The hemispheric politics that shaped popular revolutions against European colonial rule

In A New World of Revolutions, Arturo Chang reconstructs the histories, politics, and legacies of the Age of Revolutions (c. 1770-1850) from the vantage point of popular movements in the Americas. Challenging narratives that center the nation-state, Chang emphasizes the hemispheric politics, practices, and cultural production that connected revolutionary movements from the United States to Argentina. He draws on marching songs, poems, pamphlets, manifestos, plays, proclamations, constitutions, and other archival objects to show that hemispheric imaginaries were critical to the development of postcolonial republicanism in the Americas.

Chang shows that marginalized groups, especially Indigenous, Mestizo, and Pardo communities, contributed to and benefitted from narratives of American emancipation. Armed with hemispheric discourses, they were able to argue for such egalitarian reforms as the abolition of slavery, the elimination of colonial tribute, the protection of Indigenous lands, the end of the Spanish caste system, and the establishment of civic equality. Countering assumptions that actors in popular movements followed elite leaders or had little to say during moments of revolutionary change, Chang shows how each of these campaigns influenced republican principles in ways that reflected their own cultures and histories-and how each produced concrete interventions in the legal, social, and material realities of their communities. Chang links popular movements in New Spain (Mexico), the United States, New Granada (Colombia, Venezuela, Panama, and Ecuador), and the postcolonial Andes (Peru, Bolivia, and Argentina), arguing that, together, they constituted an American tradition of resistance against European rule.

How slavery and the slave trade provided African rulers with a path to political power

Across history, slavery has been central to political power. By the nineteenth century, African rulers dominated the slave trade with the European and Islamic worlds. In Ties That Bound, J. C. Sharman shows how these rulers were empowered by slavery, converting profits from the market for humans into political might. As demand for African captives grew, a new breed of African bandit slave traders-turned-kings leveraged the increasing returns to seize and hold power, paying off followers and buying weapons. Eventually, there were more enslaved Africans within Africa than in the Americas; African kingdoms were secured and administered by slave soldiers and slave officials. Engaging in the slave trade became vital for political survival; success for a few powerful leaders meant misery for millions across the continent.

Arguing that slavery is fundamentally political and relational, Sharman examines the effects of Africa's slavery-centered connections and linkages with the wider world. This route to power by enslaving others required engagement with other countries, sometimes in war, sometimes in trade and sometimes in both. More than any other region, Africa's experiences show how slavery as a foundation of power depended on ties between insiders and outsiders. Sharman describes how African rulers became locked into increasingly destructive competition with each other. As much of the continent was ravaged by warlords, the very factors that strengthened rulers individually weakened them collectively, and the resulting destruction paved the way for European conquest in the late nineteenth century's "Scramble for Africa."

This open access book exposes the role of "agency" in the history of life. Agency is understood as the capacity of an organism to act, make decisions, and exercise control over its actions in order to achieve goals or to navigate and interact with its environment. The question of agency has become a hot and controversial topic in Biology and Philosophy of the Natural Sciences. This volume studies said topic through its historical expressions, investigating how and why it has appeared, and what was its selective advantage in the past, assuming a continuity in how it has evolved in different life forms. By also explaining how and why agency has evolved and become more complex in some branches of the tree of life, the authors show how life has made its way on our planet with forms of agency as diverse as those shown by bacteria, plants or animals, which are the most sophisticated and complex agents. The book is of great interest to a broad audience, whether philosophically or biologically inclined, interested in understanding fundamental aspects of how life works and in seeking explanations for why life has been so successful on planet Earth.

Tracing South Carolina's hidden history of lumber, labor, and forest conservation across two centuries

South Carolina's forests have long shaped the state's economy, landscapes, and labor practices, but its history has remained surprisingly understudied. Wood Basket of the World brings together essays that explore how lumbering, wood-product manufacturing, and forest conservation transformed the state's sandhills and coastal plain from the late nineteenth century to the present.

Featuring contributions from both emerging and established scholars, the essays in the volume examine how South Carolina became central to the global timber economy while also serving as a testing ground for labor organizing, environmental reform, and conservation movements.

Engaging environmental, economic, and social history, this collection offers new insight into the industries, people, and policies that have shaped South Carolina's wooded landscapes-and the national conversations they continue to inform.

This monograph explores how Chilean urban workers translated nineteenth-century European political philosophy according to their conditions, locality, and colonial history. The research is grounded on a systematic analysis of local archival material-primarily, newspapers aimed at the working class from 1870 to the 1920s-from a theoretical perspective informed by contemporary feminist critiques and inspired by Jacques Derrida's deconstruction. This provides a new understanding of late-nineteenth-century Chilean popular culture which shows that the origin of capitalism was commonly interpreted as a loss of virility on the part of Chilean men, who emerged into a modern European like city as degenerative people dispossessed of their traditional "dominion" over Chilean women, land, and culture. The book proposes that the experience of early industrial modernity was posited by Chilean men as equivalent to the loss of an essential masculinity rooted in an economy of patriarchal sexual difference. Consequently, it also reveals that the notion of "revolution" was translated in Chilean culture as the return of an ideal male subject who would re-establish the "natural" distribution of the sexes displaced by a foreign form of capitalist modernity. This research shows the centrality of questions of gender to working-class political thought and criticizes the points of complicity between politics, philosophy, and patriarchy in the Chilean political tradition. It will appeal to students and researchers in political theory, gender studies, feminism, and Latin American studies.

"An extraordinary recovery of a lost world."-Peter Brown, author of The World of Late Antiquity

From the world-leading expert on the Maya, a monumental history of a flourishing civilization across three millennia

The Four Heavens brings to life the cultural and visual splendor of the ancient Maya, drawing on the oldest indigenous texts of the Americas and the latest archaeological discoveries to present an entirely new history of this spectacular civilization. Renowned historian and archaeologist David Stuart, who has made groundbreaking contributions to the decipherment of Maya hieroglyphics, shows how there was no single rise and fall of the Maya but a series of births and collapses over a breathtaking span of nearly three millennia.

Maya history was seemingly lost forever when the first Europeans encountered the great ruins of ancient cities in what is today Mexico and Central America. Today, with the recent decipherment of their ancient writings, the story of the Maya can now be told from their perspective. Stuart traces the rapid emergence of permanent settlements in the rainforest, which gave rise to monumental architecture and a flourishing urbanism and ushered in the Classic period of Maya civilization beginning in the mid-second century CE. He reveals a world of majestic royal courts tightly bound together by marriages, shifting alliances, and warfare, much of it driven by the ambitions of two major dynasties, the Kanuls and Mutuls. Stuart describes how the long-standing rivalry between these two great houses shaped the fates of the surrounding kingdoms and may have set the stage for "the Great Rupture" of the ninth century, when the royal courts buckled under the weight of internal strife, social unrest, and environmental crisis, transforming Maya civilization yet again.

With stunning illustrations, including many of Stuart's own drawings and images, The Four Heavens is a work of momentous historical sweep, one that paints an unforgettable portrait of the Maya and the richly complex social, political, and cosmological worlds in which they lived.

Available in Spanish from our partners at Grupo Planeta

The most recent scientific reporting suggests that the outlook for continued global warming is dire. Collective action and civic engagement by ordinary people around the world will prove decisive in slowing down global warming and supporting planetary survival. Climate Change and Civic Engagement demonstrates the origins, gains, and future trajectory of the climate movement. In analyzing collective action events around the world and exploring how the movement navigates the competing paradigms of climate denialism, decarbonization, and just transitions, this book includes:

• Data collected from thousands of climate engagements and events.
• The most recent tools from social movement scholarship, such as GIS mapping, representative surveys from frontline communities, and theories of expanding climate civic engagement along just transition pathways.
• An exploration of the links between climate justice and environmental justice.
• Creative tactics for sustaining collective climate action in the face of climate denialism and technocratic solutions.
  

This book shows readers the indispensability of social movement knowledge in forging effective climate justice movements.

This book uses the author's personal narrative as a tool to explore environmental sociological thinking and broader societal issues. The author not only traces the birth of environmental sociology as a research field but also emphasizes the crucial role of environmental sociological perspectives. He presents a qualitative analysis of the activities and practices that lead to a sustainable future on a community level in Japan. The book also delves into the social conflicts between the government and residents' movements over public policies such as the development of high-speed transportation networks and nuclear energy policy. The author's analysis of the role of environmental sociology in addressing societal challenges such as environmental pollution, energy transformation, climate crisis, and sustainable futures for society is a key focus of the book. He also examines how the notion of a "sustainable future" in a Japanese context differs from that of the West.

This book examines groundbreaking changes occurring within evolutionary theory, where the dominant gene-centered view that still occupies public imagination is being challenged by new perspectives. Under the banner of the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis, these changes have placed the organism and its agency back at the center of evolution, challenging long-held dogmas that seemed untouchable. By mapping these theoretical developments and examining their relationship with contemporary philosophical movements, this work builds toward a dialectical philosophy of nature, offering a systematic framework for how the humanities and philosophy can productively engage with natural science. It presents a new vision that places life at its center, seeking to unify different fields of knowledge while respecting their unique approaches and insights, rather than forcing them to conform to a single method.

Contributing scholars engaging with Southern African contexts challenge hegemonic climate paradigms. They employ pluralistic strategies that respect diverse epistemologies and advance decolonised discourse. Drawing from the humanities and social sciences, this multidisciplinary collection demonstrates how moving beyond dominant frameworks enables more inclusive approaches to environmental governance rooted in local epistemologies. The volume reveals the importance of understanding environmental justice through postcolonial perspectives. Essential reading for researchers, scholars, and students committed to transformative climate governance, this work emphasises the urgent need to honour diverse epistemologies while addressing environmental challenges in ways that resist colonial impositions on climate discourse.

A panoramic history of America's first climate migrants

From the mid-nineteenth century through the dust bowl years of the Great Depression, a new kind of migrant worker became a familiar sight in communities across America. The Hobo traces the journeys of these homeless men and women, showing how hobo work was an adaptation to energy transitions and a harsh and unpredictable climate, and how the hobo played a central role in the histories of industrialization and westward expansion.

Challenging common depictions of the hobo as a world-weary, bearded man in ragged clothes, Robert Suits reveals how these wandering laborers were often fastidious and heartbreakingly young. Forever on the move due to economic hardship and climate disaster, they chased harvests and took seasonal jobs in industries like logging and mining. Too often they couldn't find employment at all. Suits describes the difficult, dangerous, and highly unstable jobs they worked while shedding light on the hobo life and philosophy, from their techniques for stowing away on railroads to their unique blend of socialist, anarchist, and anti-work thought. He traces the emergence of the hobo to the advent of steam and the need for manual laborers in places where this new technology couldn't reach and describes how a growing reliance on the internal combustion engine brought an end to hobo work.

Drawing on oral histories, environmental data, and cutting-edge digital methods, The Hobo paints an unforgettable portrait of an eclectic group of wandering radicals, troublemakers, poets, and writers, demonstrating how their experiences upend some of our basic assumptions about how environments and technologies shape society.

This textbook offers an accessible overview of a century of planning theory, bringing a critical perspective rooted in contemporary research that will appeal to lecturers and to their students. Organised thematically, with a focus on institutional and justice issues, this book offers a well-grounded alternative to existing traditional overviews of planning theories by situating planning as a governance and regulatory practice. An essential text for researchers and students, it also offers an innovative framework for addressing current and future issues in urban and regional planning.

Breaking away from usual fear-inducing and apocalyptic narratives, this book explores the visceral and cognitive affordances of satirical narratives in advocating critical environmentalism at individual, institutional, and collective levels. It grapples with questions of anthropomorphism, environmental and multispecies justice, hope and undefeated despair, and proposes material(ist) approaches for appreciating arts in what Donna Haraway has called the 'Chthulucene'. It draws on insights from literary and cultural studies, environmental humanities, psychology, and communication studies to demystify environmental justice and engage decolonial and emancipatory strategies in an enmeshed and materially entangled world. It investigates a variety of works across different media, contexts, and languages including Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb; Don't Look Up; The Late Show with Stephen Colbert; Last Week Tonight with John Oliver; ZDF Magazin Royale; Honest Government Ads; and Venomous Lumpsucker to move beyond existing paradigms and practices by proposing the notion of emancipatory worlding.

The volume investigates the phenomenology of individual agency in the context of the challenges dictated by modern science and technology as well as the role of the individual body in the creation of the societal/cultural reality. In addition, this book explores the phenomenology of aesthetic experiences in language, arts, and the changing conceptualization of beauty. Philosophical works of Jan Patocka, Martin Heidegger, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Hans-Georg Gadamer are of particular focus. Also included is a collection of essays engaged in the practical application of phenomenology in the areas of literature, arts, and art education. These contributions appeal to researchers and students in the field.

This book equips urban planning professionals, students, and policymakers with the knowledge to not only advocate for public goods but to effectively implement, manage, and maintain them in real-world projects and policies. It offers an in-depth exploration of the economic, legal, and governance intricacies surrounding public goods, highlighting their essential role in fostering social equity and sustainability. Through case studies and practical and theoretical exploration, this guide enables professionals to navigate challenges, make informed decisions, and ensure the equitable provision of public goods in urban contexts. By bridging theory and practice, the book empowers readers to develop and manage public goods with a focus on inclusivity, resilience, and long-term sustainability.

This book presents the history of housing policy in West Berlin from the end of World War II until the construction of the Berlin Wall. The topics covered include the housing emergency, housing management, the restoration of housing damaged during the war, the clearing-away of rubble, the architecture debate, the construction of social housing, housing developments, rental developments, urban planning, and the non-profit housing sector.

The remarkable story of the global movement championing the idea that evidence, not opinions, should guide our decisions

Today, more and more people around the globe are using scientific evidence to figure out what works-in health, government and business as well as conservation, schools and parenting. This wasn't always the case. This book tells the story of the evidence revolution-a worldwide movement that promotes evidence-based thinking-and shows how it can help us all, especially in an age of alternative facts.

For many years, most medical advice was based on doctors' opinions and conventional wisdom, not solid science. Helen Pearson describes how evidence-based medicine swept the world in the 1990s-becoming the predominant form of medicine practiced today-and how the idea that evidence should guide decisions is quietly transforming a host of other fields as well. Do police patrols reduce crime? Do performance appraisals boost job performance? Do welfare programs help the poor? Do smaller classes aid learning? Do smartphones harm teenagers? At a time when science is under attack and questionable claims run rampant, Pearson underscores the importance of evidence in all facets of our lives, empowering each of us to sift fact from falsehood and misinformation from the truth.

Essential reading for the rational-minded, Beyond Belief is an engaging portrait of the mavericks, visionaries and rebels who share the simple belief that decisions based on evidence make the world a better place.

Understanding the source of our current political and social malaise through our emotional responses to it

We are in an explosive cultural moment. Whatever explanation for this is offered-inequalities, disaffection of political institutions, traumatic memory, woke culture, the rise of populism, the dominance of technology-it is the inescapable fact that we are in a period of palpable malaise. In Explosive Emotions, sociologist Eva Illouz explores the source of our discontent through a number of key emotions. Hope, disappointment, envy, resentment, anger, fear, anxiety, shame, nostalgia, jealousy, and love are all embedded in the institutions of social life. These institutions-corporations, the consumer market, the university, the nation-state, marriage, and sexuality-shape our emotional lives.

Illouz argues that hope was the emotional foundation of modernity-shaping ambition and promising improvement. But today, this hope has morphed into disappointment, envy, anger, or nostalgia-because, she contends, advanced techno-capitalism has overseen both a series of transformations in modern democracies and the decay of nationalism. Drawing on the insights of literature and philosophy, Illouz outlines the psychological structure of these emotions; mobilizing data from sociology and political science, she examines how and why they are deployed in society. Unbeknownst to us, she explains, emotions contain and enact the key ingredients of society. Norms, rules, social structures, and cultural guidelines are the invisible yet burning magma of emotions, the heart of their energy. Emotions continue the work of society inside the self. Mapping our epochal malaise, Illouz shows how and why all our previously established structures are unraveling.

In organizations, there are always situations that can't be fixed with top-down directives. Often the only thing left to do is to craft cooperative relationships through understanding, power, or trust. The concept of lateral leading-leading to the side - brings together ideas about how we can create processes of understanding, construct arenas of power, and build trusting (or mistrusting) relationships.

This book shows how media literacy can improve the health of communication ecosystems amid information disorder. It makes the case for media literacy as a human right and a foundation for civic resilience and curates research and best practices to show how media literacy can counter misinformation, support public health, and prepare society for challenges like pandemics and AI. The book is structured around a theory of change with four interconnected media literacy domains: Access (how and where we engage with media), Awareness (critical understanding of media), Capability (life skills for education, employment, civic and digital participation), and Consequences (taking actions with media literacy that improve communication ecosystems for everybody). It includes six chapters and an introduction, presenting a comprehensive field review which maps 400 projects from all over the world to the theory of change, concluding with a forward-looking chapter on the possible healthier future. Ideal for educators, academics and researchers, librarians, activists, journalists, policymakers, and health professionals, this book offers a timely, actionable vision for strengthening media literacy and building more resilient, informed communities.

What makes a neighborhood livable, and what do urban inhabitants need to learn in order to be able to use the city according to their needs, wishes, and aspirations? The empirical study presented in the book, embedded in urban sociology and educational science, is set in Vienna, a city that has long been considered the most livable city in the world by city rankings, and adopts the analytical perspective of the Capability Approach. Between October 2020 and February 2022, guided interviews were conducted with 16 families of mobile European families with children, the neighborhoods of residence were explored by means of go-alongs and the places of origin by means of virtual journeys. Numerous maps, photos, and excerpts from conversations enrich the text.