Tag: europe

Berghahn Author Asks: ‘Quo Vadis FEMEN?’

FEMEN is a Ukrainian feminist protest group that has become infamous for its topless protests against patriarchy. The group, founded in 2008, has since grown to be a worldwide phenomenon, and not simply because its protests are often seen as “sextreme.” Marian Rubchak, editor of Mapping Difference: The Many Faces of Women in Contemporary Ukraine, takes a look into the history and meaning of the movement, and asks: Where is it going? 

 

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Marian Rubchak

The year was 2008; 17 years had passed since Ukraine declared its independence and early advocates of change began to espouse high-minded ideals designed to promote women’s rights. These incipient feminists laid the groundwork for raising an awareness of discrimination against women, and were instrumental in advancing the passage of some of the most progressive pro-women legislation Ukraine had yet seen. Fast forward to 2008 — the promising beginnings were moving very slowly, too slowly. Clearly the work of reform would need to proceed to a higher level.

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European Thought: The ‘Gift’ that Keeps Giving

Is the spread of Western, specifically European, thought truly a gift to the rest of the world, or is this dissemination simply a way of exerting cultural power? Vassos Argyrou seeks an answer to this question in his newly released volume The Gift of European Thought and the Cost of Living. Below, the author explains his inspiration for—and the challenges and rewards of—writing the book, published September 2013.

 

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Berghahn Books: What drew you to the study of “European Thought” and what are some examples of this?

 

Vassos Argyrou: “European thought” is a term that in a certain sense was imposed on me as it was used to make the highly contentious claim that it’s a gift to the rest of the world. It refers not only to an intellectual tradition but also to a way of life or culture—European or,  more broadly, Western culture.

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Remembering African-German Points of Contact

Eight centuries of German and African interactions up until World War I are often glossed over in historical literature.  The contributors to Germany and the Black Diaspora: Points of Contact, 1250-1914, published last month, seek to illuminate these intersections and share popular sentiments of the time. Below, co-editor Martin Klimke describes a significant—and still remarkable—relic of this pre-WWI period.

 

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For more than ten years now, visitors to the German Historical Museum in Berlin have paused in amazement before a painting unlike any other in the museum’s collection.

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Bittersweet Europe: A Study of Albania and Georgia

Adrian Brisku connects two seemingly disconnected European experiences—those of Georgia and Albania—in Bittersweet Europe: Albanian and Georgian Discourses on Europe, 1878-2008, to be published this month. Brisku shares the triumphs and difficulties of the writing process, and what interested him in the area to begin with, below.

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Berghahn Books: What drew you to the study of Albania and Georgia, especially as they exist within the larger European framework?

 

Adrian Brisku: I had written about Albanian debates on ‘Europe’ while living in Georgia—from the year 2001 to 2005.

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Happy Bastille Day- A Brief History of the Holiday and French Revolution Resources from Berghahn

Most national days celebrate about what you would expect a national day to celebrate. Some, like the national days of the United States, Albania, and Haiti mark the signing of a declaration of independence from a colonial power. Other countries, like much of Africa, choose to remember the day the colonial power actually left. Countries like Germany and Italy celebrate unification. Others are a little quirkier, like Austria which celebrates its declaration of neutrality and Luxembourg which honors the Grand Duke’s birthday. A handful of countries such as the United Kingdom and Denmark have no national holiday. But few countries can top France for the sheer coolness of their national day which commemorates the day an angry mob stormed a prison. Continue reading “Happy Bastille Day- A Brief History of the Holiday and French Revolution Resources from Berghahn” →

New to Berghahn Journals- European Comic Art

The release of the July 2012 issue of European Comic Art has been a big deal around our offices because it marks the journal’s relaunch as a Berghahn title. Published in partnership with the American Bande Dessinée Society and the International Bande Dessinée Society, it is the first English-language journal devoted to European graphic novels and comic strips.  Continue reading “New to Berghahn Journals- European Comic Art” →

Interview with the Editor- Gemma Blackshaw, Co-Editor of Journeys into Madness: Mapping Mental Illness in the Austro-Hungarian Empire

Gemma Blackshaw, along with Sabine Wieber, is one of the editors of Journeys into Madness: Mapping Mental Illness  in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In her own contribution to the volume, she discusses the work and life of Viennese author and poet and Peter Altenberg. Here, she answers questions about her research and herself.

1. What drew you to Peter Altenberg as a topic?
A caricature of Altenberg was chosen as the poster image for the Madness & Modernity exhibition I curated with Leslie Topp and Sabine Wieber, which looked at the relationship between mental illness and the visual arts in Vienna circa 1900 (Wellcome Collection, London and Wien Museum, Vienna, 2009-10). It was a last-minute addition to the exhibition, gratefully received from the Neue Galerie Museum for Austrian and German Art in New York, and I had little time to research its history. I touched upon Altenberg’s own experience of what was termed ‘nervous disorder’ in the accompanying catalogue in an essay on the artist Oskar Kokoschka, who painted Altenberg’s portrait in 1909, and made a mental note to follow up what seemed to me to be an intriguing set of questions: was Altenberg as ‘mad’ as he appeared in the caricature; did an answer to that question even matter; what were the circumstances of his being institutionalised; what was the value and the differences in being represented, and representing yourself, as ‘mad’? These questions formed the starting point of a long research journey which became so compelling a trail that I produced not only this essay but also a documentary film collaboration with artist and filmmaker David Bickerstaff titled Altenberg: The Little Pocket Mirror. Continue reading “Interview with the Editor- Gemma Blackshaw, Co-Editor of Journeys into Madness: Mapping Mental Illness in the Austro-Hungarian Empire” →

Hot Off the Presses- New Book Releases

European Foundations of the Welfare State, by Franz-Xavier Kaufmann, translated by John Veit-Wilson, foreword by Anthony B. Atkinson

Fortune and the Cursed, the Sliding Scale of Time in Mongolian Divination, by Katherine Swancutt

Investigating Srebrenica: Institutions, Facts, Responsibilities, edited by Isabelle Delpla, Xavier Bougarel, and Jean-Louis Fourn

Journeys into Madness: Mapping Mental Illness in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, edited by Gemma Blackshaw and Sabine Wieber

Learning from the Children: Childhood, Identity and Culture in a Changing World, edited by Jacqueline Waldren and Ignacy-Marek Kaminski

A Lover’s Quarrel with the Past: Romance, Representation, Reading, by Ranjan Ghosh

The Making of the Pentecostal Melodrama: Religion, Gender and Media in Kinshasa, by Katrien Pype

Ordinary Lives and Grand Schemes: An Anthropology of Everyday Religion, edited by Samuli Schielke and Liza Debevec

The Politics of Educational Reform in the Middle East: Self and Other in Textbooks and Curricula, edited by Samira Alayan and Achim Rohde, and Sarhan Dhouib

Revisiting Feminist Approaches to Art Therapy, edited by Susan Hogan

Event Announcement: Book Launch for Journeys into Madness: Mapping Mental Illness in the Austro-Hungarian Empire

The latest addition to Berghahn’s Austrian and Habsburg Studies series, Journeys into Madness, co-edited by Gemma Blackshaw and Sabine Wieber, launches at the Freud Museum London on 26 June 2012. The editors, along with many of the authors, will be there to talk to members of the public about the book, and advance copies will be available to purchase at the event. Gemma’s essay for the book considers the intriguing case of the ‘mad’ Austrian writer, Peter Altenberg. The book launch is combined with the UK première of her recent documentary film collaboration with award-winning artist and filmmaker David Bickerstaff, Peter Altenberg: The Little Pocket Mirror, which introduces the life and work of this troubled man to English-speaking audiences. To find out more information, and to book a place to attend the book launch and film screening see http://www.freud.org.uk/events/74694/altenberg-the-little-pocket-mirror/. Continue reading “Event Announcement: Book Launch for Journeys into Madness: Mapping Mental Illness in the Austro-Hungarian Empire” →

Hot Off the Presses- New Book Releases

Recent Releases from Berghahn Books:
Ambiguous Pleasures: Sexuality and Middle-Class Self-Perceptions in Nairobi, by Rachel Spronk
Collaborators Collaborating: Counterparts in Anthropological Knowledge and International Research Relations, edited by Monica Konrad
Conversion and the Politics of Religion in Early Modern Germany, edited by David M. Luebke, Jared Poley, Daniel C. Riley, and Warren Sabean
Cultures of Colour: Visual, Material, Textual, edited by Chris Horrocks
Czechs, Germans, Jews: National Identity and the Jews of Bohemia, by Kate?ina ?apková, translated by Derek and Marzia Paton
Dark Trophies: Hunting and the Enemy Body in Modern War, by Simon Harrison
Marginal at the Center: The Life Story of a Public Sociologist, by Baruch Kimmerling, translated by Diana Kimmerling
Moving Subjects, Moving Objects: Transnationalism, Cultural Production and Emotions, edited by Maruška Svašek
Postcolonial Migrants and Identity Politics: Europe, Russia, Japan, and the United States in Comparison, edited by Ulbe Bosma, Jan Lucassen, Gert Oostindie
Walls, Borders, Boundaries: Spatial and Cultural Practices in Europe, edited by Marc Silberman, Karen E. Till, and Janet Ward