Cultural policies and debates Books

Book Synopsis''Simply Brilliant'' THE SECRET BARRISTER''Passionate and brilliantly argued'' DAVID OLUSOGA''An admirably personal guide'' MARINA HYDE''Smart, analytical, self-aware and important'' ALASTAIR CAMPBELLTHE INTIMATE, REVEALING NEW BOOK FROM THE AUTHOR OF THE BESTSELLING, PRIZE-WINNING HOW TO BE RIGHT There''s no point having a mind if you''re not willing to change it James O''Brien has built well over a million loyal listeners to his radio show by dissecting the opinions of callers live on air, every day. But winning the argument doesn''t necessarily mean you''re right. In this deeply personal book, James turns the mirror on himself to reveal what he has changed his mind about and why, and explores how examining and changing our own views is our new civic duty in a world of outrage, disagreement and echo chambers. He writes candidly about the stiff upper lip attitudes and toxic masculinity that coloured his childhood, and the therapy and personal growth that have led him question his assumptions and explore new perspectives. Laying open his personal views on everything from racial prejudice to emotional vulnerability, from fat-shaming to tattoos, he then delves into the real reasons -- often irrational or unconscious -- he holds them. Unflinchingly honest, revealing and funny, How Not to Be Wrong is a tonic for a world more divided than ever and a personal manifesto for a better way of thinking and living. Because after all, if we can''t change our own minds we''ll never really be able to change anyone else''s.Trade ReviewA model of lucidity, humour and humanity - we should be thankful that we have him * Times Literary Supplement *Simply brilliant ... Its calm but brutal honesty makes for compelling reading. This book is needed now more than ever -- The Secret BarristerJames is more right than ever -- particularly in our entrenched, binary thinking culture -- about the importance of being able to admit to being wrong -- David BaddielAn admirably personal guide to the lost art of changing your mind. James showed me how often a change of mind is really a change of heart -- Marina HydeThe conscience of liberal Britain * New Statesman *

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Book SynopsisThe first academic study of the phenomenon of The Archers fandom from the fans themselves. The fourth instalment in the Academic Archers collection, Fandom Culture and The Archers looks beyond the popular success of the Archers to explore how the program, and the themes it discusses, are used in teaching, learning, research and professional settings, and how the Academic Archers fandom helps shape these real life impacts. The chapters explore first the nature of Archers fandom, looking at how academic fans of the show have translated the storylines and issues discussed into theoretical tools, exploring topics from therapy, to the evolution of listening to the show in the digital age. The authors then turn their attention to the use of The Archers in educational and professional settings, exploring its use in both formal educational settings, and in community-led art projects, as well as the show’s engagement with and potential impact on feminism. Providing the reader with increased insight on the impact of the Archers beyond popular culture, Fandom Culture and The Archers is essential reading for fans of the show and fandom and cultural studies scholars alike.Table of ContentsIntroduction: On Being and Doing Academic Archers; Nicola Headlam and Cara Courage Section One. Practice into Theory: Fandom Informing the Academy Chapter 1. Fans, Flouncers, Fundamentalists: Understanding Online Archers Fan Cultures; Claire Astbury Chapter 2. When the Script Hits the Fan: Why Archers fans stop listening (and why they can't completely keep away); Sarah Kate Merry Chapter 3. Archers Fandom and the Online Public Sphere; Elizabeth Anne Bailey Chapter 4. Cult and Culture: Transformative Fandom-de dum de dum de dum; Helen Burrows Chapter 5. Gauging Guerrilla Engagement: The Unexpected Benefits of the Academic Archers Conference; Carenza Lewis Chapter 6. When the Programme Leaves the Fans; Katharine Hoskyn Chapter 7. It’s Saturday, It must be the Archers!; Saturday Academic Archers Group aka The Saturday Group Section Two. Fandom in Action: Real Life Application of Fandom Chapter 8. A Year in Ambridge: Introducing American Students to English Village Culture through The Archers; Timothy Vercellotti Chapter 9. Teaching The Archers – Creating New Fans or Turning them off?; Caroline Birks Chapter 10. They Needed Counselling?; Karen Pollock Chapter 11. Airing Abuse in Ambridge: Is The Archers a Forum for Feminism?; Isobel Duxfield Chapter 12. Crowd-sourcing Material Culture: A History of Ambridge in 100 Objects; Felicity Macdonald-Smith Chapter 13. The View from Lakey Hill: How The Archers Empowers, Liberates and Enables Listeners who are Blind; Laura Smith

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Book SynopsisHow is public morality understood in the twenty-first century, and what effect does this have on legislation and social policy? Public Morality and the Culture Wars is a strictly non-polemical analysis of the intellectual and ideological conflicts at the heart of the ‘culture wars’. Taking debates on human nature, sexuality, gender identity, abortion, censorship, and free speech, Bryan Fanning offers an accessible analysis of modern public morality, identifying a ‘triple divide’ between conservative, liberal and progressive viewpoints. A nuanced analysis of ‘culture wars’ now dividing Anglophone democracies is badly needed. Public Morality and the Culture Wars makes a vibrant and invigorating contribution to the debate, essential reading for scholars and students in the fields of social policy, law, politics, philosophy, sociology and social justice.Trade ReviewWritten in an admirably clear and engaging fashion, Bryan Fanning's book provides a reliable and timely guide through the thorny thickets of the culture wars. -- Timothy Mooney, University College Dublin, IrelandIlluminating and thought-provoking. -- Hugh Linehan, Arts and Culture Editor, Irish TimesTable of ContentsChapter 1. Enforcing Morals Chapter 2. Theologies of Public Morality Chapter 3. The Sovereign Self Chapter 4. Liberalism, Free Speech and Intolerance Chapter 5. Religion, Prohibition and Censorship Chapter 6. Civil Religions Chapter 7. Abortion Moralities Chapter 8. Sex Differences and Gender Identities Chapter 9. The Future of Public Morality

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Book SynopsisBased on ethnographic research conducted in a town on the Polish-Belarussian border, this book examines borders and the lingering echoes of conflict. Using hauntology as a guiding framework to understand how people live amidst the histories and reverberations of conflicts, the author investigates the role that landscape, with its material presences and absences, plays in evoking and maintaining the border. The ethnography probes themes of ethnicity, religious practice, memory and space, investigating the border as a dynamic social process. By immersing herself in the everyday lives of the borderland, Joyce unravels how traces – lingering imprints of the past – shape local relationships in the present, influencing shared understandings of history and the future. Introducing the concept of the spectral border as a lens to reveal the ambiguous presence of afterlives and memories tied to a historical boundary, the book unveils its present-day ghostly forms in the local ideas and practices of neighbourliness at the heart of borderland identity. Spectral Borders interrogates the use and limitations of these practices by exploring points of tension, where the meanings and uses of ‘being a neighbour’ and ‘being from the borderland’ are tested and challenged. In doing so, the book raises important questions about how conviviality is created and managed in a place with a long and unresolved history marked by ethnic and religious violence, war, and civil unrest.Trade ReviewJoyce has written a layered and nuanced ethnography of a formerly little-known Polish borderland. While tragic events have recently brought the region to world attention, she shows that the Polish–Belarus border has long been politicized, as it has shifted between different nations. The book focuses on the hauntings that underlie much of the social, religious and cultural life of the region: the spectres of religious conflicts played out in contested spaces by Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox institutions and actors, and ofa large Jewish community now all but disappeared. Joyce explores the complex relations local people have with the forest, a place full of secret histories as well as environmentalminitiatives, tourist trails, local foragers and more clandestine economic practices. The border follows the River Bug, also a site where traces of past conflicts lurk below the surface, easily evoked by present occurrences. This beautifully written book, moving easily between anthropology and history, in a dialogue between vivid ethnography and sophisticated theory, deserves to be read by anyone interested in the region, or in memory, place and landscape, and the complex social worlds that encompass and make them.Frances Pine, Emerita Reader in Anthropology, Goldsmiths, University of London; This monograph is a fascinating read, offering a fresh and original perspective on the complex cultural landscape of the Polish-Belarusian borderland. The concept of spectral borders is presented with particular ethnographic sensitivity and offers an engaging and elegant literary narrative.Justyna Straczuk, Associate Professor, Polish Academy of Sciences.Table of ContentsIntroduction – Around the kitchen table: neighbours and spectres; Chapter 1 – The House of Culture: working with fragments, traces and absences; Chapter 2 – The Bug Cycle Path: the border as a tourist destination; Chapter 3 – Boundary markers: spectral borders in eastern Poland; Chapter 4 – The Church of the Holy Spirit: contested churches and religious borders; Chapter 5 – The iron gate: ruins, absence and uncanny façades; Chapter 6 – The basilica: pilgrimage, presence and co-presence; Conclusion – construction sites; References; Index.

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Book Synopsis

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