This collective book offers new insight on the genres of biography and autobiography by examining the singular path of those deemed to be ‘outsiders’, such as Winnie Mandela, Ida B. Wells, Malcolm X and Harvey Milk. Its specific focus on these female leaders and civil rights activists, who refused to be constrained by gender, race and class, shifts attention away from the great men of history and places it solely on those who have transformed their personal lives into a fight for collective goals. With an interdisciplinary approach that looks at literature, cinema and cultural studies, Women Activists and Civil Rights Leaders in Auto/Biographical Literature and Cinema argues that life writing is a key source of artistic creativity and activism which enables us to take a fresh look at history.
Women Who Kill explores several lines of inquiry: the female murderer as a figure that destabilizes order; the tension between criminal and victim; the relationship between crime and expression (or the lack thereof); and the paradox whereby a crime can be both an act of destruction and a creative assertion of agency. In doing so, the contributors assess the influence of feminist, queer and gender studies on mainstream television and cinema, notably in the genres (film noir, horror, melodrama) that have received the most critical attention from this perspective. They also analyse the politics of representation by considering these works of fiction in their contexts and addressing some of the ambiguities raised by postfeminism. The book is structured in three parts: Neo-femmes Fatales; Action Babes and Monstrous Women. Films and series examined include White Men Are Cracking Up (1994); Hit & Miss (2012); Gone Girl (2014); Terminator (1984); The Walking Dead (2010); Mad Max: Fury Road (2015); Contagion (2011) and Ex Machina (2015) among others.
This book offers a new perspective on adaptation of books to the screen; by focusing on endings, new light is shed on this key facet of film and television studies. The authors look at a broad range of case studies from different genres, eras, countries and formats to analyse literary and cinematic traditions, technical considerations and ideological issues involved in film and television adaptions. The investigation covers both the ideological implications of changes made in adapting the final pages to the screen, as well as the aesthetic stance taken in modifying (or on the contrary, maintaining) the ending of the source text. By including writings on both film and television adaptations, this book examines the array of possibilities for the closure of an adapted narrative, focusing both on the specificities of film and different television forms (miniseries and ongoing television narratives) and at the same time suggesting the commonalities of these audiovisual forms in their closing moments. Adapting Endings from Book to Screen will be of interest to all scholars working in media studies, film and television studies, and adaptation studies.
The Bloomsbury Handbook to Sofia Coppola offers the first comprehensive overview of the director's impressive oeuvre. It includes individual chapters on her films, including The Virgin Suicides (1999), Lost in Translation (2003), Marie Antoinette (2006), Somewhere (2010), The Bling Ring (2013), The Beguiled (2017), and On the Rocks (2020). While focused on her films, contributors also consider Coppola's shorter works for television, commercials and music videos, as well as explorations of the distinct elements of her signature style: cinematography, production/costume design, music, and editing. Additional chapters provide insights into the influences on her work, its popular and scholarly reception, and interpretations of key themes and issues. The international team of contributors includes leading scholars of film, music, fashion, celebrity and gender studies, visual and material culture, reception studies, as well as industry professionals. Their interdisciplinary insights capture the complexities of Coppola's work and its cultural significance.
Sophonisba Breckinridge's remarkable career stretched from the Civil War to the Cold War. She took part in virtually every reform campaign of the Progressive and New Deal eras and became a nationally and internationally renowned figure. Her work informed women’s activism for decades and continues to shape progressive politics today. Anya Jabour's biography rediscovers this groundbreaking American figure. After earning advanced degrees in politics, economics, and law, Breckinridge established the University of Chicago's School of Social Service Administration, which became a feminist think tank that promoted public welfare policy and propelled women into leadership positions. In 1935, Breckinridge’s unremitting efforts to provide government aid to the dispossessed culminated in her appointment as an advisor on programs for the new Social Security Act. A longtime activist in international movements for peace and justice, Breckinridge also influenced the formation of the United Nations and advanced the idea that "women’s rights are human rights." Her lifelong commitment to social justice created a lasting legacy for generations of progressive activists.
This book explores the work and careers of women, trans, and third-gender artists engaged in political activism. While some artists negotiated their own political status in their indigenous communities, others responded to global issues of military dictatorship, racial discrimination, or masculine privilege in regions other than their own. Women, trans, and third-gender artists continue to highlight and challenge the disturbing legacies of colonialism, imperialism, capitalism, communism, and other political ideologies that are correlated with patriarchy, primogeniture, sexism, or misogyny. The book argues that solidarity among such artists remains valuable and empowering for those who still seek legitimate recognition in art schools, cultural institutions, and the history curriculum.
What would change about our existing world if we re-imagined and re-valued femininity? Critical Femininities presents a multidimensional framework for re-thinking femininity. Moving beyond seeing femininity as a patriarchal tool, this book considers the social, historical, and ideological forces that shape present-day norms surrounding femininity, particularly those that contribute to femmephobia: the systematic devaluation and regulation of all that is deemed feminine. Each chapter offers a unique application of the Critical Femininities framework to disparate areas of inquiry, ranging from breastfeeding stigma to Incel ideology, and attempts to answer pressing questions concerning the place of femininity within gender and social theory. How can we conceptualise feminine power? In what ways can vulnerability act as a powerful mode of resistance? How can we understand femininity as powerful without succumbing to masculinist frameworks? What ideological underpinnings maintain Critical Femininities as an emergent field, despite traceable origins pre-dating second-wave feminism? As the provocative entries within this volume will certainly generate additional questions for anyone invested in society’s treatment of femininity, this book offers a launching pad for the continued growth of a field that cultivates insight from a feminine frame of reference as a means of rendering visible the taken-for-granted presence of masculinity that remains pervasive within gender theory. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Psychology & Sexuality.
This book examines the controversial issues surrounding the desire for titles (both earned and unearned) in Zimbabwe and beyond. The desire for titles is often associated with the quest for status, power, class, and recognition. Unfortunately, this desire has resulted in “faking” and the problem of distinguishing genuine PhDs from fake ones. The unscrupulous quest for fake degrees is referred to in this book as “Titlemania” or “Taitolomania.” The scramble for titles has not spared community leaders across the divide. Of concern is the failure of higher education students to use their earned titles to contribute to the search for solutions to societal problems through national technological development. The perspectives of the contributors in this volume provoke debates on the value of doctorates in Africa, and Zimbabwe in particular, considering that most PhD holders are not using their degrees to contribute to national development, production of goods and services, and the improvement of societal conditions.
Drawing on work and positive psychology, this insightful book addresses contemporary workplace challenges and analyses evidence-based interventions in the employee wellbeing domain. Recent years have seen significant developments in the area of employee wellbeing, with many organisations becoming more interested in wellbeing at work. This book begins by contextualising employee wellbeing before and after the onset of the pandemic and demonstrates how employers are seeking advice and proactively implementing wellbeing policies and practices. It goes on to consider such issues as employee voice, employee growth mindset, burnout, quiet quitting, sleep hygiene, workplace isolation and psychological safety. Each chapter is supported by thought-provoking questions and activities that encourage readers to reflect on their learning and apply their understanding of the material in practice, as well as suggestions for further reading that offer resources for continued study. The book closes by analysing a range of specific interventions that organisations can employ, including potential pitfalls to avoid. In so doing, it offers clear, practical guidance for employers looking to improve employee wellbeing in their organisation. Employee Wellbeing is an important read for stakeholders within and outside of organisations, and will also be of interest to students and academics studying work psychology, organisational behaviour, wellbeing at work and related fields.
"A must-read for young people.”—Bryan Stevenson, author of Just Mercy Now adapted for readers ages 12 and up, the award-winning biography that examines Rosa Parks’s life and 60 years of radical activism and brings the civil rights movement in the North and South to life The basis for the documentary of the same name executive produced by award-winning journalist Soledad O’Brien, now streaming on Peacock. The documentary is the recepient of the 2022 Television Academy Honors Award. A Chicago Public Library’s “Best of the Best Books of 2021” Selection · A Kirkus Reviews “Best YA Biography and Memoir of 2021” Selection Rosa Parks is one of the most well-known Americans today, but much of what is known and taught about her is incomplete, distorted, and just plain wrong. Adapted for young people from the NAACP Image Award–winning The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks, Jeanne Theoharis and Brandy Colbert shatter the myths that Parks was meek, accidental, tired, or middle class. They reveal a lifelong freedom fighter whose activism began two decades before her historic stand that sparked the Montgomery bus boycott and continued for 40 years after. Readers will understand what it was like to be Parks, from standing up to white supremacist bullies as a young person to meeting her husband, Raymond, who showed her the possibility of collective activism, to her years of frustrated struggle before the boycott, to the decade of suffering that followed for her family after her bus arrest. The book follows Parks to Detroit, after her family was forced to leave Montgomery, Alabama, where she spent the second half of her life and reveals her activism alongside a growing Black Power movement and beyond. Because Rosa Parks was active for 60 years, in the North as well as the South, her story provides a broader and more accurate view of the Black freedom struggle across the twentieth century. Theoharis and Colbert show young people how the national fable of Parks and the civil rights movement—celebrated in schools during Black History Month—has warped what we know about Parks and stripped away the power and substance of the movement. The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks illustrates how the movement radically sought to expose and eradicate racism in jobs, housing, schools, and public services, as well as police brutality and the over-incarceration of Black people—and how Rosa Parks was a key player throughout. Rosa Parks placed her greatest hope in young people—in their vision, resolve, and boldness to take the struggle forward. As a young adult, she discovered Black history, and it sustained her across her life. The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks will help do that for a new generation.
