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Diasporic Marvellous Realism highlights the interesting switch in perspective found in contemporary literary production where the supernatural is regarded from a diasporic perspective as marvellous rather than magical. The titular term is applied to the influence of transterritorialization on the works of first- and second generation immigrant writers when approaching and exploring the myths and legends of their culture of origin. The texts included in this analysis show that the employment of this literary philosophy and narrative technique in contemporary literature involves a fruitful refocusing of the rhetorical gaze regarding the importance of cultural heritage as vindicatory resistance to the lacunae of history and as celebratory re-enfranchisement of diasporic communities in host countries such as Canada and the UK.
No other issue in our times of globalization has aroused such passionate debate as the increasingly complex transborder movements of people of all ethnicities, with the self-perceived “from-heres” often struggling to maintain the illusion of separateness from intruding “come-heres.” The paradigm of transculturality offers prospects to rethink, demystify and represent cultural unity and difference, assimilation and alterity, in a manner that acknowledges the fissures and the fictions in traditional cultural dichotomies such as the melodramatically instrumentalized “national” vs. “foreign.” The interdisciplinary essays compiled in Transculturality and Perceptions of the Immigra...
The 1950s have passed into the history books as the period of the Federal Republic of Germany's so-called "economic miracle"; yet attention to women's roles in economic reconstruction has until now been negligible. In this book, Erica Carter explores how the development of a "social market economy" after 1949 gave a new centrality to consumers as key players in the economic life of the nation, and, in that process, gave women a new public significance. Public attention focused in particular on the nation's housewives, who were to train the populace for entry into a new world of consumer prosperity. Carter investigates this focus from two perspectives: in part 1, she tackles the political eco...
In the blockbuster film Avatar, science fiction and the technological prowess of director James Cameron meet in a heady concoction that, while visually ravishing, could easily be dismissed as "eye candy." While critics most frequently acclaimed its breakthrough 3-D technology, close scrutiny of the film raises provocative questions about the relationship between mind and body, appearance and reality. It brings into focus the relationships of humans to their technology, their planet, and each other and highlights the nature and potential of film itself. This work explores the theoretical and philosophical issues brought to bear in Avatar, exploring the spaces between human and machine; technology and nature; chick flick and action-adventure; and old-fashioned storytelling and cutting-edge technology. Central to the book's analysis is an examination of the extent to which Avatar melds the seer and the seen, illuminating an alternative visual paradigm. Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.
This volume introduces key terms of public history and makes them accessible via the most important subject areas and central research perspectives. It is aimed at students, teachers and practitioners who deal with history in the public sphere and offers approaches to the theoretical foundation of public history as part of historical cultural studies.
In the early twenty-first century, the concept of citizenship is more contested than ever. As refugees set out to cross the Mediterranean, European nation-states refer to »cultural integrity« and »immigrant inassimilability,« revealing citizenship to be much more than a legal concept. The contributors to this volume take an interdisciplinary approach to considering how cultures of citizenship are being envisioned and interrogated in literary and cultural (con)texts. Through this framework, they attend to the tension between the citizen and its spectral others - a tension determined by how a country defines difference at a given moment.
Transplant practices are discussed in the medical realm, in fictional texts and in popular advertisement. Yet how do these sectors intersect and influence each other? How can the accounts of surgeons invested in transplant practice be brought into conversation with fictional voices? Future T/Issues positions transplantation at the intersection of natural science and the humanities and adds to the discussion of organ transplantation by focusing on one specific aspect that is commonly overlooked: the idea of speculation. By engaging with speculative fiction in conversation with life writing, it contributes to a more thorough understanding of transplantation as a cultural practice, showcasing t...
There were many surprising accessions in the early modern period, including Mary I of England, Henry III of France, Anne Stuart, and others, but this is the first book dedicated solely to evaluating their lives and the repercussions of their reigns. By comparing a variety of such unexpected heirs, this engaging history offers a richer portrait of early modern monarchy. It shows that the need for heirs and the acquisition and preparation of heirs had a critical impact on sixteenth- and seventeenth-century culture and politics, from the appropriation of culture to the influence of language, to trade and political alliances. It also shows that securing a dynasty relied on more than just political agreements and giving birth to legitimate sons, examining how relationships between women could and did forge alliances and dynastic continuities.
A Deep Exploration of the Rise, Reign, and Legacy of the Third Reich For its brief existence, National Socialist Germany was one of the most destructive regimes in the history of humankind. Since that time, scholarly debate about its causes has volleyed continuously between the effects of political and military decisions, pathological development, or modernity gone awry. Was terror the defining force of rule, or was popular consent critical to sustaining the movement? Were the German people sympathetic to Nazi ideology, or were they radicalized by social manipulation and powerful propaganda? Was the “Final Solution” the motivation for the Third Reich’s rise to power, or simply the outc...
A key figure in contemporary speculative fiction, Jamaican-born Canadian Nalo Hopkinson (b. 1960) is the first Black queer woman as well as the youngest person to be named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. Her Caribbean-inspired narratives—Brown Girl in the Ring, Midnight Robber, The Salt Roads, The New Moon’s Arms, The Chaos, and Sister Mine—project complex futures and complex identities for people of color in terms of race, sex, and gender. Hopkinson has always had a vested interest in expanding racial and ethnic diversity in all facets of speculative fiction from its writers to its readers, and this desire is reflected in her award-winning antholo...