Bøger udgivet af Ibidem-Verlag

This book investigates state-building, distorted identities, and separatism in the Republic of Moldova. It presents research on the historical preconditions and spread of the secessionist movement in Transnistria, the war in the Dniester River valley, and the diplomatic deadlock of the Transnistrian problem. It examines the conflicting positions that political parties, the public, and experts have taken towards the problems that challenge the nation- and state-building processes in this post-Soviet state. Additional focal points include the reassertion of Russiäs power in the post-Soviet space, Ukraine¿s effort to become a major political player in the region, and Romaniäs attempt to retrieve its influence in Moldova. This study demonstrates that separatism generates mutually exclusive nation-building projects on the territory of a single state, that international actors play a significant role in this process, and that domestic and external factors hinder the development of a resolution of the so-called "frozen conflict" over Transnistria.

We all philosophize at times. What do we do when we philosophize? We think in a rather concentrated, deep sort of way. In so doing, we do not call ourselves Philosophers; it would be rather pretentious of us if we did. Philosophers are those¿generally in university departments of Philosophy¿who think, and ask questions, about what reality is made of, what we know, and how we should behave. Philosophers are not fools; but after two and a half thousand years, they have not come up with agreed answers to their questions that are any more useful, or certain, than thinkers who do not call themselves Philosophers. Many of those who do are still caught up in the thought-forms of theology; all are in pursuit of a lost cause except those who write what might be written by thinkers in other domains. Is it not time to admit that there is nothing very special about Philosophy?¿I have spent enjoyable hours reading Colin Swatridge¿s book. I really did enjoy it and was very impressed by the range of sources he used and the scope of his analysis, the focus of his specific critiques.¿¿ Anthony Morgan, editor of ¿The Philosopher¿, the journal of the Philosophical Society of England

The whole Communist world is in the middle of a democratic revolution. Hall Gardner¿s novel depicts the protests taking place prior to the June 1989 Tiananmen Square repression¿a subject still taboo in China. Hired to teach English, Mylex H. Galvin records his experience in his ¿Anti-Marco Polö journal after he meets expats from around the world, while trying to come to grips with the Chinese language, history, and politics. Galvin becomes disillusioned with the poverty and environmental destruction that he finds in China; his barefoot doctor heroes are not capable of treating AIDS; Chinese and African students clash in Nanjing¿with no sense of international solidarity. As the democracy movement heats up, he is torn between the love of Tao Baiqing, a Daoist, and Mo Li, a student of English Lit, and unwittingly betrays the ties between the journalist, Hayford, and the democracy activist, Chia Pao-yüaccused of leaking ¿top secrets¿ to Hayford. As Galvin studies Chinäs relations with the Western world since Marco Polo, with emphasis on the ¿hundred years of humiliation,¿ he becomes haunted by nightmares of a ¿clash of civilizations¿ and warns against a coming Apocalyptic Color War between the Balding Eagle and the Chinese Dragon¿as the latter transmogrifies from Red into shades of Red-Brown-Black.

Youth language data provides interesting perspectives on gender dynamics and gendered usage in society. However, the gender perspective has not received the deserved focus in youth language studies in Africa. This is partly due to the general perception that youth languages and classic youth language practices, such as slang and anti-language, are male-oriented. This collected volume focuses on gender dynamics and gendered usage in African youth languages and youth language practices, against the backdrop of urbanity as well as rurality. With representations from different parts of Africa, the volume examines sundry youth usage in different contexts and domains. While avoiding strict binarizations and potentially flawed dichotomies, the contributing scholars observe some of the motivations for different gender performatives and how these manifest in a variety of language forms and through predominated categories of use. Data samples were obtained through sociolinguistic and anthropological instruments, ranging from questionnaires and structured interviews to street-based observations and corpus analyses. On the whole, the volume engages the literature and debate on language, youth, and especially on gendering dynamics in African youth language practices.

This edited volume critically assesses different aspects of five literary genres ¿ novels, poetry, short-stories, drama, and non-fictional prose ¿ contributed to by the Indian diasporic writers settled principally in North America and Europe. Films made by or on members of the Indian diaspora have been also checked out. The predominant approach in the anthology is not only a feminist one, although special emphasis is given on assessing the writings by females. The emphasis of the anthology is on: (a) critical analyses of themes, styles, diction, and relevance of the writings; (b) assessment of the research potentialities of these writings; (c) examining how literary theories could be used for explaining and assessing the writings; (d) proper contextualization of the writings; and (e) finding out the historical roots and suggesting the future ¿prospects¿ of such writings. The essays included in the book re-read Indian diasporic writings for their appreciable points as well as those which need development. The collection fills in lacuna of critical approaches to Indian diasporic writings presently available in the market. In fact, there is scarcely any book presently available that covers critical approaches to all the five literary genres of Indian diasporic writings.

The philosophic spirit has persisted as part of the human spirit and human culture for over twenty-five centuries. This book presents examples of this spirit from its beginnings in Greek thought through the modern age. Among these examples are an account of Empedocles jumping into the volcano of Mt. Etna to join the gods, Plato's quarrel with the poets, St. Anselm's famous argument for the existence of God, Descartes's Archimedean proof of his own existence, and Kant's description of the perfect island of the Understanding. Attention is also given to Cassirer's concept of symbolic forms and Whitehead's theory of actual entities. The volume concludes with a discussion, based on the thought of Giambattista Vico, of a way to approach philosophy through a balance between the Ancient and the Moderns.

Framed by complexity-thinking, this book uses the prism of security sector reform (SSR) to trace the co-evolution of the Western Balkans as part of the EU/Europe security community and the European Union (EU) as a security actor. It aims to analyse the suitability and adaptability of EU security governance to a VUCA world, i.e. a world of increasing vulnerability, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity¿the world of transformative change. It takes a detailed view on the transformation of regional and state security in the Western Balkans and the EU¿s role in the process between 1991, the year that marked the flare-up of violence and large-scale conflict, and 2013, when the first state of the region joined the EU.

Why do we believe what we believe in? Where are the values that we take for granted in constructing our identity coming from? Do we know how we came to be the person that is us? Identity in Progress is a book that tries to trace the value construction processes by way of analysing Nobel Prize-winning British author Kazuo Ishigurös two top novels The Remains of the Day and Never Let Me Go. The former shows an old butler now sceptical about his unshakeable loyalty to whatever he once believed to constitute ¿dignity;¿ the latter shows a young woman on a journey, both literally and metaphorically, to find out who or what she is. With Fredric Jameson¿s words on ¿the propaedeutic value of art¿ in mind, Identity in Progress provides a refreshing reading of the two novels with a Marxist perspective, revealing, as Jameson says, the historical and social essence of what we believe to be individual experiences.

When this book was written, it was the story of one death among many in the war in Eastern Ukraine. After February 24, 2022, it took on a new dimension - now it is not only a personal story, but the story of a country under severe attack. The premonitions about Putin's intentions that moved the author's brother to join the Ukrainian armed forces and defend his country have now come to pass in the most horrific way.Olesya Khromeychuk tells the story of her brother Volodymyr Pavliv, who was killed on the front line in 2017, taking the point of view of a civilian and a woman - perspectives that tend to be neglected in war accounts - and focusing on the stories that take place far away from the war zone. Through a combination of personal memoir and essay, Olesya Khromeychuk brings her readers closer to the events of this  brutal war in the heart of Europe and to the private experience of war itself. This book speaks to anyone struggling with grief and the shock of the sudden loss of a loved one.This new edition was updated after Russia started the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 by Monoray with new chapters and a new Foreword by Philippe Sands. Praise for the first edition:[A] moving and elegantly written account, A Loss, reflects on an older brother whom she got to know better after he died than before.Julian Evans, TLSIn A Loss, Khromeychuk shows that the experience of grief transcends individual circumstance and in fact, unites us. In doing so, she connects readers to the collective grief that most Ukrainians are unconsciously carrying. I hope that, when the book is published in Ukraine, it will help people there to work through the pain and trauma of the last seven years.Isobel Koshiw, Los Angeles Review of BooksGrappling. I admire a book that invites me to grapple with knotty questions. Olesya Khromeychuk has written such a book-beautifully. Feminism and drones. Funerals and theater. Shrapnel and combat boots-size 8. 'A Loss' explores the lures of militarism at a granular level.Professor Cynthia Enloe, author of Nimo's War, Emma's War: Making Feminist Sense of the Iraq WarMoving, intelligent, and brilliantly written, this is a sister's reckoning with a lost brother, an émigré's with the country of her childhood, and a scholar's with her own suddenly acutely personal subject matter. A wonderful combination of emotional and intellectual honesty; very sad and direct but also rigorous and nuanced. It even manages to be funny.Anna Reid, author of Borderland: A Journey Through the History of UkraineThere has always been too much silence around the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine-Europe's forgotten war. Olesya Khromeychuk refuses to bend to this silence. In vivid, intimate prose and with unflinching honesty, she introduces us to the brother she lost in the war and found in her grief. Poignant, wise, and unforgettable.Dr Rory Finnin, Associate Professor in Ukrainian Studies at the University of Cambridge

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, many new techniques for remaining healthy have been introduced, but there has been little to no public discussion about how to live well. ¿Social distancing¿ is good medicine for the body, but the health of the spirit depends on wisdom. When we find ourselves in new and dangerous conditions, we can only look to the past for counsel. In this book, originally published as Plague Literature and now in its second edition, the philosopher Dustin Peone offers reflections on ten literary classics set during plague times. From each work, he draws one central insight that is applicable to our situation today and all future pandemics. These insights are lessons in prudence, taught by the sages of the past. This is a book about how to pursue the good life during a pandemic and what it means to flourish in dark times, not just to survive.¿This is a unique and timely work, offering the reader a systematic and historical perspective on the difficult and dangerous conditions of the present time.¿ ¿Donald Phillip Verene, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, Emory University"An invaluable book, beautifully written in a classical style characterized by clarity and wit."¿Brian P. Quaranta, Trent Center for Bioethics, Humanities, and History of Medicine, Duke University¿Peone¿s book offers penetrating and essential insight about what is necessary for human flourishing in pandemic conditions. This should be read by anyone wishing to understand not only how to survive, but how to live well in dark and unsettling times.¿¿Rebecca U. Thorpe, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Washington

When Megan Buskey¿s grandmother Anna dies in Cleveland in 2013, Megan is compelled in her grief to uncover and document her grandmother¿s life as a native of Ukraine. A Ukrainian American, Buskey returns to her family¿s homeland and enlists her relatives there to help her in her quest¿and discovers much more than she expected. The result is an extraordinary journey that traces one woman¿s story across Ukraine¿s difficult twentieth century, from a Galician village emerging from serfdom, to the ¿bloodlands¿ of Eastern Europe during World War II, to the Siberian hinterlands where Anna spent almost two decades in exile before receiving the rare opportunity to emigrate from the Soviet Union in the 1960s. In the course of her research, Megan encounters essential and sometimes disturbing aspects of recent Ukrainian history, such as Nazi collaboration, the rise and persistence of Ukrainian nationalism, and the shattering impact of Russiäs full-scale invasion in 2022. Yet her wide-ranging inquiries keep leading her back to universal questions: What does family mean? How can you forge connections between generations that span different cultures, times, and places? And, perhaps most hauntingly, how can you best remember a complicated past that is at once foreign and personal?"A painfully honest and carefully researched journey of a Ukrainian American into her family¿s complicated and difficult past. Anchored in the catastrophe of the Second World War and the subsequent Stalinist repression of the Ukrainian peasantry, the story flows, unexpectedly to the author herself, into the unfolding drama of the current Russian invasion. Thoughtful and beautifully written." ¿Jan Gross, Princeton University, author of Neighbors: The Destruction of the Jewish Community in Jedwabne, Poland"This book is not only important, but captivating and instructive." ¿John-Paul Himka, University of Alberta"Megan Buskey¿s blend of tireless investigation with thoughtful analysis and careful prose make this book an exemplar of the best traditions in historical writing."¿Wil S. Hylton, author of Vanished: The Sixty-Year Search for the Missing Men of World War II

The East European nations' common past in the Soviet Union connects them in terms of both their political histories and the evolution of their philosophical thought. The USSR's dissolution created new opportunities, domestic and international, in science, politics, and business. De-Sovietization meant for philosophy that it lost its former significance as a political-ideological tool of the authorities, and its previous role in society. Philosophers of the former Soviet bloc now found themselves able to communicate with colleagues around the world. This volume's chapters analyze the renewal of the philosophical enterprise over the last thirty to forty years, in Belarus, Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. Among its authors are Yevgeniy Abdullaev, Viktoras Bakhmetjevas, Alexandru Cosmescu, Maija Kule, Denys Kiryukhin, Giorgi Khuroshvili, Mikhail Maiatsky, Tatyana Shchittsova, and Mikhail Minakov."This book is a long-needed assessment of the transformations of philosophy after the fall of the Soviet Union, when a wide range of possibilities opened up for philosophical thinking."-Daniela Steila, University of Turin "This book offers an excellent handle with which to grasp the inherent difficulty of reconciling states, civil societies, and academic knowledge in fraught national settings." -Diana Pinto, Historian "Nothing can help us more incisively than this book to grasp how thinking, though imperceptible and immaterial, can be put and kept in chains or can suddenly break free from chains."-Alessandro Ferrara, University of Rome Tor Vergata"The book offers new and original cartography of the post-Soviet intellectual space and its development."-Nikolaj Plotnikov, Ruhr-University Bochum"But what happened to philosophy in Soviet hands when the Soviet Union faded away? The answer is in this volume."-Ivan Krastev, Centre for Liberal Strategies in Sofia"The book is a must-read not only for those who are interested in a deep understanding of post-Soviet philosophy, its history, and its place in the world but also for those who want to truly explore the inner side of post-Soviet being and consciousness."-Julie Reshe, University College Cork and University College Dublin"It is this overview of the new critical potentials in the post-Communist East that makes the book an obligatory reading for all who care about our common destiny."-Slavoj Zizek, University of London/University of Ljubljana

How did the Ukrainian oligarchy survive the institutional disruption of the Euromaidan revolt of 2013/2014? How did it manage to continue its extractive political and economic practices, amid deep changes in Ukraine¿s society and polity? To answer these questions, this book analyzes the evolution of the Ukrainian super-rich in 2006-2017, tracing the process of conversion of wealth into political influence through vote-buying in the Verkhovna Rada (the Ukrainian parliament) and of the transformation of political influence back into wealth via elite rent-extraction schemes within the Ukrainian gas sector. A key argument is that continuity in informal practices between the Yanukovych and Poroshenko presidencies, and of the networks that conduct them, meant a prolongation of the dominant political economy regime. The study conceptualizes the processes of the recreation of Ukrainian oligarchy as a ¿currency flow,¿ or circuit, of wealth and power. It adds to the literature on the dynamics of informally dominated post-communist political economy regimes a detailed, integrated, and internally comparative case study of Ukraine."This book is ambitious in its scope ... a thoroughgoing empirical study of one of the defining features of politics in Ukraine.¿¿Dr Sarah Whitmore, Senior Lecturer in Politics, Oxford Brookes University"A successful attempt to combine usage of theories of oligarchy and national prosperity."¿Dr Rasmus Nilsson, Lecturer in Russian Politics, SSEES, University College London