Books published by Cambria Press

This highly acclaimed book brings the cumulative results of a century and a half of kinship studies in anthropology into the focus of current debates on the origin of modern humans in Africa and on an entangled bit of human evolutionary history commonly subsumed under the heading of the "peopling of the Americas." This erudite study is based on a database of some 2,500 kinship vocabularies representing roughly 600 African languages, 140 Australian languages, 500 Austronesian languages, 200 Papuan languages, 350 languages of Eurasia (excluding Indo-Europeans), 440 North and Middle American Indian languages, and 200 South American languages. This valuable reference will take the reader to the dawn of kinship studies in the 19th century Western science in order to elicit the wider context of anthropological interest in kinship systems and the interdisciplinary salience of the phenomenon of kinship. The book also examines the founder of kinship studies in anthropology, American lawyer and Iroquois ethnographer, Lewis Henry Morgan, and the circumstances of his life that generated his interest in human kinship. The study ventures into the intricacies of scientific and quasi-scientific debates in the 19th century, and treats 19th century science as embedded in a myth featuring divinity, humanity and animality as principal characters. This account is divided into four sections, each of which is structured as a triad (philosophy, psychology and physiology; logic, semiotics and reproduction; religion, hermeneutics and evolution; law, grammar and speech). This far-reaching historical journey aims at formulating an idea of what human kinship might be all about, especially in the light of the widespread uncertainties about this question caused by the constructivist turn in anthropology. Eventually our ideas regarding human origins, ancient population dispersals and the homeland of modern humans are inextricably linked to our ideas about kinship. As a book that brings together evolutionary and sociocultural anthropology, The Genius of Kinship will be a critical addition for all Anthropology collections.

Worldwide newspaper headlines in recent years have covered political unrest in many East Asian nations. Citizens in these nations have become more vocal about their governments and the populace's role in those governments. Democracy is not the dominant form of government in many of these nations. However, as nations have evolved, social change and economic developments have brought increasingly pro-democratic forces to the forefront. Examining the forces of economic growth and social modernization and their impact on democratization provides the basis of this timely study. Using China, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, and Vietnam as case studies, this book delves into these nations' Confucian cultural heritage and how that heritage allows for careful comparison of variables which affect societal values. Will East Asian nations embrace democracy? Will the nations already democratic become stronger? This book offers insightful responses to these critical questions. Democratization in East Asia is an important addition for collections in political science and Asian studies.

This volume addresses issues revolving around the production of mediated cultural products across borders. More specifically, the authors consider cross-border cultural production in the film and television industries and how it affects and is affected by media centers, and, more recently, established production locations. The film and television industries have long been recognized as playing important economic, political and cultural roles. And while it could be argued that, historically, these forms of cultural production often have been international endeavors, the choice of production sites has become an especially contentious issue during the last few decades as global production has expanded. While some factions, notably from the US film and television industries, refer to this issue as "runaway production," this book looks at this issue in a much broader look at the implications and consequences of this phenomenon. Basically, cross-border production involves the expansion of production away from traditional centers, whether to other countries or to other locations within the same country. Thus, this study covers a wide range of issues involving economic and political considerations, as well as creative and aesthetic decision-making. This is an important book for those in communication, international business, and economics.

Outstanding and original, this book by Dr. Anvita Madan-Bahel (PhD, Columbia University) integrates the current theory and literature on South Asians and engages the reader in meaningful ways. There are few studies in Asian/Asian American studies and in psychology (as well as other fields such as cultural studies, film, etc) that address the spectrum of topics included in this creative, thoroughly researched and well-written book. This book will be a valuable reference for those in many disciplines, including Psychology, Asian Studies and Women's Studies. "In this seminal piece, Dr. Madan-Bahel uses Bollywood film clips to foster thinking and discussion on critical topics in sexual health for South Asian female youth. This work is unique and innovative in many key ways. ... Dr. Madan-Bahel offers a variety of recommendations for practice, research, and policy that will continue to influence the field for years to come. This is impressive, inspirational, and groundbreaking work!" - Christine J. Yeh, Associate Professor of Counseling Psychology, University of San Francisco

examines Thai-Chinese relations, dating back to the first Thai dynasty (Sukhothai) to the present (Ratanakosin). The study explores the Thai domestic policies that have affected the Chinese population since World War II and assimilation policies of the Thai government towards the Chinese. This book also analyzes both Skinner's and Chan and Tong's arguments, and their main idea in the context of the present day environment and situation for the ethnic Chinese. This research supports the Skinnerian paradigm, which asserts that "a majority of the descendants of Chinese immigrants in each generation merge with Thai society and become indistinguishable from the indigenous population to the extent that fourth-generation Chinese are practically non-existent." The validation of the Skinnerian paradigm rejects Chan and Tong's hypothesis, which claims that Skinner has "overemphasized the forces of assimilation" and that the Chinese in Thailand have not assimilated but retained their Chinese identity. To support Skinner's assertion and reject Chan and Tong's argument, this book presents rich empirical data collected via surveys conducted with the ethnic Chinese in Thailand from 2003-2004. This study uncovers that the forces of assimilation occur at two levels. On the first level, the Chinese in Thailand possess natural attributes which facilitate social and cultural integration and assimilation into Thai society. On the second level, government pro-assimilation policies, driven by the bilateral relations between Thailand and China and the political situation in both countries, are also responsible for the assimilation of the Chinese in Thailand. As the most current in-depth study on the Chinese in Thailand, The Chinese Émigrés of Thailand in the Twentieth Century is a critical addition for all collections in Asian Studies as well as Ethnic and Immigrant Studies.

A diagnosis of cancer in adolescence occurs at a critical time of social and interpersonal development. Adolescents are encountering rapid physical growth, hormonal changes, and a shift from dependence on parents with associated reliance upon close peer and dating relationships. These close relationships often involve increased levels of intimacy and sexuality, and it is in the context of these relationships that adolescents are developing important competencies for later relationships in their adult years. A diagnosis of cancer in adolescence is likely to impact close relationships, although research in this area is scarce. We know little about how close relationships may impact critical aspects of adolescents' lives, such as quality of life, psychological distress, and health behaviors. The current study was designed to address these gaps in the literature by providing an examination of how dimensions of close peer and dating relationships correspond with ratings of quality of life, psychological distress, and health-related behaviors among a sample of adolescents currently on treatment for cancer. In this first critical study of close peer and dating relationships among adolescents on active treatment for cancer, Drs. Carpentier and Mullins examine specific, discrete dimensions of close relationships (i.e., social support, negative interactions, dating anxiety, fear of intimacy) that are thought to relate to quality of life, psychological distress, and health-related behaviors (i.e., tobacco, alcohol, and other drug use; sexual risk-taking; nutrition/physical activity; overweight and dietary behaviors; sun safety). Results of this study provide an understanding of the importance of close relationships to adolescents' adaptation to cancer and highlight the need for continued examination of discrete aspects of close relationships among this presumably vulnerable population. Adolescents with Cancer is an important book for collections in adolescent studies, pediatric cancer, and psychology.

Teacher autonomy can lead to either exciting or vacuous learning experiences for students. Therefore, it is of critical import that school leaders understand the complexities associated with teacher autonomy. In this book, Dr. Clay LaCoe examines how teachers view autonomy and whether or not the accountability associated with high stakes testing influences teachers' perceptions of autonomy. Researchers have tended to view teacher autonomy as a unitary concept. This book will expand the knowledge base by decomposing autonomy and deepening our understanding of how high stakes accountability affects teachers' perceptions of their own autonomy. First, a model is proposed in which autonomy is decomposed into six distinct sub-components: autonomy over curriculum, pedagogy, assessment, professional development, student discipline, and classroom environment. Second, the research examines the effects of external accountability on teacher autonomy by quantitatively and qualitatively comparing the perceptions of possessed and desired autonomy of teachers who are direct targets of external accountability to those same perceptions held by teachers who are not direct targets of external accountability. The results show that the six sub-component model of teacher autonomy provides a solid framework to understand the complex nature of teacher autonomy. The findings further indicate that, both quantitatively and qualitatively, there are no fundamental differences in how the teachers who are differentially targets of external accountability perceive their levels of possessed or desired autonomy. Although external accountability may affect the amount of autonomy teachers perceive they have or desire, this effect is not dependent on the level of external accountability faced by teachers. The results also show that teachers generally desire more autonomy than they perceive they already possess. The results inform school leaders about the complex nature of teacher autonomy and how leaders can leverage the power of teacher autonomy to make schools better places for children to learn and grow. Teacher Autonomy is an important book for collections in education.

The fact that domestic violence is a serious and ongoing social problem has been well recognized since the women's movement made the hitherto private experience of violence against women in the home into a political issue in the 1960s and 1970s. In Australia, a major national prevalence study of violence against women conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics in 1996 found that 23% of women who had ever been married or in a de facto relationship-1.1 million women-had experienced violence from their partner at some stage during the relationship. Feminist legal scholarship, however, has highlighted the many failures of criminal law to respond adequately to women's experiences of domestic violence. Civil remedies for violence and abuse seem to offer better possibilities: there is a lower standard of proof, and the woman is the subject of her own action rather than merely being the object of proceedings. The availability of civil remedies has, in many cases, resulted from feminist campaigns to fill the gaps in protection left by the criminal law. It has also been argued that civil actions provide scope to change public discourses and legal understandings of violence against women. Listening to women's stories might force a revision of traditional conceptions and myths about what constitutes violence, its causes and effects, and "appropriate" reactions to it. This study investigates the ways in which women's experiences of domestic violence are heard and understood in civil court settings, and examines women's experiences of telling their stories (or at least attempting to do so) in those settings. The two areas on which the study focuses are intervention order proceedings in State Magistrates' Courts, and residence, contact, and property matters in the federal Family Court in Australia. The relevant legislation in the two jurisdictions is either partly or wholly a product of feminist legal activism. The study, therefore, seeks to determine whether the feminist claim that the criminal law silences women also pertains in the context of new civil claims specifically designed to respond to women's experiences. The general history and theory of law reform suggests that reforms often strike problems in the process of implementation. But because law does not operate monolithically, the exact nature of those problems is not necessarily predictable. In the context of this study, implementation problems may arise from social and legal discourses about domestic violence and about victims of violence which tend to operate constantly across the legal system, and/or they may arise from the particular rules and structures found in each institutional setting. There is thus a need for detailed examination and analysis of how these various elements operate and interact in different court settings. In undertaking this task, the study has two objectives. First, it draws conclusions about the nature of implementation problems in the two jurisdictions in order to inform future feminist activism around violence against women. Secondly, it makes a more general point about the importance of procedure in feminist legal theory and praxis. In Australia in particular, feminist legal scholars and advocates have placed a heavy emphasis on doctrinal revision and have largely ignored issues of implementation. The study argues that procedure (conceived broadly to encompass the what, where, how, and who of legal proceedings) crucially shapes women's experience of the legal process, and is neglected by feminists at their peril. This book will be of interest to feminist jurisprudence and law and society scholars and researchers, and to activists and advocates in the field of domestic violence.

The central concern of this book is the construction of the realm of Chinese studies. The political significance of China (PRC) in the world has greatly increased in the past two decades. The introduction of the Chinese government's open-door policy in the years following the end of the Cultural Revolution in 1976 resulted in a takeoff in economic growth in China which made many countries, such as the United States, Australia, and leading European countries, compete and strive for a share of the expanding Chinese market. The policies regarding China for these countries are essentially determined and influenced by a mixture of factors such as regional security, economic, trade, and political advantage in accordance with the changing role of China in the world. Attracted by very strong growth in the Chinese economy over the last two decades, the UK and Australian governments have urged their universities to increase engagement with China in order to raise their national market share and profile for economic and political advantage. Thus, British and Australian scholarship of China has been increasingly influenced by the political and economic climate of the time. As the importance of China on the world stage greatly increased, particularly since the 1980s, the demand for specialists soared, and specialization in the study of China was developed in various disciplines in universities. Since the 1990s, the debate in many Western countries, as to the role of a university, together with constraints in the public funding of higher education, has much affected Chinese studies in terms of being a department, both in the scope of the curriculum and as a realm of knowledge. Tensions result from the conflicting pressures of utilitarian measures versus the love of pure scholarship. Beneath these pressures and tensions, the meaning of Chinese studies is constantly challenged and changed in a university. The focus of this book is to identify what marks the tension in the way the study of China is constructed in a university, and the educational implications arising from such processes. The book specifically examines how the macro contexts of economics and politics contribute to the process of the construction of Chinese studies in universities, as well as the ways in which social phenomena at the departmental level play a part in such a process. This is an important book for those in Asian studies and education.

Each year, thousands of communities across the United States celebrate their ethnic heritages, values, and identities through the medium of festivals. Drawing together elements of ethnic pride, nostalgia, religious values, economic motives, cultural memory, and a spirit of celebration, these festivals are performances that promote and preserve a community's unique identity and heritage, while at the same time attempting to place the ethnic community within the larger American experience. Although these aims are pervasive across ethnic heritage celebrations, two festivals that appear similar may nevertheless serve radically different social and political aims. Accordingly, The Dutch American Identity examines five Dutch American festivals-three of which are among the oldest ethnic heritage festivals in the United States-in order to determine what such festivals mean and do for the staging communities. Although Dutch Americans were historically among the first ethnic groups to stage ethnic heritage festivals designed to attract outside audiences, and despite the fact that several Dutch American festivals have met with sustained success, little scholarship has focused on this ethnic group's festivals. Moreover, studies that have considered festivals staged by communities of European descent have typically focused on a single festival. The Dutch American Identity thus, on the one hand, seeks to call attention to the historical development and current sociocultural significance of Dutch American heritage festivals. On the other hand, this study aims to elucidate the ties that bind the five communities that stage these festivals together rather than studying one festival in isolation from the others. Creatively combining several methodologies, The Dutch American Identity describes and analyzes how the social, political, and ethical values of the five communities are expressed (performed, acted out, represented, costumed, and displayed) in their respective festivals. Rather than relying on familiar, even stereotypical, notions of "the Midwest," "rural America," "conservative America," etc., that often appear in contemporary political discourse, Schoone-Jongen shows just how complex and contradictory these festivals are in the ways they represent each community. At the same time, by placing these festivals within the context of American history, Schoone-Jongen also demonstrates how and why each festival is a microcosm of particular cultural, social, and political developments in modern America. The Dutch American Identity is an important book for sociology, performance studies, folklore, immigration history, anthropology, and cultural history collections.

Donald Lively brings a perspective upon constitutional fundamentals and racial reality that is both historical and forward-looking. It reflects a convergence of understandings and insights from a range of experience as a legal academic, historian, business developer, and community service organizer. He is the author of 12 books and over 50 articles, many of which relate to the interaction between the Constitution and political and social factors and circumstances. He has lectured both domestically and internationally. Three of his books have won national book awards. Lively writes in a style that captures complex and sophisticated subject matter and reduces it to accessible and understandable terms. It is extensively annotated to authoritative sources, transcends any ideological agenda, and introduces principles that make original constitutional premises relevant to evolving conditions. Among other things, he demonstrates how the nation's founding premises that were compromised by racism and its incidents have become relevant to reckoning with their legacy. This publication is particularly relevant at a time when racial dynamics are in flux and the law, particularly interpretation of the law, has become largely static. Accounting for the nation's legacy of discrimination has been sporadic and uneven. Reparations have been provided for the forced relocation of Japanese-Americans during World War II, but denied for African-Americans whose experience for most of the nation's history was defined by slavery and pervasive discrimination. Although the Supreme Court has acknowledged this legacy of societal discrimination, it has precluded generalized remediation pursuant to concern with negative collateral consequences. This book provides significant insights that increasingly will reflect understanding of racial reality in the twenty-first century. It demonstrates first a legacy of constitutional outcomes that, at their best, have been promising and profound in their symbolism but ultimately underachieving. The book also evidences that, for the first time in the nation's history, market forces are aligning in favor of diversity and multicultural competence. Along with changing demographics and globalization, these factors provide a powerful new force for reckoning with the nation's legacy of racial discrimination. Modern constitutional doctrine, which largely precludes raceconscious reckoning with this reality, constrain the market (both the public and private sector) from generating innovative and effective solutions. Lively maintains that by allowing more flexibility and being more deferential to innovation and experimentation, the Court can facilitate reckoning with historical reality and square the law in a way that is consistent with and even restores founding principles and also reflects how the future is evolving. Based upon its fidelity to original intent and responsiveness to changing societal conditions, this model offers a rare convergence of appeal to those who respectively advocate a more restrained and more active judiciary. This book is relevant to a variety of audiences including academics, students, and persons in both the public and private sector who seek a comprehensive yet accessible narrative and analysis upon the historical interaction between law and race and its likely evolution.

In this first book-length critical study of Ban Gu and his works, Anthony Clark provides both biographical and historical information about Ban Gu and his political context, while also reflecting on how that context formed his portrayal of history. Clark's book argues that the precarious position court scholars and ministers occupied motivated Ban Gu to restructure long-hallowed Confucian political ideas into an entirely new notion of Heaven's Mandate (tianming). Unlike the earlier model, which held that Heaven assigned or removed its sanction based upon moral merits, Ban's new Mandate model held that the ruling dynastic family's Mandate was permanently bestowed, and thus irrevocable, regardless of the ruler's good or bad behavior. This book offers new insight to previous scholarly assumptions regarding the ancient Chinese idea of Heaven's Mandate, while also providing historical information about Ban Gu and his family during the Han dynasty. Ban Gu's History of Early China is an important book for anyone interested in the history, philosophy, and literature of early China.

No rigorous critical analysis has been undertaken on the emergence of the German settlements in Chile. The historiography of the German settlements in Southern Chile has converged on a father figure and a founding moment: on August 18, 1842, Bernhard Eunom Philippi (1811-1852) submitted to Ramón Luis Irarrázabal, minister of the interior of the Republic of Chile-through the intendant of Valdivia, Colonel José Ignacio García-a first plan for settling the interior of the province of Valdivia with German immigrants. The settlement came to pass in 1852 and eventually prospered, having survived an initial period of starvation and administrative difficulties. To this day, the area's German heritage is preserved in its cultural institutions and significant bilingualism. In this book, the author has adopted a New Historicist stance in selecting the primary materials for this study. The approach has resulted in the inclusion of an eclectic array of genres, disciplines, and formats, among them private and public texts, published and unpublished materials, scientific and nonscientific jargons, representative and nonrepresentative documents, and fiction and nonfiction. Among the documents the book discusses are emigration pamphlets, letters, journals, travelogues, maps, monographs, field notes, reports, presentations, and biological classifications. In labeling textual categories, customary disciplinary boundaries strive to delimit, contain, and explain the scope and meaning of the discourses deployed in each. Having chosen to consider a host of colonial inscriptions with regard to their fields of operation, the author has found those determining limits to be obstructionist rather than productive. Rather, the author concentrates on the imaginary construction of textual boundaries and their permeabilities: the constitutive relationships between the narrative and the dramatic, for example, the fictive and the scientific, and the descriptive and the graphic. This approach has allowed the author to recover the marginal, to reflect on contextualization, and to foreground the incoherent and fragmentary, and in doing so to blur the line between symbolic and material action, writing and colonization, and the copy and the original. What remains, then, is the practice of texts on minds and bodies. This is an important book for collections in anthropology, history, as well as ethnic and immigrant studies.

In the early 19th century, Euro-Americans in the United States pushing westward encountered the ruins of vast earthworks and finely made artifacts. Reflecting their biases, most believed they could not possibly have been made by Native Americans. These discoveries generated widespread public interest, and the Romantic Antiquarians sought to provide an explanation. They speculated civilization was brought to prehistoric America by Egyptians, the Lost Tribes of Israel, Phoenicians, Polynesians, Romans, and Vikings, among others. While origins were bitterly disputed, Romantic Antiquarians contended the colonies were destroyed by a migratory wave of barbarians--Native Americans. In The Crimsoned Hills of Onondaga, Professor De Villo Sloan applies literary analysis to antiquarian writing--a body of work most often associated with the history of archaeology. As a result, the reader gains fresh and surprising insights into Euro/Native American relations and the formation of U.S. national identity pertaining to culture. At the same time, the book enlarges the domain of American Romanticism and sheds new light on the ideological use of gothic fiction. Focusing on New York State and the Iroquois, The Crimsoned Hills of Onondaga includes studies of De Witt Clinton's A Memoir on the Antiquities of the Western Part of the State of New York (1818); Josiah Priest's American Antiquities, And Discoveries in the West (1833); Joshua V.H. Clark's Onondaga (1849); and E. G. Squier's Aboriginal Monuments of the State of New York (1849). The Cardiff Giant hoax is re-examined along with other 19th century archaeological frauds associated with antiquarians. This highly original book will be a valuable addition to collections in archaeology, American history, and literature.

provides an important and timely contribution to an emergent body of work, reflecting increasing interest in the internationalisation of education and the transnational mobility of students worldwide. The last two decades have seen the dramatic expansion and consolidation of what has astutely been called an 'international education industry', involving the increased marketisation and branding of education at the national and institutional levels, the development of educational courses geared towards attracting international students, the establishment of 'offshore' schools and university campuses by Western institutions in Asia, and, most conspicuously, the mobility of nearly 3 million international students as they seek out valuable and internationally recognised academic credentials outside their home countries. These students are cognisant of an emergent global map of 'cultural capital', and the means by which this cultural capital can be converted into economic capital in an international, knowledge-based labour market. Drawing on the work of Pierre Bourdieu and other more recent contributors to the geography and sociology of education, this innovative book sets out an agenda for examining and understanding the transnational mobility of international students and the important national and institutional contexts within which they move. Its striking conclusions are based on substantive empirical research in Canada and Hong Kong, involving in-depth interviews with transnational students and a number of institutional actors directly involved in the internationalization of education. Education, Migration, and Cultural Capital in the Chinese Diaspora would be of significant interest to academics working in the fields of human geography, sociology, social anthropology, migration studies, and education, and is also a valuable text for any educational practitioners involved in the process of 'internationalisation'.

This is a compilation of books in languages and literatures published by Cambria Press. The Cambria Web site, www.cambriapress.com, however, is the most up-to-date source of information for their books.

In this well-written work, the author argues that the present situation regarding the music of the classical tradition is fundamentally untenable. While change is, of course, inevitable, the author posits that teachers of the classical music tradition, nonetheless, have a moral responsibility to do as much as possible to advocate and work toward goals that will hasten and most positively influence the direction of change. The author believes that the present relationship between the music of the Western classical tradition and the culture of the present is an unhealthy one. The music of dead composers comprises the overwhelming preponderance of music heard today, especially in the larger venues such as symphony halls and opera houses. Specifically, the author argues that we must promote and provide for (at least) an equal place in our teaching, recordings, and performances for the music of composers who are living at the time we undertake these activities. He further advocates that this is not simply a matter of currency, it is a matter of cultural vibrancy-even survival-and it is an ethical and aesthetic concern toward which we must direct our most serious attention and effort. As both a singer and a teacher, the author delivers a resounding perspective in this book. He also brings the important insights of others from other fields such as literature, philosophy, and theater. The author's discussions revolve around the situation of classical music, a situation that in many ways exemplifies the gradual transformation of the rationalization of the world, into the radical commodification of the world. This outcome will be shown to be intimately linked to ethical and aesthetic issues, which will be developed by means of an extended consideration of the conflict between the rational and the a-rational as it plays itself out in contrasts between music, art, and literature, and science and philosophy. The book delves into the problem of teaching music, particularly the problems commonly dealt with in the teaching studio. Teachers of the Western music tradition have developed tried and true techniques for dealing with these problems as they occur in teaching, generally by helping students toward an understanding of historical, musical, technical and stylistic problems, among a host of others. These "common" problems of teaching are, however, symptomatic of very deep, complicated, and endemic philosophical issues that have, so far, been insufficiently discussed in a form that might be useful to teachers, performers, and lovers of the music of the Western classical music tradition. The most unique contribution of these discussions is the investigation into what is not discussed to any depth in pedagogy books--what lies behind or beneath these commonly experienced problems. This is a critical book for collections in music.

In this outstanding collection of essays, editors Neil Murphy and Wai-chew Sim seek not so much to demarcate the field of British Asian fiction, but to offer due acknowledgment of the artistic merit of the works of selected authors and simultaneously register their cultural significance. This volume demonstrates in situ the virtues of commentary that engages in a substantial manner with formal and aesthetic considerations, even as it implicates the discourses of alterity that dominate contemporary cultural criticism. Additionally, the essays delineate the complex subject positions explored by authors and texts, and focus on the way writers negotiate the exigencies of their location within and between different social formations. If it is the case that British literature can no longer be discussed in monocultural terms because of the impact of the writers under consideration, it is also the case that the diverse trans-cultural positions they explore are often less specified than proclaimed. Addressing difference, commensurability, and form-related notions of "truth-content," these essays enlarge our understanding of the range of British (and affiliated) identities, as well as the cultural contexts from which they arose. Working as academics and critics from Singapore, a useful vantage point, Murphy and Sim have extended the parameters of "British Asian" to include, not just writers from South Asia as is traditionally the case, but writers whose parents, or who themselves, have migrated to Britain from other regions of Asia, for example, Japan, Hong Kong, and Malaysia. This initiative has made it possible for professors Murphy and Sim to bring together, first, an interestingly varied group of authors, among them those who came to prominence in the 1980s--Salman Rushdie, Timothy Mo, Kazuo Ishiguro---as well as their younger contemporaries--Meera Syal, Romesh Gunesekera, Monica Ali, Hari Kunzru, Ooi Yang-May; and, second, a broad and diverse range of novels that span Timothy Mo's Sour Sweet (1982) and Tariq Ali's A Sultan in Palermo (2005), the fourth volume in his Islam quintet.

Characters in the literary tradition of American naturalism are usually perceived as passive, lacking in will, weak, and predetermined. They are constantly seen as the victims of heredity and environment, and their lives are shaped according to these strong forces that operate upon them. This interesting book examines the representation of female characters in American naturalism and argues that women in American naturalism are often represented as femmes fatales. Since heredity and environment are the determining factors in their lives, they are victims who have no control. However, with characters such as Trina Sieppe in Frank Norris's McTeague, Caroline Meeber in Theodore Dreiser's Sister Carrie, Edna Pontellier in Kate Chopin's The Awakening, and Helga Crane in Nella Larsen's Quicksand, these women victims gradually turn themselves into victimizers in order to conquer both heredity and environment. They consciously and deliberately use the only power they have that can help them overcome the naturalistic world in which they are entrapped--the power of the feminine. The book explains who exactly the femme fatale that has been born out of American naturalism is, and explores images of women in American realism who precede the femme fatale of American naturalism. This study examines characters like Trina Sieppe, Caroline Meeber, Edna Pontellier, and Helga Crane. It analyzes these women's backgrounds, their demeanors, their temperaments, their experiences, and their settings, and explains how and when each woman decides to use her sexuality. There is also a brief discussion of other femmes fatales in American naturalism, such as Stephen Crane's Maggie: A Girl of the Streets. Although the perception of women in nineteenth-century American literature has always had its place in discussions of literary texts, this book is unique in its argument that women in American naturalism are neither weak nor passive, but rather are strong and daring women who try diligently to find a means of fighting back. This book is an important addition to collections in literature and Women's studies.

As a relatively new field in academia and growing presence in American (as well as international) discourse, bioethics must balance the aspiration to guide biomedical research and practice with the need to become an institutionally legitimate influence in society. Since its inception three decades ago, to what extent has bioethics succeeded at making biomedicine more socially accountable? At the same time, to what extent has bioethics been rendered a public-relations tool for academic and corporate biomedical enterprises, which have become increasingly intermingled, high-tech, competitive, resource intensive, and profit-oriented? This book examines bioethicists' efforts to legitimate and stabilize the institutional existence of their field, revealing how their competition and collaboration with other professional groups has staked out an emblematic expertise, which is then tendered to various societal clients. In a case study of an academic bioethics center, higher education and science studies scholar Mary Leinhos reveals how efforts to secure material resources and organizational legitimacy shape the center's intellectual output, drawing on extensive interviews with center personnel and original on-site research. The author also employs discourse analysis to explore what the anticipated legal liability of bioethicists and ethics committees reveals about the social shaping and legitimacy of nascent expertise claims. In the national science policy arena, this book examines the National Bioethics Advisory Commission's discourse on the human stem cell research debate to reveal the boundary work conducted by the commission at the borders between science and ethics, and between ethics and public policy. Written by Dr. Mary Leinhos, this groundbreaking book shifts attention in the sociology of bioethics from clinical to academic bioethics, and highlights the institutional and resource-seeking relationships among bioethics, biomedicine, and public policy. The Logic and Legitimacy of American Bioethics makes new contributions to the fields of higher education studies and science studies, where ethics, and the relationship between legitimacy and expertise, have been little explored. Painting a detailed picture of how bioethics is taking root in the landscape of American institutional power and expertise, this book offers critical insight into the challenges and opportunities bioethicists face in cultivating socially responsible biomedical science and technology.

Koreans have been immigrating to the United States via Hawaii for over a hundred years, although the greatest influx to the mainland began after 1965, making Koreans one of the most recent ethnic groups in the United States. The intimate socio-political links between the United States and the Korean peninsula after World War II also contributes to the ideas and ideals of what it means to be Korean in the United States. As with many people with immigrant background, young people of Korean descent residing in the United States try to understand their ethnic identities through their families, peers, and communities, and many of these journeys involve participating in cultural activities that include traditional dance, song, and other such performance activities. This study is the culmination of a four-year ethnographic research project on the cultural practices of a group of Koreans in the United States pursuing the traditional Korean cultural art form of pungmul in exploring their ethnic identities. Through the accesses and opportunities afforded to the members of Mae-ari Korean Cultural Troupe by the national and transnational networks with other people of Korean descent, these young people begin to understand themselves as "Korean" while teaching and learning traditional Korean cultural practices in performances, workshops, and everyday interactions with each other. Most studies about Asian Americans focus on the immigration challenges, or the conflicts and differences between generations. While these are important issues that affect the lives of Asian Americans, it is also valuable to focus on how new cultural identities are formed in the attempt to hold on to the traditions of the immigrant homeland . This research pays close attention to how young people understand their identities through cultural practices, regardless of generational differences. The focus is on collective meaning-making about ethnic identity across immigration statuses and generations. In investigating their ways of being, author Sonya Gwak pays close attention to the semiotic processes within the group that aid in creating and cultivating notions of ethnic identity, especially in the ways in which the notion of culture becomes indelibly linked with "things" within and across the sites. Dr. Gwak also explores the pedagogical processes within the group regarding how cultures are objectified and transformed into tools of teaching and learning. Finally, the study also reveals how people understand their ethnic identities through direct and active engagement with, experience of, and expression of "cultural objects." By looking at the multiple forms of expressing ethnic identity, this study shows how the young people in Mae-ari locate themselves within the time and space of Korean history, Korean American history, activism, performing arts, and tradition. This study argues that ethnic identity formation is a process that is rooted in cultural practices contextualized in social, political, and cultural histories. This book advances the field of ethnic and immigrant studies by offering a new framework for understanding the multiple ways in which young people make sense of their identities. Be(com)ing Korean in the United States is an important book for all collections in Asian American studies, as well as ethnic and immigrant studies.

The early twenty-first century witnessed remarkable attempts by Africa's political leadership to promote regional integration as a means of fast-tracking economic progress, facilitating peace and security, consolidating democratic gains, and promoting the general welfare of the African people. The transition of the Organization of Unity (OAU) to the African Union (AU), as well as the foisting of a new economic blueprint for the continent-the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), combined with the growing role of the regional economic communities (RECs) in harmonizing and creating subregional norms and standards in the political and economic arena suggests a new trend towards regionalism in Africa. Indeed, in the new regional integration architecture, the RECs are considered to be the building blocks of the integration process led by the African Union. This new impetus of a regional development strategy was largely prompted by the slow pace of economic progress on the continent, the increasing marginalization of Africa in the global economy, and the need to create regional resources and standards that would benefit the continent in all spheres of social life. A painful realization became obvious that small micro-states in Africa sticking to their political independence and sovereignty would hardly make much progress in an increasingly globalised world. A macro-states' approach of regional integration has assumed Africa's new strategy to intervene in and integrate with a globalizing world. The current regional trend in Africa has received very little scholarly attention especially in a systematic and comprehensive way. This is due partly to the fact that the processes are currently unfolding and there is still uncertainty in the outcomes. Poor documentation and the dearth of primary materials (especially from the regional institutions) also contribute to the lack of scholarly work in this area. This study assembles the voices of some of the most seasoned African and Africanist scholars who have constantly, in one way or another, interacted with the integration process in Africa and kept abreast of the developments therein, and seeks to capture those developments in a nuanced manner in the economic, political and social spheres. The essence of this book is to analyze those processes--teasing out the issues, problems, challenges and major policy recommendations, with tentative conclusions on Africa's regional development trajectory. The book therefore fills major knowledge and policy gaps in Africa's regional development agenda. This book is a landmark contribution in a systematic attempt to comprehend Africa's regional development strategy led by the African Union. It examines the background, nuances, and dimensions of the process, which include the basis and historiography of pan-Africanism, the transition of the OAU to the AU, the issue of popular participation in development, the NEPAD and APRM initiatives, the evolving regional peace and security architecture, and the efforts of regional institutions to facilitate democracy, human rights, rule of law and good governance on the continent. The book underscores the fact that formidable obstacles and challenges abound in the trajectory, politics, and processes of this regional development paradigm, especially as Africa navigates an uncertain future in a deeply divided and unequal yet globalised World. The book constitutes a major reference material and compendium for a wide range of readers--students and scholars of African affairs and African development, policy makers both in Africa and the western countries, regional and international institutions and organizations, and all those interested in the past, present and future of Africa's development process.

This book examines the phenomenon of "technocultural Hindu nationalism" or the use of the internet by global Indian communities for the promotion of Hindu nationalist ideologies. Since the introduction of Western science and technology under colonial rule in the eighteenth century, science and technology have been used as instruments of transforming Indian society. Scientific and technological expertise have been authorized as essential attributes of a modern Indian selfhood. And the possessors of technological skills have historically been vested with the authority to speak for the nation. The associations between technology and nationalism have condensed in ideas about self and other, they have been incorporated in imaginings of the state and the nation, and they have materialized as claims about identity, community, and society. In the present historical moment, this relationship manifests itself, in one form, as an online Hindu nationalism that combines cultural majoritarian claims with technological triumphalism. Technocultural Hindu nationalism yokes together the core proposition of Hindu nationalist doctrine-the idea that India is a Hindu nation and that religious minorities are outsiders to it-with arguments about the imminent rise of Hindu India as a technological superpower in the global capitalist economy of the twenty-first century. Additionally, while technocultural Hindu nationalism is obsessed with 'Western' technology, it also defines itself, in strategic respects, in opposition to Western civilization. On Hindu nationalist websites, this apparent paradox is resolved through the construction of a narrative where Hinduism is defined as the historical and philosophical foundation of global capitalist modernity itself and Hindus are presented as the natural heirs to that heritage. This book locates these and other characteristics of Hindu nationalist identity politics in cyberspace with reference to the relationship between technology and nationalism in India from the period of British colonial rule in the mid-eighteenth century to the present era of an economically and technologically interconnected world. This book argues that technocultural Hindu nationalism needs to be understood in terms of the general dynamic of technology and nationalism with its continuities and discontinuities: through the period of colonial rule till Indian independence in 1947; the period of Nehruvian nationalism with its emphasis on technological development in a socialist framework; and the current post-1991 context following the liberalization of the Indian economy, which accords pride of place to information technology and the internet. This book also proposes that the particularities of technocultural Hindu nationalism need, at the same time, to be assessed with reference to the modalities of online communication. Toward this end, the book takes shape as an interdisciplinary endeavor, combining qualitative and quantitative research methodologies, and drawing on historical scholarship about South Asia, social and cultural theory, and the sociology of new media, specifically, the field of internet studies. Technology and Nationalism in India is an important book for all in communication, Internet studies, South Asian studies, and postcolonial studies.

This book examines the conductor's methods in terms of the realization of expressive potential in a selected body of works. This examination encompasses analytical, technical, and expressive gestural aspects of the art and craft of conducting. The author also discusses the idea of meaning in music and ways, both musical and extramusical, in which meaning arises in performance. In this unique study, the author also considers how the use of physical gestures may have an impact upon the realization of expressive potential in a given work and, in particular, upon those works selected for discussion. Central to this process is the notion that there is something "behind the notes." Text-based modes of analysis do not afford access to music as it is created by the actions of performers and conductors. The author argues that this music often has strong extroversive associations. Inquiry limited to the text neither helps the interpreter to realise fully the expressive or communicative potential of that work, nor does it fully consider the impact of expressive issues on performance. Thus, the conductor acts as a mediator in this process, taking the work and all relevant information surrounding it into account as it is prepared for performance. It is within this context that the author examines John Corigliano's Overture from Gazebo Dances, Karel Husa's Introduction and Fanfare from Music for Prague 1968, Edward Gregson's Celebration, and Morning Music by Richard Rodney Bennett, with regard to their expressive potential and adopts topical analysis in a general way as a point of departure in an attempt to relate this potential to physical gestures, facial expressions, and body language in the art and craft of conducting. In addition, the author considers the applicability of the analytical tools developed in the study to the actual practice of performance with regard to the works discussed, and attempts to show the relationship between the analysis of a given work, the physical manifestation of what that analysis uncovers, and the realisation of expressive potential in performance. This book will help readers better understand the relationship between the conductor's physical gestures, body language and facial expressions, and the expressive potential of selected works for the wind orchestra. As a book that clearly reflects the author's passion, it will be a welcome addition for collections in music.

There are substantial bodies of literature that advance theory about why merger and acquisition candidates are found to be unattractive, why negotiations are not concluded, and why the benefits of companies that are acquired are not realised. Little, if any, research identifies why merger and acquisition opportunities are not pursued in the period after candidates are analysed and found to be attractive but before negotiations begin. This study addresses this period by developing a theoretical framework of the variables that intervene to reverse decisions to pursue apparently attractive candidates before negotiations begin and which, in doing so, result in missed opportunities. The study is informed primarily by the strategic-management content literature but draws from the strategy-process literature including streams in strategic decision making (SDM) and behavioural decision theory (BDT). This is a critical book for business scholars that provides an important perspective that has not yet been studied.

The increased prevalence of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) among Canadian and American children has introduced a surge in 'self-help' books marketed toward mothers. The perceived necessity for this has been shored up by scholarly and popular belief that raising an ADHD child is a stressful, burdensome and over-whelming responsibility. The perception is that these mothers are in need of advice and guidance in order to rise to the challenge. ADHD, marked by impulsivity, inattention and hyperactivity, is frequently misinterpreted as a result of poor mothering despite professional efforts to define it as a biologically predetermined disorder independent of socialization. Despite professional allegiance to the biological definition of the disorder, much academic focus has been directed toward discovering maternal pathology and dysfunction. This book provides a much needed counter perspective to current stereotypes about mothers of ADHD children as ill-quipped or pathological. Relying on large-scale quantitative data, Patricia E. Neff provides a detailed analysis of the impact of raising an ADHD child, as compared to a non-ADHD child, on maternal well-being. This is the first book of its kind to address the subject of mothering an ADHD child using two nationally representative and cross-cultural samples of Canadian and American mothers and children. A unique picture of how Canadian and American mothers are influenced by the ADHD status of their child, as well as their child's behavior and use of medication is revealed. This research is also concerned with the role of social support in mediating the effects of ADHD on maternal well-being. While numerous studies have examined the influence of social support in families of children experiencing an illness or handicap, this is the first to systematically explore the utilization of social support among mothers of ADHD children. According to Neff, the use of small, homogenous and clinically referred samples has contributed to negative characterizations of mothers of ADHD children. This is a timely piece of work as ADHD is now the most frequently diagnosed and treated disorder among school age children across Canada and the United States. ADHD and Maternal Resiliency provides a critical new perspective on mothering an ADHD child that will be of interest to sociologists, psychologists, clinicians, and educators, as well as mothers and families of ADHD children. Recommendations are advanced to increase research efforts toward gaining a greater understanding of the strengths and resources which enable mothers to successfully cope with the associated difficulties of mothering an ADHD child.

Until now, important research on the historical records of comets and meteor showers from China, Japan, and Korea has remained the exclusive preserve of those with expertise in the relevant languages. With a compilation like the present volume the authors hope to ameliorate that situation. Applying the same rigorous selection criteria and style of presentation as in the previous catalogue, assembled and translated here are some 1,500 additional observations of comets and meteor showers from China, Japan, and Korea spanning nearly three millennia. With the publication of this volume, most of the important historical records of East Asian astronomical observations are now accessible in English. The introductions and appendices provide all the required information on specialized terminology, recording conventions, and nomenclature the reader will need to make use of the records. In addition to being an invaluable resource for professional astronomers, East Asian astronomical records have materially aided the research of scholars in fields as diverse as mythology, medieval iconography, ancient chronology, and the oral history of pre-literate societies. The book should be of great interest to cultural astronomers, as well as to those engaged in historical and comparative research.

This collection of essays is impressive in its breadth, ranging over English (Shakespeare, Stoppard, Churchill, Ravenhill, Penhall), Irish (MacNamara, Johnston), American (O'Neill, Stein, Kushner, Lynn), and Continental (Beckett, Weiss, Jelinek) dramatists; furthermore, many of the plays given extended treatment--King Lear, The Emperor Jones, Waiting for Godot, Endgame, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, The Investigation, Top Girls, and Angels in America--are frequently anthologized and/or taught. And because each of these essays was written by a different author, the range of theorists and critics drawn upon (Lyotard, Jameson, McHale, Hutcheon, Derrida, Barthes, Baudrillard, Levinas, Hassan, etc.) is so extensive as to provide a veritable overview of postmodern theory as it might usefully be applied to the theatre.

International exhibitions were a key feature of the cultural landscape of the second half of the nineteenth century. They provided the most powerful nations with a stage on which they could affirm their status as world leaders. Increasingly they also allowed emerging nations to celebrate their growing economic and industrial prowess. In Britain the potential challenge this presented to the exiting order was noted by a few contemporary observers who, because of what they had seen at exhibitions, were convinced that the country was at risk economically. They regarded technical education as the remedy to cure this perceived ill. Historians of this period have similarly concluded that British complacency towards this issue led to decline. This book investigates these assumptions by systematically exploring the relationship between participation in international exhibitions, the state of the economy, and the issue of technical education from a British perspective between 1850 and 1910. The book begins with the 1867 Paris exhibition; it examines the enquiries into technical education that it generated in England and ends with the Royal Commission on Scientific Instruction and the Advancement of Science. It then examines the link between the 1876 Philadelphia and the 1878 Paris exhibitions and the Royal Commission on Technical Instruction. The 1884 and 1885 London exhibitions, the Royal Commission on the Depression of Trade, and the Technical Instruction Act are also studied. The study then moves to the 1893 Chicago and the 1900 Paris exhibitions. This is followed by an examination of the International Exhibitions Committee, which was established in the early part of the twentieth century to undertake research into the link between exhibitions and the well being of British trade. This represents a unique and rarely used source with which to explore the issue at the heart of this work. Finally, the study establishes that commercial rather than technical education had been the want of the age. This unique volume will be a valuable addition to collections in British history, international trade, history of education, and history of economics.