Bøger udgivet af Lexington Books

Maternal Narratives in Public Contexts: Shaping Perspectives and Enacting Identities brings together critical research on the construction and enactment of mothering and motherhood in public spheres. The book is divided into two parts - in the first part, authors examine how prevailing ideals of motherhood influence twenty-first century culture by exploring iterations of maternal identity in various media forms, from Dr. Spock's self-help guide to film and small-screen entertainment. In the second part, the authors investigate how tropes of motherhood manifest and operate in academia, the workplace, and in political spheres. Ultimately, this book explores how maternal identities are both formed and articulated in public discourse, arguing that rhetorical influences inform the ways in which we define, recognize, and enact maternal identities and the sociocultural ramifications that result within communication contexts. Scholars of communication, media studies, film and television studies, cultural studies, rhetoric, and women's and gender studies will find this book of particular interest.

Enforcement of Actions in Corporate Law by Non-Shareholder Constituencies: Lessons for the Common Law World from South Africa advocates for a complementary enforcement regime for the current (and proposed) corporate legislative measures in the Anglo-American corporate law. Doing so would empower non-shareholder interests in corporate decision-making. Mongalo argues that corporate legislative initiatives ought to provide for non-shareholder constituencies' considerations in decision-making within corporate entities, and that failure to enforce such frameworks reduces the law to lip service. By offering a comprehensive critique of corporate constituency statutes and benefit corporation statutes in US and the enlightened shareholder value approach in the UK, Mongalo makes the case that a shift from the current enforcement philosophy in Anglo-American jurisdictions-which is based on the preference of those to whom fiduciary duties are currently owed-is necessary and that the Actionable Enlightened Shareholder Value (AESVA), with its origins in South Africa, should be preferred.

Chieftains, Lamas, and Warriors: A History of Kham 1904-1961 explores the region of Kham, situated between Central Tibet and China. By highlighting Kham's pivotal role in Sino-Tibetan relations and frontier dynamics, this book challenges the traditional focus of scholarly research that treat Kham as a mere transit point. Yudru Tsomu argues for the significance of frontier regions in shaping historical narratives and power structures. Tsomu explores how Kham forged its own identity amidst the assimilation pressures exerted by Central Tibet and China. Supported by a wealth of original sources in Chinese, Tibetan, and Western languages-including previously untapped personal and archival collections in China-this book offers a compelling reassessment of Kham's historical agency and significance.

Through meticulous research, interviews, and documentation,Gullah Geechee Muslims in America: Exploring Islamic Identity in the African Diaspora presents a unique and significant contribution to religious studies, Africana studies, and anthropology by shedding light on a previously understudied aspect of the Gullah/Geechee community and culture. Previous studies of enslaved African Muslims have claimed that Islam, as a conscious practice, vanished by the eve of the Civil War. However, Muhammad Fraser-Rahim highlights the continuity of Islamic belief and practice in the Lowcountry. For scholars who have spent decades researching the retention of African culture among the enslaved and their descendants, this book reveals certain challenges and poses new avenues of research.

This volume calls for a reevaluation of internationalization, focused on faculty and curriculum design of interdisciplinary perspectives on sustainability education. The contributing authors reflect on the transformative intercultural experiences that drove their internationalized course redesigns. The chapters provide a blueprint for interdisciplinary course designs-many of which employ Collaborative Online Intercultural Learning (COIL)-which embed intercultural experiences into their pedagogies. Building on Zhang and Gee's (2023) theory of learning as a Design Experience, the contributors describe active pedagogies which create a culture of community and caring to address perspectives on global and local issues. Chapter topics include intercultural collaborations with West Africa, Europe, the Middle East, Central and South America, Australia, and Asian Pacific Rim countries. From sustainable marketing and communication design to conversations on water, the authors reflect on intriguing course designs which engage intercultural collaborations for solving real-life issues. These chapters situate disciplinary knowledge within a global mindset and provide a roadmap for internationalization at home. Aligned with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's (UNESCO) call to educate citizens to honor inclusiveness, peace, and sustainability, the contributions to this book present considerations for university coursework supporting internationalization, which build respect for both the Earth and our global inhabitants.

Pursuing Transformative Inclusion in Higher Education shares the story of the Becoming Community Initiative, a multi-year effort to pursue transformative inclusion on college campuses. The concept of transformative inclusion posits that true inclusion across higher education requires dismantling oppressive structures and an ongoing process of co-creating community. The contributors share the vision of transformative inclusion and Becoming Community, grounding theoretical frameworks, and how they implemented and communicated this inspiring vision. The book then highlights three main prongs of change through Professional Development Practitioner Certificate Programs, Research and Practice Projects, and Dialogue and Contemplative Action Groups, along with inclusive evaluation. Through this work, Amanda Macht Jantzer, Anna Mercedes, and Brandyn Woodard hope to inspire others to engage a broad coalition of changemakers and to establish an ongoing web of influence to begin to dismantle oppression and foster inclusive community formation in colleges and universities.

Francophone Literature After the Postcolonial Age argues that Francophone literature extends beyond the postcolonial critical landmarks that helped define the field since the late 1980s. Today Francophone literature maps out different paths that highlight its emancipation from both the Francophonie's cultural ascendency and postcolonial theory's scholarly hegemony. Farid Laroussi's argument is that three main forces have reshaped the French postcolonial in the twenty-first century: digital globalization, intertextuality, and ecocriticism. With digital globalization, Francophone literature finds new voices, unfettered from former aesthetic, print and distribution diktats. Home and the exilic paradigm are redefined in the postcolonial subject's own terms. Intertextuality reconnects with poetic dialogism, sans the mimicry burden. The intertextuality challenge showcases a new writers' community, across time and cultures. The old anxiety around one's own poetic voice now provides valid responses to literary reconfigurations. The book's study cases operate around three specific pairings: Segalen/Glissant, Kafka/Maghreb literature, and Morrison/Miano. Lastly, ecocriticism, along the decolonial discourse, comes to discuss the place of the postcolonial home as well as the responsibility category. The author contends that the attention to the land cannot be separated from imaginaries, collective and individual. Francophone writers stand at the crossroads of activism and poetics moving further away from French metropolitan preoccupations.

This book explores the making of futuristic memory through cinematic symbols relating to future relationships between humans and artificial intelligence (AI). Amar Singh examines how audiences are being prepared for possible future scenarios where they may find themselves entangled with intelligent objects through developing relationships with them, and if so, how they might react when confronted by an intelligent species. Through this research, Singh focuses on both the complications and flaws of science fiction depictions of AI as well as more abstract works that, while not directly connected, contribute to a better understanding of these emerging technologies. Scholars of film, media, memory, posthuman, transhuman, and cultural studies will find particular value in this book, along with those focusing on literary and critical theory, arts and aesthetics, political sociology, and advanced research in AI.

What have depictions of the working class in popular culture added to our understanding of the professional lives of Americans? Scenes from the American Working Class: This Hard Land offers twelve unique and profound answers from some of the most impactful and timeless novels (O! Pioneers, Ann Vickers, and Native Son), films (Blue Collar, Wall Street, and Other People's Money), television shows (The Wire and Mad Men), songs (the work of Bruce Springsteen), and poems (Natasha Tretheway's "Drapery Factory, Gulfport, Mississippi, 1956"). Key themes include the turn from agrarianism to industrialism and post-industrialism; the challenges particular to women, new immigrants, and workers of color; and the relationship between the demands of the workplace and the responsibilities of citizens in a democracy. Also explored is the extent to which having a productive and fulfilling working life is essential to living a life of meaning and purpose. Although there is a significant gap between the rhetoric and the reality of the "American dream," these portrayals all give a glimpse into the resiliency and optimism of workers and why the country continues to be a land of hope.

This book is a provocative and fresh look into how Black women display an authentic identity in the face of constant negative images and portrayals of themselves in the media over time. Idrissa N. Snider explores noteworthy occurrences when prominent Black women, including First Lady Michelle Obama, Oscar-winning actress Viola Davis, and Grammy-winning songstress Beyonce Knowles, have used their platforms and notoriety to push back against age-old stereotypes used to justify their subjugation and mistreatment, such as the mammie, angry black woman, jezebel, or the tragic mulatto. Snider emphasizes and honors how Black women uniquely identify as a form of resistance and positive self-actualization and argues that both everyday and socially elite Black women and girls can - and do - utilize self-definition to disrupt and reject inauthentic and harmful representations of themselves.

In the wake of the reversal of Roe v. Wade in 2022, Abortion in International Popular Culture: The Decision Heard Round the World examines representations of abortion and reproductive justice across a wide range of popular culture artifacts, literary texts, and activist movements across the world. Contributors analyze examples from Chile, Italy, Malta, Sweden, Canada, France, the U.K., Argentina, Ireland, and Poland to consider the relationships between art and public policy, the impact of American policy on global policy and pro-choice movements, and the transnational influence of cultural representations of abortion.

Creative Responses to Environmental Crises and Aesthetics in Nordic Art and Literature gives a broad perspective on artistic responses to climate change and other environmental crises in the Nordic countries. Showcasing examples of environmental literature, visual art and entertainment from Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Iceland and the Faroe Islands, the chapters of the volume reflect the complex interplay of the local, regional and global in environmental art and activism. Authored by established and notable scholars in the field of Nordic ecocriticism, the volume highlights the complex and vital role art, literature, and other creative activities assume in times of crisis.

Child Activist Literature at the Turn of the 2020s: From Kids You Read About to Kids You Read looks at how today's child activists are not just followers in their forekids' footsteps, but blazers of new pathways, employing sophisticated rhetorical strategies that invert and subvert conventional thinking on the roles of children in politics. These young activists situate their work within a dense web of texts-the ones they read, the ones they write, and the ones that they expect adults to deploy to dismiss them. Nance-Carroll analyzes texts authored by child activists alongside narratives of youth activism in literature and media and the stories activists tell about themselves and their work, exploring issues of influence, inspiration, and authorship in child activist literature, as a growing body of work challenges not just adults' assumptions about children and politics, but also some fundamental disciplinary tenets of children's and young adult literature.

The United States is a bastion of commercial surrogacy. Intended parents from all over the globe travel to the United States seeking to build a family. However, they must navigate a complicated, convoluted industry that consists of hundreds of fertility clinics, surrogacy, and egg donor agencies, as well as new forms of business that have appeared to ease the efficiency of a long, drawn-out process. Mobility in North American Surrogacy: A Fertile Global Industry examines the multiple players involved in global surrogacy contracts between international intended parents who opt to create a family with the help and labor of surrogates from the United States. This market remains the final frontier of commercial surrogacy, while other reproductive hubs only allow for altruistic surrogacy. The author considers the mobility and immobility experienced by intended parents, egg donors, surrogates, and professionals whose intimate labor fosters connections across economic, geographic, and social divisions. Based on four years of ethnographic research that also spans the globe, the author argues for a more nuanced consideration of the ethics of surrogacy.

The Indigenous musicians from the surrounding pueblos de indios took on a leading role in urban musical activity. Musical Practices and Mobility in Asunción: Indigenous Musicians in Colonial Paraguay sheds light on dynamics that go beyond the studies centered on the doing of Jesuits in missionary contexts and provides a more thorough comprehension of the urban musical models that were imposed and adapted. Indigenous musicians were transferred to the city from the Jesuit reductions and the pueblos under the care of secular and Franciscan priests for festivals and celebrations. Without them, and without the mobilities that placed them in both contexts, Laura Fahrenkrog Cianelli argues the urban institutional-musical model would not have been possible to maintain in that distant corner of the empire. By transcending the city limits imposed by urban approaches, this book enables a novel reading of musical practices in a city connected with its hinterland, revealing the different musical physiognomies of the empire in distant contexts.

Folkloric Horror in Medieval Literature: New Discussions and Approaches focuses on the medieval and early modern precursors of what is now frequently described as Folk Horror. Part of the argument staged in this book stems from an observation that much of what is currently excluded from the conversation about folk horror, if not all horror generally, could be considered folkloric or folkloresque in many cases and would be worthy of inclusion in the discussion. The argument here is that the recurrent use of medieval literature and tropes as elements of the modern Folk Horror revival in the late twentieth and twenty-first centuries stems in part from a modern repulsion and fascination with the premodern. It is also an outgrowth of traditional narrative fascinations with the abject and the rejected sense of past and place which is present in recognizable forms in premodern literatures globally.

Sectarian Roots of Jihad: Religious Conflicts in the Middle East examines the sectarian dimension of jih¿d and delves into the under-researched sectarian-inspired discursive employment of the notion by radical Islamist groups. It explores the transformation of the basic Islamic principle of "striving in the Path of God" into a radical foundation upon which some of the most fanatic and atrocious organizations are based in terms of thought, ideology, discourse and course of action. This book investigates sectarian-based interpretations and connotations of jih¿d as a concept and practice by means of exploring similarities and differences between Sunni and Shia approaches to the notion and its fundamental principles. It analyzes the way sectarian-guided Islamist organizations employ jih¿d in their propaganda activities and exploit it as a brand to religiously legitimize their cause and emotionally manipulate the recipients of their ideological discourse. It also delves into the development of sectarianism, Islamism, Salafism and Jihadism in order to scrutinize and analyze the rise of sectarian-guided extremism in the Middle East.

Often rejected out of hand as the enemy of clarity and convincingness, ambiguity-in thought, speech, writing, analysis, or theory-should not be overlooked. Donald A. Crosby explores the innumerable positive contributions of conceptual and discursive ambiguity in situations where ambiguity can be the amicable friend of intelligibility and convincingness rather than their sworn enemy. While people have been willing to acknowledge the positive role ambiguity can play in poetry, story, myth, ritual, oratory, and song, Crosby argues that its positive roles extend far beyond these modes of reflection and expression and into the whole of life. Amicable Ambiguity: The Indispensable Value of Vagueness, Open-Endedness, and Uncertainty shows how, why, and when this claim may hold true and needs to incorporated both across academic disciplines as well as in the more ordinary areas of thought and experience.

This book interrogates the altered nominating processes of the 2020 U.S. election, illustrating the importance of the national nominating convention, both as an ongoing custom that speaks to the unique political structure of the nation and as a source of valuable information that goes well beyond the explicit purposes conceptualized by the parties.

Visual Cultures in India: Contesting the Sites of Sights delves into our visual experiences through diverse media, while unpacking how we encounter and interpret the visual, moving beyond simple "seeing" to deeper levels of meaning. This book explores our experience of visual media that reveals the complex interplay between sight, meaning, and contestation. The authors delve into the very "sites" where visuals are born, displayed, and interpreted. This nuanced approach sheds light on how visual media shapes our understanding of the world and ourselves. From the captivating world of film and photography to the enduring artistry of sculpture and dance, and even the visual tapestry of everyday life, this book weaves a compelling narrative of the complex relationship between media and visual culture in India. It is a timely and significant contribution in an age saturated with imagery. This book equips scholars, researchers, students, and media professionals with a framework to navigate the power of sight and gain a deeper understanding of visual cultures in India.

Entanglements, Narratives, and the Environment: Inter-American Perspectives provides an interdisciplinary ecocritical reading of narratives and environmental entanglements from an Inter-American perspective, predominantly providing literary, film, and cultural analysis of texts from the Americas. In light of Amitav Ghosh's (2016) exploration of "a crisis of the imagination" in the face of climate change and environmental degradation, this book addresses the potential of literature, history, and politics in comprehending the profound dimensions and violence of these challenges. The chapters show, among others, that the Anthropocene demands fresh narratives and theoretical perspectives, particularly within the framework of Inter-American Studies, which can offer a new venue to discuss pressing issues and to provide intersectional and inter-regional considerations. Thus, drawing on Inter-American perspective with its hemispheric perspectives opens the possibilities for an ecocritical reading of the complexities and relationalities of the climate crisis in the humanities as well as the social sciences. As a result, the book includes historical and political analysis, as well as literary, cultural and film analysis of texts from the Americas. The chapters engage in deconstructing popular myths, de-centering Western approaches, and eventually show through these critical engagements how the climate crisis demands multi-dimensional readings.

In Social Media Cultures, Dhiraj Murthy provides a theoretically-grounded, historical exploration of the social media landscape. Uniquely tracing the evolution of social media - from traditional media like letters, postcards, and the telephone to new media and platforms - Murthy argues that these contemporary phenomena are not divorced from their analog antecedents. The historical and theoretical frameworks employed in this book allow readers to better understand the intricacies of nuanced modern dynamics like cancel culture, self-expression, and celebrity influence. Focusing on mobility, political discourse, and the power of witnessing from global perspectives, Murthy uses empirical case studies from both the Global South and North to demonstrate the profound impact of social media on culture, politics, and everyday life. Ultimately, Murthy encourages readers to reflect on their roles within the broader social media ecosystem and to consider the far-reaching consequences of social media engagement on a global scale. Scholars of communication, media studies, social media, and sociology will find this book of particular interest.

The Genocide against the Tutsi witnessed the deaths of close to a million Tutsis and non-extremist Hutus within a 100-day period. While the genocide is extensively researched, the war that led to its conclusion is relatively unexplored. The Strategy to End the Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda: Understanding the War in Kigali by Jonathan Beloff addresses how the Rwandan Civil War impacted the rate of killings and how the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA)-the military wing of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF)-liberated Rwanda's capital city, Kigali. Through archival research, the testimonies and experiences of eight genocide survivors, and the testimonies of military personnel, this book also provides unique insight into Rwandan history and a chronological examination of the war. Utilizing Strategic Theory as a theoretical framework for warfare, Beloff examines the various tactics and operations used by the RPA to provide critical insights into decision-making during the war and genocide.

In Christian Ethics and Biomedical Innovation, Stephen Goundrey-Smith outlines a strategy for future adoption of human enhancement technologies which will ensure that such technologies are a common good, a strategy which is appropriate for a pluralistic society, yet consistent with Christian ethical principles. Drawing on the history of biomedical innovation to date in pharmaceutical medicine, he argues that technological capability alone is not enough, and that the responsible adoption of enhancement technologies will require active ethical deliberation and robust public policy discourse. Goundrey-Smith argues that biomedical technology, ethics, and public policy together form an essential triad for appropriate future enhancement technology adoption. This approach helps to ensure that biomedical technologies introduced will be common goods, and to reduce the risk of their instrumental use. The use of any technology is closely linked to its sociopolitical and cultural context and, drawing on Augustine's The City of God, Goundrey-Smith presents a theological vision for good biomedical technology innovation in human society.

The Phenomenology of Revelation in Heidegger, Marion, and Ricoeur provides a critical framework for understanding the phenomenology of revelation through a series of close readings that serve as the basis for an imagined dialogue between Martin Heidegger, Jean-Luc Marion, and Paul Ricoeur. Adam J. Graves distinguishes between two dominant approaches to revelation: a "radical" approach that seeks to disclose a pre-linguistic experience of revelation through a radicalization of the phenomenological reduction, and a "hermeneutical" one that characterizes revelation as an eruption of meaning arising from our encounter with concrete symbols, narratives, and texts. According to Graves, the radical approach is often driven by a misplaced concern for maintaining philosophical rigor and for avoiding theological biases, or "contaminations." This preoccupation leads to a process of "counter-contamination" in which the concept of revelation is ultimately estranged from the phenomenon's rich historical and linguistic content. While Ricoeur's hermeneutic phenomenology may do a better job of accommodating the concrete content of revelation, it does so at the price of having to renouncing the kind of "presuppositionlessness" generally associated with phenomenological method. Ultimately, Graves argues that a more nuanced appreciation of the complex nature of our linguistic inheritance enables us to reconceive the relationship between revelation and philosophical thought.

This book assesses canals as a major technological system re-shaping Britons' relationship with their landscape and environment between 1760 and 1968, and argues this 200-year arc of historical experience is essential to understanding canals as sites of recreation, leisure, heritage, and experience of the natural environment.

The philosophy of human rights has stalled over a debate between orthodox theorists committed to a moral understanding of human rights and political theorists who adopt a positivist approach. A New Philosophy of Human Rights challenges both, offering a novel deliberative account that bridges this divide.

This book presents a Roman Catholic theology arguing God's grace abounds beyond the gender binary. In response to the sex abuse crisis, clericalism, and rigid gender complementarity, the author offers a vision of theological anthropology and ecclesiology that affirms the holiness and fecundity of all bodies across sexual difference.