Michael Jackson challenged the power structure of the American music industry and struck at the heart of blackface minstrelsy, America's first form of mass entertainment. The response was a derisive caricature that over time Jackson subverted through his art. In this expanded, all-new edition, Michael Jackson and the Blackface Mask argues for the tangible relationship between Jackson and blackface minstrelsy. It reveals the dialogue at minstrelsy's core and, in its broader sense, tracks a centuries-long pattern of racial oppression and its resistance and how that has been played out in popular theatre. Michael Jackson and the Blackface Mask explores Jackson's early talent and fame and the birth and escalation of 'Wacko Jacko'. In relation to all this, the book examines Jackson's dynamic art as it evolved, from his live performances and short films to the very surface of his own body. Scholarly and interdisciplinary, this work is suitable for readers across a diverse spectrum of academic fields, including African American studies, popular music studies and cultural theory, media and communication, gender studies and performance and theatre studies. Academic but accessible, this book will also be an engaging read for anyone interested in Michael Jackson and especially in his role as an icon of difference, in America's dynamics of race and his mass media image.

This fascinating book is an insightful exploration of Western perceptions and representations of Japanese culture and society, drawing on social and cultural psychological ideas around stereotypes and intercultural relations. Hinton considers how the West views the Japanese as an ideologically different 'other', and proposes a cultural theory of stereotypes from which to explore Western observations of the Japanese. The book explores Western socio-cultural representations of the Japanese alongside Edward Said's well-known theory of Orientalism. It examines the West's intercultural relationship with Japan, and how this has changed over time, to show how the Japanese have been represented in the Western mind throughout history, to the present day. Hinton argues that our view of other cultures is based on our own cultural expectations, which involve complex issues of meaning making and perceived cultural differences. This book foregrounds this research through accounts of Westerners about the Japanese, to reveal how cultural representations can influence the ways in which people from different cultures communicate in interaction, and how intercultural understanding or misunderstanding can arise. By reflecting on the changing Western representations of the Japanese, and how and why these have emerged, this book will be of interest to students, academics, and general readers interested in stereotypes, cultural psychology, intercultural communication, and Japanese culture and history.

This fascinating book is an insightful exploration of Western perceptions and representations of Japanese culture and society, drawing on social and cultural psychological ideas around stereotypes and intercultural relations. Hinton considers how the West views the Japanese as an ideologically different 'other', and proposes a cultural theory of stereotypes from which to explore Western observations of the Japanese. The book explores Western socio-cultural representations of the Japanese alongside Edward Said's well-known theory of Orientalism. It examines the West's intercultural relationship with Japan, and how this has changed over time, to show how the Japanese have been represented in the Western mind throughout history, to the present day. Hinton argues that our view of other cultures is based on our own cultural expectations, which involve complex issues of meaning making and perceived cultural differences. This book foregrounds this research through accounts of Westerners about the Japanese, to reveal how cultural representations can influence the ways in which people from different cultures communicate in interaction, and how intercultural understanding or misunderstanding can arise. By reflecting on the changing Western representations of the Japanese, and how and why these have emerged, this book will be of interest to students, academics, and general readers interested in stereotypes, cultural psychology, intercultural communication, and Japanese culture and history.

Featuring the work of leading contemporary Muslim philosophers and theologians, this book grapples with various forms of evil and suffering in the world today, from COVID-19 and issues in climate change to problems in palliative care and human vulnerability. Rather than walking down well-trodden paths in philosophy of religion which often address questions of evil and suffering by focusing on divine attributes and the God-world relationship, this volume offers another path of inquiry by focusing on human vulnerability, potential, and resilience. Addressing both the theoretical and practical dimensions of the question of evil, topics range from the transformative power of love, virtue ethics in Sufism and the necessity of suffering, to the spiritual significance of the body and Islamic perspectives on embodiment. In doing so, the contributors propose new perspectives based on various pre-modern and contemporary materials that can enrich the emerging field of the global philosophy of religion, thereby radically transforming contemporary debates on the nature of evil and suffering. The book will appeal to researchers in a variety of disciplines, including Islamic philosophy, religious studies, Sufism and theology.

Karim examines the changes and continuity of Indonesia’s foreign policy in the post-authoritarian era, under presidents Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Joko Widodo. Indonesia conceptualised and aimed to adopt four principle roles after 2004 – being a voice for developing countries; being a regional leader; being an advocate for democratic and human rights; and being a bridge-builder. These roles, however, were by no means stable, and were constantly being negotiated and contested. Karim analyses the contested nature of Indonesian foreign policy, and the limits this places on consistency in enacting these roles. He highlights two drivers for such limitations – conflicting role conceptions, and state fragmentation. He develops this argument based on four case studies of Indonesia’s engagement in human rights governance and trade governance at both regional and global levels. Essential reading for students and scholars of Indonesia’s foreign policy, that will also be of substantial value to those studying policy in Southeast Asia more broadly.

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 Socialist Industrial State (1976) examines the state-socialist system, taking as the central example the Soviet Union - where the goals and values of Marxism-Leninism and the particular institutions, the form of economy and polity, were first adopted and developed. It then considers the historical developments, differences in culture, the level of economic development and the political processes of different state-socialist countries around the globe.

Written by one of the leading figures in biosocial criminology and evolutionary psychology, this work explores the tight relationship between criminality and indiscriminate sexuality within the framework of life history theory. The underlying thesis is that traits associated with a strong libido, indiscriminately expressed, are intertwined with traits associated with criminal behavior; that is, excessive interest in sexual adventures pursued in an irresponsible way is undergirded by the same individual short-run hedonistic traits that define criminality. While traditional criminology tends to view sexual and criminal behavior as separate domains, many biosocial criminologists, evolutionary psychologists, neuroscientists, and behavioral and molecular geneticists are not at all surprised that a link exists between criminality and sexuality. Research shows that the statistical relationship between indiscriminate sexuality and criminal behavior is stronger than for most other variables associated with crime, although most studies dealing with this relationship are from outside the dominant environmentalism paradigm of criminology. Using life history theory as the theoretical umbrella for exploring the relationship between indiscriminate sexuality and criminal behavior, the book explores how and why criminal behavior is related to hypersexuality. Life history theory, which has a long and fruitful history of use among evolutionary biologists who use it to investigate the relationship between mating strategies and the environment among various species of animals (including humans) is particularly suited to understanding how an exclusive focus on mating effort is related to criminal behavior. This book will be of interest to scholars and students in criminology, psychology, and sociology, and anyone interested in examining the interconnection between biological, psychological, and socio-environmental factors in relation to criminal behavior.

The Routledge Global Haiku Reader provides a historical overview and comprehensive examination of haiku across the world in numerous languages, poetic movements, and cultural contexts. Offering an extensive critical perspective, this volume provides leading essays by poets and scholars who explore haiku's various global developments, demonstrating the form's complex and sometimes contradictory manifestations from the twentieth century to the present. The sixteen chapters are carefully organized into categories that reflect the salient areas of practice and study: Haiku in Transit, Haiku and Social Consciousness, Haiku and Experimentation, The Future of Global Haiku. An insightful introduction surveys haiku's influence beyond Japan and frames the collection historically and culturally, questioning commonly held assumptions about haiku and laying the groundwork for new ways of seeing the form. Haiku's elusiveness, its resistance to definition, is partly what keeps it so relevant today, and this book traces the many ways in which this global verse form has evolved. The Routledge Global Haiku Reader ushers haiku into the twenty-first century in a critically minded and historically informed manner for a new generation of readers and writers and will appeal to students and researchers in literary studies, Asian studies, comparative literature, cultural studies and creative writing.

Lee, Chan and their contributors analyse the different kinds of soft power deployed by Taiwan in its bid to strengthen its relations with its neighbours in Southeast Asia. Despite not having formal diplomatic relations with Southeast Asian countries after their diplomatic recognition of the People’s Republic of China decades ago, Taiwan continues to be a key economic and socio-cultural partner for the region at large. Successive administrations in Taiwan from the Chen to Tsai eras have circumvented the long-standing absence of diplomatic recognition with the diffusion of soft power ─ shaping what others want with attractiveness ─ through the utilization of its existing economic and socio-cultural links with Southeast Asian countries. While such soft power diffusion contributes to Taiwan’s triple quests for legitimacy as a member of international community, status as a constructive actor in the region and long-term economic prosperity for the island-state, the emergence of China as an economic superpower in the 21st century has significantly challenged such quests from Taipei. The contributors to this volume examine both the intentions and the reception of Taiwan’s approach to the nations of ASEAN. An essential read for students and researchers investigating the impact and limitations of soft power in foreign policy.

This edited volume offers new analytical and methodological approaches to the study of education in the post-pandemic educational context, through case studies from countries in South Asia such as Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Crossing disciplinary and national boundaries to advance collaborative knowledge production in South Asian education, the book explores how different colonial legacies, religious orientations, and positions in the global economy are played out in regional education systems. In doing so, this volume focuses on the educational challenges faced by the region to better understand South Asian society and the existing societal inequalities in the wake of COVID-19. The book highlights how the pandemic invites a re-thinking of current ways of approaching educational research in hybrid forms, and also opens up new areas of research ranging from pedagogical innovations to the well-being of teachers and students. Offering interdisciplinary perspectives on education in this unique context, this timely book will be highly relevant to students, researchers, and academics in the fields of international and comparative education, South Asian studies, teacher education, and education policy and politics.

This book offers a novel interdisciplinary approach to interpret the emergence of the Basque-Spanish nationalist conflict. It incorporates into sociological analysis the understanding of law put forward by legal realism and legal pluralism to answer some of the most pressing problems encountered in historical research on this topic. It does so by carrying out a comparative historical analysis which focuses on the puzzle produced by the political trajectories of two traditionally considered Basque territories between 1841 and 1936: Navarre and Vascongadas - the precursor of today's Euskadi. Urasstabaso Ruiz argues that the historical and ideological trajectories of these territories need to be understood in relation to their local legal praxis and interpretations of law, which played a key role in how the authorities of these territories responded to the advent of modernisation. Overall, a fresh theoretical alternative is articulated, and the meaning of jurisdictional action is interpreted. Modern Societies and National Identities will appeal to academics interested in nationalism, the state and modernisation, particularly to those concerned with the Basque Country and the state of Spain.

Islamic finance has emerged to meet the financial needs of people who seek a different approach to conventional banking and finance. Due to its late inception, Islamic finance has often been regarded as an "infant industry" compared to its traditional counterparts. Even though the Islamic finance industry is still classified as nascent, it has shown rapid growth in the last decade or so. The primary objective of this book is to highlight the main issues and challenges the Islamic finance industry faces and to offer practical solutions. Firstly, the book classifies the main components of Islamic finance such as money and banking, capital markets, fintech, microfinance, insurance as well as morality and governance. Secondly, all of the chapters are combined according to their relationship and link with each other so as to provide readers with a unique and holistic overview of the subject. The chapters are written by well-renowned experts in the field. As well as offering readers theoretical information about each subject under discussion, it also advances practical solutions that can contribute to the development of each field. The book answers questions such as how money is created by banks; what the business model of Islamic banking should look like; whether Islamic microfinance institutions are sustainable; what the likely framework of takaful should be; what the potential role of fintech could be in reshaping the Islamic financial system, and where and whether morality fits in the financial system. The book will attract the attention of students, researchers, practitioners, regulators and policymakers.

Routledge Handbook of Post Classical and Contemporary Persian Literature contains scholarly essays and sample texts related to Persian literature from the seventeenth century to the present day. It includes analyses of free verse poetry, short stories, novels, prison writings, memoirs, and plays. The chapters apply a disciplinary or an interdisciplinary approach to the many movements, genres, and works of the long and evolving body of Persian literature produced in the Persianate World. These collections of scholarly essays and samples of Persian literary texts provide facts (general information), instructions (ways to understand, analyze, and appreciate this body of works), and the field's state-of-the-art research (the problematics of the topics) regarding one of the most important and oldest literary traditions in the world. Thus, the handbook's chapters and related texts provide scholars, students, and admirers of Persian poetry and prose with practical and direct access to the intricacies of the Persian literary world through a chronological account of key moments in the formation of this enduring literary tradition. The related handbook (also edited by Kamran Talattof) Routledge Handbook of Ancient, Classical, and Late Classical Persian Literature covers Persian literary works from the ancient or pre-Islamic era to roughly the end of the 16th century.

1) This is a comprehensive book on India's socio-economic transformation after economic liberalization. 2) This book contains updated vital data on all macroeconomic indicators. 3) This book will be of interest to departments of development studies and political economy across UK and USA.

The authors of this volume discuss questions of disaster and justice from various interdisciplinary vantage points, including public policy, science and technology studies, law, gender, sociology and psychology, social and cultural anthropology, town planning and tourism. The term "natural" disasters is a misnomer; cataclysmic natural events that impact humans can often be anticipated and their consequences should be prevented - the failure to do so is a failure of politics, policy and risk planning. Presenting research on more than a decade after the Great East Japan Earthquake, the chapters highlight not only the manifold challenges in the direct disaster response and policy making but also the difficulties of "just" long-term recovery. Arguing for just distribution, recognition and participation, this volume provides a diversity of perspectives on these issues as experienced after the 2011 disasters through detailed and nuanced analyses presented by early career researchers and senior academics coming from various countries and continents of the world. The insights of this volume galvanise the discussion of disaster governance and highlight the variety of disaster (in)justices and the ways disasters force people to contest and reimagine their relationships with their neighborhoods, countries, families, and friends. A valuable read for scholars and students researching issues related to mass emergencies, justice theory and civil activism.

This book examines the Centre-State and inter-State relations concerning water issues in India. It analyses the federal structure in India and looks at its effectiveness in addressing the inter-state river water disputes in the country through three cases - the Cauvery, Krishna and Mahadayi water disputes. It probes into the physical, political, legal and constitutional measures taken by the Union government and the states to deal with the inter-State and Centre-State tussles over inter-state river waters. The author studies the debate over centralization and decentralization of water resources, as well as the inter-state river water disputes that have aroused feelings of sub-nationalism in disputing regions and states. The possibility of physical infrastructure projects contributing to India's growing water problems are also looked at. This book will be of interest to researchers and students of Environmental Politics, Political Science, Public Policy, Environmental Geography, Indian Politics, South Asian Studies, Environmental Economics, Water Industries, Environmental Policy, River Management, Environment & Resources.

Each essay in this volume provides a cultural perspective on shame. More specifically, each chapter focuses on the question of how culture can differentially affect experiences of shame for members of that culture. As a collection, this volume provides a cross-cultural perspective on shame, highlighting the various similarities and differences of experiences of shame across cultures. In Part 1, each contributor focuses primarily on how shame is theorized in a non-English-speaking culture, and address how the science of shame ought to be pursued, how it ought to identify its object of study, what methods are appropriate for a rigorous science of shame, and how a method of study can determine or influence a theory of shame. In Part 2, each contributor is primarily concerned with a cultural practice of shame, and addresses how shame is related to a normative understanding of our self as a person and an individual member of a community, how culture and politics affect the value and import of shame, and what the relationship between culture and politics is in the construction of shamed identities. Cultural Perspectives on Shame will be of interest to scholars and advanced students working in cross-cultural philosophy, philosophy of emotion, moral psychology, and the social sciences.

This volume proposes a historical analysis of Italian-Libyan relations in contemporary times. After examining the colonialism of liberal Italy, which in 1911 culminated in the military campaign for the conquest of the Libyan regions, it evaluates the impact of fascism in Libya and the attempt to launch a broader pro-Arab policy. The third section analyzes the construction of the so-called 'special relationship' between Rome and Tripoli since the 50s when an economic interdependence between the Libyan oil producer and the Italian industrial power was pursued despite political differences. Finally, the volume also focuses on the dramatic implosion of Libya and the loss of its political unity following the fall of the Gaddafi regime, which on the one hand, scaled back Italy's regional role, on the other, spread instability throughout the Euro-Mediterranean area. The volume uses a historiographical methodology focused on primary sources and updated scientific literature but also includes specialized analyses of the most current scenarios. This is the first systematic work on the Italian-Libyan relationship produced in English, accessible to area scholars, specialists, analysts and students, who intend to deepen their understanding of one of the pivotal factors of the Euro-Mediterranean balance, which is currently missing.

In 1944, the novel Xie [Crabs] by Mei Niang (1916-2013) was honored with the Japanese Empire's highest literary award, Novel of the Year. Then, at the peak of her popularity, Mei Niang published in Japanese-owned, Chinese-language journals and newspapers in the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo (1932-1945), Japan, and north China. Contemporaries lauded her writings, especially for introducing liberalism to Manchuria's literary world. In Maoist China, however, Mei Niang was condemned as a traitor and a Rightist with her life and career torn to shreds until her formal vindication in the late 1970s. In 1997, Mei Niang was named one of "100 modern Chinese writers." The collection that is translated in this volume, Xiaojie ji [Young lady's collection], was published in 1936, when she was 19 years old. Long thought forever lost in the violence of China's civil war and Maoist strife, the collection was only re-discovered in 2019. This is the first book-length, English-language translation of the work of this high-profile, prolific New Woman writer from Northeast China. Mei Niang's Long-Lost First Writings will appeal to those interested in Chinese literature, the Japanese Empire, historic fiction, history, women's/gender history, and students in undergraduate and graduate level courses. To date, English-language volumes of translated Chinese literature have rarely focused on Manchukuo's Chinese writers or centered on those who left the puppet state by1935. This volume fills an important historical lacuna - a teenaged Chinese woman's views of life and literature in Japanese-occupied Manchuria.

Routledge Handbook of Ancient, Classical, and Late Classical Persian Literature contains scholarly essays and sample texts related to Persian literature from 650BCE through the sixteenth century CE. It includes analyses of some seminal ancient texts and the works of numerous authors of the classical period. The chapters apply a disciplinary or an interdisciplinary approach to the many movements, genres, and works of the long and evolving body of Persian literature produced in the Persianate World. These collections of scholarly essays and samples of Persian literary texts provide facts (general information), instructions (ways to understand, analyze, and appreciate this body of works), and the field's state-of-the-art research (the problematics of the topics) regarding one of the most important and oldest literary traditions in the world. Thus, the handbook's chapters and related texts provide scholars, students, and admirers of Persian poetry and prose with practical and direct access to the intricacies of the Persian literary world through a chronological account of key moments in the formation of this enduring literary tradition. The related handbook (also edited by Kamran Talattof), Routledge Handbook of Post Classical and Contemporary Persian Literature covers Persian literary works from the 17th century to the present.

This book brings together new perspectives on India's foreign policy in the light of a constantly shifting world order. From India's relations in its immediate neighborhood to its China policy, from India-US relations under Biden to Quad, from Grand Strategy to peacekeeping this book brings to the fore the shifting terrains of global politics and India's significant place in it. The essays in the volume: Critically examines changing preoccupations of India's foreign policy and its geopolitical interests, including its Act East Policy; Includes comprehensive inputs on India's China policy and relations with Japan; Explores India's relations with the USA, the Middle-East, Afghanistan, and Central Asia; Discusses at length India's nuclear, energy, and foreign investment policies; Analyses India's positioning on the emergence of the Indo-Pacific discourse. This volume will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of political science and international relations. It will also be of use to foreign policy and diplomacy practitioners, career bureaucrats, and government think tanks.

Memory in Hungarian Fascism: A Cultural History argues that fascist memory had a key role in the historical formation and later return of fascism. Tracing the trajectory of a perennial figure of fascist memory, the cult of Eszter Solymosi, from interwar Hungary through the Cold War West to contemporary Hungary, the book covers a century of fascism and offers a unique combination of fascism studies and memory studies. How did fascists challenge liberal memory after the First World War? How did the memory culture they created come to frame and feed the Second World War and the genocide? In what ways did fascist memory transform as they navigated the challenges of exile in a profoundly changed political landscape and tried to counter the postwar order? And what role did their legacy, carefully crafted for a post-Communist future, play as later neo-fascists rejected democratic transformation? Eventually, as fascist memory travelled across time and space, the book argues, it contributed to the political challenges that we face today. Based on a variety of unpublished sources, the book offers new insights for students of memory, Holocaust, fascism, and antisemitism studies, Jewish studies, Central and Eastern European history, and Hungarian studies.

With a range of case studies from every continent, the contributors to this book analyze the challenges that arise for states living with much larger neighbors, and the policies they develop to account for this asymmetry. Bringing together the perspectives of bilateral relations and the study of small states, this book analyzes a range of scenarios where one or more smaller countries must manage relations with a much larger neighbor or neighbors, from the perspective of the smaller countries. Each case presents different priorities, depending on the relationship between the states concerned, while highlighting the commonalities across the various scenarios. The range of cases and contributors is wide and diverse, with examples including Togo’s relationship with Ghana, Mongolia’s with China, and Colombia’s with Brazil – as well as more widely known examples such as Canada and the United States, or Australia and New Zealand. A valuable resource for scholars and students of international relations, and public policy of small- and medium-sized states.

In this book the experiential history of the Soviet-style social transformation projects between 1945 and 1980 is discussed through the example of rural Hungary. The book interprets state socialism as a (modernization) project. Existing socialism was a form of dictatorship in which authorities sought to transform the mentalities of their subjects from the individual level to the global scale. This project depended on socio-economic homogenization; one important method of asserting state power was the transformation of property rights (land redistribution, collectivization). Communist modernization discriminated against the inhabitants of rural areas, who were the primary victims of collectivization and the discriminatory effects of the rules implemented by policymakers. The resulting radical changes in peasant lifestyles would become a source of social pathologies. However, not the authorities but contemporary scholars considered the social costs of these actions. The book aims at Weberian disenchantment and contributes to the deconstruction of the common image of Hungarian socialism, "the happiest barrack". The intended audience includes readers at the graduate level in the fields of history, political science, and anthropology, general readers interested in the history of communism. It is hoped that the research questions inspire new research for exploring convergent and divergent elements in social transformation in former communist countries.