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Patriarchal Precedents: Sexuality and Social Relations (Routledge Revivals)
by Rosalind CowardFirst published in 1983, Patriarchal Precedents is an excavation of the term patriarchy. Rosalind Coward shoes how the debates about patriarchy and matriarchy were crucial to social theories in the nineteenth century, discussing how the resolution of these debates resulted in our present ways of (mis)understanding the family, sexual relations and sexual characteristics. Rosalind Coward argues that the violent debates around patriarchy tell a salutary tale about how the term presupposed as much as it set out to explain. She demonstrates how it was used in Marxism and psychoanalysis in ways which blocked any radical thinking about sexual relations, and how the arguments against the term patriarchy within anthropology still have to be taken seriously. She argues that in order to advance our understanding of how power is exercised in sexual relations, of the place which sexual relations have within society and the construction of sexual characteristics, a series of presuppositions about sexual relations must now be cleared away. This book will be of interest to students of gender studies, women's studies, sexuality, men' s studies, sociology and anthropology.
Patriarchal Precedents: Sexuality and Social Relations (Routledge Revivals)
by Rosalind CowardFirst published in 1983, Patriarchal Precedents is an excavation of the term patriarchy. Rosalind Coward shoes how the debates about patriarchy and matriarchy were crucial to social theories in the nineteenth century, discussing how the resolution of these debates resulted in our present ways of (mis)understanding the family, sexual relations and sexual characteristics. Rosalind Coward argues that the violent debates around patriarchy tell a salutary tale about how the term presupposed as much as it set out to explain. She demonstrates how it was used in Marxism and psychoanalysis in ways which blocked any radical thinking about sexual relations, and how the arguments against the term patriarchy within anthropology still have to be taken seriously. She argues that in order to advance our understanding of how power is exercised in sexual relations, of the place which sexual relations have within society and the construction of sexual characteristics, a series of presuppositions about sexual relations must now be cleared away. This book will be of interest to students of gender studies, women's studies, sexuality, men' s studies, sociology and anthropology.
The American Prison Business (Routledge Revivals)
by Jessica MitfordFirst published in 1974, The American Prison Business studies the lunacies, the delusions, and the bizarre inner workings of the American prison business. From the first demonstration that the penitentiary is an American invention that was initiated by the late eighteenth-century reformers, to the startling revelations, in the chapter called ‘Cheaper than Chimpanzees’ of how pharmaceutical companies lease prisoners as human guinea-pigs, every page stimulates and surprises the reader as Jessica Mitford describes, inter alia the chemical, surgical and psychiatric techniques used to help ‘violent’ prisoners to be ‘reborn’; why businessmen tend to be more enthusiastic than the prisoners they employ in the ‘rent-a-con’ plan; and the Special Isolation Diet which tastes like inferior dog food. Jessica Mitford’s financial analysis of the prison business is a scoop. Her hard-eyed examination of how parole really works is a revelation. As the prison abolition movement continues to gain momentum, this book will provide food for thought for legislators, officials and students of sociology, law, criminology, penology, and history.
The American Prison Business (Routledge Revivals)
by Jessica MitfordFirst published in 1974, The American Prison Business studies the lunacies, the delusions, and the bizarre inner workings of the American prison business. From the first demonstration that the penitentiary is an American invention that was initiated by the late eighteenth-century reformers, to the startling revelations, in the chapter called ‘Cheaper than Chimpanzees’ of how pharmaceutical companies lease prisoners as human guinea-pigs, every page stimulates and surprises the reader as Jessica Mitford describes, inter alia the chemical, surgical and psychiatric techniques used to help ‘violent’ prisoners to be ‘reborn’; why businessmen tend to be more enthusiastic than the prisoners they employ in the ‘rent-a-con’ plan; and the Special Isolation Diet which tastes like inferior dog food. Jessica Mitford’s financial analysis of the prison business is a scoop. Her hard-eyed examination of how parole really works is a revelation. As the prison abolition movement continues to gain momentum, this book will provide food for thought for legislators, officials and students of sociology, law, criminology, penology, and history.
Other-person-ness and the Person with Profound Disabilities
by Pia MatthewsMany people think that profound disability presents us with a real problem, often because it seems difficult to connect with someone who does not seem to think or act like us. Positioning profound disability in this way immediately sets up a ‘them’ and ‘us’, where the person with profound disability becomes the problematic ‘other’. Attempts to bridge the ‘them’ and ‘us’ risk reducing everyone to the same where disability is not taken seriously.In contrast to a ‘them’ and ‘us’, and negative connotations of the other found in the existentialist philosophies of writers like Sartre and Beauvoir, Pia Matthews argues for a return to a positive view of the other. One positive approach to the other, based on an ethics of relationship as championed by Levinas, seems to mitigate the other-ness of profound disability. However, this still makes the person with profound disability dependent on the ethical concern of the more powerful other. Instead, this book argues for return to a personalist philosophy of being offered by Mounier, Marcel, and Wojtyła, and deepened by participation, belonging, and the possibility of contributing to the good of all. This deepened philosophy of being gives a more solid foundation for people who are especially at the mercy of others. It will be of interest to all scholars and students of disability studies, philosophy and anthropology.
Other-person-ness and the Person with Profound Disabilities
by Pia MatthewsMany people think that profound disability presents us with a real problem, often because it seems difficult to connect with someone who does not seem to think or act like us. Positioning profound disability in this way immediately sets up a ‘them’ and ‘us’, where the person with profound disability becomes the problematic ‘other’. Attempts to bridge the ‘them’ and ‘us’ risk reducing everyone to the same where disability is not taken seriously.In contrast to a ‘them’ and ‘us’, and negative connotations of the other found in the existentialist philosophies of writers like Sartre and Beauvoir, Pia Matthews argues for a return to a positive view of the other. One positive approach to the other, based on an ethics of relationship as championed by Levinas, seems to mitigate the other-ness of profound disability. However, this still makes the person with profound disability dependent on the ethical concern of the more powerful other. Instead, this book argues for return to a personalist philosophy of being offered by Mounier, Marcel, and Wojtyła, and deepened by participation, belonging, and the possibility of contributing to the good of all. This deepened philosophy of being gives a more solid foundation for people who are especially at the mercy of others. It will be of interest to all scholars and students of disability studies, philosophy and anthropology.
The Renaissance of Remote Places: MATILDE Manifesto (Routledge Studies on Remote Places and Remoteness)
by Anna Krasteva Andrea Membretti Thomas DaxWith a particular attention to remote places and marginalised territories, this book provides a conceptualisation of the role of internal and international migration to the local development and resilience of the rural and mountain regions of Europe. The book is a collective effort produced by the international and multi-disciplinary network of the Horizon 2020 project MATILDE. In declaring a public and trans-regional position – in the form of a Manifesto for the renaissance of remote places - the book contributes to a new narrative about migration and rural/mountain territories for the future of the entire continent. Mobilizing new data and scientific-based information, the book calls for putting remote regions and their inhabitants at the core of innovative policies at local, regional, national and EU levels. An important resource for researchers, students and policymakers in human and population geography, rural studies, migration studies, social and political sciences.
Classical Mythology: The Basics (The Basics)
by Richard MartinThis new edition introduces the core elements of ancient Greek and Roman narratives about immortal gods and heroic humans. It explains how myths once shaped ancient ways of thinking, and how they have fascinated and inspired artists, writers, musicians, scientists, and scholars since. In six clear and concise chapters, this book explains what myths are, sketches the main stories about divinities, heroes and heroines, and explores through specific case studies the ways in which they influenced modern culture, from Renaissance opera to contemporary video games and social movements. The second edition also features a new chapter analyzing how myths have been used in politics from antiquity to the present day. More than two dozen illustrations, maps, and charts complement the text. No prior knowledge of mythology is assumed, and the book incorporates the latest scholarship on classical mythology, providing annotated lists of further readings. Anyone who has encountered Greek or Roman myths in literature, art, or pop culture and wants to know more about the cultural contexts for the stories will benefit from this compact book. Intended for a wide readership, the second edition of Classical Mythology: The Basics continues to off er a clear introduction to the subject for undergraduates, scholars, and the general reader.
Designing Healthy and Liveable Cities: Creating Sustainable Urban Regeneration (Routledge Studies in Urbanism and the City)
by Marichela SepeIn the last ten years, concepts such as urban health and liveability have become ever more present in urban planning studies. Many companies rank the most liveable city in the world or in a nation, and many indicators are used to try to measure factors which can report the health of a place by investigating it in different ways. While it is possible to understand why a place is liveable – due to the liveability and health concepts that are being more and more explored in urban studies, and the strong influence coming from other disciplines – it is difficult to design a place that is certain to be healthy and liveable. Accordingly, aim of this book is, after the definition of the field of investigation concerning sustainable regeneration trough topics such as resilience, adaptation, health, and mixed connections, to illustrate the present-day approaches to the analysis and design of healthy places, and in particular the original Healthy Pl@ce Design method, flexible and repeatable in different contexts. The method aims to identify sustainable urban liveability and healthiness and the factors which make places liveable and healthy from users' points of view and identifying design interventions that can enhance or create both urban liveability and health. Emblematic case studies carried out in Europe, Canada and China – Bordeaux, Copenhagen, Hamburg, Madrid, Newcastle–Gateshead, Nice, Dublin, Vancouver and Wuhan – constitute the empirical part of the book, detailed with surveys, questionnaires, images and maps. The theoretical framework – built on contemporary issues – and international case studies make this book both attractive and scientific, adding a new stone on the sustainable city construction and opening it to a particularly wide readership, including scholars, students, administrators and professionals.
The Renaissance of Remote Places: MATILDE Manifesto (Routledge Studies on Remote Places and Remoteness)
by Anna Krasteva Andrea Membretti Thomas DaxWith a particular attention to remote places and marginalised territories, this book provides a conceptualisation of the role of internal and international migration to the local development and resilience of the rural and mountain regions of Europe. The book is a collective effort produced by the international and multi-disciplinary network of the Horizon 2020 project MATILDE. In declaring a public and trans-regional position – in the form of a Manifesto for the renaissance of remote places - the book contributes to a new narrative about migration and rural/mountain territories for the future of the entire continent. Mobilizing new data and scientific-based information, the book calls for putting remote regions and their inhabitants at the core of innovative policies at local, regional, national and EU levels. An important resource for researchers, students and policymakers in human and population geography, rural studies, migration studies, social and political sciences.
Classical Mythology: The Basics (The Basics)
by Richard MartinThis new edition introduces the core elements of ancient Greek and Roman narratives about immortal gods and heroic humans. It explains how myths once shaped ancient ways of thinking, and how they have fascinated and inspired artists, writers, musicians, scientists, and scholars since. In six clear and concise chapters, this book explains what myths are, sketches the main stories about divinities, heroes and heroines, and explores through specific case studies the ways in which they influenced modern culture, from Renaissance opera to contemporary video games and social movements. The second edition also features a new chapter analyzing how myths have been used in politics from antiquity to the present day. More than two dozen illustrations, maps, and charts complement the text. No prior knowledge of mythology is assumed, and the book incorporates the latest scholarship on classical mythology, providing annotated lists of further readings. Anyone who has encountered Greek or Roman myths in literature, art, or pop culture and wants to know more about the cultural contexts for the stories will benefit from this compact book. Intended for a wide readership, the second edition of Classical Mythology: The Basics continues to off er a clear introduction to the subject for undergraduates, scholars, and the general reader.
Designing Healthy and Liveable Cities: Creating Sustainable Urban Regeneration (Routledge Studies in Urbanism and the City)
by Marichela SepeIn the last ten years, concepts such as urban health and liveability have become ever more present in urban planning studies. Many companies rank the most liveable city in the world or in a nation, and many indicators are used to try to measure factors which can report the health of a place by investigating it in different ways. While it is possible to understand why a place is liveable – due to the liveability and health concepts that are being more and more explored in urban studies, and the strong influence coming from other disciplines – it is difficult to design a place that is certain to be healthy and liveable. Accordingly, aim of this book is, after the definition of the field of investigation concerning sustainable regeneration trough topics such as resilience, adaptation, health, and mixed connections, to illustrate the present-day approaches to the analysis and design of healthy places, and in particular the original Healthy Pl@ce Design method, flexible and repeatable in different contexts. The method aims to identify sustainable urban liveability and healthiness and the factors which make places liveable and healthy from users' points of view and identifying design interventions that can enhance or create both urban liveability and health. Emblematic case studies carried out in Europe, Canada and China – Bordeaux, Copenhagen, Hamburg, Madrid, Newcastle–Gateshead, Nice, Dublin, Vancouver and Wuhan – constitute the empirical part of the book, detailed with surveys, questionnaires, images and maps. The theoretical framework – built on contemporary issues – and international case studies make this book both attractive and scientific, adding a new stone on the sustainable city construction and opening it to a particularly wide readership, including scholars, students, administrators and professionals.
Genetically Modified Crops and Food Security: Commercial, Ethical and Health Considerations (Earthscan Food and Agriculture)
by Jasmeet Kour Vishal Sharma Imtiyaz KhandayThis book reviews a wide-range of genetically modified (GM) crops to understand how they are produced, the impacts on the agricultural industry, and their potential for improving food security. The production of GM crops has now become an invaluable asset in the agricultural toolbox. With a significant portion of the world suffering from hunger and poverty, this book examines how food security can be achieved through GM crops. A wide variety of crops are examined, from the earliest developments of GM tomatoes and potatoes to recent interest in the development of low-cost, high yielding biofuels, such as microalgae. Chapters also discuss the role of GM crops in pest management and the consequential reduction in the use of insecticides. Overall, this book provides an important synthesis of GM crops from their commercial value to the agricultural industry, as well as their potential for improving food security. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of agricultural engineering, crop science, food biotechology, food security, and those interested in food and agriculture and sustainable development more broadly.
Genetically Modified Crops and Food Security: Commercial, Ethical and Health Considerations (Earthscan Food and Agriculture)
by Jasmeet Kour Vishal Sharma Imtiyaz KhandayThis book reviews a wide-range of genetically modified (GM) crops to understand how they are produced, the impacts on the agricultural industry, and their potential for improving food security. The production of GM crops has now become an invaluable asset in the agricultural toolbox. With a significant portion of the world suffering from hunger and poverty, this book examines how food security can be achieved through GM crops. A wide variety of crops are examined, from the earliest developments of GM tomatoes and potatoes to recent interest in the development of low-cost, high yielding biofuels, such as microalgae. Chapters also discuss the role of GM crops in pest management and the consequential reduction in the use of insecticides. Overall, this book provides an important synthesis of GM crops from their commercial value to the agricultural industry, as well as their potential for improving food security. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of agricultural engineering, crop science, food biotechology, food security, and those interested in food and agriculture and sustainable development more broadly.
Connie Willis’s Science Fiction: Doomsday Every Day (Routledge Studies in Contemporary Literature)
by Carissa Turner SmithIn spite of Connie Willis’s numerous science fiction awards and her groundbreaking history as a woman in the field, there is a surprising dearth of critical publication surrounding her work. Taking Doomsday Book as its cue, this collection argues that Connie Willis’s most famous novel, along with the rest of her oeuvre, performs science fiction’s task of cognitive estrangement by highlighting our human inability to read the times correctly—and yet also affirming the ethical imperative to attempt to truly observe and record our temporal location. Willis’s fiction emphasizes that doomsdays happen every day, and they risk being forgotten by some, even as their trauma repeats for others. However, disasters also have the potential to upend accepted knowledge and transform the social order for the better, and this collection considers the ways that Willis pairs comic and tragic modes to reflect these uncertainties.
Connie Willis’s Science Fiction: Doomsday Every Day (Routledge Studies in Contemporary Literature)
by Carissa Turner SmithIn spite of Connie Willis’s numerous science fiction awards and her groundbreaking history as a woman in the field, there is a surprising dearth of critical publication surrounding her work. Taking Doomsday Book as its cue, this collection argues that Connie Willis’s most famous novel, along with the rest of her oeuvre, performs science fiction’s task of cognitive estrangement by highlighting our human inability to read the times correctly—and yet also affirming the ethical imperative to attempt to truly observe and record our temporal location. Willis’s fiction emphasizes that doomsdays happen every day, and they risk being forgotten by some, even as their trauma repeats for others. However, disasters also have the potential to upend accepted knowledge and transform the social order for the better, and this collection considers the ways that Willis pairs comic and tragic modes to reflect these uncertainties.
Human Trafficking, Structural Violence, and Resilience: Ethnographic Life Narratives from the Philippines (Routledge Studies in Anthropology)
by Amie L. LennoxThis book explores and examines human trafficking in Eastern Mindanao in the Philippines, and the social conditions which facilitate and maintain this exploitation. Through a combination of ethnographic research and life-narrative interviews, the book tells the stories of those who have experienced exploitation, and analyses the social conditions which form the context for these experiences. This book places the trafficking of migrants in context of the local social setting where migration, including human trafficking of migrants, is one of the limited options available for work. It explores how these social configurations contribute to exploitation both domestically and internationally. This book also draws on first-person accounts from those who have experienced trafficking or exploitation, offering lived experiences which reveal deep and complex cultural, social, and personal expressions of meaning, resilience, and hope within constrained, unequal, and even violent circumstances. This book will appeal to students and scholars researching and studying in the fields of social and cultural anthropology and Southeast Asian studies.
Human Trafficking, Structural Violence, and Resilience: Ethnographic Life Narratives from the Philippines (Routledge Studies in Anthropology)
by Amie L. LennoxThis book explores and examines human trafficking in Eastern Mindanao in the Philippines, and the social conditions which facilitate and maintain this exploitation. Through a combination of ethnographic research and life-narrative interviews, the book tells the stories of those who have experienced exploitation, and analyses the social conditions which form the context for these experiences. This book places the trafficking of migrants in context of the local social setting where migration, including human trafficking of migrants, is one of the limited options available for work. It explores how these social configurations contribute to exploitation both domestically and internationally. This book also draws on first-person accounts from those who have experienced trafficking or exploitation, offering lived experiences which reveal deep and complex cultural, social, and personal expressions of meaning, resilience, and hope within constrained, unequal, and even violent circumstances. This book will appeal to students and scholars researching and studying in the fields of social and cultural anthropology and Southeast Asian studies.
Pandemic of Perspectives: Creative Re-imaginings
by Rimple Mehta Sandali Thakur Debaroti ChakrabortyThis volume brings together academics, activists, social work practitioners, poets, and artists from different parts of the world during the Covid-19 pandemic. It sheds light on how the pandemic has exposed the inequities in society and is shaping social institutions, affecting human relationships, and creating new norms with each passing day. It examines how people from diverse societies and fields of work have come to conceptualise and imagine a new world order based on the principles of social and ecological justice, care, and human dignity. It prioritises the realm of imagination, creativity, and affect in understanding social formations and in shaping societies beyond the positivist approaches. Documenting the myriad experiences and responses to the pandemic, the volume foregrounds varied processes of making meaning; understanding impulses, resistances, and coping mechanisms; and building solidarities. Further, it also acts as a tool of memory for future generations, and articulations- artistic, political, socio-cultural, scientific- of hope and perseverance. This spectrum of expressions intends to value visceral experiences, build solidarities, and find solace in art. Its uniqueness lies in the way it brings together a much-needed interface between science, social sciences, and humanities. A compelling account on our contemporary lives, the volume will be of great interest to scholars of sociology and social anthropology, politics, art and aesthetics, psychology, social work, literature, health, and medical sciences.
Pandemic of Perspectives: Creative Re-imaginings
by Rimple Mehta Sandali Thakur Debaroti ChakrabortyThis volume brings together academics, activists, social work practitioners, poets, and artists from different parts of the world during the Covid-19 pandemic. It sheds light on how the pandemic has exposed the inequities in society and is shaping social institutions, affecting human relationships, and creating new norms with each passing day. It examines how people from diverse societies and fields of work have come to conceptualise and imagine a new world order based on the principles of social and ecological justice, care, and human dignity. It prioritises the realm of imagination, creativity, and affect in understanding social formations and in shaping societies beyond the positivist approaches. Documenting the myriad experiences and responses to the pandemic, the volume foregrounds varied processes of making meaning; understanding impulses, resistances, and coping mechanisms; and building solidarities. Further, it also acts as a tool of memory for future generations, and articulations- artistic, political, socio-cultural, scientific- of hope and perseverance. This spectrum of expressions intends to value visceral experiences, build solidarities, and find solace in art. Its uniqueness lies in the way it brings together a much-needed interface between science, social sciences, and humanities. A compelling account on our contemporary lives, the volume will be of great interest to scholars of sociology and social anthropology, politics, art and aesthetics, psychology, social work, literature, health, and medical sciences.
Churchill and India: Manipulation or Betrayal?
by Kishan S RanaChurchill and India. It is a story where much is known but much remains concealed. A brilliant orator and a powerful leader, Winston Churchill stood against the tide of history. But how does postcolonial history view him? This book studies the extraordinary connection he had with India. Beginning with the early years of his career in India when he spent 22 months between 1896 and 1899 as a subaltern with the 4th Hussars, it traces his rise as a politician, his years as the Prime Minister of Great Britain during the Second World War, his profound distrust of the Indian Independence Movement, and his machinations in preserving the British Empire’s rule over India. Churchill’s failure to understand India and decolonization, and manipulation of events on the subcontinent add a different dimension to the man. His pervasive yet hidden shadow over the Indian subcontinent and his often-veiled role in the actions that led to Partition in 1947 are at the center of this study. Rich in archival sources, this book provides a fresh and holistic perspective on the final phase of the British Empire. It will be an indispensable resource to students and researchers of colonial history, imperialism, modern history, international history, Partition of India, and South Asian studies. It will also appeal to general readers interested in the history of Britain’s endgame in India.
Environing Media (Routledge Environmental Humanities)
by Adam Wickberg Johan GärdeboThis edited volume interrogates the role of media technologies in the formation of environments, understood both as physical spaces and as epistemological constructs about them. Using the concept of ‘environing media’, the book advances a deeper understanding of how media processes – defined here as the storage, process, and transmission of data – influence human-Earth relations. Virtually all aspects of the interconnected global ecological crisis can be related to the intensification and acceleration of scaling up the human imprint on the planet by technological means. Combining ideas from the humanities, arts, and humanistic social sciences, Environing Media offers a perspective on how we entered the current geological epoch – the Anthropocene. The ten chapters explore colonial, planetary, and elemental environing media, with cases including indigenous history, ocean monitoring, computational history, climate modeling, environmental history, the air as medium, the biosphere, and the Earth system. Drawing upon a breadth of examples and expertise in history, anthropology, geography, cultural history, science and technology studies, and media studies, the book discovers a novel approach to human-Earth histories that demonstrates how technologies have mediated between humans and environments and in the process contributed to a societal feedback loop between knowing and doing environment, each impacting the other. Environing Media is a timely addition for scholars and upper-level students in environmental humanities and media studies.
The History and Philosophy of Science: An Indian Perspective (Contemporary Issues in Social Science Research)
by Nandan BhattacharyaThis book provides an in-depth analysis of the history and evolution of the major disciplines of science, which include the basic sciences, bioscience, natural sciences and medical science, with special emphasis on the Indian perspective. While academic interest shown in the history and philosophy of science dates back to several centuries, serious scholarship on how the sciences and the society interact and influence each other can only be dated back to the twentieth century. This volume explores the ethical and moral issues related to social values, along with the controversies that arise in relation to the discourse of science from the philosophical perspectives. The book sheds light on themes that have proved to have a significant and overwhelming influence on present-day civilisation. It takes the reader through a journey, on how the sciences have developed and have been discussed, to explore key themes like the colonial influences on science; how key scientific ideas have developed from Aristotle to Newton; history of ancient Indian mathematics; agency, representation, deviance with regard to the human body in science; bioethics; mental health, psychology and the sciences; setting up of the first teaching departments for subjects such as medicine, ecology and physiology in India; recent research in chemical technology; and even the legacy of ancient Indian scientific discoveries. A part of the Contemporary Issues in Social Science Research series, this interdisciplinary work will be of immense interest to scholars and researchers of philosophy, modern history, sociology of medicine, physical sciences, bioscience, chemistry and medical sciences. It will be of interest to the general reader also.
Churchill and India: Manipulation or Betrayal?
by Kishan S RanaChurchill and India. It is a story where much is known but much remains concealed. A brilliant orator and a powerful leader, Winston Churchill stood against the tide of history. But how does postcolonial history view him? This book studies the extraordinary connection he had with India. Beginning with the early years of his career in India when he spent 22 months between 1896 and 1899 as a subaltern with the 4th Hussars, it traces his rise as a politician, his years as the Prime Minister of Great Britain during the Second World War, his profound distrust of the Indian Independence Movement, and his machinations in preserving the British Empire’s rule over India. Churchill’s failure to understand India and decolonization, and manipulation of events on the subcontinent add a different dimension to the man. His pervasive yet hidden shadow over the Indian subcontinent and his often-veiled role in the actions that led to Partition in 1947 are at the center of this study. Rich in archival sources, this book provides a fresh and holistic perspective on the final phase of the British Empire. It will be an indispensable resource to students and researchers of colonial history, imperialism, modern history, international history, Partition of India, and South Asian studies. It will also appeal to general readers interested in the history of Britain’s endgame in India.
Environing Media (Routledge Environmental Humanities)
by Adam Wickberg Johan GärdeboThis edited volume interrogates the role of media technologies in the formation of environments, understood both as physical spaces and as epistemological constructs about them. Using the concept of ‘environing media’, the book advances a deeper understanding of how media processes – defined here as the storage, process, and transmission of data – influence human-Earth relations. Virtually all aspects of the interconnected global ecological crisis can be related to the intensification and acceleration of scaling up the human imprint on the planet by technological means. Combining ideas from the humanities, arts, and humanistic social sciences, Environing Media offers a perspective on how we entered the current geological epoch – the Anthropocene. The ten chapters explore colonial, planetary, and elemental environing media, with cases including indigenous history, ocean monitoring, computational history, climate modeling, environmental history, the air as medium, the biosphere, and the Earth system. Drawing upon a breadth of examples and expertise in history, anthropology, geography, cultural history, science and technology studies, and media studies, the book discovers a novel approach to human-Earth histories that demonstrates how technologies have mediated between humans and environments and in the process contributed to a societal feedback loop between knowing and doing environment, each impacting the other. Environing Media is a timely addition for scholars and upper-level students in environmental humanities and media studies.