The image of exploration in the nineteenth century was laden with multiple meanings, and sustained by a rapidly expanding visual culture. In theatres, in art, in verse and song, the achievements of ex
Action cinema is entering the drone age. At a time when technological advances are transforming cultures and supporting new automated military techniques, action films engage the senses and in doing s
Tweenhood offers a timely examination of mainstream pre-adolescent girls' films, television programmes, celebrities and extra-texts from 2004 onwards, including "princess" narratives The Pri
How do you govern 130,000 people from exile? Tibet—and the struggles of diaspora Tibetans—are elements of an ongoing and highly debated issue. The Dalai Lama's democratisation process during his time
More than three decades have passed since the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1979. In that time, theories of modern revolution would suggest a retreat from ideological goals, heraldi
Zoroastrianism has always commanded interest way beyond the circles of its actual adherents. Its unbroken history and distinctive beliefs span three millennia, making it one of the world's most venera
The Crimean Peninsula has a rich and complex environmental history. The Black Sea in particular has had a major impact on nearly all aspects of Crimea’s natural and cultural history. Carlos Cordova ex
Diagnosed with schizophrenia in the 1950s, German writer and artist Unica Zurn produced a wealth of remarkable textual and visual material within psychiatric institutions across Germany and France. Wh
The world’s 200 million Shi’i Muslims express their faith in a multiplicity of ways, united by reverence for the ahl al-bayt, the family of the Prophet. In embracing a pluralistic ethic, fourteen cent
The uprisings which spread across the Middle East and North Africa in late 2010 and 2011 irrevocably altered the way in which the region is now perceived. But in spite of the numerous similarities in
Northern Albania and Montenegro are the only regions in Europe to have retained a true tribal society up to the mid-twentieth century. This book provides the first scholarly investigation of this trib
This trailblazing book provides an overview of films about women in sport and a timely critical analysis of their role in shaping perceptions of female athletic ability. It examines the themes of aggr
Ugliness is very much alive in the history of art. From ritual invocations of mythic monsters to the scare tactics of the early twentieth-century avant-garde, from the cabinet of curiosities to the id
How does our colonial past echo through today's global politics? How have former empire-builders sought vindication or atonement, and formerly colonised states reversal or retribution? This ground-bre
Neville Chamberlain's policy of appeasing Hitler's Germany has been widely condemned. However, historians (and politicians) have been divided about the viability of alternative courses of action.Andre
Gandhi's nationalism seems simple and straightforward: he wanted an independent Indian nation state and freedom from British colonial rule. But in reality his nationalism rested on complex and sophist
Why believe? What kinds of things do people believe in? How have they come to believe them? And how does what they believe – or disbelieve – shape their lives and the meaning the world has for them? F
From the ancient Egyptian tale of a Shipwrecked Sailor through to Sinbad and Robinson Crusoe, the stranded castaway living and philosophizing alone on a strange, desert island is a theme which has cap
The English countryside in the nineteenth century experienced the shifting power struggle from the great landed estates towards democratization. Challenging received scholarship that the landed estate
Africa is huge, internationally vital, potentially rich and powerful yet mired in failure – political, economic, social and even cultural. Yet the story of contemporary Africa is not just one of globa
Gardens of the Gods reveals the symbolic language of garden design, exploring the gardens of China with their moon gates and immortal rocks, the Zen gardens of Japan, and the paradise gardens of Islam
Pink Ice tells the compelling story of the political struggles over Antarctica and the South Atlantic. It shows how Britain and Argentina have sought to invest these thinly populated spaces with cultu
The GCC, made up of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the UAE, is one of the most resilient sub-regional organizations in the world, and the most successful in the one in the Arab world.
During the leadership of Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the AKP, the Turkish government shifted from a 'reactive' to an 'activist' foreign policy. As a result, many in the West increasingly began to see Tur
Films both reflect and construct social reality, especially in the way they employ, affirm and critique the discourses through which we grasp political life. This book examines five contemporary featu
In response to the civil war in Darfur, the African Mission in Sudan (AMIS) force was established in May 2004, and by June its first contingents were on the ground. For the first time since the foundi
The US-led coalition which launched an invasion of Iraq on 20 March 2003 led to a decade-long military presence in the country. In the run-up to that invasion, many comparisons were made with the 1991
Sexual violence has been a regular feature of communal conflict in India since independence in 1947. The Partition riots, which saw the brutal victimization of thousands of Hindu, Muslim and Sikh wome
In 1923 the Turkish government, under its new leader Kemal Ataturk, signed a renegotiated Balkan Wars treaty with the major powers of the day and Greece. This treaty provided for the forced exchange o
The uprisings that were seen throughout the Middle East during 2010 and 2011, make it difficult to over-state the role of educated youth in the region’s politics. Daniele Cantini combines an analysis
Discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity is forbidden in contemporary international human rights law, yet in many interpretations of Islamic law, this is seen to contradi
The 2006 elections for the Palestinian Legislative Council, the first in which both Fatah and Hamas fielded candidates, resulted in a resounding victory for Hamas. Winning 74 out of the 132 seats (com
The military rule of General Zia ul-Haq, former President of Pakistan, had significant political repercussions for the country. Islamization policies were far more pronounced and control over wo
Since 2014, more than 60 million people have been displaced from their homes across the Middle East and Africa. The European Refugee Crisis, as it has come to be known, is now the largest such crisis
'In 1982 a young professional footballer – known as 'Beckenbauer' for his aggressive and fearless style of play - was forced by a military dictatorship to shave his beard, his football team disbanded
The cultural history of the Cold War has been characterised as an explosion of fear and paranoia, based on very little actual intelligence. Both the US and Soviet administrations have since remarked h
The Nile is arguably the most famous river in the world. For millennia, the search for its source defeated emperors and explorers. Yet the search for its source also contained a religious quest – a se
Since the 1993 Oslo Accords, the Occupied Palestinian Territory has been the subject of extensive international peacebuilding and statebuilding efforts coordinated by Western donor states and internat
The political violence erupting near the end of the 20th century between the Peruvian state and communist militant group Sendero Luminoso, or 'Shining Path', left an indelible mark on the country that
In late nineteenth and early twentieth century Britain, there was widespread fascination with the technological transformations wrought by modernity. Films, newspapers and literature told astonishing
