Cultural studies Books

Book SynopsisThe New Media and Cybercultures Anthology collects essential readings of a diverse range of fields, including new and digital media, Internet studies, digital arts and culture studies, network culture studies, and the information society.Trade Review"Recommended. Lower-and upper-division undergraduates; general readers." (Choice, 1 April 2011) "This collection is a timely, thought-provoking reflection on the social and cultural impacts of cyberspace and new media. I highly recommend it to scholars, teachers, students and indeed all those interested in new media and cyberculture." (M/C Reviews, September 11, 2010)Table of ContentsPreface. Acknowledgments. Acknowledgments to Sources. Introduction. PART ONE: THEORIES, POETICS, PRACTICES. 1 Web Sphere Analysis and Cybercultural Studies (Kirsten Foot). 2 What Does it Mean to be Posthuman? (N. Katherine Hayles). 3 Digitextuality and Click Theory: Theses on Convergence Media in the Digital Age (Anna Everett). 4 The Double Logic of Remediation (Jay David Bolter and Richard Grusin). 5 The Database (Lev Manovich). 6 Making Meaning of Mobiles: A Theory of Apparatgeist (James E. Katz and Mark A. Aakhus). PART TWO: SPACE, PLACE, COMMUNITY. 7 Post-Sedentary Space (William J. Mitchell). 8 The End of Geography or the Explosion of Place?: Conceptualizing Space, Place and Information Technology (Stephen Graham). 9 Asphalt Games: Enacting Place Through Locative Media (Michele Chang and Elizabeth Goodman). 10 Thought on the Convergence of Digital Media, Memory, and Social and Urban Spaces (Federico Casalegno). PART THREE: RACE IN/AND CYBERSPACE. 11 Cybertyping and the Work of Race in the Age of Digital Reproduction (Lisa Nakamura). 12 Thinking Through the Diaspora: Call Centers, India, and a New Politics of Hybridity (Raka Shome). 13 Voices of the Marginalized on the Internet: Examples from a Website for Women of South Asia (Ananda Mitra). PART FOUR: BODIES, EMBODIMENT, BIOPOLITICS. 14 Hypes, Hopes and Actualities: New Digital Cartesianism and Bodies in Cyberspace (Megan Boler). 15 The Bioethics of Cybermedicalization (Andy Miah and Emma Rich). 16 Biocolonialism, Genomics, and the Databasing of the Population (Eugene Thacker). PART FIVE: GENDER, SEX, AND SEXUALITIES. 17 Assembling Bodies in Cyberspace: Technologies, Bodies, and Sexual Difference (Dianne Currier). 18 Lesbians in (Cyber)space: The Politics of the Internet in Latin American On- and Off-line Communities (Elisabeth Jay Friedman). 19 E-Rogenous Zones: Positioning Pornography in the Digital Economy (Blaise Cronin and Elisabeth Davenport). 20 Race, Gender and Sex on the Net: Semantic Networks of Selling and Storytelling Sex Tourism (Peter A. Chow-White). PART SIX: POLITICS, POLITICAL ACTION, ACTIVISM. 21 Internet Studies in Times of Terror (David Silver and Alice Marwick). 22 Free Labor: Producing Culture for the Digital Economy (Tiziana Terranova). 23 Ensuring Minority Rights in a Pluralistic and "Liquid" Information Society (Birgitte Kofod Olsen). 24 Hacktivism: All Together in the Virtual (Tim Jordan). PART SEVEN: GAMES, GAMING, META-UNIVERSES. 25 Games Telling Stories: A Brief Note on Games and Narratives (Jesper Juul). 26 WoW is the New MUD: Social Gaming from Text to Video (Torill Elvira Mortensen). 27 Women and Games: Technologies of the Gendered Self (Pam Royse, Joon Lee, Baasanjav Undrahbuyan, Mark Hopson, and Mia Consalvo). 28 To the White Extreme: Conquering Athletic Space, White Manhood, and Racing Virtual Reality (David J. Leonard). 29 Your Second Life?: Goodwill and the Performativity of Intellectual Property in Online Digital Gaming (Andrew Herman, Rosemary J. Coombe, and Lewis Kaye). PART EIGHT: THE DIGITAL, THE MOBILE, THE PERSONAL, AND THE EVERYDAY. 30 Taking Risky Opportunities in Youthful Content Creation: Teenagers' Use of Social Networking Sites for Intimacy, Privacy and Self-expression (Sonia Livingstone). 31 Dynamics of Internet Dating (Helene M. Lawson and Kira Leck). 32 Screening Moments, Scrolling Lives: Diary Writing on the Web (Madeleine Sorapure). 33 Your Life in Snapshots: Mobile Weblogs (Nicola Döring and Axel Gundolf). 34 Assembling Portable Talk and Mobile Worlds: Sound Technologies and Mobile Social Networks (John Farnsworth and Terry Austrin). 35 New Media, Networking and Phatic Culture (Vincent Miller). Index.

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Book SynopsisIn Development Communication, top media scholars explore the details of communication in areas where modernization has failed to deliver change. Offers a complete introduction to the history of development communication - the process of systematically intervening with either media or education in order to promote positive social change Discusses themajor approaches and theories in development communication, including educational issues of training, literacy, schooling, and use of media from print and radio to video and the internet Explores the role of NGOs, the CNN Effect, and the power of grass-roots movements and ''bottom-up'' approaches that challenge the status quo in global media Trade Review"I think that this book offers an astute look at how the field of development communication has changed over time and why it has so much potential as a tool in development. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and found it very helpful in developing my understanding of the past, present, and future of the field of development communication." (Canadian Journal of Communication, 2011) "It fills the need for a readable approach to decades of development history, and gives a range of issues that any student of development communication should know, with thoughtful contexts and case studies designed to stimulate discussion." (European Journal of Communication, July 2010)Table of ContentsList of Tables and Figure. Notes on Contributors. Preface. 1. Introduction to Development Communication (Thomas L. McPhail, University of Missouri-St. Lewis). 2. Major Theories Following Modernization (Thomas L. McPhail, University of Missouri-St. Lewis). 3. United Nations and Specialized Agencies (Thomas L. McPhail, University of Missouri-St. Lewis). 4. The Roles of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) (Thomas L. McPhail, University of Missouri-St. Lewis). 5. Differing Views of World Culture (Thomas L. McPhail, University of Missouri-St. Lewis). 6. A Framework for Conceptualizing Technology in Development (Renée Houston, University of Puget Sound and Michele H. Jackson, University of Colorado and Boulder). 7. The Global Digital Divide (Mitchell F. Rice, Texas A&M University). 8. Feminism in a Post-Development Age (Luz Estella Porras, University of Oregon and H. Leslie Steeves, University of Oregon). 9. Sonagachi Project: A Case Study Set in India (Satarupa Dasgupta, Temple University). 10. Roma Project: A Case Study Set in Europe (Eva Szalvai, Colby-Sawyer College). 11. Summary and Conclusions (Thomas L. McPhail, University of Missouri-St. Lewis). Bibliography. Index.

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Book SynopsisIt not only highlights the development and transformation of postcolonial literary study but also, by mapping out new directions of study, considers its continual significance and expansion.Trade Review"The single best anthology for studying postcolonialism and literature." (Susan Strehle, Binghamton University)"Table of ContentsAcknowledgments The First Thirty Years of Postcolonial Literary Scholarship: The Continuing Importance of a DisciplinePart I: ParadigmsChapter 1. The Margin at the Center: On Testimonio (Testimonial Narrative)Chapter 2. Writing in the Shit: Beckett, Nationalism, and the Colonial SubjectChapter 3. Imperial Triangles: Mark Twain's Foreign AffairsChapter 4. Fiction and the Law: Recent Inscriptions of Gayness in South AfricaChapter 5. Decolonizing Culture: Toward a Theory for Postcolonial Women's TextsChapter 6. Re-Membering Hispaniola: Edwidge Danticat's The Farming of BonesChapter 7. Redefining Paris: Trans-Modernity and Francophone African Migritude FictionPart II: Postcolonial AfricaChapter 8. Smoke of the Savannah: Traveling Modernity in Sembène Ousmane's God's Bits of WoodChapter 9. Mourning the Postapartheid State Already? The Poetics of Loss in Zakes Mda's Ways of DyingChapter 10. Ngugi wa Thiong'o's Postnation: The Cultural Geographies of Colonial, Neocolonial, and Postnational SpaceChapter 11. Truth, Telling, Questioning: The Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Antjie Krog's Country of My Skull, and Literature after ApartheidChapter 12. The Pastoral Promise and the Political Imperative: The Plaasroman Tradition in an Era of Land ReformPart III: Postcolonial IndiaChapter 13. Leading History by the Nose: The Turn to the Eighteenth Century in Midnight's ChildrenChapter 14. The Feminist Plot and the Nationalist Allegory: Home and World in Two Indian Women's Novels in EnglishChapter 15. Memory, Identity, Patriarchy: Projecting a Past in the Memoirs of Sara Suleri and Michael OndaatjeChapter 16. Figures of Colonial ResistancePart IV: New DirectionsChapter 17. Introduction: Worldly EnglishChapter 18. Narrative in Prison: Stories from the Palestinian IntifadaChapter 19. Globalization, Postcoloniality, and the Problem of Literary Studies in The Satanic VersesChapter 20. National Narratives, Postnational NarrationChapter 21. Comic Visions and Revisions in the Work of Lynda Barry and Marjane SatrapiChapter 22. Tenderness: A Mediator of Identity and Gender Construction in PoliticsList of Contributors Index

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Book SynopsisLeitch regards Wikipedia as an ideal instrument for probing the central assumptions behind liberal education, making it more than merely, as one of its severest critics has charged, the encyclopedia game, played online.Trade ReviewIn this thoughtful and thorough analysis, the author demonstrates how technology has complicated and enriched learning. This work is ideal for teachers, students, librarians, and would-be Wikipedia contributors. Library Journal This book is an excellent treatise on the controversy over authority and experience. Scholarly, written for an academic or more specialized audience, it is still accessible to the general reader, and well worth the effort... This important book is an essential discussion about how knowledge is disseminated and when it should be believed. -- Gretchen Wagner San Francisco Book Review In this deceptively slender volume, Leitch gathers a fascinating set of narratives around the nature of authority in the academic world... engaging and controversial... a critical (in several senses) debate about the very nature of authority and how it can, and must, evolve and be refined as both society and technology change around us. -- John Gilbey Times Higher Education Leitch's innovation is to spin the table in both directions: He uses the values of higher education to expose the contradictions of Wikipedia, but he just as deftly employs Wikipedia's ethos to expose the paradoxes of liberal education's own claims to authority. -- Timothy Messer-Kruse Chronicle of Higher Education This book considers the nature of knowledge, its authority, and its new challenges in the age of the internet, and considers its role behind liberal education processes as a whole. The result is a fine study that should be in any college-level collection. Midwest Book Review This book offers an engagine discussion of important questions of authority. Canadian Journal of Higher Education Wikipedia U is a useful handbook for teachers hoping to help students navigate information in our digital age. Pedagogy Leitch digs into this apparently straightforward contradiction to uncover any number of complications-he calls them paradoxes-of authority on both the online and liberal-education sides. Change: The Magazine of Higher LearningTable of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: The Battle of the Books1. Origin Stories2. Paradoxes of Authority3. The Case against Wikipedia4. Playing the Encylopedia Game5. Tommor and Tomorrow and TomorrowAppendix: Exercises for Exploring Wikipedia and AuthorityNotesIndex

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewSometimes a book just bowls you over with how good it is. For instance, I can remember starting my review of A. S. Byatt's Possession with the sentence 'Sometimes a critic just wants to say Wow.' Still, I never expected to feel anything approaching Nabokovian bliss when reading five lengthy biographical essays about figures and incidents from 19th-century British history. But Kathryn Hughes's Victorians Undone is just amazing, and her 'Tales of the Flesh in the Age of Decorum' are so various, so imaginatively structured, so delicately salacious and so deliciously written that I sighed with pleasure as I turned the pages and even felt those tiny prickles along the neck that A. E. Housman once claimed were the sign of true poetry . . . This is popularized history done right, done with panache. Hughes has infused new life into dry-as-dust facts to produce a learned work that is brazenly, impudently vivacious.—Michael Dirda, Washington PostThe average biographer peers into a Great Man's mind. Kathryn Hughes's Victorians Undone: Tales of the Flesh in the Age of Decorum, in contrast, narrates the lives of five body parts.—New York TimesThe tales are entertaining, but Hughes's real achievement is historical—amounting to a new understanding of, as she puts it, 'what it meant to be a human animal in the nineteenth century.'—The New YorkerLively, iconoclastic and consistently riveting, this is popular history in the best sense.—The Wall Street JournalThe body parts in these Tales of the Flesh . . . illuminate the wider cultural world in which their owners participated.—New York Review of BooksVictorians Undone is excellent at providing a sniff of the 19th century that other forms of life writing have discreetly ignored.—Public BooksIntriguing, gleefully contentious and—appropriately enough—fizzing with life, Victorians Undone is the most original history book I have read in a long while.—The Daily MailA page-turner . . . brilliant all the way through. One of the best books I’ve read in ages.—Sunday ExpressThis lively study goes behind the frills and furbelows to explore aspects of the Victorians’ notoriously strange attitude to the body.—The GuardianElegantly sidestepping the usual clichés of Victorian history, from foggy streets to whimpering urchins, each page becomes a window on to a world that is far stranger than we might expect. It is writing that takes the raw materials of everyday life, starting with the body’s ‘bulges, dips, hollows, oozes and itches,’ and makes them live again. A dazzling experiment in life writing . . . Every page fizzes with the excitement of fresh discoveries.—The GuardianIt is rich and scholarly, something fascinating to be discovered on every page . . . Hughes is a thoroughly engaging writer: serious-minded but lively, careful yet passionate . . . Some of the encounters in its pages, whiffy and indelible, will stay with me for ever.—The ObserverVictorians Undone is a work of formidable scholarship, but Hughes has a fluid, jaunty style that propels the reader from idea to idea. Reading it is like unraveling the bandages on a mummy to find the face of the past staring back in all its terrible and poignant humanity.—Financial TimesHistory so alive you can smell its reek . . . With her love of bodily detail, Hughes does indeed put the carnal back into biography.—The TelegraphNo one remotely interested in books should miss it.—The Sunday TimesI can’t think of a recent social history I’ve enjoyed more.—The Big IssueBeautifully constructed, narrated not only with wit and gusto, but a clear sense of purpose.—Mail on SundaySex certainly rears its many heads, but so does every other aspect of Victorian life, from farming techniques to court etiquette, dentistry to oil painting.—The TimesHughes regularly surprises us by showing just how much her subjects’ physical selves impinged on their contributions to our culture, and sometimes on the very course of history.—The Times Literary SupplementDeeply researched and wonderfully entertaining . . . Hughes undoes conventional representations of the Victorians and connects us with them anew, alert to the pastness of the past, but also to its continuities with the present.—Victorian StudiesTable of ContentsIntroduction1. Lady Flora's Belly2. Charles Darwin's Beard3. George Eliot's Hand4. Fanny Cornforth's Mouth5. Sweet Fanny AdamsAcknowledgementsList of IllustrationsNotesIndex

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewSometimes a book just bowls you over with how good it is. For instance, I can remember starting my review of A. S. Byatt's Possession with the sentence 'Sometimes a critic just wants to say Wow.' Still, I never expected to feel anything approaching Nabokovian bliss when reading five lengthy biographical essays about figures and incidents from 19th-century British history. But Kathryn Hughes's Victorians Undone is just amazing, and her 'Tales of the Flesh in the Age of Decorum' are so various, so imaginatively structured, so delicately salacious and so deliciously written that I sighed with pleasure as I turned the pages and even felt those tiny prickles along the neck that A. E. Housman once claimed were the sign of true poetry . . . This is popularized history done right, done with panache. Hughes has infused new life into dry-as-dust facts to produce a learned work that is brazenly, impudently vivacious.—Michael Dirda, Washington PostThe average biographer peers into a Great Man's mind. Kathryn Hughes's Victorians Undone: Tales of the Flesh in the Age of Decorum, in contrast, narrates the lives of five body parts.—New York TimesThe tales are entertaining, but Hughes's real achievement is historical—amounting to a new understanding of, as she puts it, 'what it meant to be a human animal in the nineteenth century.'—The New YorkerLively, iconoclastic and consistently riveting, this is popular history in the best sense.—The Wall Street JournalThe body parts in these Tales of the Flesh . . . illuminate the wider cultural world in which their owners participated.—New York Review of BooksVictorians Undone is excellent at providing a sniff of the 19th century that other forms of life writing have discreetly ignored.—Public BooksIntriguing, gleefully contentious and—appropriately enough—fizzing with life, Victorians Undone is the most original history book I have read in a long while.—The Daily MailA page-turner . . . brilliant all the way through. One of the best books I’ve read in ages.—Sunday ExpressThis lively study goes behind the frills and furbelows to explore aspects of the Victorians’ notoriously strange attitude to the body.—The GuardianElegantly sidestepping the usual clichés of Victorian history, from foggy streets to whimpering urchins, each page becomes a window on to a world that is far stranger than we might expect. It is writing that takes the raw materials of everyday life, starting with the body’s ‘bulges, dips, hollows, oozes and itches,’ and makes them live again. A dazzling experiment in life writing . . . Every page fizzes with the excitement of fresh discoveries.—The GuardianIt is rich and scholarly, something fascinating to be discovered on every page . . . Hughes is a thoroughly engaging writer: serious-minded but lively, careful yet passionate . . . Some of the encounters in its pages, whiffy and indelible, will stay with me for ever.—The ObserverVictorians Undone is a work of formidable scholarship, but Hughes has a fluid, jaunty style that propels the reader from idea to idea. Reading it is like unraveling the bandages on a mummy to find the face of the past staring back in all its terrible and poignant humanity.—Financial TimesHistory so alive you can smell its reek . . . With her love of bodily detail, Hughes does indeed put the carnal back into biography.—The TelegraphNo one remotely interested in books should miss it.—The Sunday TimesI can’t think of a recent social history I’ve enjoyed more.—The Big IssueBeautifully constructed, narrated not only with wit and gusto, but a clear sense of purpose.—Mail on SundaySex certainly rears its many heads, but so does every other aspect of Victorian life, from farming techniques to court etiquette, dentistry to oil painting.—The TimesHughes regularly surprises us by showing just how much her subjects’ physical selves impinged on their contributions to our culture, and sometimes on the very course of history.—The Times Literary SupplementDeeply researched and wonderfully entertaining . . . Hughes undoes conventional representations of the Victorians and connects us with them anew, alert to the pastness of the past, but also to its continuities with the present.—Victorian StudiesTable of ContentsIntroduction1. Lady Flora's Belly2. Charles Darwin's Beard3. George Eliot's Hand4. Fanny Cornforth's Mouth5. Sweet Fanny AdamsAcknowledgementsList of IllustrationsNotesIndex

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Book SynopsisAdelaida R. Del Castillo is Associate Professor and former Chair of the Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies at San Diego State University.Norma Iglesias-Prieto is Professor and former Department Chair of the Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies at San Diego State University.

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Book SynopsisFrom Santa, elves and Ebenezer Scrooge, to the culture wars and virgin birth, Christmas - Philosophy for Everyone explores a host of philosophical issues raised by the practices and beliefs surrounding Christmas. Offers thoughtful and humorous philosophical insights into the most widely celebrated holiday in the Western world Contributions come from a wide range of disciplines, including philosophy, theology, religious studies, English literature, cognitive science and moral psychology The essays cover a wide range of Christmas themes, from a defence of the miracle of the virgin birth to the relevance of Christmas to atheists and pagans Trade Review"'Philosophy' here means not the serious study of logic, metaphysics, and so on, but something closer to ‘a collection of interesting ideas and arguments', an eclectic amalgam of popular psychology, sociology and morality ... Be irenic by all means, but to allow your opponent to win before you have even begun is to eviscerate the arguments and discussion that are the very reason for this book." (New Directions, 1 December 2011) "For those more philosophically trained or inclined, the utilization of these philosophical works within the context of the great Christmas debate provide an alternative dimension into classic philosophical arguments of ethics and sociological structures, not typically revealed in academic literature." (Metapsychology, 30 September 2011) "Wickedly humorous and innovative philosophical insights in a range of essays on Christmas themes make you think more than twice about the most widely celebrated holiday in the Western world." (Suite101.com, December 2010)"Still, it contains several thoughtful and bruising entries, the perfect mix for this time of year". (CBC News, 21 December 2010) "This great new book, in fine Socratic fashion, probes the meaning of Christmas, asking challenging questions that help us reflect on how we celebrate the birth of Jesus." (The Englewood Review of Books, January 2011) "It seems that this time of year most of us are consumed with, well, consuming, whether it's indulgent holiday fare or gift giving. But if you've ever found yourself contemplating some of the deeper aspects of the season, Christmas Philosophy for Everyone offers insight into the season of giving with thought and humor". (Urban Baby, 17 December 2010) From Santa Claus, elves and Ebenezer Scrooge to rampant consumerism and controversial questions of multiculturalism and the virgin birth, this immensely entertaining and thought-provoking volume, in the oft-audacious Philosophy for Everyone series, explores a plethora of philosophical issues raised by the practices and beliefs surrounding Christmas." (Suite101.com, 16 December 2010) "It all goes to show that philosophy can engage comfortably with popular themes after all - in this case, by offering an antidote to festive semiotic overload, and bringing a little reason to the season". (Time Out, 16 December 2010)Table of ContentsForeword: Joining the Manger to the Sleigh? (Stephen Nissenbaum). Editor's Introduction (Scott C. Lowe). Part I: Christmas: In the Beginning. 1. Jesus, Mary and Hume: On the Possibility of the Virgin Birth (Zachary Jurgensen and Jason Southworth). 2. The Virgin Birth: Authentic Christmas Magic (Victor Lyons). 3. Putting the "Yule" Back in "Yuletide" (Todd Preston). Part II: Is Celebrating Christmas Really a Good Idea? 4. Armed for the War on Christmas (Scott F. Aiken). 5. Christmas Mythologies: Sacred and Secular (Guy Bennett-Hunter). 6. The Significance of Christmas for Liberal Multiculturalism (Mark Mercer). 7. Crummy Commercials and BB Guns: Son-of-a-Bitch Consumerism in a Christmas Classic (Erin Haire and Dustin Nelson). Part III: Santa: A Deeper Look. 8. The Mind of Santa Claus and the Metaphors He Lives By (William E. Deal and S. Waller). 9. Making a List, Checking It Twice: The Santa Claus Surveillance System (Richard Hancuff and Noreen O'Connor). 10. You'd Better Watch Out… (Will Williams). 11. Santa's Sweatshop: Elf Exploitation for Christmas (Matthew Brophy). Part IV: The Morality of Christmas. 12. Against the Santa Clause Lie: The Truth We Should Tell Our Children (David Kyle Johnson). 13. Lying to Children about Santa: Why It's Just Not Wrong (Era Gavrielides). 14. Putting Claus Back into Christmas (Steven D. Hales). 15. Scrooge Learns it All in One Night: Happiness and the Virtues of Christmas (Dane Scott). Part V: Christmas Through Others' Eyes. 16. Holly Jolly Atheists: A Naturalistic Justification for Christmas (Ruth Tallman). 17. Heaven, Hecate and Hallmark: Christmas in Hindsight (Marion G. Mason). 18. Festivus and the Need for Seasonal Absurdity (Caleb Holt). 19. Common Claus: Santa as Cross-Cultural Connection (Cindy Scheopner). Afterword (Santa Claus). Notes on Contributors (Santa's Elves).

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Book SynopsisChristopher Schaberg is Associate Professor of English & Environment at Loyola University New Orleans, USA. He is the author of The Textual Life of Airports: Reading the Culture of Flight (2011, reprinted in paperback, 2013).Trade Review...[a] well-fuelled study of air travel’s fading profile in our digitally transported age. -- Nathan Heller * The New Yorker *Schaberg, an associate professor of English and Environment at Loyola University New Orleans, waxes philosophical as he contemplates the role airports play in today’s society. His short essays and anecdotes draw on his years as an airport employee as well as other personal experiences. In his eyes, airports have gone from magical to mundane, enjoyable to tedious, joyful to grim. And yet his stories of working at them have traces of humor and fascination, revealing the type of behind-the-scenes knowledge that always feels a little bit exotic to the uninformed. * Publishers Weekly *The romance of flying has all but gone, replaced by convenience and an oddly whorish aesthetic, involving fusion food, kitsch art, massage chairs and, at every turn, screens that play with the relation between inside and outside, here and there. Is the modern airport a venue like a shopping mall or an out-of-town chicken ranch, Christopher Schaberg wonders in The End of Airports, or a wormhole between states? … [Schaberg is] a very good writer, with a delicate eye for detail. … His previous book, The Textual Life of Airports (2011), was a work of literary analysis. This one goes deeper, its tone somewhere between elegiac and apocalyptic. …. Just as Hannah Arendt’s ‘banality of evil’ is easily overstated or misunderstood, so is Schaberg’s thoughtful sense of the banality of modern flight. But ‘end’ also means purpose and, as Schaberg knows, we will still spend countless hours waiting for transport. -- Brian Morton * Times Literary Supplement *The End of Airports is an energetic meditation, replete with ethnography and metaphor. The writing is not only illuminating, it’s also fun, allowing travelers the opportunity to glimpse behind the scenes at those parts of the airport—the tarmac, the break room, the luggage hold—where access is strictly forbidden. […] I can think of no better place to read it than at an airport, waiting to board, while the dramas within pages unfold around you. -- Anya Groner * Terrain *A strong and innovative book. Tracing speculative paths around and through airports and commercial flight, The End of Airports finds new ways to think about, among other things, drones, airport/aircraft seating, weather, jet bridges, viral stories about flight, tensions with new media expectations and technologies, and seatback pockets. A fascinating read for anyone interested in airports and airplanes, but also for readers of cultural studies, media studies, and creative nonfiction. * Kathleen C. Stewart, Professor of Anthropology, The University of Texas at Austin, USA *The golden age of air travel is over, but thanks to Schaberg the airport may become the new figure with which to think place, time, labor, leisure, organization, and communication, as well as hope, fatigue, loneliness, and desire—in other words, the most fundamental problems of life in late capitalism. In the tradition of Benjamin, Barthes, and Baudrillard, this book is theoretically incisive, intimate, pleasurable, and on time. Air travel in all of its multidimensionality, as idea and experience, but also as mood, may finally assume its rightful place in the modern psychic infrastructure. * Margret Grebowicz, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Goucher College, USA, and author of The National Park to Come *Schaberg's provocative theme implies the end of our ability to appreciate airports as bustling and forward-looking spaces....A prescient requiem for contemporary airports as abetting agents and reflectors of America’s declining cultural standards. Recommended for specialists in the fields of aviation and transportation, social and intellectual history, sociological studies, media, and libraries. * Library Journal *Christopher Schaberg’s The End of Airports is part memoir, part history, and part speculation. Schaberg’s past as a part-time airport worker intersects with his present as a frequently flying academic researcher of airport cultures, and his experience and research inform his thoughts on the future of airports in an age of drones and instant communication. […] The airport is both a terminal and a threshold, and Schaberg’s work reminds us that travel must include pauses as well as movement. -- Rebecca Mills * Transfers: Interdisciplinary Journal of Mobility Studies *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Points of Departure Part I: Work Part II Travel Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisRobin Hood is a national English icon. He is portrayed as a noble robber, who, along with his band of merry men, is said to have stolen from the rich and given to the poor. His story has been reimagined many times throughout the centuries. Readers will be introduced to some of the candidates who are thought to have been the real Robin Hood, before journeying into the fifteenth century and learning about the various rymes of Robyn Hode' that were in existence. This book then shows how Robin Hood was first cast as an earl in the sixteenth century, before discussing his portrayals as a brutish criminal in the eighteenth century. Then learn how Robin Hood became the epitome of an English gentleman in the Victorian era, before examining how he became an Americanised, populist hero fit for the silver screen during the twentieth century. Thus, this book will take readers on a journey through 800 years of English cultural and literary history by examining how the legend of Robin Hood has developed over time.

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Book SynopsisGlobalization discourse now presumes that the “world space” is entirely at the mercy of market norms and forms promulgated by reactionary U.S. policies. An academic but accessible set of studies, this wide range of essays by noted scholars challenges this paradigm with diverse and strong arguments. Taking on topics that range from the medieval Mediterranean to contemporary Jamaican music, from Hong Kong martial arts cinema to Taiwanese politics, writers such as David Palumbo-Liu, Meaghan Morris, James Clifford, and others use innovative cultural studies to challenge the globalization narrative with a new and trenchant tactic called “worlding.” The book posits that world literature, cultural studies, and disciplinary practices must be “worlded” into expressions from disparate critical angles of vision, multiple frameworks, and field practices as yet emerging or unidentified. This opens up a major rethinking of historical “givens” from Rob Wilson’s reinvention of “The White Surfer Dude” to Sharon Kinoshita’s “Deprovincializing the Middle Ages.” Building on the work of cultural critics like Edward Said, Gayatri Spivak, and Kenneth Burke, The Worlding Project is an important manifesto that aims to redefine the aesthetics and politics of postcolonial globalization withalternative forms and frames of global becoming.

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Book SynopsisThis collection of essays from a variety of contributors focuses on the relationship between language and culture in Ireland from the early Middle Ages to the beginning of the 21st century.

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Book SynopsisLawns now blanket thirty million acres of the United States, but until the late nineteenth century few Americans had any desire for a front lawn, much less access to seeds for growing one. In her comprehensive history of this uniquely American obsession, Virginia Scott Jenkins traces the origin of the front lawn aesthetic, the development of the lawn-care industry, its environmental impact, and modern as well as historic alternatives to lawn mania.

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Book SynopsisIs culture brokered like stocks, real estate, or marriage? In this engaging book, Richard Kurin shows that cultures are also mediated and indeed brokered by countries, organizations, communities, and individuals - all with their own vision of the truth and varying abilities to impose it on others. Drawing on his diverse experiences in producing exhibitions and public programs, Kurin challenges culture brokers - defined broadly to include museum professionals, film-makers, journalists, festival producers, and scholars of many disciplines - to reveal more clearly the nature of their interpretations, to envision the ways in which their messages can "play" to different audiences, and to better understand the relationship between knowledge, art, politics, and entertainment. The book documents a variety of cases in which the Smithsonian has brokered culture for the American public: a planned exhibit on Jerusalem had to balance both Israeli and Palestinian agendas; debates over the 1996 Olympic Arts Festival presented differing visions of the American South; and the National Air and Space Museum's controversial display of the Enola Gay prompted the Smithsonian to re-examine the role of national museums. Arguing that cultural exhibits reflect a series of decisions about representing someone, someplace, and something, Reflections of a Culture Broker discusses the ethical and technical problems faced by not only those who practice in a museum setting but also anyone charged with representing culture in a public forum.Trade ReviewWritten by the director of the Smithsonian's Center for Folklife and Cultural Studies, this book is not an "official" accounting of Smithsonian policies, activities, and decisions but a personal essay based on firsthand knowledge. Intending to present a sorely needed casebook of professional practice for "culture brokers," Kurin offers a descriptive and analytic view of the process by which various types of major cultural presentations such as exhibits, museums, and festivals are developed, enacted, and situated. Regarding the Enola Gay controversy, he discusses the complex concept of "the search for truth and narrative" within "multiparadigmatic, deconstructed frameworks that make multiple versions of reality a fact of life." Kurin concludes that curation is process-oriented, not static, and is "a proactive effort to serve the public, increase understandability, and use the museum as a vehicle of inter- and intracultural communication." This down-to-earth, enjoyable, and thought-provoking title is highly recommended.? (from Library Journal; Jennifer L.S. Moldwin, Detroit Inst. of Arts Lib. Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.)Table of ContentsChapter 1 Foreword Chapter 2 Preface Chapter 3 Acknowledgements Chapter 4 1. Prologue: Doctor, Lawyer, Indian Chief Chapter 5 2. Introduction: Brokering Culture Part 6 I. Brokering the Smithsonian Chapter 7 3. Brokering the Smithsonian's 150th Anniversary Chapter 8 4. Making a Museum Object Chapter 9 5. Exhibiting the Enola Gay Chapter 10 6. What's with Anthropology? Chapter 11 7. Debating Racially and Culturally Specific Museums Chapter 12 8. The Festival on the Mall Part 13 II. Case Studies of Brokering Culture Chapter 14 9. The Festival of India Chapter 15 10. Brokering Post-Colar War Folklore Chapter 16 11. America's Reunion on the Mall: A Presidential Inaugural Chapter 17 12. O Jerusalem! Chapter 18 13. Workers' Culture in the White House Chapter 19 14. What Is It? The American South at the Olympics Chapter 20 15. Conclusion: The New Study and Curation of Culture

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Book SynopsisThis anthology of essays questions many widespread assumptions about the culture of postwar America. Illuminating the origins and development of the many threads that constituted American culture during the Cold War, the contributors challenge the existence of a monolithic culture during the 1950s and thereafter. They demonstrate instead that there was more to American society than conformity, political conservatism, consumerism, and middle-class values. By examining popular culture, politics, economics, gender relations, and civil rights, the contributors contend that, while there was little fundamentally new about American culture in the Cold War era, the Cold War shaped and distorted virtually every aspect of American life. Interacting with long-term historical trends related to demographics, technological change, and economic cycles, four new elements dramatically influenced American politics and culture: the threat of nuclear annihilation, the use of surrogate and covert warfare, the intensification of anticommunist ideology, and the rise of a powerful military-industrial complex. This provocative dialogue by leading historians promises to reshape readers' understanding of America during the Cold War, revealing a complex interplay of historical norms and political influences.

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Book SynopsisThe culture, history, and spirit of the Hispanic Southwest are brought to readers through this fascinating collection of 45 cuentos (stories and legends) from the region. From ancient creation myths of the Aztecs and traditional tales of Spanish colonialists to an eclectic sampling of the work of modern Latino storytellers, this book provides a rich tapestry of both obscure and well-loved stories-religious stories; animal tales; stories of magic, transformation, and wisdom; and chistes (short comic tales). Fifteen tales are also presented in Spanish. The origin and historical development of the stories are examined in an introductory chapter. A discussion of dichos (proverbs) and adivinanzas (riddles) illuminates the larger context of the oral tradition in which the tales have flourished. Lavishly illustrated with pictures of original paintings and sculpture by contemporary Latino artists, this fascinating collection will appeal to children and adults alike and is a must for the multicultural class

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Book SynopsisZen meditation master Thich Nhat Hanh offers his practical teachings about how to bring love and mindful awareness into our daily experience. Kind, purposeful, and illuminating—here is an abundant treasure of traditional gathas (teachings) that unify meditation practice with the challenges we face in today's world. Enhanced features include Vietnamese music from Plum Village, video footage of Thich Nhat Hanh about mindfulness, and a text interview with the author. Course objectives: Describe how Thich Nhat Hanh's teachings can help the listener to achieve a more authentic self • List the traditional teachings (gathas) described by Thich Nhat Hanh • Utilize breathing techniques to deal with issues such as pain, anger and maintaining strength in times of difficulty • List the aforementioned techniques • Demonstrate how to maintain being in the present, not getting lost in the past or caught up in the future Note: These CD-ROM-format enhanced CDs contain audio, music, and video clips and are meant to be played on your computer, using an Internet connection, speakers, and Real Player programs, which are free for download. Enhanced content is exclusive to CD version

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Book SynopsisWars do not fully end when the shooting stops. As G. Kurt Piehler reveals in this book, after every conflict from the Revolution to the Persian Gulf War, Americans have argued about how and for what deeds and heroes wars should be remembered.Drawing on sources ranging from government documents to Embalmer's Monthly, Piehler recounts efforts to commemorate wars by erecting monuments, designating holidays, forming veterans' organizations, and establishing national cemetaries. The federal government, he contends, initially sidestepped funding for memorials, thereby leaving the determination of how and whom to honor in the hands of those with ready money—and those who responded to them. In one instance, monuments to “Yankee heroes” erected by the Daughters of the American Revolution were countered by immigrant groups, who added such figures as Casimir Pulaski and Thaddeus Kosciusko to the record of the war. Piehler argues that the conflict between these groups is emblematic of the ongoing reinterpretation of wars by majority and minority groups, and by successive generations.Demonstrating that the battles over the Vietnam Veterans Memorial are not unique in American history, Remembering War the American Way reveals that the memory of war is intrinsically bound to the pluralistic definition of national identity.

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Book SynopsisAt the end of the nineteenth century, cycling's popularity surged in the Boston area, but by 1900, the trend faded. Within the next few decades, automobiles became commonplace and roads were refashioned to serve them. Lorenz J. Finison argues that bicycling witnessed a renaissance in the 1970s as concerns over physical and environmental health coalesced. Whether cyclists hit the roads on their way to work or to work out, went off-road in the mountains or to race via cyclocross and BMX, or took part in charity rides, biking was back in a major way.Finison traces the city's cycling history, chronicling the activities of environmental and social justice activists, stories of women breaking into male-dominated professions by becoming bike messengers and mechanics, and challenges faced by African American cyclists. Making use of newspaper archives, newly discovered records of local biking organizations, and interviews with Boston-area bicyclists and bike builders, Boston's Twentieth­Century Bicycling Renaissance brings these voices and battles back to life.

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Book SynopsisOver their long and colourful history, the Chinese people have produced a variety of fascinating and useful cultural artefacts and performances - from the compass and paper money to tea ceremonies and wedding parties - that have won the admiration of people around the world, and improved living conditions for many who remain unaware of the inventions' Chinese origins. This book's forty concise chapters serve as windows into a wide range of Chinese cultural traditions and innovations. Some aspects of culture featured here include Chinese gardens, homes, and temples; calligraphy, chess, and clothing; paper cutting, seals, and musical instruments; martial arts and Peking Opera; and feng shui (auspicious design). Amply illustrated, with idiomatic phrases parsed throughout, the authors offer a road map to guide both the novice and ""old hand"" alike through the essential traits of Chinese culture.

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