A critical and controversial exploration of global events. Looking at examples such as the Olympic games and Live Aid, acclaimed sociologist Chris Rojek suggests that these kind of events are really about power, manipulation and social control.

Throughout the late Middle Ages and the early modern period, the Low Countries were home to a vibrant tradition of lay philosophy in Dutch. Sparks of Reason takes a detailed look at this philosophical tradition, with a special focus on the sixteenth century. During this turbulent century, several authors, such as Dirck Volkertsz Coornhert (1522-1590) and Hendrik Laurensz Spiegel (1549-1612), developed a philosophy which was founded on rationality and self-motivation. This "Vernacular Rational...

Media and Communication traces the historical development of media and communication studies in the 20th century, forming an invaluable resource for students across the discipline as well as cultural studies and sociology.

Taking a distinctive, multi-theoretical look at popular music's place in contemporary society, this book is both an original inquiry and an assessment of the state of popular music - its protagonists, audiences and practices.

In the ‘Anatomy lessons’ that were painted for the Surgeons’ Guild in Amsterdam, the surgeons portrayed, their teachers, the corpse and the dissection are described and discussed.

Gum Arabic is a natural product which grows exclusively in the Sahel and has played an ever increasing role in the global economy. In the time of the crusades, Europeans bought the ingredient in Arab countries. Soon, it was not only used in ink or medicine, but also as a symbol of its putative Arab origin, the noble Orient. Later, gum was bought directly in the countries where it was produced, but western dependence on it grew. As European countries were laying the foundations for their colon...

The year 2024 marks the opening of the new Middle Eastern Library of Leiden University, a purpose-built facility to serve the needs of all those who engage in the study of the Middle East and North Africa from the dawn of history to the present day. To celebrate the occasion, more than 40 authors from Leiden and beyond have contributed to this special volume on the library’s rich and multifaceted Oriental holdings.

Topics range from the Ancient Near East to the material and conservational ...

This is the first single-volume social history of eighteenth-century Dutch Cape Town. Not only does it consider the elite inhabitants such as the 'expat' officials of the Dutch East India Company and the free burghers but it also includes members of Cape Town's underclasses: soldiers and sailors, artisans, convicts, exiles and freed slaves. At the same time the book positions the town in the wider context of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans and stresses its complex connections with Europe, Asia...

An authoritative exploration of the current state of the creative industries, showing how students, researchers, entrepreneurs, practitioners and policy makers can make use of recent advances in the systematic study of the creative process on a population-wide scale.