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
Fisher, E.; Luning, S.; Obodai, N.; Araujo, C.H.; Calvimontes, J.; Camp, E. van de; ... ; Twongyirwe, R. 2023
This book uses text and photographs to highlight a transdisciplinary research project (2018-2022) about artisanal and small-scale gold mining that involved transdisciplinary collaboration between... Show moreThis book uses text and photographs to highlight a transdisciplinary research project (2018-2022) about artisanal and small-scale gold mining that involved transdisciplinary collaboration between academics, artists, and gold miners. With the title Exploring Transformations to Sustainability in Artisanal and Small-scale Gold Mining: Trans-regional and Multi-Actor Perspectives, or Gold Matters for short, the project examined whether and how societal transformations towards sustainable mining futures are possible in artisanal and small-scale gold mining. It brought together a multi-national team to conduct research in Brazil, Suriname, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Guinea Conakry, and Uganda. Show less
Grasseni, C.; Barendregt, B.A.; Maaker, E. de; De Musso, F.; Littlejohn, A.L.; Maeckelbergh, M.E.; ... ; Westmoreland, M.R. 2021
Heritage—natural and cultural, material and immaterial—plays a key role in the development of sustainable cities and communities. Goal 11, target 4, of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)... Show moreHeritage—natural and cultural, material and immaterial—plays a key role in the development of sustainable cities and communities. Goal 11, target 4, of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) emphasizes the relation between heritage and sustainability. The International LDE Heritage conference on Heritage and Sustainable Development Goals, which took place from 26 to 28 November 2019 at TU Delft in the Netherlands, examined the theories, methodologies, and practices of heritage and SDGs. It asked: How is heritage produced and defined? By whom and in what contexts? What are the conceptions of sustainability, and in what ways are these situational and contextual? How can theoretical findings on heritage and SDGs engage with heritage practice?The conference built on the multidisciplinary expertise of academics in the humanities, social, and spatial sciences, notably the interdisciplinary crossover research program, Design & History, the new theme of Heritage Futures at TU Delft, on active collaboration within the LDE Center for Global Heritage and Development (CGHD), and on heritage-related research conducted by the three partner universities Leiden, Delft and Erasmus in Rotterdam by further associated partners in the consortium and internationally. Show less
Contestation over land is at the core of the prolonged political conflicts that mark the recent history of India’s North Eastern region. The rural areas of India’s North East, erstwhile marginal to... Show moreContestation over land is at the core of the prolonged political conflicts that mark the recent history of India’s North Eastern region. The rural areas of India’s North East, erstwhile marginal to the ‘modern’ state, are increasingly integrated in a monetized market-oriented economy. Confronted with dominant regimes of development, mobility and citizenship, it is imperative to recognize that increasingly unequal land relations are a main reason for broadening social fissures within and among communities. This volume critically engages with questions such as: How do contestations over the ownership and usage of land challenge customary interpretations of gender? And in what ways can the importance attributed to land, in a symbolic sense, contribute to the redefinition of coordinates of identity, community and belonging? Combining perspectives from political science, social geography, social history, sociology and anthropology, this volume critically engages with received notions of the customary. Presenting case studies by both senior and emerging scholars, it makes mandatory reading for anyone interested in the challenges of governance, citizenship and development faced by the people of India’s North East. Show less
Set in one of the world’s most unequal and violent places, this ethnographic study reveals how insurance companies discovered a vast market of predominantly poor African clients. After apartheid... Show moreSet in one of the world’s most unequal and violent places, this ethnographic study reveals how insurance companies discovered a vast market of predominantly poor African clients. After apartheid ended in 1994, South Africa became a ‘testing ground’ for new insurance products, new marketing techniques and pioneering administrative models with a potentially global market.Drawing on Rorty’s notion of irony for understanding how the contradictions inherent to solidarity affect inequality and conflict as well as drawing on a vast array of case studies, Ironies of Solidarity examines how both Africans enjoy the freedoms that they have gained in financial terms and how the onset of democracy effected the risks faced in everyday life. Bähre examines the ways in which policies are sold and claims are handled, offering a detailed analysis of South Africa’s insurance sector. Show less
Through a series of rich photographs, Art of Captivity / Arte del Cautiverio tells a compelling story about the war on drugs in Central America. Entirely bilingual in both English and Spanish, the... Show moreThrough a series of rich photographs, Art of Captivity / Arte del Cautiverio tells a compelling story about the war on drugs in Central America. Entirely bilingual in both English and Spanish, the book focuses on the country of Guatemala, now the principle point of transit for the cocaine that is produced in the Andes and bound for the United States and Canada. Alongside a spike in the use of crack cocaine, Guatemala City has witnessed the proliferation of Pentecostal drug rehabilitation centers. The centers are sites of abuse and torment, but also lifesaving institutions in a country that does not provide any other viable social service to those struggling with drug dependency. Art of Captivity / Arte del Cautiverio explores these centers as architectural forms, while also showcasing the cultural production that takes place inside them, including drawings and letters created by those held captive. This stunning work of visual ethnography humanizes those held inside these centers, breaks down stereotypes about drug use, and sets the conditions for a hemispheric conversation about prohibitionist practices - by revealing intimate portraits of a population held hostage by a war on drugs. Show less
(publication is in the Garo language)Garo of upland Northeast India attribute great significance to rituals of death. The scale of these rituals varies with the status of the deceased person in... Show more(publication is in the Garo language)Garo of upland Northeast India attribute great significance to rituals of death. The scale of these rituals varies with the status of the deceased person in society. This manifests itself in the number and value of the gifts that are exchanged between representatives of the deceased person and the other people attending his or her funeral. Gifts draw counter-gifts at the same funeral, or at later ones. Among the more important gifts are cows, heirloom objects (gongs, swords, jewelry) as well as large sums of money. Such gifts, once offered, are not necessarily accepted. They can be refused as well. Decisions regarding the offering, acceptance and rejection of gifts have a bearing on relationships that are maintained among matrilineal kin, as well as with affines. All gifts that are offered at a funeral are believed to influence the status of the deceased person in the afterworld and also play an important role in defining his or her social memory. In the essay I will show that Garo mortuary rituals construct the dead as a source of authority and prestige, allowing for ties among the living to be defined in relation to the dead. Show less
Tukker, A.; Udo De Haes, H.A.; Groot, W.T. de; Barendse, G.; Huppes, G.; Voet, E. van der; ... ; Bodegom, P.M. van 2018
Forty years of Leiden environmental sciences relates the story of CML, today one of the Faculty of Science’s eight institutes but with its roots in a more or less in dependent group of ex-activists... Show moreForty years of Leiden environmental sciences relates the story of CML, today one of the Faculty of Science’s eight institutes but with its roots in a more or less in dependent group of ex-activists within the university. Back in the day, many of those at the top of the university would probably have had trouble accepting that ‘those upstarts’ would still be around forty years on – not locked away in some cubbyhole with their stencil duplicator, but as a professor, assistant professor or even a dean. Today they are professors emeritus or have retired: Helias Udo de Haes, Wouter de Groot, Gerard Barendse, Gjalt Huppes, Gerard Persoon, Hans de Iongh and Jan Boersema – which doesn’t stop most of them just carrying on working. And a new generation of environmental scientists is now leading CML’s research and teaching: Geert de Snoo, Arnold Tukker, Martina Vijver, Peter van Bodegom, Jeroen Guinée, Ester van der Voet and René Kleijn. Show less
Koning, A. de; Marchesi, M.; Vollebergh, A.; Ruijtenberg, W.; Botto, L.; Chakkour, S. 2018
