Radical Interdependence, Autonomy, and the Making of Worlds
In Designs for the Pluriverse Arturo Escobar presents a new vision of design theory and practice aimed at channeling design's world-making capacity toward ways of being and doing that are deeply attuned to justice and the Earth. Noting that most design-from consumer goods and digital technologies to built environments-currently serves capitalist ......
Mass Incarceration and the Binds of Reform in Brazil
Brazil's prison population, estimated at 90,000 in 1990, has exploded to over 650,000, the third highest in the world behind the US and China. Systematically targeting poor, Black communities, Brazil's prisons have become infamous for their overcrowding and mismanagement. And yet, this landscape of punishment is built on top of a set of ......
Conservation Ethics and Ecological Care in Australia
Cape York is a remote and biodiverse peninsula in northeastern Australia that has been inhabited by Aboriginal communities for thousands of years. Since colonization, much of the peninsula has been used for large scale cattle farming. It is also a place of global significance as the site of multiple environmentally protected bioregions, with ......
Examining dynamic interactions between humans and island environments. This volume explores the impacts humans have made on island and coastal ecosystems and the ways these environments have adapted to anthropogenic changes over the course of millennia. Case studies highlight how island populations developed social and political strategies to ......
Food Politics and Agrarian Life in the Andean Highlands
Quinoa's new status as a superfood has altered the economic fortunes of Quechua farmers in the Andean highlands. Linda J. Seligmann journeys to the Huanoquite region of Peru to track the mixed blessings brought about by the surging worldwide popularity of this "exquisite grain." Focusing on how Indigenous communities have confronted globalization, ......
Musical Entrepreneurs and the Cultural Politics of Inequality in Northeastern Brazil
Institutions in Recife, Brazil, have restructured subsidies in favor of encouraging musicians to become more entrepreneurial. Falina Enriquez explores how contemporary and traditional musicians in the fabled musical city have negotiated these intensified neoliberal cultural policies and economic uncertainties.
Sophie Chao examines the multispecies entanglements of oil palm plantations in West Papua, Indonesia, showing how Indigenous Marind communities understand and navigate the social, political, and environmental demands of the oil palm plant.
A performance culture of illness and wellness In southern Uganda, ritual healing traditions called kusamira and nswezi rely on music to treat sickness and maintain well-being. Peter J. Hoesing blends ethnomusicological fieldwork with analysis to examine how kusamira and nswezi performance socializes dynamic processes of illness, wellness, and ......
Frequently Asked Questions About the Ancient Greeks and Romans
Why didn't the ancient Greeks or Romans wear pants? How did they shave? How likely were they to drink fine wine, use birth control, or survive surgery? In a series of short and humorous essays, Naked Statues, Fat Gladiators, and War Elephants explores some of the questions about the Greeks and Romans that ancient historian Garrett Ryan has ......