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The ArtsNovember 2022In good taste
How Britain’s middle classes found their style
by Ben Highmore, Christopher Breward
In postwar Britain, journalists and politicians prophesised that the class system would not survive a consumer culture where everyone had TVs and washing machines, and where more and more people owned their own homes. They were to be proved entirely wrong. In good taste charts how class culture, rather than being destroyed by mass consumption, was remade from flat-pack furniture, Mediterranean cuisine and lifestyle magazines. Novelists, cartoonists and playwrights satirised the tastes of the emerging middle classes, and sociologists claimed that an entire population was suffering from status anxiety, but underneath it all, a world was being constructed out of duvets, quiches and mayonnaise, easy chairs from Habitat, white emulsion paint and ubiquitous well-scrubbed, second-hand pine kitchen tables. This was less a world of symbolic goods and more an intimate environment alive with new feelings and attitudes.
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October 2024Renunciation and Freedom
Survivial in the future
by Jean-Pierre Wils
The situation in our society is precarious. The ecological shocks are omnipresent. The mere continuation of our lifestyles fixated on expansion and self-development has long since reached its limits. As if intoxicated by ourselves, we consume our world voraciously and without restraint. We need moderation and frugality that lead us out of the ecological and social dead ends and hold both the individual and Politics to account. We are by no means powerless and are perfectly capable of leading a life that offers prospects for a humane future. However, our idea of freedom needs urgent correction. For this endeavour to succeed, we need the courage to face reality and the willingness, in a spirit of solidarity, to say goodbye to a false life and join the alliance of renunciation and freedom. Then we will be free – differently and better.
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Humanities & Social SciencesMarch 2024Ageing and new intimacies
Gender, sexuality and temporality in an English salsa scene
by Sarah Milton
The 'baby boom' generation, born between the 1940s and the 1960s, is often credited with pioneering new and creative ways of relating, doing intimacy and making families. With this cohort of men and women in Britain now entering mid and later life, they are also said to be revolutionising the experience of ageing. Are the romantic practices of this 'revolutionary cohort' breaking with tradition and allowing new ways of understanding and doing ageing and relating to emerge? Based on ethnographic fieldwork in salsa classes and life history interviews, this book documents the meanings of desire and romance, and 'new' intimacies, among women in mid and later life. Challenging notions of the revolutionary 'baby boomers', it details how these practices, experiences and identities are intersected and informed by age, class, whiteness, and a pervasive concern to remain respectable.
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2022A Healthy Pregnancy with Selected (Micro)Nutrients
by Uwe Gröber
Adequate nutrition and a healthy lifestyle – before and during pregnancy - are of great importance for a trouble-free pregnancy, birth, and the subsequent development of the child. Since the nutritional status before the onset of pregnancy influences both fertility and the course of pregnancy, including complications, the birth and breastfeeding, close attention should be paid to a healthy diet and adequate supply of essential (micro)nutrients well in advance and not only at the family planning stage. Poor micronutrient status prior to conception is often carried over into pregnancy, and can significantly increase the risk of pregnancy complications and, for example, lead to the dreaded spina bifida in the child. This patient guide tells you what you need to know! Various micronutrients are described in detail. Special emphasis is placed on the latest study results concerning pregnancy and nutrition.
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The ArtsJanuary 2019The new pornographies
Explicit sex in recent French fiction and film
by Victoria Best, Martin Crowley
The turn of the twenty-first century has witnessed the striking advance of pornography into the Western cultural mainstream. Symptomatic of this development has been the use by writers, artists, and film-makers of the imagery and aesthetics of pornography, in works which have, often on this basis, achieved considerable international success. Amongst these artists are a number of French authors and directors - such as Michel Houellebecq, Catherine Breillat, Virginie Despentes, or Catherine Millet - whose work has often been dismissed as trashy or exploitative, but whose use of pornographic material may in fact be indicative of important contemporary concerns. In this, the first study of this significant trend, the authors explore how the reference to pornography encodes diverse political, cultural, and existential questions, including relations between the sexes, the collapse of avant-garde politics, gay sexualities in the time of AIDS, the anti-feminist backlash, the relation to the body and illness, the place of fantasy, and the sexualisation of children. It will be of interest to undergraduates, graduates, and researchers in the fields of French culture, gender, film and media studies.
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The ArtsJanuary 2019Contemporary Spanish cinema and genre
by Jay Beck, Vicente Rodríguez Ortega
This volume is the first English-language collection exclusively dedicated to the study of genre in relation to Spanish cinema. Providing a variety of critical perspectives, the collection gives the reader a thorough account of the relationship between Spanish cinema and genre, drawing on case studies of several of the most remarkable Spanish films in recent years. The book analyses the significant changes in the aesthetics, production and reception of Spanish film from 1990 onwards. It brings together European and North American scholars to establish a critical dialogue on the topics under discussion, while providing multiple perspectives on the concepts of national cinemas and genre theory. In recent years film scholarship has attempted to negotiate the tension between the nationally specific and the internationally ubiquitous, discussing how globalisation has influenced film making and surrounding cultural practice. These broader social concerns have prompted scholars to emphasise a redefinition of national cinemas beyond strict national boundaries and to pay attention to the transnational character of any national site of film production and reception. This collection provides a thorough investigation of contemporary Spanish cinema within a transnational framework, by positing cinematic genres as the meeting spaces between a variety of diverse forces that necessarily operate within but also across territorial spaces. Paying close attention to the specifics of the Spanish cinematic and social panorama, the essays investigate the transnational economic, cultural and aesthetic forces at play in shaping Spanish film genres today.
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The ArtsJune 2021Contemporary Spanish cinema and genre
by Jay Beck, Vicente Rodríguez Ortega
This volume is the first English-language collection exclusively dedicated to the study of genre in relation to Spanish cinema. Providing a variety of critical perspectives, the collection gives the reader a thorough account of the relationship between Spanish cinema and genre, drawing on case studies of several of the most remarkable Spanish films in recent years. The book analyses the significant changes in the aesthetics, production and reception of Spanish film from 1990 onwards. It brings together European and North American scholars to establish a critical dialogue on the topics under discussion, while providing multiple perspectives on the concepts of national cinemas and genre theory. In recent years film scholarship has attempted to negotiate the tension between the nationally specific and the internationally ubiquitous, discussing how globalisation has influenced film making and surrounding cultural practice. These broader social concerns have prompted scholars to emphasise a redefinition of national cinemas beyond strict national boundaries and to pay attention to the transnational character of any national site of film production and reception. This collection provides a thorough investigation of contemporary Spanish cinema within a transnational framework, by positing cinematic genres as the meeting spaces between a variety of diverse forces that necessarily operate within but also across territorial spaces. Paying close attention to the specifics of the Spanish cinematic and social panorama, the essays investigate the transnational economic, cultural and aesthetic forces at play in shaping Spanish film genres today.
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2024Brave new city
Smart Cities - a survaillance-nightmare?
by Peter Schaar
The dream of the ideal city is as old as the city itself. Since real cities often develop chaotically, the idea of perfecting them, even tearing them down if necessary, and rebuilding them according to the prevailing patterns of thought is an obvious one. The latest manifestation of this utopia is the smart city - the intelligent city, packed with the latest technology and extensively digitised. But will air taxis and hyperloops, ubiquitous sensors, access control systems and data-driven management really make the city of the future a better place to live? Are they the answer to the enormous challenges facing today's fast-growing metropolises? Or will the supposed administrative paradise ultimately mutate into a digital juggernaut?
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Medieval historyMay 2006The life–cycle in Western Europe, c.1300–c.1500
by Deborah Youngs
This is the first study to examine the entire life cycle in the Middle Ages. Drawing on a wide range of secondary and primary material, the book explores the timing and experiences of infancy, childhood, adolescence and youth, adulthood, old age and, finally, death. It discusses attitudes towards ageing, rites of passage, age stereotypes in operation, and the means by which age was used as a form of social control, compelling individuals to work, govern, marry and pay taxes. The wide scope of the study allows contrasts and comparisons to be made across gender, social status and geographical location. It considers whether men and women experienced the ageing process in the same way, and examines the differences that can be discerned between northern and southern Europe. The fourteenth and fifteenth centuries suffered famine, warfare, plague and population collapse. This fascinating consideration of the life cycle adds a new dimension to the debate over continuity and change in a period of social and demographic upheaval.
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Humanities & Social SciencesJanuary 2020The life–cycle in Western Europe, c.1300–c.1500
by S. H. Rigby, Deborah Youngs
This is the first study to examine the entire life cycle in the Middle Ages. Drawing on a wide range of secondary and primary material, the book explores the timing and experiences of infancy, childhood, adolescence and youth, adulthood, old age and, finally, death. It discusses attitudes towards ageing, rites of passage, age stereotypes in operation, and the means by which age was used as a form of social control, compelling individuals to work, govern, marry and pay taxes. The wide scope of the study allows contrasts and comparisons to be made across gender, social status and geographical location. It considers whether men and women experienced the ageing process in the same way, and examines the differences that can be discerned between northern and southern Europe. The fourteenth and fifteenth centuries suffered famine, warfare, plague and population collapse. This fascinating consideration of the life cycle adds a new dimension to the debate over continuity and change in a period of social and demographic upheaval.
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The ArtsJune 2021The new pornographies
Explicit sex in recent French fiction and film
by Victoria Best, Martin Crowley
The turn of the twenty-first century has witnessed the striking advance of pornography into the Western cultural mainstream. Symptomatic of this development has been the use by writers, artists, and film-makers of the imagery and aesthetics of pornography, in works which have, often on this basis, achieved considerable international success. Amongst these artists are a number of French authors and directors - such as Michel Houellebecq, Catherine Breillat, Virginie Despentes, or Catherine Millet - whose work has often been dismissed as trashy or exploitative, but whose use of pornographic material may in fact be indicative of important contemporary concerns. In this study of a very significant trend, the authors explore how the reference to pornography encodes diverse political, cultural, and existential questions, including relations between the sexes, the collapse of avant-garde politics, gay sexualities in the time of AIDS, the anti-feminist backlash, the relation to the body and illness, the place of fantasy, and the sexualisation of children. It will be of interest to undergraduates, graduates, and researchers in the fields of French culture, gender, film and media studies.
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Humanities & Social SciencesApril 2022A new naval history
by Quintin Colville, James Davey, Katherine Parker, Elaine Chalus, Evan Wilson, Barbara Korte, Cicely Robinson, Cindy McCreery, Ellie Miles, Mary A. Conley, Jonathan Rayner, Daniel Spence, Emma Hanna, Ulrike Zimmerman, Max Jones, Jan Rüger
A New Naval History brings together the most significant and interdisciplinary approaches to contemporary naval history. The last few decades have witnessed a transformation in how this field is researched and understood and this volume captures the state of a field that continues to develop apace. It examines - through the prism of naval affairs - issues of nationhood and imperialism; the legacy of Nelson; the socio-cultural realities of life in ships and naval bases; and the processes of commemoration, journalism and stage-managed pageantry that plotted the interrelationship of ship and shore. This bold and original publication will be essential for undergraduate and postgraduate students of naval and maritime history. Beyond that, though, it marks an important intervention into wider historiographies that will be read by scholars from across the spectrum of social history, cultural studies and the analysis of national identity.
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Humanities & Social SciencesOctober 2021Religion and life cycles in early modern England
by Caroline Bowden, Emily Vine, Tessa Whitehouse
Religion and life cycles in early modern England assembles scholars working in the fields of history, English literature and art history to further our understanding of the intersection between religion and the life course in the period c. 1550-1800. Featuring chapters on Catholic, Protestant and Jewish communities, it encourages cross-confessional comparison between life stages and rites of passage that were of religious significance to all faiths in early modern England. The book considers biological processes such as birth and death, aspects of the social life cycle including schooling, coming of age and marriage and understandings of religious transition points such as spiritual awakenings and conversion. Through this inclusive and interdisciplinary approach, it seeks to show that the life cycle was not something fixed or predetermined and that early modern individuals experienced multiple, overlapping life cycles.
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Humanities & Social SciencesAugust 2018Flight MH17, Ukraine and the new Cold War
by Kees van der Pijl, Radhika Desai, Alan Freeman
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October 2011Old Stuff, new Fashion
DIY-Mode & Accessoires aus gebrauchten Klamotten
by Erhorn, Hanna Charlotte
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The ArtsNovember 2017Vivien Leigh
Actress and icon
by Kate Dorney, Maggie B. Gale
This edited volume provides new readings of the life and career of iconic actress Vivien Leigh (1913-67), written by experts from theatre and film studies and curators from the Victoria & Albert Museum, London. The collection uses newly accessible family archives to explore the intensely complex relationship between Vivien Leigh's approach to the craft of acting for stage and screen, and how she shaped, developed and projected her public persona as one of the most talked about and photographed actresses of her era. With key contributors from the UK, France and the US, chapters range from analyses of her work on stage and screen to her collaborations with designers and photographers, an analysis of her fan base, her interior designs and the 'public ownership' of Leigh's celebrity status during her lifetime and beyond.
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Literature & Literary StudiesSeptember 2011Changing our Textual Minds
Towards a digital order of knowledge
by Adriaan Van Der Weel
Text has always been the chief vehicle for the inscription and dissemination of knowledge and culture. As more and more of our textual communication moves into the digital realm we have reached a crucial moment in the history of textual transmission. In many respects digital text looks deceptively like print. But beneath the surface of the screen, digital textuality obeys very different rules than printed text. The digital textual universe offers a wealth of new and exciting possibilities - but it also sets new rules for the writer's and reader's engagement with text. Changing our textual minds analyses the continuities and discontinuities in textual transmission as we move from a print paradigm into an increasingly digital world. It conceptualises the epochal transition from analogue to digital both in factual terms and in terms of its social significance. Centuries of reading and writing practice have made us Homo typographicus. Our entire way of disseminating knowledge and culture is firmly based on print culture. The need to come to grips with the shift to digital textuality in the early twenty-first century will literally change our minds. ;
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Political partiesSeptember 2008The Labour governments 1964–1970 volume 2
International policy
by John W. Young
This book is the second in the three volume set The Labour governments 1964-1970 and concentrates on Britain's international policy under the Labour governments in the 1960s and is available for the first time in paperback. The coverage ranges from defence policy and the government machine to European integration, NATO and the Vietnam war. Harold Wilson and his ministers have often been accused of betraying the sense of promise that greeted their victory in 1964. Using recently released archival evidence, John Young argues that a more balanced view of the government will recognise the real difficulties that surrounded decision-making, not only on Vietnam, but also on Aden, the Nigerian civil war and Rhodesia. Economic weakness, waning military strength, Cold War tensions and the need to placate allies all placed limits on what a once-great but now clearly declining power could achieve. Furthermore the government proved of pivotal importance in the history of Britain's international role, in that it presided over a major shift from positions East of Suez to a focus on European concerns, a focus that has remained until the present day. The book will be of vital importance to students of British history and international relations during this exciting period. Together with the other books in the series, on domestic policy and economic policy, it provides a complete picture of the development of Britain under the premiership of Harold Wilson.
