Anthropology of Tobacco

Tobacco has become one of the most widely used and traded commodities on the planet. Reflecting contemporary anthropological interest in material culture studies, Anthropology of Tobacco makes the plant the centre of its own contentious, global story in which, instead of a passive commodity, tobacco becomes a powerful player in a global adventure involving people, corporations and public health. Bringing together a range of perspectives from the social and natural sciences as well as the arts and humanities, Anthropology of Tobacco weaves stories together from a range of historical, cross-cultural and literary sources and empirical research. These combine with contemporary anthropological theories of agency and cross-species relationships to offer fresh perspectives on how an apparently humble plant has progressed to world domination, and the consequences of it having done so. It also considers what needs to happen if, as some public health advocates would have it, we are seriously to imagine ‘a world without tobacco’. This book presents students, scholars and practitioners in anthropology, public health and social policy with unique and multiple perspectives on tobacco-human relations

Shakespeare’s Italy and Italy’s Shakespeare. Place, "Race," Politics

This book investigates the cultural difference of Italy in and through Shakespeare. It looks at the encounter, collision, intermingling of the ‘country dispositions’ represented respectively by Shakespeare and Italy, both understood as vast constellations rather than fixed stars. The obvious premise is that several plays by Shakespeare are adaptated from Italian sources; the additional context is the constant presence of Shakespeare in Italian culture from the mid-nineteenth century on. The classical topic "Shakespeare and Italy" is here revisited from a new perspective, focussing on the playwright’s Italian afterlife through the lens of the three categories that structure this book: place, ‘race’, and politics. My twofold and chiastic objective is to ask how Italy explains Shakespeare and how Shakespeare explains Italy, seeking possible answers in various texts, events, sites: a Victorian racialist interpretation of Shakespeare that casts Iago as the archetypal Italian specimen; a Romantic adaptation of Othello written in Venice under Austrian rule; the Fascist appropriations of Shakespeare; the disparate uses of Machiavelli in recent Shakespearean criticism; the absence of Giordano Bruno in Shakespeare studies after Frances Yates; an essay on Hamlet by a prominent Italian philosopher and politician; monuments and sites associated with Shakespeare in Verona and Venice; the Taviani brothers’ filmic version of Julius Caesar

How can K12 Education reduce prejudice?

This thesis investigates how K-12 education can reduce prejudice. Firstly, I define what I mean by prejudice and explain what my research methodology is for the study. Through a conceptual examination of existing research, including theories on why people are prejudiced and what we know about prejudice reduction from social psychology, I go on to propose four areas of individual cognitive and social development in which educational strategies can act on prejudicial thinking and lessen it. These are: - Understanding beyond the other; - Critical Thinking; - Metacognitive thought; - Empathy. I also synthesise findings into two institutional approaches that are effective. These are: - The contact hypothesis; - Specific pedagogical principles that are embedded in international education. These six areas are brought together in a multi-facetted response to the problem of prejudice. The thesis problematises the construct of prejudice reduction by grappling with its complexity through a critical account of the substantial literature on the subject. This means not only contextualising studies according to the parameters of their method but also engaging with prominent discourses in associated fields in a reflexive manner. The thesis is an original contribution to knowledge in that it builds a bridge between work on prejudice in the schools of social psychology, cognitive psychology and neurobiology and K-12 education. My study offers a framework synthesising effective classroom interventions that can be adapted and adopted in a variety of contexts to combat the central operating system of prejudice formation

Czesław Miłosz in Postwar America

Czesław Miłosz is at times called an American poet. This means one thing in Poland, and something else in the United States. To Polish readers, this description is mainly related to the moment of his departure from Europe to take up employment at the University of California in Berkeley, and his settlement for many years in California, where his new poems and essays were written. Miłosz is to them an American poet, in a biographical sense, from the time he started living at Grizzly Peak until his return to Krakow, and in a symbolic sense, for as long as he cooperated with the publishing market, participated in literary life, and was an ambassador of Polish literature across the ocean. He is an American poet to the extent that his work was influenced by the thought and work of those cultural circles

New Perspectives on Imagology

With this volume, the editors Katharina Edtstadler, Sandra Folie, and Gianna Zocco propose an extension of the traditional conception of imagology as a theory and method for studying the cultural construction and literary representation of national, usually European characters. Consisting of an instructive introduction and 21 articles, the book relates this sub-field of comparative literature to contemporary political developments and enriches it with new interdisciplinary, transnational, intersectional, and intermedial perspectives. The contributions offer [1] a reconsideration and update of the field’s methods, genres, and theoretical frames; [2] trans-/post-national, migratory, and marginalized perspectives beyond the European nation-state; [3] insights into geopolitical dichotomies such as Orient/Occident; [4] intersectional approaches considering the entanglements of national images with notions of age, class, gender, sexuality, and ethnicity/race; [5] investigations of the role of national images in visual narratives and music

Library websites popularity: does Facebook really matter?

The purpose of this paper is to determine whether the utilization of social media (Facebook) is an important factor in increasing the visibility of the library site usage in Malaysian public universities. Nine top ranked Malaysian public universities involved in this research and number of Facebook followers for each library website is listed. Alexa software was used as the approach to study the issue of visibility. Alexa is able to determine web site usage, by showing the percentage of visitors of library related subdomain(s) as listed in the top subdomains for each University website (domain) over a month. It is found that Universiti Utara Malaysia library website scored the highest percentage of visitors based on the library related subdomain(s) as listed in the top subdomains for the University website in Alexa. To check such irregularities in access, this paper use EvalAccess 2.0 and it is found that Universiti Sains Malaysia’s library website scored higher irregularities. In term of number of Facebook followers, Univesity of Malaya library has the highest score. It is showed that the utilization of social media (Facebook) is not yet an important factor in increasing the visibility of the library websites. However, expectedly, top ranked universities’ library web sites, are more visible and popular. This research is limited to the situation in Malaysia where public universities are more noticeable and seldom face financial constraints rather than private universities. It is highly important for those universities’ library web sites that are not highly visible to initiate the necessary measures in improving the development of their web sites as the usage of the website is an indicator of online quality

The Challenge of Nineteenth Century Theatre in Sheffield

This thesis evaluates the status and significance of theatrical performance in Sheffield during the nineteenth century, through an examination of its challenges: those it faced, and those it presented. It investigates the ways producers tackled and often overcame obstacles, which were both practical (arising mainly from economic and political instability) and ideological (moral or aesthetic disapproval). Three case studies document and analyse specific provocative or innovative plays within the contexts of their productions, and assess their contribution to the cultural landscape. My reading of the texts and associated archival research is interdisciplinary and draws on a range of analytical tools. The concept of ‘challenge’ connects material with method: questions are raised by the subject matter of the plays, the circumstances of their creation and reception, and by my historiographical approach. I ask why they have never received any critical attention since their first production, and have all but disappeared from the records - a fate shared by much popular entertainment. Provincial theatre histories are especially vulnerable; there is an urgent need to record and evaluate the available material before it disappears. Theatre was at the centre of an exuberant, and rapidly changing, panorama; Sheffield grew beyond all recognition from the beginning of the century to its end. My narrative positions its creative life in relation to its civic evolution, and considers the dynamic relationship between both kinds of development. It traces the cultural history of a place, from the years when one theatre served its inhabitants, through the competitive advent of music hall and circus, to those of a busy city full of entertainment venues. Whilst challenging prejudices about provincial, popular theatre and the role of women, I demonstrate the special qualities and identity of Sheffield, and reclaim its position as a significant city in nineteenth century theatrical history

Czesław Miłosz in Postwar America

Czesław Miłosz is at times called an American poet. This means one thing in Poland, and something else in the United States. To Polish readers, this description is mainly related to the moment of his departure from Europe to take up employment at the University of California in Berkeley, and his settlement for many years in California, where his new poems and essays were written. Miłosz is to them an American poet, in a biographical sense, from the time he started living at Grizzly Peak until his return to Krakow, and in a symbolic sense, for as long as he cooperated with the publishing market, participated in literary life, and was an ambassador of Polish literature across the ocean. He is an American poet to the extent that his work was influenced by the thought and work of those cultural circles

‘In search of a new national story’: Issues of cultural diversity in the casting and performance of Shakespeare in Britain 2012–2016

his thesis examines the contribution of British black, South Asian, and East Asian actors, directors and companies to Shakespearean performance in Britain between 2012 and 2016. Stephen Bourne’s Black in the British Frame (2001), British Asian Theatre by Dominic Hingorani (2010), and Colin Chambers’ Black and Asian Theatre in Britain: A History (2011), are three important works that trace the artistic contributions by black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) communities in British theatre; yet Shakespearean achievements are underrepresented here as well as in the wider body of published academic writing. This thesis aims to record the artistic achievements and cultural presence of non-white practitioners whose work has been marginalised and poorly documented. It aims to investigate the impact of casting practices and directorial interpretations in the representation of BAME communities in mainstream, non-traditional and educational settings. It also aims to contribute to the development of sustained dialogues about, and understanding of, issues of cultural and ethnic diversity in Shakespearean performance. To do this, several extended analytical case studies of historically significant and culturally important Shakespearean performances are provided. The thesis is divided into four sections. The first examines issues of cultural diversity on Britain’s main stages, particularly in the work of the Royal Shakespeare Company. Section two studies the praxis of BAME theatre companies: Talawa, Tara Arts, Phizzical Productions and Yellow Earth. Section three focuses on educational enterprises in mainstream organisations. Section four concludes with reflection and propositions as to how British Shakespearean production might move towards a more sustainable diverse ecology. The approach of this thesis is ethnographic, and draws on a range of sources of data surrounding these productions including archival resources (such as video recordings, production photographs, reviews and prompt books), interviews with practitioners, observations in rehearsal rooms and reports from funding bodies. This thesis examines important productions in recent history, and assesses major issues, problems and pitfalls, as well as models of best practice, in the casting and performance of culturally diverse Shakespeare in Britain 2012–2016

Archaeological Investigations between Cayenne Island and the Maroni River

Stratigraphic archaeological research in French Guiana is barely 50 years old and has been conducted primarily in the coastal zone, stretching approximately between 5 and 50 kilometres from the Atlantic coast to the Precambrian Shield. This bias, mainly caused by means of modern infrastructure, has sketched an archaeological record concerning pre-Columbian French Guiana focussing on the Late Ceramic Age (AD 900-1500) of Cayenne Island as well as the western Holocene coastal plains. The present study contains the results of six archaeological investigations, conducted from a compliance archaeological perspective, in order to enhance our knowledge of the afore-mentioned coastal area. It not only presents us with fresh archaeological data on the (Late) Archaic and Early Ceramic Age, a hiatus that is now partially filled up, but also sheds new light on the Late Ceramic Age of this specific region concerning funerary rites, ceramic series and subsistence economy. Martijn van den Bel studied History and Archaeology of Indigenous America at Leiden University and graduated in 1995 with an ethnoarchaeological study on the Palikur potters of French Guiana. Currently he works as a project leader for Inrap in French Guiana. He carries out compliance archaeological research in the French Guiana and the French Lesser Antilles. Next to archaeology, Martijn is interested in the early history of the Guianas and the Lesser Antilles, notably the encounter between Amerindians and Europeans during the 16th and 17th century, resulting in various publications