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This book contributes to the prominent interdisciplinary domain of
Cosmopolitan Studies with 20 innovative essays by humanities
scholars from all over the world that re-examine theories and
practices of cosmopolitanism from a variety of perspectives. The
volume satisfies the need for a stronger involvement of Comparative
and World Literatures and Cultures, Translation, and Education
Theories in this crucial debate, and also proposes an experimental
way to explore in depth the necessity of a cosmopolitan method as
well as the riches of cosmopolitan representations. The essays
follow a logical progression from the situated philosophical and
political foundations of the debate to interdisciplinary
propositions for a pedagogy of cosmopolitanism through studies of
modern and contemporary cosmopolitan cultural practices in
literature and the arts and the concurrent analysis of prototypes
of cosmopolitan identities. This trajectory allows readers to
appreciate new historical, theoretical, aesthetic, and practical
implications of cosmopolitanism that pertain to multiple genres and
media, under different modes of production and reception. In the
deterritorialized landscape of Migrating Minds, mental and
sentimental mobility, rather than the legacy of place, is the key
to an efficient, humanist response to deadening globalization.
This book participates in the ongoing debate about the alleged
"death of theory" and the current post-theoretical condition,
arguing that the "finitude" of theoretical projects does not mean
"end", but rather contingency and transformation of thinking,
beyond irreconcilable doctrines. Contributors from different
cultural and scholarly backgrounds and based in three different
continents propose new areas of investigation and interpretive
possibilities, reopening dialogues with past and present discourses
from a plurality of perspectives and locations. After a first
section that reassesses the status and scopes of critique, theory,
and literature, the book foregrounds new or neglected critical
vocabulary, literary paradigms, and narrative patterns to reread
texts at the intersection with other branches of the
humanities-history, philosophy, religion, and pedagogy. It then
explores geopolitical, cultural, and epistemological domains that
have been historically and ideologically overdetermined (such as
postsocialist, postcolonial, and cosmopolitan spaces), recodifying
them as unstable sites of both conflicts and convergences. By
acknowledging the spatio-temporal and cultural delimitations of any
intellectual practice, the book creates awareness of our own
partiality and incompleteness, but treats boundaries as zones of
contact, exchange, and conceptual mobility that promote crossings
and connections.
This book participates in the ongoing debate about the alleged
"death of theory" and the current post-theoretical condition,
arguing that the "finitude" of theoretical projects does not mean
"end", but rather contingency and transformation of thinking,
beyond irreconcilable doctrines. Contributors from different
cultural and scholarly backgrounds and based in three different
continents propose new areas of investigation and interpretive
possibilities, reopening dialogues with past and present discourses
from a plurality of perspectives and locations. After a first
section that reassesses the status and scopes of critique, theory,
and literature, the book foregrounds new or neglected critical
vocabulary, literary paradigms, and narrative patterns to reread
texts at the intersection with other branches of the
humanities-history, philosophy, religion, and pedagogy. It then
explores geopolitical, cultural, and epistemological domains that
have been historically and ideologically overdetermined (such as
postsocialist, postcolonial, and cosmopolitan spaces), recodifying
them as unstable sites of both conflicts and convergences. By
acknowledging the spatio-temporal and cultural delimitations of any
intellectual practice, the book creates awareness of our own
partiality and incompleteness, but treats boundaries as zones of
contact, exchange, and conceptual mobility that promote crossings
and connections.
The Criminal Crowd and Other Writings on Mass Society is the first
collection in English of writings by Italian jurist, sociologist,
and cultural and literary critic Scipio Sighele (1868-1913). In
post-unification Italy and internationally Sighele was an important
figure in contemporary debates on such issues as popular unrest,
the problematic borders between individual and collective
accountability, the role of urbanization in the development of
criminality, and the emancipation of women. This volume draws an
intricate portrait of a provocative thinker and public intellectual
caught between tradition and modernity in fin de siecle Europe. It
features new English translations of Sighele's seminal work, The
Criminal Crowd, along with a selection of his later studies on
criminality and on individual and group behaviour. Nicoletta
Pireddu's introduction and annotation provide valuable context and
insights on Sighele's contribution to the emerging field of
collective psychology, on his relationships with his predecessors
Cesare Lombroso and Enrico Ferri and with his French rivals Gustave
Le Bon and Gabriel Tarde, and on the significant scientific,
literary, and cultural developments of his time.
First published in 1897, "The Year 3000" is the most daring and
original work of fiction by the prominent Italian anthropologist
Paolo Mantegazza. A futuristic utopian novel, the book follows two
young lovers who, as they travel from Rome to the capital of the
United Planetary States to celebrate their "mating union,"
encounter the marvels of cultural and scientific advances along the
way. Intriguing in itself, "The Year 3000" is also remarkable for
both its vision of the future (predicting an astonishing array of
phenomena from airplanes, artificial intelligence, CAT scans, and
credit cards to controversies surrounding divorce, abortion, and
euthanasia) and the window it opens on fin de siecle Europe.
Published here for the first time in English, this richly annotated
edition features an invaluable introductory essay that interprets
the intertextual and intercultural connections within and beyond
Mantegazza's work. For its critical contribution to early science
fiction and for its insights into the hopes, fears, and clash of
values in the Western world of both Mantegazza's time and our own,
this book belongs among the visionary giants of speculative
literature.
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