Humanities & Social Sciences

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How did the imperial logic underlying British and Indian film policy change with the British Empire’s loss of moral authority and political cohesion? Were British and Indian films of the 1930s and 1940s responsive to and responsible for such shifts? Cinema at the End of Empire illuminates this intertwined history of British and Indian cinema in the late colonial period. Challenging the rubric of national cinemas that dominates film studies, Priya Jaikumar contends that film aesthetics and film regulations were linked expressions of radical political transformations in a declining British empire and a nascent Indian nation. As she demonstrates, efforts to entice colonial film markets shaped Britain’s national film policies, and Indian responses to these initiatives altered the limits of colonial power in India.

This publication provides a detailed insight into the distribution mechanisms of amber in Europe during the Bronze Age (2200-800 BCE) using statistical, spatial and network-based analyses. While the concept of the amber road was introduced into archaeological discussions almost a century ago and was considered authoritative for a long time, the current research focus is placed on the idea of a complex exchange system. This new study is based on archaeological finds of amber from various European countries and enables a reconstruction of the exchange relationships across space and time. Spatial analyses show the dynamic change of the distribution of amber objects within Europe and point to shifting mechanisms that influenced this process. Network analyses based on similarities facilitate more detailed descriptions of the exchange relationships between the regions. The distribution of raw amber, specific networks of special types and the parallel distribution of other objects and cultural phenomena are also included. These analyses make it possible to represent the relationships between the regions in models and to trace their development over time. The results show that the topic of amber exchange – even after a century of intensive research – is not yet fully exhausted. By using current data and implementing new methods, a more accurate picture of the past can be drawn, which offers insights into the complex relationships and exchange networks of Bronze Age Europe. This study emphasises the importance of further research and the necessity to employ current knowledge and techniques in order to further deepen our understanding of prehistory.

The demand for more men as pre-school teachers in day-care centres is becoming clearer and clearer For this reason, the Austrian research project "Elementar" has comprehensively investigated the situation of male pre-school teachers and carers in the elementary field in a unique study. The diverse results emphasise the opportunities associated with the participation of men, but also call for a critical and differentiated examination of gender issues in the elementary field. Pupils, trainees and teachers working in practice were interviewed using quantitative and qualitative methods. Male trainees and skilled workers were surveyed in a full survey. The results were evaluated using statistical methods and qualitative content analyses. For the first time, biographical backgrounds and identities of male pre-school teachers were also examined psychoanalytically. On the basis of their results, the authors formulate concrete calls for action for research, practice and politics.

Die postkommunistische Literatur Rumäniens wirft entscheidende Fragen der europäischen Zugehörigkeit, der gesellschaftlichen Transformation sowie der Selbst- und Fremdverortung in transnationaler Perspektive auf. Miruna Bacali präsentiert einen innovativen Umgang mit den literarischen Quellentexten, die im Sinne der Geschichtswissenschaft analysiert werden. Sie werden so zu Material für gesellschaftspolitisch relevante Diskurse, die weit über das Literarische hinausgehen. Auch bindet die Fallstudie soziologische, kultur- und literaturwissenschaftliche Theorieansätze mit ein, wodurch Transfer und Vergleichbarkeit über Disziplingrenzen hinaus gewährleistet werden.

This definitive study investigates the variations in educational mobility of Turkish second-generation immigrants in France, Austria and Sweden. The findings show that differences are most pronounced in the Austrian education system, can be seen clearly in France and are least pronounced in Sweden. Schnell underscores the importance of both individual characteristics and institutional ones, but the institutional arrangements of education systems are found to matter more for the outcome of this mobility process.

This study examines the reception of Eduard Hanslick in Anglo-american discourse from its earliest instances in the 19th century up to analytical philosophy of music. This book thus analyzes primarily the discoursive conditions of Hanslick’s reception, which developed distinctly as part of different academic disciplines (history of art, musicology, philosophy of music). Moreover, this study explores the function Hanslick’s argument attained in modern debates of New Musicology and Anglo-american aesthetics, which cast new light upon the interpretation of Hanslick’s stances on the relation between emotion and music.

At the basis of Paul Ricœur's philosophy, there is an intense and practical engagement with the urgent issues of his time - (de)colonization, globalization, modernity, cultural plurality, geopolitics. Examining this neglected fact reinvigorates the contemporary relevance of his thought and revitalizes social-political hermeneutics.

The Material Body exploits the possibilities of studying the material body in the past primarily through the sources and approaches of archaeology, history and material culture studies. Together, these seven chapters draw upon collections of human remains, material culture and documentary evidence from Britain during the period 1700–1850; major themes are gender, class, age, disability and maternity. Some contributions are co-authored by a historian and archaeologist; others are single authored. But each chapter explores the lived experiences of the material body drawing on disciplines which share an interest in the material or embodied turn. The volume demonstrates new interdisciplinary ways of looking at experiences of the body. It brings together archaeological and historical data to reconstruct embodied experiences and represents the first collection of genuinely collaborative scholarship by historians and archaeologists.

In diesem Open-Access-Buch wird eine Verteidigung des nicht-reduktiven Physikalismus gegen den Vorwurf des Epiphänomenalismus entwickelt. Laut dem Vorwurf des Epiphänomenalismus folgt aus dem nicht-reduktiven Physikalismus, dass es keine mentale Verursachung gibt. Die hier entwickelte Verteidigung beruht auf einer Unterscheidung zwischen zwei Begriffen der Kausalität: Kausaler Produktion und kausaler Abhängigkeit. Es wird dafür argumentiert, dass der nicht-reduktive Physikalismus zwar darauf festgelegt ist, dass es keine mentale Verursachung im Sinne von kausaler Produktion gibt. Diese Konsequenz kann jedoch akzeptiert werden. Denn aus dem nicht-reduktiven Physikalismus folgt keineswegs, dass es keine mentale Verursachung im Sinne von kausaler Abhängigkeit gibt. Durch die Beziehungen kausaler Abhängigkeit können die vermeintlichen radikalen Konsequenzen des nicht-reduktiven Physikalismus abgewendet werden.

"Hierdie is die eerste boeklengte poging om 'n Afrikaanse filosofiese tradisie te beskryf binne die konteks van die Suid-Afrikaanse geskiedenis, en om die geskiedenis van die filosofie internasionaal te interpreteer. In die proses word van die belangrikste Afrikaanse filosowe self aan die woord gestel. Dit is werklik 'n waardevolle kultuurhistoriese dokument en 'n enorme bydrae tot die intellektuele geskiedenis in Suid-Afrika." - Prof Desmond Painter

In der digitalen Medienkultur interagieren wir ständig mit Interfaces: Sie sind so ubiquitär und alltäglich, dass sie uns oft gar nicht mehr auffallen, dabei verfügen sie über eine eigenmächtige Agency. Sabine Wirth nimmt die Vermittlungsleistung von User Interfaces in ihrer geschichtlichen Genese in den Blick und erarbeitet aus medienkulturwissenschaftlicher Perspektive ein Theoretisierungsangebot für die veralltäglichten Verhältnisse von Mensch und Computer. Anhand der Auseinandersetzung mit der Geschichte des Personal Computing und ihrer zunehmenden Auflösung zeigt sie, welch besondere Bedeutung User Interfaces als konkreten Medienumgebungen im Rahmen größerer Dispositive der Handhabung zukommt.

Focusing on the social democratic heartland of Western Europe, In search of social democracy gives the first detailed assessment of how the new social democratic revisionism has fared in government. The book begins by considering the causes of the end of social democracy’s golden age and the magnitude of the challenges faced by social democratic parties after the 1970s. It then examines detailed case studies of how particular social democratic parties responded to this changed political terrain. Finally, it contributes to a broader conversation about the future of social democracy by considering ways in which the political thought of ‘third way’ social democracy might be radicalised for the twenty-first century. The contributors offer a variety of perspectives, but are united by the conviction that the themes addressed in this book are crucial to determining the feasibility of more egalitarian and democratic social outcomes than have been possible in the era of neo-liberalism.

Catherine de Médicis was an important political figure of the French monarchy for over 30 years. Her authority was based on her position as queen mother in relation to her children. This book explores the question of what relatedness actually was for the queen mother and her offspring, how they negotiated kinship relations and how kinship and political power were intertwined. What was a queen mother, a royal son or a royal sister? The letters that the relatives wrote to each other show that kinship formed a flexible repertoire of political thinking and acting. In a period that is considered the beginning of the building of modern states, royal authority was conceptionalized and legitimized by kinship relations.

The paper presents the first statistically up-to-date analysis of economic inequality in early fourteenth-century Siena and in three rural settlements by integrating an existing database with a selected study of the Tavola delle Possessioni (1316-8), the earliest and most complete fiscal cadaster for an Italian medieval city. For Siena, the paper shows the highest level of economic inequality in Tuscany before 1348 and analyzes the distribution of immovable property at both geographical and household levels. The study of the Sienese countryside is still preliminary and contextualizes the statistical evidence found at the agricultural and socio-economic levels.