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        Humanities & Social Sciences
        March 2017

        Science and society in southern Africa

        by Saul Dubow

        This collection, dealing with case studies drawn from South Africa, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Mauritius, examines the relationship between scientific claims and practices, and the exercise of colonial power. It challenges conventional views that portray science as a detached mode of reasoning with the capacity to confer benefits in a more or less even-handed manner. That science has the potential to further the collective good is not fundamentally at issue, but science can also be seen as complicit in processes of colonial domination. Not only did science assist in bolstering aspects of colonial power and exploitation, it also possessed a significant ideological component: it offered a means of legitimating colonial authority by counter-poising Western rationality to native superstition and it served to enhance the self-image of colonial or settler elites in important respects. This innovative volume ranges broadly through topics such as statistics, medicine, eugenics, agriculture, entomology and botany.

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        Humanities & Social Sciences
        October 2023

        The illusion of the Burgundian state

        by Élodie Lecuppre-Desjardin, Christopher Fletcher

        On 25 January 1474, Charles the Bold, duke of Burgundy, appeared before his subjects in Dijon. Robed in silk, gold and precious jewels and wearing a headpiece that gave the illusion of a crown, he made a speech in which he cryptically expressed his desire to become a king. Three years later, Charles was killed at the battle of Nancy, an event that plunged the Great Principality of Burgundy into chaos. This book, innovative and essential, not only explores Burgundian history and historiography but offers a complete synthesis about the nature of politics in this region, considered both from the north and the south. Focusing on political ideologies, a number of important issues are raised relating to the medieval state, the signification of the nation under the 'Ancien Regime', the role of warfare in the creation of political power and the impact of political loyalties in the exercise of government. In doing so, the book challenges a number of existing ideas about the Burgundian state.

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        Humanities & Social Sciences
        October 2021

        Higher education in a globalising world

        Community engagement and lifelong learning

        by Peter Mayo

        This book focuses on current policy discourse in Higher Education, with special reference to Europe. It discusses globalisation, Lifelong Learning, the EU's Higher Education discourse, this discourse's regional ramifications and alternative practices in Higher Education from both the minority and majority worlds with their different learning traditions and epistemologies. It argues that these alternative practices could well provide the germs for the shape of a public good oriented Higher Education for the future. It theoretically expounds on important elements to consider when engaging Higher Education and communities, discussing the nature of the term 'community' itself. Special reference is accorded to the difference that lies at the core of these ever-changing communities. It then provides an analysis of an 'on the ground project' in University community engagement, before suggesting signposts for further action at the level of policy and provision. This book is relevant to United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 4, Quality education

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        Teaching, Language & Reference
        November 2023

        Pluriversal sovereignty and the state

        Imperial encounters in Sri Lanka

        by Ajay Parasram

        Presenting a case study of British colonial rule and its aftermath in Sri Lanka, this book explores the collision of competing ontologies in the making of the modern state system. It develops a decolonial theoretical framework informed by the idea of a 'pluriverse' to reveal the empirical and imperial avenues through which the idea of the modern/colonial state became normalised in Ceylon. The book contributes to three areas of scholarly discussion: the politics of ontology as related to sovereignty, postcolonial and decolonial international relations, and globalisation through the colonial encounter. It argues that in order to understand contemporary postcolonial crises rooted in territorial conflicts, we must first understand the historical and conceptual processes that depoliticised and universalised the norm of 'total territorial rule' rather than treating the modern state as a territorial and developmental inevitability.

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        Humanities & Social Sciences
        June 2021

        Justice and mercy

        Moral theology and the exercise of law in twelfth-century England

        by Philippa Byrne

        This book examines one of the most fundamental issues in twelfth-century English politics: justice. It demonstrates that during the foundational period for the common law, the question of judgement and judicial ethics was a topic of heated debate - a common problem with multiple different answers. How to be a judge, and how to judge well, was a concern shared by humble and high, keeping both kings and parish priests awake at night. Using theological texts, sermons, legal treatises and letter collections, the book explores how moralists attempted to provide guidance for uncertain judges. It argues that mercy was always the most difficult challenge for a judge, fitting uncomfortably within the law and of disputed value. Shining a new light on English legal history, Justice and mercy reveals the moral dilemmas created by the establishment of the common law.

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        Humanities & Social Sciences
        December 2023

        Transitional justice in process

        Plans and politics in Tunisia

        by Mariam Salehi

        After the fall of the Ben Ali regime in 2011, Tunisia swiftly began dealing with its authoritarian past and initiated a comprehensive transitional justice process, with the Truth and Dignity Commission as its central institution. However, instead of bringing about peace and justice, transitional justice soon became an arena of contention. Through a process lens, the book explores why and how the process evolved, and explains how it relates to the country's political transition. Based on extensive field research in Tunisia and the US, and interviews with a broad range of international stakeholders and decision-makers, this is the first book to comprehensively study the Tunisian transitional justice process. It provides an in-depth analysis of a crucial period, examining the role of justice professionals in different stages, as well as the alliances and frictions between different actor groups that cut across the often-assumed local-international divide.

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        January 1972

        Die europäische Wirtschafts- und Währungsunion.

        Eine integrationspolitische Perspektive?

        by Stock, Walter

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        Humanities & Social Sciences
        March 2017

        Emigration from Scotland between the wars

        by Marjory Harper

        Emigration from Scotland has always been very high. However, emigration from Scotland between the wars surpassed all records; more people emigrated than were born, leading to an overall population decline. Why was it so many people left? Marjory Harper, whose knowledge is grounded in a deep understanding of the local records, maps out the many factors which worked together to cause this massive diaspora. After an opening section where the author sets the Scottish experience within the context of the rest of the British Isles, the book then divides the country geographically, starting with the Highlands, then coastal Scotland, and the urban Lowland highlighting in turn the factors that particularly influenced each of these areas. Harper then discusses the organised religious and political movements that encouraged emigration. By interweaving personal stories with statistical evidence Harper brings to life the reality behind the dramatic historical migration.

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        Humanities & Social Sciences
        June 2023

        Worrier state

        Risk, anxiety and moral panic in South Africa

        by Nicky Falkof

        Risk, anxiety and moral panic are endemic to contemporary societies and media forms. How do these phenomena manifest in a place like South Africa, which features heightened insecurity, deep inequality and accelerated social change? What happens when cultures of fear intersect with pervasive systems of gender, race and class? Worrier state investigates four case studies in which fear and anxiety appear in radically different ways: the far right myth of 'white genocide'; so-called 'Satanist' murders of young women; an urban legend about township crime; and social theories about safety and goodness in the suburbs. Falkof foregrounds the significance of emotion as a socio-political force, emphasising South Africa's imbrication within globalised conditions of anxiety and thus its fundamental and often-ignored hypermodernity. The book offers a bold and creative perspective on the social roles of fear and emotion in South Africa and thus on everyday life in this complex place.

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        October 1984

        Die Struktur der Moderne

        Grundmuster und differentielle Gestaltung des institutionellen Aufbaus der modernen Gesellschaften

        by Richard Münch

        Die Moderne verstehen – dies ist ein prominentes Thema der Soziologie. Richard Münch versucht in seinem neuen Buch, durch die soziologische Analyse ihres institutionellen Aufbaus zu einem Verständnis der Grundstruktur und der Strukturprobleme der modernen Gesellschaften zu gelangen. Im Vordergrund der Analyse steht zunächst die gemeinsame institutionelle Tiefenstruktur moderner Gesellschaften. Diese generalisierende Betrachtung wird dann durch die Analyse ihrer unterschiedlichen institutionellen Oberflächenstruktur im inter- und intrakulturellen Vergleich konkretisiert.

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        September 2013

        Die Zarin der Nacht

        by Eva Stachniak, Christel Dormagen, Peter Knecht

        Katharina steht auf dem Gipfel ihrer Macht: Einst war sie als schüchterne Prinzessin nach St. Petersburg gekommen, nun hat sie ihren Ehemann, Zar Peter III., vom Thron gestürzt. Jahrelang hatte er sie gedemütigt und zurückgewiesen, nun reißt sie die Macht an sich und krönt sich zur Alleinherrscherin über ein Weltreich. An ihrer Seite steht Grigori Orlow, ihr Geliebter, ebenso mutig wie sie, mit demselben Willen zur Macht. Doch Katharina ist nicht nur von Günstlingen umgeben, sondern auch von Neidern und falschen Freunden, ihre Herrschaft ist stets bedroht: Hinter jedem Vertrauten lauert ein Dolch, und jedes Lächeln kann die Maske eines Verrats sein … Eva Stachniak knüpft an ihren Bestsellererfolg »Der Winterpalast« an und erweckt den russischen Zarenhof mit Glanz und Gloria zum Leben. Sie entführt ihre Leser in die prunkvolle Welt St. Petersburgs, in schillernde Paläste und in die geheimen Gemächer der größten Kaiserin aller Zeiten.

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        March 2020

        Im Alten Land

        by Birgit Haustedt

        Apfelbäume, so weit das Auge reicht, idyllische Fachwerkdörfer hinter dem Deich und am Horizont die Elbe: Das Alte Land ist eine uralte Kulturlandschaft am Wasser, die ihren eigenen Charakter bewahrt hat. Prächtige Bauernhöfe und Backsteinkirchen mit kostbaren Barockorgeln zeugen noch heute vom frühen Wohlstand der Altländer. Birgit Haustedt erzählt von den Anfängen im Mittelalter, von Deichbau und Sturmfluten, vom Alltag der kleinen Leute und von großer Handwerkskunst, von stolzen Bauern und mutigen Schiffern. Dazu ein Exkurs, welche Rolle das Alte Land in Lessings Leben und Goethes Faust spielte.

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