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Direct Sales and Direct Faith in Latin America (Contemporary Anthropology of Religion)
by P. CahnSince 1990, direct sales have attracted over two million recruits in Mexico and are characterized by a belief in the power of positive thinking. Through an ethnographic portrait, Peter S. Cahn demonstrates that the quasi-religious commission of self-empowerment accounts for the explosive growth of commission-based sales in the developing world.
Education and Democracy in Senegal
by M. KuenziThis book examines the role of nonformal education (NFE) in African languages in promoting democracy in Senegal. Using data from a survey of rural Senegalese citizens, this is the first study to empirically test the effects of NFE on political participation and attitudes. The results indicate that NFE stimulates community and political participation and appears to have a stronger effect on participation than formal education. Both NFE and formal education increase the likelihood that people will embrace democratic, tolerant attitudes. Thus, NFE could be a potent force in the promotion of civic orientations in the emerging democracies.
The Emergence of Russian Liberalism: Alexander Kunitsyn in Context, 1783-1840 (Palgrave Studies in Cultural and Intellectual History)
by J. BerestA fresh perspective on the history of Russian liberalism through the life and work of Alexander Kunitsyn, a teacher and philosopher of natural law, whose academic and journalistic writings contributed to the dissemination of Western liberal thought among the Russian public.
Freedom and Confinement in Modernity: Kafka's Cages (Studies in European Culture and History)
by A. Kiarina Kordela & Dimitris VardoulakisKafka's literary universe is organized around constellations of imprisonment. Freedom and Confinement in Modernity proposes that imprisonment does not signify a tortured state of the individual in modernity. Rather, it provides a new reading of imprisonment suggesting it allows Kafka to perform a critique of a modernity instead.
The Future of United States, China, and Taiwan Relations
by Cheng-yi Lin & Denny RoyRelations across the Taiwan Strait were unstable for decades before May 2008. Several acknowledged "crises" raised the possibility of war between China and the US and/or Taiwan and at times political disputes wracked the US-Taiwan relationship. Nevertheless, the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA) of 1979 helped maintain peace by deterring coercive actions by China against the island.
The Gospel of Beauty in the Progressive Era: Reforming American Verse and Values (Palgrave Studies in Cultural and Intellectual History)
by L. SzefelSzefel investigates the use of poetry in addressing political reform at the turn of the twentieth century. It charts the work of poets and editors - many of whom were women and minorities - who created a network of organizations to nurture writers who addressed the problems wrought by Progressive-era capitalism.
Knowledge Production, Pedagogy, and Institutions in Colonial India (Palgrave Studies in Cultural and Intellectual History)
by I. Sengupta D. AliThis volume seeks to revise the Saidian analytical framework which dominated research on the subject of colonial knowledge for almost two decades, which emphasized colonial knowledge as a series of representations of colonial hegemony. It seeks to contribute to research in the field by analyzing knowledge in colonial India as a dynamic process.
The Legacy of the Italian Resistance (Italian and Italian American Studies)
by Philip CookeThis book adds to this growing body of scholarship on the Italian Resistance by analysing, for the first time, how the 'three wars' are represented over the broad spectrum of Resistance culture from 1945 to the present day. Furthermore, it makes this contribution to scholarship by bridging the gap between historical and cultural analysis. Whereas historians frequently use literary texts in their writings, they are often flawed by an insufficiently nuanced understanding of what a literary text is. Likewise, literary critics who have discussed writers such as Calvino and Vittorini, or films such Paisà and La notte di San Lorenzo, only refer in passing to the historical context in which these works were produced. By fusing historical and cultural analysis, author Philip Cooke makes a unique contribution to our understanding of a key period of Italian history and culture.
Muslims and Jews in America: Commonalities, Contentions, and Complexities
by Reza Aslan & Aaron J. Hahn TapperThis book is an exploration of contemporary Jewish-Muslim relations in the United States and the distinct ways in which these two communities interact with one another in the American context. Each essay discusses a different episode from the recent twentieth and current twenty-first century American milieu that links these two groups together.
Ottoman Nizamiye Courts: Law and Modernity
by A. RubinA fresh look at one of the most important landmarks in the passage of the Ottoman Middle East to modernity during the late nineteenth century, this book explores the Nizamiye court system. The author offers an innovative conceptualization to serve as an alternative to common - yet poorly grounded - wisdoms about legal change in the modern Middle East. Employing a socio-legal approach, this study is focused on "law in action," as experienced in and outside the Nizamiye courts of law.
Reinstating the Ottomans: Alternative Balkan Modernities, 1800-1912
by I. BlumiThis book focuses on the western Balkans in the period 1820-1912, in particular on the peoples and social groups that the later national history would claim to have been Albanians, providing a revisionist exploration of national identity prior to the establishment of the nation-state.
Cross-Cultural Visions in African American Literature: West Meets East
by Yoshinobu HakutaniThe most influential East-West artistic, cultural, and literary exchange that has taken place in modern and postmodern times was the reading and writing of haiku. Here, esteemed contributors investigate the impact of Eastern philosophy and religion on African American writers such as Richard Wright, Ralph Ellison, and Toni Morrison, offering a fresh field of literary inquiry.
The DVD and the Study of Film: The Attainable Text
by M. ParkerDrawing on interviews with producers, directors, and scholars, and examining the DVD's supplementary features, this book explores how the format, at its best, combines the enthusiasm of a fan, cinematic nostalgia, and scholarly insight.
Early-Twentieth-Century Frontier Dramas on Broadway: Situating the Western Experience in Performing Arts (Palgrave Studies in Theatre and Performance History)
by R. WattenbergFrontier dramas were among the most popular and successful of early-twentieth-century Broadway type plays. The long runs of contemporary dramas not only indicate the popularity of these plays but also tell us that these plays offered views about the frontier that original audiences could and did embrace.
Fairies in Medieval Romance (The New Middle Ages)
by J. WadeThis is the first book to construct a theoretical framework that not only introduces a new way of reading romance writing at large, but more specifically that generates useful critical readings of the specific functions of fairies in individual romance texts.
Vernacular and Latin Literary Discourses of the Muslim Other in Medieval Germany (The New Middle Ages)
by J. FrakesLittle attention has been focused the representation of Muslims in medieval Germany. Proceeding from a grounded use of contemporary cultural theory and close textual analysis, this study focuses Muslims in several core texts representing drama, epic, and lyric written by the most important writers of medieval Germany. Far from simply adding medieval Germany to the growing scholarly list of the 'pre-post-colonializing' European cultures, the study provides important new perspectives.
‘Ali Shari’ati and the Shaping of Political Islam in Iran (Middle East Today)
by K. ChatterjeeThis book tells the story of how Shari'ati developed a language of political Islam, speaking in an idiom intelligible to the Iranian public and subverting the Shah's regime and its claim to legitimacy.
Bringing Light to Twilight: Perspectives on a Pop Culture Phenomenon
by Giselle Liza AnatolThe essays in this collection use the interpretative lens to interrogate the meanings of Meyer's books, making a compelling case for the cultural relevance of Twilight and providing insights on how we can "read" popular culture to our best advantage.
George C. Marshall: Servant of the American Nation (The World of the Roosevelts)
by Charles F. BrowerBringing together a who's who of Marshall scholars, this volume examines the major roles assumed by Marshall over his five-decade career - soldier; statesman and peacemaker; and leader and manager - to illuminate key issues and themes surrounding the man and his era.
Major Powers and the Quest for Status in International Politics: Global and Regional Perspectives (Evolutionary Processes in World Politics)
by Thomas J. Volgy, Renato Corbetta, Keith A. Grant & Ryan G. BairdThis book explores the effects and consequences of major global power and major regional power status attribution on the foreign policies of states striving for such status and the consequences of status differentiation for the international system and the post-Cold War international order.
The Political Economy of China’s Systemic Transformation: 1979 to the Present
by V. Mantzopoulos R. ShenThe future success of China's rapidly growing economy remains uncertain. This book analyzes official documents, data and current writings of recognized academicians investigating China's experience with systemic restructuring.
New Argentine Film: Other Worlds (New Directions in Latino American Cultures)
by G. AguilarRespected film critic Gonzalo Aguilar offers a lucid and sophisticated analysis of Argentine films of the last decade. This is the most complete and up-to-date work in English to examine the "new Argentine cinema" phenomenon. Aguilar looks at highly relevant films, including recent award-winners at all of the major festivals.
Toward a General Theory of Acting: Cognitive Science and Performance (Cognitive Studies in Literature and Performance)
by J. LutterbieToward a General Theory of Acting explores the actor's art through the lens of Dynamic Systems Theory and recent findings in the Cognitive Sciences. An analysis of different theories of acting in the West from Stanislavski to Lecoq is followed by an in depth discussion of technique, improvisation, and creating a score. In the final chapter, the focus shifts to how these three are interwoven when the actor steps in front of an audience, whether performing realist, non-realist, or postdramatic theatre. Far from using the sciences to reduce acting to a formula, Lutterbie celebrates the mystery of the creative process.
African-American/Afro-Canadian Schooling: From the Colonial Period to the Present
by C. GlennTracing the history of black schooling in North America, this book emphasizes factors in society at large - and sometimes within black communities - which led to black children being separate from the white majority. In African-American/Afro-Canadian Schooling: From the Colonial Period to the Present , Charles L. Glenn reveals the evolution of assumptions about race and culture as applied to schooling, as well as the reactions of black parents and leadership in the United States and Canada.
American Indian/First Nations Schooling: From the Colonial Period to the Present
by C. GlennTracing the history of Native American schooling in North America, this book emphasizes factors in society at large - and sometimes within indigenous communities - which led to Native American children being separate from the white majority. Charles L. Glenn examines the evolving assumptions about race and culture as applied to schooling, the reactions of parents and tribal leadership in the United States and Canada, and the symbolic as well as practical role of indigenous languages and of efforts to maintain them.