Bøger udgivet af Transcript Verlag

This work covers the ways in which traditional Moroccan women seers have adjusted to ongoing processes of commercialization and professionalization as well as to the changing needs and expectations of their female clientele. Themes include spirit possession, mother-daughter relationships and more.

Includes articles that focus on two perspectives. Some link the comparative analysis of Islam to ongoing debates on the Axial Age and its role in the formation of major civilizations, while others are more concerned with historical constellations and sources involved in the formation of Islam as a religion and a civilization.

Presents an examination of the internationally renowned National Dance Theatre Company of Jamaica (NDTC) in the context of postcolonial theater. This title examines the interrelationship of Jamaican modern dance theater aesthetics and the Caribbean's complex cultural genealogy since 1492.

Video games permeate our everyday existence. They immerse players in fascinating gameworlds and exciting experiences, often inviting them in various ways to reflect on the enacted events.Gerald Farca explores the genre of dystopian video games and the player's aesthetic response to their nightmarish gameworlds. Players, he argues, will gradually come to see similarities between the virtual dystopia and their own >offline< environment, thus learning to stay wary of social and political developments.In his analysis, Farca draws from a variety of research fields, such as literary theory and game studies, combining them into a coherent theory of aesthetic response to dystopian games.

By combining an ethnographic study of youth with an analysis of the local state in the making, this research monograph introduces the perspective of »meandering lives« to grasp being young and growing up in the Guéckédou borderland, a remote space approximately 700 kilometers southeast of Conakry, Guinea's capital. This history-sensitive perspective represents a fruitful lens to not only depict youth but to also draw a nuanced picture of the functioning of the state in Guinea.

How do nations continue to be made on a daily basis? In this important contribution to nationalism studies, Dave Poitras explores how nationhood and the idea of living in a world of nations are experienced in the cities of Montreal and Brussels. Drawing on ethnographic research, he identifies three typical ways of enacting nationhood in workplaces, thereby capturing the various dynamics through which non-political actors "do nationhood". In particular, Dave Poitras examines the distinct mechanisms whereby nations are made and demonstrates how individuals' everyday activities legitimize Montreal's and Brussels's unique social constellation within their respective federal state.

Second-person storytelling is a continually present and diverse technique in the history of literature that appears only once in the oeuvre of an author. Based on key narratives of the post-war period, Evgenia Iliopoulou approaches the phenomenon in an inductive way, starting out from the essentials of grammar and rhetoric, and aims to improve the general understanding of second-person narrative within literature. In its various forms and typologies, the second person amplifies and expands the limits of representation, thus remaining a narrative enigma: a small narrative gesture - with major narrative impact.

"Doing Cultural History" collects papers on a variety of topics. The issues addressed span from the 12th to the 21st century and include the communication of peace in written and pictorial sources, narrative structures in legal texts, masculinity and violence, and new research into Scottish medieval history as well as a comparison of religious theme parks and the perception of sorcery and false saintliness in early modern Spain.

Who wins and who loses in urban regeneration? What are the mechanisms at play?Francesca Weber-Newth looks at two neighbourhoods that are adjacent to large-scale regeneration schemes: the 2012 Olympic park in London and the Mediaspree waterside development in Berlin. By analysing how urban regeneration is experienced on the ground, her study counters the notion that Olympic-led regeneration is any different from other forms of neoliberal urban development. Adopting Pierre Bourdieu's view of the social world as made up of competitive >gamesculture< and >community< are strategically employed in the >game< of urban regeneration - to the benefit of some and the detriment of others.

»Digital Culture & Society« is a refereed, international journal, fostering discussion about the ways in which digital technologies, platforms and applications reconfigure daily lives and practices. It offers a forum for critical analysis and inquiries into digital media theory and provides a publication environment for interdisciplinary research approaches, contemporary theory developments and methodological innovation.This special issue discusses theoretical and artistic investigations on citizen engagement, digital citizenship and grassroots information politics. The articles reflect on the role of the digital citizen from the perspectives of (digital) sociology, science, technology and society (STS), (digital) media studies, cultural studies, political sciences, and philosophy.

What exactly is rape? And how is it embedded in society?Hilkje Charlotte Hänel offers a philosophical exploration of the often misrepresented concept of rape in everyday life, systematically mapping out and elucidating this atrocious phenomenon. Hänel proposes a theory of rape as a social practice facilitated by ubiquitous sexist ideologies. Arguing for a normative cluster model for the concept of rape, this timely intervention improves our understanding of lived experiences of sexual violence and social relations within sexist ideologies.

What do literary texts tell us about growing old? The essays in this volume introduce and explore representations of ageing and old age in canonical works of English and postcolonial literature. The contributors examine texts by William Shakespeare, Daniel Defoe, Julian Barnes, Thomas Kinsella, Seamus Heaney, J.M. Coetzee, Alice Munro, Witi Ihimaera and Patricia Grace and, together with a medical study, they suggest solutions to the challenges arising from the current demographic change brought about by ageing Western populations.

Dominant cultural narratives about later life dismiss the value senior citizens hold for society. In her cultural-philosophical critique, Hanne Laceulle outlines counter narratives that acknowledge both potentials and vulnerabilities of later life. She draws on the rich philosophical tradition of thought about self-realization and explores the significance of ethical concepts essential to the process of growing old such as autonomy, authenticity and virtue. These counter narratives aim to support older individuals in their search for a meaningful age identity, while they make society recognize its senior members as valued participants and moral agents of their own lives.

In the early years of the Cold War, Western nations increasingly adopted strategies of public diplomacy involving popular music. While the diplomatic use of popular music was initially limited to such genres as jazz, the second half of the 20th century saw a growing presence of various popular genres in diplomatic contexts, including rock, pop, bluegrass, flamenco, funk, disco, and hip-hop, among others.This volume illuminates the interrelation of popular music and public diplomacy from a transnational and transdisciplinary angle. The contributions argue that, as popular music has been a crucial factor in international relations, its diplomatic use has substantially impacted the global musical landscape of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Gender impact assessment has been both celebrated as a beacon of hope for the cause of gender equality and criticised as being ineffectual. More than 20 years of gender mainstreaming have demonstrated that equality governance with and through impact assessment is an intersectional and still evolving process.Arn T. Sauer's study examines the instruments of gendered policy analysis and the conditions under which they are being used by the Canadian federal government and the European Commission. Interviews with experts from public administration and instrument designers as well as document analyses reveal benefits and challenges and show that the success of equality governance depends upon whether knowledge about gendered policy and appropriate administrative practices are embedded, embodied and entrenched in public administration.