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Books > Reference & Interdisciplinary > Interdisciplinary studies > Cultural studies > General
The enormous growth of evangelicalism is one of the major developments in recent American life. Like other scholars, Jorstad acknowledges that evangelicalism has grown because it is theologically attractive. But Jorstad also attributes the growth of the evangelical movement to its relationship with American popular culture. According to the author, the evangelical movement was able to integrate populist, democratic traditions with a cultural inclusiveness, a mastery of high technology, and a willingness to use mass media to spread its views. The book contains three sections. The first traces the development of evangelical subculture between 1960 and 1990. The second part discusses the evangelical movement and social and individual values. The third part explores popular religion and the media. The book considers the involvement of evangelicals in popular religion, the appeal of popular religion to many but not to all evangelicals, the similarities between popular religion and more traditional religious organizations, and the means by which evangelicalism effectively utilizes the many genres and styles of popular culture.
How and why do people "frame" animals so pervasively, and what are the ramifications of this habit? For animals, being put into a cultural frame (a film, a website, a pornographic tableau, an advertisement, a cave drawing, a zoo) means being taken out of their natural contexts, leaving them somehow displaced and decontextualized. Human vision of the animal equates to power over the animal. We envision ourselves as monarchs of all we survey, but our dismal record of polluting and destroying vast swaths of nature shows that we are indeed not masters of the ecosphere. A more ethically accurate stance in our relationship to animals should thus challenge the omnipotence of our visual access to them.
Serving students and general readers alike, this encyclopedia addresses the myriad and profound ways foods have shaped the world we inhabit, from prehistory to the present. Written with the needs of students in mind, Foods That Changed History: How Foods Shaped Civilization from the Ancient World to the Present presents nearly 100 entries on foods that have shaped history-fascinating topics that are rarely addressed in detail in traditional history texts. In learning about foods and their importance, readers will gain valuable insight into other areas such as religious movements, literature, economics, technology, and the human condition itself. Readers will learn how the potato, for example, changed lives in drastic ways in northern Europe, particularly Ireland; and how the potato famine led to the foundation of the science of plant pathology, which now affects how scientists and governments consider the dangers of genetic uniformity. The entries document how the consumption of tea and spices fostered global exploration, and how citrus fruits led to the prevention of scurvy. This book helps students acquire fundamental information about the role of foods in shaping world history, and it promotes critical thinking about that topic. Overviews the foods that have changed the world from prehistory to the present Gives attention to the relationships between foods and religious movements, such as the connections between fish, bread, and wine and the rise of Christianity Enables readers to grasp the connections between the history of foods and the Columbian Exchange
Increasingly, women and minorities are entering fields where white male power is firmly entrenched. The spaces they come to occupy are not empty or neutral, but are imbued with history and meaning. This groundbreaking book interrogates the pernicious, subtle but nonetheless widely held view that certain bodies are naturally entitled to certain spaces, while others are not.Drawing on case studies from within the nation state, including Westminster and Whitehall, the art world, academia and everyday life, this book uncovers the hidden processes that undermine female and/or racialized bodies in spaces marked by masculinity and whiteness. How are positions of authority racialized and gendered? How do people manage their femininity and/or blackness while in a predominantly white male context? How do spaces become naturalized or normalized, and what does it mean when they are disrupted?Answering these questions and many more, this book is the first to examine the meaning of diversity in organizations in its absolute complexity. It argues that a thorough engagement with difference requires a rigorous investigation of how institutional cultures become normative. It is only when we see and name this invisible central point of reference, which is so often taken for granted, that we can we truly unsettle long established links. Uniting social, cultural and political theory, and engaging with a range of substantive material from a variety of institutions, this book is a timely contribution to wide-reaching debates on race, gender and space.
"Sympathetic Sentiments "develops an innovative interdisciplinary framework to explore the implications of living in a 'culture of feeling' that seems ill at ease with itself, one in which 'sentiments' are frequently denounced for being 'sentimental' and self-indulgent. This is traced back to the inheritance of the eighteenth century, enabling us to identify a distinctive 'spectacle of sympathy' in which sympathy seems inherently to entail public forms of expression whereby being 'on show' is both a condition of the authenticity of such affects "and" of their capacity to be masked and simulated - hence stimulating controversy, but also the exploration of the vicarious dimensions of modern experience so central to modern literature, art and culture. The implications of all this are further explored in the context of current debates over the display of trauma as the language of sympathetic engagement, and the alleged prevalence of 'compassion fatigue' in the era of media sensationalism. Overall, the book uncovers the patterns that both reproduce our capacity for 'sympathetic sentiments' while revealing the inherent underlying tensions.
This important book challenges the idea that religious
fundamentalism can adequately be understood as a paranoid,
xenophobic faith. It demonstrates instead how it draws upon a long
tradition of evangelical and millenialist scripture in its
engagement with issues at the spiritual and ethical core of
postmodernity in the United States. The author examines the
varieties of fundamentalism as they appear in prophecy, sermon,
film and fiction.
The adventures and antics of James Bond have provided the world with many of the most gripping story lines of the last half-century. Fleming's novels were best-sellers in their day, and the Bond films have been even more popular, becoming the most enduring and successful film franchise in history. By some estimates, half of the world's population--billions of people--have seen a James Bond movie, thus viewing an image of global struggle through Western eyes and obtaining a particular perception of Britain and the world. This fascinating and accessible account of the global phenomenon uses the plots and characterizations in the novels and the blockbuster films to place Bond in a historical, cultural, and political context. Black charts and explores how the settings and the dynamics of the Bond adventures have changed over time in response to shifts in the real-world environment in which the fictional Bond operates. Sex, race, class, and violence are each important factors as 007 evolves from Cold Warrior to foe of SPECTRE and eventually to world defender pitted against megalomaniacal foes. The development of Bond, his leading ladies, and the major plots all shed light on world political attitudes and reflect elements of the real espionage history of the period. This look at Bond's world and his lasting legacy offers an intriguing glimpse into both cultural history and popular entertainment.
Academic discussions of ethnic food have tended to focus on the attitudes of consumers, rather than the creators and producers. In this ground-breaking new book, Krishnendu Ray reverses this trend by exploring the culinary world from the perspective of the ethnic restaurateur. Focusing on New York City, he examines the lived experience, work, memories, and aspirations of immigrants working in the food industry. He shows how migrants become established in new places, creating a taste of home and playing a key role in influencing food cultures as a result of transactions between producers, consumers and commentators. Based on extensive interviews with immigrant restaurateurs and students, chefs and alumni at the Culinary Institute of America, ethnographic observation at immigrant eateries and haute institutional kitchens as well as historical sources such as the US census, newspaper coverage of restaurants, reviews, menus, recipes, and guidebooks, Ray reveals changing tastes in a major American city between the late 19th and through the 20th century. Written by one of the most outstanding scholars in the field, The Ethnic Restaurateur is an essential read for students and academics in food studies, culinary arts, sociology, urban studies and indeed anyone interested in popular culture and cooking in the United States.
This practical guide for developing and using culture-centered counseling and interviewing skills is by well-known authorities on the subject. This guide examines culturally learned assumptions that all of us employ in managing and interacting with others and uses models of synthetic cultures for students, teachers, professional counselors, and interviewers in raising questions, interpreting, focusing on and mediating in multicultural situations.
Tourism Discourse offers new insights into the role of spoken, written and visual discourse in representating and producing tourism as a global cultural industry. With a view to the interplay between the symbolic and economic orders of global mobility, the book is grounded in empirically-based studies of key tourism genres.
The Culture of Immodesty in American Life and Politics is a collection of thirteen essays from a broad range of scholars and independent authors, evaluating the prevalence of immodesty in various aspects of American life and culture. Contributors diagnose immodesty through the lens of corporations that are 'too big to fail, ' consumption inspired by excessive greed, art and fashion that lack beauty and taste, government budgets resulting in perennial deficits, and foreign policy that meddle in the affairs of other nations. Going beyond mere diagnosis of societal ills, The Culture of Immodesty in American Life and Politics provides a prescription for cultural impropriety: promoting a framework for the rejection of immodesty and greed in contemporary life.
Literary Theories is the first reader and introductory guide in one volume. Divided into 12 sections covering structuralism, feminism, marxism, reader-response theory, psychoanalysis, deconstruction, post-structuralism, postmodernism, new historicism, postcolonialism, gay studies and queer theory, and cultural studies, Literary Theories introduces the reader to the most challenging and engaging aspects of critical studies in the humanities today. Classic essays representing the different theoretical positions and offering striking examples of close readings of literature are preceded by new introductions which present the theory in question and discuss its main currents. With a full glossary and detailed bibliography, Literary Theories is the perfect introductory guide and reader in one volume. Included are essays by Roland Barthes, Jean Baudrillard, Homi K. Bhabha, Judith Butler, Terry Castle, Iain Chambers, Rey Chow, Paul de Man, Jacques Derrida, Jonathan Dollimore, Terry Eagleton, Catherine Gallagher, Stephen Heath, Wolfgang Iser, Fredric Jameson, Hans Robert Jauss, Claire Kahane, Gail Ching Liang Low, Mary Lydon, Jean-François Lyotard, James M. Mellard, D.A. Miller, J. Hillis Miller, Louis Adrian Montrose, Michael Riffaterre, Avital Ronell, Nicholas Royle, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, Alan Sinfield, and Raymond Williams.
Paying attention to the historically specific dimensions of objects such as the photograph, the illustrated magazine and the collection, the contributors to this volume offer new ways of thinking about nineteenth-century practices of reading, viewing, and collecting, revealing new readings of Wordsworth, Shelley, James and Wilde, among others.
The figure of the beautiful but lethal woman has haunted the Western imagination from ancient myth to contemporary film. Looking at news media, cinema, drama and other cultural forms, this study considers the interaction between representations of 'real life' 'femmes fatales' and their fictional counterparts.
This book is the first critical genealogy of Jacques Derrida's philosophy of technology. It traces the evolution of what Derrida calls "originary technicit"' via an appraisal of his own philosophy of technology together with that of key interlocutors including Marx, Freud, Lacan, Heidegger and Bernard Stiegler.
In the last twenty years, there has been growing evidence of discontent with the social and behavioral sciences, both from outside and inside these fields of study. Problems and criticisms include the accumulation of unrelated and unrelatable research results, lack of unification among the disciplines, inability to conceptually distinguish one discipline from another, and conversely, excessive fragmentation. Quin McLoughlin proposes a new set of disciplines for a human science, based on a relativist view of knowledge and a naturalist view of human nature. In his attempt to integrate the historical, cross-cultural, and life-span developmental dimensions of human behavior, McLoughlin begins with a discussion of the issues of the nature of knowledge. He then presents the general outlines of a new psychological theory, and offers major considerations for a new sociological theory as well. The book concludes with a structure and general indications for method of the new human science and its function in society. McLoughlin addresses the major current issues of the philosophy of social science and designs his theory for cross-cultural application. He also offers an explanation of the relationships among the biological, psychological, and sociological sciences. Philosophers of science, especially social science, will appreciate this work, as will all scholars interested in the understanding and explanation of past and present human behavior.
Eros for the Other takes up the problem of how truth claims and ethical norms can survive the increasingly radical recognition of the historical, cultural, pluralistic, and often ideological character of human experience. Sharing with postmodernism a suspicion of totalizing forms of knowledge and practice, Wendy Farley parts with postmodernism in defending the possibility of truth and ethics. Arguing that reality occurs in the concrete existence of actual beings (human and otherwise), she develops an interpretation of the nature of knowledge as an eros for the other--as an openness to the distinctive beauties and fragilities of other creatures. Employing Plato, Levinas, Hannah Arendt, Iris Murdoch, Anne Carson, and representatives of Continental philosophy and feminist theory, Eros for the Other constructs an original argument for the interdependence of truth, ethics, and pluralism. Through dialogues with Western thought and its critics an original vision emerges of the way reason discerns reality, experiences beauty, and lives compassionately in the midst of the plurality of concrete, historical existence.
The first comprehensive survey of the nascent field of "science studies" Thrust into the public eye by the contentious "Science Wars"-played out most recently by physicist Alan Sokal's hoax-the nascent field of science studies takes on the political, historical, and cultural dimensions of technology and the sciences. Science Studies is the first comprehensive survey of the field, combining a concise overview of key concepts with an original and integrated framework. In the process of bringing disparate fields together under one tent, David J. Hess realizes the full promise of science studies, long uncomfortably squeezed into traditional disciplines. He provides a clear discussion of the issues and misunderstandings that have arisen in these interdisciplinary conversations. His survey is up-to-date and includes recent developments in philosophy, sociology, anthropology, history, cultural studies, and feminist studies. By moving from the discipline-bound blinders of a sociology, history, philosophy, or anthropology of science to a transdisciplinary field, science studies, Hess argues, will be able to provide crucial conceptual tools for public discussions about the role of science and technology in a democratic society.
This study examines and clarifies the relationship between Islam and modernization in the Muslim world. Through a comparative analysis of Pakistan, Egypt, and Turkey, the author analyzes the ideas and conceptions which are inculcated and propagated in Islamic countries as Islamic religious thought, practice, orientation, tradition, and ways-of-life. Saeed explains that the chaotic conditions existing in the Muslim world are largely a result of a crisis of thought, that the grossly distorted and misunderstood Islam, as presently practiced, is a major obstacle to the development of Muslim countries--but that Muslim countries can develop and progress only through Islam.
The traditional American hero has disappeared and is unlikely to return. Dr. Edelstein explains in fascinating detail how and why that disappearance occurred and the consequences for the nation. Using a sociological approach, he examines the changes that have taken place within American society since World War II to bring about the demise of heroes. The United States has run out of heroes. Hero refers to a national hero, a Universal American around whom we all would rally if called. The hero is the man-rarely the woman-who inspires children and adults, and reflects the finest qualities of the American people. He is recognized as an inspiration, seen as someone engendering our best qualities. It is not that the hero represents most if not all Americans; it is that most if not all Americans are happy to have him as their representative. This is the man, the role, gone from our lives, permanently. Edelstein gives a vivid description of heroes of America's past, and offers an explanation of the national appeal of such men as Billy the Kid, Babe Ruth, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Martin Luther King, Jr. He describes how many of the fields from which Americans once drew their heroes have disappeared, and how the structures of other fields that were once sources of heroes have been altered, thereby obstructing the creation of new heroes. Not that heroism is dead. To the contrary, many Americans are often found performing heroic acts: police officers and fire fighters, federal agents and everyday people are regularly commended for committing acts above and beyond the call of duty. But these heroic actions are usually noted only on a local level. To be an American hero is to be a national hero. This is accomplished by an act of an individual that demands and receives national attention. But that doesn't seem to happen anymore. It is difficult to recall the last ticker-tape parade for an individual American hero. Parades now celebrate groups: freed hostages, winning sports teams, returning service personnel. The book concludes with a discussion on the ramifications of the disappearance of the American hero.
An inter-disciplinary, international collection that examines the mutual influences between law and culture through a series of sophisticated case studies showing how cultural phenomena are brought under legal regulation, how laws are resisted through cultural practices, and how those practices shape the way in which law is understood and applied.
The French today contend with national history and identity and the tensions brought on by changes such as immigration, European integration, and post-colonialism. Issues in the French-Speaking World encapsulates 11 major issues for students of French language and culture, providing an informed platform for critical thinking and engaging discussion. The topics, including the trial of Maurice Papon, the Headscarf Affair, Jose Bove and McDonald's, Quebec separatism, and the democratization movement in the Ivory Coast, are overviewed in individual chapters. Pro and con positions on the issues are then presented so that students can debate the points. Helpful French vocabulary, questions and activities, and a resource guide accompany each issue to round out the unit. The authors are careful to tie in the French issues to American society and culture. Comparisons are probed so that students will broaden their understanding not only of French-speaking societies but also their own society and history as well. Written in a dramatic style, the unique approach of this content-rich resource is sure to bring new energy to the study of French culture, language, and history.
This volume brings to the fore the interface of religion, women's sexual reproductive health and rights (SRHR), and the sustainable development goals (SDGs) in Zimbabwe. It emphasizes that empowering African women is a pivotal pillar for attaining sustainable development. Contributors discuss the need for implementing structural changes as a prerequisite for social progress and development to occur in Southern Africa. They interrogate the extent to which religious beliefs and practices either promote or impede women's SRHR. The contributors also proffer several ways in which addressing the themes of health for all and equality for all women and girls can make a meaningful contribution towards the fulfillment of the goals set for Agenda 2030. |
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