The Force of Comparison


Book Description

In an era defined by daily polls, institutional rankings, and other forms of social quantification, it can be easy to forget that comparison has a long historical lineage. Presenting a range of multidisciplinary perspectives, this volume investigates the concepts and practices of comparison from the early modern period to the present. Each chapter demonstrates how comparison has helped to drive the seemingly irresistible dynamism of the modern world, exploring how comparatively minded assessors determine their units of analysis, the criteria they select or ignore, and just who it is that makes use of these comparisons—and to what ends.




The New Testament in Comparison


Book Description

The nine essays in this volume, written by leading international scholars in New Testament studies, examine in new depth the method of comparison so frequently deployed in the study of the New Testament. They raise and reflect on deep questions on the possibility and validity of such comparative exercise, on the methods that are most effective and intellectually defensible, on the purpose of such comparison, and on the perils and pitfalls in such exercises. Addressing these questions at both a theoretical, hermeneutical level, and through case-studies of actual examples, the book provides a much needed and up-to-date methodological resource for the numerous comparative projects spawned by New Testament studies throughout the world.




Rethinking Comparison


Book Description

Qualitative comparative methods – and specifically controlled qualitative comparisons – are central to the study of politics. They are not the only kind of comparison, though, that can help us better understand political processes and outcomes. Yet there are few guides for how to conduct non-controlled comparative research. This volume brings together chapters from more than a dozen leading methods scholars from across the discipline of political science, including positivist and interpretivist scholars, qualitative methodologists, mixed-methods researchers, ethnographers, historians, and statisticians. Their work revolutionizes qualitative research design by diversifying the repertoire of comparative methods available to students of politics, offering readers clear suggestions for what kinds of comparisons might be possible, why they are useful, and how to execute them. By systematically thinking through how we engage in qualitative comparisons and the kinds of insights those comparisons produce, these collected essays create new possibilities to advance what we know about politics.




Comparison in Anthropology


Book Description

Presents a systematic rethinking of the power and limits of comparison in anthropology.




Homestuck, Book 1


Book Description

A full-color, hardcover collector’s edition of the landmark webcomic. Years in the past, but not many, a webcomic launched that would captivate legions of devoted fans around the world and take them on a mind-bending, genre-defying epic journey that would forever change the way they look at stairs. And buckets. And possibly horses. Now this sprawling saga has been immortalized on dead trees with notes from author Andrew Hussie explaining what the hell he was thinking as he brought this monster to life. A must-have for Homestuck fans who want to re-experience the saga or for new readers looking for a gateway to enter this rich universe. A young man stands in his bedroom. It just so happens that he’s about to embark on an adventure involving birthday cakes, magic chests, hammers, arms (detachable and otherwise), harlequins, imps, eccentric architecture, movable home furnishings, bunnies, and a video game that will destroy the world.




New Practices of Comparison, Quantification and Expertise in Education


Book Description

New Practices of Comparison, Quantification and Expertise in Education discusses contemporary trends and activities related to comparisons and quantifications. It aims to help scholars to conduct empirically based research on how comparisons and quantifications are instituted in practice at different levels in the educational system. The book furthers discussions on policy by looking at the kinds of activities that comparisons and quantifications lead to at an international, regional and national level. Most of the book’s chapters are based on empirical research conducted in different research projects. The book thus brings all these projects together and discusses them as activities promoted by the reasoning of comparisons and quantifications. New Practices of Comparison, Quantification and Expertise in Education will be of great interest to academics, researchers and post-graduate students in the fields of comparative education, curriculum research and policy studies. It will also appeal to those in the fields of teacher education, including student teachers.




A Critical History of German Film


Book Description

A history of German film dealing with individual films as works of art has long been needed. Existing histories tend to treat cinema as an economic rather than an aesthetic phenomenon; earlier surveys that do engage with individual films do not include films of recent decades. This book treats representative films from the beginnings of German film to the present. Providing historical context through an introduction and interchapters preceding the treatments of each era's films, the volume is suitable for semester- or year-long survey courses and for anyone with an interest in German cinema. The films: The Student of Prague - The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari - The Last Laugh - Metropolis - The Blue Angel - M - Triumph of the Will - The Great Love - The Murderers Are among Us - Sun Seekers - Trace of Stones - The Legend of Paul and Paula - Solo Sunny - The Bridge - Young T rless - Aguirre, The Wrath of God - Germany in Autumn - The Marriage of Maria Braun - The Tin Drum - Marianne and Juliane - Wings of Desire - Maybe, Maybe Not - Rossini - Run Lola Run - Good Bye Lenin - Head On - The Lives of Others Stephen Brockmann is Professor of German at Carnegie Mellon University and past President of the German Studies Assocation.




The Handmaid's Tale


Book Description

An instant classic and eerily prescient cultural phenomenon, from “the patron saint of feminist dystopian fiction” (New York Times). Now an award-winning Hulu series starring Elizabeth Moss. In this multi-award-winning, bestselling novel, Margaret Atwood has created a stunning Orwellian vision of the near future. This is the story of Offred, one of the unfortunate “Handmaids” under the new social order who have only one purpose: to breed. In Gilead, where women are prohibited from holding jobs, reading, and forming friendships, Offred’s persistent memories of life in the “time before” and her will to survive are acts of rebellion. Provocative, startling, prophetic, and with Margaret Atwood’s devastating irony, wit, and acute perceptive powers in full force, The Handmaid’s Tale is at once a mordant satire and a dire warning.




Comparison


Book Description

An extended volume of New Literary History that considers the practice of comparison in literary studies and other disciplines within the humanities. Writing and teaching across cultures and disciplines makes the act of comparison inevitable. Comparative theory and methods of comparative literature and cultural anthropology have permeated the humanities as they engage more centrally with the cultural flows and circulation of past and present globalization. How do scholars make ethically and politically responsible comparisons without assuming that their own values and norms are the standard by which other cultures should be measured? Comparison expands upon a special issue of the journal New Literary History, which analyzed theories and methodologies of comparison. Six new essays from senior scholars of transnational and postcolonial studies complement the original ten pieces. The work of Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Ella Shohat, Robert Stam, R. Radhakrishnan, Bruce Robbins, Ania Loomba, Haun Saussy, Linda Gordon, Walter D. Mignolo, Shu-mei Shih, and Pheng Cheah are included with contributions by anthropologists Caroline B. Brettell and Richard Handler. Historical periods discussed range from the early modern to the contemporary and geographical regions that encompass the globe. Ultimately, Comparison argues for the importance of greater self-reflexivity about the politics and methods of comparison in teaching and in research.







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