Cultural Archives of Atrocity

Cultural Archives of Atrocity PDF Author: Muriungi Columba
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 042955723X
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 357

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Book Description
Studies on the aesthetic representations of atrocity the world over have taken different discursive dimensions from history, sociology, political to human rights. These perspectives are usually geared towards understanding the manifestations, extent, political and economic implications of atrocities. In all these cases, representation has been the singular concern. Cultural Archives of Atrocity: Essays on the Protest Tradition in Kenyan Literature, Culture and Society brings together generic ways of interrogating artistic representations of atrocity in Kenya. Couched on interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary and cross-disciplinary approaches, essays in this volume investigate representations of Atrocity in Kenyan Literature, Film, Popular Music and other mediated cultural art forms. Contributors to this volume not only bring on board multiple and competing perspectives on studying atrocity and how they are archived but provide refreshing and valuable insights in examining the artistic and cultural interpellations of atrocity within the socio-political imaginaries of the Kenyan nation. This volume forms part of the growing critical resources for scholars undertaking studies on atrocity within the fields of ethnic studies, cultural studies, postcolonial studies, peace and conflict, criminology, psychology, political economy and history in Kenya.

Cultural Archives of Atrocity

Cultural Archives of Atrocity PDF Author: Muriungi Columba
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 042955723X
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 357

Get Book Here

Book Description
Studies on the aesthetic representations of atrocity the world over have taken different discursive dimensions from history, sociology, political to human rights. These perspectives are usually geared towards understanding the manifestations, extent, political and economic implications of atrocities. In all these cases, representation has been the singular concern. Cultural Archives of Atrocity: Essays on the Protest Tradition in Kenyan Literature, Culture and Society brings together generic ways of interrogating artistic representations of atrocity in Kenya. Couched on interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary and cross-disciplinary approaches, essays in this volume investigate representations of Atrocity in Kenyan Literature, Film, Popular Music and other mediated cultural art forms. Contributors to this volume not only bring on board multiple and competing perspectives on studying atrocity and how they are archived but provide refreshing and valuable insights in examining the artistic and cultural interpellations of atrocity within the socio-political imaginaries of the Kenyan nation. This volume forms part of the growing critical resources for scholars undertaking studies on atrocity within the fields of ethnic studies, cultural studies, postcolonial studies, peace and conflict, criminology, psychology, political economy and history in Kenya.

The Seizure of Saddam Hussein's Archive of Atrocity

The Seizure of Saddam Hussein's Archive of Atrocity PDF Author: Bruce P. Montgomery
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1498556981
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 259

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Book Description
The Seizure of Saddam Hussein's Archive of Atrocity examines the capture of the Baathist security files and the discovery of an invaluable Iraqi Jewish archive amid the Kurdish uprising and the US-led invasion of Iraq. The events ignited a fierce struggle for the files, which documented Saddam Hussein’s vast humanitarian crimes. The various battles to control the memory of Saddam Hussein's genocidal regime and reclaim Jewish patrimony reflected Iraq's inability to confront its past. The author examines these controversies, arguing that Iraq's failure to face its totalitarian history has condemned it to a future of vengeance.

The Atrocity Archives

The Atrocity Archives PDF Author: Charles Stross
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101208848
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 369

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Book Description
The first novel in Hugo Award-winning author Charles Stross's witty Laundry Files series. Bob Howard is a low-level techie working for a super-secret government agency. While his colleagues are out saving the world, Bob's under a desk restoring lost data. His world was dull and safe - but then he went and got Noticed. Now, Bob is up to his neck in spycraft, parallel universes, dimension-hopping terrorists, monstrous elder gods and the end of the world. Only one thing is certain: it will take more than a full system reboot to sort this mess out . . .

Exhibiting Atrocity

Exhibiting Atrocity PDF Author: Amy Sodaro
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
ISBN: 0813592178
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 227

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Book Description
Today, nearly any group or nation with violence in its past has constructed or is planning a memorial museum as a mechanism for confronting past trauma, often together with truth commissions, trials, and/or other symbolic or material reparations. Exhibiting Atrocity documents the emergence of the memorial museum as a new cultural form of commemoration, and analyzes its use in efforts to come to terms with past political violence and to promote democracy and human rights. Through a global comparative approach, Amy Sodaro uses in-depth case studies of five exemplary memorial museums that commemorate a range of violent pasts and allow for a chronological and global examination of the trend: the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC; the House of Terror in Budapest, Hungary; the Kigali Genocide Memorial Centre in Rwanda; the Museum of Memory and Human Rights in Santiago, Chile; and the National September 11 Memorial Museum in New York. Together, these case studies illustrate the historical emergence and global spread of the memorial museum and show how this new cultural form of commemoration is intended to be used in contemporary societies around the world.

Journey to Albania; Land of Besa

Journey to Albania; Land of Besa PDF Author: Kalman Dubov
Publisher: Kalman Dubov
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 204

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Book Description
Although tiny in comparison with other European countries, Albania looms large in terms of its people, culture and history. Blessed by an abundance of natural resources, together with the resourcefulness of its people, it stands strong in the face of much larger countries that have tried to control it and subjugate its people. In the face of overwhelming odds, Albania stood firm, refusing to be subdued to others despite that dominant country remaining on its soil for centuries. Descendants from the ancient Illyrians, a relatively unknown group, together with an obscure language unlike any other in Europe, its people are a mystery and a conundrum in the face of larger and more powerful countries. The Ottoman Empire, for example, dominated Albania and the Balkans for five centuries, but were unable to subjugate these people. Albanian embers for independence were nurtured and kept alive until, in the end, it achieved its national aspirations. Its core identity remained unchanged and strong in the face of such challenge. Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of Albanian is the concept of besa, a term denoting a code of honor. Once given to another, whether an Albanian or a stranger, the Albanian would rather forfeit his life than violate this code and promise. It was due to this concept and code that Jews in Albania, were protected and every manner of succor was extended to them. Albania remains the only country in Nazi-occupied Europe when at the end of that world war there was an increase in its Jewish population rather than the reverse. The Nazis considered the Jewish population in Albania to be about 200 persons. In fact, by war’s end, 2,000 people emerged, relating tales of the extraordinary courage and heroism extended to them by either Muslim or Christian Albanians. To date the State of Israel’s Yad Vashem has recognized 75 Albanians for its prestigious award of Righteous Among the Nations. Ironically, the very same code of honor that protected Jews during World War Two is now used by Albanians to perpetrate criminality across the world. The Albanian Mafia controls a vast international enterprise, overseeing every form of crime. At its basest element, the clannish hallmark of its membership is based on familial connections, with the code of besa given to its leadership and other members. Thereby, all in the clan are considered family for whom the code connects and protects, demanding total unquestioned obedience. Efforts to infiltrate these clans has proven an impossible task because of the interconnected webs of duty and control exerted on all in that organization. Betrayal of the clan is a violation of family and community so that total obedience is a given at all times. Hence, the same nobility of besa is also used negatively, against society and normative social frameworks. In addition, Albania still retains the cultural phenomenon of the ‘third sex’ where women become ‘sworn virgins.’ They are released from their traditional feminine role and become a ‘man,’ doing so by a formal oath given to twelve elders in the community. Afterwards, none may remind this ‘man’ of a previous life as a woman. Though the number of sworn virgins in Albania is small, it is still present and any woman may assume this transformation despite modernity and its claims of equality. The Albanian diet reflects its Mediterranean culture, using olive oil and an array of vegetables that provides an abundance of health to its people. There is much to learn from this ancient society. I hope this book does justice to the many traditions and culture of this unique people.

Essays on Diverse Topics

Essays on Diverse Topics PDF Author: Kalman Dubov
Publisher: Kalman Dubov
ISBN:
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 216

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Book Description
This revised and updated volume includes twenty-two essays on timely topics. The volume begins with topics on Judaism and Jewish Ideology, the book reviews the multiplicity of languages Jewish people used throughout their history. At last count, these number 55, an amazing way to create a localized language for daily interaction, rather than use Hebrew, the sacred language reserved for prayer and study. The brief review of Lurianic Kabbalah follows, together with a discussion of human suffering. The mystery of Ashkenazic Jewry follows, offering a serious question to this dilemma. What follows is an exposition on the Jewish law of 'mosur' the informer, and the many issues affecting sexual predation in ultra-Orthodox Judaism, both in the United States and Australia as in Israel. The Cairo Genizah reviews how two Scottish sisters brought the Book of Ecclesiasticus to Cambridge and the vast treasure of Cairo brought to Cambridge and other universities to examine this ancient repository. The issue of Apostate Rabbis follows discussing several rabbis who converted to Christianity. I then discuss the Radhanites, the mysterious group of super-merchants who traveled from France to China and back for about 500 years, centuries before Marco Polo. I then discuss Chabad Messianism, a topic of interest as Chabad expands its message across the globe. Several topics follow: Medieval Blood Libel, the mystery of Jews in Sri Lanka, today a minimal number but in earlier centuries numbering several thousand. I then discuss several topics on the human condition, essays designed to reflect on Man's ethical dilemma of life in the post-World War Two era. I then discuss the two original ideas regarding religion. One of these is attributed to the Patriarch Abraham, whose reflection on Deity and how to relate to spirituality predominates in the three great Western religions. The other original thought is found in Hinduism, reflecting an entirely different way to relate to Deity. Because Hinduism is a Far Eastern phenomenon, not readily accessible in the West, I’ve included an overview of Hinduism, so that the Western and Jewish views can be appreciated. A new topic reflect on the Atrocity Soul and its counterpart, reflecting of the Son of Darkness and the Son of Light, each bringing messages, one of despair and darkness and the other of hope and redemption. While these persons may be religious, it is not a primary matter to the Son of Light, but their message of hope predominates. I conclude the book with a discussion on Calculating Zero, an advancement only made twice in human history: in the New World by the Maya and by the ancient Mesopotamians. Each of the essays and reviews reflects my understanding of these, and other, diverse topics. Each essay provides grist for discussion and reflection.

Creative Hustling

Creative Hustling PDF Author: Robin Steedman
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262372673
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 219

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Book Description
The first book-length study of Nairobi-based female filmmakers—and how their dogged pursuit of opportunities, innovation, and cultural support is defining an industry. Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, is home to something extraordinary and unlikely: in this city, the most critically acclaimed filmmakers—both directors and producers—are women. Yet, across the globe, women make up less than 10 percent of film directors. In Creative Hustling, Robin Steedman takes a closer look at these remarkable women filmmakers, viewing them not only as auteurs, but also as entrepreneurs, who are taking the lead in creating a vibrant, and atypical, screen media industry. To understand their achievement, Steedman theorizes hustling as not only a practice born out of necessity but also an inventive labor in its own right—one that can create new spaces of community by carving new entrepreneurial pathways. Through original empirical field research gathered over eight months in Nairobi, Steedman describes how female filmmakers go about trying to create their films, as well as the challenges they face in distributing those films in their local market. Along the way, she traces the history of the industry over the last fifteen years, the lack of state support for these filmmakers’ undertakings, the low social standing of the profession, and the transnational conflicts that arise when Euro-American funding is at the heart of Kenyan cinema. Creative Hustling is a major contribution to the task of de-Westernizing media industry studies, imparting important lessons about what it takes to create and distribute creative work in a global age increasingly marked by uncertain work.

Displaced Archives

Displaced Archives PDF Author: James Lowry
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 131714953X
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 239

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Book Description
Displaced archives have long been a problem and their existence continues to trouble archivists, historians and government officials. Displaced Archives brings together leading international experts to comprehensively explore the current state of affairs for the first time. Drawing on case studies from around the world, the authors examine displaced archives as a consequence of conflict and colonialism, analysing their impact on government administration, nation building, human rights and justice. Renewed action is advocated through considerations of the legal approaches to repatriation, the role of the international archival community, ‘shared heritage’ approaches and other solutions. The volume offers new theoretical, technical and political insights and will be essential reading for practitioners, academics and students in the field of archives, cultural property and heritage management, as well as history, politics and international relations.

Insidious Trauma in Eastern African Literatures and Cultures

Insidious Trauma in Eastern African Literatures and Cultures PDF Author: Norman Saadi Nikro
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 104008673X
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 182

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Book Description
This book investigates the thematic and conceptual dimensions of insidious trauma in contemporary eastern African literatures and cultural productions. The book extends our understanding of trauma beyond people’s immediate and conventional experiences of disastrous events and incidents, instead considering how trauma is sustained in the aftermaths, continuing to impact livelihoods, and familial, social, and gender relationships. Drawing on different circumstances and experiences across and between the eastern African region, the book explores how emerging cultural practices involve varying modes of narrating, representing, and thematising insidious trauma. In doing so, the book considers different forms and practices of cultural production, including fashion, social media, film, and literature, in order to uncover how human subjects and cultural artefacts circulate through modalities of social, cultural and political ecologies. Transdisciplinary in scope and showcasing the work of experts from across the region, this book will be an important guide for researchers across literature, media studies, sociology, and trauma studies.

Routledge Handbook of Minority Discourses in African Literature

Routledge Handbook of Minority Discourses in African Literature PDF Author: Tanure Ojaide
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000053059
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 526

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Book Description
This handbook provides a critical overview of literature dealing with groups of people or regions that suffer marginalization within Africa. The contributors examine a multiplicity of minority discourses expressed in African literature, including those who are culturally, socially, politically, religiously, economically, and sexually marginalized in literary and artistic creations. Chapters and sections of the book are structured to identify major areas of minority articulation of their condition and strategies deployed against the repression, persecution, oppression, suppression, domination, and tyranny of the majority or dominant group. Bringing together diverse perspectives to give a holistic representation of the African reality, this handbook is an important read for scholars and students of comparative and postcolonial literature and African studies.