The legends of the Japanese warrior-statesmen, referred to as the samurai, are renowned for accounts of military valor and political intrigue—epic conflicts between powerful lords, samurai vassals, and the imperial court—as well as accounts of profound self-sacrifice and loyalty. The term samurai is derived from the word saburau, or “one who serves.” The evolution of the samurai from mo…
This study offers a radically new perspective on Dutch Neorealism, one that emphasizes the role of film as an apparatus, the effects of which, when emulated in painting, can reproduce the affective experience of film-watching. More of a tendency than a tightly defined style or "ism," Neorealism is the Dutch variant of Magic Realism, an uncanny mode of figurative painting identified with Neue Sa…
In the late fifth century, a girl whose name has been forgotten by history was born at the edge of the Chinese empire. By the time of her death, she had transformed herself into Empress Dowager Ling, one of the most powerful politicians of her age and one of the first of many Buddhist women to wield incredible influence in dynastic East Asia. In this book, Stephanie Balkwill documents the Empre…
The nineteenth century witnessed a series of revolutions in the production, circulation, and reproduction of images. Thanks to changes in printing and imaging technology and shifts in the practices of artists, publishers, and photographers, images became more readily available, in a wider range of media than ever before. Working in the new field of lithography,…
How can we learn to notice the signs of disability? We see indications of disability everywhere: yellow diamond-shaped “deaf person in area” road signs, the telltale shapes of hearing aids, or white-tipped canes sweeping across footpaths. But even though the signs are ubiquitous, Stephanie L. Kerschbaum argues that disability may still not be perceived due to a process she terms “dis-atte…
Perhaps the best way to approach this volume on Buddhist statecraft is with the following observation in mind: the proper functioning of the state is a Buddhist concern. Throughout the history of the tradition, Buddhist have engaged questions of statecraft in their creation and propagation of texts, doctrines, rituals, institutions, and visual cultures. Political actors have, in turn, employed …
In the history of religions, tasks such as curing bodily ailments, treating the sick, and dealing with dying were often assigned to religious experts. Con-cepts such as the body, illness, and health were anchored in the world views and practices of the respective religious traditions. As Pamela Klassen (2016: 401) writes: “Medical knowledge and techniques have often emerged di-rectly…
As population estimates for 2050 reach over 9 billion, issues of food security and nutrition have been dominating academic and policy debates. A total of 805 million people are undernourished worldwide and malnutrition affects nearly every country on the planet. Despite impressive productivity increases, there is growing evidence that conventional agricultural strategies fall short of eliminati…
I have always asked myself many questions, very profound questions. The kind of questions that are called existential questions. I have always wanted to know the reason for my life, the reason for all of our lives. Who am I? Why do I exist? Why do others exist? What are we doing here? Have we come here for anything in particular? Why are we born, why do we die? Where do we come from and where a…
Amaya Jasmine Koesoemo tak pernah menduga, satu minggu bisa mengubah seluruh jalan hidupnya. Tujuh hari. Seratus lima puluh empat jam. Dan bum! Semua masa depan yang telah Amaya rancang bersama Caleb buyar begitu saja. Pertemuannya kembali dengan Dirgantara Hidayat setelah enam tahun berselang, ternyata mampu membangkitkan kembali kisah lama di antara mereka, kisah yang dulu diakhiri bahkan s…