The Pacific Islands region has entered a new period of uncertainty precipitated in large part by the emergence of China as a major regional actor as well as the reaction of more established powers to perceived threats to their longstanding influence. In March 2019, in the wake of a flurry of activity on the part of Australia, New Zealand and the United States …
In the words of one of her exegetes, Paula Rego enters the Great Tradition of art by the back door, and once there lays down repeated visual statements concerning a binary world whose territorial lines are demarcated by the battle of the sexes (Rosengarten, 1999a, 6). In this pictorial universe, whose referent is realpolitik patriarchy, sex…
Since 1948, the study of human rights has been dominated by legal scholarship that has sought to investigate the development of human rights law, emerging jurisprudence, regional systems, the decisions and recommendations of human rights mechanisms and institutions and to a lesser extent the ‘compliance gaps’ between state commitments and actions. Even so, in all of these spheres there are …
Although they constantly shape behavior and nudge people to act in certain ways, norms tend to be taken for granted. Taking off shoes or removing a hat when entering a sacred space are not merely the result of individual decisions made upon crossing the threshold of a temple; they are appropriate ways of acting in that specific context and they signal conformity with a norm. This can also be no…
Few studies have addressed recent emigration from European countries. The refu-gee crisis and migratory pressure have helped keep academic attention over the last few decades focused on immigration, asylum, reception and integration in Europe. However, these dynamics promoting entries into European countries coexist with other fairly significant dynamics promoting departures fro…
We believe that by joining forces and harmonizing diverse theories, sources and methods of different academic traditions like those from China and Japan, the field of global history receives a new impulse through diverse case studies. The constant participation of special-ists in this field is crucial, as they share their experiences and new …
More than half of the world’s population currently lives in cities and this share is to increase to 75?% by 2050. Today the most urbanized regions are Northern America (82?%), Latin America and the Caribbean (80?%), and Europe (73%) (FAO, 2015). The growing population of urban centers and the contributions of urbanization to global environmental change have increased the attention to the sust…
Western and eastern values of society underscore the family as a fundamental social structure and institution.1 The family reveals the most significant sociocultural features of European communi-ties in a given context, and these become central communication channels back to the family. This idea asserts James Casey’s axiom that family and society are part of a single unit.2The family is at t…
Synthetic biology raises the possibility that pathogenic bioweapons could be designed, developed, and deployed in new ways that diverge from the disease-causing characteristics of naturally occurring pathogens (NAS 2018). Traditionally, only known pathogens found naturally in the environment, such as B. anthracis and Y. pestis, were developed as biological weapons because o…
The brief literature review above demonstrates the necessity of a compre-hensive inquiry into the methodological ramifications of the “world-Christian turn”. This volume gives methodology the center stage and aspires to spark the debate on methodology. To that end, we as editors have purposely invited a diverse group of contributors from a variety of academic backgrounds (anthr…