Our Books - Ideas That Shape Scholarship

This second volume in the 'Poetic Inquiry Atlas' series continues the mapping of the first edition by bringing together a collection that represents some of the diverse uses of ecopoetics across various fields of research and study and explores poetry as a form of environmental geography. With chapters from scholars from diverse ecosystems across the globe, this book highlights both generative and epistemological uses of Poetic Inquiry. Suitable for researchers, educators, poets, ecologists and those who wish to better understand the connection between humans and the world that we live in, this book adds to what is known about Poetic Inquiry, ecology, and about lived experiences in/with nature from both non-Indigenous and Indigenous poets and scholars alike.

'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.

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.

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.

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.

'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.

‘Teaching and Learning Classics at the University Level, Vol. 3’ focuses on the teaching of mythology, arts, and archaeology in Greek and Roman antiquity, with a particular emphasis on cultural expression, visual and material culture, and interdisciplinary approaches. The 9 chapters examine the approaches to teaching key topics including Greco-Roman astrology, classical and comparative mythology, Greek art, numismatics, experimental archaeology, and the study of ancient topography and landscapes, as well as performance and reception through the ancient dramatic chorus and Greek tragedy. The volume also addresses the role of artistic, archaeological, and comparative perspectives within the Humanities, highlighting how visual, material, and performative sources contribute to a broader understanding of antiquity and its reception. Presenting teaching as a reflective and research-informed activity, this volume is intended for university lecturers, teacher trainers, and graduate students interested in mythology, art in its broader sense, archaeology, and the reception of Classical antiquity in higher education.

‘Teaching and Learning Classics at the University Level, Vol. 2’ focuses on the teaching of social, cultural, and religious aspects of Greek and Roman antiquity. The 11 chapters examine the approaches to teaching key themes in ancient society including ethnography, the human condition and the afterlife, Roman religion, violence, sacrifice, slavery, love, and medicine, as well as aspects of daily life such as play, sport, and bathing culture. The volume also addresses the place of social and cultural history within the Humanities, highlighting how these topics contribute to a broader understanding of antiquity and its relevance today. Presenting teaching as a reflective and research-informed activity, this volume is intended for university lecturers, teacher trainers, and graduate students interested in classical civilization, ancient history, and the cultural and religious dimensions of Greek and Roman studies in higher education.

'Teaching and Learning Classics at the University Level, Vol. 1' focuses on the teaching of Greek and Latin, with a particular emphasis on language, linguistics, and teacher training. The 13 chapters examine the approaches to teaching Greek and Latin for beginners and advanced students, including metrics, historical and descriptive grammar, linguistic typology, translation, and prose composition, as well as the role of Latin in the Humanities and in specialized fields such as medical terminology. The volume also addresses the training of teachers and lecturers in Classics, exploring how linguistic expertise and pedagogical practice are developed within the university context. Presenting teaching as a reflective and research-informed activity, this volume is intended for university lecturers, teacher trainers, and graduate students interested in classical language pedagogy and the future of Greek and Latin instruction in higher education.