Nazis and
their collaborators. Founded in the mid-1500s, Jews were welcomed
by the private owner, the Grand Chancellor, Duke Leu Sapeiha. He
valued Jewish settlers who would create a variety of businesses
that would produce profits and generate collectable taxes. They
opened schools, built many small synagogues, and the Great
Synagogue in the main square. In addition they established many
social institutions. The market town thrived. Starting in the early
1900s, many young Jews immigrated to the United States so that the
young men could avoid prolonged conscription into the Czar's army.
For every gallon of ink that has been spilt on the trans-Atlantic
slave trade and its consequences, only one very small drop has been
spent on the study of the forced migration of black Africans into
the Mediterranean world of Islam. From the ninth to the early
twentieth century, probably as many black Africans were forcibly
taken across the Sahara, up the Nile valley, and across the Red
Sea, as were transported across the Atlantic in a much shorter
period. Yet their story has not yet been told. This book provides
an introduction to this ""other"" slave trade, and to the Islamic
cultural context within which it took place, as well as the effect
this context had on those who were its victims. After an
introductory essay, there are sections on Basic Texts (Qur'an and
Hadith), Some Muslim Views on Slavery, Slavery and the Law,
Perceptions of Africans in Some Arabic and Turkish Writings, Slave
Capture, the Middle Passage, Slave Markets, Eunuchs and Concubines,
Domestic Service, Military Service, Religion and Community, Freedom
and Post-Slavery, and the Abolition of Slavery. A concluding
segment provides a first-person account of the capture,
transportation, and service in a Saharan oasis by a West African
male, as related to a French official in the 1930s.
Guatemala emerged from the clash between Spanish invaders and Maya
cultures that began five centuries ago. The conquest of these "rich
and strange lands," as Hernan Cortes called them, and their "many
different peoples" was brutal and prolonged. ""Strange Lands and
Different Peoples"" examines the myriad ramifications of Spanish
intrusion, especially Maya resistance to it and the changes that
took place in native life because of it.
The studies assembled here, focusing on the first century of
colonial rule (1524-1624), discuss issues of conquest and
resistance, settlement and colonization, labor and tribute, and
Maya survival in the wake of Spanish invasion. The authors
reappraise the complex relationship between Spaniards and Indians,
which was marked from the outset by mutual feelings of resentment
and mistrust. While acknowledging the pivotal role of native
agency, the authors also document the excesses of Spanish
exploitation and the devastating impact of epidemic disease.
Drawing on research findings in Spanish and Guatemalan archives,
they offer fresh insight into the Kaqchikel Maya uprising of 1524,
showing that despite strategic resistance, colonization imposed a
burden on the indigenous population more onerous than previously
thought.
Guatemala remains a deeply divided and unjust society, a country
whose current condition can be understood only in light of the
colonial experiences that forged it. Affording readers a critical
perspective on how Guatemala came to be, ""Strange Lands and
Different Peoples" "shows the events of the past to have enduring
contemporary relevance.
This interdisciplinary study explores how US Mexicana and Chicana
authors and artists across different historical periods and regions
use domestic space to actively claim their own histories. Through
"negotiation"-a concept that accounts for artistic practices
outside the duality of resistance/accommodation-and
"self-fashioning," Marci R. McMahon demonstrates how the very sites
of domesticity are used to engage the many political and recurring
debates about race, gender, and immigration affecting Mexicanas and
Chicanas from the early twentieth century to today. Domestic
Negotiations covers a range of archival sources and cultural
productions, including the self-fashioning of the "chili queens" of
San Antonio, Texas, Jovita Gonzalez's romance novel Caballero , the
home economics career and cookbooks of Fabiola Cabeza de Baca,
Sandra Cisneros's "purple house controversy" and her acclaimed text
The House on Mango Street , Patssi Valdez's self-fashioning and
performance of domestic space in Asco and as a solo artist, Diane
Rodriguez's performance of domesticity in Hollywood television and
direction of domestic roles in theater, and Alma Lopez's digital
prints of domestic labor in Los Angeles. With intimate close
readings, McMahon shows how Mexicanas and Chicanas shape domestic
space to construct identities outside of gendered, racialized, and
xenophobic rhetoric.
Marc Gopin offers a groundbreaking exploration of Arab/Israeli
peace partnerships: unlikely friendships created among people who
have long been divided by bitter resentments, deep suspicions, and
violent sorrows. In Bridges Across an Impossible Divide, Gopin
shows how the careful examination of their inner spiritual lives
has enabled Jewish and Arab individuals to form peace partnerships,
and that these partnerships may someday lead to peaceful
coexistence. The peacemakers in this book have no formal experience
in conflict resolution or diplomacy. Instead, through trial and
error, they have devised their own methods of reaching out across
enemy lines. The obstacles they face are unimaginable, the pressure
from both sides to desist is constant, and the guilt-ridden
thoughts of betrayal are pervasive and intense. Peace partners have
found themselves deserted by their closest friends, family members,
and neighbors. Bridges Across an Impossible Divide tells their
stories - stories not of saints, but of singular people who
overcame seemingly unbeatable odds in their dedication to work
toward peace with their estranged neighbors. Gopin provides
insightful analysis of the lessons to be learned from these
peacebuilders, outlining the characteristics that make them
successful. He argues that lasting conflict and misery between
enemies is the result of an emotional, cognitive, and ethical
failure to self-examine, and that the true transformation of a
troubled society is brought about by the spiritual introspection of
extraordinary, determined individuals.
Chicana/o literature frequently depicts characters who exist in a
vulnerable liminal space, living on the border between Mexican and
American identities, and sometimes pushed to the edge by
authorities who seek to restrict their freedom. As this
groundbreaking new study reveals, the books themselves have
occupied similarly precarious positions, as Chicana/o literature
has struggled for economic viability and visibility on the margins
of the American publishing industry, while Chicana/o writers have
grappled with editorial practices that compromise their creative
autonomy. From the Edge reveals the tangled textual histories
behind some of the most cherished works in the Chicana/o literary
canon, tracing the negotiations between authors, editors, and
publishers that determined how these books appeared in print.
Allison Fagan demonstrates how the texts surrounding the authors'
words - from editorial prefaces to Spanish-language glossaries,
from cover illustrations to reviewers' blurbs - have crucially
shaped the reception of Chicana/o literature. To gain an even
richer perspective on the politics of print, she ultimately
explores one more border space, studying the marks and remarks that
readers have left in the margins of these books. From the Edge
vividly demonstrates that to comprehend fully the roles that
ethnicity, language, class, and gender play within Chicana/o
literature, we must understand the material conditions that
governed the production, publication, and reception of these works.
By teaching us how to read the borders of the text, it demonstrates
how we might perceive and preserve the faint traces of those on the
margins.
Stella, first published in 1859, is an imaginative retelling of
Haiti's fight for independence from slavery and French colonialism.
Set during the years of the Haitian Revolution (1791-1804), Stella
tells the story of two brothers, Romulus and Remus, who help
transform their homeland from the French colony of Saint-Domingue
to the independent republic of Haiti. Inspired by the sacrifice of
their African mother Marie and Stella, the spirit of Liberty,
Romulus and Remus must learn to work together to found a new
country based on the principles of freedom and equality. This new
translation and critical edition of Emeric Bergeaud's allegorical
novel makes Stella available to English-speaking audiences for the
first time. Considered the first novel written by a Haitian, Stella
tells of the devastation and deprivation that colonialism and
slavery wrought upon Bergeaud's homeland. Unique among
nineteenth-century accounts, Stella gives a pro-Haitian version of
the Haitian Revolution, a bloody but just struggle that emancipated
a people, and it charges future generations with remembering the
sacrifices and glory of their victory. Bergeaud's novel
demonstrates that the Haitians-not the French-are the true
inheritors of the French Revolution, and that Haiti is the
realization of its republican ideals. At a time in which Haitian
Studies is becoming increasingly important within the
English-speaking world, this edition calls attention to the rich
though under-examined world of nineteenth-century Haiti.
Arguments over the relationship between Canaanite and Israelite
religion often derive from fundamental differences in
presupposition, methodology and definition, yet debate typically
focuses in on details and encourages polarization between opposing
views, inhibiting progress. This volume seeks to initiate a
cultural change in scholarly practice by setting up dialogues
between pairs of experts in the field who hold contrasting views.
Each pair discusses a clearly defined issue through the lens of a
particular biblical passage, responding to each other's arguments
and offering their reflections on the process. Topics range from
the apparent application of 'chaos' and 'divine warrior' symbolism
to Yahweh in Habakkuk 3, the evidence for 'monotheism' in
pre-Exilic Judah in 2 Kings 22-23, and the possible presence of
'chaos' or creatio ex nihilo in Genesis 1 and Psalm 74. This
approach encourages the recognition of points of agreement as well
as differences and exposes some of the underlying issues that
inhibit consensus. In doing so, it consolidates much that has been
achieved in the past, offers fresh ideas and perspective and,
through intense debate, subjects new ideas to thorough critique and
suggests avenues for further research.
This title offers an insight into key contemporary global issues
relating to the lives and experiences of young Muslims. Many Muslim
societies, regardless of location, are displaying a 'youth bulge',
where more than half their populations are under the age of 25. An
increasingly globalized western culture is rapidly eroding
'traditional' ideas about society, from the family to the state. At
the same time, there is a view that rampant materialism is creating
a culture of spiritual emptiness in which demoralization and
pessimism easily find root. For young Muslims these challenges may
be compounded by a growing sense of alienation as they face
competing ideologies and divergent lifestyles. Muslim youth are
often idealized as the 'future of Islam' or stigmatized as
rebelling against their parental values and suffering 'identity
crises'. These experiences can produce both positive and negative
reactions, from intellectual engagement and increasing spiritual
maturity to emotional rejectionism, narrow identity politics and
violent extremism. This book addresses many of the central issues
currently facing young Muslims in both localized and globalized
contexts through engaging with the work of academics, youth work
practitioners and those working in non-governmental organizations
and civic institutions.
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