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Children are ‘hard-wired’ to learn and they learn best by being active and autonomous – exploring, discovering, creating and taking risks, in other words, by playing. However, formal, subject specific lessons and a focus on data, targets and unrealistic expectations are causing young children to be bored and stressed and this is stifling their learning. Year One in Action reveals the remarkable progress children can make when they are allowed to pursue their own interests, ideas and challenges in a superb and enabling environment supported by responsive, skilled and empathic staff. Demonstrating how a child-led approach supports the development of purposeful, calm, confident and indepe...
This book investigates issues of identity and narrativity in late Byzantine romances in a Mediterranean context, covering the chronological span from the capture of Constantinople by the Crusaders in 1204 to the 16th century. It includes chapters not only on romances that were written and read in the broader Byzantine world but also on literary texts from regions around the Mediterranean Sea. The volume offers new insights and covers a variety of interrelated subjects concerning the narrative representations of self-identities, gender, and communities, the perception of political and cultural otherness, and the interaction of space and time with identity formation. The chapters focus on texts from the Byzantine, western European, and Ottoman worlds, thus promoting a cross-cultural approach that highlights the role of the Mediterranean as a shared environment that facilitated communications, cultural interaction, and the trading and reconfiguration of identities. The volume will appeal to a wide audience of researchers and students alike, specializing in or simply interested in cultural studies, Byzantine, western medieval, and Ottoman history and literature.
The early modern Ottoman poet Mihrî Hatun (1460–1515) succeeded in drawing an admiring audience and considerable renown during a time when few women were accepted into the male-dominated intellectual circles. Her poetry collection is among the earliest bodies of women’s writing in the Middle East and Islamicate literature, providing an exceptional vantage point on intellectual history. With this volume, Havlioglu not only gives readers access to this rare text but also investigates the factors that allowed Mihri to survive and thrive despite her clear departure from the cultural norms of the time. Placing the poet in the context of her era and environment, Havlioglu finds that the poet’s dramatic, masterful performance and subversiveness are the very reasons for her endurance and acclaim in intellectual history. Mihri Hatun performed in a way that embraced her marginal position as a woman and leveraged it to her advantage. Havlioglu’s astute and nuanced portrait gives readers a fascinating glimpse into the life of a woman poet in a highly gendered society and suggests that women have been part of intellectual history long before the modern period.
‘The Thracian Sun’ is the first book in the six part series titled ‘The Ottomans’. Orhan I, one of the founders of the Ottoman State, appoints Suleiman Pasha as the army general during his reign. The prince came to be called the Thracian Sun due to his victorious conquests at a young age and enabling passage into Thracian lands. In the meanwhile, the fight between and for the Byzantine throne had weakened the state. Constantinople realised the magnitude of the approaching danger and attempted to quash its internal struggles in preparation for attack. However, as it was surrounded and had no room to manoeuvre, it found itself in dire straits. Suleiman Pasha, who left no Byzantine cast...
The Ottoman Empire was one of the most significant forces in world history and yet little attention is paid to its rich cultural life. For the people of the Ottoman Empire, lyrical poetry was the most prized literary activity. People from all walks of life aspired to be poets. Ottoman poetry was highly complex and sophisticated and was used to express all manner of things, from feelings of love to a plea for employment. This collection offers free verse translations of 75 lyric poems from the mid-fourteenth to the early twentieth centuries, along with the Ottoman Turkish texts and, new to this expanded edition, photographs of printed, lithographed, and hand-written Ottoman script versions of several of the texts--a bonus for those studying Ottoman Turkish. Biographies of the poets and background information on Ottoman history and literature complete the volume.
The Daughter of the Merchant of Venice is an intriguing love story that follows the romance between an apprentice artist named Stefano D’Alvino and Giustina Boschetti, the daughter of a Venetian merchant. Theirs is a story of love, betrayal, forgiveness, and triumph over adversity, vividly detailed and depicted in 16th-century Venice, Candia (Crete), and Constantinople. Accompanied by their merchant father on the San Giuliano, twin sisters Giustina and Giovanella set out in 1532 on a challenging adventure to Syria. The family was captured by Barbarossa and his Turkish Corsairs during the sea voyage and later sold Giustina and Giovanella at the slave market in Constantinople. The Grand Vizi...
In this volume, the authors present an original ethnographic study of five llama herding communities in Ayacucho, Peru. Data on herd dynamics are subjected to computer modeling in an effort to evaluate the roles of biology, symbolic and ritual behavior, ecological adaptation, and practical reason. The book contains the most detailed study of the waytakuy llama marking ceremony yet available. The role of this ceremony in preventing herds from going to extinction is evaluated against anthropological and sociobiological theory. This is an interdisciplinary book will appeal to professional archaeologists, prehistorians, cultural anthropologists, Andeanists, theoretical biologists, evolutionary biologists, and zoologists interested in animal domestication.
“The Book of Dede Korkut has been called the Iliad of the Turks . . . An excellent translation in English . . . Smooth, highly readable, enlightening.” —Books Abroad One of the oldest surviving pieces of Turkish literature, The Book of Dede Korkut can be traced to tenth-century origins. Now considered the national epic of Turkey, it is the heritage of the ancient Oghuz Turks and was composed as they migrated westward from their homeland in Central Asia to the Middle East, eventually to settle in Anatolia. Who its primary creator was no one knows, the titular bard, Dede Korkut, being more a symbol of Turkish minstrelsy than a verifiable author. The songs and tales of countless minstrels...
The gospel according to hip hop. Yeah, that’s a thing. Christian ideas often show up in hip hop music. Biblical themes and even Jesus Himself appear in the lyrics. But beneath all the God-talk, can a true gospel message be found? Pastor D. A. Horton (aka hip hop artist Azriel) says yes. And he wants you to know the gospel message is deep . . . powerful . . . theological . . . and surprisingly simple to comprehend. It all comes down to: God’s design Our downfall God’s demonstration Our decision Are You Good With God? is a book of giant truths written in the raw and rhythmic style of hip hop. The poetry of the streets will energize you with the dynamic power of Scripture. Like every other global language, hip hop speaks to the human heart with truths that really matter. So if hip hop is your mother tongue, why not listen to what God is saying to you?
The year is 1453. For more than a thousand years the mighty walls of Constantinople have protected the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, the furthest outpost of Christianity. But now endless ranks of Turkish warriors cover the plains before them, their massive cannons trained on the ramparts. It is the most fearsome force the world has ever seen. No European army will help: the last crusaders were cut to pieces by the Turks on the plains of Kosovo. Constantinople is on its own. And treachery is in the air. Three people will struggle to determine the fate of an empire: the young Turkish Sultan, returned from exile and desperate to prove his greatness; a stubborn Byzantine princess, sworn to protect her city; and a mercenary captain with a personal score to settle. But of them, it is the hardened soldier Giovanni Longo who will face the worst choice: just as he prepares to make his final stand, he finds he has something to live for after all. From the intrigues within the Emperor's household to the Sultan's harem and the savage fights on the battlements, Siege is a full-blooded historical adventure novel in the tradition of Warrior of Rome, Pilgrim or Crusade.