Material culture Books

314 products


  • The Digital Health Self: Wellness, Tracking and

    Bristol University Press The Digital Health Self: Wellness, Tracking and

    15 in stock

    Book SynopsisThis is a detailed analysis of how understanding of health management past, present and future has transformed in the digital age. Since the mid-20th century, we have witnessed ‘healthy’ lifestyles being pushed as part of health promotion strategies, both via the state, and through health tracking tools, and narratives of wellness online. This marks a seismic shift from a public welfare state responsibility for health towards individualised practices of digital self-care. Today health has become representative of ‘lifestyle correction' which is performed on social media. Putting the spotlight on neoliberalism and digital technology as pervasive tools that dictate wellness as a moral obligation, Rachael Kent critically analyses how users navigate relationships between self-tracking technologies, social media, and everyday health management.Table of Contents1. Transformations of Health in the Digital Society 2. Understanding Our Bodies through Datafication 3. Surveillance Cultures of the Digital Health Self 4. Discipline and Moralism of Our Health 5. Health ‘Disciples’: Technology ‘Addiction’ and Embodiment 6. Sharing ‘Healthiness’ 7. Future Directions for the Digital Health Self

    15 in stock

    £67.99

  • X Marks the Spot: The Story of Archaeology in

    Hodder & Stoughton X Marks the Spot: The Story of Archaeology in

    Out of stock

    Book Synopsis'If you love Indiana Jones, this is the real thing' DAN SNOW'A thrilling investigation' SUZANNAH LIPSCOMB'Alive with the spirit of adventure' SIR RANULPH FIENNESThrough eight sensational stories of discovery, Professor Michael Scott traces the evolution of modern archaeology from colonial expeditions to today's cutting-edge digs, unearthing traps, curses and buried treasure along the way. We uncover why different periods and places have caught our attention and imaginations at different times. We meet the characters, some celebrated and some forgotten, who found world-famous discoveries like the Rosetta Stone, the Terracotta Warriors and Machu Picchu. We investigate ancient human footprints, stunning shipwrecks, mythical princesses and surprising rituals as keyholes to the wonders of past civilisations. And we unravel how archaeological finds have often become emblems of modern fascinations and dilemmas.Crossing millions of years, trekking from the jungles of South America to the frozen highlands of Central Asia, X Marks the Spot reveals how much the discovery of our past is intertwined with the concerns of our present and why X never, ever marks the spot.'Fascinating' GREG JENNER'An essential read for anyone with even a fleeting interest in exploring the past' JANINA RAMIREZTrade ReviewIf you love Indiana Jones, this is the real thing. Michael Scott celebrates the fusion of scholarship and adventure in a book full of both. -- DAN SNOWThrough eight of history's most audacious acts of discovery, Michael Scott tells us the story of archaeology itself. This is a thrilling investigation of humankind's obsession with the physical remains of its past. -- SUZANNAH LIPSCOMBA fascinating book; both as a greatest hits compendium of archaeological breakthroughs, and as a subtle examination of how "discovery" has evolved. In tracing Archaeology's journey, Professor Michael Scott shows that "discovery" often required more than just courage, persistence, and talent, but also geopolitical pressure, local knowledge, dubious ethical choices, and pure blind luck! -- GREG JENNERDo you wish you knew more about some of the most fascinating archaeological discoveries made around the world? Then pick up Michael Scott's fabulous, learned, smart and never-dusty new book immediately. It's wonderful. -- NATALIE HAYNESMichael Scott tells these stories in an affable, scholarly and accessible way with an expert eye, giving us incisive portraits of the fascinating, often difficult and driven characters who expanded the frontiers of knowledge, whilst also examining their actions in light of our modern values and debates about restitution, display and ongoing scholarly investigation -- MICHAEL WOODAn essential read for anyone with even a fleeting interest in exploring the past. Michael weaves a world around each discovery, which tells us as much about modern attitudes as it does about the ancient civilisations unearthed. I couldn't put it down! -- JANINA RAMIREZAlive with the spirit of adventure, X Marks the Spot captures pioneering moments in history and takes readers to the thrilling peaks of discovery. -- Sir Ranulph FiennesVivid, pacey and full of fascinating detail, X Marks the Spot is a riveting adventure through time, propelled by Michael Scott's excellent scholarship and accessible writing style. -- ALICE LOXTONScott has written a book that should be on the shelves of every aspiring young archaeologist. Across eight discoveries, he lays out in great detail their importance in understanding our history ... With X Marks the Spot, we're now fortunate to have a book to inspire the next generation. * Aspects of History magazine *Endlessly fascinating and thought-provoking, this book is as satisfying a find as any of the archaeological discoveries that it charts. Highly recommended. -- TRACY BORMANMichael Scott deftly captures the trials and triumphs of archaeology, from the privations of life on a dig to the thrill of discovery. Wide-ranging in time and space, X Marks the Spot is a fascinating mix of history, biography and - above all - adventure. -- TOBY WILKINSON, author of A World Beneath the SandsWho knew that there may be a further 6000 suits of armour yet to uncover in addition to the Chinese imperial Terracotta Warriors already unearthed? Or that the Rosetta Stone contains not three but four inscribed texts? All that and much much more is known and beautifully related here by the indefatigable Michael Scott, famous both as an archaeological scholar and as a communicator, an Indiana Jones de nos jours and for our time. X Marks the Spot hits the spot. -- PROFESSOR PAUL CARTLEDGEA lively journey across centuries and continents ... by focusing on the individuals who made such remarkable discoveries, Scott also investigates what their aims and motivations tell us about the ways in which we view the past. * History Revealed * masterful storyteller. These days, serious archaeology sometimes shies away from tales of exploration and adventure. The colonial overtones and sensational headlines are too much of a risk, and too raw for a discipline steeped in difficult imperial origins. In X Marks The Spot, Michael Scott manages to pull off an inspired feat - to capture the excitement and wonder of discovery, but to situate these astonishing tales in their complex, messy historical realities. It's a page-turner and eye-opener. It will inspire you to wonder more at the world and its people - both present and past. -- MARY-ANN OCHOTAA gripping account of some of history's most extraordinary archaeological discoveries. Filled with larger than life figures that give Indiana Jones a run for his money. A triumph of a book!Stylish, witty, and informed by wide ranging scholarship, X Marks the Spot tells intensely exciting stories, while illuminating the profound links between the past and the present. An absolute joy to read.Scott explores the wonder and excitement of our love affair with the past, unearthing extraordinary lost cultures, and celebrating those determined men and women who work in often gruelling conditions to help bring them to light, the common thread that binds humanity across space and time becomes increasingly apparent. Scott's enthusiasm is palpable, and his compelling, charismatic book will undoubtedly inspire a whole new generation of future archaeologists. Who knows what they will find?I was thoroughly absorbed by Michael Scott's wonderful new book - a generous, warm retelling of eight world-changing archaeological finds, from the Rosetta Stone to the Altai Princess via Machu Picchu. It's a tour de force of scholarship and an unputdownable read. -- DR KATHERINE SCHOFIELD, King's College LondonThe fascinating story of how archaeological digs are never simply fact-finding missions but are driven by the same present-day concerns that we find in any other human activity. An impressive piece, with an incisive analysis of a broad sweep of examples, all written in an engaging and lively style. -- DR JERRY TONER, University of CambridgeMichael Scott meticulously explores eight different discoveries from the Rosetta Stone in Egypt to the unravelling of the Keros Enigma. He explains how the discovery of the past is always creating a shifting appreciation of who we are across the background of the rich tapestry of human history. I much enjoyed and learned a great deal from this book.A rollicking read, full of fascinating detail and unexpected twists. -- NAOISE MAC SWEENEY, Professor of Archaeology, University of ViennaIn archaeology context is vital for understanding the evidence and in this book Michael Scott deftly unravels the historical context surrounding these seminal discoveries in a hugely enjoyable, incisive, and readable way. -- Dr Sophie HayArchaeology is about more than finds, it's discovering them and reacting to them. X Marks the Spot tells us who does that and why: stories within stories, all told by a master storyteller: in the immortal words of Howard Carter, 'Wonderful things!' -- Lindsey DavisA vibrant take on key modern archaeological finds and the colourful characters who made them... A breathless account of some of the most audacious adventures from the Enlightenment tradition of treasure hunting, and a sharp, insightful look at the deeper politics behind the treasure that archaeologists find ... so enjoyable ... This awareness of the many factors that underpin our knowledge of the past is what elevates X Marks the Spot, making it a volume well worth reading. -- Brenna Hassett * BBC History Magazine *

    Out of stock

    £21.25

  • X Marks the Spot: The Story of Archaeology in

    Hodder & Stoughton X Marks the Spot: The Story of Archaeology in

    Out of stock

    Book Synopsis'If you love Indiana Jones, this is the real thing' DAN SNOW'Fascinating' GREG JENNER'A thrilling investigation' SUZANNAH LIPSCOMB'An essential read for anyone with even a fleeting interest in exploring the past' JANINA RAMIREZUncovering the physical remains of our past is a quintessential human itch; the pursuit of every society from the ancients through to today. But the stories behind archaeological exploration and discovery - what we look for when, what we end up finding, and what we then do with it - tell us as much about ourselves today as they do about the past.Through eight sensational stories of discovery, Professor Michael Scott traces the evolution of modern archaeology from colonial expeditions to today's cutting-edge digs, unearthing traps, curses and buried treasure along the way. We uncover why different periods and places have caught our attention and imaginations at different times. We meet the characters, some celebrated and some forgotten, who found world-famous discoveries like the Rosetta Stone, the Terracotta Warriors and Machu Picchu. We investigate ancient human footprints, stunning shipwrecks, mythical princesses and surprising rituals as keyholes to the wonders of past civilisations. And we unravel how archaeological finds have often become emblems of modern fascinations and dilemmas.Crossing millions of years, trekking from the jungles of South America to the frozen highlands of Central Asia, X Marks the Spot reveals how much the discovery of our past is intertwined with the concerns of our present and why X never, ever marks the spot.Trade ReviewIf you love Indiana Jones, this is the real thing. Michael Scott celebrates the fusion of scholarship and adventure in a book full of both. -- DAN SNOWThrough eight of history's most audacious acts of discovery, Michael Scott tells us the story of archaeology itself. This is a thrilling investigation of humankind's obsession with the physical remains of its past. -- SUZANNAH LIPSCOMBA fascinating book; both as a greatest hits compendium of archaeological breakthroughs, and as a subtle examination of how "discovery" has evolved. In tracing Archaeology's journey, Professor Michael Scott shows that "discovery" often required more than just courage, persistence, and talent, but also geopolitical pressure, local knowledge, dubious ethical choices, and pure blind luck! -- GREG JENNERDo you wish you knew more about some of the most fascinating archaeological discoveries made around the world? Then pick up Michael Scott's fabulous, learned, smart and never-dusty new book immediately. It's wonderful. -- NATALIE HAYNESMichael Scott tells these stories in an affable, scholarly and accessible way with an expert eye, giving us incisive portraits of the fascinating, often difficult and driven characters who expanded the frontiers of knowledge, whilst also examining their actions in light of our modern values and debates about restitution, display and ongoing scholarly investigation -- MICHAEL WOODAn essential read for anyone with even a fleeting interest in exploring the past. Michael weaves a world around each discovery, which tells us as much about modern attitudes as it does about the ancient civilisations unearthed. I couldn't put it down! -- JANINA RAMIREZAlive with the spirit of adventure, X Marks the Spot captures pioneering moments in history and takes readers to the thrilling peaks of discovery. -- Sir Ranulph FiennesVivid, pacey and full of fascinating detail, X Marks the Spot is a riveting adventure through time, propelled by Michael Scott's excellent scholarship and accessible writing style. -- ALICE LOXTONScott has written a book that should be on the shelves of every aspiring young archaeologist. Across eight discoveries, he lays out in great detail their importance in understanding our history ... With X Marks the Spot, we're now fortunate to have a book to inspire the next generation. * Aspects of History magazine *Endlessly fascinating and thought-provoking, this book is as satisfying a find as any of the archaeological discoveries that it charts. Highly recommended. -- TRACY BORMANMichael Scott deftly captures the trials and triumphs of archaeology, from the privations of life on a dig to the thrill of discovery. Wide-ranging in time and space, X Marks the Spot is a fascinating mix of history, biography and - above all - adventure. -- TOBY WILKINSON, author of A World Beneath the SandsWho knew that there may be a further 6000 suits of armour yet to uncover in addition to the Chinese imperial Terracotta Warriors already unearthed? Or that the Rosetta Stone contains not three but four inscribed texts? All that and much much more is known and beautifully related here by the indefatigable Michael Scott, famous both as an archaeological scholar and as a communicator, an Indiana Jones de nos jours and for our time. X Marks the Spot hits the spot. -- PROFESSOR PAUL CARTLEDGEA lively journey across centuries and continents ... by focusing on the individuals who made such remarkable discoveries, Scott also investigates what their aims and motivations tell us about the ways in which we view the past. * History Revealed * masterful storyteller. These days, serious archaeology sometimes shies away from tales of exploration and adventure. The colonial overtones and sensational headlines are too much of a risk, and too raw for a discipline steeped in difficult imperial origins. In X Marks The Spot, Michael Scott manages to pull off an inspired feat - to capture the excitement and wonder of discovery, but to situate these astonishing tales in their complex, messy historical realities. It's a page-turner and eye-opener. It will inspire you to wonder more at the world and its people - both present and past. -- MARY-ANN OCHOTAA gripping account of some of history's most extraordinary archaeological discoveries. Filled with larger than life figures that give Indiana Jones a run for his money. A triumph of a book!Stylish, witty, and informed by wide ranging scholarship, X Marks the Spot tells intensely exciting stories, while illuminating the profound links between the past and the present. An absolute joy to read.Scott explores the wonder and excitement of our love affair with the past, unearthing extraordinary lost cultures, and celebrating those determined men and women who work in often gruelling conditions to help bring them to light, the common thread that binds humanity across space and time becomes increasingly apparent. Scott's enthusiasm is palpable, and his compelling, charismatic book will undoubtedly inspire a whole new generation of future archaeologists. Who knows what they will find?I was thoroughly absorbed by Michael Scott's wonderful new book - a generous, warm retelling of eight world-changing archaeological finds, from the Rosetta Stone to the Altai Princess via Machu Picchu. It's a tour de force of scholarship and an unputdownable read. -- DR KATHERINE SCHOFIELD, King's College LondonThe fascinating story of how archaeological digs are never simply fact-finding missions but are driven by the same present-day concerns that we find in any other human activity. An impressive piece, with an incisive analysis of a broad sweep of examples, all written in an engaging and lively style. -- DR JERRY TONER, University of CambridgeMichael Scott meticulously explores eight different discoveries from the Rosetta Stone in Egypt to the unravelling of the Keros Enigma. He explains how the discovery of the past is always creating a shifting appreciation of who we are across the background of the rich tapestry of human history. I much enjoyed and learned a great deal from this book.A rollicking read, full of fascinating detail and unexpected twists. -- NAOISE MAC SWEENEY, Professor of Archaeology, University of ViennaIn archaeology context is vital for understanding the evidence and in this book Michael Scott deftly unravels the historical context surrounding these seminal discoveries in a hugely enjoyable, incisive, and readable way. -- Dr Sophie HayArchaeology is about more than finds, it's discovering them and reacting to them. X Marks the Spot tells us who does that and why: stories within stories, all told by a master storyteller: in the immortal words of Howard Carter, 'Wonderful things!' -- Lindsey DavisA vibrant take on key modern archaeological finds and the colourful characters who made them... A breathless account of some of the most audacious adventures from the Enlightenment tradition of treasure hunting, and a sharp, insightful look at the deeper politics behind the treasure that archaeologists find ... so enjoyable ... This awareness of the many factors that underpin our knowledge of the past is what elevates X Marks the Spot, making it a volume well worth reading. -- Brenna Hassett * BBC History Magazine *

    Out of stock

    £16.14

  • National Treasures: Saving The Nation's Art in

    John Murray Press National Treasures: Saving The Nation's Art in

    2 in stock

    Book Synopsis'Geeks triumph over the forces of darkness: nothing could have given me greater pleasure. Combining an exciting story with scrupulous research, Caroline Shenton has done her unlikely heroes proud' - Lucy WorsleyAs Hitler prepared to invade Poland during the sweltering summer of 1939, men and women from across London's museums, galleries and archives formulated ingenious plans to send the nation's highest prized objects to safety. Using stately homes, tube tunnels, slate mines, castles, prisons, stone quarries and even their own homes, a dedicated bunch of unlikely misfits packed up the nation's greatest treasures and, in a race against time, dispatched them throughout the country on a series of top-secret wartime adventures. National Treasures highlights a moment from our history when an unlikely coalition of mild-mannered civil servants, social oddballs and metropolitan aesthetes became the front line in the heritage war against Hitler. Caroline Shenton shares the interwoven lives of ordinary people who kept calm and carried on in the most extraordinary of circumstances in their efforts to save the Nation's historic identity.Trade ReviewGeeks triumph over the forces of darkness: nothing could have given me greater pleasure. Combining an exciting story with scrupulous research, Caroline Shenton has done her unlikely heroes proud -- Lucy WorsleyAn engrossing and uplifting story of how some of the greatest treasures of Britains museum, gallery and library collections were protected and preserved during the darkest days of WWII -- Richard Ovenden, author of Burning the BooksAn engrossing and uplifting story of how some of the greatest treasures of Britains museum, gallery and library collections were protected and preserved during the darkest days of WWII -- Richard Ovenden, author of Burning the BooksShenton has the archivist's unerring eye for detail and the storyteller's instinct for what will make a compelling tale. It is brought to life with energy and confidence -- Julie Summers, bestselling author of JambustersEntertaining, surprising and full of brilliant vignettes, Shenton does justice to one of the great untold stories of the Second World War -- Josh Ireland, author of Churchill & SonFascinating, engaging and often eye-stretching, Caroline Shenton's account of the battle to save the nation's greatest treasures during wartime features a wonderfully eclectic cast of oddballs, bluestockings and endearingly eccentric aristocrats. A cracking read -- Giles MiltonShenton manages to combine scholarly and diligent research with a powerful narrative drive and a hugely entertaining taste for the anecdotal. Moreover, her cast of characters wouldn't disgrace an Ealing comedy. I haven't enjoyed a book so much in years -- Adrian TinniswoodReveals the wonderfully inventive ways Britain's great museums hid their priceless exhibits from Hitler's bombs -- Daily MailVigorously researched and highly entertaining -- Daily Telegraph

    2 in stock

    £10.44

  • Stone Will Answer: A Journey Guided by Craft,

    Vintage Publishing Stone Will Answer: A Journey Guided by Craft,

    5 in stock

    Book SynopsisA beautiful memoir, travelogue and meditation on stone by artist and stone mason Beatrice Searle.'Extraordinary' Guardian‘A magnificent book’ Alex Woodcock‘Exceptional’ Kerri Andrews‘Luminous’ SpectatorAt the age of twenty-six, artist and Cathedral stonemason Beatrice Searle crossed the North Sea and walked 500 miles along a medieval pilgrim path through Southern Norway, taking with her a 40-kilogram Orcadian stone.Fascinated with the mysterious footprint stones of Northern Europe and the ancient Greco-Roman world, stones closely associated with travellers, saints and the inauguration of Kings, she follows in their footsteps as her stone becomes a talisman, a bedrock and an offering to those she meets along the way.Stone Will Answer is an unusual adventure story of journeys practical, spiritual and geological, of weight and motion, and an insight into a beguiling craft.Trade ReviewExtraordinary... Confessional, elemental and at times moving, this is a memorable and unique celebration of the power and beauty of stone. * Guardian *Searle is an excellent storyteller... [and Stone Will Answer] make[s] for gripping reading... it's the human spirit that emerges triumphant in this sparky blend of memoir and travelogue... Above all, this is the story of a young woman's astonishing feat of endurance * Herald *A gifted writer, capable of luminous description * Spectator *Subtle and thought-provoking * TLS *Illuminating... I was quickly taken in by Beatrice Searle's distinctive voice, and by the end I couldn't help but feel very differently about stones, rootedness, belonging, and indeed what walking might mean. Beatrice's story is exceptional, and she is an exceptional story teller. -- Kerri Andrews, author of Wandering: A History of Women WalkingA magnificent book. Written with the eye of a poet and the heart of an artist, Stone Will Answer is both a moving account of an unconventional journey and a testament to the power of stone in finding anchorage in an uncertain world -- Alex Woodcock, author of King of DustA story of dedication and tenacity that is deeply moving and utterly captivating. Stone Will Answer is a truly remarkable book, a beautifully crafted tale of an artist's extraordinary journey. Searle seamlessly contemplates the meaning of craft, ancient myths, the mutability of stone and the transformations within her own life. Its rare to read a story of such artistic integrity. I felt bereft when I finished but also buoyed by a new found fascination with stone and all its many meanings. -- Sally Huband, author of Sea BeanAn astonishing mission with huge integrity in the telling. -- Linda Cracknell, author of Writing LandscapeA story of determination and soul-searching... Compellingly narrated, entertaining and thought-provoking... treat yourself to a copy of this book and enjoy the journey * Natural Stone Specialist *A moving testimony to the power of art, of finding the extraordinary in the everyday and acting upon your instinct. To walk with Searle in its pages is to experience stone within a new light... as a part-knowable, ever-shifting medium in the process of slow but perpetual change, one long work-in-progress. -- Alex Woodcock * Caught by the River *

    5 in stock

    £10.44

  • The Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of Northern

    Smithsonian Books The Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of Northern

    10 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    10 in stock

    £41.80

  • Collecting from the Margins: Material Culture in

    Bucknell University Press Collecting from the Margins: Material Culture in

    Out of stock

    Book SynopsisFrom the cabinets of wonder of the Renaissance to the souvenir collections of today, selecting, accumulating, and organizing objects are practices that are central to our notions of who we are and what we value. Collecting, both private and institutional, has been instrumental in the consolidation of modern notions of the individual and of the nation, and numerous studies have discussed its complex political, social, economic, anthropological, and psychological implications. However, studies of collecting as practiced in colonized cultures are few, since the role of these cultures has usually been understood as that of purveyors of objects for the metropolitan collector. Collecting from the Margins: Material Culture in a Latin American Context seeks to counter the historical understanding of collecting that posits the metropolis as collecting subject and the colonial or postcolonial society as supplier of collectible objects by asking instead how collecting has been practiced and understood in Latin America. Has collecting been viewed or portrayed differently in a Latin American context? Does the act of collecting, when viewed from a Latin American perspective, unsettle the way we have become accustomed to think about it? What differences, if any, arise in the activity of collecting in colonized or previously colonial societies? Spanning the period after the independence wars until the 1980s, this collection of ten essays addresses a broad range of examples of collecting practices in Latin America. Collecting during the nineteenth century is addressed in discussions of the creation of the first national museums of Argentina and Colombia in the post-independence period, as well as in analyses of the private collections of modernistas such as Enrique Gómez Carrillo, Rubén Darío, José Asunción Silva, and Delmira Agustini at the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth. The practice of collecting in the twentieth century is discussed in analyses of the self-described revolutionary practices of Oswald de Andrade, Augusto de Campos and the films of Ruy Guerra, as well as the polemical collections of Pablo Neruda, and the unsettling collections portrayed in Gabriel García Márquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude.Table of ContentsA Note on Translations List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction by María Mercedes Andrade Chapter 1: Sacking the Botanical Expedition: Natural and Military History in the First Museum of Colombia by Felipe Martínez-Pinzón Chapter 2: An “Immense Museum” or an “Immense Tomb?” War and the Rhetoric of Continuity in the Writings of Francisco Moreno by Javier Uriarte Chapter 3: Of bayaderas, congaïs, and fumerías: “Virtual” Collecting in De Marsella á Tokio: Sensaciones de Egipto, la India, la China y el Japón, by Enrique Gómez Carrillo by Olga Vilella Chapter 4: “That heteroclite assembly”: Collecting, Modernity, and “The Savage Mind” in De sobremesa by María Mercedes Andrade Chapter 5: Postcards, Autographs, and Modernismo: Rubén Darío on Popular Collecting and Textual Practices by Andrew Reynolds Chapter 6: Delmira Agustini, Gender, and the Poetics of Collecting by Shelley Garrigan Chapter 7: “I have put all I possess at the disposal of the people’s struggle”: Pablo Neruda as Collector, Translator, and Poet by Kelly Austin Chapter 8: Antropofagia, Bricolage, Collage: Oswald de Andrade, Augusto de Campos and the Author as Collector by Fernando Pérez Villalón Chapter 9: From the Space of the Wunderkammer to Macondo’s Wonder Rooms: The Collection of Marvels in Cien años de soledad by Jerónimo Arellano Chapter 10:Collecting Revisited (and Left Behind): The Treasure Chambers in Ruy Guerra’s Eréndira and Portugal S.A. by Ilka Kressner Index About the Contributors

    Out of stock

    £36.90

  • Stuff Theory: Everyday Objects, Radical Materialism

    Bloomsbury Publishing Plc Stuff Theory: Everyday Objects, Radical Materialism

    15 in stock

    Book SynopsisStuff, the hoard of minor objects which have shed their commodity glamor but which we refuse to recycle, flashes up in fiction, films and photographs as alluring, unruly reminder of how people and matter are intertwined. Stuff is modern materiality out of bounds that refuses to be contained by the western semiotic system. It declines its role as the eternal sidekick of the subject, and is thus the ideal basis for a counter-narrative of materiality in flux. Can such a narrative, developed by the new materialism, reinvigorate the classical materialist account of human alienation from commodities under capital? By shifting the discussion of materiality toward the aesthetic and the everyday, the book both embraces and challenges the project of new materialism. It argues that matter has a politics, and that its new plasticity offers a continued possibility of critique. Stuff Theory's five chapters illustrate the intermittent flashes of modern 'minor' materiality in twentieth-century modernity as fashion, memory object, clutter, home décor, and waste in a wide range of texts: Benjamin's essays, Virginia Woolf's and Elfriede Jelinek's fiction, Rem Koolhaas' criticism, 1920s German photography and the cinema of Tati, Bertolucci, and Mendes. To call the commodified, ebullient materiality the book tracks stuff, is to foreground its plastic and transformative power, its fluidity and its capacity to generate events. Stuff Theory interrogates the political value of stuff's instability. It investigates the potential of stuff to revitalize the oppositional power of the object. Stuff Theory traces a genealogy of materiality: flashpoints of one kind of minor matter in a succession of cultural moments. It asserts that in culture, stuff becomes a rallying point for a new critique of capital, which always works to reassign stuff to a subaltern position. Stuff is not merely unruly: it becomes the terrain on which a new relation between people and matter might be built.Trade ReviewBoscagli’s readings of objects are genuinely exciting ... For anyone interested in consumer capitalism, mediation, the cultural transition from modernity to postmodernity, or objects in art, however, Stuff Theory is a necessary read. Boscagli’s writing throughout has verve, and the analyses are sharp, incisive, and often surprising. * U.S. Studies Online *The hinge between [modernist and new materialism] is supplied by the endlessly suggestive writing of Walter Benjamin who acts as the richest example of what can be gleaned when these two worlds are entangled ... Boscagli both follows Benjamin and pushes his work into new arenas ... Stuff Theory’s engagement with ‘new materialism’ is wide ranging. * New Foundations *New materialism meets historical materialism, to the expansion and improvement of both. With enviable nuance and sophistication, imaginative verve and critical acuity, Maurizia Boscagli explores the complex, dynamic life of the stuff of capitalism, producing an innovative and original materialism for the twenty-first century. Essential reading. -- Imre Szeman, Canada Research Chair in Cultural Studies, University of Alberta, CanadaAt one point in David Fincher's 1999 cult film Fight Club, Brad Pitt's rascally Tyler Durden mocks a minor character who states vaguely that in college he studied "stuff." Maurizia Boscagli’s dazzling Stuff Theory: Everyday Objects, Radical Materialism shows how Tyler might have taken this utterance seriously: "stuff" is indeed worthy of study. Each page brimming with fresh examples drawn from literature, art, and culture, and carefully informed by intellectual precursors from Marx to the new materialists, Boscagli's theory ultimately illuminates the practice of stuff, and suggests that this practice may be due for revision. -- Christopher Schaberg, Associate Professor of English & Environment at Loyola University New Orleans, USA, and author of The Textual Life of Airports: Reading the Culture of FlightMatter is desire. Whether conceived as an object that can be represented and appropriated or as force whose unpredictability and vitality throws life wide open, matter never leaves us in peace. In this wonderful book Maurizia Boscagli explores how the everyday is shaped by these tantalizing movements of matter. Beyond the capitalocentricism of historical materialism and the detached hype of new materialism Stuff Theory proposes an experimental materialist practice that works with matter to remake the stuff that power and politics are made of. * Dimitris Papadopoulos, Reader in Sociology and Organisation, University of Leicester, UK, author of Escape Routes: Control and Subversion in the 21st Century *Boscagli offers an exhilarating genealogy of the commodity in order to open up a questions that neither presuppose the old distinction between subject and object nor revel in the sheer plasticity of things. I especially admire the case that Stuff Theory makes for dialectic as the necessary means of thinking our way through and beyond the 19th-century opposition of materialism (which now includes cyborgian hybrids) to idealism (which has always included aesthetic expression). Bocagli's "radical materialism" shows that only a critique of post-commodity things can tell us how to read them as transformations of "stuff" that expresses the people and selves to which neo-liberalism denies subjectivity. * Nancy Armstrong, Gilbert, Louis, and Edward Lehrman Professor of English, Duke University, USA *Table of ContentsIntroduction: Of Jena Glassware and Potatoes—Matter in the Moment 1. Homeopathic Benjamin: A Flexible Poetics of Matter 2. For the Unnatural Use of Clothes: Fashion as Cultural Assault 3. Paris Circa 1968: Cool Spaces, Decoration, Revolution 4. “You Must Remember this:” Memory Objects in the Age of Erasable Memory 5. Garbage in Theory: Waste Aesthetics Envoi: What Should We Do With Our Stuff? Notes Index

    15 in stock

    £24.99

  • Machines

    Information Age Publishing Machines

    15 in stock

    Book SynopsisThis book is about machines: those that have been actualized, fantastical imaginal machines, to those deployed as metaphorical devices to describe complex social processes. Machines argues that they transcend time and space to emerge through a variety of spaces and places, times and histories and representations. They are such an integral fabric of daily reality that their disappearance would have immediate and dire consequences for the survival of humanity. They are part and parcel to our contemporary social order. From labor to social theory, art or consciousness, literature or television, to the asylums of the 19th century, machines are a central figure; an outgrowth of affective desire that seeks to transcend organic limitations of bodies that whither, age and die.Machines takes the reader on an intellectual, artistic, and theoretical journey, weaving an interdisciplinary tale of their emergence across social, cultural and artistic boundaries. With the deep engagement of various texts, Machines offers the reader moments of escape, alternative ways to envision technology for a future yet to materialize. Machines rejects the notion that technological innovations are indeed neutral, propelling us to think differently about those “things” created under specific economic or historical paradigms. Rethinking machines provides a rupture to our current technocratic impetus, shining a critical light on possible alternatives to our current reality. Let us sit back and take a journey through Machines, holding mechanical parts as guides to possible alternative futures.

    15 in stock

    £44.96

  • Machines

    Information Age Publishing Machines

    15 in stock

    Book SynopsisThis book is about machines: those that have been actualized, fantastical imaginal machines, to those deployed as metaphorical devices to describe complex social processes. Machines argues that they transcend time and space to emerge through a variety of spaces and places, times and histories and representations. They are such an integral fabric of daily reality that their disappearance would have immediate and dire consequences for the survival of humanity. They are part and parcel to our contemporary social order. From labor to social theory, art or consciousness, literature or television, to the asylums of the 19th century, machines are a central figure; an outgrowth of affective desire that seeks to transcend organic limitations of bodies that whither, age and die.Machines takes the reader on an intellectual, artistic, and theoretical journey, weaving an interdisciplinary tale of their emergence across social, cultural and artistic boundaries. With the deep engagement of various texts, Machines offers the reader moments of escape, alternative ways to envision technology for a future yet to materialize. Machines rejects the notion that technological innovations are indeed neutral, propelling us to think differently about those “things” created under specific economic or historical paradigms. Rethinking machines provides a rupture to our current technocratic impetus, shining a critical light on possible alternatives to our current reality. Let us sit back and take a journey through Machines, holding mechanical parts as guides to possible alternative futures.

    15 in stock

    £82.80

  • Golf Ball

    Bloomsbury Publishing Plc Golf Ball

    5 in stock

    Book SynopsisObject Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things. Harry Brown explores the composition, history, kinetic life, and the long deterioration of golf balls, which as it turns out may outlive their hitters by a thousand years, in places far beyond our reach. Golf balls embody our efforts to impose our will on the land, whether the local golf course or the Moon, but their unpredictable spin, bounce, and roll often defy our control. Despite their considerable technical refinements, golf balls reveal the futility of control. They inevitably disappear in plain sight and find their way into hazards. Golf balls play with people. Harry Brown's short treatise on the golf ball serves up surprising lessons about the human desire to tame and control the landscape through technology. Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in The Atlantic.Trade ReviewGolf Ball is a funny, smart, and charming meditation on an unlikely subject. Who knew that the story of this humble little white sphere could tell us so much about our history and culture? Brown weaves cultural history, literary criticism, physics, and philosophy into this wonderful book. His meditation on the golf ball deserves a place on the reading list of the curious golfer and cultural critic alike. * Orin Starn, Professor of Cultural Anthropology, Duke University, USA, and author of The Passion of Tiger Woods *Brown starts where the curious amongst us always seem to—by taking things apart. Departing from the physical dissection of a single ball, performed as a boy, Brown rollicks through a detailed and highly entertaining exploration of the history of the game of golf. Golf Ball will fill the air of the 19th Hole with questions answered and stories told. * Tom Chiarella, Visiting Writer, Esquire Magazine, and Award-Winning Member of the Golf Writers Association of America *An intriguing mix of history, personal anecdote and cutting-edge philosophy, carrying the reader aloft over a range of courses and discourses past and present … In Golf Ball, Brown has some fun with contemporary thinking whilst never getting too bogged down in the sand trap of theory … leaving us with some intriguing questions to ponder about the objects we use, lose and overlook every day. * Neil Fitzgerald, LapsedHermit.com *Golf Ball… begins with Harry Brown explaining how his object chose him. As an eight-year-old homegrown Heideggerian of a boy, he claims, he sliced a golf ball in two to inquire into its hardness. The book derives from this severing. It inhabits the ‘glimpse of internal structure’ that it offered, unfolding in two parts: ‘Out: Thing,’ and ‘In: Phenomenon.' -- Julian Yates * Los Angeles Review of Books *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Part One: Out: Thing 1. How I cut a golf ball in half, and found a lot of things inside 2. How the golf ball keeps holy the Lord's day 3. How an empire made the golf ball, and the golf ball made an empire 4. How the golf ball blew up America and made golf more fun 5. How the golf ball went ballistic 6. How the golf ball reached détente 7. How the court decided custody of the golf ball 8. How the golf ball became the #1 ball in golf 9. How the golf ball got so cool Part Two: In: Phenomenon 10. How the golf ball vanishes before your eyes 11. How the golf ball makes us feel fulfilled, for a millisecond 12. How to control the unruly golf ball 13. How to hit the golf ball by not hitting it 14. How the golf ball looks into the abyss, and the abyss looks back 15. How the golf ball won the Golden Fleece 16. How the golf ball went to the moon 17. How the golf ball makes friends with animals 18. How the golf ball prepares for doomsday Notes Index

    5 in stock

    £9.49

  • Phone Booth

    Bloomsbury Publishing Plc Phone Booth

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisObject Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things. The phone booth exists as a fond but distant memory for some people, and as a strange and dysfunctional waste of space for many more. Ariana Kelly approaches the phone booth as an entity that embodies diverse attitudes about privacy, freedom, power, sanctuary, and communication in its various forms all around the world. Through portrayals of phone booths in literature, film, personal narrative, philosophy, and religion, Phone Booth offers a definitive account of an object on the cusp of obsolescence. Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in The Atlantic.Trade ReviewAn entertaining and enlightening exploration of the cultural history of the phone booth and a lament for the loss of these spaces. * WPR: BETA *In this delightful set of mini-essays, Ariana Kelly has created a paen, rather than an elegy, in celebration of the many dimensions of the vanishing phone booth. Her text gleans images and sensations from our collective memory of the once (if briefly) ubiquitous structure. Site of superhero transformations, crimes, communications, quick changes, and other coins of the social realm, the phone booth and the kiosk served as small theaters of intimate activity in full view of the public eye, a curious combination of enclosed and exposed space. She shifts scale from the minutiae of physical observation—hanging wires and scratched glass—to the larger cultural issues of communication and longing, mixing personal experience with historical, literary, and film references throughout. * Johanna Drucker, Professor of Information Studies, University of California, Los Angeles, USA *Fascinated and attuned, I was cabled into Phone Booth. Ariana Kelly replenishes the work on speculative telephony in an altogether compelling way. * Avital Ronell, University Professor in the Humanities, New York University, USA, and author of The Telephone Book *[Phone Booth] inclines us towards nostalgia, toward urgent questions of what remains when objects disappear, of re-use, and shelter. If phone booths today have receded into the interstices of our built worlds… then that freeing of the object from its use enables Arianna Kelly to tell a different story, a story about what these telephonic leftovers might become, what they now are and what they anchor. -- Julian Yates * Los Angeles Review of Books *Table of Contents1. Disconnected 2. Hermit’s Hut 3. Our Speed 4. The Phantom Phone Booth 5. Say Anything 6. Fortress of Solitude 7. Significant Portals 8. A Fine and Private Place 9. Glass Case of Emotion 10. The God Booth 11. Only Connect Acknowledgements Notes Index

    1 in stock

    £9.49

  • Glass

    Bloomsbury Publishing Plc Glass

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisObject Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things. Pause and look around: you will see that you are surrounded by glass. It reflects and refracts light through your windows; it encircles a glowing filament above you; it’s in a mirror hanging on the wall; it lies shattered in a dented corner of an iPhone—you’re drinking water out of a pint glass. Taking up a most common object, rarely considered because assumed to be transparent, John Garrison draws evocative connections between historical depictions of glass and emerging visions that see it as holding a unique promise for new forms of interaction. Grounded in everyday examples, this book offers a series of surprising insights into how we increasingly find ourselves living in a world made of glass. Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in The Atlantic.Trade Review[Glass] distills the essence of a substance that offers itself as something to be looked through, giving a shine to its contents, and as something that occupies our view, as something we have to take note of and interact with. -- Julian Yates * Los Angeles Review of Books *[A] book that can be read in a fascinated hour, but will influence your reading and your looking for the next month. * Times Literary Supplement *This brilliant book takes us through the looking glass, allowing us to see an everyday material in a whole new light. Glass, no matter how transparent it may seem, is always coated with many layers of meaning. In this scintillating account, John Garrison shows how the cultural framing of glass has repeatedly opened windows to other worlds, from the microscopic depths to the far reaches of the cosmos, from the imagined futures of science fiction to the bizarro-worlds of our own bathroom mirrors. * Colin Milburn, Professor of English and Science and Technology Studies, University of California Davis, USA *Table of ContentsPreface “A Day Made of Glass” Macbeth Minority Report Microscopic Vision Telescopic Vision Earrings and Landscapes Photography Shakespeare’s Sonnets “Heart of Glass” Sea Glass Google Glass Trademark Microsoft HoloLens Strange Days A Glass, Darkly Surfaces “A World of Glass” Postscript: What’s in My Pocket? Further Reading Acknowledgements Notes Index

    1 in stock

    £9.49

  • Refrigerator

    Bloomsbury Publishing Plc Refrigerator

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisObject Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things. It may be responsible for a greater improvement in human diet and longevity than any other technology of the last two thousand years—but have you ever thought seriously about your refrigerator? That box humming in the background displays more than you might expect, even who you are and the society in which you live. Jonathan Rees examines the past, present, and future of the household refrigerator with the aim of preventing its users from ever taking it for granted again. No mere container for cold Cokes and celery stalks, the refrigerator acts as a mirror—and what it reflects is chilling indeed. Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in The Atlantic.Trade ReviewDoes life exist without refrigerators? For most of us, the answer is no. How this common kitchen appliance achieved its indispensable status in less than a century is an amazing tale filled with surprising twists and unexpected connections. Refrigerator is a delight to read. Bravo! * Andrew F. Smith, Editor-in-Chief of The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America *Allow Jonathan Rees to re-introduce you to the most underappreciated appliance in your kitchen: the refrigerator. Despite its recent and as yet patchy arrival on the world stage, the humble fridge has transformed how and what we eat, for better and for worse. This concise overview should be required reading for the 99.5 percent of Americans who own a refrigerator. * Nicola Twilley, author of Edible Geography and contributing writer at The New Yorker *Jonathan Rees’s Refrigerator offers a meticulously observed history of the ‘cold chain’ of industrialized food webs, explains how refrigeration works; and goes so far as to imagine life with and without it. Beyond this mini-historical account, the real heft to this title lies in the implied ecological impact of what doing without refrigeration might mean for those in the West for whom it has become taken for granted. -- Julian Yates * Los Angeles Review of Books *Object Lessons’ describes themselves as ‘short, beautiful books,’ and to that, I'll say, amen. … [I]t is in this simplicity that we find insight and even beauty. … In Refrigerator, historian Jonathan Rees asks us to look again at an object many of us take for granted as it hums away in our kitchens. When's the last time you looked at that thing? Did you contemplate how the refrigerator may have done more to extend the human lifespan than any other piece of technology? … If you read enough ‘Object Lessons’ books, you'll fill your head with plenty of trivia to amaze and annoy your friends and loved ones — caution recommended on pontificating on the objects surrounding you. More importantly, though, in the tradition of McPhee's Oranges, they inspire us to take a second look at parts of the everyday that we've taken for granted. These are not so much lessons about the objects themselves, but opportunities for self-reflection and storytelling. They remind us that we are surrounded by a wondrous world, as long as we care to look. * Chicago Tribune *Table of ContentsIntroduction Chapter One: How Refrigerators Work Chapter Two: How to Make Your Refrigerator Stand Out Chapter Three: Are the Benefits of Refrigeration Worth the Costs? Chapter Four: Waste and Wants Chapter Five: Freezing and Freezers Conclusion Notes Index

    1 in stock

    £9.49

  • Hotel

    Bloomsbury Publishing Plc Hotel

    5 in stock

    Book SynopsisObject Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things. During the breakdown of an unhappy marriage, writer Joanna Walsh got a job as a hotel reviewer, and began to gravitate towards places designed as alternatives to home. Luxury, sex, power, anonymity, privacy…hotels are where our desires go on holiday, but also places where our desires are shaped by the hard realities of the marketplace. Part memoir and part meditation, this book visits a series of rooms, suites, hallways, and lobbies—the spaces and things that make up these modern sites of gathering and alienation, hotels. Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in The Atlantic.Trade ReviewWalsh’s writing has intellectual rigour and bags of formal bravery ... Hotel is a boldly intellectual work that repays careful reading. Its semiotic wordplay, circling prose and experimental form may prove a refined taste, but in its deft delineation of a complex modern phenomenon — and, perhaps, a modern malaise — it’s a great success. * Financial Times *[A] slyly humorous and clever little book ... [Walsh moves] effortlessly and imaginatively from one thing to the next ... with utter conviction in each step. I loved Hotel and would read it again. -- Marina Benjamin * New Statesman *A slim, sharp meditation on hotels and desire. ... Walsh invokes everyone from Freud to Forster to Mae West to the Marx Brothers. She's funny throughout, even as she documents the dissolution of her marriage and the peculiar brand of alienation on offer in lavish place. * The Paris Review *Evocative ... Walsh's strange, probing book is all the more affecting for eschewing easy resolution. * Publishers Weekly *Joanna Walsh is fast becoming one of our most important writers. Hotel is a dazzling tour de force of embodied ideas. * Deborah Levy, author of Black Vodka *Subtle and intriguing, this small book is an adventure in form. Part meditation on hotels, it mingles autobiography and reflections on home, secrets, and partings. Freud, Dora, Heidegger, and the Marx Brothers all have their moments on its small, intensely evocative stage. * Lisa Appignanesi, author of Trials of Passion *Featured in The Literary Hub * The Literary Hub *[Walsh] is the author of a short book in Bloomsbury’s Object Lessons series called Hotel. With Heidegger, Freud, and Greta Garbo as touchpoints, the pieces use details from her job reviewing hotels and her unraveling marriage to meditate on desire, aphonia, immobility, and isolation. [T]he book is driven by an intense self-consciousness, but perhaps because it doesn’t need to make even a gesture toward fiction, there’s more linguistic play in here, more aphorisms you want to copy onto a postcard and send to your unhappiest smart friend. * Darcie Dennigan, The Rumpus *Walsh has been praised to the skies by Chris Kraus and Jeff Vandermeer, and it isn’t hard to see why. Her writing sways between the tense and the absurd, as if it’s hovering between this world and another. -- Jonathan Sturgeon * Flavorwire *Object Lessons is ‘an essay and book series on the hidden lives of everyday things’ which takes quotidian objects as a starting point for analysis. … Hotel joins other intriguing, minimalist non-fiction titles such as Remote Control, Silence, and Phone Booth. Part personal reflection, part semiotic and symbolic interrogation, Hotel takes on a playful format. ... Alongside the intelligent analysis and playful structure, Joanna Walsh captures something innately surreal and peculiar about hotels. * Glasgow Review of Books *Walsh brings together autobiographical experience and reflection ... [to] illuminate aspects of the experience of the hotel: from Freud to Groucho Marx, from Mae West to Heidegger. * Corriere della Sera (Bloomsbury translation) *Writer Joanna Walsh, after the collapse of her marriage, became a hotel reviewer. She recounts the experience of staying in and reviewing hotels in Hotel, published by Bloomsbury’s Object Lessons series. … The hotel stands in for what should be, or simply what was, but is no longer. ‘A hotel sets itself apart from home and, in doing so, proves rather than denies home’s existence,’ Walsh writes. Ruminating on what went wrong in her marriage, she realizes at its center is the idea of what makes something — or someone — a home. * Jessica Ferri, Barnes and Noble Review *It's a knock out. Completely engaging, juicy and dry—such a great book. * Chris Kraus, author of I Love Dick *Hotel, part of Bloomsbury’s Object Lessons series about “the hidden lives of ordinary things” (other books are about everything from dust to shipping containers and refrigerators)… is a clean, almost geometric work, the breakdown of the personal sphere encased in the sanitised environment of the hotel.… Such descriptions may make Walsh’s work seem overly theoretical, which would belie the pleasures that can be found in virtually every sentence. One of the singular joys in Walsh’s prose is how she questions and twists language systems until familiar words and expressions become uncanny, portals to a stranger world... * Agri Ismaïl, Minor Literature[s] *Object Lessons is ‘an essay and book series on the hidden lives of everyday things’ which takes quotidian objects as a starting point for analysis. … Hotel joins other intriguing, minimalist non-fiction titles such as Remote Control, Silence, and Phone Booth. Part personal reflection, part semiotic and symbolic interrogation, Hotel takes on a playful format. ... Alongside the intelligent analysis and playful structure, Joanna Walsh captures something innately surreal and peculiar about hotels. -- Laura Waddell * Glasgow Review of Books *…For all the apparent personal revelations, the bond we form with [Walsh’s] persona remains profoundly casual, bound only by the time and space delimited by the number of hours, days, and nights we spend with her Hotel. The book takes the form of a series of snatched conversations in and around hotels with characters fictionalized from Freud, the Marx Brothers, and the cast of Grand Hotel (1932). Walsh disappears or retreats into this series of disconnected texts, postcards, and overheard conversations. Ultimately the lesson resides in this combination of intimacy and distance, of narrative lack and narrative fantasy, as constituted by the hotel, an object, symbolized best by the revolving door of Grand Hotel. ‘Grand Hotel ... always the same,’ opines Dr. Otternschlag. ‘People come, people go. Nothing ever happens.’ -- Julian Yates * Los Angeles Review of Books *Part of Bloomsbury’s Object Lessons - a series of books about the hidden lives of ordinary things - Hotel by Joanna Walsh defies genre categories, much like Walsh herself. ... Just as Hotel defies genre in its moving between essay, meditation and memoir, its subtle and slippery content can’t be contained in a single review. Each reader will take something different from it, relate to a different experience or nod to a different allusion. Hotel is a clever little book that packs a punch, and Walsh is a writer whose sparse prose and contained voice endlessly surprises. -- Sian Norris * openDemocracy 50.50 Magazine *It feels like something you want to endlessly quote: sharp, knowing, casually erudite... there is power and an affecting gravitas in what Walsh does with detail. The actual operates in the book as lonely gesture, deprived of the clammy self-revelation that a lesser writer might emphasise in a desperate bid to hold the reader’s attention. Instead, we sift the fragments through other fragments: as sharp as her riffs on Freud and Heidegger are (and she’s calmly mocking and irreverent at times too, which helps) what a reader truly returns to is a more open, personal writing... It’s a formal victory, an accurate rendering of a scattered emotional state. -- Adam Rivett * Sydney Review of Books *Hotel … is essentially a memoir in the context of visits made to hotels by a reviewer who is at that time undergoing a personal marital breakdown. Many thoughts about the distinctions between hotel and home arise and are investigated, at the same time as an examination of Freudian theory. … These seemingly separate areas within the text of Hotel are blended together smoothly, to illuminate their connection, or sometimes are discordant and sharply juxtaposed. -- Jay Merill * Berfrois *Underneath Walsh’s clever wit and wordplay is a vein of melancholy that runs through the book. … Hotel…does not endeavor to explore all facets of hotel life. For instance, Walsh has little to say about hotel staff and writes sparingly about the decor; rather, she tells us what a hotel isn’t. Walsh mixes travel writing, pop culture, and personal narrative to great effect to underscore her own discontent. * San Diego City Beat *Object Lessons’ describes themselves as ‘short, beautiful books,’ and to that, I'll say, amen. … [I]t is in this simplicity that we find insight and even beauty. … Hotel by Joanna Walsh is essentially a memoir as she escapes to hotels as a way to avoid a failing marriage and contemplates who we are and what we do in these dwellings that are not ‘home.’ … If you read enough ‘Object Lessons’ books, you'll fill your head with plenty of trivia to amaze and annoy your friends and loved ones — caution recommended on pontificating on the objects surrounding you. More importantly, though, in the tradition of McPhee's Oranges, they inspire us to take a second look at parts of the everyday that we've taken for granted. These are not so much lessons about the objects themselves, but opportunities for self-reflection and storytelling. They remind us that we are surrounded by a wondrous world, as long as we care to look. * Chicago Tribune *Haunting and meditative: more about moods than about facts. * Book Riot *Table of ContentsPart I. Hotel Haunting 1. Hotel Haunting Part II. Fragments from a Hysterical Suitcase 2. Hotel Freud 3. Marriage Postcards 4. Hometel 5. Hotel Diary 6. In A German Pension 7. The Talking Cure 8. Hotel Marx 9. Postcards from 26 Hotels Notes Acknowledgements Index

    5 in stock

    £9.49

  • Drone

    Bloomsbury Publishing Plc Drone

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisObject Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things. Drones are in the newspaper, on the TV screen, swarming through the networks, and soon, we're told, they'll be delivering our shopping. But what are drones? The word encompasses everything from toys to weapons. And yet, as broadly defined as they are, the word “drone” fills many of us with a sense of technological dread. Adam Rothstein cuts through the mystery, the unknown, and the political posturing, and talks about what drones really are: what technologies are out there, and what’s coming next; how drones are talked about, and how they are represented in popular culture. It turns out that drones are not as scary as they appear—but they are more complicated than you might expect. Drones reveal the strange relationships that humans are forming with their new technologies. Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in The Atlantic.Trade ReviewAdam Rothstein’s primer on drones covers such themes … as the representation of drones in science fiction and popular culture. The technological aspects are covered in detail, and there is interesting discussion of the way in which our understanding of technology is grounded in historical narratives. As Rothstein writes, the attempt to draw a boundary between one technology and another often ignores the fact that new technologies are not quite as new as we think. * Times Literary Supplement (reviewed by Christopher Coker) *Readers interested in technology and/or warfare will very much enjoy reading Drone… Adam Rothstein did an admirable job, writing about every aspect of drones in detailed and organized fashion… [T]hose keenly interested in the subject will gobble this up. -- George Erdosh * San Francisco Book Review *[Rothstein's] book is a rich collection of vignettes about how to imagine and comprehend the drone ... [Drone] really excels in tackling the multiple meanings, symbols, and narratives attached to drones, all of which provide a bird’s eye view (drone’s eye view?) of the terrain of contemporary debate ... for those beginning a research project, or just the curious, this small book packs a big punch. -- Ian G. R. Shaw, University of Glasgow * Antipode *Adam Rothstein's Drone presents this iconic figure of contemporary warfare-the disconcertingly alluring autonomous airborne machine-through the lens of a different kind of history. Privacy and tracking algorithms run side by side with the ethics of self-guided munitions, activist political programs butt heads with emerging corporate business strategies, and all of it is tied back to the earliest experiments in driverless vehicles, quaint ancestors of today's over-mythologized UAVs. In the end, Rothstein's book is an exploration of technical agency: Where did drones come from-and what do they want? * Geoff Manaugh, Editor of Landscape Futures: Instruments, Devices and Architectural Inventions and Author of the website BLDGBLOG *This lucid, visionary work is as close as one can get to science fiction without the baggage of science and/or fiction. Adam Rothstein's Drone will be a wonderful cultural artifact in twenty years. It will be like a broken pomegranate of contemporary speculations and anxieties. * Bruce Sterling, Author of The Zenith Angle and Professor of Internet Studies and Science Fiction at the European Graduate School, Switzerland *Portland writer and artist Adam Rothstein’s contribution to Bloomsbury’s Object Lessons series digs into the history and meaning of autonomous aircraft—the ways they work, the tasks they perform, where they come from, and how the way we talk about them reflects the priorities and anxieties of our age. -- Ben Waterhouse * Oregon Humanities *Adam Rothstein’s Drone test[s] the water on what this technology might yet prove to be as it is successively explored and its limits and possibilities (military and civilian) discovered. What shall drones be? -- Julian Yates * Los Angeles Review of Books *Table of ContentsIntroduction Chapter One: Four Technology Stories Chapter Two: The Military Drone Chapter Three: The Commercial Drone (or the hole where it ought to be) Chapter Four: Blinking Lights Chapter Five: Software and Hardware Chapter Six: The Non-Drone Chapter Seven: What the Drone is For Chapter Eight: The Drone in Discourse Chapter Nine: Drone Fiction Chapter Ten: Ourselves and the Drone Chapter Eleven: Aesthetics of the Drone Chapter Twelve: The Drone as Meme List of Images Bibliography Notes

    1 in stock

    £9.49

  • Driver's License

    Bloomsbury Publishing Plc Driver's License

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisObject Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things. A classic teenage fetish object, the American driver’s license has long symbolized freedom and mobility in a nation whose design assumes car travel and whose vastness rivals continents. It is youth’s pass to regulated vice—cigarettes, bars, tattoo parlors, casinos, strip joints, music venues, guns. In its more recent history, the license has become increasingly associated with freedom’s flipside: screening. The airport’s heightened security checkpoint. Controversial ID voting laws. Federally mandated, anti-terrorist driver’s license re-designs. The driver’s license encapsulates the contradictory values and practices of contemporary American culture—freedom and security, mobility and checkpoints, self-definition and standardization, democracy and exclusion, superficiality and intimacy, the stable self and the self in flux. Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in The Atlantic.Trade ReviewRanging across the 20th century and between continents, Castile teaches a fundamental 'lesson' about the license: what's meant to fix an identity in fact generates competing meanings and values. Freedom and control, security and vulnerability, authenticity and fakery, youth and maturity. The book's Kerouacian opening and mix of pop culture references, personal anecdote, and philosophical musings invite attention to this overlooked but ever-present object. * Heather Houser, Assistant Professor of English, University of Texas at Austin, USA, and author of Ecosickness in Contemporary U.S. Fiction *In Driver’s License, Meredith Castile… draws six lessons: on national identity, on the culture of faked documents, on design, teen culture, identity, and civics. -- Julian Yates * Los Angeles Review of Books *Driver’s License is almost two short books in one. One part contains several personal stories, which evoke the much-mythologized independence of American teenagers now free to drive themselves. The other part becomes, like Hood, a condemnation of racial injustice. This section describes the de facto disenfranchisement of minority groups in the U.S. It explains how this disenfranchisement – not only when it comes to voting, but also for accessing basic social services – depends on the bureaucratic mechanics of the driver’s license and other forms of ID. Being undocumented or unable to afford driving lessons are just two of the obstacles to exercising full citizenship, and Driver’s License takes some interesting left turns to arrive at this message. Verdict: Buy. American culture so heavily fetishizes the car, yet the driver’s license is also hugely important to a sense of identity and possibility. * Book Riot *Table of ContentsAmerica Fake Design Teen Identity Civics

    1 in stock

    £9.49

  • Again, Dangerous Visions: Essays in Cultural

    Haymarket Books Again, Dangerous Visions: Essays in Cultural

    Out of stock

    Book SynopsisAgain, Dangerous Visions: Essays in Cultural Materialism brings together twenty-six essays charting the development of Andrew Milner's distinctively Orwellian version of cultural materialism between 1981 and 2015. The essays address three substantive areas: the sociology of literature, cultural materialism and the cultural politics of the New Left, and utopian and science fiction studies. They are bookended by two conversations between Milner and his editor J.R. Burgmann, the first looking back retrospectively on the development of Milner's thought, the second looking forward prospectively towards the future of academia, the political left and science fiction.Table of ContentsAcknowledgements List of Figures and Tables Introduction Andrew Milner and J.R. Burgmann: An Interview Part 1 Sociology of Literature1 Sociology and Literature 2 The "English" Ideology: Literary Criticism in England and Australia 3 The Protestant Epic and the Spirit of Capitalism 4 On the Beach: Apocalyptic Hedonism and the Origins of Postmodernism 5 Loose Canons and Fallen Angels 6 Dissenting, Plebeian, but Belonging, Nonetheless: Bourdieu and Williams 7 Deconstructing National Literature: Comparative Literature, Cultural Studies and Critical Theory 8 It's the Conscience Collective, Stupid: Philosophical Aesthetics and the Sociology of Art 9 Science Fiction and the Literary Field 10 World Systems and World Science Fiction Part 2 Cultural Materialism11 Considerations on English Marxism 12 Literature, History and Post-Althusserianism 13 The Revolutions in Favour of Capital14 Cultural Materialism, Culturalism and Post-Culturalism: The Legacy of Raymond Williams 15 Cultural Studies and Cultural Hegemony: Comparing Britain and Australia 16 Class and Cultural Production: The Intelligentsia as a Social Class 17 Left Out? Marxism, the New Left and Cultural Studies 18 From Media Imperialism to Semioterrorism Part 3 Science Fiction19 Utopia and Science Fiction in Raymond Williams 20 Darker Cities: Urban Dystopia and Science Fiction Cinema 21 Postmodern Gothic: Buffy, The X-Files and the Clinton Presidency 22 Framing Catastrophe: The Problem of Ending in Dystopian Fiction 23 Archaeologies of the Future: Jameson's Utopia or Orwell's Dystopia? 24 Time Travelling: Or, How (Not) to Periodise a Genre 25 The Sea and Eternal Summer: An Australian Apocalypse 26 Ice, Fire and Flood: Science Fiction and the Anthropocene Andrew Milner co-authored with J.R. Burgmann, Rjurik Davidson and Susan Cousin Conclusion: Towards 2050 Andrew Milner and J.R. Burgmann: A Dialogue Bibliography Index

    Out of stock

    £36.00

  • Honoring Ancestors in Sacred Space: The

    University Press of Florida Honoring Ancestors in Sacred Space: The

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisThroughout life black Africans in the Bahamas worked, voluntarily or not, and possessed material items of various degrees of importance to them and within their culture. St. Matthews was a cemetery in Nassau at the water's edge--or sometimes slightly below. This project emerged from archaeological excavations at this site to identify and recover materials associated with the interred before the area was completely developed. The area has been -collected- for decades--both professionally and by interested citizens, and Dr. Turner, a native Bahamian, coupled the results of her research excavations with the collections and archival material, to provide insight into the lives and deaths of the interred.

    1 in stock

    £63.75

  • Conspicuous Consumption in Africa

    Wits University Press Conspicuous Consumption in Africa

    15 in stock

    Book SynopsisFrom early department stores in Cape Town to gendered histories of sartorial success in urban Togo, contestations over expense accounts at an apartheid state enterprise, elite wealth and political corruption in Angola and Zambia, the role of popular religion in the political intransigence of Jacob Zuma, funerals of big men in Cameroon, youth cultures of consumption in Niger and South Africa, queer consumption in Cape Town, middle-class food consumption in Durban and the consumption of luxury handcrafted beads, this collection of essays explores the ways in which conspicuous consumption is foregrounded in various African contexts and historical moments.In 1899, Thorstein Veblen coined the phrase ‘conspicuous consumption’ to describe status-seeking in the obscenely unequal world of late-nineteenth century America. Many of the aspects he described in The Theory of the Leisure Class are still evident in our world today. While Veblen’s crude denunciation of material extravagance finds echoes in media exposés about the lifestyles of the rich worldwide, it is particularly recognisable in reporting on Africa. Here, images of conspicuous consumption have long circulated in local and global media as indictments of political corruption and signs of moral depravity.The essays in Conspicuous Consumption in Africa put Veblen’s concept under robust critical scrutiny, drawing on theorists like Mbembe, Guyer and Bayart by way of critique or addition. They delve into the pleasures, stresses and challenges of consuming in its religious, generational, gendered and racialised aspects, revealing conspicuous consumption as a layered set of practices, textures and relations. The authors resist the trap of easy moralisation, pointing to more complex ethical and political registers of analysis and judgement. This volume shows how central and revealing conspicuous consumption can be to fathoming the history of Africa’s projects of modernity, and their global lineages and legacies. In its grounded, up-close case studies, it is likely to feed into current public debates on the nature and future of African societies – South African society in particular.Trade ReviewThis fascinating, nuanced and persuasive volume combines sophisticated theoretical expositions with a high level of empirical inquiry. Taken together, the essays provide an important entry into the study of consumption in Africa, and indeed make a serious intervention into current socio-political concerns. — Robert Ross, Professor of African History Emeritus, Leiden University, the Netherlands. This volume offers a summary of the relevance of consumption as a terrain of meaningmaking to South African public debates. It will convince readers that much more is going on with consuming practices than the media sometimes solicits. In particular, it brings attention to an abiding tension in discussions around `consumption’: normative expectations of societal values entailed in such phenomenon as `conspicuous consumption’ are set against the symbolic practices illustrated through the performative, visual presentation of status (and claims and counterclaims to it). — Bridget Kenny, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of the Witwatersrand, JohannesburgTable of Contents Acknowledgements List of Illustrations Chapter 1 Thinking with Veblen: Case Studies from Africa’s Past and Present - Deborah Posel and Ilana van Wyk Chapter 2 Changes in the Order of Things: Department Stores and the Making of Modern Cape Town – Deborah Posel Chapter 3 Conspicuously Public: Gendered Histories of Sartorial and Social Success in Urban Togo – Nina Sylvanus Chapter 4 Etienne Rousseau, Broedertwis and the Politics of Consumption within Afrikanerdom – Stephen Sparks Chapter 5 Recycling Consumption: Political Power and Elite Wealth in Angola – Claudia Gastrow Chapter 6 Chiluba’s Trunks: Consumption, Excess and the Body Politic in Zambia – Karen Tranberg Hansen Chapter 7 Jacob Zuma’s Shamelessness: Conspicuous Consumption, Politics and Religion – Ilana van Wyk Chapter 8 Precarious ‘Bigness’: A ‘Big Man’, his Women and his Funeral in Cameroon – Rogers Orock Chapter 9 Young Men of Leisure? Youth, Conspicuous Consumption and the Performativity of Dress in Niger – Adeline Masquelier Chapter 10 Booty on Fire: Looking at Izikhothane with Thorstein Veblen – Jabulani G Mnisi Chapter 11 Conspicuous Queer Consumption: Emulation and Honour in the Pink Map – Bradley Rink Chapter 12 The Politics and Moral Economy of Middle-Class Consumption in South Africa – Sophie Chevalier Chapter 13 Marigold Beads: Who Needs Diamonds?! – Joni Brenner and Pamila Gupta Contributors Index

    15 in stock

    £27.00

  • Manuscripts and Printed Books in Europe

    Liverpool University Press Manuscripts and Printed Books in Europe

    15 in stock

    Book SynopsisThis collaborative collection considers the packaging, presentation and consumption of medieval manuscripts and early printed books in Europe 1350–1550. It showcases innovative research on the history of the book from a range of established and younger scholars from the US and Europe in the fields of English and French Studies, History, Music, and Art History. The collection falls naturally into three sections: • Packaging and Presentation: The physical context of the manuscript and printed book including its binding, visual presentation and internal organization • Consumers: Producers, Owners, and Readers • Consuming the Text: The experience of the audience(s) for books These three strands are interdependent, and highlight the materiality of the manuscript or printed book as a consumable, focusing on its ‘consumability’ in the sense of its packaging and presentation, its consumers, and on the act of consumption in the sense of reading and reception or literal decay.Trade ReviewReviews 'The individual essays are all very well contextualised within their own specific fields, and, significantly, they are aided very substantially by the construction of this volume... This book forms a very valuable contribution to current scholarship in the field of medieval and early modern book production, consumption and reception.'Elisabeth Salter, English Historical Review'This volume highlights the wealth of research output from a number of different fields, as well as the value of interdisciplinary collaboration in producing synergistic outcomes.'Erin Connelly, Nottingham Medieval StudiesTable of Contents Acknowledgements - Emma Cayley and Susan Powell Preface - Derek Pearsall List of Figures Section I: Packaging and Presentation: The Materiality of the Manuscript and Printed Book • Anne Marie Lane: ‘How can we Recognise “Contemporary” Bookbindings of the Fifteenth and early Sixteenth Centuries?’ • Matti Peikola: ‘Guidelines for Consumption: Scribal Ruling Patterns and Designing the mise-en-page in later Medieval England’ • Kate Maxwell: ‘The Order of the Lays in the “Odd” Machaut MS BnF fr. 9221(E)’ • Sonja Drimmer: ‘Picturing the King or Picturing the Saint: Two Miniature Programmes for John Lydgate’s Lives of SS Edmund and Fremund’ • Yvonne Rode: ‘Sixty-three Gallons of Books: Shipping Books to London in the Late Middle Ages’ Section II: Consumers: Producers, Owners, and Readers • Anna Lewis: ‘“But solid food is for the mature, who …have their senses trained to discern good and evil”: John Colop’s Book and the Spiritual Diet of the Discerning Lay Londoner’ • Anne Sutton: ‘The Acquisition and Disposal of Books for Worship and Pleasure by Mercers of London in the Later Middle Ages’ • Martha Driver: ‘“By Me Elysabeth Pykeryng”: Women and Printing in the Early Tudor Period’ • Shayne Husbands: ‘The Roxburghe Club: Consumption, Obsession and the Passion for Print’ Section III - Consuming the Text: Writing Consumption • Carrie Griffin: ‘Reconsidering the Recipe: Materiality, Narrative and Text in Later Medieval Instructional MSS and Collections’ • Anamaria Gellert: ‘Fools, “Folye” and Caxton’s Woodcut of the Pilgrims at Table’ • John B. Friedman: ‘Anxieties at Table: Food and Drink in Chaucer’s Fabliaux Tales and Heinrich Wittenwiler’s Der Ring’ • Mary Morse: ‘Alongside St. Margaret: The Childbirth Cult of SS Quiricus and Julitta in Late Medieval English Manuscripts’ • Emma Cayley: ‘Consuming the Text: Pulephilia in Fifteenth-Century French Debate Poetry’ Notes Bibliography Index

    15 in stock

    £29.99

  • From Antiquities to Heritage: Transformations of

    Berghahn Books From Antiquities to Heritage: Transformations of

    Out of stock

    Book Synopsis Eighteenth-century gentleman scholars collected antiquities. Nineteenth-century nation states built museums to preserve their historical monuments. In the present world, heritage is a global concern as well as an issue of identity politics. What does it mean when runic stones or medieval churches are transformed from antiquities to monuments to heritage sites? This book argues that the transformations concern more than words alone: They reflect fundamental changes in the way we experience the past, and the way historical objects are assigned meaning and value in the present. This book presents a series of cases from Norwegian culture to explore how historical objects and sites have changed in meaning over time. It contributes to the contemporary debates over collective memory and cultural heritage as well to our knowledge about early modern antiquarianism.Trade Review ‘"The case studies supply the overall argument with a desirable empirical specificity; they deepen and enrich it, while they at the same time challenge common generalizations, current theories and habitual ways of thinking. This works on two parallel levels: the empirical cases are lifted out of their immediate contexts and used to examine and discuss theoretical arguments, and then carried back to shed new light on their historical settings." · Nordic Museology “Eriksen is a lucid writer. Her case studies are highly informative and reveal a detailed knowledge of Norway’s past that few scholars could match.“ · Museum Anthropology “…a very important book on the difference between antiquities and heritage and the different sense of time, history, and chronology involved.” · Lynn A. Hunt, UCLA “The author succeeds in bridging the gap between the history of antiquarianism and the present field of heritage studies... explain[ing]...the transformation of the relations to time from the 18th century up to the present…There is a good balance between the empirical part of the enquiry and its theoretical dimension.” · François Hartog, EHESS, Paris “It is a very sophisticated and well written manuscript on an important topic within the humanities.” · Birgitta Svensson, Stockholm UniversityTable of Contents Acknowledgements Introduction Research Questions and Perspectives Between Heritage Studies and Antiquarianism The Scope and Content of the Book Chapter 1. Heritage and Cultural Memory Regimes of Historicity The Cult of Monuments Chapter 2. In Search of Ancient Heroes Topographies and the Space of Experience What’s in a Name? The Implications of Space Hallingdal and Thrace A Familiar Realm Chapter 3. Antiquarianism and Epistemic Virtue Facts from Stones From Mortar to Grammar Epistemic Virtues Schøning, the Historian Chapter 4. Ruins and Time Rudera: Decay, Vestiges and Remains Ruin Romanticism Sensibility and National Glory Chapter 5. Mediaeval Monuments The Discovery of the Stave Churches Material Evidence – a New Approach J.S. Dahl and the Society for the Preservation of Norwegian Ancient Monuments History and the Nation A Change of Regimes? Chapter 6. Museums to Preserve Our Past Systems, Specimens and Antiquities National Awakening Between Temporality and Topography Conflicts and Invisibilities Museums and History Chapter 7. Monuments and Memorials From Royal Glory to Civic Virtue Standing Stones and Universal Values All of Us – Resistance as a Collective Project Time Witnesses At the Museum Chapter 8. Cultural Property, Cultural Heritage Bring Him Home! From Property to Heritage Unique, but Not Particular Chapter 9. Heritage Today Cultural Heritage in the Age of Digitalisation – Heritage Year 2009 The Heritage of Everyday Life Doing Heritage From Change to Choice – by Way of a Conclusion References Index

    Out of stock

    £89.10

  • Vehicles: Cars, Canoes, and Other Metaphors of

    Berghahn Books Vehicles: Cars, Canoes, and Other Metaphors of

    Out of stock

    Book Synopsis Metaphor, as an act of human fancy, combines ideas in improbable ways to sharpen meanings of life and experience. Theoretically, this arises from an association between a sign—for example, a cattle car—and its referent, the Holocaust. These “sign-vehicles” serve as modes of semiotic transportation through conceptual space. Likewise, on-the-ground vehicles can be rich metaphors for the moral imagination. Following on this insight, Vehicles presents a collection of ethnographic essays on the metaphoric significance of vehicles in different cultures. Analyses include canoes in Papua New Guinea, pedestrians and airplanes in North America, lowriders among Mexican-Americans, and cars in contemporary China, Japan, and Eastern Europe, as well as among African-Americans in the South. Vehicles not only “carry people around,” but also “carry” how they are understood in relation to the dynamics of culture, politics and history.Trade Review “The essays in this collection offer fresh perspectives on the social role of transportation. I appreciated the weight given to Pacific cultures, which are not as common in conversations about mobility writ large. Though they do undoubtedly use anthropological methods and ask anthropological questions, they also model innovative ways for discussing how technologies enable their drivers and passengers to engage in an embodied relationship to the past.” · Technology and Culture “…the book succeeds in demonstrating that vehicles of all sorts may powerfully affect our ways of looking at the world, even as they help us travel through it.” · Transfers “This edited volume compiles a set of original ethno-graphic case studies focusing on the diverse ways vehicles that convey people through geospatial territory and also convey metaphorical meanings and constructions of the moral…while there has been plenty of attention given to what vehicles signify, there has been little given to how vehicles signify, which is precisely where this book.” · Anthropos “This volume, Vehicles, is exceptionally important not only for anthropology but for other scientific fields as well. It addresses a core human activity, driving, which appears likely to become a relic of, primarily, the 20th century.” · Anthropological Notebooks “This book offers ethnographic journeys into the daily work of cultural imaginations by giving attention to what is generally neglected: their vehicles. Not only functional supports or futile material dresses, cars, boats or planes are here delightedly addressed as morale-boosting devices engaged in situated social relations… These essays show that vehicular units are always participation units—they are always vernacular units of cultural agency.” · Pierre Lanoy, Université Libre de Bruxelles “…An excellent and original volume, a fine example of what comparative anthropology can achieve. Furthermore, in addition to its main topic and objectives (about particular metaphors, what they ‘do’ and how they ‘work’), it addresses key issues in the study of objects, material culture, and techniques, namely the involvement of materiality in non-verbal communication.” · Pierre Lemonnier, Université d'Aix-MarseilleTable of Contents List of Figures Acknowledgements Introduction: Charon's Boat and Other Vehicles of Moral Imagination David Lipset PART I: PERSONS AS VEHICLES Chapter 1. Living Canoes: Vehicles of Moral Imagination among the Murik of Papua New Guinea David Lipset Chapter 2. Cars, Persons, and Streets: Erving Goffman and the Analysis of Traffic Rules Richard Handler PART II: VEHICLES AS GENDERED PERSONS Chapter 3. "It's Not an Airplane, It's My Baby": Using a Gender Metaphor to Make Sense of Old Warplanes in North America Kent Wayland Chapter 4. Is Female to Male as Lightweight Cars Are to Sports Cars?: Gender Metaphors and Cognitive Schemas in Recessionary Japan Joshua Hotaka Roth PART III: EQUIVOCAL VEHICLES Chapter 5. Little Cars that Make Us Cry: Yugoslav Fića as a Vehicle for Social Commentary and Ritual Restoration of Innocence Marko Živković Chapter 6. “Let’s Go F.B.!”: Metaphors of Cars and Corruption in China Beth E. Notar Chapter 7. Barrio Metaxis: Ambivalent Aesthetics in Mexican American Lowrider Cars Ben Chappell Chapter 8. Driving into the Light: Traversing Life and Death in a Lynching Reenactment by African-Americans Mark Auslander Afterword: Quo Vadis? James W. Fernandez Notes on Contributors Index

    Out of stock

    £89.10

  • Talking Stones: The Politics of Memorialization

    Berghahn Books Talking Stones: The Politics of Memorialization

    Out of stock

    Book Synopsis If memory was simply about past events, public authorities would never put their ever-shrinking budgets at its service. Rather, memory is actually about the present moment, as Pierre Nora puts it: “Through the past, we venerate above all ourselves.” This book examines how collective memory and material culture are used to support present political and ideological needs in contemporary society. Using the memorialization of the Troubles in contemporary Northern Ireland as a case study, this book investigates how non-state, often proscribed, organizations have filled a societal vacuum in the creation of public memorials. In particular, these groups have sifted through the past to propose “official” collective narratives of national identification, historical legitimation, and moral justifications for violence.Trade Review “Viggiani’s text is a thorough examination of many of the iconic artefacts of a forty-year-long conflict that has shaped the politics and memories of generations of people from all sides of The Troubles. In addition to her text, she has developed an extensive website which more fully examines the quantitative data she has collected… her work will not only add to the compendium of extant work but expand our existing knowledge on memorialization in areas of conflict and recovery.” ·Journal of Anthropological Research “This is an excellent book that makes a major contribution by presenting the most comprehensive study yet written on the meaning and significance, past and present, of the ubiquitous political memorials that mark the urban terrain of one of the most famously politically divided cities in the world.” · CritCom – Council for European Studies “Viggiani successfully chronicles both intergroup and intragroup forces and rivalries, while also exploring the makers and receivers of the emplaced narratives produced by multiple actors. The book is a valuable contribution to the anthropology of memory and of materiality, and it is also a timely reminder of the presence and prominence of substate and non-state agents in a world where it is often still assumed that states have a monopoly not only on power but on knowledge.” · Anthropology Review Database “This is an excellent piece of work, one of the best of its kind. The ethnographic approach, with the actual testimonies, is very well done.” · Jack Santino, Bowling Green State University “This is an excellent account of the reproduction of collective memory and its associated narratives. It delves into the nature and construction of memory and the related forms of propaganda and myth making therein. The inquiry into the construction of memorialization is vital for any scholar of divided societies, nation-building and community construction. The book is important in that it not only describes the processes of such construction but also pinpoints an analysis of the interpretation of meaning.” · Peter Shirlow, Queen’s University BelfastTable of Contents List of Figures List of Tables Foreword by Hastings Donnan Acknowledgments List of Abbreviations Introduction: Memorials as Silent Extras or Scripted Actors? Book Outline Chapter 1. Collective Memory and the Politics of Memorialisation: a Theoretical Overview Memory in the Social World: Collectiveness versus Individuality The Shaping of Collective Memory: Present versus Past Lieux de Mémoireas Conveyors of Social Memory Politicised Remembering: the Nexus between Memory and Power The Politics of War Memory and Commemoration The Memory Makers and the Projection of Narratives about the Past Methodological Framework Database of Memorials Survey of Local Population Interviews Commemorations Chapter 2. The Armalite and the Paintbrush: a Brief History of Memorialization of the Troubles in Northern Ireland Commemorating during the Troubles Funerals and Communal Burials Annual Commemorations The Mural Painting Tradition in Northern Ireland The Early Years Armed Struggle and Party-political Murals Post-ceasefire and Peace Process Murals The 1998 Agreement and the ‘Boom’ of Permanent Memorialization Post-Agreement Murals Permanent Memorials Memorials to Paramilitary Combatants Memorials to Civilian Casualties Memorials to Security Forces Memorials in Government Buildings, Party Offices, Workplaces and Churches Commemorative Banners and Memorial Bands Memorial Publications, Commemorative Pamphlets and Oral History Projects Memorial Prizes, Awards and Trophies Post-conflict Commemorations Peace or Cross-community Memorials Chapter 3. The ‘Landscape of Memorialization’ in Belfast: Spatial and Temporal Reflections ‘New’ Cultural Geography and the Concept of Landscape as ‘Text’ Belfast and the Ethnicization of Space The Spatial Dimension of Memorialization Memorials as Territorial Markers Memorials as Aide-Mémoires Memorials as Sacred Places The Temporal Dimension of Memorialization Memorials: End of the War or Continuation through Different Means? Memorials: still here or never again? Memorials as Identity ‘Crutches’ Chapter 4. The ‘Memory Makers’ and the Projection of Narratives of the Troubles Individual ‘Stories’ versus the Collective ‘History’ of the Troubles: the Power of the Narrative Republican and Loyalist Memorials: the Projection of Opposing Narratives of The Troubles Two Imagined Communities: Creating a Symbolic National Identification Cherry-picking from History: Opposing Versions of a Shared Past Ancestries of Resistance: Manufacturing Genealogies Forgetting to Remember: Social Amnesia and Euphemization Delegitimizing the Enemy: Demonization and Stigmatization Talkative Dead Bodies: the Politics of Commemorations Chapter 5. The Clonard Martyrs Memorial Garden: Constructing a Dominant Republican Narrative The 1998 Agreement and the Prisoners’ ‘Issue’: the Formation of Ex-prisoners’ Groups The Greater Clonard Ex-Prisoners’ Association Enlisting the ‘Unsung Heroes’ in the Republican Narrative: Local History and Memorial Projects The Clonard Martyrs Memorial GardeN Planning Permission and Relationship with Local Authorities Funding, Building Materials and Manpower Construction of a Successful Dominant Narrative: Iconography, Language and Historical Selection Perpetuating Collective Memory: Periodic cCommemorations in Clonard Chapter 6. The IRSP/INLA Teach Na Fáilte Memorial Committee: Constructing a Sectional Republican Narrative The IRSP/INLA Teach Na Fáilte Memorial Committee Reclaiming a Place in History for the INLA: the 1981 Hunger Strike Advancing a Sectional Narrative of the Troubles: the Belfast Teach Na Fáilte’s Memorial Programme Unveiling ceremonies Provisional Republican and Republican Socialist Commemorations Opposing the Dominant Republican Narrative: Post-1998 Republican Socialist Rhetoric Chapter 7. The 1913 UVF and the Myth of the Somme: Constructing a Loyalist ‘Golden Age’ ‘Lest We Forget’: Loyalist Landscape of Memorialization ‘From the Battlefields of the Somme to the Barricades of the Shankill’: Borrowing Legitimacy Mainstream Unionism, Republicanism and the Modern UVF Narrative Disraeli Street: an Iconic Cluster of Memory Loyalist Commemorations in Memory of Paramilitary Casualties Changing with the History Tune: the Evolution of the UVF Narrative Chapter 8. The UDA Sandy Row Memorial Garden: Attempting a Narrative of Symbolic Accretion ‘You Are now Entering Loyalist Sandy Row’ Tiptoeing through History in Search of Illustrious ‘Forefathers’ The Sandy Row Memorial Garden: Attempting to Appropriate the Myth of the Somme Lay Out and Iconography Role of Families in the Memorial Process Remembrance Day ‘What the World Needs now Is Love, Sweet love’: 2007 UDA Remembrance Sunday ‘Awakening the Sleeping Giant’: Macro and Micropolitics at Commemorations Chapter 9. Dissecting Consensus: Memory Receivers and the Narrative’s ‘Hidden Transcript’ Paramilitary Groups and Local Communities: a Complex Relationship Coexisting in Ambivalence: Memorials and Local Residents Consultation and ‘Ownership’ Cohabiting the Same Space Reasons behind Memorialization Social Memory Territorialization Historical Change Politico-ideological Exercise Chapter 10. The Memory of the Dead: Seeking Common Ground? At Last, a Common Ground in Northern Ireland? Appendix A: List of Memorials Appendix B: Emblems and Flags Bibliography Index

    Out of stock

    £89.10

  • Objects and Imagination: Perspectives on

    Berghahn Books Objects and Imagination: Perspectives on

    Out of stock

    Book Synopsis Despite the wide interest in material culture, art, and aesthetics, few studies have considered them in light of the importance of the social imagination - the complex ways in which we conceptualize our social surroundings. This collection engages the “material turn” in the arts, humanities, and social sciences through a range of original contributions on creativity in diverse global and contemporary social settings. The authors engage with everyday objects, art, rituals, and ethnographic exhibitions to analyze the relationship between material culture and the social imagination. What results is a better understanding of how the material embodies and influences our idea of the social world.Trade Review “In this volume, Fuglerud and Wainwright and their contributors break new theoretical ground in the study of human-object relationships in a synthesis of ideational and material studies. The new material perspective of Objects and Imagination succeeds in synthesizing physical and ideational perspectives with a collection of ethnographic studies grounded in social imaginaries which lays new foundations for the study of human-object relations.” · Anthropological Forum “All in all, Objects and Imagination is a compelling collection of perspectives and understandings of the relationships between humans and objects that accounts for both materiality and collective imaginaries.” · Social Anthropology “The volume offers a valuable new addition to recent publications on material culture by introducing the concept of the imaginary as a framework for the study of objects…With a variety of case studies in different regional settings it deals with the ‘enchantment of materiality’ (Naguib in the volume), the meaningfulness of objects, their sensual and emotional capacities, and the negotiation of value in their representation or movement across cultural regimes.” · Barbara Plankensteiner, Weltmuseum WienTable of Contents List of Illustrations Introduction Øivind Fuglerud & Leon Wainwright PART I: MUSEUMS Chapter 1. Contemporary Iroquois Art between Ethnographic Museum, Art Gallery and Global Market Place: Reflections on the Politics of Identity and Representation Sylvia S. Kasprycki Chapter 2. De-connecting Relations: Exhibitions and Objects as Resistance Peter Bjerregaard Chapter 3. Materializing Islam and the Imaginary of Sacred Space Saphinaz-Amal Naguib PART II: PRESENCE Chapter 4. Visible While Away: Migration, Personhood and the Movement of Money amongst the Mbuke of Papua New Guinea Anders Emil Rasmussen Chapter 5. Being there while Being here: Long-distance Aesthetics and Sensations in Tamil National Rituals Stine Bruland Chapter 6. Food Presentations Moving Overseas: Ritual Aesthetics and Everyday Sociality in Tonga and among Tongan Migrants Arne Aleksej Perminow Chapter 7. Imaginations at War: The Ephemeral and the Fullness of Life in Southwest China Katherine Swancutt Chapter 8. How Pictures Matter. Religious Objects and the Imagination in Ghana Birgit Meyer PART III: ART Chapter 9. Art as Empathy: Imaging Transfers of Meaning and Emotion in Urban Aboriginal Australia Fiona Magowan Chapter 10. Transvisionary Imaginations: Artistic Subjectivity and Creativity in Tamil Nadu Amit Desai and Maruška Svašek Chapter 11. An Indian Cocktail of Value/s and Desire: On the ‘Artification’ of Whisky and Fashion Tereza Kuldova Notes on Contributors Index

    Out of stock

    £89.10

  • Objects and Imagination: Perspectives on

    Berghahn Books Objects and Imagination: Perspectives on

    Out of stock

    Book Synopsis Despite the wide interest in material culture, art, and aesthetics, few studies have considered them in light of the importance of the social imagination - the complex ways in which we conceptualize our social surroundings. This collection engages the “material turn” in the arts, humanities, and social sciences through a range of original contributions on creativity in diverse global and contemporary social settings. The authors engage with everyday objects, art, rituals, and ethnographic exhibitions to analyze the relationship between material culture and the social imagination. What results is a better understanding of how the material embodies and influences our idea of the social world.Trade Review “In this volume, Fuglerud and Wainwright and their contributors break new theoretical ground in the study of human-object relationships in a synthesis of ideational and material studies. The new material perspective of Objects and Imagination succeeds in synthesizing physical and ideational perspectives with a collection of ethnographic studies grounded in social imaginaries which lays new foundations for the study of human-object relations.” · Anthropological Forum “All in all, Objects and Imagination is a compelling collection of perspectives and understandings of the relationships between humans and objects that accounts for both materiality and collective imaginaries.” · Social Anthropology “The volume offers a valuable new addition to recent publications on material culture by introducing the concept of the imaginary as a framework for the study of objects…With a variety of case studies in different regional settings it deals with the ‘enchantment of materiality’ (Naguib in the volume), the meaningfulness of objects, their sensual and emotional capacities, and the negotiation of value in their representation or movement across cultural regimes.” · Barbara Plankensteiner, Weltmuseum WienTable of Contents List of Illustrations Introduction Øivind Fuglerud & Leon Wainwright PART I: MUSEUMS Chapter 1. Contemporary Iroquois Art between Ethnographic Museum, Art Gallery and Global Market Place: Reflections on the Politics of Identity and Representation Sylvia S. Kasprycki Chapter 2. De-connecting Relations: Exhibitions and Objects as Resistance Peter Bjerregaard Chapter 3. Materializing Islam and the Imaginary of Sacred Space Saphinaz-Amal Naguib PART II: PRESENCE Chapter 4. Visible While Away: Migration, Personhood and the Movement of Money amongst the Mbuke of Papua New Guinea Anders Emil Rasmussen Chapter 5. Being there while Being here: Long-distance Aesthetics and Sensations in Tamil National Rituals Stine Bruland Chapter 6. Food Presentations Moving Overseas: Ritual Aesthetics and Everyday Sociality in Tonga and among Tongan Migrants Arne Aleksej Perminow Chapter 7. Imaginations at War: The Ephemeral and the Fullness of Life in Southwest China Katherine Swancutt Chapter 8. How Pictures Matter. Religious Objects and the Imagination in Ghana Birgit Meyer PART III: ART Chapter 9. Art as Empathy: Imaging Transfers of Meaning and Emotion in Urban Aboriginal Australia Fiona Magowan Chapter 10. Transvisionary Imaginations: Artistic Subjectivity and Creativity in Tamil Nadu Amit Desai and Maruška Svašek Chapter 11. An Indian Cocktail of Value/s and Desire: On the ‘Artification’ of Whisky and Fashion Tereza Kuldova Notes on Contributors Index

    Out of stock

    £26.55

  • Distributed Objects: Meaning and Mattering after

    Berghahn Books Distributed Objects: Meaning and Mattering after

    Out of stock

    Book Synopsis One of the most influential anthropological works of the last two decades, Alfred Gell’s Art and Agency is a provocative and ambitious work that both challenged and reshaped anthropological understandings of art, agency, creativity and the social. It has become a touchstone in contemporary artifact-based scholarship. This volume brings together leading anthropologists, archaeologists, art historians and other scholars into an interdisciplinary dialogue with Art and Agency, generating a timely re-engagement with the themes, issues and arguments at the heart of Gell’s work, which remains salient, and controversial, in the social sciences and humanities. Extending his theory into new territory – from music to literary technology and ontology to technological change – the contributors do not simply take stock, but also provoke, critically reassessing this important work while using it to challenge conceptual and disciplinary boundaries.Trade Review “…profound scholarly reflections on the distributed effects of Alfred Gell’s endeavor to identify an anthropological theory of …a captivating pendant piece to Gell’s original publication. Itis not meant as a guidebook to understanding Gell’s work; rather it is a collection of complex studies that capture distinct engagements with Gell’s ideas around an anthropology of art.“ · Material World “Chua and Elliott have pulled together an excellent volume to address a real problem in the interdisciplinary discussions of art… While I think the volume is most useful for those teaching arts-oriented disciplines, it is also a valuable volume for those thinking through curatorial choices in regard to ethnographic and art objects.” · Museum AnthropologyTable of Contents List of Illustrations Preface List of Contributors Introduction: Adventures in the Art Nexus Liana Chua and Mark Elliott Chapter 1. Threads of Thought: Reflections on Art and Agency Susanne Küchler Chapter 2. Technologies of Routine and Enchantment Chris Gosden Chapter 3. Figuring out Death: Sculpture and Agency at the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus and the Tomb of the First Emperor of China Jeremy Tanner Chapter 4. The Network of Standard Stoppages Alfred Gell Chapter 5. Gell’s Duchamp/Duchamp’s Gell Simon Dell Chapter 6. Music: Ontology, Agency, Creativity Georgina Born Chapter 7. Literary Art and Agency? Gell and the Magic of the Early Modern Book Warren Boutcher Chapter 8. Art, Performance and Time¹s Presence: Reflections on Temporality in Art and Agency Eric Hirsch Chapter 9. Epilogue Nicholas Thomas Bibliography Index

    Out of stock

    £26.55

  • Ephemeral Print Culture in Early Modern England:

    Boydell & Brewer Ltd Ephemeral Print Culture in Early Modern England:

    15 in stock

    Book SynopsisUses the collections of ephemera popular in the late seventeenth century as a way to understand the reading habits, publishing strategies and thought processes of late Stuart print culture. Cheap' genres of print such as ballads, almanacs and playing cards were part of everyday life in seventeenth-century society - ubiquitous and disposable. Toward the end of the century, however, individuals began to preserve, arrange and display articles of cheap print within carefully curated collections. What motivated this sudden urge to preserve the ephemeral? This book answers that question by analysing the social, political and intellectual factors behind the formation of cheap print collections, how these collections were used by their owners, and what this activity can tell us about 'print culture' in the early modern period. The book's central collector is John Bagford (1650-1715), a shoemaker who became a dealer of prints and other 'curiosities' to important collectors of the time such as Samuel Pepys, Hans Sloane and Robert Harley. Bagford's own rich and largely unstudied collection is afascinating study in its own right and his position at the centre of commercial and intellectual networks opens up a whole world of collecting. This world encompasses later Stuart partisan political culture, when modern parties and the 'public sphere' first emerged; the 'New Science' and 'virtuoso culture' with its milieu of natural philosophers, antiquaries and artisans; the aural and visual landscape of marketplaces, streets and alehouses; and developing practices of record-keeping, life-writing and historical writing during the long eighteenth century.Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Acknowledgements Note on Conventions List of Abbreviations Introduction 1. Tradesmen, Collecting Networks and Curious Ephemera 2. Visual Culture, Medleys and Partisanship 3. Popular Politics, Ballads and the Tragic Revolution 4. Historical Collections, Impartiality and Antiquarian Nostalgia 5. Advertisements, Life-Writing and Scrapbooks Conclusion Bibliography Index

    15 in stock

    £80.75

  • The Royal Workshops of the Alhambra: Industrial

    Boydell & Brewer Ltd The Royal Workshops of the Alhambra: Industrial

    Out of stock

    Book SynopsisThe Alhambra is one of the most famous archaeological sites worldwide, yet knowledge of it remains very partial, focussing on the medieval palaces. This book addresses that imbalance, examining the adjacent urban and industrial zone. The Alhambra is one of the most famous archaeological sites worldwide, yet knowledge of the complex remains very partial, focussing on its medieval Nasrid palaces. Other aspects of the site are virtually unknown, not only to the general public but to archaeologists and historians as well. The Royal Workshops of the Almambra addresses this imbalance, examining the urban and industrial zone adjacent to the palaces. Once the most densely populated and extensive area of the complex, this zone, the Secano, contained houses, tanneries, and workshops including a considerable number of pyrotechnological facilities for the production of metal, glass and ceramic items. Presenting the results of the Royal Workshops of the Alhambra (UNESCO World Heritage Site) project, the book gives a much-needed insight into the industrial sector of the Alhambra. Crucially, the project focusses on the early modern era, when the manufacture of ceramic, glass and metal actually reached their peak. The opening chapters set the archaeological work and the Secano in context and discuss the methodology for archaeological investigation of pyrotechnological activity; while further chapters present the results of the research. Drawing on both traditional and ground-breaking survey and excavation techniques, the book provides an invaluable wide-lens picture of the palatial city.Table of ContentsList of Illustrations List of Contributors Foreword. Jesús Bermúdez López Introduction. Alberto García Porras & Chloë N. Duckworth Chapter 1. The Secano: the city of the Alhambra. María del Carmen Jiménez Roldán Chapter 2. A holistic and reflexive methodology for the archaeological investigation of pyrotechnological activity in the Alhambra. David J. Govantes-Edwards, Alberto García Porras, Chloë N. Duckworth & Eleonora Montanari Chapter 3. The modern kilns. José Manuel Ríos Jiménez & Miguel Busto Zapico Chapter 4. Geophysical and geochemical exploration of the industrial areas in the Alhambra. Kate Welham, Derek Pitman, Hayden Scott-Pratt, Josie Hagan, Chris Casswell, Ashley Green, Chloë N. Duckworth & Eleonora Montanari Chapter 5. The excavation of the area of the Secano in the Alhambra: Trench 1. Moisés Alonso Valladares & Alberto García Porras Chapter 6. The excavation of the area of the Secano in the Alhambra: Trench 2. Ben Moore & Eleonora Montanari Chapter 7. The pottery. Laura Martín Ramos, María José Peregrina Sánchez & Saúl Guerrero Rivero Chapter 8. Glass in the excavation of the Secano, the Alhambra. Almudena Velo Gala, Chloë N. Duckworth & David J. Govantes-Edwards Chapter 9. Furnaces at full blast: the demand for architectural ceramics for construction in the Alhambra (16th and 17th centuries). María Elena Díez Jorge Conclusions. Contributors

    Out of stock

    £40.50

  • A Cultural History of the Ottomans: The Imperial

    Bloomsbury Publishing PLC A Cultural History of the Ottomans: The Imperial

    Out of stock

    Book SynopsisFar from simply being a centre of military and economic activity, the Ottoman Empire represented a vivid and flourishing cultural realm. The artefacts and objects that remain from all corners of this vast empire illustrate the real and everyday concerns of its subjects and elites and, with this in mind, Suraiya Faroqhi, one of the most distinguished Ottomanists of her generation, has selected 40 of the most revealing, surprising and striking.Each image - reproduced in full colour - is deftly linked to the latest historiography, and the social, political and economic implications of her selections are never forgotten. In Faroqhi's hands, the objects become ways to learn more about trade, gender and socio-political status and open an enticing window onto the variety and colour of everyday life, from the Sultan's court, to the peasantry and slavery. Amongst its faiences and etchings and its sofras and carpets, A Cultural History of the Ottomans is essential reading for all those interested in the Ottoman Empire and its material culture. Faroqhi here provides the definitive insight into the luxuriant and varied artefacts of Ottoman world.Trade ReviewSurayia Faroqhi, ottomanista affermata e attenta ai molteplici aspetti dell’artigianato, delle corporazioni e dei consumi in quel mondo articolato che è stato l’impero ottomano, ritorna con questa “Cultural history of the Ottomans…” sull’argomento, guardando soprattutto alla cultura materiale, affrontata in un rapporto costante con la storia economica, le relazioni internazionali, il mondo dell’arte e la storia della mentalità. La prima considerazione è che ci si trova di fronte a un contesto, quello ottomano, che non si è confrontato solo con l’Europa – in ciò che transfer tecnologico, apparato manifatturiero e correnti artistiche avevano rappresentato – ma ha guardato in molteplici direzioni, non ultimo quel mondo orientale che sicuramente per arti e tecniche non era stato certo inferiore al modello occidentale. L’impero ottomano era stato dunque in grado non solo di mediare tra influssi intercontinentali complessi ma anche, secondo le conclusioni della Faroqhi, di sottolineare la propria originalità. Certamente l’Autrice riconosce che in alcuni ambiti, come l’arte della stampa e la diffusione del libro, l’Occidente avrebbe rappresentato un esempio non sempre seguito dal mondo islamico, un aspetto questo che avrebbe giocato negativamente in un successivo confronto rispetto al mondo occidentale e a una successiva “affermazione” economica e istituzionale di quest’ultimo. E’ altrettanto vero però che l’articolata produzione di beni di lusso orientali (tappeti ottomani e persiani, seterie e porcellane cinesi, cotoni indiani, lavorazioni del cuoio e delle armi) aveva sicuramente rappresentato una corrente economica e artistica a cui il mercato europeo aveva costantemente guardato. Una dovuta attenzione è rivolta ai rapporti veneto-ottomani (considerati in uno scambio pressoché paritario sia sotto il profilo manifatturiero che artistico), ma è tutto il contesto internazionale che è stato analizzato con acribia e rara sensibilità dalla Faroqhi. Si è guardato dunque sia all’influsso francese (nella costruzione di palazzi e giardini) che a quello asburgico (la metallurgia e gli orologi di Augusta e Norimberga), come a quello indiano e cinese. Si è sottolineato ad esempio come i cotoni indiani fossero presenti da lunga data nel mercato interno ottomano attraverso la mediazione egiziana. Gli argomenti sono stati presentati con un approccio multidisciplinare in densi capitoli, traendo vantaggio da ciò che le conoscenze museali, tecnologiche, artistiche, letterarie possono darci, non dimenticando ciò che la storia della mentalità poteva significare nella costruzione del manufatto e dell’oggetto nobiliare. Un solo esempio è quello che ci è dato dal concetto di “dono” negli scambi diplomatici e nei rapporti internazionali. O ancora come le tre religioni (il cristianesimo, coniugato nella corrente armena e ortodossa, l’ebraismo e l’islamismo) avessero dei correlati precisi nel mondo artistico e manifatturiero. L’artefatto e la cultura materiale hanno permesso in definitiva alla Faroqhi di trasportarci in modo esemplare all’interno del cibo e della sua storia; nel sistema di moda e nell’abbigliamento, quali si svolgevano all’interno di classi sociali e di gruppi etnici molto diversi tra loro (una contrapposizione tra musulmani e le altre popolazioni rimase purtuttavia immanente); nell’approvvigionamento idrico delle città ottomane e di Istanbul in particolare; nella difesa di fronte ai pericoli che gli elementi naturali (“earth, water, air and fire”) rappresentavano. Un mondo ottomano che è stato rappresentato dall’iconografia occidentale (ma anche orientale, risultando molto incisivo l’influsso persiano) talvolta in modo artefatto e di maniera, attraverso modelli ripetitivi, non essendo sempre facile per gli “occidentali” e i veneziani di penetrare all’interno di moschee e di palazzi imperiali al fine di raffigurare in modo realistico i sultani dell’epoca e i loro costumi: turbanti, scarpe di seta, spade riccamente articolate. Non diversamente peraltro dall’iconografia europea i sultani erano spesso rappresentati come guerrieri vittoriosi a cavallo, anche se in realtà pacifici e attenti a politiche interne e legislative. Un mondo in definitiva di “artefacts” elitari (ma non solo, come abbiamo rilevato precedentemente), carico di storia e riflesso di una cultura identitaria e originale appassionante. Sappiamo da tempo che una supposta contrapposizione tra “Oriente” e “Occidente” fosse molto più articolata di quanto il confronto bellico ed economico potesse farci concludere. I rapporti, talvolta ostili talvolta diplomatici talvolta non belligeranti tra Venezia e il mondo ottomano sono in questo senso un ottimo esempio. Lo studio della Faroqhi ci ha offerto materiale abbondante e ricco di risvolti economici e artistici su cui riflettere, ricordandoci quanto l’attenzione che solitamente rivolgiamo alle nobiltà e ai contesti europei non deve risultare minore nei confronti di questo mondo. -- Salvatore Ciriacono * Nuova Rivista Storica, Turcica 49, 2018. *Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Acknowledgements Note on Transliteration Introduction Chapter 1 Re-using the work of past times and foreign lands Chapter 2 The Ottoman Sultan: victorious and pious Chapter 3 Society and its divisions Chapter 4 A world of three religions Chapter 5 Making war and peace: fighting, gift-giving and the delineation of borders Chapter 6 Eating and drinking, mostly from precious objects Chapter 7 Piles and piles of textiles and leathers Chapter 8 Earth, Water, Air and Fire: The gifts and perils of nature Conclusion Glossary Time-Line Bibliography

    Out of stock

    £66.37

  • Talking Stones: The Politics of Memorialization

    Berghahn Books Talking Stones: The Politics of Memorialization

    Out of stock

    Book Synopsis If memory was simply about past events, public authorities would never put their ever-shrinking budgets at its service. Rather, memory is actually about the present moment, as Pierre Nora puts it: “Through the past, we venerate above all ourselves.” This book examines how collective memory and material culture are used to support present political and ideological needs in contemporary society. Using the memorialization of the Troubles in contemporary Northern Ireland as a case study, this book investigates how non-state, often proscribed, organizations have filled a societal vacuum in the creation of public memorials. In particular, these groups have sifted through the past to propose “official” collective narratives of national identification, historical legitimation, and moral justifications for violence.Trade Review “Viggiani’s text is a thorough examination of many of the iconic artefacts of a forty-year-long conflict that has shaped the politics and memories of generations of people from all sides of The Troubles. In addition to her text, she has developed an extensive website which more fully examines the quantitative data she has collected… her work will not only add to the compendium of extant work but expand our existing knowledge on memorialization in areas of conflict and recovery.” ·Journal of Anthropological Research “This is an excellent book that makes a major contribution by presenting the most comprehensive study yet written on the meaning and significance, past and present, of the ubiquitous political memorials that mark the urban terrain of one of the most famously politically divided cities in the world.” · CritCom – Council for European Studies “Viggiani successfully chronicles both intergroup and intragroup forces and rivalries, while also exploring the makers and receivers of the emplaced narratives produced by multiple actors. The book is a valuable contribution to the anthropology of memory and of materiality, and it is also a timely reminder of the presence and prominence of substate and non-state agents in a world where it is often still assumed that states have a monopoly not only on power but on knowledge.” · Anthropology Review Database “This is an excellent piece of work, one of the best of its kind. The ethnographic approach, with the actual testimonies, is very well done.” · Jack Santino, Bowling Green State University “This is an excellent account of the reproduction of collective memory and its associated narratives. It delves into the nature and construction of memory and the related forms of propaganda and myth making therein. The inquiry into the construction of memorialization is vital for any scholar of divided societies, nation-building and community construction. The book is important in that it not only describes the processes of such construction but also pinpoints an analysis of the interpretation of meaning.” · Peter Shirlow, Queen’s University BelfastTable of Contents List of Figures List of Tables Foreword by Hastings Donnan Acknowledgments List of Abbreviations Introduction: Memorials as Silent Extras or Scripted Actors? Book Outline Chapter 1. Collective Memory and the Politics of Memorialisation: a Theoretical Overview Memory in the Social World: Collectiveness versus Individuality The Shaping of Collective Memory: Present versus Past Lieux de Mémoireas Conveyors of Social Memory Politicised Remembering: the Nexus between Memory and Power The Politics of War Memory and Commemoration The Memory Makers and the Projection of Narratives about the Past Methodological Framework Database of Memorials Survey of Local Population Interviews Commemorations Chapter 2. The Armalite and the Paintbrush: a Brief History of Memorialization of the Troubles in Northern Ireland Commemorating during the Troubles Funerals and Communal Burials Annual Commemorations The Mural Painting Tradition in Northern Ireland The Early Years Armed Struggle and Party-political Murals Post-ceasefire and Peace Process Murals The 1998 Agreement and the ‘Boom’ of Permanent Memorialization Post-Agreement Murals Permanent Memorials Memorials to Paramilitary Combatants Memorials to Civilian Casualties Memorials to Security Forces Memorials in Government Buildings, Party Offices, Workplaces and Churches Commemorative Banners and Memorial Bands Memorial Publications, Commemorative Pamphlets and Oral History Projects Memorial Prizes, Awards and Trophies Post-conflict Commemorations Peace or Cross-community Memorials Chapter 3. The ‘Landscape of Memorialization’ in Belfast: Spatial and Temporal Reflections ‘New’ Cultural Geography and the Concept of Landscape as ‘Text’ Belfast and the Ethnicization of Space The Spatial Dimension of Memorialization Memorials as Territorial Markers Memorials as Aide-Mémoires Memorials as Sacred Places The Temporal Dimension of Memorialization Memorials: End of the War or Continuation through Different Means? Memorials: still here or never again? Memorials as Identity ‘Crutches’ Chapter 4. The ‘Memory Makers’ and the Projection of Narratives of the Troubles Individual ‘Stories’ versus the Collective ‘History’ of the Troubles: the Power of the Narrative Republican and Loyalist Memorials: the Projection of Opposing Narratives of The Troubles Two Imagined Communities: Creating a Symbolic National Identification Cherry-picking from History: Opposing Versions of a Shared Past Ancestries of Resistance: Manufacturing Genealogies Forgetting to Remember: Social Amnesia and Euphemization Delegitimizing the Enemy: Demonization and Stigmatization Talkative Dead Bodies: the Politics of Commemorations Chapter 5. The Clonard Martyrs Memorial Garden: Constructing a Dominant Republican Narrative The 1998 Agreement and the Prisoners’ ‘Issue’: the Formation of Ex-prisoners’ Groups The Greater Clonard Ex-Prisoners’ Association Enlisting the ‘Unsung Heroes’ in the Republican Narrative: Local History and Memorial Projects The Clonard Martyrs Memorial GardeN Planning Permission and Relationship with Local Authorities Funding, Building Materials and Manpower Construction of a Successful Dominant Narrative: Iconography, Language and Historical Selection Perpetuating Collective Memory: Periodic cCommemorations in Clonard Chapter 6. The IRSP/INLA Teach Na Fáilte Memorial Committee: Constructing a Sectional Republican Narrative The IRSP/INLA Teach Na Fáilte Memorial Committee Reclaiming a Place in History for the INLA: the 1981 Hunger Strike Advancing a Sectional Narrative of the Troubles: the Belfast Teach Na Fáilte’s Memorial Programme Unveiling ceremonies Provisional Republican and Republican Socialist Commemorations Opposing the Dominant Republican Narrative: Post-1998 Republican Socialist Rhetoric Chapter 7. The 1913 UVF and the Myth of the Somme: Constructing a Loyalist ‘Golden Age’ ‘Lest We Forget’: Loyalist Landscape of Memorialization ‘From the Battlefields of the Somme to the Barricades of the Shankill’: Borrowing Legitimacy Mainstream Unionism, Republicanism and the Modern UVF Narrative Disraeli Street: an Iconic Cluster of Memory Loyalist Commemorations in Memory of Paramilitary Casualties Changing with the History Tune: the Evolution of the UVF Narrative Chapter 8. The UDA Sandy Row Memorial Garden: Attempting a Narrative of Symbolic Accretion ‘You Are now Entering Loyalist Sandy Row’ Tiptoeing through History in Search of Illustrious ‘Forefathers’ The Sandy Row Memorial Garden: Attempting to Appropriate the Myth of the Somme Lay Out and Iconography Role of Families in the Memorial Process Remembrance Day ‘What the World Needs now Is Love, Sweet love’: 2007 UDA Remembrance Sunday ‘Awakening the Sleeping Giant’: Macro and Micropolitics at Commemorations Chapter 9. Dissecting Consensus: Memory Receivers and the Narrative’s ‘Hidden Transcript’ Paramilitary Groups and Local Communities: a Complex Relationship Coexisting in Ambivalence: Memorials and Local Residents Consultation and ‘Ownership’ Cohabiting the Same Space Reasons behind Memorialization Social Memory Territorialization Historical Change Politico-ideological Exercise Chapter 10. The Memory of the Dead: Seeking Common Ground? At Last, a Common Ground in Northern Ireland? Appendix A: List of Memorials Appendix B: Emblems and Flags Bibliography Index

    Out of stock

    £26.55

  • Vehicles: Cars, Canoes, and Other Metaphors of

    Berghahn Books Vehicles: Cars, Canoes, and Other Metaphors of

    Out of stock

    Book Synopsis Metaphor, as an act of human fancy, combines ideas in improbable ways to sharpen meanings of life and experience. Theoretically, this arises from an association between a sign—for example, a cattle car—and its referent, the Holocaust. These “sign-vehicles” serve as modes of semiotic transportation through conceptual space. Likewise, on-the-ground vehicles can be rich metaphors for the moral imagination. Following on this insight, Vehicles presents a collection of ethnographic essays on the metaphoric significance of vehicles in different cultures. Analyses include canoes in Papua New Guinea, pedestrians and airplanes in North America, lowriders among Mexican-Americans, and cars in contemporary China, Japan, and Eastern Europe, as well as among African-Americans in the South. Vehicles not only “carry people around,” but also “carry” how they are understood in relation to the dynamics of culture, politics and history.Trade Review “The essays in this collection offer fresh perspectives on the social role of transportation. I appreciated the weight given to Pacific cultures, which are not as common in conversations about mobility writ large. Though they do undoubtedly use anthropological methods and ask anthropological questions, they also model innovative ways for discussing how technologies enable their drivers and passengers to engage in an embodied relationship to the past.” · Technology and Culture “…the book succeeds in demonstrating that vehicles of all sorts may powerfully affect our ways of looking at the world, even as they help us travel through it.” · Transfers “This edited volume compiles a set of original ethno-graphic case studies focusing on the diverse ways vehicles that convey people through geospatial territory and also convey metaphorical meanings and constructions of the moral…while there has been plenty of attention given to what vehicles signify, there has been little given to how vehicles signify, which is precisely where this book.” · Anthropos “This volume, Vehicles, is exceptionally important not only for anthropology but for other scientific fields as well. It addresses a core human activity, driving, which appears likely to become a relic of, primarily, the 20th century.” · Anthropological Notebooks “This book offers ethnographic journeys into the daily work of cultural imaginations by giving attention to what is generally neglected: their vehicles. Not only functional supports or futile material dresses, cars, boats or planes are here delightedly addressed as morale-boosting devices engaged in situated social relations… These essays show that vehicular units are always participation units—they are always vernacular units of cultural agency.” · Pierre Lanoy, Université Libre de Bruxelles “…An excellent and original volume, a fine example of what comparative anthropology can achieve. Furthermore, in addition to its main topic and objectives (about particular metaphors, what they ‘do’ and how they ‘work’), it addresses key issues in the study of objects, material culture, and techniques, namely the involvement of materiality in non-verbal communication.” · Pierre Lemonnier, Université d'Aix-MarseilleTable of Contents List of Figures Acknowledgements Introduction: Charon's Boat and Other Vehicles of Moral Imagination David Lipset PART I: PERSONS AS VEHICLES Chapter 1. Living Canoes: Vehicles of Moral Imagination among the Murik of Papua New Guinea David Lipset Chapter 2. Cars, Persons, and Streets: Erving Goffman and the Analysis of Traffic Rules Richard Handler PART II: VEHICLES AS GENDERED PERSONS Chapter 3. "It's Not an Airplane, It's My Baby": Using a Gender Metaphor to Make Sense of Old Warplanes in North America Kent Wayland Chapter 4. Is Female to Male as Lightweight Cars Are to Sports Cars?: Gender Metaphors and Cognitive Schemas in Recessionary Japan Joshua Hotaka Roth PART III: EQUIVOCAL VEHICLES Chapter 5. Little Cars that Make Us Cry: Yugoslav Fića as a Vehicle for Social Commentary and Ritual Restoration of Innocence Marko Živković Chapter 6. “Let’s Go F.B.!”: Metaphors of Cars and Corruption in China Beth E. Notar Chapter 7. Barrio Metaxis: Ambivalent Aesthetics in Mexican American Lowrider Cars Ben Chappell Chapter 8. Driving into the Light: Traversing Life and Death in a Lynching Reenactment by African-Americans Mark Auslander Afterword: Quo Vadis? James W. Fernandez Notes on Contributors Index

    Out of stock

    £26.55

  • How Water Makes Us Human: Engagements with the

    University of Wales Press How Water Makes Us Human: Engagements with the

    Out of stock

    Book SynopsisThis book is about how water becomes people – or, put another way, how people and water flow together and shape each other. While the focus of the book is on the relationships held between water and people, it also has a broader message about human relationships with the environment generally – a message that illustrates not only that people are existentially entangled with the material world, but that the materials of the world shape, determine and enable humans to be ‘humans’ in the ways that they are. Offering a selection of anthropological examples from Kenya, Wales and Spain to illustrate how water’s materiality coproductively generates the way people are able to engage with water, this book uses cross-disciplinary perspectives to provide and promote a new analytic – one that encourages ethical, holistic and sustainable relationships with the world around us. This approach challenges representations that ignore, sidestep or are blind to the fleshy materiality of being human, and aims to encourage a re-imagining of the world that acknowledges humanity as intrinsically active-with and part of the fabric of the collection of materials we call planet Earth.Table of ContentsAcknowledgements Preface Part One Chapter 1: Introduction The direction and purpose: New Materialities Materiality/Material Culture/ New Materialities Why water? People: bodies and water Agency Chapter 2: Water Behaviours: A Brief Ethnography of Water What is water? First light, then water Being liquid: physics, classifications, breaking the law and transformation How can one know water? Liquid behaviours The importance of movement: molecular sociology Solvents and solutions But how does water move? Circles, cycles and snakes The earth and the air Water: the shape of life and when water is human Chapter 3: Resource or Source: How to Approach Water in the Time of Climate Change Part Two Chapter 4: Introduction to Part Two Chapter 5: The Giriama in Kenya: Living with Drought Water practices: rain, roofs, rivers and water basins Headcarrying: water shaping gendered bodies Giriama conceptions of water Fu ha mwenga: fluidity and identity Watery identities Identity solutions: blending place, power and water MaKaya: home from home Giriama waters and authenticity: understanding the materiality of water Chapter 6: Lanjaron, Spain Slow water: glaciers, ice and snow The Moorish influence: hydrologers Invisible waters Not all waters are equal Mineral water: healing and destruction Change: festivities and water The ritual Chapter 7: Welsh Water: The Resourcefulness of Water Establishing Welsh water: then and now The language of water Discourses of deluge Water relationships, powers and control Memories of floods and flooding Water and memory: remember Tryweryn Yma o hyd (Still here) Chapter 8: Concluding Remarks References Index

    Out of stock

    £35.99

  • In Miniature: How Small Things Illuminate The

    Canongate Books In Miniature: How Small Things Illuminate The

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisIn Miniature is a delightful, entertaining and illuminating investigation into our peculiar fascination with making things small, and what small things tell us about the world at large.Here you will find the secret histories of tiny Eiffel Towers, the truth about the flea circus, a doll's house made for a queen, eerie tableaux of crime scenes, miniature food, model villages and railways, and more. Simon Garfield brings together history, psychology, art and obsession, to explore what fuels the strong appeal of miniature objects among collectors, modellers and fans, and teaches us that there is greatness in the diminutive.Trade ReviewA rare treat, convivial and smart and brimming with intrigue. Simon Garfield excavates the curiouser of small worlds where not all is as it seems - obscure and wondrous, a bit bonkers and totally fascinating, and just my cup of tea -- KEGGIE CAREW, author of DadlandGarfield's book is thrilling, touching and very, very funny -- NINA STIBBEThis intriguing study of our urge to make scale models is full of bizarre stories and poignant insight . . . engaging and exuberant . . . The moral seems to be that we're all small, relatively speaking, which is perhaps why In Miniature is not only highly entertaining; it is also moving * * Observer * *If you are someone who appreciates the quirkier byways of human endeavour, there's plenty to surprise and delight in this compendium * * The Times * *Fascinating and often funny . . . As a (scaled-down) book, In Miniature is a well-built, highly polished entity. It is full of evocative sentences [and] amusing drive-by thwacks . . . But what he also shows in abundance is the sympathetic understanding of the needs and travails of "ordinary" people that lit up his previous books * * Guardian * *In Miniature is a delicious read; quirky, unpredictable and written with a genuine savour for the subject * * Mail on Sunday * *Simon Garfield's enthusiasm . . . is irresistible . . . Garfield offers not just intriguing snapshots of curiosities but some rather interesting history lessons * * Spectator * *Delightful . . . In Miniature is fascinating, funny and, in places, unexpectedly moving . . . This book is proof of the old adage that good things come in small packages * * Literary Review * *Garfield's intelligent exploration of mankind's passion for making small versions of large objects is meticulously researched * * Daily Express, Books of the Year * *Fashioned with as much love of, and relish for, the telling detail as many of the scaled-down creations it surveys, In Miniature finds Simon Garfield at both his wittiest and his most profound and philosophical. It is a book that puts the little things into the big picture, its perspective generous and its scope wide; you will never look at a doll house or model train quite the same again. Were I not an atheist I would proclaim him the god of small things -- TRAVIS ELBOROUGH

    1 in stock

    £9.49

  • Stone Will Answer: A Journey Guided by Craft,

    Vintage Publishing Stone Will Answer: A Journey Guided by Craft,

    4 in stock

    Book SynopsisA beautiful memoir, travelogue, and meditation on stone by artist and stone mason Beatrice Searle.'What are you doing? If you don't mind me asking?'I say that we are taking this stone to Trondheim. I continue to tell her the story of Magnus and ancient Kings.'Would you like to stand in it?' I ask. 'That is what it is for.'At the age of twenty-six, Beatrice Searle crossed the North sea and walked 500 miles through Southern Norway on a medieval pilgrim path to Nidaros Cathedral, taking with her a 40-kilo stone from the West coast of Orkney.She had recently completed her masonry training at Lincoln Cathedral and become fascinated with the mysterious footprint stones of Scandinavia, Northern Europe and the ancient Greco-Roman world; stones closely associated with travellers, saints and the inauguration of Kings. Following in their footsteps, her stone becomes a talisman of sorts, a bedrock on the move, and an offering to those she meets along the way.Stone Will Answer is an unusual adventure story of resilience and homecoming, of weight and motion, of rediscovering love and faith, and of journeys practical, spiritual and geological. A captivating blend of exploration, memoir and myth, and an insight into a beguiling craft, it asks what lessons might be learned from stone, what we choose to carry with us and what we return to put down or pick up again.Trade ReviewExtraordinary... Confessional, elemental and at times moving, this is a memorable and unique celebration of the power and beauty of stone. * Guardian *Searle is an excellent storyteller... [and Stone Will Answer] make[s] for gripping reading... it's the human spirit that emerges triumphant in this sparky blend of memoir and travelogue... Above all, this is the story of a young woman's astonishing feat of endurance * Herald *A gifted writer, capable of luminous description * Spectator *Subtle and thought-provoking * TLS *Illuminating... I was quickly taken in by Beatrice Searle's distinctive voice, and by the end I couldn't help but feel very differently about stones, rootedness, belonging, and indeed what walking might mean. Beatrice's story is exceptional, and she is an exceptional story teller. -- Kerri Andrews, author of Wandering: A History of Women Walking

    4 in stock

    £17.09

  • Iconoclasm, Identity Politics and the Erasure of

    Imprint Academic Iconoclasm, Identity Politics and the Erasure of

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisIconoclasm, Identity Politics and the Erasure of History surveys the origins, uses and manifestations of iconoclasm in history, art and public culture. It examines the various causes and uses of image/property defacement as a tool of political, national, religious and artistic process. This is one of the first books to examine the outbreak of iconoclasm in Europe and North America in the summer of 2020 in the context of previous outbreaks, and it examines the implications of iconoclasm as a form of control, censorship and expression.

    1 in stock

    £14.20

  • Objects, Bodies and Work Practice

    Multilingual Matters Objects, Bodies and Work Practice

    Out of stock

    Book SynopsisWhat role do material objects play in the in-situ, embodied and spatial circumstances of interaction? How do people organize their embodied conduct with regard to such objects, and how is this consequential in and for their work practices? In this volume, contributors focus on these questions in terms of connections between ongoing courses of interaction within work practices, object materiality and mobility in space, bodily movement and manipulation of objects, and language. The chapters in this book address a broad range of settings and actions (including dressmaking, foreign language teaching, international business meetings and forklift driving) where a variety of objects become relevant.Trade ReviewThis multidisciplinary collection, from respected and experienced researchers, not only extends prior work on social interaction but constitutes a critique of past research that has programmatically ignored the materiality that research subjects use or make relevant in the course of their activity. * Curtis LeBaron, Brigham Young University, USA *Reading this collection may change how you take your shoes back for repair and it will certainly, if you are researching interaction, bring objects to the centre of your attention. Across a stimulating array of settings it charts objects’ place in progressing, spatialising and designing actions, and being the achievement of actions themselves. * Eric Laurier, University of Edinburgh, UK *Nothing shows more vividly than this book how much the study of communication has changed: the production of meaning and the making of the material world are now understood to be intricately intertwined at every moment, and that intertwining has become the focus of rigorous and systematic research. * Jürgen Streeck, The University of Texas at Austin, USA *Through a systematic and detailed examination of objects’ categorical and sequential consequences for actions and interactions, this volume will interest researchers and practitioners in language and social interaction, communication and discourse and related disciplines. -- Zeng Xiaorong and Chen Zeyuan, Jiangxi Agricultural University, China * Discourse Studies 22(3) *Table of ContentsIntroduction. Dennis Day and Johannes Wagner: Objects, Bodies and Work Practice Transcription Conventions Part 1: The Role of Objects for the Progressivity of Action Chapter 1. Maurice Nevile: Objects of Agreement - Placing Pins to Progress Collaborative Activity in Custom Dressmaking Chapter 2. Anne-Sylvie Horlacher: Workplace Asymmetries and Object-Passing in Hair Salons Chapter 3. Chiara M. Monzoni, Basil Sharrack, Markus Reuber: Informing and Demonstrating: Manipulating Objects and Patients’ Participation in Shared-Decision-Making Part 2: Spatial Aspects of Objects in Interaction Chapter 4. Dennis Day and Gitte Rasmussen: Interactional Consequences of Object Possession in Institutional Practices Chapter 5. Elwys De Stefani: Ordering and Serving Coffee in an Italian Café: How Customers Obtain ‘Their’ Coffee Part 3: Objects in the Service of Preparing for a Possible Future Chapter 6. Trine Heinemann and Barbara Fox: Dropping Off or Picking Up?: Professionals’ Use of Objects as a Resource for Determining the Purpose of a Customer Encounter. Chapter 7. Maurice Nevile and Johannes Wagner: Objects in Motion: ‘I’m Just Behind You’ and Other Warnings in Forklift Truck Driving Part 4: Objects as Interactional Accomplishments Chapter 8. Mie Femø Nielsen: Adjusting or Verbalizing Visuals in ICT Mediated Professional Encounters Chapter 9. Spencer Hazel and Kristian Mortensen: Designedly Incomplete Objects as Elicitation Tools in Classroom Interaction Chapter 10. Giolo Fele: Olfactory Objects. Recognizing, Describing, and Assessing Smells During Professional Tasting Sessions Postscript. Aug Nishizaka: Thing and Space

    Out of stock

    £107.96

  • The Private Lives of Pictures: Art at Home in

    Reaktion Books The Private Lives of Pictures: Art at Home in

    15 in stock

    Book SynopsisThe Private Lives of Pictures offers a new history of British art, seen from the perspective of the home. Focusing on the nineteenth- and early twentieth-century, the book takes the reader on a tour of an imaginary Victorian or Edwardian house, stopping in each room to look at the pictures on the walls. The book opens up the intimate history of art in everyday life, and examines many issues including how pictures were chosen for each room, how they were displayed, and what role they played in interior design. Superbly illustrated, The Private Lives of Pictures appeals to readers interested in both art and social history, and the history of interiors.

    15 in stock

    £28.50

  • From Storeroom to Stage: Romanian Attire and the

    Berghahn Books From Storeroom to Stage: Romanian Attire and the

    Out of stock

    Book Synopsis Departing from an ethnographic collection in London, From Storeroom to Stage traces the journey of its artefacts back to the Romanian villages where they were made 70 years ago, and to other places where similar objects are still in use. The book explores the role that material culture plays in the production of value and meaning by examining how folk objects are mobilized in national ideologies, transmissions of personal and family memory, museological discourses, and artistic acts.Trade Review “A good book… The author’s ethnographic work brings a unique perspective on these issues.” • Adam Drazin, University College LondonTable of Contents List of Figures Acknowledgements PART I: OBJECTS DEFINED Introduction: Where a Collection Can Take You Chapter 1. Framing the Object PART II: OBJECTS KEPT Chapter 2. Unfolding the Past: The Context of the Archives Chapter 3. Out of the Wardrobes PART III: OBJECTS IN PLACE Chapter 4. Bringing It All Back Home Chapter 5. Houses of Modernity Chapter 6. Reconfigurations of the Public Space PART IV: OBJECTS ON STAGE Chapter 7. The Boundaries of Folclor Chapter 8. Folklore Stars Conclusion: What Does ‘Folklore’ Do? References Index

    Out of stock

    £89.10

  • Post-Specimen Encounters Between Art, Science and

    Intellect Books Post-Specimen Encounters Between Art, Science and

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisThis edited collection explores a subject of great potential for both art historians and museologists – that of the nature of the specimen and how it might be reinterpreted. Through its cross-disciplinary contributions, written by a team of art historians, artists, poets, anthropologists, critics and curators, this book looks at how artistic encounters in museums, ranging from anatomy museums to contemporary cabinets of curiosity, can provoke new modes of thinking about art, science and curating. Museological literature in the past focused on artefacts or objects; this is an original contribution to the field and offers new readings of old issues, inspiring new understandings of the relationships between art, science and curating. Brings together international expertise from art practitioners, historians, creative writers and theorists in France, the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand. Contributions from creative practitioners draw upon their own experience of producing artworks in response to specific scientific collections while historians, anthropologists, critics and writers examine how museums stimulate, incite and otherwise inspire artistic awareness of science and its specimens. One of the most important contributions this book will make is drawing together several threads of research and practice to encourage interdisciplinary discussion. It provides new ways of thinking about the relationships between art, science, museums and their objects. It concentrates on the ways in which scientific collections kindle novel aesthetic strategies and inspire new scholarly interpretations of art, science, curating and epistemology. In so doing it will make a considerable contribution to the fields of art writing, creative practice, art theory, the history of science and curating. This book will appeal to academics, researchers, undergraduates and postgraduates studying fine art, curating, museology, art history, the history of science, creative writing; visual artists, curators, and other creative practitioners. Also of interest to museum audiences. Reading list potential.Table of ContentsIntroduction Edward Juler and Alistair Robinson 1: Narratives of the ‘Fetish’ John Mack 2: Curating Interobjectively in Museums Alistair Robinson 3: ‘A Readiness to Find What Surrounds Us Strange and Odd’: Objects in the Relational Curiosity Museum Marion Endt-Jones 4: Art, Science and the Mutant Object Rahma Khazam 5: Models of Subjectivity: Surrealism, Physics and Psychoanalysis Gavin Parkinson 6: Glimpsed Phantoms of Sensation: Or, a Psychogeographical Investigation of Various Anatomical Specimens with Reference to Christine Borland’s Cet être-là, c’est à toi de le créer! Edward Juler 7 … as far back as I will remember Nadia Lichtig 8: Poetry and the Pathology Museum: A Model of Difference Christy Ducker 9: The Scientist and the Magician Irene Brown 10: Choosing, Unpicking and Connecting: On Drawing Museum Objects Richard Talbot 11: Post-Specimens and Present Ancestors: Passing Fables and Comparative Readings at the Wildgoose Memorial Library Jane Wildgoose 12: Moving beyond the Specimen (From Drawing Objects to Drawing Processes) Gemma Anderson 13: Desiccation, Suspension, Extraction: The Inhuman Art of Christine Borland Andrew Patrizio Afterword: What’s at Stake? Ludmilla Jordanova

    1 in stock

    £32.30

  • Shiny Things: Reflective Surfaces and Their Mixed

    Intellect Books Shiny Things: Reflective Surfaces and Their Mixed

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisShiny Things combines an interest in visual art with a broad attention to popular culture – the wideness of its range is striking. It is more than just an expansion of subject matter, which many of today’s innovative books also have – it considers how a specific physical property manifests itself in both art and culture at large, and contributes to an analysis of and polemics about the world. It is accessibly written but with a careful application of contemporary theory. Interesting, informative, and entertaining, this will appeal to progressive thinkers looking for new ways of presenting ideas. This is scholarship that challenges stale thought and interacts with philosophical ideas in real time, with a versatility that can often be lacking in traditional academic scholarship. Using art, especially contemporary art, as its recurrent point of reference, the authors argue that shininess has moved from a time when rarity gave shiny things a direct meaning of power and transcendence. Shininess today is pervasive; its attraction is a foundation of consumer culture with its attendant effects on our architecture, our conceptions of the body, and our production of spectacle. Power and the sacred as readings of the shiny have given way to readings of superficiality, irony and anxiety, while somehow shininess has maintained its qualities of fascination, newness and cleanliness. Examines the meanings and functions of shininess in art and in culture more generally: its contradictions of both preciousness and superficiality, and its complexities of representation; the way shininess itself is physically and metaphorically present in the construction of major conceptual categories such as hygiene, utopias, the sublime and camp; and the way the affects of shininess, rooted in its inherent disorienting excess, produce irony, anxiety, pleasure, kitsch, and fetishism. All of these large ideas are embodied in the instantly noticeable, sometimes precious and sometimes cheap physical presence of shiny things, those things that catch our eye and divert our attention. Shininess, then, is a compelling subject that instantly attracts and fascinates people. The book engages primarily with visual art, although it makes frequent use of material culture, as well as advertising, film, literature, and other areas of popular and political culture. The art world, however, is a place where many of the affects of shininess come into clearest focus, where the polemical semiotics of shine are most evident and consciously explored. Artists as diverse as Anish Kapoor (whose popular Cloud Gate sculpture in Chicago is a repeating example in the book), Olafur Eliasson, Jeff Koons, Carolee Schneemann, Audrey Flack, Fra Angelico and Gerard ter Borch centre the book in an art discourse that opens up to automobiles, Richard Nixon and Liberace. Will be relevant to academics, scholars and students with an interest in contemporary theory and material and popular cultures. Potential interest across the humanities: philosophy, gender studies, perhaps public relations, advertising and marketing. It will also appeal to more general readers with an interest in popular and material cultures, art and aesthetics. It is written in a genuinely accessible style, and its ideas and theory are embodied through examples and narratives. Will be of interest to readers of Oliver Sacks, James Gleick, George Lakoff, James Elkins or Rebecca Solnit. Trade Review"Shiny Things is a smart, accessible, and often humorous, examination of the various meanings of shininess across multiple facets of culture, with a particular emphasis on the visual arts. It stands as an exemplary investigation of the meaning of an overlooked, but pervasive facet of material culture.” -- David Klamen, Dean of the School of the Arts at Indiana University Northwest

    1 in stock

    £20.90

  • Making Sense of Medicine: Material Culture and

    Intellect Books Making Sense of Medicine: Material Culture and

    Out of stock

    Book SynopsisMedical knowledge manifests in materials, and materials are integral to the reproduction of medical knowledge. From the novice student to the expert practitioner, those who study and work in and around medicine rely on material guidance in their everyday practice and as they seek to further their craft. Students, just as experts, pore over textbooks, photographs and films. They put up and copy down chalkboard illustrations, manipulate plastic models and inspect organic specimens fixed in formalin. They pass through grand university libraries and try not to contaminate anything in cramped surgical theatres. Students, just as experts, learn within an expansive material culture of medicine, they learn from explicitly educative materials, from the workaday tools used for diagnosis and in treatment, they learn in everyday spaces and as part of sprawling infrastructures. While the specific constellation of material varies across time and space, many materials have remained constant, key actors in the spread of medical practices and in the steady, global expansion of biomedical frameworks of health and disease. This collection focuses on the materials, objects, tools and technologies which facilitate the reproduction of medical knowledge and often reify understandings of medical science. The training of doctors is changing rapidly in response to technological development as well to the evolving needs and expectations of patients. Medical schools are beginning to respond to these challenges through curricula redesign and the purchase or endorsement of new teaching aids, simulations and pedagogies. Often, this means that medical schools are embracing the digital at the expense of older teaching materials. Medical education is at a critical juncture and there is momentum to radically rethink its approaches. This collection offers a reflection on these challenges by presenting an innovative and expansive overview of the role of materiality in the training of doctors and in the social reproduction of medicine in general. Experimental in form, and with ethnographic, museological and historical cases, and traces from around the world, this edited volume is the first to fully explore the matter of medical education in the modern world. Supported by the European Research Council under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. An academic text, it will be most relevant to academics and graduate students in the fields of health and material culture, but will also have a wider readership with those working on medical education and knowledge and medical historyTrade Review'A commendable feature of the collection’s exploration is the bringing together of contributions from historians, anthropologists, artists and curators, educators, surgeons and pathologists. In doing so, the collection offers interdisciplinary investigations and equips the reader with a thoughtful and critical understanding of educative technologies. [...] Overall, the collection is meticulously researched and well-written. It is a rewarding book as it is creative and experimental in its approach, and engages with new and familiar topics from interdisciplinary perspectives. The collection will certainly be a key text in inviting and guiding researchers to study the material culture of medicine’s objects of teaching.' -- Rory du Plessis, Social History of Medicine'What is novel in the collection is its invention and ingenuity in trying to reach new audiences outside of Science and Technology Studies (STS). Doctors, artists and educators all feature as authors and participants in the essays, and often essays find experimental ways to explore the terrains of medical education. Uniting these various interlocutors is the consideration of how materials shape knowing. [...] There is a degree to which to know something one must do that something. To know how to steer a boat, one should get as close to the rudder as possible, should feel more closely the way that the water pushes against the instrument as it carves through its surface. One can’t learn at a distance. In Making Sense of Medicine, this collection suggests that we need to reposition ourselves, move our hand closer to the rudder. I am inclined to agree.' -- Max Perry, The PolyphonyTable of ContentsIntroduction: What Matters in Medical Education? – John Nott and Anna Harris ARCHITECTURE / Designing a Discipline: Architecture for Pathology in the Interwar Period – Annmarie Adams ART / Objectivity, Art and Medical Images – Sally Wyatt BALLOONS / Lessons from a Balloon – Christine den Harder and Anna Harris CADAVERS / The Geography of the Dead and the Movement of the Living: Kinetic Consciousness and the Limits of the Cadaver – Rachel Prentice CHALKBOARDS / Anatomy of the Chalkboard – Rachel Vaden Allison CIGARETTE PAPERS / The Cigarette Paper, the Embroiderer, and the Gendered Craft of Vascular Surgery – Paul Craddock CIRCULATION / Circulated Concepts, Images and Objects – Harro van Lente DISSECTING ROOMS / ‘The Lady Anatomist’: Fragmented Bodies, Photographic Assemblage and the ‘Art’ of Dissection at Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania, 1895–98 – Jessica M. Dandona FILM / ‘See For Yourself’: Autopsy Film as Audio-Visual Mediation of Learning Experiences, c.1928–1962 – Christian Bonah and Joel Danet FILM / ‘Now We Are Going to Look at a Piece of Film’: Projecting Medicine in Twentieth Century Medical Education – Angela Saward GARDENS / Groundwork for Planetary Health: Reimagining Gardens in Medical Education – Stacey Langwick and Mary Mosha GLOVES / The Context of Touch: Gloves and the Pelvic Exam – Kelly Underman HANDBOOKS / Chinese Medical Illustrations and Communist Materialism, 1950-1966 – Lan Li HEARTS / The Heart of the Simulated Matter: Interprofessional Training Practices of Clinical Care – Ivana Guarrasi ILLUSTRATIONS / Performed with Care: Enacting Accuracy in Medical Illustration – Drew Danielle Belsky ILLUSTRATIONS / Material Images: Flesh on Paper in Twentieth-Century Surgical Drawing – Harriet Palfreyman ILLUSTRATIONS / The Radford Collection: Exploring and Experiencing the Mid-Nineteenth-Century Midwifery Lecture – Rebecca Whiteley LABOUR / Invisible Work – Sally Wyatt MICROSCOPES / The Virtual Microscope: Tracing Knowledge of Human Microstructure Through Digital Images – R. Claire Aland, Nicole Shepherd, Belinda Swyny and Mary-Louise Roy Manchadi MUSEUMS / The Pathology Museum at Korle Bu – Robert Kumoji and John Nott NURSERVERS / The Nurserver – David Theodore PHOTOGRAPHS / Typologies of Fatness: Constitutional Photography in Western Medicine, c.1930-60 – Anne Katrine Kleberg Hansen PLACE, AND AFFECT / Matters of Place and Affect – Rachel Vaden Allison and John Nott PROPS / Props in Breaking Bad News Simulation – Kaisu Koski and Kirsten Ostherr RADIOGRAPHS / Lasers, Screens and Models: The Material Assemblages of Learning Pattern Recognition in Radiography Education – Peter D. Winter SIMULATIONS / Simulations in Health Professions Education – Andrea Wojcik SKULLS / Medical Museums, Materiality, and the Traumatic Brain Injury of Phineas Gage – Denielle Elliott with Dominic Hall STETHOSCOPES / This Thing, A Stethoscope – Claire Wendland TEXTILES / Materialities of Surgery: Learning Through Thread – Roger Kneebone and Fleur Oakes ULTRASOUNDS / Developing Ultrasound: Knowledge Dissemination and Technological Change, 1945-1980 – Jakob Lehne WOUNDS / The Fake Wound: Thinking Through Materials in Osce Simulations – Andrea Wojcik, Victor Mogre, Anthony Amalba, Celia Yamile Rodriguez and Francis A. Abantanga ZEBRAS / Zebras, not Horses: On Limits and Margins of Biomedical Knowledge – Candida F. Sanchez Burmester Notes on Contributors Index

    Out of stock

    £35.96

  • Media Materialities: Form, Format, and Ephemeral

    Intellect Books Media Materialities: Form, Format, and Ephemeral

    2 in stock

    Book SynopsisProvides new perspectives on the increasingly complex relationships between media forms and formats, materiality, and meaning. Drawing on a range of qualitative methodologies, our consideration of the materiality of media is structured around three overarching concepts: form – the physical qualities of objects and the meanings which extend from them; format – objects considered in relation to the protocols which govern their use, and the meanings and practices which stem from them; and ephemeral meaning – the ways in which media artefacts are captured, transformed, and redefined through changing social, cultural, and technological values. Each section includes empirical chapters which provide expansive discussions of perspectives on media and materiality. It considers a range of media artefacts such as 8mm film, board games maps, videogames, cassette tapes, transistor radios and Twitter, amongst others. These are punctuated with a number of short takes – less formal, often personal takes exploring the meanings of media in context. We seek to consider the materialities which emerge across the broad and variegated range of the term’s use, and to create spaces for conversation and debate about the implications that this plurality of material meanings might have for the study of study of media, culture, and society.Table of ContentsList of Figures Acknowledgements Foreword – Nicholas Gebhardt Introduction SECTION 1: FORM Short Take 1: My Notebook – Lee Griffiths 1. Investigating the Illicit: The Material Traces of Britain’s Early Trade in Obscene 8mm Films – Oliver Carter Short Take 2: ‘Press the Start Button’ – Harrison Charles 2. On, Off, and in the Map: Materializing Game Experiences Through Player Cartography – Nick Webber Short Take 3: Making Order Out of Chaos – Hilary Weston Jones 3. The Solid State of Radio – Sam Coley Short Take 4: Materialities of Television History – E. Charlotte Stevens SECTION 2: FORMAT Short Take 5: Only Dancing. Again – Philip Young 4. Between Analogue and Digital: The Cassette Tape as Hybrid Artefact – Iain A. Taylor Short Take 6: Patch Lead Possibilities – Chris Mapp 5. ‘Because It Is Not Digital’: The Cultural Value of the Analogue Book in Digital Age – Christian Moerken Short Take 7: Materialities of Spatial Confinement: Trefeglwys Meets Beirut – Dima Saber 6. Essentially (Not) the Game: Reading the Materiality of Video Game Paratexts – Regina Seiwald Short Take 8: Materialities and Craft Value – Karen Patel SECTION 3: EPHEMERAL MEANING Short Take 9: Still Angry: Still Feeding – Matt Grimes 7. Stamp of Approval: A Prosopography of the English Midlands Videogame Industry – Alex Wade and Adam Whittaker Short Take 10: The Edward Colston Experience – Martin Cox 8. Reframing Materiality in the Caribbean Diaspora Podcast – Rachel-Ann Charles and Tim Wall Short Take 11: We’re all Victorians Now – Kirsten Forkert 9. You Can Look, Share and Comment, But You Can’t Touch: The Relationship Between the Materiality and Physicality of Photographs in an Online Community Archive – Vanessa Jackson Short Take 12: Location, Agency, and Hashtag Activism During the COVID-19 Pandemic – Yemisi Akinbobola 10. Thirty-Seven Retweets – John Hillman Conclusion: Shifting Horizons of Possibility – Susanna Paasonen Notes on Contributors Index

    2 in stock

    £89.96

  • En Sofía mathitéfsantes: Essays in Byzantine

    Archaeopress En Sofía mathitéfsantes: Essays in Byzantine

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisEn Sofía mathitéfsantes: Essays in Byzantine Material Culture and Society in Honour of Sophia Kalopissi-Verti contains a collection of thirty studies dedicated to Sophia Kalopissi-Verti by her students which celebrate the multifaceted academic and teaching career of Professor Kalopissi-Verti, Emerita of Byzantine Archaeology at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. The contributions cover a large variety of topics presenting unpublished archaeological material, suggesting new approaches to various aspects of Byzantine archaeology, material culture and art history. Geographically topics span a vast area from Constantinople to South Sinai and from Cyprus and Antiocheia to the Aegean Islands, continental Greece and Italy. Covering the period from the Early Byzantine to the Post-Byzantine period, they are organised in seven thematic sections: Urbanism and Architecture; Painting and Iconography; Stone Carving and Sculpture; Ceramics; Bone, Metal and Textiles; Coinage and Sigillography; Inscriptions, Portraits and Patronage. The broad thematic, chronological and geographic scope of the volume’s essays reflects the wide range of Kalopissi-Verti’s pioneering research and her own interests, to which she introduced her students and with which she inspired them.Table of Contents‘Aspects of Medieval Secular Imagery’: Representations of Warriors in Byzantine Glazed Pottery from Argos and Nauplio (12th-13th centuries) (Anastasia Vassiliou) [Open Access: Download]

    1 in stock

    £57.00

  • Testimonies of Resistance: Representations of the

    Berghahn Books Testimonies of Resistance: Representations of the

    Out of stock

    Book Synopsis The Sonderkommando—the “special squad” of enslaved Jewish laborers who were forced to work in the gas chambers and crematoria of Auschwitz-Birkenau—comprise one of the most fascinating and troubling topics within Holocaust history. As eyewitnesses to and unwilling abettors of the murder of their fellow Jews, they are the object of fierce condemnation even today. Yet it was a group of these seemingly compromised men who carried out the revolt of October 7, 1944, one of the most celebrated acts of Holocaust resistance. This interdisciplinary collection assembles careful investigations into how the Sonderkommando have been represented—by themselves and by others—both during and after the Holocaust.Trade Review “Overall, the collection offers exciting and also new perspectives on the representations of the Sonderkommando and it will be interesting for researchers from different disciplines.” • H-Soz-Kult “This is yet another outstanding book from Nicholas Chare and Dominic Williams. Each chapter offers an interesting perspective and keen insights into the Sonderkommando, the Scrolls of Auschwitz, and Holocaust representation, and I came away with new appreciation for them all.” • Sarah Cushman, Northwestern University “Testimonies of Resistance is an important volume that addresses a topic that has not been explored in sufficient depth so far, connecting it to crucial debates on the “gray zone,” resistance, and moral action. It is a vital contribution to the field of Holocaust Studies and beyond.” • Svenja Bethke, University of LeicesterTable of Contents List of Figures and Tables Foreword Anne Karpf Acknowledgements Note on Transliteration Introduction: Testimonies of Resistance Nicholas Chare and Dominic Williams Part I: Historical and Ethical Questions of Representation Chapter 1. Knowing Cruelty: The Negation of Death and Burial in SS Violence Griselda Pollock Chapter 2. What Makes the Grey Zone Grey? Blurring Factual and Ethical Judgements of the Sonderkommando Dominic Williams Part II: Witnessing from the Heart of Hell Chapter 3. Farewell Letter from the Crematorium: On the Authorship of the First Recorded ‘Sonderkommando-Manuscript’ and the Discovery of the Original Letter Andreas Kilian Chapter 4. To Read the Illegible: Techniques of Multispectral Imaging and the Manuscripts of the Jewish Sonderkommando of Auschwitz-Birkenau Pavel Polian and Aleksandr Nikityaev Chapter 5. ‘Like a True Greek’: The Last Will and Testimony of Marcel Natzari K.E. Fleming Chapter 6. Disinterred Words: The Letters of Herman Strasfogel and Marcel Nadjary Nicholas Chare, Ersy Contogouris and Dominic Williams Chapter 7. The Letter of Herman Strasfogel Translated by Ersy Contogouris Chapter 8. The Letter of Marcel Nadjary Translated by Ersy Contogouris Chapter 9. The Religious Life of Sonderkommando Members inside the Killing Installations in Auschwitz-Birkenau Gideon Greif Part III: Retrospective Representations Chapter 10. Doubly Cursed: The Sonderkommando in the Documents of the International Tracing Service Dan Stone Chapter 11. Enduring Witness: David Olère’s Visual Testimony Carol Zemel Chapter 12. The Sonderkommando and the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial Museum Dominic Williams and Isabel Wollaston Chapter 13. Early and Late Testimonies of the Sonderkommando Survivors Gideon Greif Chapter 14. From Special Operations Executive to Sonderkommando: Sebastian Faulks and the Anxiety of Invention Sue Vice Chapter 15. Out of the Plan, Out of the Plane 2: Stripping, Fourth Letter to Gerhard Richter Georges Didi-Huberman Chapter 16. Greeks in the Birkenau Sonderkommando: Representation and Reality Steven Bowman Part IV: Cinema and the Sonderkommando Chapter 17. ‘We Did Something’: Framing Resistance in Cinematic Depictions of the Sonderkommando Barry Langford Chapter 18. ‘We Can’t Know What We’re Capable Of ’: Approaching the ‘Grey Zone’ in Holocaust Film Adam Brown Chapter 19. The Sonderkommando on Screen Philippe Mesnard Afterword: Tracing Topographies of Memory and Mourning Victor Jeleniewski Seidler Index

    Out of stock

    £30.35

  • Things of the House: Material Culture and

    Berghahn Books Things of the House: Material Culture and

    Out of stock

    Book Synopsis Discussing multiple aspects of material culture and domestic consumption, this book tackles the relationship between the trajectories and biographies of people, families, houses and objects and how they intertwine and produce each other. Focusing on the life stories of a group of European and Catholic Brahmin Goan families of the colonial elite who left Mozambique after the country's independence in 1975, the book shows how material culture interferes with structuring dimensions of migratory experiences, in the management of family memories, ties and networks of belonging, as well as in the social dynamics of positioning, hierarchy and distinction.Table of Contents List of Illustrations Foreword Caroline Brettell Acknowledgements Introduction Chapter 1. Movement, Materiality and Domestic Life: An Anthropological Approach Chapter 2. The Portuguese Third Empire: Colonialism, Revolution and Late Decolonization Chapter 3. Migrating to Africa: New Contexts, New Peoples, Old Social Issues Chapter 4. Life in Colonial Mozambique: A Domestic Material Culture Approach Chapter 5. Out of Africa: The Materiality of Loss and Displacement Chapter 6. Life in Democratic Portugal: A Domestic Material Culture Approach Conclusion References Index

    Out of stock

    £80.10

  • Woodsmoke and Sage: The Five Senses 1485-1603:

    The History Press Ltd Woodsmoke and Sage: The Five Senses 1485-1603:

    5 in stock

    Book SynopsisTraditionally history is cerebral: what did they believe, what did they think, what did they know?Woodsmoke and Sage is not a traditional book. Using the five senses, historian Amy Licence presents a new perspective on the material culture of the past, exploring the Tudors’ relationship with the fabric of their existence, from the clothes on their backs, the roofs over their heads and the food on their tables, to the wider questions of how they interpreted and presented themselves, and what they believed about life, death and beyond.Take a journey back 500 years and experience the sixteenth century the way it was lived, through sight, sound, smell, taste and touch.

    5 in stock

    £16.19

  • The Spirit of Matter: Modernity, Religion, and

    Berghahn Books The Spirit of Matter: Modernity, Religion, and

    Out of stock

    Book Synopsis A range of meaningful objects—exhibits of human remains or live people, fetishes, objects in a Catholic Museum, exotic photographs, commodities, and computers—demonstrate a subordinate modern consciousness about powerful objects and their ‘life’. The Spirit of Matter discusses these objects that move people emotionally but whose existence is often denied by modern wishful thinking of ‘mind over matter’. It traces this mindset back to Protestant Christian influences that were secularized in the course of modern and colonial history.Trade Review “I consider this to be a brilliant piece of research creating a highly original intervention in material culture studies. In particular the debates on materiality and matter and the intellectual history of the concept of fetishism and its transformation of meaning in Europe from the 16th century to the present.” • Michael Rowlands, University College London “[A book] with considerable value. It is a compelling read, that has some important interventions to make concerning the nature of the material within modernity.” • Jon Mitchell, University of SussexTable of Contents List of Figures Preface Acknowledgments Part I: Introduction Chapter 1. The Auto-Icon, or: What a Secularist Relic Says about Modern Dematerializations Chapter 2. Towards a Methodology of the Concrete Part II: Fetish and the Fear of Matter Chapter 3. The Spirit of Matter: On Fetish, Rarity, Fact and Fancy Chapter 4. The Modern Fear of Matter: Reflections on the Protestantism of Victorian Science Part III: Do Catholics See Things Differently? Chapter 5. Trophy and Wonder, or: Bodies at the Exhibition Chapter 6. Africa Christo! The Materiality of Photographs in Dutch Catholic Mission Propaganda, 1946-1960 Chapter 7. “I am Black, but Comely”: Mission, Modernity and the Power of Objects in the Afrika Museum, Berg en Dal Chapter 8. Conclusion: The Powers of Miming “Africa” Part IV: The Time of Things Chapter 9. Things in Time: Commodity Fetishism before Advertising Chapter 10. False Consciousness? The Rise of Advertising In Lieu of a Conclusion: The Future of Things References Index

    Out of stock

    £96.30

© 2025 Book Curl

    • American Express
    • Apple Pay
    • Diners Club
    • Discover
    • Google Pay
    • Maestro
    • Mastercard
    • PayPal
    • Shop Pay
    • Union Pay
    • Visa

    Login

    Forgot your password?

    Don't have an account yet?
    Create account