New Resources

"From Near and Far relates the history of modern France from the French Revolution to the present. Noted historian Tyler Stovall considers how the history of France interacts with both the broader history of the world and the local histories of French communities, examining the impacts of Karl Marx, Ho Chi Minh, Paul Gauguin, and Josephine Baker alongside the rise of haute couture and the contemporary role of hip hop.From Near and Far focuses on the interactions between France and three other parts of the world: Europe, the United States, and the French colonial empire. Taking this transnational approach to the history of modern France, Stovall shows how the theme of universalism, so central to modern French culture, has manifested itself in different ways over the last few centuries. Moreover, it emphasizes the importance of narrative to French history, that historians tell the story of a nation and a people by bringing together a multitude of stories and tales that often go well beyond its boundaries. In telling these stories From Near and Far gives the reader a vision of France both global and local at the same time."-

"Ever since World War II, the United Nations and other international actors have created laws, treaties, and institutions to punish perpetrators of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. These efforts have established universally recognized norms and have resulted in several high-profile convictions in egregious cases. But international criminal justice now seems to be a declining force—its energy sapped by long delays in prosecutions, lagging public attention, and a globally rising authoritarianism that disregards legal niceties".

"This book is a volume in the Penn Press Anniversary Collection. To mark its 125th anniversary in 2015, the University of Pennsylvania Press rereleased more than 1,100 titles from Penn Press's distinguished backlist from 1899-1999 that had fallen out of print. Spanning an entire century, the Anniversary Collection offers peer-reviewed scholarship in a wide range of subject areas."

"Conspiracy theories seem to be proliferating today. Long relegated to a niche existence, conspiracy theories are now pervasive, and older conspiracy theories have been joined by a constant stream of new ones - that the USA carried out the 9/11 attacks itself, that the Ukrainian crisis was orchestrated by NATO, that we are being secretly controlled by a New World Order that keep us docile via chemtrails and vaccinations. Not to mention the moon landing that never happened. But what are conspiracy theories and why do people believe them? Have they always existed or are they something new, a feature of our modern world? In this book Michael Butter provides a clear and comprehensive introduction to the nature and development of conspiracy theories. Contrary to popular belief, he shows that conspiracy theories are less popular and influential today than they were in the past. Up to the 1950s, the Western world regarded conspiracy theories as a legitimate form of knowledge and it was therefore normal to believe in them. It was only after the Second World War that this knowledge was delegitimized, causing conspiracy theories to be banished from public discourse and relegated to subcultures. The recent renaissance of conspiracy theories is linked to internet which gives them wider exposure and contributes to the fragmentation of the public sphere. Conspiracy theories are still stigmatized today in many sections of mainstream culture but are being accepted once again as legitimate knowledge in others. It is the clash between these domains and their different conceptions of truth that is fuelling the current debate over conspiracy theories."

"Balla voit son monde s'effondrer lorsque son père abandonne subitement la concession familiale. Jusqu'alors, lui et ses amis jouaient, insouciants, dans la brousse de l'Ouest malien. Souhaitant garantir un avenir à ses enfants, sa mère quitte le village et emmène sa progéniture de Kayes à Bamako et de Bamako à Paris. Arrivé dans une France froide et inhospitalière, Balla ne connaît rien des codes de ce nouveau pays et devient, à six ans, la risée de son école et bientôt de toute sa famille. Squattant chez les uns chez les autres, l'enfant nomade se plonge dans le mutisme et rêve secrètement de revoir son père. Dali, une griotte qui pratique l'art de la divination, prédit un avenir radieux à l'élève parqué dans une classe destinée "aux enfants arriérés". Depuis, le petit garçon est obsédé par l'intelligence et l'acquisition de la connaissance. Mettra-t-il fin au désespoir de sa mère qui l'emmène de force dans ses cours d'alphabétisation pour essayer de le sortir d'affaire ? Parviendra-t-il à se faire une place dans sa fratrie qui ne croit pas en lui ? La prophétie de Dali se révélera bien plus qu'une simple chimère...Dans une langue aussi imagée qu'enjouée, Balla Fofana nous livre un très beau premier roman, largement inspiré de sa propre histoire. Il y raconte l'exil à hauteur d'enfant, la violence sourde qu'il engendre, mais surtout la force d'une femme, sa mère, à laquelle il rend un magnifique hommage"

"This abundantly illustrated book examines the figure of Balthazar, one of the biblical magi, and explains how and why he came to be depicted as a Black African king. According to the Gospel of Matthew, magi from the East, following a star, traveled to Jerusalem bearing precious gifts for the infant Jesus. The magi were revered as wise men and later as kings. Over time, one of the three came to be known as Balthazar and to be depicted as a Black man. Balthazar was familiar to medieval Europeans, appearing in paintings, manuscript illuminations, mosaics, carved ivories, and jewelry. But the origin story of this fascinating character uncovers intricate ties between Europe and Africa, including trade and diplomacy as well as colonization and enslavement. In this book, experts in the fields of Ethiopian, West African, Nubian, and Western European art explore the representation of Balthazar as a Black African king. They examine exceptional art that portrays the European fantasy of the Black magus while offering clues about the very real Africans who may have inspired these images. Along the way, the authors chronicle the Black presence in premodern Europe, where free and enslaved Black people moved through public spaces and courtly circles. The volume's lavish illustrations include selected works by contemporary artists who creatively challenge traditional depictions of Black history."

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Between the 1980s and the present day, China has experienced one of the most consequential economic transformations in world history. One-fifth of the Earth's population has left behind a life of scarcity and subsistence for one of abundance and material comfort, while their nation has emerged as a preeminent economic and political power. In a systematic historical and sociological analysis of this unique juncture, Wang Feng charts the origins, forces, and consequences of this meteoric rise in living standards. He shifts the focus away from institutions and policies to offer new perspectives based on consumption among poorer, rural populations as a driver of global economic change. But is this 'Age of Abundance' coming to an end? Anticipating potential headwinds, including an aging population, increasing inequality, and intensifying political control, Wang explores whether this preeminence could be coming to a close."

A reissue of Bernadette Mayer's classic fugitive intergenre text.

"In Earth Diplomacy, Jessica L. Horton reveals how Native American art in the mid-twentieth-century mobilized Indigenous cultures of diplomacy to place the earth itself at the center of international relations. She focuses on a group of artists including Pablita Velarde, Darryl Blackman, and Oscar Howe who participated in exhibitions and lectures abroad as part of the United States's Cold War cultural propaganda. Horton emphasizes how their art modeled a radical alternative to dominant forms of statecraft, a practice she calls "earth diplomacy:" a response to extractive colonial capitalism grounded in Native ideas of deep reciprocal relationships between humans and other beings that govern the world. Horton draws on extensive archival research and oral histories as well as analyses of Indigenous creative work including paintings, textiles, tipis, adornment, and artistic demonstrations. By interweaving diplomacy, ecology, and art history, Horton advances Indigenous frameworks of reciprocity with all beings in the cosmos as a path to transforming our broken system of global politics"

"The Ghost in the Image offers a new take on the place that supernatural phenomena occupy in everyday life by examining nonfictional works not traditionally associated with the horror genre and participative forms of engaging with horror themes such as experiential viewing and game playing. The book covers a variety of media: spirit photography, found-footage horror movies, ghost-hunting reality shows, documentary and fiction films based on the Amityville and Enfield hauntings, survival games, and creepypasta. These works transform our interest in ghosts into an interactive form of entertainment and, perhaps disturbingly, brings them closer to the reality of our everyday lives."

"This Palgrave Handbook examines the ways in which researchers and practitioners theorise, analyse, produce and make use of testimony. It explores the full range of testimony in the public sphere, including perpetrator testimony, testimony presented through social media and virtual reality. A growing body of research shows how complex and multi-layered testimony can be, how much this complexity adds to our understanding of our past, and how creators and users of testimony have their own complex purposes. These advances indicate that many of our existing assumptions about testimony and models for working with it need to be revisited. The purpose of this Palgrave Handbook is to do just that by bringing together a wide range of disciplinary, theoretical, methodological, and practice-based perspectives."

In the 2010s, Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) began to mobilize an international media system to project Turkey as a rising player and counter foreign criticism of its authoritarian practices. Bilge Yesil examines the AKP's English-language communication apparatus, focusing on its objectives and outcomes, the idea-generating framework that undergirds it, and the implications of its activities. She also analyzes the decolonial and pan-Islamist messages AKP-sponsored outlets deploy to position Turkey as a burgeoning great power opposed to imperialism and claiming to be the voice of oppressed Muslims around the world. As the AKP wields this rhetoric to further its geopolitical and economic goals, media outlets pursue their own objectives by obfuscating facts with identity politics, demonizing the West to aggrandize the East and rallying Muslims under Turkey's purportedly benevolent leadership. Insightfully exploring the crossroads of communications and authoritarianism, Talking Back to the West illuminates how the Erdogan government and its media allies use history, religion, and identity to pursue complementary agendas and tighten the AKP's grip on power.