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Despite a plethora of studies devoted to it, the current
understanding of al-Qaeda and the threat it poses remains vague and
ambiguous. Is al-Qaeda a rigidly structured organisation, a global
network of semi-independent cells, a franchise, or simply an
ideology? What role did Osama bin Laden play within the group and
its terrorist campaign? What does it mean to talk about the "global
Salafi-jihad" threat allegedly confronting the West? In addressing
such questions many writers have sought to offer definitive
answers, yet overall the truth about al-Qaeda remains elusive. This
book moves beyond this traditional approach in order to investigate
and critically assess how such answers reflect the particular
epistemological frameworks within which they are produced. Its
chapters explore the varied contexts within which the obscure
entity labelled al-Qaeda is constituted as a comprehensible object
of political, strategic, cultural, and scientific knowledge, and
within which 'terrorism' is rendered an experience of quotidian
life. This volume offers a much-needed critical reflection on
Western ways of talking and of thinking about the frightening
experience of global terrorism. In trying to know how we know
al-Qaeda, it offers us an opportunity to try to know ourselves and
our often hidden assumptions about legitimacy, violence, and
political purpose.
Despite a plethora of studies devoted to it, the current
understanding of al-Qaeda and the threat it poses remains vague and
ambiguous. Is al-Qaeda a rigidly structured organisation, a global
network of semi-independent cells, a franchise, or simply an
ideology? What role did Osama bin Laden play within the group and
its terrorist campaign? What does it mean to talk about the "global
Salafi-jihad" threat allegedly confronting the West? In addressing
such questions many writers have sought to offer definitive
answers, yet overall the truth about al-Qaeda remains elusive. This
book moves beyond this traditional approach in order to investigate
and critically assess how such answers reflect the particular
epistemological frameworks within which they are produced. Its
chapters explore the varied contexts within which the obscure
entity labelled al-Qaeda is constituted as a comprehensible object
of political, strategic, cultural, and scientific knowledge, and
within which 'terrorism' is rendered an experience of quotidian
life. This volume offers a much-needed critical reflection on
Western ways of talking and of thinking about the frightening
experience of global terrorism. In trying to know how we know
al-Qaeda, it offers us an opportunity to try to know ourselves and
our often hidden assumptions about legitimacy, violence, and
political purpose.
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Gauguin - A Spiritual Journey (Hardcover)
Christina Hellmich, Line Clausen Pedersen; Contributions by Elizabeth C Childs, Carol S Ivory, Theano Jaillet, …
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R1,482
R1,087
Discovery Miles 10 870
Save R395 (27%)
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Ships in 12 - 17 working days
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This vibrant examination of Paul Gauguin's life and work features
more than fifty pieces from the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek collection
in Copenhagen, including paintings, wood carvings, and ceramics
along with Oceanic art and Gauguin's works on paper from the Fine
Arts Museums of San Francisco's permanent collections. Each piece
is reproduced in exquisite detail, offering a superb opportunity to
enjoy Gauguin's groundbreaking use of color, line, and form. Essays
examine Gauguin's relationships and reveal the struggles,
indulgences, awakenings, and betrayals of his personal and
professional life. Other essays provide new insights into Gauguin's
travels to the far reaches of the French colonial empire in the
Pacific and explore his cultural identity, sexuality, and
spirituality. Beautifully designed to complement Gauguin's
extraordinary oeuvre, this book offers a refreshing take on an
artist whose life and work continue to fascinate to the present
day.
The battles fought in the name of the war on terror have re-ignited
questions about the changing nature of war, and the experience of
war for those geographically distant from its real world
consequences. What is missing from our highly mediated experience
of war? What are the intentional and unintentional processes of
erasure through which the distortion happens? What are their
consequences?
The battles fought in the name of the 'war on terror' have
re-ignited questions about the changing nature of war, and the
experience of war for those geographically distant from its real
world consequences. What is missing from our highly mediated
experience of war? What are the intentional and unintentional
processes of erasure through which the distortion happens? What are
their consequences? Cinema is a key site at which questions about
our highly mediated experience of war can be addressed or, more
significantly, elided. Looking at a range of films that have
provoked debate, from award-winning features like Zero Dark Thirty
and American Sniper, to documentaries like Kill List and Dirty
Wars, as well as at the work of visual artists like Harun Farocki
and Omer Fast, this book examines the practices of erasure in the
cinematic representation of recent military interventions. Drawing
on representations of war-related death, dying and bodily damage,
this provocative collection addresses 'what's missing' in existing
scholarly responses to modern warfare; in film studies, as well as
in politics and international relations.
The first major publication on the art of the New Guinea Highlands,
this extraordinary volume is destined to become the definitive
resource on this little-known region. The Jolika Collection of New
Guinea Art of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco consists of
thousands of objects and represents hundreds of clans and villages
throughout New Guinea. The first book in a projected ten-volume
series, this lavishly illustrated volume focuses on the Highlands-a
region of rugged mountains, fertile valleys, and a civilization
that dates back more than forty thousand years. Here, in more than
six hundred pages of rich color, are beautifully crafted masks,
shields, headdresses, and ceremonial and personal objects, the
majority of which have never before been published or exhibited.
Archival and reference photographs, maps of key locations, and
authoritative essays by more than a dozen preeminent scholars
covering a wide range of subjects, from prehistoric agriculture to
body art, make this book a collector's dream.
Since the attacks of September 11, 2001 and up to and beyond Osama
bin Laden's death, al-Qaeda has come to embody the new enigmatic
face of terrorism, dominating discussions of national and
international security. Yet in spite of the attention it receives,
conflicting assumptions about the group abound. Is al-Qaeda a
rigidly structured organization, a global network of
semi-independent cells, a franchise, or simply an idea whose time
has come? What is meant by talk of the "global Salafi jihad" that
is confronting the West? What are the implications of bin Laden's
death? Christina Hellmich offers a critical examination of the
widely-held notions regarding the origins and manifestations of
al-Qaeda and the sources on which they rely, mapping the
organization's alleged transition from what began as a regional
struggle against the Soviets in Afghanistan to the increasingly
leaderless jihad of the post-9/11 world. Rather than just providing
yet another biography of al-Qaeda, Hellmich forensically examines
discrepancies between the most common explanations and to the
limits of what can realistically be known. Drawing on
Arabic-language sources - some of them previously unavailable in
English - "Al-Qaeda: From Global Network to Local Franchise" offers
a penetrating insight into an organization which, for all its
notoriety, is one of the least-understood of our time.
Since the attacks of September 11, 2001 and up to and beyond Osama
bin Laden's death, al-Qaeda has come to embody the new enigmatic
face of terrorism, dominating discussions of national and
international security. Yet in spite of the attention it receives,
conflicting assumptions about the group abound. Is al-Qaeda a
rigidly structured organization, a global network of
semi-independent cells, a franchise, or simply an idea whose time
has come? What is meant by talk of the "global Salafi jihad" that
is confronting the West? What are the implications of bin Laden's
death? Christina Hellmich offers a critical examination of the
widely-held notions regarding the origins and manifestations of
al-Qaeda and the sources on which they rely, mapping the
organization's alleged transition from what began as a regional
struggle against the Soviets in Afghanistan to the increasingly
leaderless jihad of the post-9/11 world. Rather than just providing
yet another biography of al-Qaeda, Hellmich forensically examines
discrepancies between the most common explanations and to the
limits of what can realistically be known. Drawing on
Arabic-language sources - some of them previously unavailable in
English - "Al-Qaeda: From Global Network to Local Franchise" offers
a penetrating insight into an organization which, for all its
notoriety, is one of the least-understood of our time.
Painstakingly constructed by hand of plant fiber and precious
feathers from endemic birds of Hawai'i, feather cloaks and capes
provided spiritual protection to Hawaiian chiefs for centuries
while proclaiming their royal status. Few of the artworks known as
n? hulu ali'i, or royal feathers, survive today except in museums
and private collections. Through photographs and scholarly essays,
Royal Hawaiian Featherwork highlights approximately seventy-five
rare examples of the finest featherwork extant: capes and cloaks
('ahu'ula), royal staffs (k?hili), feather lei (lei hulu manu),
helmets (mahiole), feathered god images (akua hulu manu), and
related paintings and works on paper. With their brilliant coloring
and abstract compositions of crescents, triangles, circles,
quadrilaterals, and lines, the artworks are both beautiful and rich
in cultural significance. This lavishly illustrated volume also
serves as the catalogue to accompany the first exhibition of
Hawaiian featherwork to be staged on the U.S. continent, scheduled
for a six-month run starting in August 2015 at the Fine Arts
Museums of San Francisco. The book and exhibition provide an
overdue opportunity for the public to discover the central role
these artworks played in the culture and history of the Hawaiian
Islands, to explore their unparalleled technical craftsmanship, and
to discover an aesthetic tradition unique to the Hawaiian
archipelago.
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