The Egyptian hieroglyphic script was exceptionally versatile, as becomes clear when studying its multiple uses both within Ancient Egypt and beyond its borders. Even the few cases discussed in this... Show moreThe Egyptian hieroglyphic script was exceptionally versatile, as becomes clear when studying its multiple uses both within Ancient Egypt and beyond its borders. Even the few cases discussed in this booklet demonstrate that in the ancient world hieroglyphs appealed to a wide readership, which ranged from highly accomplished scribes, artists and priests, to semi-literate workmen, as well as to speakers of non-Egyptian languages. Creative processes within these different groups resulted in very different adaptations of regular hieroglyphic writing: highly specialized enigmatic compositions, less informed ad hoc orthographies, isolated uses of hieroglyphs as marks and emblems, and the development of new writing systems. Important reasons for the wide appeal and deep impact of hieroglyphic writing are the iconicity and cultural messages of its individual signs on the one hand, and its remarkable semiotic strategies in rendering human language on the other. Show less
Contrary to what Kant believed about the Dutch (and their visual culture) as “being of an orderly and diligent position” and thus having no feeling for the sublime, this book argues that the... Show moreContrary to what Kant believed about the Dutch (and their visual culture) as “being of an orderly and diligent position” and thus having no feeling for the sublime, this book argues that the sublime played an important role in seventeenth-century Dutch visual and decorative art, architecture, and theater.By looking at different visualizations of exceptional heights, divine presence, overwhelming natural phenomena, political grandeur, extreme violence, and extraordinary artifacts, the authors demonstrate how viewers were confronted with the sublime, which evoked in them a combination of contrasting feelings of awe and fear, attraction and repulsion. In studying seventeenth-century Dutch visual culture through the lens of notions of the sublime, we can move beyond the traditional and still widespread views on Dutch art as the ultimate representation of everyday life and the expression of a prosperous society in terms of calmness, neatness, and order.The book will be of interest to scholars working in art history, visual culture, architectural history, and cultural history. Show less
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... Show moreThis 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. Show less
The U.S. government, military, and industry once saw ocean incineration as the safest and most efficient way to dispose of hazardous chemical waste. Beginning in the late 1960s, toxic chemicals... Show moreThe U.S. government, military, and industry once saw ocean incineration as the safest and most efficient way to dispose of hazardous chemical waste. Beginning in the late 1960s, toxic chemicals such as PCBs and other harmful industrial byproducts were taken out to sea to be destroyed in specially designed ships equipped with high-temperature combustion chambers and smokestacks. But public outcry arose after the environmental and health risks of ocean incineration were exposed, and the practice was banned in the early 1990s.Smoke on the Water traces the rise and fall of ocean incineration, showing how a transnational environmental movement tested the limits of U.S. political and economic power. Dario Fazzi examines the anti-ocean-incineration movement that emerged on both sides of the Atlantic, arguing that it succeeded by merging local advocacy with international mobilization. He emphasizes the role played at the grassroots level by women, migrant workers, and other underrepresented groups who were at greatest risk. Environmental groups, for their part, gathered and shared evidence about the harms of at-sea incineration, building scientific consensus and influencing international debates.Smoke on the Water tells the compelling story of a campaign against environmental degradation in which people from marginalized communities took on the might of the U.S. military-industrial complex. It offers new insights into the transnational dimensions of environmental regulation, the significance of nonstate actors in international history, and the making of environmental justice movements. Show less
In 1978, UNESCO Secretary General Amadou-Mahtar M’Bow compared cultural colonial objects to ‘witnesses to history’. Their treatment is one of the most debated questions of our time. Calls for a... Show moreIn 1978, UNESCO Secretary General Amadou-Mahtar M’Bow compared cultural colonial objects to ‘witnesses to history’. Their treatment is one of the most debated questions of our time. Calls for a novel international cultural order go back to decolonization. However, for decades, the issue has been treated as a matter of comity or been reduced to a Shakespearean dilemma: to return or not to return. This book seeks to go beyond these classic dichotomies. It argues that contemporary practices are at a tipping point. It shows that cultural takings were material to the colonial project throughout different periods (early takings, birth of modern nation state, nineteenth-century scramble for objects) and went far beyond looting. It relies on micro histories and object biographies to trace recurring justifications and contestations of takings and returns, and the complicity of anthropology, racial science, and professional networks in colonial collecting. It demonstrates the dual role of law and cultural heritage regulation in enabling colonial injustices, and mobilizing resistance thereto. It challenges the argument that takings were acceptable according to the standards of the time. Drawing on the interplay between justice, ethics, and human rights, it develops a theory of entanglement to rethink contemporary approaches. It shows that future engagement requires a reinvention of knowledge systems and relations towards objects, including new forms of consent, provenance research, partnership and a rethinking of the role of museums themselves. It proposes principles of relational cultural justice to confront ongoing historic, legal, and economic entanglements and enable normative transformation. Show less
Universities and their teachers are more than ever required to (re)design their courses considering online environments. Although face-to-face teaching remains fundamental, exploring online... Show moreUniversities and their teachers are more than ever required to (re)design their courses considering online environments. Although face-to-face teaching remains fundamental, exploring online alternatives is becoming increasingly necessary. Still, how can university teacher designers proceed with such a change in their courses? What is the most effective way to design an online course? How can university teacher designers attract the attention of students and make teaching interesting and compelling? Evidence-Based Blended and Online Learning: Course Design for University Teachers answers these questions. It provides a thorough evidence-based overview of each step required to make an effective course redesign.The book is aimed at teachers and, more significantly, teacher designers committed to redesigning their courses based on solid principles. The book’s design approach makes it much easier to translate the results of educational research on applying blended learning in educational practice.Jan Nedermeijer has worked as an educational expert for several universities and as a senior expert for PUM Netherlands in several countries. The book synthesises the results of the numerous course- and curriculum-development projects he has conducted over many years. His approach can help university teachers implement IT in feasible, practical and interesting ways.Evidence-Based Blended and Online Learning gives lecturers tailor-made pedagogical suggestions for designing modern higher education. Course design tasks are re-described, using features from technical design, problem solving, and design thinking, where creative design has a unique and essential role. Show less
Korsten, F.W.A.; Leemans, I.; Haven, C. van der; Vanhaesebrouck, K. 2023
This Element describes the development of an affective economy of violence in the early modern Dutch Republic through the circulation of images. The Element outlines that while violence became more... Show moreThis Element describes the development of an affective economy of violence in the early modern Dutch Republic through the circulation of images. The Element outlines that while violence became more controlled in the course of the 17th century, with fewer public executions for instance, the realm of cultural representation was filled with violent imagery: from prints, atlases and paintings, through theatres and public spectacles, to peep boxes. It shows how emotions were evoked, exploited, and controlled in this affective economy of violence based on desires, interests and exploitation. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core. Show less
This book presents the transcriptions and annotated translations of fifteen key historical documents concerning the Tapuia indigenous people written just before and during the Dutch occupation of... Show moreThis book presents the transcriptions and annotated translations of fifteen key historical documents concerning the Tapuia indigenous people written just before and during the Dutch occupation of northeastern Brazil. The selected documents vary widely in type, including letters, descriptions, reports, first-person declarations, diaries, and transcripts of interrogations, thereby showcasing different perspectives and audiences. Some of the documents were authored by European writers, while others register indigenous voices somewhat more directly in the form of interviews or declarations.These texts provide important first-hand information about the Tapuia and other indigenous peoples during the Dutch conquest, revealing their cultural practices and knowledge while also detailing their strategic engagements with each other and with different European colonizers. Show less
This book is the first to explore the rich festival culture of late sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century France as a tool for diplomacy. Bram van Leuveren examines how the late Valois and early... Show moreThis book is the first to explore the rich festival culture of late sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century France as a tool for diplomacy. Bram van Leuveren examines how the late Valois and early Bourbon rulers of the kingdom made conscious use of festivals to advance their diplomatic interests in a war-torn Europe and how diplomatic stakeholders from across the continent participated in and responded to the theatrical and ceremonial events that featured at these festivals. Analysing a large body of multilingual eyewitness and commemorative accounts, as well as visual and material objects, Van Leuveren argues that French festival culture operated as a contested site where the diplomatic concerns of stakeholders from various national, religious, and social backgrounds fought for recognition. Show less
The Spirit of Matter discusses excessive objects: those things that move people but whose existence is often denied by modern wishful thinking about ‘mind over matter’, and that things are... Show moreThe Spirit of Matter discusses excessive objects: those things that move people but whose existence is often denied by modern wishful thinking about ‘mind over matter’, and that things are supposedly ‘dead’. Such wishful thinking can be traced back to Protestant Christian influences, that were secularized in the course of modern and colonial history. A range of excessive objects – exhibits of human remains or live people, fetishes, objects in a Catholic museum, exotic photographs, commodities, and computers – demonstrate a subordinate modern consciousness about powerful objects and their ‘life’. If humanity wants to survive current planetary socio-ecological crises, it should learn from its humility towards both artefacts and non-human things. Show less
Discrimination is still not sufficiently addressed within liberal democracies. Often only some groups are protected against discrimination and merely in certain situations. This leaves many who... Show moreDiscrimination is still not sufficiently addressed within liberal democracies. Often only some groups are protected against discrimination and merely in certain situations. This leaves many who suffer because of discrimination without recourse. And that is only one of the dilemmas with group-based approaches to the protection against discrimination. So why are these approaches so common? And can we find a viable alternative?In this new book, legal scholar Erwin Dijkstra answers these questions. His analysis is thorough, original, and thought-provoking. This makes Discrimination and the Foundation of Justice indispensable for anyone who seeks a better understanding of discrimination law, the relevant human rights context, and the debate on improving the protection against discrimination. That debate is brought to life through a thoughtful discussion of hotly debated topics like hate speech, affirmative action, and institutions that speak out against discrimination.As discrimination concerns us all, this book was written as a resource for all. It is meant to be read by those studying discrimination law professionally and the broader public alike. Show less
From time immemorial, thunder and lightning were seen as a wrathful Deity’s instruments of punishment. But then, in 1752, came Benjamin Franklin’s paradigm-shifting invention of the lightning rod,... Show moreFrom time immemorial, thunder and lightning were seen as a wrathful Deity’s instruments of punishment. But then, in 1752, came Benjamin Franklin’s paradigm-shifting invention of the lightning rod, and the way we view God and nature was changed forever.In Lightning in the Age of Benjamin Franklin. Facts and Fictions in Science, Religion, and Art Jan Wim Buisman shows how, in the second half of the eighteenth century, our scientific, religious, and artistic conceptions of one of nature’s most violent phenomena were transformed. With the storm no longer a spectacle to be feared, poets, painters, and composers started to treat it as a subject in its own right. Never before was the beauty of thunder and lightning so frequently and fulsomely represented in Western culture as during the transition from the Enlightenment to the Romantic era. Show less
This book explores the potential of specific photographic images for reflecting on experiences of mental disorders. Instead of looking at photographs of (people suffering from) mental disorders,... Show moreThis book explores the potential of specific photographic images for reflecting on experiences of mental disorders. Instead of looking at photographs of (people suffering from) mental disorders, this volume aspires to comprehend the complexities of such conditions through photographic lexicons, metaphors, and practices. For this book, a mental disorder is not to be seen as a dysfunction or impairment, but a state in which the sustaining balance of stable and unstable mind is unsettled, which may induce mental/bodily disturbances. The term “psychosomatic” refers to the interaction of the mind (psyche) with the body (soma); it refers to their co-dependence. By the term “Psychosomatic Imagery” this volume refers to a distinctive trope of photographic images that deal with the body-mind interaction during the states of mental disorders. This novel theoretical framework in photography theory instigates critical discussions about the experiences of mental disorders visualized as disturbed corporeal and mental perceptions of the world. While the introduction of the volume unpacks and assesses the applications of photography in mental disorder studies from theoretical and historical perspectives, the chapters focus on specific cases of Psychosomatic Imagery in contemporary photography. Those cases include, but are not limited to: PTSD, hysteria, paranoia, psychosis, bipolar disorder, and Hikikomori. Show less
