Theatre & War

Notes from Afar

Nandita Dinesh

September 2018 / ISBN: 978-1-62273-453-5
Availability: In stock
254pp. ¦ $56 £44 €49

In Theatre & War: Notes from the Field (2016, 2018), Dinesh writes about making theatre in zones of conflict. She analyzes practice; she describes various projects that she has undertaken ‘on the ground’; she theorizes strategies that might be useful to other practitioner-researchers who are involved in similar work. In this sequel of sorts, Dinesh chooses to return to the same themes: of theatre, of war. But this time, she intentionally crafts her notes from afar. From somewhere outside the field. From somewhere outside the practice. And yet, a somewhere that is consumed by the field. And the practice. Through writing that seeks to ‘do’, through writing that seeks to ‘perform’, Dinesh use different voices in this book. Voices that come from more traditional archival sources, which are then re-conceptualized as drama. Voices that come from sources that occupy the space between archived and lived experience, which are then shaped into creative vignettes. Voices that come from Dinesh’s repertoire – her own lived experiences – that are then crafted as flash fiction about past/ present/ future collaborators. By weaving together variously positioned experiences and voices through creative (re)interpretations, Theatre & War: Notes from Afar is a book that could be read; it is also a book that could be performed.

Liberation Philosophy

From the Buddha to Omar Khayyam

Mostafa Vaziri, University of Innsbruck, Austria

April 2019 / ISBN: 978-1-62273-531-0
Availability: In stock
335pp. ¦ $66 £49 €56

The critical narrative of this interdisciplinary book offers a first-time look at the interrelationship between biology, mythology and philosophy in human development. Its daring premise follows the trajectory of human thought, starting with the biological roots of fear and the original need for religion, truth-seeking, and myth-making. The narrative then innovatively links a number of maverick philosophical teachings over the centuries, from pre-Buddhist times to the Buddha, from Epicurus and Pyrrho to Lucretius, and eventually to the seminal poetry of Omar Khayyam. These emergent philosophies exemplified liberation from the grasp of mythical and religious thinking and instead espoused an empirical and joyful mind. The narrative concludes with a look at the emancipating philosophical movement that resulted in the European Enlightenment, and it suggests that the philosophical teachings explored in the book may offer the potential for a second, broader Enlightenment.

From Sentences to Essays: A Guide to Reflective Writing through Reflective Thinking

Student's Edition

Mara Cogni, Oslo Adult Education Center Sinsen, Norway

March 2019 / ISBN: 978-1-62273-636-2
Availability: In stock
202pp. ¦ $49 £35 €40

There is hardly any doubt that reading and writing are related activities, and that both rely on creating meaning. When we read, as well as when we write, we find ourselves in the process of becoming. We change our knowledge and understanding along the way. However, writing is a daunting activity not only for language learners but for anyone who wants to communicate their thoughts and ideas persuasively and accurately. When students engage in speaking activities, they are often able to communicate extraordinarily interesting ideas with few problems. Yet, when asked to form these ideas into coherent texts, they seem helpless. From basic sentence structure to writing persuasively, this book aims to help students tackle the various challenges and difficulties they face when writing. Divided into three accessible sections, Cogni presents a comprehensive and reflective approach to writing that combines grammar, vocabulary, and literature into a simultaneous and coherent whole. Cogni acknowledges that today more than ever learning a language needs to be perceived as a deeply meaningful process, and this book seeks to make that possible.

Solipsism, Physical Things and Personal Perceptual Space

Solipsist Ontology, Epistemology and Communication

Safak Ural, İstanbul University, Turkey

November 2018 / ISBN: 978-1-62273-403-0
Availability: In stock
348pp. ¦ $65 £48 €55

Solipsism indicates an epistemological position that denies the existence of ‘others’ by asserting that the ‘self’ is the only thing that can be known to exist. For sophist philosophers, the belief that “we can not know anything, and even if we do so, we cannot communicate it” is central to this theory. However, until now there has been little academic scholarship that has tried to provide answers to the pressing issues raised by solipsism. In Solipsist Ontology: Physical Things and Personal Perceptual Space, Ural aims to redefine solipsism by analyzing and elaborating on traditional philosophical problems, such as empiricism and rationalism, as well as discussing problems of language, communication, and meaning. Ural reveals where solipsism has been previously ignored, pseudo-problems have arisen that disguise the sources of the problems with prejudices that concern the philosophical problems in question. Notably, many current, as well as traditional problems of ontology, epistemology, and language are bound up in discourses of solipsism. Ural argues that discarding solipsism as a philosophical discourse hinders new interpretations of traditional philosophical thought. This book offers a fresh perspective to solipsism by defining it in relation to concepts such as ‘physical things,’ ‘personal perceptual space’ and ‘identity.’ Importantly, Ural proposes that an understanding of ‘identity’ is not necessary in order to redefine solipsism. By building a logical system that fashions communication and solipsism as interrelated, it is possible to reject ‘identity’ as a useless concept and thus overcome the classic solipsist dilemma of “we are not able to communicate.” This original piece of research is an important and timely contribution to the field of philosophy that will be of great interest to teachers, researchers, and students.

Artistic Pedagogical Technologies: A Primer for Educators

Katherine J. Janzen, Mount Royal University, Canada et al.

December 2018 / ISBN: 978-1-62273-533-4
Availability: In stock
158pp. ¦ $44 £33 €38

Research has shown that what students desire most in the post-secondary milieu is engagement. As traditional forms of teaching that include lecture or PowerPoint presentations no longer adequately engage today’s technology adept students, educators may find themselves at a loss for where to locate teaching strategies which both engage students, and are tried and tested in an actual classroom setting. This book does just that. It provides a critical look at not only what is lacking in today’s classrooms to promote engagement, but actual solutions and strategies to help nurse educators as they prepare to teach. Artistic Pedagogical Technologies were first envisioned by Dr. Beth Perry in 2005, while over twelve years of research confirms that these arts-based teaching strategies actually work. As theory-based topics can be among the most difficult to engage students, included in this book are selected lesson plans that have been employed in actual classrooms. In total thirty five strategies are provided that can be utilized in a variety of classroom settings and applied to various nursing topics. Students, as part of the human family, have an innate need to be creative. This creativity can display itself within Artistic Pedagogical Technologies as a melding of technology, edutainment and play. The strategies in Artistic Pedagogical Technologies: A Primer for Educators have changed the classroom life of the authors as educators, and they can change your teaching too.