This book is one of the first efforts to systematically introduce digital urban governance in China. It describes the theoretical system and historical development and evolution of digital urban governance, analyzes the complex relationship between cutting-edge technologies, new types of data, and urban governance, provides rich research cases to guide governance practice, and further discusses the future opportunities and potential challenges of digital urban governance from the perspective of artificial intelligence and open data movement. This book helps to promote the transformation and upgrading of urban governance research paradigms and can also actively serve the major national and local strategies in China, such as new urbanization, digital China, and digital reform.

African Politics: An Introduction is an engaging, broad-ranging guide to the politics of African states, reflecting on contemporary patterns and trends, whilst also situating them in their historical context.

Viewed from the outside, African politics are often said to be too complex and multifarious to understand properly, leading to widespread misunderstandings and stereotypes. This book challenges these assumptions, providing an accessible, reader-friendly guide. Starting with an introduction to the historical roots of African politics right back to the precolonial era, this book goes on to discuss colonialism and the independence movement, before diving into the postcolonial state and the challenges of governance, development, and conflict which many states have struggled with. This book looks in detail at the various actors involved, from religious groups, to political parties, youth politics, women, social movements, and different social classes. At the end of each chapter, a classwork box provides students with a particular example of an African state or event to investigate in more detail, encouraging them to consider the specific and to resist generalizations.

African Politics: An Introduction is perfect for an undergraduate student starting out in their studies of African politics, but it would also be a welcome read for any reader who wants to learn a bit more about the governance of Africa.

Engaging Pakistan examines the role of British and American public diplomacy in Pakistan. It focuses on case studies located in two periods (1955-1964 and 2008-2012) during which there was both intense public diplomacy activity and increasing public hostility, particularly towards the United States. Putting forth this juxtaposition of the two periods, the study provides an opportunity for a fine-grain analysis to contribute to wider theoretical and comparative studies of public diplomacy as well as provide valuable empirical material.

The author argues that limitations in the effectiveness of public diplomacy arise whenever foreign audiences perceive that a state's foreign policy actions are illegitimate and inconsistent with its publicly proclaimed values. US unreliability in the 1960s and unilateralism four decades later undermined its soft power, despite the successes of individual public diplomacy initiatives. Anti-Americanism in Pakistan is usually linked with the aftermath of 9/11, but this volume will reveal that public mistrust stretched as far back as the 1960s. The Pakistani public trusted Britain far more, so that even when unpopular policies were adopted, there was not such a steep decline in its standing. Despite less funding, UK public diplomacy initiatives operated in a more favourable environment than that of the United States. The book focuses on five main areas of public diplomacy activities that generate soft power, namely, communication/information activities, educational exchanges and assistance, volunteering, cultural performances and exhibitions and high-profile visitors' public engagement. These activities are examined in case studies from either a single time frame or covering both periods.

A pioneering study of British and American public diplomacy in Pakistan in the early Cold War and later post-9/11 eras, this book will be of interest to researchers on Modern South Asia, international relations, public diplomacy and diplomatic history, as well as those interested in wider subjects ranging from Cold War studies to sports history.

The aim of the monograph is to present a modern and innovative approach to the issues of dysfunctions of economic and social ecosystems caused by climate anomalies. The deformation of the economic and social system caused by climate change has a surprising dimension and the degree of impact of climate change on the organizational behavior of various types of entities determines in many cases their ability to survive. Survival does not apply to all organizations, but only to those that are able to make appropriate, effective and efficient decisions in an environment of many crises. They should result from the logic, methodology of the conceptual framework adequate for the management mechanisms of a given type of organization, taking into account sectoral conditions.

Interprofessional teams of health and social care professionals encounter, and respond to, significant ethical challenges and complexity in their everyday work. This scenario-based book explores how to enact ethical values and virtues, while working across the four pillars of professional activity - practice, education, leadership and research. Effective responses to care needs and everyday complexity require teamwork and a holistic approach to individual, family and community needs. They require health and social care professionals having an in-depth appreciation of their own professional roles, responsibilities and contributions, as well as those of other professions.

This book enables readers to engage with, and reflect on, a range of ethical decision-making situations that can occur across the lifecourse and impact interprofessional teams. Each chapter is based around particular authentic scenarios derived from the experiences of care-recipients and family members involved in the co-production of the book and taking place in a range of care contexts - from maternity care to community; from hospital to residential care; and from accident and emergency areas to hospice.

Introducing and discussing interprofessional issues from an ethical stance, this is an essential text for health and social care students and practitioners, and a resource for interprofessional (IPE) facilitators with a commitment to ethics in health and social care practice, research, education and leadership.

This book argues that virtue ethics should be incorporated into public health ethics. It provides the theoretical foundations for a virtue ethics that is applicable to public health, as well as political institutions more broadly.

Ethical analyses of public health policies and practices have been mostly conducted in terms of examining the best consequences or weighing outcomes against liberty, autonomy, justice, and harm. While these debates are important, analyses conducted only in these terms leave a huge range of moral issues under-examined. This book contends that a virtue ethics developed for political institutions such as public health provides the tools for a more robust moral analysis of institutional structures, actions, and responsibilities. First, it presents theoretical arguments for political virtues, explaining how institutions like public health have moral agency and how these institutional agents can, in turn, have (or lack) virtues. It then presents three political virtues that are particularly relevant to public health: justice, civic friendship, and epistemic humility. Each of these virtues is important to what it means for public health to do its work excellently, and each sheds light upon the moral justifiability of past or current public health practice.

Public Health Virtue Ethics will appeal to researchers and graduate students working in virtue ethics, bioethics, and public health ethics.

This book presents an innovative approach to sustainable urban design through the lens of low carbon-oriented design. It offers a comprehensive framework integrating four key paradigms: Design with Nature, Design with Human, Design with Clean Energy, and Design with Climate. By synthesizing ecological principles, human-centric approaches, renewable energy solutions, and climate-responsive strategies, the book provides practical manual for creating energy-efficient, environmentally harmonious buildings and cities.

A unique combination of the latest data on, and detailed analysis of, a vast region. Scrupulously revised and updated, this definitive survey of the countries and territories of South America, Central America and the Caribbean combines expert analysis and commentary, up-to-date economic and socio-political data and extensive directory information.

General Survey

Essays by leading experts on the area cover issues of regional importance, including an examination of whether the Caribbean Court of Justice is furthering independence and decolonization in the Caribbean; moves towards republicanism and growing calls for reparations in the Caribbean; the energy crisis in Latin America; the evolving relationship between Caribbean countries and the People's Republic of China; and the cultural and political relevance of religion in Latin America. This in-depth analysis is complemented by extensive coverage of the activities of international organizations operating in South America, Central America and the Caribbean, together with background information on the major commodities of the region. Also included are detailed listings of research institutes studying South America, Central America and the Caribbean, and comprehensive bibliographies of books and periodicals relevant to the region.

Country Surveys

Individual chapters on each country, comprising: a geographical overview and map, an essay on the history and the economy; an extensive statistical survey of economic and demographic indicators, including area and population, health and welfare, agriculture, forestry, fishing, mining, industry, finance, trade, transport, tourism, communications media and education; a directory of names, addresses and further key information on the constitution, government, election commissions, political organizations, diplomatic representation, judicial system, religion, the media, finance, trade and industry, transport, tourism, defence and education. A bibliography is also provided for further research.

Regional Information

full details of the main regional organizations active within Latin America and the Caribbean. A separate section is included on major commodities of the area. Also included is a directory of research institutes specializing in the region, and bibliographies of books and periodicals covering the region.

This volume investigates the intersection of generative AI and media aesthetics from an interdisciplinary perspective. Combining in-depth theoretical reflection with a diverse selection of case studies, its authors explore the aesthetic forms of AI-generated medial objects as well as the cultural imaginaries that the latter draw upon.

Bringing together a group of scholars from various geographic and disciplinary backgrounds, the chapters move within and across different conceptualizations of "AI aesthetics" that can be located in-between an "aesthetics-as-artistics" (that is primarily concerned with aesthetic judgments related to skill and connoisseurship) and an "aesthetics-as-aisthetics" (that identifies all kinds of embodied perception as its object). The book thus reflects on both the theoretical and the methodological implications of "AI aesthetics," while also demonstrating that this is still very much an emerging research field and that no dominant conceptualization of "AI aesthetics" has yet emerged.

Considering its decidedly international and interdisciplinary scope, AI Aesthetics: AI-Generated Images between Artistics and Aisthetics will appeal to scholars and students within media studies, cultural studies, literary studies, philosophy, art history, visual culture studies, digital humanities, and critical AI studies.

The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

This edited volume challenges the hegemonic ideologies that underpin contemporary planning thought and practice, building on and extending the pioneering work of Michael Gunder. Through the lens of fantasy-particularly as theorised in Lacanian psychoanalysis-contributors interrogate how planners' desires, decisions, and subjectivities are shaped by ideological narratives that sustain dominant neoliberal structures. The book includes Michael Gunder's influential work on ideological fantasy, alongside eleven original chapters that collectively deconstruct, traverse, and reimagine ideological constructs in planning.

The volume is organised into three thematic sections. The first section critically deconstructs capitalist ideological fantasies embedded in planning education, urban imaginaries, participatory governance, and neoliberal policy discourses. The second section explores how fantasies operate within environmental governance, housing activism (such as YIMBYism), flat ontologies, and community strategies, while also identifying possibilities for alternative discourses. The final section presents counter-hegemonic perspectives from non-Western contexts, including critiques of China's Territorial Spatial Planning and Iranian philosophical traditions of truth-telling as ethical governance.

Contributors include established and emerging scholars from diverse global contexts, offering interdisciplinary insights for researchers and practitioners in planning, geography, sociology, philosophy, and political studies. This collection stands as both a scholarly tribute to Gunder's intellectual legacy and a call for critical, transformative planning for futures.

This book confronts, and redresses, the remarkable lack of understanding and knowledge about Myanmar, particularly in the West, regarding the backdrop to the Rohingya crisis and genocide. It provides an ethnohistorical overview, discussing the cross-border dynamics, the genocide, and UN/international responses. It focuses on the refugee camps, regional security, and Rohingya repatriation issues. The book presents a broad and well-rounded view of the ongoing crisis, highlighting perspectives both from "within" and "outside" it. This unique book collates chapters by a global, diverse team of interdisciplinary scholars and experts, bringing together an integrated and holistic analysis toward a better understanding of the roots of the ongoing crisis, and the survival and protection of the Rohingya refugees. It will be useful to students, scholars, and policymakers seeking to understand the complexity of the crisis, working in areas such as history, conflict/refugee studies, international affairs and regional studies, political science, sociology, and anthropology.

This pioneering volume presents a comprehensive assessment of generative artificial intelligence's impact on African journalism, bringing together insights from academics, technologists, and practicing journalists across the continent.

Featuring diverse case studies from South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Eswatini, the collection explores how African newsrooms are adopting generative AI. Contributors analyse the use of AI presenters, audience perceptions of AI-generated content, gamification strategies in newsrooms, and the barriers journalists face in accessing these technologies. Painting a picture of the complex political economy of AI-driven news production and consumption, the volume also addresses ethical concerns around AI appropriation, highlighting how existing legal frameworks struggle to regulate generative AI in journalism.

Positioned at the intersection of technology and African media studies, this book offers essential insights into the future of journalism across the continent.

Trust Matsilele is a Senior Lecturer in Journalism at Birmingham City University, UK, and a Research Fellow in the Communication Department at the University of South Africa.

Lungile A. Tshuma is a Researcher in the Centre for Communication and Culture, Universidade Catolica Portuguesa. Tshuma is also a Senior Research Associate in the Department of Communication and Media, University of Johannesburg, South Africa.

This book adopts an interdisciplinary approach, drawing on contributions from experts in various fields such as geography, environmental and developmental studies, to provide a comprehensive analysis of Brunei's role within Southeast Asia's future trajectory. Brunei has often been overlooked, or given only cursory coverage in regional analyses, and so this book affords significant attention to the Bruneian perspective on regional development. By integrating Brunei's unique historical, geographical and socio-economic context into the broader discussion, the book offers insights into how Brunei's aspirations and challenges contribute to shaping the region's future. By emphasizing local-regional transformation and resilience, the book provides practical insights into how Brunei and other Southeast Asian nations can navigate uncertainties-adapting to global challenges such as climate change, economic shifts, and geopolitical dynamics-and seize opportunities in the coming decades. It is relevant to social scientists across disciplines focused on Southeast Asia, and in the Muslim world's role in development.

This book explores how minoritized languages and identities are impacted by "deglobalization" - marked by increased state control, declining global market power, and growing repression of civil liberties. As nations tighten borders and prioritize unity, many minoritized groups are losing their rights to speak their languages and express their cultural identities. Focusing on Chinese diasporan youth in Indonesia, this book examines how individuals navigate their identities in an environment where speaking Chinese is often seen as a threat. Through analysis of everyday interactions and interviews with young Chinese Indonesians, this book disrupts state-driven narratives that position Chinese language and culture as incompatible with Indonesianness. Instead, it paints a complex picture of contemporary Chineseness and Indonesianness, with some young diasporans aligning with a nationalizing discourse that prioritizes standard Indonesian, others striving to sustain their Chineseness amid these pressures, and many other still navigating pathways in between. By using the Indonesian context to highlight the necessity of a deglobalization paradigm within sociolinguistics, this book offers fresh insights into language and identity in our rapidly changing societies. It is an important read for scholars in linguistics, anthropology, and Asian studies, as well as policymakers, educators, and anyone interested in the intersections of language, identity, and power. More than just an academic study, it serves as a resource for Chinese Indonesians and other diasporan communities seeking to discuss, understand, and reclaim their histories, cultures, and languages in an era of repression.

The city has historically been conceived as a project, with a sense of duty to be: it is the prefiguration of a reality that emerges from the negation of the pre-existing city. The city anticipates a desired future from an ideal perspective that tends to overcome the existing structural or particular challenges of the present. It can be argued that this proposition represents the historical trajectory of urban thought on a planetary scale. Therefore, the prospective dimension of the city constituted a central dynamic in urban theory throughout history, leading to the emergence of planning as a key approach.

The history of the city as a project is the core of the first volume in this two-part contribution. It presents an overview of diverse city projects that have been pursued throughout history, providing a framework for exploring new perspectives of urban development. The cities profiled and analyzed here reflect a living catalog of initiatives that can inform promising directions. More than a compilation, this volume compares and critically assesses these historical projects to provide a grounding for the contemporary advances presented in the second volume.

Ethnic Minorities in Israel and Turkey: Inside Outsiders offers a compelling comparative analysis of state- minority relations, revealing how national identity is constructed and contested through the lens of two of the region's most enduring ethnic conflicts.

Through extensive fieldwork and elite interviews, this book investigates how Israeli and Turkish political elites have responded to the political mobilization of their largest minorities - Palestinians and Kurds. It traces the historical trajectories of nation-building, examines the securitization of minority rights, and explores the ways in which demands for autonomy, recognition, and equal participation are interpreted as existential threats to national unity. Drawing on the ethnic boundary-making framework, the chapters analyse how divergent strategies - exclusion in Israel and forced assimilation in Turkey - have shaped patterns of inclusion and exclusion, with particular attention to the symbolic role of trans-border kinship, collective rights, and political representation. By highlighting the narratives of political elites, this book illuminates how ethnic minorities come to be treated as "inside outsiders," navigating the tensions between national loyalty and ethnocultural affiliation.

Essential reading for scholars of comparative politics, nationalism, Middle East studies, and ethnic relations, this book deepens our understanding of how contested identities are negotiated in the modern nation-state.

What does 'quality education' truly mean, and how can we ensure it is accessible to all children, regardless of their background? This book delves into these pressing questions, offering a comprehensive exploration of the challenges and opportunities within India's education system.

Why do millions of children in India attend school yet still struggle to acquire basic literacy and numeracy skills? This book examines the varied reasons behind poor learning outcomes, illustrating why high enrolment rates have not translated into meaningful educational progress. It underscores the urgent need to shift the focus from merely getting children into schools to ensuring they learn and thrive. Through real-world case studies, insightful policy analysis, and a focus on innovative state and national initiatives, the book unpacks what works in education - and what does not. From the role of teachers and school leadership to the importance of inclusive policies and community engagement, it offers a holistic view of the factors influencing student achievement.

As a part of the Innovations, Practice and the Future of Public Policy in India series, this open access volume will interest policy professionals, academics, and researchers in education, pedagogy, curriculum design, education economics, and development studies.

This book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

This book provides a critical introduction to the key writings of Paul Lazarsfeld (1901-1976), edited by two prominent sociologists. It includes Lazarsfeld's early work on youth and occupation, which shows the intellectual influences of Austro-Marxism, academic psychology, and the philosophy of the Vienna Circle, and how they were applied to specific social issues. They also show how Lazarsfeld's concerns about the intellectual and methodological aspects of sociology, which foreshadowed some of the major issues in current sociological methods, played an important role in shaping the direction of the discipline in the United States. The essays demonstrate how Lazarsfeld laid many of the foundations for reliable social survey techniques and qualitative methods for understanding key aspects of contemporary society. Some examples of these aspects are voting studies, opinion polling, occupational research, and mass media research. Lazarsfeld's early work in "administrative research" laid the groundwork for a lot of market and business research. The essays in this book are accompanied by a detailed and illuminating biographical introduction by the editors. This collection is an important addition to the history of 20th-century sociology. It is also the only English-language source of Paul Lazarsfeld's early writings.

This book examines how members of the South Asian diaspora-one of the world's largest diasporic communities-forge complex, hybrid identities at the intersection of homeland traditions and host society influences. Against the backdrop of significant deterritorialization and cultural diversity, it explores the nuanced ways multiple generations navigate between preserving heritage and adapting to new environments.

Through rich, multidisciplinary perspectives, the volume investigates:

• The blending of traditional practices with new cultural elements
• The delicate balance between adaptation and heritage preservation
• The emergence of unique cultural spaces shaped by transnational connections

Organized into two comprehensive sections-identity formation and transnational practices-this collection offers valuable insights into the lived experiences of South Asian communities worldwide and is essential reading for scholars and students in diaspora studies, migration research, transnationalism, and South Asian cultural studies.

The chapters in this book were originally published in South Asian Diaspora.

This pioneering book explores new configurations of Dia de Muertos during COVID-19 within considerations of how the pandemic has shaped ideas about death and dying differently. It investigates how commemorative and mourning practices changed in Mexico during the turbulent years of 2020-21 and, through its innovative case studies of Mexican communities in Ireland and the UK, asks how the festival contributed in all three regions to global conversations about grief, mental health, and gender-based violence. We offer original analysis of Dia de Muertos expressions including marches, dance performances, masks, film, and calavera poetry, alongside online and digital community and home-based creative gestures. Our analysis reveals how Mexicans and Mexicans abroad have engaged with the rich compendium of Dia de Muertos symbolic and narrative systems in order to discuss how COVID-19 has re-framed ideas of loss and renewal more widely.

This open access book outlines four scenarios for the future of Israeli occupation of the Palestinian Territories as a broad canvas on which the interests, roles and perspectives of the key stakeholders involved in occupation are subsequently painted. An indirect result of 58 years of Israeli occupation of the Palestinian Territories, the Hamas attack on Israel of 7 October 2023 and the ensuing Israeli military campaign have greatly worsened Palestinian security in the short term, and Israeli security in the long term. Durable prospects for achieving reconciliation and peace are now shrouded in uncertainty, as political forces and views on both sides are likely to polarize and radicalize even further. October 7 and its aftermath have also introduced new uncertainties about the future nature of Israeli annexation and the modalities as well as extent of Palestinian resistance. Old frames have lost much of their validity, such as the Oslo agreements or even the logic underpinning security cooperation between the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli military.??

The book aims to improve our understanding of the post-October 7 context of occupation and the initiatives required to end it in the future. Ultimately, the book’s intention is to shake up complacent policies and debates about the occupation of the Palestinian Territories by providing a more realistic basis for both reflection and action.?

While short-form analysis (e.g. blogs, essays and briefs) of October 7 and the ensuing events have proliferated, there has been little to no comprehensive analysis of the significance of these events for the future of occupation. Using the method of scenario planning to develop an analytical baseline, the added value of this book is that it offers a multi-dimensional consideration of this question both through the range of stakeholders it covers and the variety of its authors with respect to their research focus and perspective.?

This book reveals the impacts of climate change and anthropogenic interventions on vernacular landscapes as a cultural heritage through an analysis of regional and urban development projects and local-level practices. Vernacular landscapes encompass customs, practices, places, objects, artistic expressions, and values that are innate to a particular place and time, with climate knowledge embedded alongside other environmental, cultural, and societal determinants. The cultural heritage of these places is threatened by climate and disaster risks, such as loss of land, food sources, water resources, intangible values, and displacement.

This book first critically unfolds the legacy of vernacular heritage responses to local conditions, focusing on climate, drawing on the examples of vernacular heritage sites worldwide, including India, Japan, and Mali. It then critically analyses the effects of climate and disaster risks on vernacular heritage, accelerated by spatial and local decisions and practices in a detailed study in Findikli, a district of Rize Province on the Black Sea coast in Turkey. It evaluates the insights, perceptions, and experiences of local people through interviews aiming to shed light on climate-resilient vernacular heritage sites.

By understanding the present challenges resulting from past decisions and actions at various scales, this book offers an interdisciplinary approach to the emerging field of climate change adaptation of cultural heritage studies. Bridging multiple fields, it will be of interest to researchers, academics, and students interested in cultural heritage, climate change studies, environmental studies, architectural and landscape conservation, and planning.

The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivative Licence (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 International license.

Any third party material in this book is not included in the OA Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. Please direct any permissions enquiries to the original rightsholder.

This book explores the nuances of settlement, migration, development, and geopolitics in the region known as the Siliguri Corridor, located in eastern India. It assesses the security challenges emerging from neighboring countries located in the immediate vicinity of the corridor-Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and China.

It analyzes the notion of the Chinese threat, or more particularly, the practicality and viability of its supposed "pincer move" to separate the Northeastern region of India by targeting the narrow Siliguri Corridor, which serves as the only physical link between the eight states and the rest of India. The book also focuses on the evolving dynamics of China's increasing foothold in the neighborhood and its potential impact on India's threat perception and strategy formulation with regard to the Siliguri Corridor.

The volume will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of South Asian studies, China studies, international politics, and military and strategic studies.

This open access book investigates the challenges and innovations of urbanised?kampungs?(villages) in Indonesia and how they create a liveable environment during rapid urban expansion. Focusing on urban informal settlements on the fringes of Jakarta, and desa-kota villages in Ende, the collection discusses various aspects of liveability, which includes water, waste and sanitation management, food and nutrition. The volume also examines the way?kampungs?operate within the fast-paced urbanization occurring around the informal settlements in Indonesia.? Adopting an interdisciplinary approach towards different issues relating to liveability, the work engenders a multidimensional perspective integrating social practice with aspects of infrastructure, institution, and regulation.? Presenting an original contribution to the study of middle-lower income urban neighborhoods in Indonesian cities especially, and cities in the Global South generally, this book captures key materials for discussing the main challenges and potential in the urban life and development of marginalised neighborhoods. Cutting across the fields of science and technology, engineering, medicine, public health, nutritional studies, humanities, social sciences and cultural studies, this interdisciplinary compilation offers important and unique views on urban life and urban policy. It is of interest to readers in urban studies and policy, development studies, health and well-being, particularly in developing geographies.

Informal housing and natural resource conflicts are common in Latin America. However, academics have rarely linked these social phenomena. This book proposes customary property (an extralegal entitlement founded in the social norms of a given community) as a common lens to analyze, understand, and potentially solve the struggles that are found in informal housing and mining natural resource conflict. This book shows how land titling policies inspired in De Soto's work have failed in taming the expansion of informal housing. Moreover, this book contests the mainstream explanation for social unrest in developing new mining projects which attributes it to the separation of surface and mining rights. Finally, the book proposes that the tension between customary property and lack of law enforcement by the State can progressively corrode the rule of law. This book proposes a nuanced version of land titling for informal housing, and a social license legal proceeding for the development of new mining projects. Ultimately, the book aadvocates for replacing violence between customary holders and the State with peaceful legal proceedings and negotiation tables. This book is directed to any property scholars and students interested in developing countries, social norms over assets, and natural resource conflicts.

This book investigates the ways in which gender is performed in Africa's digital spaces.

Social media and digital platforms provide young Africans with spaces to performatively resist gender conformance and assert bodies in transitions. These spaces allow gender identities to be fluidly made, unmade, and remade. Drawing on case studies from across North, East, West, Central and Southern Africa, this book investigates the ways in which social media-enabled cultural products resist heteronormativity and project varying masculinities, femininities, and personalities which negate birth sex. These identities, in turn, open up possibilities for transgender individuals, non-binary persons, and empowered women to performatively resist the systemic constructions of gender. Four particular themes are explored in depth: representations of women in cultural texts, call-out culture and resistance of cyberbullying, contested masculinities, and antinormative gender enactments.

The book's inclusive exploration of gendered paradigms of digital expressions in Africa will be of interest to researchers across gender studies, sociology, performing arts, literary studies, linguistics, cultural studies and media studies.

This volume sets out to address current gaps in research thinking on how material and non-material factors work in tandem to inhibit effective sustainable development transitions across differing world settings. It will showcase a body of research that accounts for the experiences of cohorts residing in various world regions and provide the reader with a series of conceptual tools with which to understand major factors currently shaping responses to climate change. In that, it responds directly to calls by various international agencies for research communities to provide more detailed evidence of how climate change not only adds to existing societal burdens but also creates newer ones and critically reconsider strategies for realizing UN Sustainable Development Goals in ways that bring SDG 10 on inequalities and SDG 13 on climate action, in particular, together more strategically.

With a heavy emphasis on the need for communities to abandon many established socio-cultural practices and adjust comprehensively to a series of new climate imperatives (social, environmental, economic, etc.), little attention is paid to the potential risks these changes pose to the health and wellbeing of vulnerable cohorts. As these risks may constitute considerable barriers to long-term resilience-building and effective climate actions, the difficulties encountered by different communities need to be better understood and accounted for in climate change research. This volume sets out to examine these issues and consider more equitable approaches to climate change resilience-building.