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Books > Reference & Interdisciplinary > Interdisciplinary studies > Area / regional studies > General
Specialized forager-traders have lived alongside and in exchange relationships with agriculturalists for many thousands of years in South and Southeast Asia. Here is a series of representative case-studies that pertain to a current archaeological debate. The issue concerns the extent to which historical foraging populations are to be understood as specialized adaptations to a complex economically diverse environment, rather than as throw-backs to a Paleolithic way of life.
Few would dispute that the United States had been the world's most influential nation since Henry Luce first popularized the notion of an American Century in 1941. The significance of the influence, however, remains a subject of hot debate. This collection brings together international scholars who offer differing views on American international dominance in the past century and the prospects for its continuation into this one. These range from positive assessments of the role of the United States in forging a global community and in operating as a relatively benign global hegemon to a scathing critique of Washington policy makers for failing to reverse the ethically corrosive impact of the Cold War on American diplomatic practice. American global influence has not been synonymous with omnipotence. The United States is not impervious to external influences and has itself been transformed by the forces of globalization--a phenomenon viewed by some as synonymous with Americanization. These essays highlight the notion that the phrase American Century implies the diffusion internationally of liberal capitalist principles. This book suggests that the role of the United States in diffusing those principles is at the heart of the debate about the significance of American global influence, whether in retrospect or in prospect. Includes the views of Asian, Antipodean, and American Scholars.
The hero's journey is a process of (re)discovery of the principles that make up the national identity of a country. These principles must then be applied in the formulation and implementation of foreign policy. For the seventh time in its history, America has discovered a grand synthesis of power and morality in projecting its resources and principles into the global arena. This makes possible a more assertive, moral foreign policy course in responding to a range of foreign policy challenges. Of these challenges, Salla asserts, the most profound in terms of the scale of human suffering around the planet is that concerning violations of the rights of ethnic minorities. Ethnic conflicts and the humanitarian crises and massive human rights violations they generate form a foreign policy challenge that will preoccupy the minds of policy makers for much of the 21st century. NATO's intervention in the Kosovo crisis is the high water mark for America's seventh hero's journey. The intervention sends a decisive signal to all governments that the U.S. and its allies will no longer remain inactive in the face of states attempting to militarily repress the aspirations of their ethnic minorities. This moral interventionism can safely be extended well into the 21st century if policy makers wisely combine the moral principles and foreign policy challenges that make up both the Second American Century and America's (Seventh) Hero's journey. This provocative analysis will be of interest to all scholars, students, and researchers involved with the development of American foreign policy.
This compelling book analyzes the rise of civil society and legal contentiousness in contemporary China. Scott Wilson examines how Chinese AIDS carriers and pollution victims, relying on weak laws and judicial institutions, pursue justice and protection of their rights in Chinese courts and civil society. In exploring the "politics of justice" in China, the author contends that civil society and legal rights advance when their organizers have support from pockets of the Chinese Communist Party, resources from international groups, and the backing of protesters. Even lawsuits that fail in the courts can raise societal consciousness of social issues and can lead to revised state policies to address the substantive claims of disadvantaged citizens. Underlying the politics of justice is the regime's attempt to balance commitments to legal development and its interest in regime stability. Wilson argues that the Chinese state has looked more favorably upon pollution victims' civil-society organizations and lawsuits than those of AIDS carriers. Going beyond the standard overviews of China's legal system, Tigers without Teeth is unique in its close comparison of legal activism on two sensitive and politically relevant social issues. It provides important insights into the development of civil society, as well as highlighting limitations to the pursuit of justice as the system balances between the development of rule of law and regime stability.
Books and reading have contributed to the success of generations of Americans, many of whom have had distinguished careers and have left their mark on history. While the accomplishments of these notable Americans are well known, their adventures with books and reading are less familiar. Some have struggled to gain access to books, while others were fortunate enough to be exposed to literature at an early age. This reference surveys the role books and reading have played in the lives of notable Americans from colonial times to the present. Included are alphabetically arranged entries for 50 notable Americans from a range of historical periods, professions, and racial and ethnic backgrounds. Many are featured prominently in school and college texts, while others are a significant part of popular culture. Such diverse figures as Benjamin Franklin, Helen Keller, Willa Cather, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Mark Twain, Oprah Winfrey, and Ronald Reagan are covered. Each entry includes a discussion of books and reading in the person's life, a chronology, and a brief bibliography.
The effective and efficient management of water is a major problem, not just for economic growth and development in the Nile River basin, but also for the peaceful coexistence of the millions of people who live in the region. Of critical importance to the people of this part of Africa is the reasonable, equitable and sustainable management of the waters of the Nile River and its tributaries. Written by scholars trained in economics and law, and with significant experience in African political economy, this book explores new ways to deal with conflict over the allocation of the waters of the Nile River and its tributaries. The monograph provides policymakers in the Nile River riparian states and other stakeholders with practical and effective policy options for dealing with what has become a very contentious problem - the effective management of the waters of the Nile River. The analysis is quite rigorous but also extremely accessible.
It is widely held that private ownership is the preferred end state for all scarce resources. Those who hold this view have not looked closely enough at water in the American West, Barbanell contends. Because of water's special attributes, private ownership is an ineffective means for protecting individuals interests. Splitting the various rights of ownership between individual resources users and the community to which they belong can better protect those interests. Barbanell develops a conception of this form of common ownership, a common-property arrangement, and shows that it can function effectively for water in the West. More generally, he offers an expanded framework for analyzing right relationships and examining problems related to resource scarcity. Some economists argue that John Locke's account of property justifies the private ownership of water in the West. Barbanell argues, however, that because Locke did not think carefully enough about the variable nature of resources, his account does not support that conclusion. Although economists recognize that private ownership may not be perfectly suited to all resources, they are nonetheless skeptical about common ownership alternatives. Barbanell shows that this skepticism is unwarranted. When the rights relationship among members of a resource community is based on mutual expectations of reciprocal behavior, then a common-property arrangement can function effectively to control the degradation and depletion of a scarce resource. Barbanell's argument that common ownership is a conceptually sound and politically viable alternative for water will be of particular interest to public policy makers, environmentalists, resource economists, and political philosophers.
In this comparative study of contemporary Black Atlantic women writers, Samantha Pinto demonstrates the crucial role of aesthetics in defining the relationship between race, gender, and location. Thinking beyond national identity to include African, African American, Afro-Caribbean, and Black British literature, Difficult Diasporasbrings together an innovative archive of twentieth-century texts marked by their break with conventional literary structures. These understudied resources mix genres, as in the memoir/ethnography/travel narrativeTell My Horseby Zora Neale Hurston, and eschew linear narratives, as illustrated in the book-length, non-narrative poem by M. Nourbese Philip, She Tries Her Tongue, Her Silence Softly Breaks. Such an aesthetics, which protests against stable categories and fixed divisions, both reveals and obscures that which it seeks to represent: the experiences of Black women writers in the African Diaspora.Drawing on postcolonial and feminist scholarship in her study of authors such as Jackie Kay, Elizabeth Alexander, Erna Brodber, Ama Ata Aidoo, among others, Pinto argues for the critical importance of cultural form and demands that we resist the impulse to prioritize traditional notions of geographic boundaries. Locating correspondences between seemingly disparate times and places, and across genres, Pinto fully engages the unique possibilities of literature and culture to redefine race and gender studies.Samantha Pintois Assistant Professor of Feminist Literary and Cultural Studies in the English Department at Georgetown University.In theAmerican Literatures Initiative
Diasporic Africa presents the most recent research on the history and experiences of people of African descent outside of the African continent. By incorporating Europe and North Africa as well as North America, Latin America, and the Caribbean, this reader shifts the discourse on the African diaspora away from its focus solely on the Americas, underscoring the fact that much of the movement of people of African descent took place in Old World contexts. This broader view allows for a more comprehensive approach to the study of the African diaspora. The volume provides an overview of African diaspora studies and features as a major concern a rigorous interrogation of "identity." Other primary themes include contributions to western civilization, from religion, music, and sports to agricultural production and medicine, as well as the way in which our understanding of the African diaspora fits into larger studies of transnational phenomena.
Masculinity is not a monolithic phenomenon, but a historically discontinuous one-a fabrication as it were, of given cultural circumstances. Because of its opacity and instability, masculinity, like more recognizable systems of oppression, resists discernibility. In Macho Ethics: Masculinity and Self-Representation in Latino-Caribbean Narrative, Jason Cortes seeks to reveal the inner workings of masculinity in the narrative prose of four major Caribbean authors: the Cuban Severo Sarduy; the Dominican American Junot Diaz; and the Puerto Ricans Luis Rafael Sanchez and Edgardo Rodriguez Julia. By exploring the relationship between ethics and authority, the legacies of colonial violence, the figure of the dictator, the macho, and the dandy, the logic of the Archive, the presence of Oscar Wilde, and notions of trauma and mourning, Macho Ethics fills a gap surrounding issues of power and masculinity within the Caribbean context, and draws attention to what frequently remains invisible and unspoken.
This book compares two countries with striking parallels in economic and political outcomes, yet with some distinct features in terms of institutional structures, relative size, and culture. Therefore, this book forms a fruitful platform for the study of the similarities and differences in the economic and societal development of Japan and Finland. Despite their geographic distance from one another and the aforementioned differences, both countries experienced rather similar economic and societal development patterns after the Second World War. The study of these societies both individually and through commonalities will provide a unique perspective on the emergence of modern economies and institutions. The book provides comprehensive coverage on issues such as welfare state formation and society, security and military spending, education system, industrial development, international trade, governmental economic policies, energy solutions, and bubbles and their collapse; thus, issues typical for these countries, as well as most modern states, studied from a longitudinal perspective. The book aims to answer a fundamental question in social science: Why do there seem to be common trends and developmental paths among countries differing in size, culture, and economic structure? This book will provide insights for those seeking to decipher how the developments in their own countries came about and where they may be headed to.
In this book, Parent puts together a history of representations of the 1944 mutiny in Senegal. Combining firsthand analysis of the works and their intertextual interactions as well an external perspective, Parent engages with history, literature, film, poetics, and politics and highlights the importance of remembering the past.
Addressing major political developments in Iraq over the past century, this book provides an up-to-date and accessible study of the country, advancing a sympathetic yet balanced understanding of its critical role in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and in global affairs. The Author introduces three concepts to understand Iraq's historical trajectory: the pursuit of power, the impact of state institutions, and the transformation of social identities. Using this analytical paradigm, the book illuminates the unique political, economic, and social dimensions of Iraqi national life. As well as providing comparison points with MENA countries, the book evaluates Iraqi relations with external actors, including the Arab states, Iran and Israel, Europe, and the United States. Though conscious of Iraq's long and complex history, special attention is paid to contemporary events, ranging from Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait in 1990 to the American-led invasion in 2003, and more recent struggles with elections, the Islamic State, and democracy. It is nevertheless argued that, despite its challenges, Iraq's story remains hopeful moving forward in time. Both wide-ranging and closely focused, the book is vital reading for students, scholars and general audiences interested in political economy, international relations, and the history of Iraq.
In this book, Hilda Llorens offers a ground-breaking study of images-photographs, postcards, paintings, posters, and films-about Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans made by American and Puerto Rican image-makers between 1890 and 1990. Through illuminating discussions of artists, images, and social events, the book offers a critical analysis of the power-laden cultural and historic junctures imbricated in the creation of re-presentations of Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans by Americans ("outsiders") and Puerto Ricans ("insiders") during an historical epoch marked by the twin concepts of "modernization" and "progress." The study excavates the ways in which colonial power and resistance to it have shaped representations of Puerto Rico and its people. Hilda Llorens demonstrates how nation, race, and gender figure in representation, and how these representations in turn help shape the discourses of nation, race, and gender. Imaging The Great Puerto Rican Family masterfully illustrates that as significant actors in the shaping of national conceptions of history image-makers have created iconic symbols deeply enmeshed in an "emotional aesthetics of nation." The book proposes that images as important conveyers of knowledge and information are a fertile data site. At the same time, Llorens underscores how colonial modernity turned global, the conceptual framework informing the analysis, not only calls attention to the national and global networks in which image-makers have been a part of, and by which they have been influenced, but highlights the manners by which technologies of imaging and "seeing" have been prime movers as well as critics of modernity.
A valuable addition to ABC-CLIO's Global Studies series, this resource covers Japan in two main sections-a narrative history and an extensive general reference section. Japan: A Global Studies Handbook offers a friendly introduction to this vital, ancient country. In a series of practical, readable essays, this title explores Japan's island geography and its influence on the nation's history. Japan traces the "economic miracle" that was born in the ashes of World War II and grew into an economy seven times the size of China's-but at considerable social cost. It examines Japan's vibrant cultural traditions-from the 11th century's The Tale of Genji to karaoke, sushi, and the "salary man." Japan entices readers to continue their exploration by offering an inviting collection of jumping-off points: a timeline of Japanese history; a mini-encyclopedia of significant people, places, and events; and an annotated bibliography covering all aspects of Japanese society. A detailed timeline charts landmarks in Japanese history, from the rise of the Jomon culture in 11,000 B.C.E. to the bursting of the economic bubble in the 1990s A compendium of practical information describes Japanese customs, from gift-giving to bathing etiquette
Heated debates about and insurgencies against female circumcision are symptoms of a disease emanating from a mindset that produced hierarchies of humans, conquered colonies, and built empires. The loss of colonies and empires does not in any way mitigate the ideological underpinnings of empire-building and the knowledge construction that subtends it. The mindset finds its articulation at points of coalescence. Female circumcision provided a point of coalescence and impetus for the articulation. Insisting that the hierarchy on which the imperialist project rests is not bipolar but multi-layered and more complex, the contributions in this volume demonstrate how imperialist discourses complicate issues of gender, race, and history. Nnaemeka gives voice to the silenced and marginalized, and creates space for them to participate in knowledge construction and theory making. The authors in this volume trace the "travels" of imperial and colonial discourses from antecedents in anthropology, travel writings, and missionary discourse, to modern configurations in films, literature, and popular culture. The contributors interrogate foreign, or Western, modus operandi and interventions in the so-called Third World and show how the resistance they generate can impede development work and undermine the true collaboration and partnership necessary to promote a transnational feminist agenda. With great clarity and in simple, accessible language, the contributors present complex ideas and arguments which hold significant implications for transnational feminism and development.
Early in the twentieth century, American socialists dared to dream of a future based on cooperation rather than competition. Socialism was a movement broad enough to encompass many points of view regarding the Red millennium. Socialist women, novelists, newspaper editors, and civil rights advocates, Christian socialists and Wobblies strained their eyes to see a future cooperative Commonwealth. Edward Bellamy portrayed socialism in the year 2000 for millions of readers in his novels as applied Christianity. Bellamy and other utopian novelists, including Jack London and Charlotte Perkins Gilman, tried to imagine the role of women in the expected new order. Christian socialists put their faith in a future Kingdom of God on earth that honored the ideas of Karl Marx. Radical newspaper editors in Kansas, Missouri, and Texas attempted to lay out the imagined transition to socialism to their readers in simple, straightforward language that made the goal seem readily obtainable. Mormons, disappointed in the changing nature of their faith, pondered a possible socialist future. Others, such as William English Walling, worked for a time ahead that was both socialist and colorblind. Challenging the notion that they had no concrete vision, this book of essays examines the many ways in which early 20th century American socialists imagined their future.
Globalization, it seems, has propelled the world's uber-wealthy to new heights of power and money, with tremendous repercussions for the other 99.9 percent of us. At a time when neoliberalism has propelled the world into a new Gilded Age, with rising inequality everywhere, an aggressive class war being waged by the wealthy, and billionaires inserting themselves bluntly into the political arena, understanding the behavior and spatiality of the super-rich has acquired a pressing urgency. This volume offers a richly textured suite of essays concerning how the super-rich have restructured local places, transforming landscapes as varied as London and Kentucky, Ireland and St. Barts, as well as domains as varied as art, thoroughbred horses, and housing.' - Barney Warf, University of Kansas, US'The world's super-rich, made up of just 11 million people, have access to about US$42.0 trillion of wealth. These are people who each have a spare million of 'liquid' wealth. Their wealth is roughly equal to two thirds of global GDP. They own most of everything. As the editor of this books states '. . . library shelves and the pages of journals remain largely devoid of geographical work on the super-rich a startling lacuna this volume sets out to fill'. The super-rich now own most of the planet. During the last year their share fell slightly. Times may be changing. Now is the time to begin to study the super-rich in detail, especially if you are worried about where all the wealth has gone.' - Danny Dorling, University of Sheffield, UK This timely and path-breaking book brings together a group of distinguished and emerging international scholars to critically consider the geographical implications of the world's super-rich, a privileged yet remarkably overlooked group. Emerging from this unique collection is an enlightening picture of the influence of the super-rich over a diverse range of affairs, extending from the shape of urban and rural landscapes to the future of art history. By concentrating on those at the apex of the economic pyramid, this book provides valuable insights to the institutions, practices and cultural values of our society, as well as allowing us a more comprehensive view of the consequences of global capitalism. Presenting case studies from across the globe from Singapore to St Barts, London to Lexington - the spatial and cultural span of the book is wide-ranging and diverse. This truly unique book will prove a fascinating read for academics, researchers and students in the fields of geography, regional and urban studies, sociology, political science and development studies. Contributors: J.V. Beaverstock, S. Chauvin, B. Cousin, M. Fasche, S.J.E. Hall, I. Hay, P. McGuirk, P. McManus, L. Murphy, C. Paris, C.-P. Pow, S.M. Roberts, R.H. Schein, J.R. Short, T. Wainwright, K. Wilkins, M. Woods
Screening Minors in Latin American Cinema is the first volume to delve into the construction of children's subjectivity and agency in Latin American film, and addresses such questions as: How and to what extent do films express the point of view of the child? How do plots and film practices represent children s subjectivity and agency? Childhood studies has demonstrated the importance of examining the lives of children. Building on those insights, together with current research from film studies and Latin American cultural studies, the essays in this volume analyze the development of agency and voices of minors in contemporary Latin American film. The theoretical perspectives used gender studies, psychoanalytic and postcolonial theory, film studies, play and performance studies, and emotion studies, among others take into account innovative approaches to filmic techniques as they explore the varied representations of children."
In southern graveyards through the first decades of the twentieth century, the Confederate South was commemorated by tombstones and memorials, in Confederate flags, and in Memorial Day speeches and burial rituals. Cemeteries spoke the language of southern memory, and identity was displayed in ritualistic form--inscribed on tombs, in texts, and in bodily memories and messages. Katharine DuPre Lumpkin, Lillian Smith, and Pauli Murray wove sites of regional memory, particularly Confederate burial sites, into their autobiographies as a way of emphasizing how segregation divided more than just southern landscapes and people. Darlene O'Dell here considers the southern graveyard as one of three sites of memory--the other two being the southern body and southern memoir--upon which the region's catastrophic race relations are inscribed. O'Dell shows how Lumpkin, Smith, and Murray, all witnesses to commemorations of the Confederacy and efforts to maintain the social order of the New South, contended through their autobiographies against Lost Cause versions of southern identity. Sites of Southern Memory elucidates the ways in which these three writers joined in the dialogue on regional memory by placing the dead southern body as a site of memory within their texts. In this unique study of three women whose literary and personal lives were vitally concerned with southern race relations and the struggle for social justice, O'Dell provides a telling portrait of the troubled intellectual, literary, cultural, and social history of the American South.
investigates the relationship between mining, mine closure and housing policy in post-apartheid South Africa argues that the dependencies created by the mining industry and mine housing policies while a mine is operational causes serious societal problems when it closes applies the concepts of place attachment, asset-based development and social disruption will be of interest to students and scholars researching the social impacts of mining and the extractive industries, social geography and sustainable development, as well as policymakers and practitioners working with mine closure or social impact assessments.
Reexamining Economic and Political Reforms in Russia, 1985-2000: Generations, Ideas, and Changes analyzes the impact of generational changes and ideational changes on major political and economic reforms conducted in Russia during the late twentieth century. This book examines how the policy agenda was shaped by the ideas of the generations' representatives for the sixtiers and seventiers. Representatives of the generation of sixtiers conducted reforms from 1985 to 1991 and invested major efforts in political liberalization but did not pay enough attention to economic reforms. On the other hand, the reformers from the generation of seventiers, who were in charge of policy making from 1991 to 1998, were genuinely oriented toward market building but rather insensitive to the democratization of the political regime. This book explores how these differences in ideational agendas produced inconsistent and controversial outcomes from both stages of reforms. As a consequence, Russia only partially implemented the idea of market economic reforms, while the process of political reforms resulted in the rise of new authoritarianism.
Timor-Leste: The History and Development of Asia s Newest Nation is a study of how a small Asia-Pacific nation has emerged from protracted conflict and successfully navigated a path to durable peace and sustainable development. Despite early setbacks, Timor-Leste has made an amazing turnaround and today finds itself in a new era in which it will certainly continue its advance toward the goal of long-term stability and prosperity, leaving permanently behind the past that was once marked by a descending spiral of destruction. Yet, a number of development challenges lie ahead for Timor-Leste, particularly in strengthening human, institutional, and infrastructural capacities in the short to medium term, and in transforming the national economy from oil-based to more diversified and better balanced in the longer run. Other countries may draw valuable lessons from Timor-Leste s experience, especially those that are emerging from as well as are currently affected by conflict and instability. Such lessons would center on the questions such as management of natural resources, empowerment of the vulnerable, implementation of transparent and accountable governance, advancement of women, and mobilization of civil society and the public in general for democratization and the national development process." |
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