Author: Daniel Cottom
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN: 0812201698
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 211
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Book Description
It is widely acknowledged that the unhuman plays a significant role in the definition of humanity in contemporary thought. It appears in the thematization of "the Other" in philosophical, psychoanalytic, anthropological, and postcolonial studies, and shows up in the "antihumanism" associated with figures such as Heidegger, Foucault, and Derrida. One might trace its genealogy, as Freud did, to the Copernican, Darwinian, and psychoanalytic revolutions that displaced humanity from the center of the universe. Or as Karl Marx and others suggested, one might lose human identity in the face of economic, technological, political, and ideological forces and structures. With dazzling breadth, wit, and intelligence, Unhuman Culture ranges over literature, art, and theory, ancient to postmodern, to explore the ways in which contemporary culture defines humanity in terms of all that it is not. Daniel Cottom is equally at home reading medieval saints' lives and the fiction of Angela Carter, plumbing the implications of Napoleon's self-coronation and the attacks of 9/11, considering the paintings of Pieter Bruegel and the plastic-surgery-as-performance of the body artist Orlan. For Cottom, the unhuman does not necessarily signify the inhuman, in the sense of conspicuous or extraordinary cruelty. It embraces, too, the superhuman, the supernatural, the demonic, and the subhuman; the supposedly disjunctive animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms; the realms of artifice, technology, and fantasy. It plays a role in theoretical discussions of the sublime, personal memoirs of the Holocaust, aesthetic reflections on technology, economic discourses on globalization, and popular accounts of terrorism. Whereas it once may have seemed that the concept of culture always, by definition, pertained to humanity, it now may seem impossible to avoid the realization that we must look at things differently. It is not only art, in the narrow sense of the word, that we must recognize as unhuman. For better or worse, ours is now an unhuman culture.
Author: Neil L. Whitehead
Publisher: University Press of Colorado
ISBN: 160732170X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 254
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Book Description
Turning an anthropological eye toward cyberspace, Human No More explores how conditions of the online world shape identity, place, culture, and death within virtual communities. Online worlds have recently thrown into question the traditional anthropological conception of place-based ethnography. They break definitions, blur distinctions, and force us to rethink the notion of the "subject." Human No More asks how digital cultures can be integrated and how the ethnography of both the "unhuman" and the "digital" could lead to possible reconfiguring the notion of the "human." This provocative and groundbreaking work challenges fundamental assumptions about the entire field of anthropology. Cross-disciplinary research from well-respected contributors makes this volume vital to the understanding of contemporary human interaction. It will be of interest not only to anthropologists but also to students and scholars of media, communication, popular culture, identity, and technology.
Author: B. G. Ramcharan
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004171479
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 225
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Book Description
As the system of human rights special procedures goes forward to deal with the continuing and new challenges of human rights protection it is of great value to record and recall the considerable body of practice and precedents they have developed for the protection of human rights since the first special procedure was established in the mid 1960s. That is the particular merit of this path-breaking book. The author, who was one of the pioneers in the establishment and operation of the system of special procedures, tells in this book the story of the establishment, history, operations, successes and challenges of the special procedures through the lens of efforts for international protection. In the introduction he summarises their protection roles, which he sets out further in the substantive chapters. In the conclusion he provides an assessment of their protection roles. He notes that while they contribute greatly, the challenges of international protection are still many, and the author invites the international community to a higher level of protection.
Author: Romano Guardini
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1684515653
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 197
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Book Description
Two monumental works on the nature of the modern age by Romano Guardini, one of the most important Catholic figures of the 20th century. This expanded edition of The End of the Modern World: A Search for Orientation includes its sequel, Power and Responsibility: A Course of Action for the New Age. In both, Guardini analyzes modern man's conception of himself in the world, and examines the nature and use of power. It is the principle of individual responsibility that weaves both works into a seamless, comprehensive, and compelling moral statement. Guardini tirelessly argues that human beings are responsible moral agents, possessed of free will, and answerable to God and their fellow man. On The End of the Modern World: "This book will cauterize the spirit of any man who reads it; it will burn away that sentimentality with which so many today view the advent of the new order, imagining – as they do – that a fully technologized universe can retain every significant cultural and traditional value sustained by the past." – Frederick D. Wilhelmsen, founding editor of Triumph magazine and professor at the University of Dallas On Power and Responsibility: "If the characteristic of Hellenic civilization is to be summed up in the word logos, the characteristic of our own is more exactly summed up in the word power. The fact itself is a challenge to the wisdom of man. One is grateful that Romano Guardini has taken up the challenge... I highly recommend the book to all who are wise enough to know today's need to wisdom. That is, I recommend the book to every thoughtful mind." – John Courtney Murray, S.J., architect of the Vatican II "Declaration on Religious Liberty" and author of We Hold These Truths
Author: Mart Susi
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1009407708
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 339
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Book Description
The non-coherence theory of digital human rights has wide academic and practical implications for conceptualization of the digital sphere.
Author: Deborah Lutz
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393246736
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 320
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Book Description
An intimate portrait of the lives and writings of the Brontë sisters, drawn from the objects they possessed. In this unique and lovingly detailed biography of a literary family that has enthralled readers for nearly two centuries, Victorian literature scholar Deborah Lutz illuminates the complex and fascinating lives of the Brontës through the things they wore, stitched, wrote on, and inscribed. By unfolding the histories of the meaningful objects in their family home in Haworth, Lutz immerses readers in a nuanced re-creation of the sisters' daily lives while moving us chronologically forward through the major biographical events: the death of their mother and two sisters, the imaginary kingdoms of their childhood writing, their time as governesses, and their determined efforts to make a mark on the literary world. From the miniature books they made as children to the blackthorn walking sticks they carried on solitary hikes on the moors, each personal possession opens a window onto the sisters' world, their beloved fiction, and the Victorian era. A description of the brass collar worn by Emily’s bull mastiff, Keeper, leads to a series of entertaining anecdotes about the influence of the family’s dogs on their writing and about the relationship of Victorians to their pets in general. The sisters' portable writing desks prove to have played a crucial role in their writing lives: it was Charlotte's snooping in Emily’s desk that led to the sisters' first publication in print, followed later by the publication of Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights. Charlotte's letters provide insight into her relationships, both innocent and illicit, including her relationship with the older professor to whom she wrote passionately. And the bracelet Charlotte had made of Anne and Emily's intertwined hair bears witness to her profound grief after their deaths. Lutz captivatingly shows the Brontës anew by bringing us deep inside the physical world in which they lived and from which their writings took inspiration.
Author: Bertrand G. Ramcharan
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004289038
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 304
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Book Description
The UN Human Rights Council is the leading human rights organ of the United Nations and, ten years after it was established, it has attracted commendation as well as severe criticism. Its universal periodic review is widely recognized as a valuable process of international cooperation to advance the universal implementation of human rights. However, it has been criticized for not acting effectively and fairly in dealing with situations of shocking violations of human rights in many parts of the world. It is an international organ with the highest responsibilities to uphold universal values but, at the same time, it is a political organ of United Nations Member States, and it shows the characteristics of both a values-based body and a theatre of political drama. It is the merit of this book to present the Human Rights Council in terms of its mandates, roles and organization while seeking to remind the membership and the international community at large that the Council must be anchored in the modern human rights law of the Charter - of which the author gives a superb presentation. The book then proceeds to make the case that human rights are part of international constitutional law and this is exceedingly important at a time when universal values have come under stress from various quarters including from terrorist formations. The argument of the book is essentially that the modern human rights law of the Charter and the human rights provisions of international constitutional law must take precedence for everyone, everywhere.
Author: Bertrand Ramcharan
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136657029
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 171
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Book Description
The Human Rights Council is already the subject of major public interest and controversy. The Council is already being criticized for having dropped some of the protection strategies of the former commission and this book aims to present a balanced view of the council, acknowledging where it has made positive contributions, point out its deficiencies, and identify options for improving the body’s future work.
Author: Bertrand G. Ramcharan
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 900438734X
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 257
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Book Description
The universal protection of human rights remains the core challenge of the United Nations if it is to achieve its mission of a world of peace, development and justice. Yet, at a time of seismic changes in the world, when shocking violations of human rights are taking place world-wide, the UN human rights system is in need of urgent modernization. This book, written by a foremost scholar-practitioner who previously exercised the functions of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, advances a series of ideas to modernize the UN protection system. Among a dozen key proposals are that the UN human rights system should help alleviate the plight of the poorest, pay greater attention to the national protection system of each country, and establish a World Court on Human Rights that can deal with countries which grievously violate human rights. Unlike other texts that have focused on those topics, this book not only provides comprehensive analysis but, crucially, offers practical and workable solutions based on the author's significant expertise and experience. Scholars, practitioners, and students of international human rights will benefit immensely from its analysis, insights, perspectives, and proposals. It is a salutary contribution on the 75th anniversary of the UN (2020).
Author: Wouter Vandenhole
Publisher: Intersentia nv
ISBN: 9050955002
Category : Actions and defenses
Languages : en
Pages : 308
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Book Description
As part of a larger research project on harmonisation and convergence among UN human rights treaty bodies, scrutinises convergence and divergence, communality, and related issues. Focuses on five Committees: The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD), the Human Rights Committee (HRC), the International Covenant on Economics, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), the Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).
