Critical Praxis and Curriculum Guides

The Critical Praxis and Curriculum Guides is a curriculum-based series reflective of theory creating praxis. The series targets not only undergraduate and graduate audiences, but also tenured and “experienced” teachers of all disciplines. Research suggests that teachers need to have well-designed, thematic-centered curricula and lessons at their disposal. This is accomplished when the school works as a community to meet their own needs. Community in this sense includes working collaboratively with students, parents, and local community organizations to help build the curriculum. Practically, this means that time is devoted to professional development workshops, not exam reviews or test preparation pointers, but real learning. Together with administrators, teachers form professional learning communities (PLCs) to discuss, analyze, and revise curricula and share pedagogical strategies that meet the needs of their particular school demographics. This communal approach was found to be more successful than requiring each individual teacher to create lessons on her/his own. Ideally, we would love it if each teacher could create their own authentic lessons because only s/he truly knows her/his students – and we encourage it, because it is possible! However, as educators ourselves, we understand the realities our colleagues in public schools face, especially when teaching in high needs areas. The Critical Praxis and Curriculum Guides provides relief for educators needing assistance in preparing their lessons. When possible, and in the spirit of communal practices, the series welcomes co-authored books by theorists and practitioners or solo-authored books by an expert deeply informed by the field. Because we strongly believe that theory guides our practice, each guide will blend theory and curriculum chapters creating a praxis. All, of course, in a critical pedagogical framework. Ultimately, the guides will serve as resources for teachers to use, expand upon, revise, and re-create.

13 publications

Contemporary Critical Concepts and Pre-Enlightenment Literature

ISSN: 1074-6781

"Writers who worked before the beginning of rationalist universalism's triumphal period which may be ending now-explored issues of consciousness, ideology, and culture that recent criticism and critical theory, using various specialized vocabularies of concepts, have returned to the center of literäry and social criticism. These early modern figures often anticipated some of our clilemmas; How to manipulate an apparently quite mutable world and, at the same time, preserve belief in an immutable "centered" self? How to reconcile rationalist universalism with personal and cultural stability? Rene Descartes's postulate of man as the master and proprietor of an increasingly built world is fundamentally incompatible with his effort to underwrite man as a stable philosophical subject. Man's technical and linguistic mastery devours his "transcendent subjectivity." Students of literature are now using the ideas of what Larry Riggs calls "post-enlightenment thinkers"-Max Horkheimer, Jacques Lacan, Michael Foucault, Rene Girard, and others-to elucidate the implicit and explicit debates about rationalism that are embedded in literary works. This trend is most usefully seen as a renewal of contact with preoccupations that were quite current in medieval, Renaissance, and seventeenth-century European literature. To date, however, innovative criticism has focused an more recent literature. Some post-structuralists-most notably Jacques Lacan-have tried their hand at interpreting early works. Their ideas are interesting, but their knowledge of the periods in question is often weak. Manuscripts on Elizabethan and Restoration theater, French, Italian, and German writers of the medieval and Renaissance periods, and die seventeenth-century French dramatists and moralists are welcome. "

3 publications

A Critical Introduction to Media and Communication Theory

The study of the media has led scholars to apply a humbling array of theories in their efforts to analyze messages, media systems, audiences and media themselves. One of the strengths of media studies has been its flexibility as it incorporates humanist and social scientific ideas in our work. This series is focused on theories, methods, schools of thought, domains of intellectual struggle, and individual thinkers whose importance to the study of the media can be reconfigured, reinvented, and refocused. Each of the specially commissioned books in the series shares a concern for the heritage of thought in the field of communication. These books provide sophisticated discussions of the relevance of particular theorists or theories, with an emphasis on reinventing communication and media studies, whether by incorporating ideas thought by some to be 'outside' the field, or by providing fresh analyses of ideas that have long been considered　central to media studies. Though theoretical in focus, the books are at all times concerned with the applicability of theory to empirical research and experience, and are designed to be accessible, yet critical, for students - undergraduates and postgraduates - and scholars.　

17 publications

Studies in Literary Criticism and Theory

The focus of this series is on studies of all literary genres that elucidate and interpret works of art in the context of criticism and theory. Theory and criticism are held to provide the hermeneutically most rewarding access to specific authors, works, and issues under consideration. Studies of a comparative nature with special reference to issues of literary history, criticism, and postmodern theory are the distinctive features of this monograph series. Emphasis is on subjects that may set trends, generate discussion, expand horizons beyond present perspectives, and/or redefine previously held notions about "major" and "minor" authors and their achievements within or outside the canon. Approaches may center on works, authors, or abstract notions of criticism and/or theory, including issues of a comparative nature concerning world literature. The focus of this series is on studies of all literary genres that elucidate and interpret works of art in the context of criticism and theory. Theory and criticism are held to provide the hermeneutically most rewarding access to specific authors, works, and issues under consideration. Studies of a comparative nature with special reference to issues of literary history, criticism, and postmodern theory are the distinctive features of this monograph series. Emphasis is on subjects that may set trends, generate discussion, expand horizons beyond present perspectives, and/or redefine previously held notions about "major" and "minor" authors and their achievements within or outside the canon. Approaches may center on works, authors, or abstract notions of criticism and/or theory, including issues of a comparative nature concerning world literature. The focus of this series is on studies of all literary genres that elucidate and interpret works of art in the context of criticism and theory. Theory and criticism are held to provide the hermeneutically most rewarding access to specific authors, works, and issues under consideration. Studies of a comparative nature with special reference to issues of literary history, criticism, and postmodern theory are the distinctive features of this monograph series. Emphasis is on subjects that may set trends, generate discussion, expand horizons beyond present perspectives, and/or redefine previously held notions about "major" and "minor" authors and their achievements within or outside the canon. Approaches may center on works, authors, or abstract notions of criticism and/or theory, including issues of a comparative nature concerning world literature.

21 publications

Culture, Curriculum and Education

0 publications

Contemporary Existentialism

4 publications

Ecological Pedagogy, Curriculum and Scholarship

0 publications

Art – Knowledge – Theory

ISSN: 2235-2759

Art Knowledge Theory is a book series that explores artistic modes of expression as forms of knowledge production. It focuses on transdisciplinary, epistemological and methodological approaches to contemporary art. Linking artistic and scientific practices, tools, techniques and theories, the volumes investigate the cultures of aesthetics and science studies as they relate to works of art. Art Knowledge Theory analyzes the role of art in contemporary culture by probing the philosophical, historical and social parameters by which images are accessed and assessed. As an amplification - as well as intervention or even a correction to historical research, this series questions the state of the art and knowledge within a culture, characterized by technology and science.

8 publications

Teaching Contemporary Scholars

This innovative series addresses the pedagogies and thoughts of influential contemporary scholars in diverse fields. Focusing on scholars who have challenged the “normal science,” the dominant frameworks of particular disciplines, Teaching Contemporary Scholars highlights the work of those who have profoundly influenced the direction of academic work. In a era of great change, this series focuses on the bold thinkers who provide not only insight into the nature of the change but where we should be going in light of the new conditions. Not a festschrift, not a re-interpretation of past work, these books allow the reader a deeper, yet accessible conceptual framework in which to negotiate and expand the work of important thinkers.

15 publications

Literary and Cultural Theory

The objective of the Literary and Cultural Theory series is to publish works, collections of articles, and conference proceedings which aim at transgressing boundaries of single disciplines and at creating common space within which themes and methodologies of those single disciplines merge and contribute to the production of a novel approach to culture, literature, and philosophy. Within thus conceived area of the humanities we place particular emphasis on: first, interdisciplinarity (both in terms of topics and methodology) and, secondly, on theoretical (or theorizing) approach, i.e., an approach which not only aims at describing cultural and literary phenomena, but also at revealing their mechanisms and multiple interrelationships, visible sometimes only when boundaries of disciplines are transgressed, and when areas of overlap are identified. Those priorities do not exclude publication of volumes within what has traditionally been considered the realm of literary studies, as long as the critical and theorizing attitude is maintained. Editors Homepage : Prof. Dr. Wojciech Kalaga

62 publications

Critical Qualitative Research

Critical research serves to address societal structures and institutions that oppress and exclude so that transformative actions can be generated that reduce inequitable power conditions. We invite proposals for authored and edited volumes that describe critical social science research (re)conceptualizations, practices, and methodologies that can be used by other scholars who wish to design and implement critical qualitative inquiry. Critical Qualitative Research challenges modernist orientations toward research by using social theory, designs, and research practices that emerge from critical questions like: Who/what is heard? Who/what is silenced? Who is privileged? Who is disqualified? How are forms of inclusion/exclusion being created? How are relations of power constructed and managed? How do various forms of privilege and oppression intersect to impact life possibilities for various individuals and groups? How do the arts inform research? How can multiple knowledges be engaged in research? How can research be socially just?

43 publications

Bridging Theory and Practice

0 publications

Studies in Contemporary History

Reconsidering the Cold War historiography’s focus on high politics, conflict and confrontation, this series encourages the development of new research that explores ties and similarities transcending the political divide in Europe. It also welcomes new approaches to the history of Central and East European societies under dictatorships: approaches which shed light on individual and collective agency and show high politics as only one of several factors of change. Research in contemporary history still often mentally maps Europe as divided into a West and an East. This overemphasizes barriers between people who often shared similar values and tastes, practices and technologies, between interrelated social phenomena or just neighboring regions. In a similar way, narratives of Central and Eastern Europe often tend to reflect a simplistic vision centered on the conflict between the “regime” and “society”. This overemphasizes the role of crude domination and hinders understanding of the reproduction, evolution and normalization of European communist regimes up to 1989. We seek contributions that employ approaches from history, especially those which integrate insights gained from neighboring disciplines, such as sociology, anthropology, political science, or cultural and gender studies. Discussions of comparative and transnational perspectives are particularly welcome. The series was formerly known as Warsaw Studies in Contemporary History .

10 publications

Complicated Conversation

ISSN: 1534-2816

Reframing the curricular challenge educators face after a decade of school deform, the books published in Peter Lang's Complicated Conversation Series testify to the ethical demands of our time, our place, our profession. What does it mean for us to teach now, in an era structured by political polarization, economic destabilization, and the prospect of climate catastrophe? Each of the books in the Complicated Conversation Series provides provocative paths, theoretical and practical, to a very different future. In this resounding series of scholarly and pedagogical interventions into the nightmare that is the present, we hear once again the sound of silence breaking, supporting us to rearticulate our pedagogical convictions in this time of terrorism, reframing curriculum as committed to the complicated conversation that is intercultural communication, self-understanding, and global justice.

93 publications

Critic of Institutions

ISSN: 1068-4689

12 publications

Studies in Contemporary Continental Philosophy

0 publications

Critical Education and Ethics

ISSN: 2166-1359

The Critical Education and Ethics series intends to systematically analyze the pitfalls of social structures such as race, class, and gender as they relate to edu-cational issues. Books in the series contain theoretical work grounded in prag-matic, society-changing practices. The series places value on ethical responses, as prophetic commitments to change the conditions under which education takes place. The series aims to (1) Further the ethical understanding linking broader social issues to education by exploring the environmental, health-related, and faith/spiritual responses to our educational times and policy, and (2) Ground these works in the everyday world of the classroom, viewing how schools are impacted by what critical researchers do. Both theoretically and practically, the series aims to identify itself as an agent for community change. The Critical Education and Ethics series welcomes work from emerging scholars as well as those already established in the field.

18 publications

Critical Intercultural Communication Studies

ISSN: 1528-6118

Within Communication, culture is broadly understood as a meaning-making process that evidences itself within discourse, mediated forms, and interactional instances to constitute group autonomy. Within that meaning-making process, intercultural communication considers relationships between institutions and their societies, media and their audiences, and peoples and their communities. The formalized study of intercultural communication has always been problematic; like most disciplines and subdisciplines, its usefulness and limitations emerge from the historical context in which it is studied. Developed after World War II, intercultural communication initially served as an applied area of study to train U.S. governmental and business entities for relationships beyond U.S. borders. Then, out of the struggles of the U.S. Civil Rights era, intercultural communication expanded to concern itself with relationships between differing racial and ethnic groups. By the turn of the twentieth century, some intercultural communication scholars had fully embraced studying the differential power relations between nations, communities, and individuals thus catalyzing a body of research known as critical intercultural communication. Now, heading into the middle of the twenty-first century, critical intercultural communication has come into focus as an area of study that emphasizes, explains, and seeks to resolve power relations within specific contexts, applying theories and modes of inquiry suited to contemporary issues understood within their ongoing historical dynamics. As our institutions and their societies, mediated forms and their corresponding audiences, and communities and their members continue to alter and morph, critical intercultural communication adapts to interpret and envision progressive, socially just ways forward. This series, therefore, invites scholarship that challenges status quo cultural constitutions by recognizing and problematizing hegemonic modes of belonging and being. Spanning a range of contexts, critical intercultural communication considers symbolic and performative orders across local, national, hemispheric and transnational circuits. Moreover, this series fosters interdisciplinary conversations that innovate ontological and epistemological forms, advancing a range of systematic intellectual approaches to cultural transformation and validation. The series is particularly interested in works grounded in BIPOC, decolonial, feminist, queer, crip, and/or kink perspectives that construct claims, knowledges, and theories capable of guiding society toward new social justice knowings.

45 publications

Black Studies and Critical Thinking

ISSN: 1947-5985

Black Studies and Critical Thinking is an interdisciplinary series which examines the intellectual traditions of and cultural contributions made by people of African descent throughout the world. Whether it is in literature, art, music, science, or academics, these contributions are vast and far-reaching. As we work to stretch the boundaries of knowledge and understanding of issues critical to the Black experience, this series offers a unique opportunity to study the social, economic, and political forces that have shaped the historic experience of Black America, and that continue to determine our future. Black Studies and Critical Thinking is positioned at the forefront of research on the Black experience, and is the source for dynamic, innovative, and creative exploration of the most vital issues facing African Americans. The series invites contributions from all disciplines but is specially suited for cultural studies, anthropology, history, sociology, literature, art, and music. Subjects of interest include (but are not limited to): Education, Sociology, History, Media/Communication, Spirituality and Indigenous Thought, Women’s Studies, Policy Studies, Advertising, African American Studies, Black Political Thought.

164 publications

Contemporary Film, Television, and Video

ISSN: 1543-0863

The Contemporary Film, Television, and Video Studies series seeks to publish serious, scholarly materials about contemporary American and international film, television, and video practices. Topics of interest include studies of national media practices, the globalization of media production and consumption, and studies of important and influential media practitioners. Submission of single author manuscripts and edited collections of essays from a wide range of theoretical and methodological perspectives are invited. The Contemporary Film, Television, and Video Studies series seeks to publish serious, scholarly materials about contemporary American and international film, television, and video practices. Topics of interest include studies of national media practices, the globalization of media production and consumption, and studies of important and influential media practitioners. Submission of single author manuscripts and edited collections of essays from a wide range of theoretical and methodological perspectives are invited. The Contemporary Film, Television, and Video Studies series seeks to publish serious, scholarly materials about contemporary American and international film, television, and video practices. Topics of interest include studies of national media practices, the globalization of media production and consumption, and studies of important and influential media practitioners. Submission of single author manuscripts and edited collections of essays from a wide range of theoretical and methodological perspectives are invited.

2 publications

Critical Multicultural Perspectives on Whiteness

ISSN: 2572-9616

This book series seeks to engage a broad and cross-disciplinary range of students, scholars, activists, and others in a critical multicultural dialogue on the complex intersections of power, privilege, identity, and Whiteness. The series aims to link theory and practice to problematize key societal and educational concerns related to Whiteness. The series editors share the view that taking action for transformative change in and through education, in the spirit of what Paulo Freire called conscientization, is the role of educators who seek to address the needs of all their students. In focusing on Whiteness, we are concerned with social, economic, and environmental justice, the problematization of race, and the potential for education to be emancipatory in addressing power imbalances. Some of the questions of interest for this book series include: • How do we engage in critical discussions related to power, privilege, identity, and Whiteness when many multicultural frameworks dissuade us from such work? • How can we connect Whiteness to other intersecting and pivotal forms of being, marginalization, and identity? • How can those categorized as White engage in dialogues and action about Whiteness that can positively contribute to addressing concerns of racialized and marginalized groups? • How can we effectively contextualize and critique hegemony and globalized economic realities so as to be able to discuss race in a constructive and transformative manner?

5 publications

Studies in Contemporary Women's Writing

ISSN: 2235-4123

A series founded by Gill Rye This book series supports the work of the Centre for the Study of Contemporary Women’s Writing at the Institute of Languages, Cultures and Societies, University of London, by publishing high-quality critical studies in the field. Studies in Contemporary Women’s Writing provides a forum for innovative research exploring new trends and issues in the work of new, hitherto neglected or established authors who write primarily, but not exclusively, in the languages covered by the Centre: French, German, Italian, Portuguese and the Hispanic languages. The series has redefined its remit in light of current scholarship. ‘Contemporary’ is still defined as ‘after 1968’, with a preference for studies of post-1990 texts in any genre. While the series initially focused on writing, it now welcomes research that crosses disciplinary boundaries and defines creativity in the broadest sense, including intersections between literature and the arts, cinema and music. Scholarship that embraces gender and sexuality more broadly, including the work of non-binary and queer authors, is also welcome. We encourage studies that connect texts with the social, cultural, linguistic and political contexts in which they are created, taking into account the transnational and postcolonial configuration of the contemporary world and its impact on lives and experiences. Proposals are invited for monographs and edited collections. The series welcomes single-author studies, thematic analyses across languages and cross-cultural discussions that rely on a variety of approaches and theoretical frameworks, as well as studies that showcase the application of new methodologies to primary texts. Manuscripts should be written in English. Editorial Board: Claudia Bernardi (Victoria University of Wellington), Francesca Calamita (University of Virginia), Emily Jeremiah (Royal Holloway, University of London), Shirley Jordan (Newcastle University), Catriona MacLeod (University of London Institute in Paris), Lorraine Ryan (University of Birmingham), Godela Weiss-Sussex (School of Advanced Study, University of London), Caragh Wells (University of Bristol), Claire Williams (St Peter’s College, University of Oxford)

15 publications

Warsaw Studies in Contemporary History

Reconsidering the Cold War historiography’s focus on high politics, conflict and confrontation, this series encourages the development of new research that explores ties and similarities transcending the political divide in Europe. It also welcomes new approaches to the history of Central and East European societies under dictatorships: approaches which shed light on individual and collective agency and show high politics as only one of several factors of change. Research in contemporary history still often mentally maps Europe as divided into a West and an East. This overemphasizes barriers between people who often shared similar values and tastes, practices and technologies, between interrelated social phenomena or just neighboring regions. In a similar way, narratives of Central and Eastern Europe often tend to reflect a simplistic vision centered on the conflict between the “regime” and “society”. This overemphasizes the role of crude domination and hinders understanding of the reproduction, evolution and normalization of European communist regimes up to 1989. We seek contributions that employ approaches from history, especially those which integrate insights gained from neighboring disciplines, such as sociology, anthropology, political science, or cultural and gender studies. Discussions of comparative and transnational perspectives are particularly welcome. From Vol. 4 onwards, the series continues as Studies in Contemporary History . Reconsidering the Cold War historiography’s focus on high politics, conflict and confrontation, this series encourages the development of new research that explores ties and similarities transcending the political divide in Europe. It also welcomes new approaches to the history of Central and East European societies under dictatorships: approaches which shed light on individual and collective agency and show high politics as only one of several factors of change. Research in contemporary history still often mentally maps Europe as divided into a West and an East. This overemphasizes barriers between people who often shared similar values and tastes, practices and technologies, between interrelated social phenomena or just neighboring regions. In a similar way, narratives of Central and Eastern Europe often tend to reflect a simplistic vision centered on the conflict between the “regime” and “society”. This overemphasizes the role of crude domination and hinders understanding of the reproduction, evolution and normalization of European communist regimes up to 1989. We seek contributions that employ approaches from history, especially those which integrate insights gained from neighboring disciplines, such as sociology, anthropology, political science, or cultural and gender studies. Discussions of comparative and transnational perspectives are particularly welcome. From Vol. 4 onwards, the series continues as Studies in Contemporary History . Reconsidering the Cold War historiography’s focus on high politics, conflict and confrontation, this series encourages the development of new research that explores ties and similarities transcending the political divide in Europe. It also welcomes new approaches to the history of Central and East European societies under dictatorships: approaches which shed light on individual and collective agency and show high politics as only one of several factors of change. Research in contemporary history still often mentally maps Europe as divided into a West and an East. This overemphasizes barriers between people who often shared similar values and tastes, practices and technologies, between interrelated social phenomena or just neighboring regions. In a similar way, narratives of Central and Eastern Europe often tend to reflect a simplistic vision centered on the conflict between the “regime” and “society”. This overemphasizes the role of crude domination and hinders understanding of the reproduction, evolution and normalization of European communist regimes up to 1989. We seek contributions that employ approaches from history, especially those which integrate insights gained from neighboring disciplines, such as sociology, anthropology, political science, or cultural and gender studies. Discussions of comparative and transnational perspectives are particularly welcome. From Vol. 4 onwards, the series continues as Studies in Contemporary History .

3 publications

Contemporary Studies in Descriptive Linguistics

This series provides an outlet for academic monographs which offer a recent and original contribution to linguistics and which are within the descriptive tradition. While the monographs demonstrate their debt to contemporary linguistic thought, the series does not impose limitations in terms of methodology or genre, and does not support a particular linguistic school. Rather the series welcomes new and innovative research that contributes to furthering the understanding of the description of language. The topics of the monographs are scholarly and represent the cutting edge for their particular fields, but are also accessible to researchers outside the specific disciplines. Contemporary Studies in Descriptive Linguistics is based at the School of English, University of St Andrews. The Literary and Cultural Stylistics subseries aims to explore the intersection of descriptive linguistics with the disciplines of literature and culture. The techniques of stylistic analysis offer a way of approaching texts both literary and non-literary as well as all forms of cultural communication. The subseries offers a home for this research, where literary criticism meets linguistics and where cultural studies meets communication. It welcomes a wide range of data sets and methodologies, with the intention that every book in the subseries makes a new contribution to the disciplines that support them.

65 publications