Mediated Identities is an empirical examination of how youth identity is negotiated in urban and rural spaces where cultural, economic, and political forces compete for the allegiance of the young consumer and worker. Rich with fieldwork on teens and television in India, Germany, South Africa, and the United States, the book provides a new direction for the critical discussion of youth agency. It questions young people as autonomous consumers and examines the interpellatory forces of media and market. The application of postcolonial theory produces an incisive analysis of television...

Since the FDA approved Viagra in March 1998, the little blue pill has been prescribed to over twenty million men. The Viagra Ad Venture: Masculinity, Media, and the Performance of Sexual Health chronicles the story of Viagra as reported in our nation's news outlets and promoted by Pfizer Pharmaceutical's marketing materials. In this critical discourse analysis, author Jay Baglia uses feminist and performance theory to uncover the meaning of Viagra and its relationship to performances of masculinity. At stake are the ways in which we construct normalcy, particularly as it relates to...

This book aims to expose an alternative local historical reading of the formation of a gecekondu space, a settlement of irregularly self-constructed habitats built by former peasants randomly over night. The social construction of the neighborhood space is narrated by means of insider perspectives and using qualitative techniques. In this reading, it will be made explicit that the dynamics of strategic interventions in local space, and tactical acts of the migrants in producing their locality are intertwined processes. The ethnic identities through sectarian and hometown affiliations have...

Scrapbooks, Snapshots and Memorabilia: Hidden Archives of Performance asks the questions: What constitutes an archive? What is worthy of being archived? And who decides? Performances are ephemeral, so archival questions of selection and appraisal determine which performances will be remembered by history and which will not.
The essays in this collection each explore a different facet of the ephemerality of performance, and the traces it leaves behind: from photographic stills of actors or sets; draft scripts and production notes, theatre programs and reviews; the language used to...

Literature that confronts our students assumptions about the world and about text is the lifeblood of English classes in American high schools and colleges. Margaret Atwood offers works in a wide variety of genres that fulfill that need. This volume introduces readers, students, and teachers to the life and works of Atwood while also suggesting a variety of ways in which her works can become valuable additions to classroom experiences with literature and writing. Furthermore, this volume confronts how and why we teach English through Atwood s writing."

Today more than ever, we need an ethnography of spirit so we can identify and describe how spirit dwells and how it communicates. Our lives and our humanity depend on making the connection to spirit more visible and concrete to ourselves, to those we love, and to those we fail to understand.
Educators have a special role to play in making the connection to spirit more visible and concrete. In this vital new book, a wide range of scholars and educators share stories about their own personal calls to spirituality. From the Amazon to the coast of Ireland, from the Talmud to the Book of...

The Wisdom Background and Parabolic Implications of Isaiah 6:9-10 in the Synoptics seeks to understand the divine act of fattening in Isaiah 6:9-10 and how it shapes one s understanding of parables in the Synoptic Gospels. The author approaches the topic from within a wisdom matrix and lays an historical-exegetical foundation for understanding these and other critical passages in the New Testament. Readers will follow the Isaian text through varied traditions revealing a marvelous unity in terms of the divine action and the human condition. College and seminary courses focusing on...

Fanny Lewald: Between Rebellion and Renunciation provides the first comprehensive account in English of the life and work of Fanny Lewald (1811-1889), tracing the way she positioned herself sometimes precariously between rebellion and renunciation. All genres are considered: novels and stories, autobiography, travel literature, essays, diaries, and letters. Widely recognized as one of the early German advocates of women s right to education and work, this study places Lewald s views on these issues in a broadly comparative cultural context. This book will, therefore, be of interest not...

Fear and Trembling? Shock and Awe? Which set of statements best describes the emotions surrounding the assessment of writing ability in educational settings? This book - the first historical study of its kind - begins with Harvard University's 1874 requirement that first-year student applicants submit a short composition as part of the admissions process; the book concludes with the College Board's 2005 requirement for an essay to be submitted as part of the new SAT(R) Reasoning Test. Intended for teachers who must prepare students to submit their writing for formal assessment, administrators...