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      • Trusted Partner
        Teaching, Language & Reference
        December 2017

        Sustainable art communities

        Contemporary creativity and policy in the transnational Caribbean

        by Leon Wainwright, Kitty Zijlmans

        This collection sets out a range of perspectives on the challenges that the Caribbean is facing today, showing how the arts hold a crucial role in forging a more sustainable Caribbean community. It forcefully attests to the view that visual art in particular has a specific contribution to make and that this in turn means striving to foster a sustainable arts community that can contend with an environment of uneven infrastructure, opportunity and public awareness. Spanning the scholarly, artistic and professional fields of arts and heritage, this book compares two of the Caribbean's key linguistic regions - the Anglophone and the Dutch - to address the themes of global-local relations, capital, patronage, morality, contestation, sustainability and knowledge exchange. The result is a milestone of collaboration from diverse global settings of the Caribbean and its diaspora, including Jamaica, the Bahamas, Barbados, Suriname, Curaçao, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Germany and the United States.

      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        July 2025

        Threads of labour

        Tapestry of an ex-industrial community

        by Lisa Taylor

        Charting a collaborative art-based project using carpet-making skills and the industrial heritage of the region, the book investigates how a cleaved ex-industrial community used arts methodologies as a cohesion strategy. Drawing on images from the company's archives, the book mines the history of Firths Carpets Limited, a firm that carpeted interiors across the globe from the mid-1800s. Women's labour and tastes were business critical to the production and sale of Firths carpets. Drawing on the author's personal connection to the village, an ethnographic sensibility and novel research techniques, ex-worker responses to a village radically altered by ruination are explored. Ex-workers felt nostalgia for the dignity of work and a sense of homesickness in a village ghosted by industrial spectres of the past. Threads of Labour argues that left-behind deindustrialised places require acts of social re-making if their communities are to survive.

      • Trusted Partner
      • Trusted Partner
        The Arts
        September 2025

        Do It Yourself

        Making political theatre

        by Common Wealth

        A unique guide to creating political theatre, produced by one of the UK's most exciting companies. Do It Yourself is a vital resource for anyone interested in exploring theatre culture grounded in and produced by working-class, multi-racial communities. Designed for artists, activists and community organisers, the book offers a step-by-step guide to creating political theatre that is relevant, impactful and rooted in the lives of everyday people. Common Wealth have spent fifteen years working at the cutting edge of political theatre. In Do It Yourself, they share their experimental and activist approach to performance-making, based on DIY principles and the belief that ground-breaking theatre can be made with anyone, anywhere, in ways that truly resonate with the communities it serves. Do It Yourself introduces Common Wealth's artistic and political ethos, provides unique insights into their most significant performances and offers practical exercises for creating your own work. But this is not just a manual. It is a celebration of culture as a collective endeavour, one that can challenge the status quo and inspire change.

      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        May 2020

        The unimagined community

        Imperialism and culture in South Vietnam

        by Duy Lap Nguyen

        The unimagined community proposes a reexamination of the Vietnam War from a perspective that has been largely excluded from historical accounts of the conflict, that of the South Vietnamese. Challenging the conventional view that the war was a struggle between the Vietnamese people and US imperialism, the study presents a wide-ranging investigation of South Vietnamese culture, from political philosophy and psychological warfare to popular culture and film. Beginning with a genealogy of the concept of a Vietnamese "culture," as the latter emerged during the colonial period, the book concludes with a reflection on the rise of popular culture during the American intervention. Reexamining the war from the South Vietnamese perspective, The unimagined community pursues the provocative thesis that the conflict, in this early stage, was not an anti-communist crusade, but a struggle between two competing versions of anticolonial communism.

      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        February 2013

        Building a neighborly community

        Post-cold war China, Japan, and Southeast Asia

        by Daojiong Zha, Weixing Hu

        Building a neighborly community, available for the first time in paperback, explores the political economy of post-cold war East Asian co-operation by examining the history of intra-regional co-operation, against the background of China's rise and Japan's relative decline, both real and perceived. The book in particular examines how East Asian states have dealt with the South China Sea as a region-wide security challenge and the imperative for self-help after the 1997 economic crisis. The book builds on the explanatory strength of analytical eclecticism, and ultimately concludes that China, South Korea, Japan, and ASEAN states have aimed for constructing a neighborly community. The fundamental differences between a neighborly community and the kind of community that has emerged in Europe and North America are that qualification for membership is not conditional, the process of routine interactions is itself one of reassurance, the aim of inter-state interactions is to foster acceptance of each other, and changes in a member's foreign policy behaviour are accepted. ;

      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        October 2006

        Blair’s community

        Communitarian thought and New Labour

        by Sarah Hale, Chantal Hamill

        Blair's community is an exciting and timely book which challenges the accepted wisdom about the role of communitarian thought in the development of New Labour under Tony Blair. From the mid-1990s there has been a widespread view that Labour policies have reflected, or even been influenced by, the work of communitarian writers like Amitai Etzioni and John Macmurray, and philosophers such as Alasdair MacIntyre and Michael Sandel. The book begins by establishing that such a view was widely, and frequently unquestioningly, held, in both popular and academic forums. It then identifies reasons for the persistence of this impression, the evidence on which it was based, and the understandings of communitarianism used by commentators. The book argues that existing accounts of 'New Labour's communitarianism' fail to present an accurate picture because they are - in some cases explicitly - working with a generic or composite conception of communitarianism which bears little relation to the work of the communitarian writers whose names have been associated with the party. ;

      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        November 2025

        Humanitarian mobilisation in Central and Eastern Europe

        Local, national, and international perspectives

        by Doina Anca Cretu, Michal Frankl

        By focusing on aid Central and Eastern Europe, the volume adds to the existent scholarly explorations of modern humanitarianism, its actors and practices. In the twentieth century, aid workers assisted victims of war and earthquakes, delivered food, supported health care, provided childcare, or sheltered refugees. The contributors not only reconstruct these diverse histories and their protagonists, but also bring international, national, and local actors together: from grassroots activists to private associations to state-driven "socialist humanitarians" to large Western aid organizations. In doing so, they challenge the often unidirectional, from West-to-East, and asymmetrical perspective on donor-recipient relationships in humanitarian processes.

      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        April 2025

        Beyond the Pale and Highland Line

        The Irish and Scottish Gaelic world

        by Simon Egan

        This book offers important new insights into the history and culture of the Gaelic-speaking world from the mid-fifteenth century through to the reign of James VI and I. Throughout this period, the reach of the English and Scottish crowns within these western regions was limited. The initiative lay with local communities and royal power was contingent upon negotiating with well-established and largely autonomous aristocratic lineages. Moreover, events within this western world could exert a powerful, often unpredictable, influence upon the affairs of the wider archipelago. Using a series of case studies, this collection examines the evolving relationship between Ireland and Scotland in rich detail. It demonstrates how this world interacted with the encroaching English and Scottish states and underlines the importance of paying closer attention to this neglected area of Irish and British history.

      • Trusted Partner
      • Trusted Partner
        2025

        Among Neighbours

        The strangest relationship of our lives

        by Bernd Imgrund

        There are many things in life that we are (more or less) free to choose: our circle of friends, our workplace, our place of residence. However, we have to take some communities as they come: We cannot choose our family or our neighbours, for example. Why this does not only lead to the much-vaunted idyllic sense of belonging and what tensions forced social relationships can cause: This is the subject of this fascinating collection of essays by Bernd Imgrund. It sheds light on a piece of social history that we all know from our own experience: who hasn't had an argument with their immediate neighbour or made fun of the residents of the neighbouring district? But it is by no means only negative aspects that characterise neighbourly relations. Pride in one's neighbourhood, help within a village community: the many advantages of a social community, its importance and its representation in art and literature have also found their way into this book.

      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        April 2020

        The British political elite and Europe, 1959-1984

        A higher loyalty

        by Bob Nicholls

        This book offers an original interpretation of Britain's relationship with Europe over a 25 year period: 1959-84 and advances the argument that the current problems over EU membership resulted from much earlier political machinations. This evidence based account of the seminal period analyses the applications for EEC membership, the 1975 referendum, and the role of the press. Was the British public misled over the true aims of the European project? How significant was the role of the press in changing public opinion from anti, to pro Common Market membership? Why, after over 40 years since Britain became a member of the European community, does the issue continue to deeply divide not only the political elite, but also the British public? These, and other pertinent questions are answered in this timely book on a subject that remains topical and highly controversial.

      • Trusted Partner
        The Arts
        May 2024

        Adaptation and resilience in the performing arts

        The pandemic and beyond

        by Pascale Aebischer, Rachael Nicholas

        This book offers insights into some of the digital innovations, structural adaptations and analogue solutions that enabled live performance in the UK to survive through the COVID-19 pandemic. It provides evidence of values-led policies and practices that have improved the wellbeing of the creative workforce and have increased access to live performance. Through sections that address digital innovations, workforce resilience and programming live performances outdoors and in community settings, this book provides practical insights into the challenges live performance faced during the pandemic. It shows how, in order to survive, individuals and companies within the sector drew on the creativity and resourcefulness of its workforce, and on new and existing networks. In these accounts, the pandemic functioned as catalyst for technological innovations, stock-taking regarding exploitative industry structures, and a re-valuing of the role of live performance for community-building.

      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        November 2020

        The free speech wars

        by Charlotte Lydia Riley

      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        October 2023

        Towards a just Europe

        A theory of distributive justice for the European Union

        by João Labareda

        This highly original book constitutes one of the first attempts to examine the problem of distributive justice in the European Union in a systematic manner. João Labareda argues that the set of shared political institutions at EU level, including the European Parliament and the Court of Justice of the EU, generate democratic duties of redistribution among EU citizens. Furthermore, the economic structure of the EU, comprising a common market, a common currency and a free-movement area, triggers duties of reciprocity among member states. The responsibilities to fulfil these duties, Labareda argues, should be shared by the local, national and supranational levels of government. Not only should the EU act as a safety net to the national welfare systems, applying the principle of subsidiarity, but common market and Eurozone regulations should balance their efficiency targets with fair cooperation terms. The concrete policy proposals presented in this book include a threshold of basic goods for all EU citizens, an EU labour code, a minimum EU corporate tax rate and an EU fund for competitiveness. Labarada argues that his proposals match the political culture of the member states, are economically feasible, can be translated into functioning institutions and policies and are consistent with the limited degree of social solidarity in Europe. This book is a major contribution to the understanding of what a just Europe would look like and what it might take to get us there. This book is relevant to United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 10, Reduced inequalities

      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        July 2025

        European Union health policy

        Markets, integration and modes of governance

        by Eleanor Brooks

        The first book-length analysis of EU health policy since the COVID-19 pandemic, encompassing the creation of the European Health Union and the Recovery and Resilience Facility, this volume offers a timely and accessible analysis of the EU's health policy, institutions and governance. Focusing on the EU's health objectives and how they are pursued, it offers a detailed overview of the development of EU health policy, and five in-depth case studies of specific policy fields. The book will appeal to academic and policy audiences interested in the EU's health objectives and how it pursues them.

      • Trusted Partner
        The Arts
        September 2020

        Science in performance

        Theatre and the politics of engagement

        by Simon Parry

        This electronic version has been made available under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-ND) open access license. This book is about science in theatre and performance. It explores how theatre and performance engage with emerging scientific themes from artificial intelligence to genetics and climate change. The book covers a wide range of performance forms from Broadway musicals to educational theatre, from Somali drama to grime videos. It features work by pioneering companies including Gob Squad, Headlong Theatre and Theatre of Debate as well as offering fresh analysis of global blockbusters such as Wicked and Urinetown. The book offers detailed description and analysis of theatre and performance practices as well as broader commentary on the politics of theatre as public engagement with science. Science in performance is essential reading for researchers, students and practitioners working between science and the arts within fields such as theatre and performance studies, science communication, interdisciplinary arts and health humanities.

      • Trusted Partner
        March 2025

        Arts and Medicine

        How music, painting, theatre, dance, literature and architecture heal

        by Stefan N. Willich

        Art, medicine and health have many points of contact and a long tradition. Even in Greek mythology, Apollo was the god of the arts. Artistic approaches to therapy (including visual and performing arts, music, dance and literature) have been used for many centuries and are still offered in some medical institutions today. Despite this long practical experience, there is little scientific evidence of its effectiveness. Basic research provides an important basis for art therapy with interesting new approaches for investigating possible mechanisms of action. In addition, the overall social signifi- cance of art for health is an important topic, especially with regard to preventive effects for the population. The book provides a comprehensive overview of how art can be used as a health-promoting resource and highlights various research approaches. In addition, a brief review of the historical development of art in medicine is given. For the first time, the influence of music, painting, dance, literature and architecture on people’s state of health and the healing effect they can have is shown. Target group: Art therapists, artists, psychotherapists, child and adolescent psychologists, psychoanalysts and psychologists, health professionals, music and dance therapists, art and music educators, community musicians

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