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Leaving Islam, Ex-Muslims and Zemiology
by Weronika LenartowiczCases of ex-Muslims in Europe being punished by their former fellow Muslims constitute an unacceptable practice from the standpoint of democratic societies in which human rights are respected and individuals have the freedom to choose their religion, or none at all. Ex-Muslims’ fear of punishment by their former community should prompt an open, candid, and measured discussion of the issue.Leaving Islam, Ex-Muslims and Zemiology presents the reasons for and consequences of consciously leaving Islam, based on interviews with 80 ex-Muslims currently living in Germany and Sweden. In their view, many of the practices and beliefs of Islam are harmful and unfair. Many parts of the Islamic world regard apostasy as treason or a crime. As a result, emphasis in the book is shifted from “crime” to “harm” and a thesis is put forward concerning the “decriminalization” of apostasy from the perspective of zemiology. The book highlights how a broader shift of interest in the democratic structures of Europe could allow ex-Muslims to join the discussion on the guaranteed right to religious liberties and freedom of speech in the context of the apostasy law in Islam. This should happen without fear for their own security and without facing potential suppression or social exclusion. It will appeal to scholars with interest in Islam and the conflict between religious values and an individual’s aspirations and needs.
Lebendiges Mantra: Mantra, Gottheit und visionäre Erfahrung heute
by Mani RaoLiving Mantra ist eine Anthropologie der Mantra-Erfahrung unter hinduistisch-tantrischen Praktizierenden. In alten indischen Lehren und Legenden rufen Mantras, die von Rishis (Sehern) wahrgenommen werden, Gottheiten an und haben transformative Kräfte. Mit einer Methodik, die Wissenschaft und Praxis verbindet, entdeckt Mani Rao eine fortdauernde Tradition von Visionären (Rishis/Sehern) und Offenbarungen im südindischen Bundesstaat Andhra-Telangana. Das tiefgründig recherchierte und mit faszinierenden Erzählungen gespickte Buch formuliert die Poetik der Mantra-Praxis neu, während es gleichzeitig praktische Fragen erforscht. Kann man wissen, ob eine Vision real oder eingebildet ist? Ist eine Vision visuell? Werden Gottheitsvisionen durch die Kultur vermittelt? Wenn Mantras wirksam sind, welche Rolle spielt dann die Hingabe? Sind Mantras Sprache? Living Mantra stellt nicht nur theoretische Fragen, sondern auch solche, die sich ein Praktizierender stellen würde: Wie wählt man zumBeispiel eine Gottheit aus oder was bindet einen an einen Guru? Rao betritt Neuland, indem er die Aufmerksamkeit auf die Momente lenkt, die der Systematisierung und Kanonbildung vorausgehen, und zeigt, wie autoritative Quellen entstehen.
Left-Behind Children’s Juvenile Delinquency and Substance Abuse in China: Policy Examination and Analysis
by Jason HungThis book constructs the theoretical framework based on a range of prominent social theories to address how juvenile delinquency is socioeconomically constructed. Here the presentation of conceptual details is supported by Chinese literature that rationalises, problematises, and analyses how left-behind children are vulnerable to premature smoking, heavy drinking and drug abuse and. I critically review all the most recent publications to highlight the most updated socioeconomic structure of juvenile delinquency experienced by Chinese left-behind children. In addition, the author summarises and analyses all the most up-to-date policy recommendations and evaluations concerning the mitigation of left-behind children’s juvenile delinquency. The policymaking outputs help inform readers on how Chinese policymakers have specifically been endeavouring to intervene in left-behind children’s delinquent behaviours and what policy directions the corresponding policymakers are trending towards in the future.
The Left Hand of Data: Designing Education Data for Justice
by Matthew Berland Antero GarciaA speculative framework that imagines how we can use education data to promote play, creativity, and social justice over normativity and conformity.Educational analytics tend toward aggregation, asking what a &“normative&” learner does. In The Left Hand of Data, educational researchers Matthew Berland and Antero Garcia start from a different assumption—that outliers are, and must be treated as, valued individuals. Berland and Garcia argue that the aim of analytics should not be about enforcing and entrenching norms but about using data science to break new ground and enable play and creativity. From this speculative vantage point, they ask how we can go about living alongside data in a better way, in a more just way, while also building on the existing technologies and our knowledge of the present.The Left Hand of Data explores the many ways in which we use data to shape the possible futures of young people—in schools, in informal learning environments, in colleges, in libraries, and with educational games. It considers the processes by which students are sorted, labeled, categorized, and intervened upon using the bevy of data extracted and collected from individuals and groups, anonymously or identifiably. When, how, and with what biases are these data collected and utilized? What decisions must educational researchers make around data in an era of high-stakes assessment, surveillance, and rising inequities tied to race, class, gender, and other intersectional factors? How are these complex considerations around data changing in the rapidly evolving world of machine learning, AI, and emerging fields of educational data science? The surprising answers the authors discover in their research make clear that we do not need to wait for a hazy tomorrow to do better today.
Left Theory and the Alt-Right
by Di Leo, Jeffrey R. Sophia A. McClennenThe alt-right movement in the United States has actively been endorsing the use of left theory to achieve its ends—and with varying degrees of success. Tracing occasions where figures on the alt-right reference left theory, this volume asks if the alt-right’s reference of left theory is just bad reading, or are there troubling ways that certain types of left theory encourage such interpretations? What if the connections between left theory and the alt-right lie in the shared disdain for certain types of institutions, structures of power, and the status quo? Are there lessons to be learned in what can often appear as an overlapping desire to deconstruct concepts like truth, justice, freedom, and democracy? Drawing on the longer history of right-wing readings of left theory, this volume seeks to unpack these recent developments and consider their impact on the future of theory.
Legal Culture, Sociopolitical Origins and Professional Careers of Judges in Mexico
by Azul A. Aguiar AguilarThis book explores the careers, professional trajectories and legal cultures of judges in the federal judiciary in Mexico. So far, there has been limited research on internal factors contributing to the understanding of judicial power dynamics in Mexico and other Latin American countries at large; this Work fills an important gap in the literature through its empirical investigation of internal legal cultures and judicial norms, offering new data, measurement strategies,and insights into the interactions between law, politics, norms, legal culture(s), as well as judicial behavior. Utilising an original survey, the chapters analyse judicial conceptualizations of role norms, legal cultures, proclivities for judicial activism, and judicial behavior. In so doing, this book contributes to understanding of underlying key internal factors of judicial activism or restraint, in turn moving forward the debate that seeks to explain judicial behavior reliant on internal and ideational perspectives. Complementing limited but existing studies of judicial politics in Mexico through its analysis of judges beyond those that sit at the Supreme Court, this book will be of particular interest to Latin-American judicial politics scholars due to its focus on the judicial power from internal perspectives as well as sub-national judges, filling a void in the literature vis-à-vis the study of courts in Latin America. This Work was originally written in Spanish, and the translation was done with the help of artificial intelligence. A subsequent human revision was done primarily in terms of content.
Legalising Prostitution in Thailand: A Policy-Oriented Examination of the (De-)Construction of Commercial Sex (SpringerBriefs in Sociology)
by Jason HungThis book problematises the socioeconomic and institutional construction of prostitution in Thai contexts, identifying the root causes that propel underprivileged, discriminated and deprived women and girls to enter the sex industry. The author considers Thailand’s tolerance of prostitution and sex trafficking, despite criminalising prostitution since 1960. In doing so, they explain how criminalising prostitution does not lower the odds of women and girls engaging in commercial sex, but rather, legally marginalises them from receiving the necessary social and healthcare support. The book highlights that neither can Thailand pragmatically practice a zero-tolerance stance against prostitution - primarily due to severe police corruption and its heavy reliance on the sex tourism economy to support the national economic growth - nor is Thailand willing to fully crack down on the domestic sex industry. Engaging in an evaluation of how legalising and decriminalising prostitution, along with continuing to implement policies and interventions that alleviate the root causes of prostitution, can help Thailand build a more inclusive society and less-prostitution-reliant economy in the long term, the book provides a nuanced understanding of the relationships between society, inequality, governance, criminality, and policy in Southeast Asian contexts. It is relevant to students and researchers in sociology, socio-criminology, public policy, government and Southeast Asian studies.
Lehr-/Lernkulturen in der wissenschaftlichen Weiterbildung (Theorie und Empirie Lebenslangen Lernens)
by Sandra HabeckDer Sammelband betrachtet Lehr-/Lernkulturen in der wissenschaftlichen Weiterbildung aus mikro-, meso- und makrodidaktischer Perspektive.Unter diversen theoretischen sowie forschungsmethodischen Zugängen werden in den Beiträgen zentrale Aspekte und Fragestellungen hinsichtlich des Lehrens und Lernens in der wissenschaftlichen Weiterbildung beleuchtet und analysiert. In den einzelnen Forschungsarbeiten rücken unter anderem kontextspezifische als auch fachkulturelle Differenzierungen, immanente Spannungsverhältnisse sowie schließlich bedeutsame Ausrichtungen der Lehr-/Lernkulturen in der wissenschaftlichen Weiterbildung in den Blick.
Leisure and Work in China (Routledge Critical Leisure Studies)
by Huimei LiuThis is the first book to explore the meaning and significance of leisure in Chinese society, as well as the relationship between leisure and work that reveals so much about a society’s cultural values.Exploring philosophical and theoretical concepts from a Chinese perspective, the book also presents a series of cutting-edge case studies of leisure and work life that add a new dimension to our understanding of contemporary China. Featuring the work of leading Chinese researchers, the book examines key concepts and theories in contemporary leisure studies, including workleisure relationships, free time, freedom, labour alienation, leisure alienation, the impact of technology on leisure and work, and subjective well-being and health. It also presents an important snapshot of life in contemporary China – and contemporary Leisure Studies in China – at a moment in which China’s society and economy are adjusting to a new post-COVID reality.This book is fascinating reading for anybody with an interest in leisure studies, sociology, Asian studies, and cultural studies.
Lernziele und Kompetenzen im Bereich Nachhaltigkeit (Theorie und Praxis der Nachhaltigkeit)
by Walter Leal FilhoDas Buch zeigt Ihnen, wie sich Lernziele und Kompetenzen im Bereich Nachhaltigkeit ergänzen und hilft, die komplexe und vernetzte Natur der Nachhaltigkeit besser zu verstehen, und die damit verbundenen Herausforderungen zu erkennen und anzugehen. Dazu gehört auch die Vermittlung von Kenntnissen über die verschiedenen Aspekte der Nachhaltigkeit, wie z. B. ökologische, soziale und wirtschaftliche Aspekte, sowie deren Wechselwirkung miteinander. Darüber hinaus zeigt das Buch auf, wie Sie die möglichen Auswirkungen von Entscheidungen und Maßnahmen auf die Nachhaltigkeit einschätzen und bewerten können. Das Buch beschreibt die Zusammenhänge zwischen Nachhaltigkeit und Lernen. Es wird erörtert, wie Bildung und Lernen im Bereich der Nachhaltigkeit uns helfen können, die natürliche Welt und unsere Beziehung zu ihr zu verstehen und bessere Entscheidungen zu treffen, um unser Leben und die Umwelt zu verbessern. Es untersucht auch die Rolle von Technologie und Bildung im Bereich der Nachhaltigkeit und erkundet, wie Nachhaltigkeit in den Unterricht und das Lernen integriert werden kann. Schließlich enthält das Buch praktische Ratschläge zur Schaffung eines nachhaltigen Lernumfelds und zur Anwendung von Nachhaltigkeit in der Hochschulbildung und in den unteren Bildungsstufen.
LGBT Football Fans: Authenticity, Belonging and Visibility (Critical Research in Football)
by Rory MagrathWhile recent years have seen the emergence of a significant body of research on LGBT inclusion in sport, little is known about LGBT fans. This book provides the first in-depth examination of LGBT football fans’ experiences and sense of place in the contemporary English game. Drawing on almost 100 semi-structured interviews with LGBT fans, it explores several important findings, including how these fans represent ‘authentic’ notions of fandom, the emergence of LGBT Fan Groups, improved stadium environment for LGBT fans, LGBT-themed chanting and the role of governing bodies and professional football clubs. The research presented in this book extends current theorising of under-represented groups of sports fans. This is fascinating and important reading for those with an interest in the sociology of sport, sports fandom, gender and sexuality.
Liebe ohne Ende: Liebesbiografische Erzählungen vom Leben
by Johanna L. Degen Jo Reichertz Andrea Kleeberg-NiepageIst Liebe romantisch und hält ein Leben lang oder ist sie ein fragiles, potenziell toxisches Konstrukt? Lässt sich Liebe als neurochemischer Prozess (Biologie), als marktkonforme Idee (Soziologie) oder als Möglichkeit zur Erweiterung des Selbst (Psychologie) verstehen? Und wie leben Menschen mit der Liebe, welche Bedeutung hat oder gibt sie ihrem Leben, welche Vorstellungen, Träume aber auch Ängste verbinden sie mit ihr? Anhand von biografischen Interviews mit Menschen aus verschiedenen Altersgruppen, Milieus und sexuellen Orientierungen fragt dieses Buch nach der Bedeutung der Liebe im Leben und danach, ob sich die Vorstellung von Liebe in den letzten Jahrzehnten wesentlich verändert hat. Deutlich wird dabei die zentrale Kraft der Liebe im Leben, die jenseits medial geglätteter Idealisierungen antreibt, hart erarbeitet oder unerreichbar ist, Leiden und Verzweiflung, aber auch Erfüllung und Sinn zu bringen vermag. Die Liebesbiografien bieten tiefe Einblicke in das subjektive Erleben von Liebe, begleitende interdisziplinäre Einordnungen differenzieren und ergänzen aktuelle Theoretisierungen von Liebe.
Lies, Lying and Liars: A Psychological Analysis
by Geoffrey BeattieLies, Lying and Liars: A Psychological Analysis delves into the psychology of lies, exploring the processes of lying and its far-reaching consequences.The author’s unique approach considers the ways in which lying sculpts our realities when used by public figures such as politicians, as well as how lying is woven into our everyday life. This book dissects lies in natural social contexts, from the innocent childhood fibs to the more nefarious fabrications of con artists, cheats, and adulterers. Drawing from a rich tapestry of psychology and sociobiology, as well as research and literature from philosophy and the social sciences, this book discusses the role of lying and liars in day-to-day life. It offers profound insights into the strategies of deceit, the presence or absence of remorse, emotion and rationalisations, pathological liars, the development of lying, its connection to narcissism, the functional utility of lies, and lie detection. Lies, the book argues, are a part of the social structures inherent in everyday social life, and there is a need to explore their psychological significance in a range of natural, everyday contexts.Written in Beattie’s unique and engaging style by using elements of personal narrative and self-reflection, this is a fascinating read for students and scholars of psychology, sociology, and politics, and other disciplines of the behavioural and social sciences, as well as anyone interested in the phenomenon of lying.
Life at the Center: Haitians and Corporate Catholicism in Boston (Atelier: Ethnographic Inquiry in the Twenty-First Century #15)
by Erica Caple JamesA free ebook version of this title is available through Luminos, University of California Press's Open Access publishing program. Visit www.luminosoa.org to learn more. In Life at the Center, Erica Caple James traces how faith-based and secular institutions in Boston have helped Haitian refugees and immigrants attain economic independence, health, security, and citizenship in the United States. Using the concept of "corporate Catholicism," James documents several paradoxes of assistance arising among the Catholic Church, Catholic Charities, and the Haitian Multi-Service Center: how social assistance produces and reproduces structural inequalities between providers and recipients; how these inequities may deepen aid recipients’ dependence and lead to resistance to organized benevolence; how institutional financial deficits harmed clients and providers; and how the same modes of charity or philanthropy that previously caused harm can be redeployed to repair damage and rebuild "charitable brands." The culmination of more than a decade of advocacy and research on behalf of the Haitians in Boston, this groundbreaking work exposes how Catholic corporations have strengthened—but also eroded—Haitians’ civic power.
A Life Course Perspective on Chinese Youths: From the Transformation of Social Policies to the Individualization of the Transition to Adulthood (Life Course Research and Social Policies #17)
by Sandra V. ConstantinThis open access book investigates from a life-course perspective the individualization process and the challenges faced by young adults in post-collectivist China, where people are enjoined to "liberate" (jiefang) their individual capacities, to "rely on themselves" (kao ziji) and to no longer "depend on the state" (kao guojia). Based on unique quantitative and qualitative data, this book provides a solid empirical portrait of Chinese youths and transformation of social policies in post-collectivist ChinaThis book will be a great resource to students, academics as well as social scientists and policy-makers who wish not only to understand how, in such a short period of time, young adults and their families have managed to navigate from a relatively egalitarian society to one of the most unequal, but also how the articulation between socialist and neoliberal ideologies is reconfiguring social and economic relations as well as women’s and men’s life-course.The basis of the English translation of this book from its French original manuscript was done with the help of artificial intelligence. A subsequent human revision and rewriting of the content was done by the author.
Life Underground: Encounters with People Below the Streets of New York (The Cosmopolitan Life)
by Terry WilliamsAboveground, Manhattan’s Riverside Park provides open space for the densely populated Upper West Side. Beneath its surface run railroad tunnels, disused for decades, where over the years unhoused people have taken shelter. The sociologist Terry Williams ventured into the tunnel residents’ world, seeking to understand life on the margins and out of sight. He visited the tunnels between West Seventy-Second and West Ninety-Sixth Streets hundreds of times from 1991 to 1996, when authorities cleared them out to make way for Amtrak passenger service, and again between 2000 and 2020.Life Underground explores this society below the surface and the varieties of experience among unhoused people. Bringing together anecdotal material, field observations, photographs, transcribed conversations with residents, and excerpts from personal journals, Williams provides a vivid ethnographic portrait of individual people, day-to-day activities, and the social world of the underground and their engagement with the world above, which they call “topside.” He shows how marginalized people strive to make a place for themselves amid neglect and isolation as they struggle for dignity. Featuring Williams’s distinctive ethnographic eye and deep empathy for those on the margins, Life Underground shines a unique light on a vanished subterranean community.
Lifestyle and Livelihood Changes Among Formerly Nomadic Peoples: Entrepreneurship, Diversity and Urbanisation (Ethnic and Indigenous Business Studies)
by A. Allan Degen Léo-Paul DanaContemporary policymakers, as their predecessors, continue to view nomadic people as a weak minority, and their way of life and raising livestock as a backward and inefficient paradigm. Wherever nomads are not the dominant group, the trend to settle them continues even today as in the past. This book describes the changes forced upon formerly nomadic groups and how they still attempt to maintain their traditional, social, and cultural practices in their new settings. The book deals with the several modes of livelihood of these communities, including entrepreneurship, and demonstrates the impact of investment-oriented urbanization policies leading to eviction from ancestral lands, and hurdles for nomadic mobility, ultimately threatening their survival. The book illustrates how some groups like the Borana and the Maasai practice livelihood diversity and raise productive livestock, and how other groups migrate to urban centers in search of employment and remit money to family members left in the rural areas. The book aims to raise awareness among the research community, especially those who work on regional and demographic labor policies. It helps in understanding why society needs to help build business and livelihood strategies without harming the values of nomadic groups.
The Limits of Consent: Sexual Assault and Affirmative Consent (Palgrave Socio-Legal Studies)
by Lisa Featherstone Cassandra Byrnes Jenny Maturi Kiara Minto Renée Mickelburgh Paige DonaghyThis open access book examines the ways that consent operates in contemporary culture, suggesting it is a useful starting point to respectful relationships. This work, however, seeks to delve deeper, into the more complicated aspects of sexual consent. It examines the ways meaningful consent is difficult, if not impossible, in relationships that involve intimate partner violence or family violence. It considers the way vulnerable communities need access to information on consent. It highlights the difficulties of consent and reproductive rights, including the use (and abuse) of contraception and abortion. Finally, it considers the ways that young women are reshaping narratives of sexual assault and consent, as active agents both online and offline. Though this work considers victimisation, it also pays careful attention to the ways vulnerable groups take up their rights and understand and practice consent in meaningful ways.
Linguistic Entrepreneurship in Sino-African Student Mobility
by Wen XuThis book explores African international students’ lived experience within Chinese higher education, including their language ideologies, investment in Chinese language learning and the (re)shaping of identities and aspirations. Whilst high English proficiency has been sought by globally mobile students to play the ‘class game’ and gain entrée to the circle of elites, considerably less attention has been paid to how shifting global structures and China’s semi-peripheral position shape its language learners’ investment and identity construction. Drawing upon a series of interviews, the book deciphers African students’ logics of linguistic exchanges within the geopolitical and geo-economic context of China-African relations. The students invested heavily into Chinese language learning and use, while displaying perfectionism, linguistic entrepreneurship and linguistic insecurity. As the value of their Chinese linguistic capital increases, they reassessed their sense of themselves and produced different social identities, which includes the idea of ‘the world is my oyster’, contributing to Africa’s sustainable development and the disposition to ‘tell China’s story well’. This work transgresses monolingual dominance (i.e. English) in the existing body of international student mobility and second language acquisition (SLA) research, as great importance is assigned to Chinese as linguistic capital in South-South student migration. The book is of interest to researchers in international higher education, international student mobilities, sociolinguistics, applied linguistics, languages education, and Chinese language teaching and learning.
The Linguistic Landscape in China: Commodification, Image Construction, Contestations and Negotiations
by Yanmei Han Guowen ShangThis book explores the linguistic landscape of various cities in China, systematically examining the intricate relationship among language policy, language ideologies, and visible multilingualism in the public space. Framed in the spatial triad encompassing spatial practice, conceived space and lived space, this study conceptualizes linguistic landscape practices, language policy and residents’ perception as three interconnected dimensions of linguistic landscape to unpack the motives, manipulations, contestations and negotiations behind the language display in China, a highly regulated society that attaches great significance to language planning. Taking the linguistic landscape of key cities as cases, this book demonstrates how linguistic landscape mediates city governance and image/identity construction, ontestations and negotiations in language ideologies, and in what ways the agency of linguistic landscape contributes to the harmony of language life in the multilingual society. The book is unique in three aspects. First, it is the first book with a keen focus on mapping the linguistic landscape in the Chinese contexts. Second, it uncovers the relationship between linguistic diversity on display and macro issues concerning city image construction, language politics and language ideologies. Third, it provides a lens to look into China’s governance of the public space and instrumentalization of multiple languages in the globalized era.
The Linguistics of Social Media: An Introduction
by Andreea S. CaludeThis accessible textbook introduces concepts and frameworks from linguistics and uses them in the analysis of language on social media. Assuming no prior knowledge of linguistics and with examples drawn from 12 different social media platforms, including TikTok, Twitter (the book was written prior to the X rebrand), Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat, The Linguistics of Social Media: An Introduction provides the tools to unpick how language is used to portray a particular identity, to persuade, to inform, to amuse and entertain, to vent and to complain.Analysing the language of social media highlights the strategies which operate in the messages and posts found on such platforms. Together, these strategies involve a wide variety of language registers, creativity and language play and a wealth of linguistic innovation. By evidencing the many nuanced ways in which people are engaging with social media, this book demonstrates how users of social media are linguistically savvy, strategic and skilled in navigating different genres and registers online.The book is divided into ten chapters, each comprising two parts: Part 1 introduces key linguistic theory and Part 2 consists of case studies with examples from different social media platforms to demonstrate a particular discourse purpose. Each chapter ends with a summary, references, suggested further readings and ideas for activities and discussions. There are multiple-choice questions and a glossary available online as support material. This is the essential textbook for all courses on language and social media, linguistics and language and communication courses.
Literary and Cultural Representations of the Hinterlands (Literary Criticism and Cultural Theory)
by Ewa Kębłowska-Ławniczak Dominika Ferens Katarzyna Nowak-McNeice Marcin TereszewskiThis interdisciplinary collection explores the diverse relationships between the frequently ignored and inherently ambiguous hinterlands and their manifestations in literature and culture. Moving away from perspectives that emphasize the marginality of hinterlands and present them as devoid of agency and “cultural currency”, this collection assembles a series of original essays using various modes of engagement to reconceptualize hinterlands and highlight their semiotic complexity. Apart from providing a reassessment of hinterlands in terms of their geocultural significance, this book also explores hinterlands through such concepts as nostalgia, heterotopia, identity formation, habitation, and cognitive mapping, with reference to a wide geographical field. Literary and filmic revisions of familiar hinterlands, such as the Australian outback, Alberta prairie, and Arizona desert, are juxtaposed in this volume with representations of such little-known European hinterlands as Lower Silesia and Ukraine, and the complicated political dimension of First World War internment camps is investigated with regard to Kapuskasing (Ontario). Rural China and the Sussex Downs are examined here as writers’ retreats. Inner-city hinterlands in Haiti, India, Morocco, and urban New Jersey take on new meaning when contrasted with the vast hinterlands of megacities like Johannesburg and Los Angeles. The spectrum of diverse approaches to hinterlands helps to reinforce their multilayered and multivocal nature as spaces that defy clear categorization.
Live to Ride: Finding Joy and Meaning on a Bicycle
by Peter FlaxA visual celebration of the beauty and lure of bicycle culture by renowned cycling journalist Peter FlaxLive to Ride is an ode to cycling from one of the world&’s most respected cycling journalists. The bicycle is one of the greatest inventions in human history. It can literally transport you to places you want to go—to your school or office, to the summit of a local hilltop, to some objective in your pursuit of fitness—but it can do more than that. A bicycle can also transport you to an entirely different mindset, a place where you can embrace the unexpected and live in the moment. People are drawn to riding for many of the same reasons—to test themselves, find themselves, and express themselves. To find some peace and beauty. To inject fun and adventure into their busy lives.Live to Ride is an illustrated gift book for those who love to bike. It&’s for every type of cyclist—from mountain bikers, to commuters, to tourers and triathletes and beach cruisers and bikepackers and messengers. To wheelie kids, to vintage bike collectors. Author, Peter Flax, a celebrated cycling journalist, is here to show us that cycling should be inclusive—that all riders are connected in various, yet similar, ways. Organized by theme, each one exploring what Flax believes are the shared reasons that people ride: Adventure, Speed, Utility, Nature, Competition, and Self-Expression. Within each chapter are interviews and profiles with a diverse list of famed riders, both legendary and contemporary. Also included is the ultimate destination ride, with a map, based on that chapter&’s theme; and insider info like the one perfect bike; and essential gear that a rider needs to be in the know about. Modern and sleek in its design, and filled with a mix of photography and illustration, this is both a book any rider will cherish for years to come.
Lives of Circumcised and Veiled Women: A Global-Indian Interplay of Discourses and Narratives
by Debangana ChatterjeeThe book unravels the politics of representation and the process of exoticising women’s bodies through the prism of external gaze and knowledge production. It brings out the intricacies of representational discourses around cultural practices of female circumcision (FC)/female genital cutting (FGC) and Islamic veiling. Focusing on crucial international legal texts and national legislation, the book gives an overview of the cultural nuances in FC/FGC and juxtaposes it with the Indian variation, khafz. The author studies the international veiling narratives that conjure up a fractured discourse containing aspects of colonialism, Islamophobia, and Islamic fashion and maps them with the regional variations of Islamic purdah in India. The volume explores the cultural practice of khafz and purdah through narratives in India, portraying how representational factors from international discourses reflect on the Indian context and vice versa. Amid the world of binaries and polarised opinions, the book offers a nuanced analysis of the space in-between, characterised by narratives from women. By situating women’s narratives in relation to family, community, state, and international politics, the book explores the global-Indian interplay of discourses on FC/FGC and Islamic veiling. This volume will be of interest to scholars, students, and readers of gender studies, feminism, cultural and religious studies, sociology, South Asian studies, and International Relations.
Living Apart Together Transnationally (LATT) Couples: Promoting Mental Health and Intimacy
by Rashmi SinglaThis book provides deep insight into intimacy and distance in the complex, globalised world through the newly coined concept of couples living apart together transnationally (LATT). Based on a review of the past four decades’ seminal studies and narratives from a qualitative empirical study, including both heterosexual and same-sex couples, it shows intimacy can be maintained without geographical proximity. The book has a rich, layered, and nuanced exploration of LATT couples' experiences of relationship maintenance across distance and time through diverse ways, such as digital emotions, online sexual activity, and meaning–making through spirituality, which challenge existing Eurocentric conceptualisations of intimacy and relationships. It also reveals an array of “good practices” for relationship maintenance across countries, which can inspire other couples and practitioners. Thus, the book is an important resource, not only for academics in the disciplines of psychology, anthropology, cultural studies, family science, sociology, migration, and communication but particularly useful for practitioners dealing with couple relationships, such as counselors, social workers, and mental health advisors. It is also relevant for international organizations and multinational corporations working with couples living apart together transnationally.“The implications of this book for ‘how we live now’ are clear – in a more closely connected and mobile world, the possibility of living our most intimate relationships across distance will affect increasing numbers of us… the book’s informative, theoretical, and practical messages have valuable lessons for many of us now and in the future.”Dr Lucy Williams,University of Kent, the UK· “Living Apart Together Transnationally (LATT) Couples: Promoting mental health and intimacy” gives us insights into the everyday lives of couples living apart together (LAT) in a contemporary world characterized by globalisation, and pandemics that have affected border controls and migration policies in different countries. Rashmi Singla invites us to challenge the way we understand intimate relationships that are connected to physical proximity and provides us with innovative ways to maintain emotional and physical intimacy despite geographical separation. Sayaka Osanami TörngrenAssociate Professor of International Migration and Ethnic Relations, Malmö University, SwedenDr. Rashmi Singla’s book “Living Apart Together Transnationally” addresses a very important problem many modern couples encounter living apart in different countries. The increasing globalization of the job market and mass migration in the past four decades have made this topic more important than ever before. However, research about love and life in such conditions is still limited. The research presented in this book reveals some new qualitative research findings about how partners maintain health and intimacy in such challenging conditions. This book presents novel and invaluable research for scholars in the area of love and couple relationships. Victor Karandashev, Ph. D.,Professor of Aquinas College, Michigan, The U.S.A.Dr. Rashmi Singla's work, 'Living Apart Together Transnationally (LATT),' stands as a profoundly empirical exploration of long-distance couples spanning international borders. The book provides captivating revelations into the lives, intimacies, and spiritual dimensions of such relationships. Offering an interdisciplinary approach, it establishes a robust groundwork for further investigations in this emerging field. Lise Paulsen Galal, PhD, Associate Professor in Intercultural Studies, Roskilde University, Denmark.How important is proximity in intimate relationships when partners live apart in different countries? This question sits at the core of this timely book, which offers new insights, in part