Presenting an exciting alternative way to share research, this book describes the production of Harriet s House, a play about transnational adoption in a same-sex family, for the 2010 Toronto Pride Festival. In addition to practical advice for anyone interested in producing their own work, Staging Harriet s House engages with such topics as the purpose of producing research-informed theatre, writing and workshopping such plays, and the myriad of details involved in bringing a play to the stage. Readers will find references to work by American, Australian, British, and other...

The 2008 U.S. election was arguably the most important election of our lifetime: the first African American president was elected to office; the candidacy of Sarah Palin marked only the second time that a major party ticket included a female; and the electoral performance of young citizens digital natives, greatly attracted by digital media signaled the highest turnout in a long time.Taking all these issues into consideration, this book offers a landmark examination of the 2008 election from a global perspective, with emphasis on the wide range of digital media utilized by the campaigners and...

Virtual worlds are most often three dimensional locales, where people create virtual personae (called avatars) who come to play, socialize, and work. This edited collection of groundbreaking research on virtual worlds offers a wide-ranging look at the sociology, politics, and communication practices in virtual worlds from a group of scholars in the United States and abroad.

Limits and Life: Meaning and Metaphors in the Religious Language of Iceland not only contributes to the field of Nordic cultural history, it is a valuable resource for those who may find themselves confronting threats and preparing for catastrophes in the twenty-first century. How can we best cope with traumatic events in nature, society, and the home? Facing and interpreting limits has been the pivotal religious task of Icelanders throughout the centuries. Strategies for survival became a necessity and included interpretations that assisted in coping with these crises along with...

Narrating the Portuguese Diaspora presents a variety of perspectives on the Portuguese diaspora, from literature to identity discourse to biography and autobiography. The book is divided into three parts: reading literary identities within and without borders; constructing/constructed extra-literary identities at home and abroad; and literary ethnic voices from the North American diaspora and beyond. The 22 texts presented in this volume highlight the diasporic themes and backgrounds upon which the scope of the scholarly texts as well as the personal contributions of short stories,...

Emile Verhaeren (1855 1916), art critic, poet and homme de lettres, was a man whose vision transcended his native Belgium. With close ties to Mallarme in France and Rilke in Germany, Verhaeren, a peripatetic student of the arts, readily traveled to Paris, Berlin, Cassel, Vienna and Amsterdam. From the mid-1880s until his death in 1916, his many trips abroad resulted in a raft of essays and short monographs on the arts of the Northern Renaissance. Yet, despite the insights, scholarship and markedly precise and revealing descriptions of these studies, they have long been neglected in...

Intercultural dialogue is a concept and discourse that dates back to the 1980s. It is the major means for managing diversity and strengthening democracy within Europe and beyond. It has been adopted by the United Nations, UNESCO and the Council of Europe as the basis for interreligious and interfaith initiatives and has become increasingly associated with a liberal theory of modernity and internationalism that presupposes freedom, democracy, human rights and tolerance. It is now the dominant paradigm for cultural policy and the educational basis for the development of intercultural...

This book balances critical theory and professional practice to create specific strategies that result in more effective and enlightened news production and consumption. Emerging from the integral theories of Teilhard de Chardin and embracing Neil Postman s media ecology, the reception theories of John Fiske, and the work of many contemporary scholars, The Newsphere constructs a solid theoretical, historical, and practical framework for news as ecology. It illuminates how stories emerge and evolve across digital networks and complex systems and examines the historical and theoretical...

This groundbreaking book analyzes the extent to which feminine ideals of beauty, power, and spirituality in southern Nigeria translate into unique demonstrations of corporeality, extravagance, transfiguration, and wellness. Considering a culture of ceremonial seclusion, fatness, decoration, and identity construction as it is revealed through mbopo, a mysterious ritual practiced in Ibibioland, Nigeria, this work seeks to isolate a visual aesthetic that is specific to Ibibio and Cross River cultures. Through the analysis of regional aesthetic forms, Daughters of Seclusion addresses the...

This book focuses on creative development and empowerment in Marcel Proust s A la recherche du temps perdu. It demonstrates Proust s proof of the Romantic notion that art originates in the self of the artist. Approached as a Bildungsroman, the psychological aspects of this development in Marcel, the principal character, are considered in terms of the stimulus/response mechanism in living organisms. It verifies Proust s argument that time in the body, including all that one experiences unconsciously, is present within us whether it is accessible to memory or not.
Through...