It has often been claimed that Greek literature of the Roman world is obsessed with the (classical) Greek past and detached from the real world in which it was written. This article, however,... Show moreIt has often been claimed that Greek literature of the Roman world is obsessed with the (classical) Greek past and detached from the real world in which it was written. This article, however, argues that Greek texts of the imperial period offer a fascinating glimpse of the polyphonic and multicultural world of the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire was characterized by globalization, migration, and mobility. While Greek was the lingua franca of a large part of the Mediterranean world, especially in the East, writers of Greek literature came from many different places and regions, flexibly moving in a triangular space between local, Greek, and Roman identities. Three different examples are discussed: an epigram by Crinagoras of Mytilene, a passage from Pseudo-Longinus’ On the Sublime, and Lucian’s interview with Homer in True History. In different ways, these texts construct intercultural dialogues, which invite the reader to perceive the world and its literature as more diverse than just Greek and Roman. Show less
In the twenty-first century, terms such as globalization, global, and world function as key words at the cusp of new frontiers in both historical writing and literary criticism. Practitioners of... Show moreIn the twenty-first century, terms such as globalization, global, and world function as key words at the cusp of new frontiers in both historical writing and literary criticism. Practitioners of these disciplines may appear to be long time intimate lovers when seen from pre and early modern time periods, only to divorce with the coming of Anglophone world history in the twenty-first century. In recent years, works such as Martin Puchner’s The Written World, Maya Jasanoff’s The Dawn Watch, or the three novels that encompass Amitav Ghosh’s Ibis Trilogy, have rekindled a variant of history and literature’s embrace in a global register. This book probes recent scholarship concerning reflections on global history and world literature in the wake of these developments, with a primary focus on India as a site of extensive theoretical and empirical advances in both disciplinary locations. Inclusive of reflections on the meeting points of these disciplines as well as original research in areas such as Neo-Platonism in world history, histories of violence, and literary histories exploring indentured labor and capitalist transformation, the book offers reflections on conceptual advances in the study of globalization by placing global history and world literature in conversation. In great detail, this monograph provides both new facts and fresh insights that contest existing scholarship. By highlighting their competitive, fluid, and dynamic nature, it undermines the historiography viewing these courts as harmonic, hierarchic, and static. Far from being remote, ritualised figures, we find kings and Brahmins contesting with other courtiers for power. At the same time, by stressing continuities with the past, this study questions recent scholarship that perceives a fundamentally new form of Nayaka kingship. Thus, this research has important repercussions for the way we perceive both these kingdoms and their ‘medieval’ precursors. Show less
El Ouahi, J.; Robinson-García, N.; Costas Comesana, R. 2021
Between 1960 and 1983 the Dutch economist Dr. Albert Winsemius (1910-1996) was the most influential economic adviser to the government of Singapore and one of the leading architects of Singapore’s... Show moreBetween 1960 and 1983 the Dutch economist Dr. Albert Winsemius (1910-1996) was the most influential economic adviser to the government of Singapore and one of the leading architects of Singapore’s highly successful development model. Winsemius' beliefs and recommendations chimed with the views of Singapore’s first-generation postcolonial political leaders and quickly grew in popular appeal once they started yielding impressive economic results. Winsemius’ uncompromising hostility to communism, and at the same time his sympathy toward moderate trade unionism, were of particular importance here.This research identifies strategies and policies that contributed to Singapore's development, and that can be traced to Albert Winsemius as a historical principal. It concludes that in essence, many of these successful strategies and policies were based on Winsemius’ experiences in his earlier life and career: the economic reconstruction in the Netherlands in the years after World War Two, in which he played a key role, his empathy toward the United States and the American way of life, his contacts with other right-wing governments, and his involvement during the Cold War in the production of arms. Show less
Liberalism is in trouble as a normative basis of world order, partly for its failure to deliver adequate democracy to contemporary globalisation. This article explores how new ideas and practices... Show moreLiberalism is in trouble as a normative basis of world order, partly for its failure to deliver adequate democracy to contemporary globalisation. This article explores how new ideas and practices of democracy might underpin a future post-liberal world order. The discussion especially addresses methodological issues, on the premise that the way that global democracy is studied deeply affects the ways that it can be understood and enacted. To open space for more innovative thinking about people’s power in a global world, the article develops an approach which—in contrast to established liberal theorising—emphasises principles of diversity, reflexivity, and praxis. Drawing on experiences of implementing these principles in a six-year ‘Building Global Democracy’ programme, the article argues that such a methodology can generate different, imaginative and transformative notions. In particular, post-liberal reinventions of democracy could redefine the demos, incorporate non-modern institutions, deepen justice, and confront structural power hierarchies. To be sure, as the final section reflects, the formulation and implementation of post-liberal constructions of global democracy face considerable challenges. Yet, with no less than the future of a good society at stake, it is vital further to pursue such experiments in globality beyond liberalism. Show less
Situated at the crossroads of the Indian and Pacific Oceans, the Spanish Philippines offer historians an intriguing middle ground of connected histories that raises fundamental new questions about... Show moreSituated at the crossroads of the Indian and Pacific Oceans, the Spanish Philippines offer historians an intriguing middle ground of connected histories that raises fundamental new questions about conventional ethnic, regional and religious identities. This volume adds a new global perspective to the history of the Philippines by juxtaposing Iberian, Chinese and Islamic perspectives. By navigating various underexplored archival resources, senior and junior scholars from Asia, Europe and the Americas explore the diverse cultural, religious, and economic flows that shaped the early modern Philippine milieu. By zooming in from the global to the local, this book offers eleven fascinating Philippine case studies of early modern globalization. Show less
This contribution analyses the impacts of conversions of commercial – mainly white-owned – farms to wildlife-based production on access to land for farm workers and dwellers in South Africa. They... Show moreThis contribution analyses the impacts of conversions of commercial – mainly white-owned – farms to wildlife-based production on access to land for farm workers and dwellers in South Africa. They depended on informal arrangements with landowners for access, hence the notions of ‘abilities to access’ and ‘bundles of power’ are more appropriate concepts to analyze their access than bundles of rights. In post-apartheid South Africa, the state attempted to formalize farm dwellers’ land rights, but simultaneously deregulated the agricultural sector, which stimulated land concentration and land investments, and changed social relations on commercial farms. These contradictory interventions impact negatively on farm dwellers’ abilities to access to land on commercial farms. The paper furthermore demonstrates that conversions to wildlife-based production constitute one response by landowners to the changes in the agricultural sector, but also play a role in struggles about identity and belonging in post-apartheid South Africa. Show less
The wholesale and retail market for Asian goods in Europe is still largely unexplored. Historians’ growing interest in consumption patterns is now revealing the importance of Asian products in the... Show moreThe wholesale and retail market for Asian goods in Europe is still largely unexplored. Historians’ growing interest in consumption patterns is now revealing the importance of Asian products in the nascent European consumer market. Earlier studies have already found that the Dutch East India Company moved from shipping only luxury commodities to supplying Europe with products (coffee, tea and sugar) intended for an increasingly broad range of consumers. By compiling and analyzing a database of purchases at the auctions of the VOC in Zeeland in the eighteenth century this article investigates a crucial link between trade with Asia and consumption in Europe. It also reveals that the company catered to the burgeoning slave trade of Zeeland. We find that the auctions were dominated by a small group of wholesalers who potentially had the power to dictate the commercial policy of the company in Asia. Show less
This book is an endeavor to expose the multifariousness of the challenges for contemporary countries to legislate on domestic working conditions under the combined effects of deepening... Show moreThis book is an endeavor to expose the multifariousness of the challenges for contemporary countries to legislate on domestic working conditions under the combined effects of deepening globalization and characteristics of domestic legal systems. Five topical subjects are reflected on: a general discussion over the foundation and feasibility of regulating working conditions in globalization, followed by four parallel studies that respectively concentrate on China’s legislation on construction safety, Germany’s minimum wage law, the parental leave policies of the US and Sweden, and Great Britain’s experiences with employee participation. By dissecting the situations in which divergent stances, defective mechanisms and practical straits are entangled, the crisis of labor legislation is concretized into specific problems while simultaneously opportunities for change are uncovered. It is argued that the traditional ‘zero-sum’ approach to understanding the tension between labor protection and the realization of economic objectives should be abandoned. The potential of decent working conditions to boost productivity and to facilitate long-term cooperation with other countries needs to be recognized. There might be objective barriers prohibiting the law from responding effectively to the changing economic world. However, the legislation should endeavor to guide relevant social actors and create conditions for surmounting these barriers. Show less
Chiari Gonçalves, V.; Portolese, G.C.; Ruzzeddu, M. 2018
Vertrekkend vanuit een communicatief perspectief en concentrerend op mediatiseringsprocessen, formuleert deze dissertatie een alternatief voor het probleem van equivociteit binnen de studie naar... Show moreVertrekkend vanuit een communicatief perspectief en concentrerend op mediatiseringsprocessen, formuleert deze dissertatie een alternatief voor het probleem van equivociteit binnen de studie naar populaire muziek. Verschillende culturele en theoretische perspectieven zijn ingezet om de diverse vormen en betekenissen van populaire muziek te evalueren, bijvoorbeeld het type van muziek dat via complexe netwerken van betekenis in verschillende ambits door de geglobaliseerde wereld snelt. Authenticiteit en commodificatie zijn geïdentificeerd als de belangrijkste concepten voor de duiding van populaire repertoires -en van het begrip ‘'populair’ in relatie tot 'kunst' en 'folk'. Deze identificatie openbaart een patroon van betekenis-gevende praktijken, welke ik de ‘strategie van afwijzing’ heb genoemd. Deze strategie maakt het voor de cultuur-theoreticus mogelijk om inzicht te krijgen in de manier waarop het genre van populaire muziek is gedefinieerd, haar productie, verspreiding en consumptie. De essentie van het populaire lied wordt doorgaans negatief gedefinieerd, dat wil zeggen, door aan te geven wat het niet is: noch kunst noch folk. Opmerkelijk is dat negatieve definities van populaire muziek getuigen van latente spanningen tussen muziek producenten en consumenten, specifiek met betrekking tot de eclectische krachten gesignaleerd door het postmoderne denken en de waardeoordelen toegekend aan haar verschillende verschijningen. Show less
Globalization has led to more competition not only globally but also locally. As a response to globalization and in an attempt to internationalize, international schools have been growing at an... Show moreGlobalization has led to more competition not only globally but also locally. As a response to globalization and in an attempt to internationalize, international schools have been growing at an unprecedented rate in Egypt. There are practical reasons why so many parents enroll their children in such schools, but what are the larger implications and possible benefits? This article exposes the general nature of international schools in Egypt, taking into account the teachers, students, as well as the curricula on offer, with a focus on the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program (IBDP). This article contends that there are many contradictions in the parent‟s motivations to enroll their children at international schools. Show less
This dissertation studies the indigenous Mexican game of pelota mixteca. In the first part, the possible pre-Columbian origins of the game are examined. The second part focuses on the ways... Show more This dissertation studies the indigenous Mexican game of pelota mixteca. In the first part, the possible pre-Columbian origins of the game are examined. The second part focuses on the ways in which 20th- and 21st-century globalization, labor migration and state politics of indigenism have influenced the way the game is represented and used in political discourse, both by the state and by the players itself. Show less
Adopting a historical institutionalist approach, this study focuses on the tobacco industry as a case study to explore why competition would happen in this state-monopoly regime from its outset and... Show moreAdopting a historical institutionalist approach, this study focuses on the tobacco industry as a case study to explore why competition would happen in this state-monopoly regime from its outset and how it evolved during the past three decades in China. I argue that the emergence of competition in the tobacco state monopoly resulted from a particular industrial governance pattern, which formed up incrementally and became strengthened via interactions between local governments and the local agents of China’s National Tobacco Corporation (CNTC). As the institutional settings where local governments and the CNTC’s local agents were embedded changed, the governance pattern and the resulting competition type continually transformed over three distinctive phases: quasi-free competition under the two-track system (1982-1993), restrained competition under prevalent local protectionism (1994-2004), and quasi-oligopoly competition under the central-led competitive monopoly (2005-2012). Tracing the development of the three phases discloses not only how local governments have already become the de facto agents for serving the CNTC but also how this circumstance has indirectly strengthened the control capacity of the monopoly, thus reinforcing and intensifying state control and the competition alike. The “state monopoly, Chinese style” was thus formed in this context. Show less
Greek whisky is a historical ethnography of alcohol consumption that explores several facets of contemporary Greek culture. The focus of the study is on the “social life” of Scotch whisky in Greece... Show moreGreek whisky is a historical ethnography of alcohol consumption that explores several facets of contemporary Greek culture. The focus of the study is on the “social life” of Scotch whisky in Greece and more specifically on three distinct trajectories of the beverage. The analysis of the mediascapes of the Greek cultural industry, the Athenian nightlife and entertainment and the North Aegean island drinking habits, aims in the examination of the localization process of Scotch in these spaces. While several studies in Greece have focused on the consumption of Greek-produced alcoholic beverages, imported beverages—and especially Scotch whisky—have been neglected. By “following the thing” the study seeks to link several key concepts such as popular culture, consumption and style. In opposition to views of global cultural homogenization as monoculture, the author argues that consumption as cultural appropriation is a process of meaning creation by consumers, multinational corporations and the cultural industry. Furthermore the localization of a commodity is not only understood as an act of consumption and a form of making oneself ‘at home’ as a result of the impersonal realm of commodity production. Localization is a major arena of negotiation of gender and group styles and more importantly a tactical practice. Show less
This thesis investigates the highly complex issue of cross-border marriages between Mainland China and Taiwan in the period from early 1990 to 2004. The objectives of this research is to... Show moreThis thesis investigates the highly complex issue of cross-border marriages between Mainland China and Taiwan in the period from early 1990 to 2004. The objectives of this research is to investigate three aspects of cross-border marriage migration: 1) factors and motivations for cross-border marriage, that is, Why do mainland Chinese women choose to leave China and to come to Taiwan and why do Taiwanese men marry mainland Chinese women? 2) formation and justification of borders of exclusion, that is, Why and how are mainland brides constructed as “others”? 3) negotiation of gender and intra-familial relations among members of cross-border families. These questions are answered by looking at the perspectives of different actors and by examining how these perspectives are formed and whether and how they are substantiated. These actors include the state and the media, the marriage brokerage industry, and cross-strait couples and family members. Multiple research methodologies and sources of data are used, including ethnography, discourse analysis of policy and media representation and participant observation. Show less
In the era of international(ized) criminal courts and tribunals, classical concepts of international criminal law such as principles and rules of extradition and of extraterritorial jurisdiction... Show moreIn the era of international(ized) criminal courts and tribunals, classical concepts of international criminal law such as principles and rules of extradition and of extraterritorial jurisdiction have fallen into oblivion. At the same time, globalization and the establishment of international criminal jurisdictions have brought about fundamental changes of relevant attributes of the international system, justifying and necessitating renewed scholarly attention for these seemingly over-analyzed phenomena. Due in major part to these systemic changes, the non-extradition of nationals increasingly comes under fire. As a consequence, several attempts were undertaken in recent years to disallow or at least considerably limit it. Focusing on two such endeavors (under the European Arrest Warrant and in the context of the International Criminal Court), this study attempts to identify the status and the role of the non-extradition of nationals and of its counterpart, the active personality principle in international (criminal) law. Recognizing that the non-extradition of nationals cannot be easily discard, in theory or in practice, the author considers ways to adapt these long-standing features of international cooperation in criminal matters to the requirements of international criminal justice. Show less
One of the consequences of the post-11 September war on terrorism has been the appearance of numerous attempts, both in academia and in the press, to explain 'Muslim rage', 'why they hate us', and ... Show moreOne of the consequences of the post-11 September war on terrorism has been the appearance of numerous attempts, both in academia and in the press, to explain 'Muslim rage', 'why they hate us', and 'what we can do about it'. Much of the reporting has correctly focused on Western culture as a source of antagonism in the Muslim world. However, few analyses have focused on the role of globalization - and the new matrices of cultural, economic and political interaction it has produced - in perpetuating and even exacerbating the hostility between segments of Muslim and Western societies. Show less
