Founded in 1956, Penn State University Press publishes rigorously reviewed, high-quality works of scholarship and books of regional and contemporary interest, with a focus on the humanities and social sciences. The publishing arm of the Pennsylvania State University and a division of the Penn State University Libraries, the Press promotes the advance of scholarship by disseminating knowledge—new information, interpretations, methods of analysis—widely in books, journals, and digital publications.
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Ableism, a form of discrimination that elevates “able” bodies over those perceived as less capable, remains one of the most widespread areas of systematic and explicit discrimination in Western culture. Yet, in contrast to the substantial body of scholarly work on racism, sexism, classism, and heterosexism, ableism remains ......
Abraham, son of Terah or Azar and husband of Sarah, is one of the pivotal figures of the Old Testament and is generally seen as the founder of the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim faiths. He was a rich source of inspiration in all three faiths for artists of the medieval period. His life narrative from birth to death is richly recorded in a ......
Painting has long dominated discussions of Netherlandish art. Yet in the sixteenth century sculpture was held in considerably higher regard than painting, especially in foreign lands. This beautifully illustrated book is the first comprehensive study of sixteenth-century Netherlandish sculpture, and it opens an important window onto the works and ......
In recent decades, the study of Biblical Hebrew has profited enormously from the application of methodologies derived from general linguistics. During the 16th World Congress of Jewish Studies, Adina Moshavi and Tania Notarius organized sessions devoted to exploring new developments in Biblical Hebrew linguistics, bringing together many of the ......
Techne's Paradox - a frequent theme in science fiction - is the commonplace belief that technology has both the potential to annihilate humanity and to preserve it. Advocating Weapons, War, and Terrorism looks at how this paradox applies to some of the most dangerous of technologies: population bombs, dynamite bombs, ......
Examines commonplace conflicting beliefs that technology will either annihilate humanity or preserve humanity from annihilation. Argues that the paradoxical capacities of weapons influence how humanity understands violent ......
In this volume, David Carrier and Joachim Pissarro expand on the exploration begun in their last book, Wild Art, which featured art that stands outside the margins of the art world in the way that wild animals stand apart from domestic cats and dogs. This new collaboration delves further into explaining how “wild art” came ......
Examines the involvement of African Americans in the New Deal art programs, shifting emphasis from individual artists toward broader issues informed by the uniqueness of Black experience.
Performance, Representation, and the Making of Black Atlantic Tradition
Explores how, in the Americas, people of African birth or descent found spiritual and social empowerment in the orbit of the Church. Draws connections between Afro-Catholic festivals and their precedents in the early modern Christian kingdom of Kongo.