Category: New Book Releases

International Migrants Day

On December 18, the international community recognizes and celebrates the rights of migrants around the world. In 1990 the UN General Assembly approved the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (commonly referred to as the Migrant Worker’s Convention or Migrant Rights Convention). This is the day to express our support and solidarity with all immigrants.

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In honor of this observance, Berghahn Journals presents a special virtual issue dedicated to migration with hope that this will contribute to the overall discussion of the lives of migrants.

Click Here to Access the Special Virtual Issue! 

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Berghahn is also delighted to present a selection of titles on Refugee & Migration Studies:

 

THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF BORDER DRAWING
Arranging Legality in European Labor Migration Policies
Regine Paul

Continue reading “International Migrants Day” →

Simulated Shelves: Browse November’s New Books

We are delighted to present a selection of our newly published November titles from our core subjects of History, Media Studies, Medical Anthropology, Sociology and Urban Studies, along with a selection of our New in Paperback titles.

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U.S. FOREIGN POLICY AND THE OTHER
Edited by Michael Patrick Cullinane and David Ryan

Continue reading “Simulated Shelves: Browse November’s New Books” →

Dilemma after Dark: Balancing Sleep and Breastfeeding

In her newly published book, author Cecília Tomori explores a major challenge for new parents, the nighttime balance of sleep and breastfeeding. Nighttime Breastfeeding: An American Cultural Dilemma, published in October, is the result of her long-term ethnographic study alongside new parents and how they cope with the pressures of parenthood. Following, the author gives insight into this in-depth study which eventually became her book.

 

 

As an anthropologist seeking to learn about breastfeeding, I had the privilege of visiting new parents who had just returned home from the hospital after the birth of their first child. During these visits, the joy of becoming parents was visible in the way parents gazed upon one another and held their newborns in their arms. Their joy, however, was often complicated by exhaustion and uncertainty over some fundamental concerns: breastfeeding and sleeping at night.

Continue reading “Dilemma after Dark: Balancing Sleep and Breastfeeding” →

Today in History of Performance Art

On this day in 1947, first-ever performance of Tennessee Williams’ play A Streetcar Named Desire thrilled the audience during it’s opening on the Broadway stage of Ethel Barrymore Theatre.

Produced by Irene Mayer Selznick and directed by Elia Kazan, the play shocked mid-century audiences with its frank depiction of sexuality and brutality onstage. When the curtain went down on opening night, there was a moment of stunned silence before the crowd erupted into a round of applause that lasted 30 minutes. On December 17, the cast left New York to go on the road. The show would run for more than 800 performances, winning numerous prizes and in 1951 was made into a movie.

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In relevance to the event Berghahn is delighted to offer an array of titles on Performance Studies:

 

PERFORMING PLACE, PRACTISING MEMORIES
Aboriginal Australians, Hippies and the State
Rosita HenryDuring the 1970s a wave of ‘counter-culture’ people moved into rural communities in many parts of Australia. This study focuses in particular on the town of Kuranda in North Queensland and the relationship between the settlers and the local Aboriginal population, concentrating on a number of linked social dramas that portrayed the use of both public and private space. Through their public performances and in their everyday spatial encounters, these people resisted the bureaucratic state but, in the process, they also contributed to the cultivation and propagation of state effects.

Continue reading “Today in History of Performance Art” →

Holdings of the Kingdom of Norway

 

When considering powerhouses of colonization, most do not rank Norway among the likes of England and France. However, this country did have numerous outposts and much influence in Africa and Oceania. These territories come into focus in Navigating Colonial Orders: Norwegian Entrepreneurship in Africa and Oceania, which was published this month. Following, editors Kirsten Alsaker Kjerland and Bjørn Enge Bertelsen share insights into their book.

 

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What drew you to the study of the entrepreneurial efforts of Norwegians in colonial Africa and Oceania? How was Norway’s involvement different from its counterparts in the rest of Europe at the time? How were they the same?

 

When looking at classical representations of colonial Africa, Oceania or, also, Latin America, one is struck by how the large colonizing countries have monopolized history. What struck us when starting to follow Norwegians that went abroad in the late 1800s and early 1900s was that this was simply not the case: The various colonial settings that we have examined have uncovered great diversity in terms of non-indigenous inhabitants and, thus, revealed different forms of colonial dynamics than what has often been contained in colonial histories of the major countries.

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The Importance of Learning from Children

Now available in paperback, Learning from The Children: Childhood, Culture and Identity in a Changing World, edited by Jacqueline Waldren and Ignacy-Marek Kaminski, explores the world of children and their significant role in current society and its future. The following text is Waldren’s reflection on the book’s importance, supplemented by a selection of images from the volume. 

 

Children have increasingly come into the forefront as culture makers and not just as extensions to the study of adults. At the same time, children are commonly depicted as victims of war, poverty or illness. Cultural values regarding the meaning of children, families, and belonging vary greatly and notions of the child, childhood and identity alter across time and space.

Continue reading “The Importance of Learning from Children” →

Homage to a Historian: A Festschrift for David Warren Sabean

This post was submitted to Berghahn by the authors of Kinship, Community, and Self: Essays in Honor of David Warren Sabean, forthcoming in December 2014.

 

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A Festschrift celebrates a scholar’s entire career. A collection of essays written by students or those inspired by the academic’s work, a Festschrift is typically presented to the honoree on the occasion of her or his 75th birthday.

Continue reading “Homage to a Historian: A Festschrift for David Warren Sabean” →

Lanes of Trade and Belonging in London

Though their significance in London society is not much discussed in historical study, German merchants had a major impact on social and commercial life in England from the seventeenth through nineteenth centuries. Author Margrit Schulte Beerbühl explores this topic in The Forgotten Majority: German Merchants in London, Naturalization, and Global Trade 1660-1815. Following, the author gives a bit more insight into her love of subject and the work to turn this enthusiasm into a book.

 

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What drew you to the study of German merchants in London during this specific time frame (1660-1815)?

 

That period was a black hole in historical research. Academic studies on Germans in London ended with the closure of the Hanseatic Steelyard about 1600 and did not set in again before the end of the Napoleonic Wars.

Continue reading “Lanes of Trade and Belonging in London” →

The Norwegian Constitution, A ‘Living Document’

 

When it was signed May 17, 1814, the Constitution of Norway was considered one of the most radical Constitutions of the day. To celebrate the 200th year since it was first enacted, editors Karen Gammelgaard and Eirik Holmøyvik and their contributors have written a collection of historical accounts about the document. Their book Writing Democracy: The Norwegian Constitution 1814-2014 was published this month. Following, the editors provide more information about the history of this guiding document as well as the history of the volume.

 

 

 

What drew you to the study of the Norwegian Constitution?

 

For researchers in Norway it has been impossible not to be drawn to the Norwegian Constitution these last few years due to the bicentenary in 2014.

Continue reading “The Norwegian Constitution, A ‘Living Document’” →

World Food Day #WFD2014

World Food Day is a day of action against hunger. On October 16th people around the world come together to declare their commitment to eradicate hunger by starting a conversation, learning and educating about food, farming, and hunger. This World Food Day celebrates family farmers for growing our food and caring for the earth. #Toast a Farmer!

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Berghahn is delighted to present some of its relevant titles:

 

FOOD IN ZONES OF CONFLICT
Cross-Disciplinary Perspectives
Edited by Paul Collinson and Helen Macbeth
Foreword by Hugo Slim

Volume 8, Anthropology of Food & Nutrition

Continue reading “World Food Day #WFD2014” →