Social and cultural history Books

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Book SynopsisMigration, Mobility and Place in Ancient Italy challenges prevailing conceptions of a natural tie to the land and a demographically settled world. It argues that much human mobility in the last millennium BC was ongoing and cyclical. In particular, outside the military context ''the foreigner in our midst'' was not regarded as a problem. Boundaries of status rather than of geopolitics were those difficult to cross. The book discusses the stories of individuals and migrant groups, traders, refugees, expulsions, the founding and demolition of sites, and the political processes that could both encourage and discourage the transfer of people from one place to another. In so doing it highlights moments of change in the concepts of mobility and the definitions of those on the move. By providing the long view from history, it exposes how fleeting are the conventions that take shape here and now.Trade Review'… highly important and innovative … Isayev's book is undoubtedly a major contribution to the entire field of Classics. Apart from making its case quite brilliantly, it breaks with a number of self-imposed limitations and restrictions (of disciplines, methods, periods, regions …) that have shaped and continue to shape much of Classical scholarship. This book is groundbreaking in the way it engages with the past by taking up current research from other fields and by formulating new models that will stimulate further debate - hopefully also beyond the scope of ancient Italy. It is worth adding that the book, although very scholarly, might also prove useful for undergraduate teaching, as it is written in a very understandable language … In short, it is a must-have for all scholars in this field, and a book which, to my eyes, ranks among the works that have offered a sweeping (and controversial) vision of Mediterranean mobility and connectivity, from Braudel to Horden and Purcell and D. Abulafia.' Bryn Mawr Classical ReviewTable of ContentsPart I: 1. Introduction; 2. Statistical uncertainties: mobility in the last 250 years BC; Part II: 3. Routeways, kinship and storytelling; 4. Mixed communities: mobility, connectivity and co-presence; 5. Why choose to come together and move apart? Convergence and redistribution of people and power; Part III: 6. Plautus on mobility of the every-day; 7. Polybius on mobility and a comedy of The Hostage Prince; 8. Polybius on the moving masses and those who moved them; Part IV: 9. Social war: reconciling differences of place and citizenship; 10. Mapping the moving Rome of Livy's Camillus speech; 11. Materialising Rome and Patria; 12. Conclusion: everyday and unpredictable mobility; Appendices A, B and C. Mobility in Plautus; Appendix D. Livy's Camillus Speech and translation.

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Book SynopsisThis lively and erudite cultural history of Scotland, from the Jacobite defeat of 1745 to the death of an icon, Sir Walter Scott, in 1832, weaves together previously unpublished archival materials, visual and material culture, dress and textile history to examine how Scottish identity was experienced and represented in novel ways.Trade Review'By focusing on material and visual evidence, Professor Coltman brings fresh and original perspectives to the study of Scottish identity‎. The perceptive arguments within the book are complemented by an impressive examination of relevant original sources. The result is an important study.' Sir Tom Devine, Professor Emeritus, University of Edinburgh'Viccy Coltman's book explores the multiple negotiations of Scottish identity with Britain, Europe and the Empire through art and material culture with flair, skill and a wide range of reference. Fresh thoughts and insights are everywhere, from Warren Hastings' visit to Ossian's Hall to the commodification of Paul Sandby. Highly recommended.' Murray Pittock, Bradley Professor of English Literature, University of Glasgow'Coltman's book is an illuminating and entertaining contribution to the study of Scottish visual culture, opening the ongoing debate about Scottish identity to cosmopolitan and colonial influences, and widening the range of critical perspectives brought to bear upon it.' Nigel Leask, H-Albion'As a cultural history, Coltman's book is exemplary, informed by considerable new archival material, shuffling her pack of slippery identity concepts with great dexterity, and lightened by flashes of wit throughout.' Robin N. Campbell, Journal of the Scottish Society for Art HistoryTable of ContentsIntroduction; Part I. Beyond Scotland: 1. Scots in Europe: 'making a figure' – painted portraiture on the Grand Tour; 2. Scots in London: 'the means of bread with applause' – George Steuart's architectural elevation; 3. Scots in Empire: 'good fishing in muddy waters' – Claud Alexander in Calcutta and Catrine; Part II. Within Scotland: 4. The Prince in Scotland: 'daubed with plaid and crammed with treason' – the visual and material culture of embodied insurrection; 5. The Monarch in the metropolis: a scopic spectacle – George IV's visit to Edinburgh, August 1822; 6. Borders Bard: 'the exactness of the resemblance': Sir Walter Scott and the physiognomy of Romanticism; Conclusion: Scott-land.

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Book SynopsisEmma J. Flatt shows the centrality of courtliness in the political and cultural life of the Deccan in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. She argues that a shared courtly disposition facilitated travel, knowledge acquisition and encounters in the Persian-speaking world. This became a route to employment, worldly success and ethical refinement.Trade Review'The Courts of the Deccan Sultanates shifts the spotlight from South Asian kingship and rulers to the courtly environments they inhabited. Challenging Orientalist stereotypes of Indo-Muslim courts as mired in luxury and decadence, the book examines the courts of the early modern Deccan on their own terms, showing how the syncretic sensibilities and skills they cultivated accommodated the wide range of peoples who served in them. A marvellous achievement and a convincing exploration in historical anthropology.' Richard Eaton, University of Arizona'In this magisterial work, Emma J. Flatt skillfully opens up for us the 'black box' of Persianate court culture. Always recognized as important but never before theorized or understood in any detail, the social networks and bodily practices of Persianate courtly culture now stand illuminated in all their fascinating complexity.' Phillip B. Wagoner, Wesleyan University, ConnecticutTable of ContentsIntroduction: cosmopolitanism, courtliness and ethics in the Deccani Sultanates; Part I. Courtly Society: 1. Courtly disposition; 2. Networks, patrons and friends; 3. Courts, merchants and commodities; Part II. Courtly Skills: 4. Scribal skills; 5. Esoteric skills; 6. Martial skills; Concluding remarks.

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Book SynopsisWhat were the laws on marriage in Ireland, and did church and state differ in their interpretation? How did men and women meet and arrange to marry? How important was patriarchy and a husband''s control over his wife? And what were the options available to Irish men and women who wished to leave an unhappy marriage? This first comprehensive history of marriage in Ireland across three centuries looks below the level of elite society for a multi-faceted exploration of how marriage was perceived, negotiated and controlled by the church and state, as well as by individual men and women within Irish society. Making extensive use of new and under-utilised primary sources, Maria Luddy and Mary O''Dowd explain the laws and customs around marriage in Ireland. Revising current understandings of marital law and relations, Marriage in Ireland, 16601925 represents a major new contribution to Irish historical studies.Trade Review'What did marriage in Ireland between 1660 and 1923 really look like? This ground-breaking study of a personal yet, public institution provides the first comprehensive account. It explains marriage law; how the middle and lower classes met, married and fared and what happened when unions failed. Individual agency and institutional control are central themes.' Bernadette Whelan, University of Limerick'Marriage in Ireland is a huge piece of research and analysis which will provide material for further serious work for many years. Our social history is greatly enriched by its existence.' Catriona Crowe, Irish Times'Illuminating.' Kim Bielenberg, Irish Independent'Marriage in Ireland is the perfect partnership between Luddy and O'Dowd's individual research interests. It presents a balanced and nuanced account of the history of marriage from gender, religion and class perspectives, sheds light on the 19th century construction of Ireland's image as a chaste society and provides a solid foundation for further study. Both authors are to be highly commended for this very important contribution to marriage and sexuality studies in Ireland.' Michelle Dunne, Women's History Association of Ireland (womenshistoryassociation.com)'… an ambitious study … for readers hoping to supplement or expand their work on marriage, family relationships, or women's legal and social positions in Ireland, this volume opens new questions and sets readers on the path to answering them.' Claire Arnold, H-AlbionTable of ContentsIntroduction; Part I. What is a Marriage?: 1. A legal marriage?; 2. Couple beggars; Part II. Ways to Marriage: 3. Meeting and matching with a partner; 4. Courtship behaviour; 5. Breach of promise; 6. Abductions; Part III. Happy Ever After?: 7. Marital relations; 8. Adultery and sex outside marriage; 9. Bigamy; Part IV. The Unmaking of Marriage: 10. Marital violence; 11. Desertion; 12. Divorce; Conclusion; Select bibliography; Index.

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Book SynopsisAnimal products were used extensively in nineteenth-century Britain. A middle-class Victorian woman might wear a dress made of alpaca wool, drape herself in a sealskin jacket, brush her hair with a tortoiseshell comb, and sport feathers in her hat. She might entertain her friends by playing a piano with ivory keys or own a parrot or monkey as a living fashion accessory. In this innovative study, Helen Cowie examines the role of these animal-based commodities in Britain in the long nineteenth century and traces their rise and fall in popularity in response to changing tastes, availability, and ethical concerns. Focusing on six popular animal products feathers, sealskin, ivory, alpaca wool, perfumes, and exotic pets she considers how animal commodities were sourced and processed, how they were marketed and how they were consumed. She also assesses the ecological impact of nineteenth-century fashion.Trade Review'From civets horribly confined to produce perfume scent to elephants killed for ivory billiard balls and piano keys, Cowie demonstrates how fashion “valued” animals, even while letters to the RSPCA illustrated concern for animal agency and welfare. Contemporary debates surrounding nonhuman animals' victimization are rooted in the human animal's propensity to display.' Abel Alves, Ball State University'This remarkably powerful and elegantly crafted book explores the appeal of animal-based products in Victorian and Edwardian Britain. Taking us deep into the world of trading and consuming bird feathers, seal skins, ivory, and exotic pets, Victims of Fashion brims with historical insight about the consumption of these goods, but also, importantly, their decline in popularity.' Neil Pemberton, University of Manchester'This is a fascinating book from start to finish, written with great verve and clarity. From animal acclimatisation schemes to exotic pet keeping, and from campaigns against animal cruelty and 'murderous millinery' to the beginnings of international wildlife conservation action, or the hunt to find synthetic substitutes for animal products, it sets some of the key questions of our time in a vivid historical context.' Sally Shuttleworth, University of Oxford'This terrific book exposes how far elites were implicated in systemised animal cruelty (historically associated with the working classes) and illustrates that while women often were pioneering advocates of animal rights, they also constituted core markets for animal commodities.' Julie-Marie Strange, Durham UniversityTable of ContentsIntroduction; 1. Murderous millinery; 2. The seal and his jacket; 3. Is the elephant following the dodo?; 4. Silk of the Andes; 5. Bitter perfumes; 6. Monkey business; Conclusion; Epilogue.

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Book SynopsisThis collection explores the aftermath of the Representation of the People Act, which gave some British women the vote. Experts examine the paths taken by both former-suffragists as well as their anti-suffragist adversaries, the practices of suffrage commemoration, and the changing priorities and formations of British feminism in this era.Trade Review'For the contributors to this collection, the "road to equality" has been marked by victories, yes, but also by struggles, frustrations, misrepresentations and compromises. It may not be the narrative that Viscountess Rhondda had hoped for, but it is certainly a sobering account of rights in action.' - Arianne Chernock, Boston University, USATable of ContentsIntroduction; Julie V. Gottlieb and Richard Toye 1. Emmeline Pankhurst in the Aftermath of Suffrage, 1918-1928; June Purvis 2. From Prudent Housewife to Empire Shopper: Party Appeals to the Female Voter, 1918-1928; David Thackeray 3. The Impact of Mass Democracy on British Political Culture, 1918 – 1939; Pat Thane 4. The House of Commons in the Aftermath of Suffrage; Richard Toye 5. Feminism and the Modern Woman: Debates in the British Popular Press, 1918-1939; Adrian Bingham 6. 'Doing Great Public Work Privately': Female Antis in the Interwar Years; Philippe Vervaecke 7. Towards an Archaeology of Interwar Women's Politics: the Local and the Everyday; Karen Hunt and June Hannam 8. 'Shut Against the Woman and Workman Alike': Democratizing Foreign Policy Between the Wars; Helen McCarthy 9. 'We were done the moment we gave women the vote': The Female Franchise Factor and the Munich By-elections, 1938-39; Julie Gottlieb 10. 'They have made their mark entirely out of proportion to their numbers': Women and Parliamentary Committees, c. 1918-1945; Mari Takayanagi 11. The Political Autobiographies of Early Women MPs c.1918-1964; Krista Cowman 12. 'Women for Westminster,' Feminism, and the Limits of Non-partisan Associational Culture; Laura Beers

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Book SynopsisSteven P. Marrone is Professor of History at Tufts University, USA.Trade ReviewThis is an interesting, enjoyable, and important contribution to the history of magic and witchcraft, with its epicenter remaining in the author’s traditional power base of expertise. * Ronald Hutton, Magic Ritual and Witchcraft, Vol. 12 (1) *Steven Marrone charts his own way through the vast literature in different fields of research … Marrone’s book, which provides a good synoptic view, will be a suitable reader for classes; furthermore, it should be a precursor to more research in the field, especially into the transitions between science and magic in the early modern period. * Frank Sobiech, Isis, Vol. 108 (3) *This is a wide-ranging book, which scholars and students alike will find useful. Steven P. Marrone examines the religious and scientific discourses that the modern world tends to separate, but which once flowed together in a single stream of knowledge and enquiry … Marrone has read widely, uses vivid examples, tells a good story, and simplifies some complex ideas about medieval magic to make them intelligible to lay readers. * Malcolm Gaskill, European History Quarterly, Vol. 46 (4) *Table of ContentsIntroduction 1. Superstition, Science and Magic, 200 BCE–1200 CE 2. Popular Belief and the Rationalization of Religion, 700–1300 3. Science, Magic and the Demonic, 1200–1400: The Catalyst 4. Science, Magic and the Demonic, 1200–1400: The Reaction 5. The Witchcraze and the Crisis of Early Modern Europe, 1400–1650 6. Desacralized Science and Social Control, 1500–1700 Conclusion Notes Index.

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Book SynopsisThis collection examines soldiers as combatants, tourists, family men and as citizens. In particular, chapters trace the theme of the 'citizen soldier' through the initiatives of the period that placed civilian men under arms. In these ways and more, this new book explores 'soldiering' as an activity, an identity, a career and a way of life.Trade Review"Readers will find literary and artistic analyses standing beside more conventional methods of investigation...it offers a fascinating glimpse into the potential for apply socio-cultural analyses to the Georgian-era British military establishment." - Patrick J. Speelman, US Merchant Marine Academy, Journal of Military HistoryTable of ContentsList of Figures Foreword to the Series Acknowledgements Notes on the Contributors Introduction: New Histories of Soldiering; C.Kennedy & M.McCormack PART I: NATION AND SOCIETY 'The Greatest Number Walked Out': Imperial Conflict and the Contractual Basis of Military Society in the Early Highland Regiments; M.Dziennik 'True Brittons and Real Irish': Irish Catholics in the British Army during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars; C.Kennedy Military Radicals and the Making of Class, 1790-1860; N.Mansfield Wars of Seeing: Suffering and Sentiment in Joseph Wright's The Dead Soldier; P.Shaw PART II: MILITARY IDENTITIES A Bridge Between the Gap: the Martial Identity of the Marine Corps, 1755-1802; B.W.Zerbe Liberators and Tourists: British Soldiers in Madrid during the Peninsular War; G.Daly 'A Real English Soldier': Suffering, Manliness and Class in the Mid Nineteenth-Century Soldiers' Tale; N.Ramsey PART III: CITIZEN SOLDIERS Liberty and Discipline: Militia Training Literature in mid-Georgian England; M.McCormack 'Let Us Play the Men': Masculinity and the Citizen-Solider in Late Eighteenth-Century Ireland; P.Higgins Creating the Amateur Soldier: the Theory and Training of Britain's Volunteers; K.Linch The Amateur Military Tradition Revisited; I.F.W.Beckett Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisThis book collects original research essays to explore the diverse uses of photographs and photography in oral history, from the use of photos as memory triggers to their deployment in the telling of life stories. The book's contributors include both oral historians and photography scholars and critics.Trade Review'This international selection of essays would be a natural fit for graduate courses in oral history as well as memory studies. The introduction includes an excellent review of the historiography while suggesting ways oral historians can 'best use photographs in their work,' and understand the 'interviewee's often perplexing responses to photographs.'' - Sound Historian 'The sensitive use of photographs by these oral historians has drawn fascinating, sometimes spellbinding, tales from both the tellers and the listeners. This is an important collection that will instruct and inspire future research at the crossroads of photography, orality, memory, and history.' Martha Langford, author of Suspended Conversations: The Afterlife of Memory in Photographic Albums and Scissors, Paper, Stone: Expressions of Memory in Contemporary Photographic Art 'An evocative, much-needed international collection exploring the fascinating intersection between the oral and visual. Twelve pointed and diverse case studies, framed by an extensive introductory essay, map a surprisingly rich terrain. One axis involves reflections on photo-elicitation as a helpful but far-from-straightforward interview technique. Another involves issues of memory and interpretation in oral history, issues complicated in provocative ways by the counterpoint with photographic evidence (and vice versa). A third dimension, perhaps the most novel, demonstrates how enriched documentary and interactive possibilities for family, community, and public discourse can be unfolded through leveraging the productive tension between voice and eye, from representation to reception.' Michael Frisch, co-author, with photographer Milton Rogovin, of Portraits in Steel 'This is a terrific book. The collection addresses key issues in the correlation of the visual and verbal that are particularly salient as digital communication challenges the boundaries of many disciplines, the nature of history and oral history itself, and the possibilities for engaged oral history or advocacy and interpretive action. The book as a whole is remarkably well-written. It has the analytical grain and authorial modesty I have come to admire in the best oral history work. This collection will certainly complement and extend the emerging literatures on visual study, visual culture, new documentary, and 'sensory' ethnography. Accordingly, I expect it will significantly enhance the stature and reach of oral history.' - Della Pollock, professor of Performance and Cultural Studies, University of North Carolina at Chapel HillTable of ContentsMary Brockmeyer's Wedding Picture: Exploring the Intersection of Photographs and Oral History Interviews; A.Freund & A.Thiessen 'When I was a Girl . . .': Women Talking About their Girlhood Photo Collections; P.Tinkler Imaging Family Memories: My Mum, Her Photographs, Our Memories; J.Wilton Remembering, Forgetting and Feeling with Photographs; L.Mannik Listening to Pictures: Photographs and Oral History among Inuit Youths and Elders; C.Payne Using Press Photographs in the Construction of Political Life Stories; M.Schiebel & Y.Robel Piercing the Punctum: Oral History and the 'Prick' of Photography; K.M.Ryan Family Photographs as Traces of Americanization; M.Thompson Family Photographs and Migrant Memories: Representing Women's Lives; A.Thomson From Witness to Participant: Making Subversive Documentary; A.Bersch & L.Grant Photographs from the Shoebox; J.E.Marles Committed Eye: Photographs, Oral Sources, and Historical Narrative; A.M.Mauad

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Book SynopsisThis volume constitutes a multidisciplinary intervention into the emerging field of postcolonial studies in Italy, bringing together cultural and social history, critical and political theory, literary and cinematic analyses, ethnomusicology and cultural studies, anthropological fieldwork, and race, gender, diaspora, and urban studies.Trade Review"An important contribution to the field of postcolonial studies, this volume offers wide-ranging and provocative analyses of the intricately interconnected legacies of colonialism, emigration, and global migration in Italy. Mapping a landscape of postcolonial studies that is unique to Italy in terms of its regimes of race, gender, citizenship and cultural transformations, Postcolonial Italy engenders radically new and challenging critiques of hegemonic British/Indian/USA centered formulations of postcolonial studies." - Chandra Talpade Mohanty, author of Feminism Without Borders, Decolonizing Theory, Practicing Solidarity (2003) "An essential book for any scholar of modern Italy, but in fact for anybody interested in the perduring effects of colonialism in today's globalized world, Postcolonial Italy has the rare merit of casting a bold look not only at the silenced history of Italian colonialism overseas, but also at that chapter of Italy's internal colonialism known as 'the southern question.' The contributions, drawing from postcolonial studies, cultural studies, race theory, and gender studies, will be of compelling interest to readers in a wide range of fields." - Roberto Dainotto, Professor of Italian and of Literature, Duke University, USA "This is an important collection of critical essays which engages head-on with the challenging inheritance of colonialism. Today, it is the return of this negated past in representations of race, racism and the much-maligned migrant that poses the principal political challenge of a heterogeneous, postcolonial Italy." - Iain Chambers, Università degli Studi di Napoli 'L'Orientale,' ItalyTable of Contents1. The Italian Postcolonial; Robert J.C. Young PART I: EUROPEAN AND GLOBAL TRAJECTORIES 2. The New European Migratory Regime and the Shifting Patterns of Contemporary Racism; Sandro Mezzadra 3. The Postcolonial Turn in Italian Studies: European Perspectives; Sandra Ponzanesi 4. The Emigrant Post-'Colonia' in Contemporary Immigrant Italy; Teresa Fiore 5. De-provincializing Italy: Notes on Race, Racialization and Italy's Coloniality; Miguel Mellino PART II: SHARED MEMORIES, CONTESTED PROXIMITIES 6. Hidden Faces, Hidden Histories: Contrasting Voices of Postcolonial Italy; Alessandro Triulzi 7. Shooting the Colonial Past in Contemporary Italian Cinema: Effects of Deferral in Good Morning Aman; Derek Duncan 8. Italians DOC? Posing and Passing from Giovanni Finati to Amara Lakhous; Barbara Spackman 9. Pier Paolo Pasolini in Eritrea: Subalternity, Grace, Nostalgia and the 'Rediscovery' of Italian Colonialism in the Horn of Africa; Giovanna Trento 10. Southerners, Migrants, Colonized: A Postcolonial Perspective on Carlo Levi's Cristo si è fermato a Eboli and Southern Italy Today; Roberto Derobertis PART III: INTIMATIONS AND INTIMACIES OF RACE 11. Postracial/Postcolonial Italy; Cristina Lombardi-Diop 12. Blaxploitation Italian Style: Exhuming and Consuming the Colonial Black Venus in 1970s Cinema in Italy; Rosetta Giuliani Caponetto 13. Screening Intimacy and Racial Difference in Postcolonial Italy; Áine O'Healy 14. Race Evaporations: Representing Blackness in African Italian Postcolonial Literature; Caterina Romeo PART IV: POSTNATIONAL AESTHETICS, TRANSCULTURAL PRODUCTION 15. On the Periphery of Nollywood: Nigerian Video Filmmaking in Italy and the Emergence of an Intercultural Aesthetics; Alessandro Jedlowski 16. Envisioning Postcolonial Italy: Haile Gerima's Adwa: An African Victory and Isaac Julien's Western Union: Small Boats; Shelleen Greene 17. "Roma Forestiera": A Project on Migrant Music in Rome; Alessandro Portelli 18. Hip Pop Italian-Style: The Postcolonial Imagination of Second Generation Authors in Italy; Clarissa Clò

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