This volume shows through the use of legal sources that law was used to try to erect boundaries between communities in order to regulate or restrict interaction between the faithful and the non-faithful; and at the same time shows how these boundaries were repeatedly transgressed and negotiated. Muslim law developed a clear legal cadre for dhimmīs, inferior but protected non-Muslim communities…
There is no doubt that we live in exciting times: Ours is the age of many ‘silent revolutions’ triggered by startups and research labs of big IT companies; revolutions that quietly and profoundly alter the world we live in. Another ten or five years, and self-tracking will be as normal and inevitable as having a Facebook account or a mobile phone. Our bodies, hooked to wearable devices sitt…
Sherborne Old Castle was built in Dorset in about 1122–35. The fortified palace was one of several major building projects undertaken by Roger, Bishop of Salisbury. Although Sherborne Old Castle was altered over the next four centuries, most of its original structural elements were retained until the buildings were slighted during the English Civil War. This report describes and analyses the …
This is a comprehensive study of the archaeological archives and artefact collections of Glastonbury Abbey, together with a new geophysical survey of the site. It analyses thirty-six seasons of archaeological excavation directed by such iconic figures as Sir William St John Hope, Sir Charles Peers, Sir Alfred Clapham and Dr Courtenay Arthur Ralegh Radford, and reveals new insights into the abbe…
"The authors of the present volume, Myth, Materiality, and Lived Religion, focus on the material dimension of Old Norse mythology and the role played by myths in everyday life. More broadly expressed, the collection looks at the social, ceremonial and material contexts of myths. This topic has been underexplored in previous research on Old Norse myths, despite its important theoretical implicat…
The multifarious and sometimes contested concept of “shamanism” has aroused intense popular and scholarly interest since its initial coinage by the Russian scholar V. M. Mikhailovsky in the late 19th century. In this book, three leading scholars, representing different branches of the humanities, dwell on the current status of shamanic practices and conceptions of the soul, both as ‘etic…
Monsoon Assemblages is a research project funded by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Grant Agreement No. 697873). Monsoon [+ other] Airs is the first of three publications by Monsoon Assemblages arising from symposia held at the University of Westminster (2017-2019). These form part of its agenda to foster interdisc…
This volume is about India’s deep and complex relationship with its chosen form of government. It is an interdisciplinary book with approaches drawn from history, anthropology, sociology, political science and social geography. We believe this volume provides new perspectives on how to approach and analyse the complexity of India’s democracy. The book’s unfortunate publishing history also…
Abundant, salutary, problematic – energy makes history. As a symbol, resource and consumer good, it shapes technologies, politics, societies and cultural world views. Focussing on a range of energy types, from electricity and oil to bioenergy, this volume analyzes the social, cultural and political concepts and discourses of energy and their implementation and materialization within tech…
"The Monastery Rules discusses the position of monks and monasteries in pre-1950s Tibetan Buddhist societies. Using the monastic guidelines (bca’ yig) as primary sources, this book examines the impact of Buddhist monastic institutions on Tibetan societies by looking at their monastic policies that deal with organization, economy, justice, and public relations. As this type of literature has n…