Author: Victoria D. Alexander File Type: pdf Art and the Challenge of Markets Volumes 1 & 2examine the politics of art and culture in light of the profound changes that have taken place in theworld order since the 1980s and 1990s. The contributors explore how in these two decades, the neoliberal or market-based model of capitalism started to spread from the economic realm to other areas of society. As a result, many aspects of contemporaryWestern societies increasingly function in the same way as the private enterprise sector under traditional market capitalism. This second volume analyses the relationships of art with contemporary capitalist economies and instrumentalist cultural policies, and examines several varieties of capitalist-critical and alternative art forms that exist in todays art worlds. It also addresses the vexed issues of art controversies and censorship. The chapters cover issues such as theculturalization of the economy,aesthetics and anti-aesthetics,the societal benefits of works of art,arts responsibility to society, artivism,activistarts as protest and capitalism-critical works, and controversies over nudity in art, as well as considering themarketisation of emerging visual arts worlds in East Asia. The book ends with the a concluding chapter suggesting that even in todaysmarketized andcommercialized environments, art will find a way. Both volumes provide students and scholars across a range of disciplines with an incisive, comparative overview of the politics of art and culture and national, international and transnational art worlds in contemporary capitalism. **From the Back Cover Art and the Challenge of Markets Volumes 1 & 2examine the politics of art and culture in light of the profound changes that have taken place in theworld order since the 1980s and 1990s. The contributors explore how in these two decades, the neoliberal or market-based model of capitalism started to spread from the economic realm to other areas of society. As a result, many aspects of contemporaryWestern societies increasingly function in the same way as the private enterprise sector under traditional market capitalism. This second volume analyses the relationships of art with contemporary capitalist economies and instrumentalist cultural policies, and examines several varieties of capitalist-critical and alternative art forms that exist in todays art worlds. It also addresses the vexed issues of art controversies and censorship. The chapters cover issues such as theculturalization of the economy,aesthetics and anti-aesthetics,the societal benefits of works of art,arts responsibility to society, artivism,activistarts as protest and capitalism-critical works, and controversies over nudity in art, as well as considering themarketisation of emerging visual arts worlds in East Asia.The book ends with the a concluding chapter suggesting that even in todaysmarketized andcommercialized environments, art will find a way. Both volumes provide students and scholars across a range of disciplines with an incisive, comparative overview of the politics of art and culture and national, international and transnational art worlds in contemporary capitalism. About the Author Victoria D. Alexander is Senior Lecturer, Institute for Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship, Goldsmiths, University of London, UK. Samuli Hagg is Lecturer, Finnish and Literature, University of Eastern Finland. Simo Hayrynen is Adjunct Professor of Cultural Policy, University of Eastern Finland. Erkki Sevanen is Professor of Literature, University of Eastern Finland and Adjunct Professor of Aesthetics, University of Helsinki, Finland.

Author: Rebecca Goldstein File Type: epub From Publishers WeeklyThis biography of 17th-century philosopher Baruch Spinoza (16321677) may seem out of place in the Jewish Encounters series, devoted to Jewish thinkers and themes, because Spinoza denied the importance of Jewish identity, and Amsterdams Jewish community expelled him for heresy. But Goldstein, author of The Mind-Body Problem and Incompleteness and a professor of philosophy, reconstructs Spinozas life and traces his metaphysics to his efforts to solve the dilemmas of Jewish identity. The philosopher grew up in a community of Jews who had fled the Spanish-Portuguese Inquisition. As Goldstein argues, Spinozas determination to think through his communitys tragedy in the most universal terms possible compelled him to devise a unique life for himself, insisting on secularism when the concept of it had not yet been conceived. For Spinoza, salvation lay in achieving the radical objectivity of pure reason, which dissolves the contingent facts of ones personal history and religious and ethnic identity. Spinozas effort to live as neither Jew nor Christian nor Muslim was unthinkable in the 17th century, but his arguments for political and religious tolerance were forerunners for the U.S. Constitution. In this admirable biography, Goldstein shows that Spinoza is paradoxically Jewish, [f]or what can be more characteristic of a Jewish thinker than to use the Jewish experience as a conduit to universality? (May) Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. ReviewBeautifully crafted. What seem like separate issuesSpinozas pioneering advocacy of complete freedom of thought in religious matters the turmoil in the Jewish community the fateful events in Amsterdam in the closing years of Spinozas life the philosophical developments of the seventeenth century Spinozas idea of a philosophical religion utterly purged of all anthropomorphism, even to the extent of denying that God is a person in any sensecome together as if by themselves (the sure sign of a fine artist!) to answer my puzzle how to understand Spinoza the human being, a man for whom reason itself was a kind of salvation. Hilary Putnam, New York Observer From Publishers WeeklyThis biography of 17th-century philosopher Baruch Spinoza (16321677) may seem out of place in the Jewish Encounters series, devoted to Jewish thinkers and themes, because Spinoza denied the importance of Jewish identity, and Amsterdams Jewish community expelled him for heresy. But Goldstein, author of _The Mind-Body Problem and Incompleteness_ and a professor of philosophy, reconstructs Spinozas life and traces his metaphysics to his efforts to solve the dilemmas of Jewish identity. The philosopher grew up in a community of Jews who had fled the Spanish-Portuguese Inquisition. As Goldstein argues, Spinozas determination to think through his communitys tragedy in the most universal terms possible compelled him to devise a unique life for himself, insisting on secularism when the concept of it had not yet been conceived. For Spinoza, salvation lay in achieving the radical objectivity of pure reason, which dissolves the contingent facts of ones personal history and religious and ethnic identity. Spinozas effort to live as neither Jew nor Christian nor Muslim was unthinkable in the 17th century, but his arguments for political and religious tolerance were forerunners for the U.S. Constitution. In this admirable biography, Goldstein shows that Spinoza is paradoxically Jewish, [f]or what can be more characteristic of a Jewish thinker than to use the Jewish experience as a conduit to universality? (May) Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. ReviewBeautifully crafted. What seem like separate issuesSpinozas pioneering advocacy of complete freedom of thought in religious matters the turmoil in the Jewish community the fateful events in Amsterdam in the closing years of Spinozas life the philosophical developments of the seventeenth century Spinozas idea of a philosophical religion utterly purged of all anthropomorphism, even to the extent of denying that God is a person in any sensecome together as if by themselves (the sure sign of a fine artist!) to answer my puzzle how to understand Spinoza the human being, a man for whom reason itself was a kind of salvation. Hilary Putnam, New York Observer

Author: Hugh Middleton File Type: pdf This book offers original knowledge, debate, and understanding from frontline fieldwork data and the relations between mental health difficulties, mental healthcare provision, and social theory. Dominant discourse of the last half century has followed a medical perspective. This has marginalised contributions from social science. Furthermore purely medical approaches to mental healthcare have profound shortcomings. Thus, this book draws upon innovative research findings to rejuvenate the relationship between psychiatry and social science. It frames this by reference to certain inevitable and uncertain elements of mental health which characterise this field. Over nine chapters the volume is a unique contribution to several intersecting areas of intellectual enterprise, research, and learning as well as a source of insight into how mental health practice and policy might be modified and improved. As a result, it appeals to a wide range of audiences including social scientists, mental health practitioners, mental health researchers, social theorists, mental health service users, and policy-makers. **Review This is a novel and much needed book. It brings together psychiatry and social science in innovative ways, both in terms of theory and methods and in terms experimenting with new ways of writing. It is refreshing to see contributions by young and emerging social science writers grappling with cutting edge issues that transgress disciplines and academic cultures. Their findings should make academic and non-academic readers alike think afresh about mental health as an issue not only of medicine and medication but of culture and socialisation. Most importantly, the book makes us all think about whether it is possible or desirable to take refuge in biomedical certainty alone when dealing with mental health issues. Acknowledging and embracing uncertainty might be a healthier perspective, and one adopted in this book. (Brigitte Nerlich, Professor of Science, Language and Society, University of Nottingham) arly work undertaken by up and coming social scientists working in the area of social science applied to mental health. The novelty of these interesting contributions lies in the concern to link social science theory, concepts and methods to the various settings and places within which mental health is managed thought about and enacted. This collection which provides excellent insights into contemporary mental health matters demonstrates the opportunities and possibilities that mental health service settings can provide for conducting exciting social science research. (Anne Rogers, Professor of Health Systems Implementation, University of Southampton, Author of A Sociology of Mental Health and Illness) This collection offers powerful insights into the ways in which social science research can help us understand how to develop mental health services to ensure high quality, continually improving and compassionate care. It reveals also the rich field of opportunities for research that the study of mental health services offers for researchers. The contributors are all practitioners with social science research training and their commitment, wisdom and compassion shine through the content. (Michael West, Senior Fellow, The Kings Fund and Professor of Organizational Psychology, Lancaster University) From the Back Cover This book offers original knowledge, debate, and understanding from frontline fieldwork data and the relations between mental health difficulties, mental healthcare provision, and social theory. Dominant discourse of the last half century has followed a medical perspective. This has marginalised contributions from social science. Furthermore purely medical approaches to mental healthcare have profound shortcomings. Thus, this book draws upon innovative research findings to rejuvenate the relationship between psychiatry and social science. It frames this by reference to certain inevitable and uncertain elements of mental health which characterise this field. Over nine chapters the volume is a unique contribution to several intersecting areas of intellectual enterprise, research, and learning as well as a source of insight into how mental health practice and policy might be modified and improved. As a result, it appeals to a wide range of audiences including social scientists, mental health practitioners, mental health researchers, social theorists, mental health service users, and policy-makers.

Author: Jorge Coronado File Type: pdf Portraits in the Andes examines indigenous and mestizo self-representation through the medium of photography from the early to mid twentieth century. As Jorge Coronado reveals, these images offer a powerful counterpoint to the often-slanted, predominant view of indigenismo produced by the intellectual elite. Photography offered an inexpensive and readily available technology for producing portraits and other images that allowed lower- and middle-class racialized subjects to create their own distinct rhetoric and vision of their culture. The powerful identity-marking vehicle that photography provided to the masses has been overlooked in much of Latin American cultural studieswhich have focused primarily on the elites visual arts. Coronados study offers close readings of Andean photographic archives from the early- to mid-twentieth century, to show the development of a consumer culture and the agency of marginalized groups in creating a visual document of their personal interpretations of modernity. **Review The question that drives Portraits in the Addes is the relation between the lettered city and photography and the ways in which Latin Americas lettered tradition distorts our ability to see Andean photographs. Thus, while indigenismo served as an early filter of Andean photography, indigenous photography was staking out a terrain in many ways inaccessible to and perhaps even invisible to the lettered city. Silvia Spitta, Dartmouth College An extraordinary study of the practices, circulation, and collection of photography among indigenous and mestizo subjects in the southern Andes, Portraits in the Andes breaks new ground in our understanding of visual regimes and their geopolitical inscription. Coronados detailed investigation into the material life of images in the highlands furthers an alternative genealogy of Andean modernity in the expanded field of visual culture with striking effects for our understanding of the limits of lettered culture and the underside of intellectual history. Julio Ramos, University of California, Berkeley About the Author Jorge Coronado is associate professor of Spanish and Portuguese at Northwestern University. He is the author ofThe Andes Imagined Indigenismo, Society, and Modernity. His teaching centers on nineteenth- and twentieth-century Latin American literatures and cultures, with a focus on the Andes. He has lectured widely at universities in Latin America, Europe, and the United States and currently codirects the Andean Cultures and Histories working group at Northwestern.