This is the first academic biography of the scientist and politician Jacob Moleschott (1822-1893). Based on a vast range of primary sources in German, Italian, Dutch, French, and Latin, it not only sh
According to relational sociology, power imbalances are at the core of human conflicts. They shape subsequent physical and symbolic struggles between interdependent groups or individuals. The contribu
Cultural encounters are often stylized not only as experiences of uncontrollability and unpredictability par excellence but also as challenges to planning and predicting. The history, different forms,
Everyday articulations of music, place, urban politics, and inclusion/exclusion are powerfully present in Istanbul. This volume analyzes landscapes of music, community, and exclusion across a century
How are prestige and power anchored in EU-Brussels? Which performances are valued, and which are not? Pawel Lewicki's ethnographic analysis gives insight into how different understandings of modernity
Digital games in pedagogy, games as social environments, ethics in games, digital games as transmedia works of art; the aesthetics of play, cineludic aesthetics—these were some of the important topics
To justify the plundering of today's Democratic Republic of the Congo, U.S. intellectual elites have continuously produced dismissive Congo discourses. Tracing these discourses in great depth and brea
Where the Everyday Begins is a study of environment and everyday life. James Morrow uses innovative research methods to reveal the ways in which environment defines everyday life, pulling together a m
From 1990 through 2015, American literature saw the emergence of a new corpus of epilepsy metaphors that tackle the stigma of epilepsy within three areas: society, body, and language. Eleana Vaja intr
This study is a concise introduction to Bruno Latour's Actor-Network Theory and its application in a literary analysis of urban narratives of the twenty-first century. Are these literary documentaries
While concepts of Earth have a rich tradition, more recent examples show a distinct quality: though ideas of wholeness might still be related to mythical, religious, or utopian visions of the past, "E
This book offers insights into the approaches of a new generation of Jewish American writers. Whether they reimagine their ancestors' "shtetl life" or invent their own kind of Jewishness, they have a
Life narratives and fiction that represent experiences of hermaphroditism and intersex are at the core of Michaela Koch's study. Texts from the nineteenth to the early twenty-first century are embedde
This book is a metaphor-based analysis of the texts produced by the missionaries of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions in the Ottoman Empire from 1820-1898. It explores the conce
This book offers a study of the literary marketplace in the early 2000s. Focusing on the Man Booker Prize and its impact on a novel's media attention, Anna Auguscik analyzes the mechanisms by which th
As the largest class action suit in Canadian history, the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement (2007-2015) had a great impact on the lives of Aboriginal survivors across Canada. In a rare a
"There's nothing really fun about the park in winter!" In this book, Christina Ergler explores why "play" resonates differently across urban localities and seasons. She draws on Bourdieu's theory of p
After a long period of neglect, emotions have become an important topic within literary studies. This collection of essays stresses the complex link between aesthetic and non-aesthetic emotional compo
Pinar Tuzcu explores rapper Lady Bitch Ray's performance, particularly her use of the term "Kanackin." She searches for the elusive relationship between pop feminism in Germany and histories of migrat
Understanding the significance of genetic factors for our lives requires an analysis that goes beyond biological aspects. It is especially necessary to take into account how human beings relate to oth
The monsters of the horror genre never remain dead—they invariably return in new and terrifying shapes for another installment. In this study, Christian Knöppler explores the phenomenon of horror film
Nicolas Wasser critically examines how sexual and racial identities are currently being articulated through capitalist brands and labor. On the basis of an ethnographic case study about a Brazilian fa
Daniel Defoe's work displays a keen interest in stories of supernatural encounters. After considering how one might prove supernatural occurrences and whether one can trust eyewitness accounts, Defoe
Even a cursory look at American society today reveals that protests against racial discrimination are by no means a thing of the past. What can we learn from past movements in order to understand the
Caste hierarchy has frequently been singled out as the overriding principle of Indian society. This book examines its significance among the highly-educated middle class in the Tamil town of Madurai.
The discourse on transplantation and brain death has become emblematic of conflicts between certain perspectives on adequate medical care, death, and dying. Scientific and religious, modernizing and t
For more than two hundred years hotels have played a significant role in American history. The modern hotel is even an American invention. In five case studies of iconic New York hotels, this book pre
What bodily experiences did fighters make through their lifetime and especially in violent conflicts? How were the bodies of fighters trained, nourished, and prepared for combat? How did they respond
The arrival of telegraphy and railroads changed power relations throughout the world in the nineteenth century. In the Mesilla region of the American Southwest, it contributed to two distinct and rapi
The Swedish documentary My Heart of Darkness (2011) tells the story of a South African paratrooper returning to Angola. Facing former enemies, he tries to regain mental health and find reconciliation.
Aging and memory – the interaction of these two aspects of life is something that everybody has to face eventually. The essays in this volume explore the cultural mediations of these categories. Throu
Michael Rodegang Drescher analyzes national mythologies in American and German literature. He focuses on processes of mythological resignification, a literary phenomenon carrying significant implicati
Jeanne Féaux de la Croix maps three iconic places as part of Central Asians' "moral geographies" and examines their role in navigating socialist, neo-liberal, and neo-Islamic life models. Dams provide
Taking its cue from contemporary western debates on presence in the social sciences and the humanities, this volume focuses on "presence" both as everyday experience and as an experience of intense mo
The global economic and financial crisis has had a severe impact on southern European economies and stimulated growing numbers of mainly young migrants heading north, nurturing the fear of brain drain
Michael Lent asks what role art has in colonization and subsequent dissolution. He proposes a practice informed by the fatal strategies and "raw" phenomenology of Jean Baudrillard as a challenge to a
Monika Lilleike's study of Hawaiian Hula 'Olapa reveals how this performing art practice shapes and transmits oral history via a distinct set of performative means of framing and stylization. The inte
Forgeries are an omnipresent part of our culture. They are closely related to historically and culturally informed ideas of authenticity, legality, authorship, creativity, tradition, and innovation. B
Left-wing intellectuals in Britain and the US had long repudiated the Soviet regime, so why was the collapse of the Eastern Bloc experienced as a shock that destabilized their identities and political
From two international workshops--June 2014 in Cologne and March 2015 in Havana--eight papers explore the evolution of bonded labor from slaves to coolies over the past three centuries in different
