Stories from the Front Line: The People Behind the NHS Headlines

Yvonne Bennett, Canterbury Christ Church University and Christina Stead

ISBN: 979-8-8819-0062-5
Availability: Forthcoming
$56 £45 €52

NHS Scotland appears to be in crisis. Today the British media is full of headlines such as “89-year-old great-grandmother waits 5 hours for an ambulance.” These are a talking point for a day or two and then another headline of a similar ilk takes over. This book examines the traumatic experiences of the elderly people whose stories make up these headlines. The authors have carried out research into the effects of long waiting times for ambulances and the problems that NHS Scotland is facing through chronic staff shortages. The waits and the limitations to patient care have long term implications for the patients, the relatives and the staff. Throughout the book we discuss iatrogenic disease/harm that is occurring daily for patients, visitors and staff. The book concentrates on the new Glasgow hospital, The Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, which opened its doors in 2015. This is one of the largest hospitals in Europe and replaces 5 older Glasgow hospitals and has been beset by major problems since its opening. By interviewing relatives and staff, the authors have examined their experiences both during and following a traumatic event. Themes found throughout the book include poor communication, trauma, low staff morale, suicide and the problems caused by the size and design of the hospital. The authors have also analysed statistics from NHS Scotland and Scottish Ambulance Service regarding waiting times and the use of agency staff. The overarching goal of this book was to give a voice to those behind the statistics.

Style, Meaning and Pedagogy

Rachid Acim, Ibn Zohr University, Agadir, Morocco

ISBN: 979-8-8819-0040-3
Availability: Forthcoming
$45 £36 €42

"Para poder componer…": Una biografía sonora sobre Alejandro García Villalón 'Virulo' (1955-2008)

Pablo Alejandro Suárez Marrero, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (México)

ISBN: 979-8-8819-0039-7
Availability: Available 4 weeks
152pp. ¦ $57 £45 €53

La pluralidad discursiva manifiesta en la actual música popular se encuentra enmarcada en una realidad estético-musical cambiante, causada por una postmodernidad social cada vez más abierta a la globalización de las expresiones culturales de los pueblos. Es dentro de esta dinámica social que emerge la figura creativa de Alejandro García Villalón Virulo y sus grabaciones sonoras (1973-2021). En estas, el cantautor empleó disímiles recursos musicales, literarios, escénicos y visuales para ejercer la crítica sobre sus contextos germinales, como vía desacralizadora de culturas hegemónicas y paradigmas sociales construidos a lo largo del devenir histórico de los pueblos de la región. La casi nula existencia de estudios académicos sobre este artista y sus documentos sonoros constituye una oportunidad para construir su biografía sonora como contexto de performance (1955-2008), donde se imbricaron elementos históricos, políticos, sociales y culturales condicionados por marcos temporales y espacios geográficos. Para ello, se concatenaron herramientas teóricas, conceptuales y metodológicas provenientes de los estudios de performance, la historiografía crítica y la musicología popular. La presente investigación conduce a repensar las relaciones entre música y humor en culturas musicales de América Latina y el Caribe, la concepción de la biografía sonora de un cantautor como aproximación a su contexto germinal, así como el abordaje de los documentos de música grabada o programada como fuentes primarias de información para estudios sociales de prácticas sonoro-musicales situadas.

Reproductive uncertainty: Understanding the regulations on assisted reproductive technologies in China

Tiantian Chen, University of Cambridge

ISBN: 978-1-64889-126-7
Availability: Forthcoming
$63 £48 €58

This book provides the first sustained account of intense debates in China over the ban on single women’s access to assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs). Drawing on the author’s fieldwork in clinics and government agencies in Beijing, it mainly explains Chinese policymakers’ and clinicians’ rationale for restricting single women’s use of ARTs even if they celebrate ARTs as a success of Chinese modernization strategies. The main concept explored in this book is uncertainty. ARTs become a source of discomfort for the Chinese government and clinics because they reveal the uncontrollability of human destiny; they introduce ambiguities into genetic and legal paternity; and they undermine clinical and bureaucratic authority. This book uses ARTs as a lens on broader social changes in China. The uncertainty of ARTs reflects the limits of Chairman Deng Xiaoping’s reform. It also informs that the Chinese government has reversed policies by repackaging tradition and tightening party control. The book’s interpretation of uncertainty challenges the linear and progressive paradigm of modernization. China’s development path is distinct from the sequential logic of Western, modernist conceptions of history.

Jesuits in Science Fiction: Reason and Revelation on Other Worlds

Edited by Richard Feist, Saint Paul University

September 2024 / ISBN: 979-8-8819-0006-9
Availability: In stock
318pp. ¦ $111 £88 €103

From their founding in 1540 to this day, Jesuits have been controversial. Their centuries of missionary work have taken them to all corners of the world. They have been accused of killing Kings and Presidents and contributing to colonization and destruction of cultures—even participating in enslavement. But the Jesuits have also been seen as bringers of light and education. With their ferocity of purpose and intellectual rigor, the Jesuits’ impact on world history cannot be ignored. No surprise then, that Jesuits appear in literature, especially that literature of ideas, exploration, and social commentary, otherwise known as science fiction. This unique collection of essays explores how the Jesuit has long been part of science fiction’s history and how Jesuit ideas and characters are featured in some of science fiction’s greatest works. In this collection, we see Jesuits continue their missionary spirit as they take leave of the earth, moving their missionary labors literally towards the heavens. Reason and revelation are now indeed on other worlds. In this collection, we have explorations of philosophy, science, theology, and culture, all done in typical Jesuit fashion, always in various and foreign contexts. This collection is akin to others in its linking of religion and science fiction, but it is unique in its concentration on the Jesuits and science fiction. This collection will be of interest to scholars working and researching in the field of science fiction studies and would be suitable for courses on science fiction. But it will also be of interest and accessible to those of us who simply love science fiction for its power to explore other worlds and, in this case, to take some of the deepest human reflections, namely those on God, morals and culture, lift them up, and see what forms they may take on other worlds.