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The Museum of Engines and Mechanisms of the University of Palermo: The Collection Catalogue (History of Mechanism and Machine Science #48)
by Giuseppe GenchiThe book describes the collection of the Museum Engines and Mechanisms of the University of Palermo, Italy, one of the most important and heterogeneous collections of engines and mechanisms in Europe, the first one in Italy to be awarded as Mechanical Engineering Heritage Collection by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Thanks to its numerous items, this book showcases the evolution of fluid machinery and applied mechanics, from steam engines up to turbojet engines, as well as hybrid system, giving several technical and historical information about its most important engines, which are described in detail through pictures and original drawings. The Museum preserves and makes freely available this almost unique collection of more than 300 engines, didactic models, and technical equipment, including various unique exemplars, continuously enhanced thanks to donations and through restoration activities carried out in a dedicated laboratory of the Museum. As a result of a great deal of philological research carried out on the documents collected in the Museum’s archive, as well as in other institutional and corporate historical archives, this book serves as the reference tool of the collection and, more generally, of the Museum itself. Despite the technical subject and the academic environment in which it was created, the catalogue is realized to be read even by non-experts, offering different levels of detail, the first of which is the historical, economic and, in certain cases, even sporting context related to an engine, such as the vehicle for which it was designed and used.
The Museum of Mankind: Man and Boy in the British Museum Ethnography Department (Museums and Collections #12)
by Ben BurtThe Museum of Mankind was an innovative and popular showcase for minority cultures from around the non-Western world from 1970 to 1997. This memoir is a critical appreciation of its achievements in the various roles of a national museum, of the personalities of its staff and of the issues raised in the representation of exotic cultures. Issues of changing museum theory and practice are raised in a detailed case-study that also focuses on the social life of the museum community. This is the first history of a remarkable museum and a memorable interlude in the long history of one of the world’s oldest and greatest museums. Although not presented as an academic study, it should be useful for museum and cultural studies as a well as a wider readership interested in the British Museum.
The Museum of Mankind: Man and Boy in the British Museum Ethnography Department (Museums and Collections)
by Ben BurtThe Museum of Mankind was an innovative and popular showcase for minority cultures from around the non-Western world from 1970 to 1997. This memoir is a critical appreciation of its achievements in the various roles of a national museum, of the personalities of its staff and of the issues raised in the representation of exotic cultures. Issues of changing museum theory and practice are raised in a detailed case-study that also focuses on the social life of the museum community. This is the first history of a remarkable museum and a memorable interlude in the long history of one of the world’s oldest and greatest museums. Although not presented as an academic study, it should be useful for museum and cultural studies as a well as a wider readership interested in the British Museum.
The Museum of Other People: From Colonial Acquisitions to Cosmopolitan Exhibitions
by Adam KuperA MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK • From one of the world&’s most distinguished anthropologists, an important and timely work of cultural history that looks at the origins and much debated future of anthropology museums&“A provocative look at questions of ethnography, ownership and restitution . . . the argument [Kuper] makes in The Museum of Other People is important precisely because just about no one else is making it. He asks the questions that others are too shy to pose. . . . Required reading.&” –Financial Times (UK)In this deeply researched, immersive history, Adam Kuper tells the story of how foreign and prehistoric peoples and cultures were represented in Western museums of anthropology. Originally created as colonial enterprises, their halls were populated by displays of plundered art, artifacts, dioramas, bones, and relics. Kuper reveals the politics and struggles of trying to build these museums in Germany, France, and England in the mid-19th century, and the dramatic encounters between the very colorful and eccentric collectors, curators, political figures, and high members of the church who founded them. He also details the creation of contemporary museums and exhibitions, including the Smithsonian, the Harvard&’s Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology, and the famous 1893 World&’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago which was inspired by the Paris World Fair of 1889.Despite the widespread popularity and cultural importance of these institutions, there also lies a murky legacy of imperialism, colonialism, and scientific racism in their creation. Kuper tackles difficult questions of repatriation and justice, and how best to ensure that the future of these museums is an ethical, appreciative one that promotes learning and cultural exchange.A stunning, unique, accessible work based on a lifetime of research, The Museum of Other People reckons with the painfully fraught history of museums of natural history, and how curators, anthropologists, and museumgoers alike can move forward alongside these time-honored institutions.
The Museum of Witchcraft
by Diane PurkissEvery sense is tingling. Strange symbols loom out of the darkness, and incantations whisper through the air. It's cold and quiet, so why don't you feel completely alone? Welcome to The Museum of Witchcraft, a collection of 100 artefacts where a history of secret wisdom, female power and occult objects comes to life. Wander through its pages to discover why cooking is magic, which trees are most enchanted, how to create an amulet, where to find a witch mark and why bad weather could have you burned at the stake.With each page a beautiful display cabinet containing esoteric illustration and authoritative text, it's time to discover the shadowy world of witches.
The Museum of Witchcraft
by Diane PurkissEvery sense is tingling. Strange symbols loom out of the darkness, and incantations whisper through the air. It's cold and quiet, so why don't you feel completely alone? Welcome to The Museum of Witchcraft, a collection of 100 artefacts where a history of secret wisdom, female power and occult objects comes to life. Wander through its pages to discover why cooking is magic, which trees are most enchanted, how to create an amulet, where to find a witch mark and why bad weather could have you burned at the stake.With each page a beautiful display cabinet containing esoteric illustration and authoritative text, it's time to discover the shadowy world of witches.
The Musha Incident: A Reader on the Indigenous Uprising in Colonial Taiwan (Global Chinese Culture)
by Michael BerryOn October 27, 1930, members of six Taiwanese indigenous groups ambushed the Japanese attendees of an athletic competition at the Musha Elementary School, killing 134. The uprising came as a shock to Japanese colonial authorities, whose response was swift and brutal. Heavy artillery and battalions of troops assaulted the region, spraying a wide area with banned poison gas. The Seediq from Mhebu, who led the uprising, were brought to the brink of genocide.Over the ensuing decades, the Musha Incident became seen as a central moment in Taiwan’s colonial history, and different political regimes and movements have seized on it for various purposes. Under the Japanese, it was used to attest to the “barbarity” of Taiwan’s indigenous tribes; the Nationalist regime cited the uprising as proof of the Taiwanese peoples’ heroism and solidarity with the Chinese in resisting the Japanese; and pro-independence groups in Taiwan have portrayed the Seediq people and their history as exemplars of Taiwan’s “authentic” cultural traditions, which stand apart from that of mainland China.This book brings together leading scholars to provide new perspectives on one of the most traumatic episodes in Taiwan’s modern history and its fraught legacies. Contributors from a variety of disciplines revisit the Musha Incident and its afterlife in history, literature, film, art, and popular culture. They unravel the complexities surrounding it by confronting a history of exploitation, contradictions, and misunderstandings. The book also features conversations with influential cultural figures in Taiwan who have attempted to tell the story of the uprising.
The Mushroom Hunters: On the Trail of an Underground America
by Langdon CookIn the tradition of Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma, Susan Orlean's The Orchid Thief, and Mark Kurlansky's Cod--a renowned culinary adventurer goes into the woods with the iconoclasts and outlaws who seek the world's most coveted ingredient . . . and one of nature's last truly wild foods: the uncultivated, uncontrollable mushroom.Within the dark corners of America's forests grow culinary treasures. Chefs pay top dollar to showcase these elusive and beguiling ingredients on their menus. Whether dressing up a filet mignon with smoky morels or shaving luxurious white truffles over pasta, the most elegant restaurants across the country now feature an abundance of wild mushrooms. The mushroom hunters, by contrast, are a rough lot. They live in the wilderness and move with the seasons. Motivated by Gold Rush desires, they haul improbable quantities of fungi from the woods for cash. Langdon Cook embeds himself in this shadowy subculture, reporting from both rural fringes and big-city eateries with the flair of a novelist, uncovering along the way what might be the last gasp of frontier-style capitalism. Meet Doug, an ex-logger and crabber--now an itinerant mushroom picker trying to pay his bills and stay out of trouble; and Jeremy, a former cook turned wild food entrepreneur, crisscrossing the continent to build a business amid cutthroat competition; their friend Matt, an up-and-coming chef whose kitchen alchemy is turning heads; and the woman who inspires them all. Rich with the science and lore of edible fungi--from seductive chanterelles to exotic porcini--The Mushroom Hunters is equal parts gonzo travelogue and culinary history lesson, a rollicking, character-driven tour through a world that is by turns secretive, dangerous, and tragically American.Praise for The Mushroom Hunters "Like Susan Orlean in The Orchid Thief, Seattle author [Langdon] Cook shines a light on a shady subculture operating at the seam between wilderness and commerce. Like author Michael Pollan, he knows that every bite of food these days has a complex, often unsavory backstory. Like the late Hunter Thompson, he not only goes along for the ride with the shifty characters he's writing about, but drives the getaway car. After reading The Mushroom Hunters, you'll never look at a portobello the same way. . . . [A] beguiling, surprising book."--The Seattle Times "Not simply about mushrooms, this book examines human behavior, economics, food, society, and nature. In the end, readers will have learned a great deal about U.S. economic and social structures--all while being entertained and enlightened by stories of gastronomy and mushrooms. Highly recommended."--Library Journal "Intrepid and inspired."--Publishers Weekly "Uncultivated mushrooms are one of our last truly wild food; it often takes truly wild and rough mushroom hunters to bring them to our table. Cook travels and hunts with them in a riveting, crazy undertaking, told in often-poetic prose."--Shelf Awareness "Cook's sketches of these unique and idiosyncratic characters aren't always wholly sympathetic, but he makes every one of them real."--Booklist"If you've never thought of using the words 'mushroom' and 'adventure' in the same sentence, this gripping book will force you to reconsider."--Bill McKibben, author of Oil and Honey: The Education of an Unlikely ActivistFrom the Hardcover edition.
The Mushroom at the End of the World: On the Possibility of Life in Capitalist Ruins
by Anna Lowenhaupt TsingMatsutake is the most valuable mushroom in the world--and a weed that grows in human-disturbed forests across the northern hemisphere. Through its ability to nurture trees, matsutake helps forests to grow in daunting places. It is also an edible delicacy in Japan, where it sometimes commands astronomical prices. In all its contradictions, matsutake offers insights into areas far beyond just mushrooms and addresses a crucial question: what manages to live in the ruins we have made? A tale of diversity within our damaged landscapes, The Mushroom at the End of the World follows one of the strangest commodity chains of our times to explore the unexpected corners of capitalism. Here, we witness the varied and peculiar worlds of matsutake commerce: the worlds of Japanese gourmets, capitalist traders, Hmong jungle fighters, industrial forests, Yi Chinese goat herders, Finnish nature guides, and more. These companions also lead us into fungal ecologies and forest histories to better understand the promise of cohabitation in a time of massive human destruction. By investigating one of the world's most sought-after fungi, The Mushroom at the End of the World presents an original examination into the relation between capitalist destruction and collaborative survival within multispecies landscapes, the prerequisite for continuing life on earth.
The Music Advantage: How Music Helps Your Child Develop, Learn, and Thrive
by Dr. Anita CollinsAn expert in cognitive development and music education reveals the remarkable and surprising benefits that playing--or even appreciating--music offers to children.The latest cognitive research has revealed something extraordinary: learning music and listening to music can grow and repair our brains at any age. Here, Dr. Anita Collins explains how music has the potential to positively benefit almost all aspects of a child's development, whether it's through formal education or mindful appreciation; simply clapping in time can assist a young child who is struggling with reading. It turns out that playing music is the cognitive equivalent of a full-body workout. Dr. Collins lays out the groundbreaking research that shows how playing an instrument can improve language abilities, social skills, concentration, impulse control, emotional development, working memory, and planning and strategy competence, from infancy through adolescence. She also provides real-life stories to show the difference that music learning can make, as well as practical strategies for parents and educators to encourage a love of music in their kids.
The Music Has Gone Out of the Movement
by David C. CarterAfter the passage of sweeping civil rights and voting rights legislation in 1964 and 1965, the civil rights movement stood poised to build on considerable momentum. In a famous speech at Howard University in 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson declared that victory in the next battle for civil rights would be measured in "equal results" rather than equal rights and opportunities. It seemed that for a brief moment the White House and champions of racial equality shared the same objectives and priorities. Finding common ground proved elusive, however, in a climate of growing social and political unrest marked by urban riots, the Vietnam War, and resurgent conservatism. Examining grassroots movements and organizations and their complicated relationships with the federal government and state authorities between 1965 and 1968, David C. Carter takes readers through the inner workings of local civil rights coalitions as they tried to maintain strength within their organizations while facing both overt and subtle opposition from state and federal officials. He also highlights internal debates and divisions within the White House and the executive branch, demonstrating that the federal government's relationship to the movement and its major goals was never as clear-cut as the president's progressive rhetoric suggested.Carter reveals the complex and often tense relationships between the Johnson administration and activist groups advocating further social change, and he extends the traditional timeline of the civil rights movement beyond the passage of the Voting Rights Act.
The Music Industry Handbook (Media Practice)
by Paul RutterThe Music Industry Handbook, Second edition is an expert resource and guide for all those seeking an authoritative and user-friendly overview of the music industry today. The new edition includes coverage of the latest developments in music streaming, including new business models created by the streaming service sector. There is also expanded exploration of the music industry in different regions of the UK and in other areas of Europe, and coverage of new debates within the music industry, including the impact of copyright extensions on the UK music industry and the business protocols involved when music is used in film and advertising. The Music Industry Handbook, Second edition also includes: in-depth explorations of different elements of the music industry, including the live music sector, the recording industry and the classical music business analysis of business practices across all areas of the industry, including publishing, synchronisation and trading in the music industry profiles presenting interviews with key figures workings in the music industry detailed further reading for each chapter and a glossary of essential music industry terms.
The Music between Us: Is Music a Universal Language?
by Kathleen Marie Higgins&“Higgins&’ love of music and cultural variety is evident throughout. She writes in a relaxed, accessible, sophisticated style…Highly recommended.&”—Choice From our first social bonding as infants to the funeral rites that mark our passing, music plays an important role in our lives, bringing us closer to one another. In this book, philosopher Kathleen Marie Higgins investigates this role, examining the features of human perception that enable music&’s uncanny ability to provoke—despite its myriad forms across continents and throughout centuries—the sense of a shared human experience. Drawing on disciplines such as philosophy, psychology, musicology, linguistics, and anthropology, Higgins&’s richly researched study showcases the ways music is used in rituals, education, work, and healing, and as a source of security and—perhaps most importantly—joy. By participating so integrally in such meaningful facets of society, Higgins argues, music situates itself as one of the most fundamental bridges between people, a truly cross-cultural form of communication that can create solidarity across political divides. Moving beyond the well-worn takes on music&’s universality, The Music between Us provides a new understanding of what it means to be musical and, in turn, human. &“Those who, like Higgins, deeply love music, actually know something about it, have open minds and ears, and are willing to look beyond the confines of Western aesthetics…will find much to learn in The Music between Us.&”—Journalof Aesthetics and Art Criticism
The Music of Lord Berners (1883-1950): The Versatile Peer
by Bryony JonesThis title was first published in 2003. Gerald Tyrwhitt-Wilson, the 14th Baron Berners, was a well-known figure in his day. Labelled by the national press as "the versatile peer", he was a composer, writer, painter and great socialite. His musical output was small, but highly successful in its day, with ballets staged in London, Monte Carlo and New York, an opera produced in Paris, and two film scores completed in the 1940s. These works, together with Berners' songs, his music for piano, and other instrumental pieces are given their first in-depth examination in this study. Bryony Jones shows how Berners' cosmopolitan musical style radically differed from that of many of his contemporaries who were concerned with creating a "national" music. Instead, Berners drew his inspiration from abroad, and comparisons are drawn with Les Six, and connections made with the work of Satie, Debussy and Ravel. Well-known for his elaborate practical jokes and sense of humour, Berners was an archetype of British eccentricity, and these aspects of his personality shaped much of his musical style. The book concludes with an attempt to explain why Berners' music was neglected following his death, and why there has been a recent resurgence of interest.
The Music of Maurice Ohana (Routledge Revivals)
by Caroline RaeThis title was first published in 2000. Pianist and scholar Rae presents a detailed study of composer Maurice Ohana's life and music, and identifies the procedures that characterize his mature style. In the initial chapters, she provides a biographical overview and sets his work in its musical and cultural context.
The Music of Multicultural America: Performance, Identity, and Community in the United States (American Made Music Series)
by Kip Lornell and Anne K. RasmussenThe Music of Multicultural America explores the intersection of performance, identity, and community in a wide range of musical expressions. Fifteen essays explore traditions that range from the Klezmer revival in New York, to Arab music in Detroit, to West Indian steel bands in Brooklyn, to Kathak music and dance in California, to Irish music in Boston, to powwows in the midwestern plains, to Hispanic and Native musics of the Southwest borderlands. Many chapters demonstrate the processes involved in supporting, promoting, and reviving community music. Others highlight the ways in which such American institutions as city festivals or state and national folklife agencies come into play. Thirteen themes and processes outlined in the introduction unify the collection's fifteen case studies and suggest organizing frameworks for student projects. Due to the diversity of music profiled in the book—Mexican mariachi, African American gospel, Asian West Coast jazz, women's punk, French-American Cajun, and Anglo-American sacred harp—and to the methodology of fieldwork, ethnography, and academic activism described by the authors, the book is perfect for courses in ethnomusicology, world music, anthropology, folklore, and American studies. Audio and visual materials that support each chapter are freely available on the ATMuse website, supported by the Archives of Traditional Music at Indiana University.
The Music of Sounds and the Music of Things: Sonic Creativity Within Sampling and DIY Cultures
by Leigh Landy John RichardsThis book investigates two areas in which the appreciation of sonic creativity can be easily acquired across diverse cultures, ages and interests: the music of sounds – making music with any sounds, part of today’s sampling culture and the music of things – and the creation of instruments using existent materials (another type of sampling?) involving the notion of ‘instrument as composition’ as part of today’s DIY (or DIT, do it together) culture.The book offers broad discussions regarding the music of things (written by John Richards) followed by the music of sounds (written by Leigh Landy). These chapters are followed by a focus on the workshop demonstrating the collaborative and inclusive potential in both areas, and a spotlight on eight artists with a broad diversity of backgrounds and approaches to sound and music who discuss their perceptions. The book’s conclusion focuses on similarities and differences between the music of sounds and the music of things, suggesting, finally, that both might form part of the 21st- century’s folk music landscape.The book is primarily aimed towards students interested in current forms of sonic creativity but will be of interest to those interested in broader issues of sampling culture, hacking and sound studies.
The Musical Instruments of the Indigenous People of South Africa
by Percival KirbyA detailed collection of information about the playing and making of the instruments of indigenous peoples' in South Africa. Percival Kirby was a musician and ethnomusicologist and for many years head of the music department at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. Between 1923 and 1933 he undertook more than nine expeditions as well as many shorter excursions around South Africa. He was hosted by local chiefs and taught to play the instruments he encountered. He managed to purchase many of them, and this collection, now known as the Kirby Collection, is housed at the South African College of Music, University of Cape Town. First published as Musical Instruments of the Native Races of South Africa in 1934, the book was the culmination of research trips undertaken by Percival Kirby. It became the standard reference on indigenous South African musical instruments. The bulk of the material is concerned with detailed information on the making and playing of each instrument, and is accompanied by a large number of musical examples. This third edition contains an introduction by Mike Nixon, Head of the Ethnomusicology and African Music at the South African College of Music, and new reproductions of the valuable historic photographs, but leaves Kirby's original text unchanged.
The Musicals of Cole Porter: Broadway, Hollywood, Television
by Bernard F. DickCole Porter (1891–1964) remains one of America’s most popular composer-songwriters, known for the many urbane, witty, romantic songs he wrote for stage musicals and Hollywood films. Porter was unique among his contemporaries for writing both the music and lyrics for his compositions. To this day, several of his numbers—“Night and Day,” “I’ve Got You Under My Skin,” “You’re the Top,” and “I Get a Kick Out of You,” to name a few—endure as standards. In The Musicals of Cole Porter: Broadway, Hollywood, Television, Bernard F. Dick presents a critical study of Porter’s Broadway and movie musicals, and his one foray into live television, Aladdin—covering the period from his first failure, See America First (1916), to the moderately successful Silk Stockings (1955), which ended his Broadway career. Taking a chronological approach, interspersed with chapters on Porter’s “list songs” that owe much to such operas as Mozart’s Don Giovanni and Rossini’s The Barber of Seville; his love songs, often bittersweet and bleakly poignant; and, above all, his love of figurative language, Dick discusses in detail the various literary sources and cultural reference points that inspired the lyrics to Porter’s numbers. The first volume of its kind exclusively dedicated to exploring the extensive body of work by this influential twentieth-century songwriter, The Musicals of Cole Porter is a compelling resource for readers interested in the craft of a great composer-lyricist.
The Musician as Entrepreneur, 1700-1914: Managers, Charlatans, and Idealists
by William WeberTo be successful, a musician often has to be an entrepreneur: someone who starts a performing venue, develops patrons, and promotes the project aggressively. Accomplishing this requires musicians to acquire social and business skills and to be highly opportunistic in what they do. In The Musician as Entrepreneur, 1700–1914, international scholars investigate cases of musical entrepreneurship between around 1700 and 1914 in Britain, France, Germany, and the United States. By uncovering the ways in which musicians such as Telemann, Beethoven, Paganini, and Liszt conducted their daily business, the authors reveal how musicians reshaped the frameworks of musical culture and, in the process, the nature of the music itself.
The Musician as Entrepreneur, 1700–1914: Managers, Charlatans, and Idealists
by William Weber“Marries scholarly discipline with intriguing reading . . . The book will satisfy the thirst of historians, musicians and perhaps even an economist or two.” —American Music TeacherTo be successful, a musician often has to be an entrepreneur: someone who starts a performing venue, develops patrons, and promotes the project aggressively. Accomplishing this requires musicians to acquire social and business skills and to be highly opportunistic in what they do. In The Musician as Entrepreneur, 1700–1914, international scholars investigate cases of musical entrepreneurship between around 1700 and 1914 in Britain, France, Germany, and the United States. By uncovering the ways in which musicians such as Telemann, Beethoven, Paganini, and Liszt conducted their daily business, the authors reveal how musicians reshaped the frameworks of musical culture and, in the process, the nature of the music itself.“Weber is an excellent music historian and the book will please all readers interested in musical sociology.” —Choice
The Musician as Philosopher: New York’s Vernacular Avant-Garde, 1958–1978
by Michael GallopeAn insightful look at how avant-garde musicians of the postwar period in New York explored the philosophical dimensions of music’s ineffability. The Musician as Philosopher explores the philosophical thought of avant-garde musicians in postwar New York: David Tudor, Ornette Coleman, the Velvet Underground, Alice Coltrane, Patti Smith, and Richard Hell. It contends that these musicians—all of whom are understudied and none of whom are traditionally taken to be composers—not only challenged the rules by which music is written and practiced but also confounded and reconfigured gendered and racialized expectations for what critics took to be legitimate forms of musical sound. From a broad historical perspective, their arresting music electrified a widely recognized social tendency of the 1960s: a simultaneous affirmation and crisis of the modern self.
The Musician's Career Guide: Turning Your Talent into Sustained Success
by Arlen Gargagliano Ulysses Owens JrAn Engaging and Accessible Guide to Achieving Sustained Access in the Music Industry As a musician, how can you blend art and survival and still keep loving the business? The Musician&’s Career Guide, written from the perspective of someone who has engaged in the daily struggle that all artists encounter, provides clear strategic support and advice in a knowledgeable, reader-friendly voice.From preparing for an audition to business planning to protecting one&’s mental and emotional well-being, The Musician&’s Career Guide marries practical tips with in-depth resources, anecdotes and stories to learn from, and comments for consideration and self-reflection. This book is a tool musicians can use to develop a realistic roadmap for success in the careers they desire. Part textbook, part self-directed learning tool, and full mentor, this information-packed text speaks with the voice of experience in a way that is realistic and attainable. The authors address topics including the following fundamental areas: Career development Touring Roles within the music industry Recording deals and industry PR and marketing for artists Keys to community engagement The mental side of being a musicianThe path and commitment to mastery as professional musician The Musician's Career Guide offers a foundation for both new and experienced musicians who yearn to clarify and achieve their individual goals of personal success and fulfillment through their craft. It's essential reading for any musician.
The Muslim Brotherhood in Contemporary Egypt: Democracy Redefined or Confined? (Durham Modern Middle East and Islamic World Series)
by Mariz TadrosThe Muslim Brotherhood is one of the oldest and most influential Islamist movements. As the party ascends to power in Egypt, it is poised to adopt a new system of governance and state–society relations, the effects of which are likely to extend well beyond Egypt’s national borders. This book examines the Brotherhood’s visions and practices, from its inception in 1928, up to its response to the 2011 uprising, as it moves to redefine democracy along Islamic lines. The book analyses the Muslim Brotherhood’s position on key issues such as gender, religious minorities, and political plurality, and critically analyses whether claims that the Brotherhood has abandoned extremism and should be engaged with as a moderate political force can be substantiated. It also considers the wider political context of the region, and assesses the extent to which the Brotherhood has the potential to transform politics in the Middle East.
The Muslim Brotherhood in Syria: The Democratic Option of Islamism (Routledge/St. Andrews Syrian Studies Series)
by Naomí Ramírez DíazAnyone who follows world events has heard of the Muslim Brotherhood. Usually considered a fundamentalist religious organisation opposed to secular regimes, the so-called Arab Spring began to challenge this conception, and showed the MB’s commitment to democratic principles and elections, albeit with certain difficulties. Until now though, most analysis has focused on the Egyptian branch – the group that gave spiritual birth to the local branches in other countries – with very little having been studied about the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood, especially since the Hama massacre of 1982 and the formal disappearance of the group from Syria. This book provides a deep insight into the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood’s ideological evolution from its inception until present-day. Since Syria has unfortunately become the place where all forms of Islamism converge, understanding the SMB, their ideological evolution, and their potential role as moderating forces, is essential in order to debunk some clichés on the MB in general. Each chapter corresponds to a specific period in the SMB’s timeline, while the final chapter discusses how the endemic gerontocracy of the group calls for an urgent renovation of structures, and stresses the importance of younger generations in renovating the ideology of the SMB. Through the examination of original primary sources written by the SMB themselves, and relevant groups related to them, this book challenges the traditional categories applied to Islamist movements. It will therefore be a key resource for anyone studying Islamist movements, as well as for students and scholars of Middle East and North African Politics.