Loading eBooks Sort by: Title (A-Z)Title (Z-A)Author (A-Z)Author (Z-A)Date (latest)Date (oldest) 37 - 48 of 62 titles123456Previous | Next Medieval Women Religious, c. 800-c. 1500 Stable URL:https://openaccess.boydellandbrewercms.com/?id=-280222 Open Access license A multi-disciplinary re-evaluation of the role of women religious in the Middle Ages, both inside and outside the cloister.Medieval women found diverse ways of expressing their religious aspirations: within the cloister as members of monastic and religious orders, within the world as vowesses, or between the two as anchorites. Via a range of disciplinary approaches, from history, archaeology, literature, and the visual arts, the essays in this volume challenge received scholarly narratives and re-examine the roles of women religious: their authority and agency within their own communities and the wider world; their learning and literacy; place in the landscape; and visual culture. Overall, they highlight the impact of women on the world around them, the significance of their presence in communities, and the experiences and legacies they left behind.AuthorMercedes Perez VidalPublisherBoydell PressPrint publication date Jan, 2023Print ISBN 9781837650293EISBN 9781800108981 Read Medievalism: a Critical History Stable URL:https://openaccess.boydellandbrewercms.com/?id=-250650 Open Access license An accessibly-written survey of the origins and growth of the discipline of medievalism studies. The field known as "medievalism studies" concerns the life of the Middle Ages after the Middle Ages. Originating some thirty years ago, it examines reinventions and reworkings of the medieval from the Reformation to postmodernity,from Bale and Leland to HBO's Game of Thrones. But what exactly is it? An offshoot of medieval studies? A version of reception studies? Or a new form of cultural studies? Can such a diverse field claim coherence? Should it be housed in departments of English, or History, or should it always be interdisciplinary? In responding to such questions, the author traces the history of medievalism from its earliest appearances in the sixteenth century to the present day, across a range of examples drawn from the spheres of literature, art, architecture, music and more. He identifies two major modes, the grotesque and the romantic, and focuses on key phases of the development of medievalism in Europe: the Reformation, the late eighteenth century, and above all the period between 1815 and 1850, which, he argues, represents the zenith of medievalist cultural production. He also contends that the 1840s were medievalism's one moment of canonicity in several European cultures at once. After that, medievalism became a minority form, rarely marked with cultural prestige, though always pervasive and influential. Medievalism: a Critical History scrutinises several key categories - space, time, and selfhood - and traces the impact of medievalism on each. It will be the essential guide to a complex and still evolving field of inquiry. David Matthews is Professor of Medieval and Medievalism Studies at the University of Manchester.AuthorDavid MatthewsPublisherD.S.BrewerPrint publication date Jan, 2015Print ISBN 9781782043973EISBN 9781782043973 Read Migrants and Masculinity in High-Rise Nairobi Stable URL:https://openaccess.boydellandbrewercms.com/?id=-269030 Open Access license Pipeline is a low-income, high-rise-tenement settlement in Nairobi’s marginalized East and one of sub-Saharan Africa’s most densely populated estates. An aspirational place where fleeting forms of capitalist consumption reassure migrants of an upward trajectory, it is also a place where their ambitions of long-term economic success and stable romantic relationships are routinely thwarted. This book explores how men who migrate to Nairobi from Western Kenya navigate this tension that is generated by the contrast between their view of Pipeline as a launching pad for their personal and professional careers and the fact that they face constant economic, romantic, and personal backlashes.Drawing on over two years of fieldwork, the book reveals that many male migrants design their future on trajectories of personal and economic growth but have to adjust or indefinitely postpone their plans once they arrive in Kenya’s capital. Under the pressure to succeed from romantic partners, spouses, rural kin, and children, they create and participate in homosocial spaces where a sense of brotherhood emerges and their experience of pressure is attenuated. Alongside a deep ethnographic exploration of how male migrants model their financial, physical, and mental well-being in three different masculine spaces – an ethnically homogenous investment group, an interethnic gym, and the semi-digital sphere of self-helpbooks, workshops, and motivational trainings on man- and fatherhood – this book brings a new perspective to our understanding of urban African life and the nature of masculinity.This title is available under the Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND, with funding from the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology Open Access Fund and the German Research Foundation.AuthorMario SchmidtPublisherJames CurreyPrint publication date Feb, 2024Print ISBN 9781847013521EISBN 9781805432050 Read Old English Studies and its Scandinavian Practitioners Stable URL:https://openaccess.boydellandbrewercms.com/?id=-281096 Open Access license An account of the Scandinavian contributions to the field of Old English studies from the eighteenth century onwards.The discipline of Old English Studies began in Scandinavia, not England, pioneered by the work of the great Danish scholar, N.F.S. Grundtvig (1783-1872) and continues to flourish in the languages of the region (including Finland). This book offers a history of Scandinavian scholarship, in Neo-Latin, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Icelandic, as well as Finnish and Sámi, from 1733 to the present day. It surveys the major events and texts in the discipline, and evaluates translations of Beowulf and other Old English prose and verse texts. It argues that nationalism, aesthetics, and spirituality are the chief motivators for Old English studies in the Nordic countries; although Romantic nationalism was a first mover for Old English studies, the qualities Scandinavians now seek in Old English literature-that we all seek-are transnational, existential, spiritual, and human. The study concludes with complete bibliographies of contributions in the Scandinavian languages to Old English studies and of translations of Old English literature into the Scandinavian languages.This book is available as Open Access under the Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND.AuthorRobert E BjorkPublisherD.S.BrewerPrint publication date Sep, 2024Print ISBN 9781843847267EISBN 9781805434252 Read Picturing Divinity in John Donne's Writings Stable URL:https://openaccess.boydellandbrewercms.com/?id=-274256 Open Access license A new approach to the visual arts in the work of John DonneThe five known portraits of John Donne and the many artworks bequeathed in his will bear witness to his interest in painting. His interest in art is also evident in his writings, with poems and sermons including many references to pictures and engravings, painters and sculptors. However, Donne never used his familiarity with painterly techniques to produce a simple ekphrasis or description in his writings. This book offers a new approach to Donne's rich and nuanced presentation of the visual arts in his writing, arguing that even his explicit allusions to pictures are less concrete than they may first appear.Although Donne was familiar with contemporary treatises on art, many of his most compelling references to paintings and painterly techniques come from his reading of theology, including works by Nicholas of Cusa and Martin Luther.These previously unidentified sources for Donne's painterly imagery help us to understand how the plastic arts become his tool to reveal the limits of representation, and thus to point beyond the material realm towards the unrepresentable and unknowable divine.This study provides new insights on some of his best-known poems, both secular and religious, and extends our appreciation of John Donne as an artist constantly exploring the limits of his own practice as a poet - and preacher - as he confronts the relationship between the human and the divine.On publication this book is available as an Open Access eBook under the Creative Commons license: CC BY-NC.AuthorKirsten StirlingPublisherD.S.BrewerPrint publication date Mar, 2024Print ISBN 9781843847076EISBN 9781805432487 Read Popular Culture, Identity, and Politics in Contemporary Catalonia: Introduction Stable URL:https://openaccess.boydellandbrewercms.com/?id=-266957 Open Access license Grounded in ethnographic research, this edited collection examines the intersections between grassroots culture, local identities, and the politics of catalanisme and independentisme from the end of the Francoist period to the present day. Through studies of various cultural manifestations including festivals, human tower-building, gastronomy, and bull-runs, chapters explore how civil mobilisation, women's increasing participation in the public sphere, and issues of gentrification and heritagisation have intertwined with identity politics and nationalist trends. An important consideration is how a popular culture centred on sociability responded to the lockdowns and restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic. More generally, the book reflects on the politicisation of culture and its role in nation-building, problematising such concepts as 'inclusion', 'integration', 'authenticity', 'belonging', and 'identity'.Contributors: Lluís Bellas, Camila del Mármol, Manuel Delgado, Mireia Guil, Venetia Johannes, Sarai Martín López, Romina Martínez Algueró, Dorothy Noyes, Xavier Roigé, Alessandro Testa, Mariann VacziAuthorAlessandro Testa#Mariann VacziPublisherTamesis BooksPrint publication date Sep, 2023Print ISBN 9781855664036EISBN 9781805430759 Read Privilege, Economy and State in Old Regime France: Marine Insurance, War and the Atlantic Empire under Louis XIV Stable URL:https://openaccess.boydellandbrewercms.com/?id=-265927 This book closely analyses the rise and fall of Louis XIV's marine insurance institutions in Paris, which were central to the French monarchy's efforts to stimulate commerce, colonial enterprise and economic growth. These institutions were the projects of two leading ministers, Jean-Baptiste Colbert and his son, the Marquis de Seignelay. While both men recognised that marine insurance was crucial for protecting commercial investment in French maritime endeavours, Colbert looked to private enterprise to lure capital away from passive investments in state debt towards the marine insurance industry. Seignelay, by contrast, leveraged the tools of privilege on which the French economy was built by creating the first chartered company in the history of marine insurance. In exploring the global insurance portfolios of the men and women who joined these institutions - and the conflicts that arose when maritime incidents came into dispute - the book identifies the absolute monarchy itself as the source of the institutions' struggles. While the markets of Amsterdam and London thrived in the long run, Parisian insurers were made to bear the burden of maritime and colonial losses during Louis XIV's costly wars to make up for the state's inadequate protection of French shipping, the French Atlantic empire and the Parisian market. This encapsulates, the book argues, the overarching system of risk management that lay at the heart of absolutism itself.AuthorLewis WadePublisherThe Boydell PressPrint publication date Oct, 2023Print ISBN 9781837650217EISBN 9781800108813 Read The Reflector Stable URL:https://openaccess.boydellandbrewercms.com/?id=-250655 Open Access license Incorporates etymology, history, art, drawing, and reflective writing to support medical students in the integration of the science and humanity of anatomy. A comprehensive and holistic understanding of human anatomy is foundational to the care of patients. The Reflector is an innovative and interdisciplinary approach to the learning of human anatomy; it incorporates etymology, history, art, drawing, and reflective writing to integrate the learning of anatomical structures with the nonanatomical curriculum of the anatomy lab, thus establishing the foundation for a biopsychosocial approach to medicine. To develop visual skills, this work features drawings that illustrate the original inspirations for anatomical terminology while also providing the space to artistically reimagine these structures. Together, these activities enhance the comprehension and retention of anatomical information for application in medical sciences. The Reflector employs thought-provoking questions that emphasize humanity in anatomy, in order to prompt consideration of the anatomical structures beyond basic science. Reflecting on the experiences of anatomical dissections, specifically in relation to development of habits of mind necessary for patient- and family-centered care, continually connects students to the purpose of their studies - to become a knowledgeable, compassionate, self-aware, reflective, and skilled member of a healing profession. Edited by a medical student with a Master's of Science degree in Medical Humanities; an anatomical science faculty member dedicated to the holistically educated medical provider; an expert in visual learning and self-reflection; and a bioethicist, The Reflector is a valuable resource for all who want to understand the human in human anatomy.AuthorJennifer Battaglia, Margie Hodges Shaw, Susan Daiss, Martha GdowskiPublisherUniversity of Rochester PressPrint publication date Jun, 2021Print ISBN 9781800102224 Read Resistance to Love in Medieval English Romance Stable URL:https://openaccess.boydellandbrewercms.com/?id=-265233 Open Access license This book explores resistance as a widespread motif in medieval romance to consider themes of consent, gender, and desire.Medieval romance is usually considered a genre that celebrates love, desire, and sexuality within marriage. However, moments of resistance within it offer a point of tension, where normative scripts and expectations are exposed and opened up to challenge.This book explores such resistance as a widespread motif in the genre, tracing the subversive possibilities it presents, and through them uncovering how romance constitutes particular kinds of love as desirable, shaped by intersecting factors, including gender, status, race, religion, and morality. Drawing upon contemporary work on consent, the politics of desire, and asexuality, it examines how resistance is often transformed into acceptance, through consensual negotiation or coercive force: the romances discussed here demonstrate that a certain level of force, pressure, and persuasion is accepted as a means of forming relationships within the genre, but this reliance on coercion reveals the effort to which romances must go to uphold normative structures of desire. Considering a variety of works, from Marie de France's twelfth-century Guigemar to Thomas Malory's Morte Darthur, Geoffrey Chaucer's Franklin's Tale to William Caxton's fifteenth-century prose romances, this book argues that romance teaches its readers what and whom to desire, as well as how to behave when negotiating their desires, and explores the wider implications for understanding consent, gender, and desire in medieval England.This book is available as Open Access under the Creative-Commons License CC-BY-NC-NDAuthorHannah PiercyPublisherD.S.BrewerPrint publication date Nov, 2023Print ISBN 9781843846727EISBN 9781805431312 Read Rethinking the Public Fetus Stable URL:https://openaccess.boydellandbrewercms.com/?id=-270969 Exploring a wide variety of visualizations of pregnancy and fetuses through 300 years of history, this timely volume offers a fresh look at the influential feminist concept of the "public fetus."Images of pregnant and fetal bodies are today visible everywhere. Through ultrasound screenings at maternity clinics, birth videos on social media platforms, or antiabortion propaganda, visualizations of pregnancy are available and accessible as never before. The origins of today's visual culture of pregnancy are often traced back to the 1960s, when Swedish photographer Lennart Nilsson's stunning photographs of human development were published in Life magazine and widely disseminated over the world. But the public display of pregnant and fetal bodies actually has a much longer and more complex history.In this timely book, a group of scholars from a range of disciplines explores this multifaceted history by highlighting visualizations of pregnant and fetal bodies in a variety of geographical and cultural contexts, spanning a period of more than 300 years. By reengaging with the crucial concept of the "public fetus," coined by feminist scholars in the 1980s and 1990s, the volume aims to revitalize the scholarly discussion on the visual culture of pregnancy and demonstrate the constructed nature of fetal images. Including chapters on a wide variety of representations in different media, such as wet specimen collections, papier-mâché models, sculpture, film, and photography, the book provides a much-needed argument against the widespread notion of the "universal" fetus.On publication this title is available as an Open Access ebook under the Creative Commons License: CC-BY-NC-ND.AuthorElisabet Björklund and Solveig Jülich ( )EditorPublisherUniversity of Rochester PressPrint publication date Jan, 2024Print ISBN 9781648250712EISBN 9781805431404 Read Rewriting Identities in Contemporary Germany Stable URL:https://openaccess.boydellandbrewercms.com/?id=-284067 Open Access license Essays on and interviews with minoritized writers of contemporary Germany, mostly women or non-binary, whose literary interventions write radical diversity into the dominant culture and challenge fixed frames of identity.In Germany today, an increasing number of minoritized authors - many of them women, nonbinary, or other marginalized genders - are staging literary interventions that foreground the long-standing complexity and radical diversity of German identities. They are reconceiving, redefining, and rewriting understandings of "Germanness" by centering previously marginalized perspectives and challenging fixed frames of nationality, ethnicity, language, gender, sexuality, and even time and space. In so doing, they open new ways of conceiving of self and other, individual and collective, and thus envision alliances and communities that do justice to the range of lived experiences in Germany.Drawing on frameworks of postmigration, postcolonialism, intersectionality, critical race and whiteness studies, and feminist and queer theory, this volume investigates various literary strategies employed by writers representing diverse subject positions to engage creatively with questions of hegemonic culture and belonging, exposing the exclusionary if not violent practices that these entail. The volume showcases cutting-edge scholarship by established and early career researchers, and is innovative in format: essays treating works by authors such as Fatma Aydemir, Shida Bazyar, Asal Dardan, Sharon Dodua Otoo, Antje Rávik Strubel, Noah Sow, Jackie Thomae, and Olivia Wenzel, along with original interviews with Stefanie-Lahya Aukongo, Özlem Özgül Dündar, Sasha Marianna Salzmann, and Mithu Sanyal illustrate the plurality, agency, and increasing resonance of these literary figures and their works.The chapter by Leila Essa, "Seen as Friendly, Seen as Frightening? A Conversation on Visibilities, Kinship, and the Right Words with Mithu Sanyal," is made freely available under the Creative Commons license CC BY-NC.AuthorSelma Rezgui#Laura Marie Sturtz#Tara Talwar Windsor and Leila Essa ( )Chapter authorPublisherCamden HousePrint publication date Oct, 2024Print ISBN 9781640141551EISBN 9781805433781 Read Richard Wagner's Essays on Conducting Stable URL:https://openaccess.boydellandbrewercms.com/?id=-254264 Open Access license The first modern English edition of Richard Wagner's essays on conducting, extensively annotated, with a critical essay on Wagner as conductor: his aesthetic, practices, vocabulary, and impact.Richard Wagner was one of the leading conductors of his time. Through his disciples Hans von Bülow, Hans Richter, Anton Seidl, Felix Mottl, Arthur Nikisch, and their many notable protégés, a Wagnerian art of interpretation became the norm in Europe and America until well into the twentieth century. Wagner's essays on conducting had an even longer impact, and were upheld as central to their art by later generations of conductors from Mahler to Strauss, Furtwängler, Böhm, Scherchen, and beyond.This is the first complete, modern translation of Wagner's conducting essays to appear in English, and the first-ever edition to offer extensive annotations explaining their reception and impact. The accompanying critical essay offers a detailed analysis of Wagner's conducting practices, his innovations in tempo and the art of transition, his creation of a new vocabulary to describe his art, and his success in establishing a school of conductors to promote his works and his aesthetic.A digital edition of this book is openly available thanks to generous support from the Swiss National Science Foundation.AuthorChris WaltonPublisherUniversity of Rochester PressPrint publication date Feb, 2021Print ISBN 9781648250125EISBN 9781800101890 Read