Captioned Landscapes: Intermedial Combinations Beyond the Human

Volume 2: Representations

Edited by Marco Maggi, Università della Svizzera italiana, Switzerland

'Captioned Landscapes' is the first comprehensive monograph on intermedial combinations between writing and natural environments. Writing is traditionally considered as a distinctive sign of the human; interrogating its interactions with the world beyond the human means questioning its presumed centrality and separateness. The multiple angles from which these combinations are studied in this two-volume anthology are relevant for questions regarding the ontologies that structure the relationships between human and non-human, as well as for questions of ideology, interculturality, memory, gender and the postcolonial. Landscape reception studies usually assume not only a distinction but also a separation between the human and the non-human, attributing the privilege of subjectivity only to the former. This dualistic paradigm has been recently replaced by intermedial ecocriticism, which conceives the relationship between human and non-human as a negotiation without rigid and pre-established roles. However, attention has been focused so far on the representations (verbal, but also visual) of these relationships. In this monograph, for the first time, instead of representations of natural environments (in writing or other media), intermedial combinations between writing and landscapes are taken into account; particular attention is also paid, in the second volume, to verbal and visual representations of these combinations. The book addresses Intermedial and Visual Studies and Environmental Humanities scholars. Because of the specific focus on combinations of writing, landscape, and verbal and visual representations of the latter, the book is also aimed at scholars of Literature, Garden and Landscape Design and History, and Visual Arts. By virtue of the case study approach in the chapters and the general theoretical framework provided in the introduction, the book also addresses students of all these disciplines.

Human Rights and Social Concerns

Edited by Brian Gran, Case Western Reserve University

Reimagining Work

Bridging Innovation and Human Dignity in Remote and Hybrid Workspaces

Edited by Leigh Maxwell, Edgewood University

In a world permanently changed by the COVID-19 pandemic, 'Reimagining Work' offers a timely and urgent exploration of how work is being reshaped—and how it should be. This interdisciplinary volume brings together scholars and practitioners from communication, leadership, education, psychology, and organizational development to confront the challenges and possibilities of the evolving workplace. More than a reflection on remote and hybrid trends, this book is a call to rethink foundational questions: How do we honor human dignity in technologically mediated environments? What leadership strategies are needed to navigate generational dynamics, digital fatigue, and rapid innovation? How do communication technologies both enable and constrain productivity, connection, and inclusion? With historical depth and forward-looking insight, the contributors examine four central themes: (1) the theoretical and historical underpinnings of communication in digital workspaces; (2) the unique strengths and tensions of multigenerational teams; (3) the influence of communication technology on collaboration and performance; and (4) the ethical responsibilities of leaders in shaping a future of work that is both innovative and humane. At its core, 'Reimagining Work' centers the human experience. It argues that while AI and digital platforms are vital, they must serve—not replace—empathy, agency, and community. Leaders and organizations must design systems that are not only efficient and adaptable but also inclusive, equitable, and responsive to diverse needs. Whether you are an academic, a manager, a student, or a policymaker, this volume equips you with insights and frameworks to actively shape a future of work where technological advancement and human flourishing go hand in hand.

Teaching and Learning Classics at the University Level Vol. 4

Texts, Scholarship & Research

Edited by Alberto Regagliolo, UKSW University

'Teaching and Learning Classics at the University Level, Vol. 4' focuses on the teaching of literature, digital approaches, and research methodologies in Greek and Roman antiquity. The 14 chapters examine the approaches to teaching key topics, including Digital Humanities, the use of digital tools in the study of antiquity, academic research in ancient history, ancient philosophy and rhetoric, as well as palaeography, codicology, papyrology, and textual criticism. They also explore the teaching of major literary traditions, including Homer, Roman epic poetry, Late Antique Latin literature, and Medieval and Modern Latin drama, as well as innovative approaches such as mapping and employability within Classics. Presenting teaching as a reflective and research-informed activity, this volume is intended for university lecturers, teacher trainers, and graduate students interested in classical literature, digital humanities, and research-based approaches to the study of antiquity in higher education.

The Spirit of Marronage

Expressions of Afrikan Indigenous Self-Determination

Edited by Diana J. Fox, Bridgewater State University et al.

‘The Spirit of Marronage: Expressions of Afrikan Indigenous Self-Determination’ chronicles the rise of the United Maroon Indigenous Peoples (UMIP), a global movement rooted in the spiritual and political legacies of Afrikan-descended Indigenous communities. Interweaving scholarly discussions, critical personal narrative, poetry, visual art, and Indigenous curricula, the book explores sovereignty through land-based relations, communal governance, and sacred practices. It documents pivotal Maroon gatherings and outlines UMIP’s six founding pillars: Kpaale (Diasporic Citizenship and Spirituality), Mbongi (Learning Together), Uhuru (Freedom and Reparations), Gayap (Working for Common Cause), Ujima (Collective Responsibility), and Livity (Living Maroon Values). Serving as both an archive for Maroons and a guide for Indigenous Peoples reclaiming culture, it calls for shifts in academic engagement toward authentic allyship—centering Indigenous knowledges to transform relationships from transactional to reciprocal, and analyses from removed to restorative. A vital resource for educators, researchers, and activists pursuing ecological and social justice.

Sustainability as a Global Culture

The Political Economy of the SDGs and Mispricing of the Future

Haluk Haksal

The economics of sustainability begins with how the global economy assigns value. The global pricing system is structurally misaligned with sustainability imperatives. Sustainability is a macroeconomic coordination problem. Sustainable investment constitutes the primary economic transmission mechanism through which sustainability becomes operational. This study defines sustainability as a global culture, understood as the internalisation of sustainability in economic preferences. Sustainability transforms firms’ cost structures, with profound implications for cash-flow dynamics and risk exposure, thereby influencing the valuation of investment. Do we recognise sustainability not merely as a constraint, but as a meaningful and permanent way of life? Do we see ourselves as part of this global culture? The analysis integrates insights from political economy, behavioural economics, and corporate finance to develop a political-economic framework of sustainable investment, addressing topics such as carbon pricing, alternative measures to GDP, nudges, and real options. Designed for researchers, students, policymakers, practitioners, and general readers, the book combines analytical rigour with accessibility through dual chapter summaries that translate complex ideas into intuitive insights. It offers both a diagnostic framework and a pathway for aligning economic systems with planetary limits and human well-being.

Not by Leviathan alone

An exercise in post-nation-state worlding

Madina Tlostanova, Linköping University, Sweden

The book is an open-ended, meta-critical reflection on the discrepancy between the nation-state as an institution and contemporary and future (geo)political, social, enviro-climatic, technological and onto-epistemic challenges, written primarily from the position of the systematically excluded from the identification frameworks of the nation-state. Epistemically, the work stems from the decolonial and indigenous critique of coloniality of knowledge and from feminist skepticism towards objectivist, rationalist thinking modes. The author invites the readers to imagine other possible ways of political organization that would contribute to extending life on Earth, and the paths to their implementation. Without aiming at an exhaustive overview of the existing opinions on this vast topic or offering a single correct recipe for the emerging post-state political development, the book experiments instead with various tools, stimulating the readers to relearn how to imagine politically. The established methods, such as thinking together and arguing with authors from different areas and disciplines - from postcolonial studies, decolonial feminist positions to indigenous and libertarian anarchist stances, from critical environmental humanities to techno-fix pseudo-solutions and neo-imperial geopolitical accounts, are intertwined with engaging conversations with political/social/cultural activists, artists and thinkers and with experimental speculative fiction using creative writing as a mode of inquiry. Through its co-creative interactive style, this trans- and post-disciplinary work invites the audience to engage in praxis beyond the actual reading of the book. The book can be used in undergraduate and graduate elective courses in migration studies, critical security studies, human geography, decolonial and postcolonial studies, environmental humanities. It will be of interest to social, political and cultural activists, artists and writers and to broader audiences concerned with the question of whether and how it is possible to live politically beyond the nation-state, without sliding into (neo)imperial, totalitarian or corporate specters.

The Origin of Emergence

A Guide to Samuel Alexander’s 'Space, Time, and Deity'

Daniel Paksi, Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BUTE), Hungary

The universe evolves from a singularity of Space-Time. Life evolves from a singular replicative cell. Mind evolves in a singular living body in every individual case. We are living in an evolving universe. The concept of emergence tries to express the point of this process we can see everywhere. This is the reason that it has become so widespread both in philosophy and science. However, the use and meaning of the concept are quite different in the various fields; we have no real understanding of what the emergence of the universe or life means. The concept of emergence stems from Samuel Alexander’s 'Space, Time, and Deity' (1920). However, no one reads Alexander anymore and thus no one is familiar with the original concept. On the contrary, we often use it in an exactly opposite sense. For example, Lee Smolin, a physicist, to propose a solution for the problems of contemporary physics, writes in his book 'Time Reborn' that the only thing in the universe which is not emergent is Time. However, according to Alexander, we are living in an evolving universe because Time is emergent and the fundament of existence is Space-Time. Time is the ordering principle of change and emergence; there is nothing more. The universe starts with the first manifestation of Time in Space, that is, by a singularity of Space-Time. Matter, life, and mind are all unfolding developments of this process. Every thing or being in the universe is but an emergent spatiotemporal complex. We die because our (biological) time is, in the literal sense, gone. The goal of this book is to present the original concept of emergence in the twenty-first-century modern context, which no one has ever done before, and show that it is perfectly coherent with the scientific discoveries of the last century.

A Materialist Social Theory of the Idea

Erwin James Casareno

"A Materialist Social Theory of the Idea" advances a unified theoretical framework for understanding how ideas emerge, circulate, and materialize in the world. Rejecting both classical Idealism and reductive Materialism, the book develops a neuromaterialist approach that defines ideas as physically instantiated patterns of neural activity and traces their effects across social, institutional, and material domains. Beginning from the premise that thought is a biological process, the book follows the idea from its origin in the brain through its transmission via language and behavior, its reproduction within culture, and its eventual crystallization in norms, institutions, and physical structures. This recursive process—linking brain, behavior, environment, and social organization—provides a comprehensive model of how ideas function as causal forces in history. Drawing on insights from sociology, philosophy, neuroscience, and political theory, the work introduces original conceptual tools, including models of ideational transmission, activation, and threshold dynamics, as well as the concept of cognitive terraforming to describe the large-scale transformation of reality through ideation. This book offers an interdisciplinary framework for analyzing ideology, social change, and institutional development, making it relevant to scholars and students in social theory, sociology, philosophy of mind, and related fields. It also provides a foundation for further research into the material basis of thought and its role in shaping human behavior and social structure.

Use it Wisely

Social Media and Youth Activism

Monica Pauls, Mount Royal University

Young people’s lives are increasingly shaped by digital media, yet public and academic debates about youth, social media and well-being are often dominated by fear-based narratives that frame online spaces as inherently harmful. Against a backdrop of rising concerns about youth mental health and widespread anxieties about social media use, this book offers a critical and timely intervention into how we understand young people’s political and civic engagement in the digital age. Drawing on in-depth interviews with youth activists involved in the international climate change movement and the American gun control movement, alongside analysis of their social media practices, the book challenges binary distinctions between online and real-world activism. Rather than treating digital participation as superficial or ineffective, it foregrounds young people’s own perspectives on activism, demonstrating how digital platforms function as meaningful spaces for connection, organizing and political expression. Situated at the intersection of youth studies, sociology, media studies and political engagement, the book builds on and extends existing literature on digital activism by centring youth voices and lived experience. It offers a counter-narrative to the persistent “slacktivism” critique, arguing that such framings not only misunderstand contemporary activism but risk delegitimizing young people’s contributions to civic life. Written in an accessible style while grounded in rigorous social research, this book will be of interest to scholars, post-secondary students and practitioners working in education, youth work, child and youth care, social services and community organizing. It is suitable for classroom adoption, scholarly reference and professional reflection, and provides valuable insights for anyone seeking to better understand how young people are reshaping political participation in a digitally networked world.

The violence of words

The conditions, construction and consequences of racist public discourse within a racialized social system

Monetta Bailey, Ambrose University

This book investigates the potential of racist public discourse to harm racialized individuals. In tackling this, this book uses multiple theoretical frameworks and data sources to highlight the need to pay attention to how we regulate racist public discourse. The first theoretical framework, Critical Race Theory, provides the foundation to look at the ways in which racist ideologies are the bedrock of post-colonial society, which created the conditions for racist public discourse. The second framework, Sociology of Knowledge, serves as a methodological framework to demonstrate how racialized knowledge is gained and transmitted to allow for the construction of racist discourse. By combining these two frameworks to investigate the consequences of racist public discourse, this book presents theoretical and empirical evidence to suggest the need to rethink the definition of harm as it pertains to racist public discourse. This topic is important given the heightened public discourse around race in social and political arenas where, increasingly, individual rights to freedom of expression are seen as being more fundamental than the impact of language upon marginalized groups. My hope is to add to the growing body of work that sheds light on the impact of harmful public rhetoric, to bring awareness of the harm caused, and highlight the need to regulate hateful racist speech.

Advocating for Art History

Edited by Cindy Persinger, Pennsylvania Western University et al.

At a moment when various uncertainties surround higher education, 'Advocating for Art History' offers theory-informed investigations, case studies, and actionable strategies to empower art historians to assess their individual policy environments and institutional contexts, recognize their spheres of influence, and develop strategic approaches to advocacy that leverage their expertise as educators and researchers. Edited by Jennifer P. Kingsley, Cindy Persinger, and Rosemarie Trentinella, the volume draws on its contributors’ decades of experience across diverse types of public and private institutions—from R-1 universities to liberal arts colleges as well as a medical school and military academy. Chapters share successes and failures, strategies for securing and maintaining institutional support, analysis of art history’s distinctive contributions to skill and professional development as well as of the discipline’s broader value as a social good. Together, the chapters present a nuanced picture of the current moment, in which art history’s perceived vulnerabilities intersect with (and serve) broader narratives about the humanities and higher education’s supposed failures—complexities the book examines and largely counters. Capturing a broad spectrum of contemporary art historical advocacy, 'Advocating for Art History' argues that the discipline’s future depends on art historians actively participating in shaping their institutions’ priorities, making their work visible across a variety of stakeholders both within and beyond the academy, and building collective momentum. Above all, it aims to spark reflection and essential conversations about the discipline’s future, and champions the potential for positive action. It is an essential resource for anyone invested in sustaining the humanities in higher education.

Cultural differences in conceptualization of loss and grief as expressed by Americans and Poles

Kamila Midor

How do people put into words the experience of losing someone they love? This book offers a systematic, cross-cultural linguistic analysis of how loss and grief are conceptualized in American and Polish contexts, revealing both shared human patterns and culturally specific ways of expressing and processing bereavement. Drawing on qualitative data from nearly eighty participants who had lost a loved one up to five years before participating in the study, the study examines the metaphors and conceptual blends through which individuals articulate their experiences of grief. Using the frameworks of conceptual metaphor theory and conceptual integration theory, the book identifies recurrent conceptual structures—such as absence, emptiness, pain, inanimate physical object, and journey—that speakers draw on to make sense of profound emotional disruption. While many of these schemas appear across both cultural groups, the analysis reveals important differences in their subtypes, linguistic realizations, and cultural meanings. Notably, some patterns challenge the dominant view of grief as exclusively negative, including personifications such as grief as a guest in American narratives and grief as a teacher in the Polish data. The book fills a significant interdisciplinary gap between linguistic research on metaphor and psychological scholarship on grief. It is the first work to develop empirically grounded conceptual models of loss and grief for American and Polish speakers based on qualitative linguistic data, offering a novel, culturally sensitive perspective on bereavement. Accessible yet theoretically rigorous, the book will be valuable as a research reference, a methodological model for qualitative metaphor analysis, and a resource for classroom use. It will appeal to scholars and students in cognitive linguistics, cultural studies, psycholinguistics, and cross-cultural communication, as well as to psychologists, therapists, counselors, social workers, and others working professionally with grief and loss.

Thomas Jefferson's Declaration of Independence: A Document, Timely & Timeless

A Historical & Philosophical Appraisal

M. Andrew Holowchak

The Declaration of Independence is alive, because its sentences are crafted with elegance and concision—and the Congress much contributed to its concision—and because the author, not just the drafter, of the document captured things commonly known, yet profound, concerning human nature and human wellbeing. The Declaration of Independence, thus, is not just a proclamation to the world, of Americans’ independence and of the reasons for it, but it is also, and most singularly, a moral document that grounds a rich and robust liberal political philosophy. The bedrock of that political philosophy, argues Holowchak, is human equality, not human liberty.

Beyond Linguistic Sign

Embodiment and the Recovery of Resonance

Agata Walek, Brno University of Technology, Czech Republic

This monograph examines ‘Only Revolutions’ (2006) by Mark Z. Danielewski and ‘Becoming Animal‘ (2010) by David Abram to ask whether contemporary literature can articulate a viable alternative to the radical pluralism and fragmentation associated with postmodern aesthetics. What was once described as the postmodern condition—decentred subjectivity, proliferating interpretations, the dispersal of grand narratives—has intensified in the twenty-first century into algorithmic hyperreality, digital abstraction, and ecological disconnection. Within this landscape, reading and thinking risk dissolving into endless circulation without orientation. Positioned at the intersection of post-structuralism, phenomenology, and embodied cognition, the study proposes not a return to unity but a re-materialization of experience through resonance. It develops an interdisciplinary framework drawing on phonosemantics, conceptual metaphor theory, and sound studies in order to foreground dimensions often marginal in literary criticism: rhythm, vibration, and embodied perception. Language is approached not as a merely representational system but as materially expressive and affectively generative. In a final chapter, the memoir of David Goggins is read alongside these literary and philosophical analyses to explore how discipline, pain, and self-formation enact a comparable structure of re-attunement. Across literary experimentation, ecological phenomenology, and embodied practice, the book argues that meaning does not simply signify—it resounds. By reconceptualizing language as resonant and ontologically expressive, the study offers a constructive response to postmodern fragmentation and contributes to debates in contemporary literary theory, continental philosophy, and embodied cognition. It will be of interest to researchers in literary and cultural studies, philosophy of language, affect theory, and ecophenomenology, and may serve as a methodological resource for interdisciplinary work on materiality, sound, and subjectivity.

Exploring the Dynamics of Speaking and Learning Spanish in Western Canada

Angela George, University of Calgary

This monograph provides a comprehensive exploration of the experiences of Spanish speakers and learners in Western Canada, where Spanish is a minority language. Drawing on eight years of mixed-methods research, including surveys, interviews, and virtual exchanges, it investigates student motivations, instructional strategies, and the diverse identities of Spanish speakers, including heritage speakers, first-language speakers, and second-language learners. Structured across eight chapters, the book begins with a contextual overview of Canada’s multilingual landscape and the growing relevance of Spanish (Chapter 1). It then explores student motivations for learning Spanish (Chapter 2), the pedagogical methods employed by instructors (Chapter 3), and how classroom diversity influences student awareness and learning dynamics (Chapter 4). Chapter 5 examines communication practices and students’ comfort with speaking Spanish, particularly in relation to virtual exchanges. Chapter 6 focuses on student perceptions of Spanish-speaking cultures, while Chapter 7 presents the views of Spanish-speaking immigrants regarding language use, identity, and linguistic discrimination. The final chapter (Chapter 8) synthesizes the key findings of the book and outlines practical implications for educators, researchers, and policymakers, offering forward-looking recommendations to support inclusive Spanish language education and linguistic diversity in Western Canada. By emphasizing the cultural, educational, and social dimensions of Spanish in an English-dominant context, this work contributes to broader conversations on language education, multiculturalism, and linguistic policy. It is intended for language instructors; scholars of applied linguistics, multilingualism, and education; heritage language advocates; institutional stakeholders; and policymakers committed to supporting diverse learners, promoting inclusive curriculum design, and fostering linguistic diversity in Canada and beyond.

Poetic Inquiry Atlas Vol 2

A Survey of Ecopoetics

Edited by Lee Beavington, Kwantlen Polytechnic University and Adam Vincent, Capilano University; The University of British Columbia, Canada

Exhalations

A Survey of Olfactory Art

Sandra Barré, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, France

What if art history were written through the nose? 'Exhalations: A Survey of Olfactory Art' is the first comprehensive English-language book to trace a century of olfactory practices in art, from the Futurists’ early experiments with scent to the bacterial installations of Anicka Yi, from Marcel Duchamp’s sealed vial of Parisian air to the ecological interventions of Peter de Cupere. Through the analysis of more than one hundred works, Sandra Barré demonstrates the extent to which smell has shaped modern and contemporary artistic practice, despite its persistent marginalization within criticism and institutions. Neither a medium nor a unified movement, olfactory art spans from Dada, Arte Povera, Fluxus, body art, Land Art, feminist practices, to postcolonial critique. Its concerns are equally wide-ranging: memory, desire, decay, gender, and ecological crisis. In doing so, it unsettles the ocularcentrism that has dominated Western art history since the Enlightenment, the assumption that vision constitutes the primary mode of aesthetic knowledge. Smell operates differently. It enters the body immediately, resisting stable interpretation and singular meaning. Two individuals may encounter the same smell and experience entirely different realities, neither of which can be fully privileged over the other. Drawing on archival research, conversations with artists, and years of curatorial practice, 'Exhalations: A Survey of Olfactory Art' is both a historical survey and a history of encounters. The book advances a compelling and overdue argument: that smell has always been present within artistic practice, that it has always carried meaning, and that attending to it transforms our understanding of art history itself. Originally published in French in 2021 by 'Les Éditions de la Lettre Volée', 'Exhalations: A Survey of Olfactory Art' is translated into English by artist Emilie McDermott.

Italian as a Foreign Language

Teaching and Acquisition in Higher Education. Vol. 2

Edited by Alberto Regagliolo, UKSW University

'Italian as a Foreign Language: Teaching and Acquisition in Higher Education. Vol. 2' brings together twelve chapters written by scholars and university lecturers, all focusing on the teaching of Italian through a wide range of approaches. These range from inclusive and multisensory pedagogies to corpus-based learning, from grammar through use to debate-based teaching and content-focused courses (politics, ecology, food, health, culture, and identity). The book values plurality and dialogue, showing how different pedagogical perspectives can respond to diverse learning contexts and heterogeneous student profiles. What makes this volume distinctive is its strong connection between theory and practice. Each contribution is grounded in current research in applied linguistics and language pedagogy, while remaining firmly rooted in real university classrooms. Practical examples, teaching ideas, and reflections on course design make the book particularly useful for university instructors, teacher educators, and advanced students. At the same time, the volume can be read as a source of inspiration, as a methodological guide, or as a reference text for developing inclusive and meaningful Italian language courses in higher education.

Psychoanalyzing the Post-Apocalypse

Psychoanalytic Approaches to 21st Century Fiction and Film

Edited by Ercan Gürova, Ankara University, Turkey

‘Psychoanalyzing the Post-Apocalypse: Psychoanalytic Approaches to 21st Century Fiction and Film’ offers an interdisciplinary exploration of contemporary post-apocalyptic literature and cinema through psychoanalytic theory. Bringing together studies of major novels, films, and television series, the volume demonstrates how Freudian, Lacanian, Jungian, and post-Lacanian perspectives illuminate recurring themes such as trauma, desire, mourning, identity, repression, survival, and psychic renewal in worlds shaped by catastrophe. The collection distinguishes itself by applying diverse psychoanalytic frameworks to a broad range of twenty-first-century texts, including "Oryx and Crake," "The Stone Gods," "Station Eleven," "War of the Worlds," "Vesper," "The Road," "The Leftovers," and "2012". Rather than offering generalized discussions of apocalypse, each chapter provides a theoretically grounded analysis of a specific work, revealing how narratives of collapse reflect contemporary anxieties while also imagining new forms of subjectivity, ethical relations, and resilience. Positioned at the intersection of psychoanalytic criticism, literary studies, film studies, and cultural theory, the volume advances current scholarship by foregrounding the psychological dimensions of post-apocalyptic storytelling and demonstrating the versatility of psychoanalytic approaches in interpreting ecological, technological, and existential crises. It contributes an original perspective to the growing body of research on post-apocalyptic fiction by integrating multiple psychoanalytic traditions across diverse media and cultural contexts. The book will serve as a valuable resource for researchers, graduate students, and advanced undergraduates in literature, film, media, psychoanalysis, and cultural studies. It is equally suitable for classroom adoption in courses on contemporary fiction, speculative literature, adaptation, and critical theory, while offering scholars a methodological framework for future interdisciplinary research on apocalypse and the human psyche.