Books published by Lexington Books

This collection specifically and solely focuses on Young Adult literature texts where cancer plays a prominent role, including widely-read texts like John Green's The Fault in Our Stars, Nicholas Sparks' A Walk to Remember, and Jesse Andrews' Me and Earl and the Dying Girl. The chapters present a variety of arguments, each developing a novel investigation into how these stories explore the effects cancer has on a person, a family, or on a relationship. As scientific studies continue to devlop new understandings of the biology behind cancer, and new sociological studies continue to uncover how a cancer diagnosis impacts the fabric of our culture(s), these collected essays continue to investigate how authors have woven cancer into the stories we write for young people. A number of distinct avenues are taken here, arguing for new approaches in crafting narrative, deeper appreciation for family support networks (or their absence), and what literary criticism can uncover when applied to cancer narratives.

In Pedagogies of the Enfleshed: Critical Communication Pedagogy Otherwise, Lore LeMaster proffers a historic account of the rise of education and, in turn, communication studies as a distinct field of study. In doing so, the author reconsiders communication's disciplinary origins with less of an emphasis on the mythos of the Ancient Greeks and, more accurately, relocates them within the historic context of U.S. settler colonial development and ever-expanding empire. LeMaster argues that the point of critical communication pedagogy otherwise isn't to instill critical sensibilities into our teaching, but to instead draw on lived experiences as grounds for more effective uses of communication to intervene in oppressive relations across (in)formal pedagogical contexts and in service of liberatory change. Where critical communication pedagogy calls for reform, critical communication pedagogy otherwise labors in service of liberation within the long arc of revolutionary change, beginning from y/our vantage as educators-as-learners. This is especially crucial, LeMaster posits, in the face of critical ongoing issues, including economic recessions, growing climate collapse, escalating fascisms, amassing white nationalisms, and U.S.-funded genocides, all amid an active pandemic. Ultimately, this book makes a compelling case for the need of new critical communication pedagogy tools or, at minimum, approaches to communication pedagogy that support critical worldmaking efforts beyond recognition and with resource support at the local level.

Precarious Domesticity and the British Novel: Space, Gender, and Empire investigates the ways domesticity shapes and threatens female characters in British fiction from the 1750s to the 1850s. Going far beyond the well-trod ground of the marriage plot, women writers in this period explored complicated issues such as sexual abuse, grief, and the way coverture and inheritance laws challenged women's survival. The author argues that women writers used the novel as a space where they could confront anxieties about the precarity of domesticity and the implicit threat of homelessness many women of the middle ranks faced. Precarious Domesticity explores the way female characters subvert these dynamics by reordering domestic space to enact ingenious and creative resistances to their marginalization in Jane Collier, Sarah Scott, Frances Burney, Jane Austen, Elizabeth Gaskell, and Charlotte Brontë. The author also explores the implications of British imperialism's impact on domestic ideology, both in the consumer products imported into England and the wealth derived from plantation slavery and global trade made possible by enslaved labor.

The conversion of the Roman Empire to Christianity, occurring in the golden glint of the sunset of the Ancient World, was not a concluding chapter but an opening one. The sequential conversion of the barbarian tribal invaders of the Empire and the subsequent conversion of those beyond the old imperial limes was the making of European culture, a prototypical Christendom. The process has been well studied from the perspective of kings, popes, and missionaries by some of the finest historians of our era. But the missing component in this civilizational change is that of the decisive influence of barbarian queens, Christian women who led their royal husbands in the dangerous journey from one religion to another. In recent years, much has been done to illuminate queenship in general, but a study focusing specifically on the queen's role in conversion is lacking. This book seeks to remedy that and provide a missing piece in women's history.

Antoine-Chrysostome Quatremère de Quincy was widely regarded as the pre-eminent art theorist of his day and exerted tremendous influence over the development of the arts in nineteenth-century France, publishing over twenty books over his career. Translated into English for the first time by Michel-Antoine Xhignesse, this 1837 treatise on imitation in the arts represents one of his major theoretical works. Quatremère de Quincy argues, against the prevailing opinion of the day, that artistic imitation aims at communicating the essence of the thing represented (ideal imitation), rather than merely faithfully reproducing its life appearance (real imitation). In order to communicate the essence, he argues, the artist must prioritize the contributions of her imagination over the choice and appearance of her model. This represented a significant departure from other accounts of ideal imitation, such as Batteux's or Winckelmann's, which instead advocated combining the best features of several different models.

From the television we watch and the films we consume to the experience of user-generated content, this volume explores various forms of popular culture as teaching tools. Teaching popular culture well hinges on the application, not the mere inclusion of popular culture artifacts. It is the nuance of praxis where theory meets practice, the artful marriage of academic knowledge with popular culture. In this volume, the authors leverage popular culture as a powerful teaching tool that is familiar and accessible. This tool provides a lens for approaching complex academic experiences and elucidating new concepts in applications that have been tested and applied in the classroom. Each essay outlines the theory that underpins elegant integrations of popular culture into learning.

Higher education helps students along a transformative path to citizenship by providing knowledge and experiences that help them become effective and responsible participants in democracy. The pedagogies discussed in this book vary in the student populations they target, the courses to which they are linked, and the nature of the democratic principles to which students are exposed; nevertheless, the authors maintain a unified commitment to preparing students for a life of democratic citizenship. By teaching students citizenship skills, including expressing opinions, working collaboratively, and participating in dialogue and civic reasoning, students prepare to discuss major issues that they face nationally and locally. The authors' discussions of scholarly and practical knowledge about pedagogical strategies, such as dialogic and deliberative pedagogies, civility, civic education, and the social contract, position educators to help students learn about democracy through experiences and teach them strategies for engaging in productive disagreement. These steps are essential for active democratic engagement beyond the classroom. This goal animates Encouraging College Students' Democratic Engagement in an Era of Political Polarization. Each chapter offers insight into how higher education can infuse modern democracy with diverse voices, engaged citizens, and a reframing of political talk.

In this book, Ghanem Ayed Elhersh and Laeeq Khan critically examine the depiction of Arabs and Muslims in prominent Disney animated films through application of a rigorous, mixed-methods convergent parallel design. Blending framing analysis with quantitative textual analysis, Elhersh and Khan offer a comprehensive view of media portrayals and public perceptions and reveal how these films have frequently employed biased, negative, orientalist frames that associate Arabs and Muslims with violence, terrorism, and misogyny. Furthermore, they assess public reactions through advanced quantitative analysis of user reviews to uncover and analyze prevailing themes and sentiments in viewer feedback. By integrating interdisciplinary perspectives and meticulous methodology, this book provides an insightful exploration of the causative links between such portrayals and public attitudes, offering a vital resource for scholars, media professionals, and readers interested in the intersections of media, culture, and minority representation.

Amending our Pasts and Futures: Observing Media and Place as Means to Memory is an edited volume presenting original research from established and emerging scholars of public and collective memory. Contributors focus on topics including the memory of race and slavery, wars of oppression, and regional and ethnic identities to interrogate how we as collectives remember, commemorate, discuss, forget, and question what is historically revealed, appropriated, silenced, or concealed from public discourse. Through analyses of a wide range of cultural texts and contexts, contributors to this volume demonstrate the crucial role of communication and media in shaping public opinion-and our collective present more broadly-in an effort to amend our painful histories.

The Cruel and Reparative Possibilities of Failure brings together a variety of scholars and research across disciplines, with an emphasis on communication and gender studies, to work toward reimagining the idea of failure. Contributors consider failure as both a space for growth and repair and as a space from which hope can emerge. The collection is divided into five parts, investigating failure as consumption; failure as media; failure as pedagogy; failure as narrative; and finally, failure as transformation. Contributors spanning the fields of communication, gender, sexuality, performance, and media studies each employ unique disciplinary approaches to failure in their explorations of topics including queer counterpublics, corporeal commodification, misinformation, abolitionist principles, abuse and consent culture, and everyday organizing, among others. Looking to the future, the book takes these perspectives and experiences a step further to explore the reparative possibilities that may be found in failure.

Present-day Evangelicalism represents a microcosm of tensions between male and female gender roles, with some denominations carefully delineating women leadership roles, especially the female pastor, and many others supporting them. The letters attributed to Paul the Apostle contain several divisive passages on the meaning of manhood and womanhood. Dated and dubious readings of these have led some, Christians and non-Christians alike, to conclude that Paul wrote with misogynistic intent. Others quote them to justify Christian patriarchalism. Beyond the Evangelical Gender Roles Gridlock: Reimagining Paul's Views on Women, Marriage, and Ministry reassesses what Paul said about women, reinterpreting his claims on marriage and ministry leadership in light of his first-century worldview. This book proposes a nuanced theological egalitarian approach with significant implications for renewing twenty-first-century congregations, homes, and society.

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.

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.

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 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.

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 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 collection presents a reframing of ecocomposition theory in light of catastrophic climate change, including the possibility of civilizational collapse, as well as the practical impacts this has on the classroom.

This book argues that literature and cultural studies are crucial for understanding ecological issues, promoting sustainability, and fostering interspecies communication. It further advocates for a practical shift from theory to action, emphasizing the interconnectedness of human and non-human life forms.

This volume is located at a crossover between posthumanism and environmental humanities.

This study of the virgin birth affirms the doctrine of the Apostles' Creed and seeks to follow in the footsteps of Athanasius of Alexandria by using exegetical typology. It builds an exegetical, theological, and Catholic case for understanding Jesus' incarnation as an act of divine temple construction.

Through meticulous textual and contextual analysis of the sixteenth-century Chinese tale The Seven Brothers and its fifteen contemporary variants, Juwen Zhang unveils the ways in which the translation and illustration of folk and fairy tales can perpetuate racist stereotypes. By critically examining the conscious and unconscious ideological biases harbored by translators, adapters, and illustrators, the author calls for a paradigm shift in translation practices grounded in decolonization and anti-racism to ensure respectful and inclusive representation of diverse cultures. Translating, Interpreting, and Decolonizing Chinese Fairy Tales not only offers insights for translators, researchers, and educators seeking to leverage folktales and picture books for effective children's education and entertainment, but also challenges our preconceived notions of translated and adapted folk and fairy tales.