Bastille Day

July 14th is a celebration of French National Day or commonly known to the English speaking countries as Bastille Day. The day commemorates the beginning of the French Revolution with the storming of the Bastille on the 14th July 1789 and symbolizes the end of absolute monarchy and the birth of sovereign Nation. It is also a day of la Fête de la Fédération, a joyous celebration in 1790 that honored the new French Republic and commemorated the one year anniversary of the storming of the Bastille.

Berghahn is delighted to suggest a selection of French Studies titles, along with some Berghahn Journals articles to browse through:

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THE BOURGEOIS REVOLUTION IN FRANCE (1789-1815)
Henry Heller

Volume 5: Berghahn Monographs in French Studies Series

Continue reading “Bastille Day” →

In History

June 25, 1991: Croatia and Slovenia Declare Independence; War Between Croatia and Serbia Begins:

The provinces of Croatia and Slovenia declare their independence from Yugoslavia. Slovenia breaks off without violence. However, within two days the Yugoslav army, representing Serbia, attacks Croatia and a long war between the two countries begins. This is the start of nearly a decade of conflict in the region as Yugoslavia slowly breaks apart.

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On related subjects from Berghahn Central & Eastern Europe List:

NARRATING VICTIMHOOD
Gender, Religion and the Making of Place in Post-War Croatia
Michaela Schäuble

Volume 11, Space and Place

Continue reading “In History” →

May is Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month

Asian Pacific American Heritage Month (APAHM) is a celebration of the culture, traditions, and history of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the United States.

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Berghahn is happy to present several series and a selection of books on studies of Asia-Pacific cultures, societies, and histories.

Asia-Pacific Studies: Past and Present Series

The forces of globalization in the Asia-Pacific—the most economically dynamic region of the world—are bringing about profound social, political and cultural changes in everyday lives, affecting the world both within and beyond the region. New social and cultural formations, such as the rise of the middle classes, the spread of new mass-media and virtual technologies, and the burden of environmental pressures, present challenges to global social theories. Meanwhile, the past casts a lingering shadow, with historical conflicts adding fuel to current tensions over a wide range of issues. This book series provides an outlet for cutting-edge academic research on the politics, histories, societies, and cultures of individual countries in the Asia-Pacific together with overviews of major regional trends and developments.

MAKING A DIFFERENCE?
Social Assessment Policy and Praxis and its Emergence in China
Edited by Susanna Price and Kathryn Robinson

Continue reading “May is Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month” →

Author of ‘Jesus Reclaimed’ Earns German Decoration

The President of the Federal Republic of Germany, Joachim Gauck, honoured Rabbi Walter Homolka with the Officers Cross of the Federal Merit Order.

On February 27, 2015, the Prime Minister of the State of Brandenburg, Dr. Dietmar Woidke, handed over the insignia in the state chancellery in Potsdam.

Woidke thanked Rabbi Homolka for the establishment of the Abraham Geiger College in 1999 as the first rabbinical school in Continental Europe after the Holocaust.
Homolka’s initiative in 2013 also formed the School of Jewish Theology of the University of Potsdam, Germany’s Jewish Divinity School. Rabbi Homolka is a professor of Modern Jewish Thought there.

On the day of the honour Germany’s nationwide tabloid BILD voted Homolka “winner of the day.”

Rabbi Walter Homolka is author of Jewish Identity in Modern Times: Leo Baeck and German Protestantism (1995) and Jesus Reclaimed: Jewish Perspectives on the Nazarene (2015), and co-editor, with Albert Friedlander, of The Gate to Perfection: The Idea of Peace in Jewish Thought (1994). He is the rector of the Abraham Geiger College, Germany’s first rabbinical seminary after the Holocaust, and a professor of Modern Jewish Thought at the School of Jewish Theology of the University of Potsdam in Germany.

Occupy Morality: Soldiering in Conflict Zones

Understanding a soldier is key to understanding the effect of militarism on a broader society, according to Erella Grassiani, author of Soldiering Under Occupation: Processes of Numbing among Israeli Soldiers in the Al-Aqsa Intifada. The volume, published in July, offers insights into the physical and mental effects that operating in occupied zones has on soldiers. Below, Grassiani discusses the volume, her occupation, and how she enjoys her down time.

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Berghahn Books: What drew you to the study of the Israeli military? And why is this topic important?

Erella Grassiani: I was born in Israel and even though I was raised largely in the Netherlands, Israel stayed close to my heart. When I went back to Israel to study at the Tel Aviv University I came across ideas about militarism for the first time and the way the military influenced civilian life. Continue reading “Occupy Morality: Soldiering in Conflict Zones” →

Hot Off the Presses – New Paperback Releases

Newly released paperbacks from Berghahn:

Foodways and Empathy: Relatedness in a Ramu River Society, Papua New Guinea, Anita von Poser

Weimar Publics/Weimar Subjects: Rethinking the Political Culture of Germany in the 1920s, Kathleen Canning, Kerstin Barndt, and Kristin McGuire

The Holy Roman Empire, Reconsidered, Jason Philip Coy, Benjamin Marschke, and David Warren Sabean

Power and Society in the GDR, 1961-1979: The ‘Normalization of Rule’?, Mary Fulbrook

“Vienna is Different”: Jewish Writers in Austria from the fin de siècle to the Present, Hillary Hope Herzog

Divided, but not Disconnected: German Experiences of the Cold War, Tobias Hochscherf, Christoph Laucht, and Andrew Plowman

Hot Off the Presses – New Book Releases

Newly released titles from Berghahn’s Anthropology and Applied Anthropology, Film Studies, and History lists:

Toward Engaged Anthropology, Sam Beck and Carl A. Maida

Pastoralism in Africa: Past, Present, and Future, Michael Bollig, Michael Schnegg, and Hans-Peter Wotzka

The Journey of G. Mastorna: The Film Fellini Didn’t Make, Federico Fellini, with the collaboration of Dino Buzzati, Brunello Rondi, and Bernardino Zapponi, translated with a commentary by Marcus Perryman

Soldiering Under Occupation: Processes of Numbing among Israeli Soldiers in the Al-Aqsa Intifada, Erella Grassiani

Germany and the Black Diaspora: Points of Contact, 1250-1914, Mischa Honeck, Martin Klimke, and Anne Kuhlmann

Elusive Promises: Planning in the Contemporary World, Simone Abram and Gisa Weszkalnys

Judging “Privileged” Jews: Holocaust Ethics, Representation, and the “Grey Zone”, Adam Brown

Pregnancy in Practice: Expectation and Experience in the Contemporary, Sallie Han

United Germany: Debating Processes and Prospects, Konrad Jarausch

Ethics in the Field: Contemporary Challenges, Jeremy MacClancy and Agustín Fuentes

‘Pregnancy in Practice’ and a Royal Baby

Parents preparing to welcome a new bundle of joy follow certain conventions, from decorating the nursery to deciding on baby names, explains Sallie Han in her newly released volume, Pregnancy in Practice: Expectation and Experience in the Contemporary US. Below the author discusses the recent royal birth along these guidelines and explains that though they may be parents of the future King of England, Prince William and Duchess Kate Middleton are perhaps not so different from common parents as thought.

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The Duchess of Cambridge and I have this in common: We shared a due date. She is the new mother of a future King of England. I am the new author of a book, Pregnancy in Practice: Expectation and Experience in the Contemporary US. I believe that the period of gestation for my book has been considerably longer.