Beyond Expectation

An in-depth study of lesbian, bi, and queer women's experiences of thinking about and trying to become a parent, Beyond Expectation draws on eighty-two narrative interviews conducted during the late 1990s in British Columbia. Jacquelyne Luce chronicles these women's experiences, which took place from 1980 to 2000, during a period that saw significant changes to the governance of assisted reproduction and the status of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender parents and same-sex partners. Beyond Expectation looks closely at the changing contexts in which women's experiences occurred and draws attention to complex issues such as 'contracting' relationships, mediating understandings of biology and genetics, and decision-making amidst various social, legal, and medical developments. Luce skillfully juxtaposes the stories of her interviewees with the wider public discourses about lesbian/bi/queer parenting and reproductive technology and highlights gaps in existing legislative reforms. Most importantly, Beyond Expectation foregrounds the lived experiences of lesbian, bi, and queer women as they negotiate kinship at the intersection of reproduction, technology, and politics.

An in-depth study of lesbian, bi, and queer women's experiences of thinking about and trying to become a parent, Beyond Expectation draws on eighty-two narrative interviews conducted during the late 1990s in British Columbia. Jacquelyne Luce chronicles these women's experiences, which took place from 1980 to 2000, during a period that saw significant changes to the governance of assisted reproduction and the status of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender parents and same-sex partners. Beyond Expectation looks closely at the changing contexts in which women's experiences occurred and draws attention to complex issues such as 'contracting' relationships, mediating understandings of biology and genetics, and decision-making amidst various social, legal, and medical developments. Luce skillfully juxtaposes the stories of her interviewees with the wider public discourses about lesbian/bi/queer parenting and reproductive technology and highlights gaps in existing legislative reforms. Most importantly, Beyond Expectation foregrounds the lived experiences of lesbian, bi, and queer women as they negotiate kinship at the intersection of reproduction, technology, and politics.

In Beyond Expectations, Onoso Imoagene delves into the multifaceted identities of second-generation Nigerian adults in the United States and Britain. She argues that they conceive of an alternative notion of "black" identity that differs radically from African American and Black Caribbean notions of "black" in the United States and Britain. Instead of considering themselves in terms of their country of destination alone, second-generation Nigerians define themselves in complicated ways that balance racial status, a diasporic Nigerian ethnicity, a pan-African identity, and identification with fellow immigrants. Based on over 150 interviews, Beyond Expectations seeks to understand how race, ethnicity, and class shape identity and how globalization, transnationalism, and national context inform sense of self.

When Kelvin and Naomi married, they blended four hearts: theirs and those of their two sons. They looked forward to raising their children in a home filled with the joy of the Lord and having their marriage reflect God's love. They hoped theirs would be an example to other blended familes. What unfolded was not the "happily ever after" they expected, but rather a stretching, far beyond the limits they could ever have imagined. Blended Beyond Expectation is a snapshot in time that invites you into the heart of a wife and mother. How does her heart follow God's instruction to prepare? How does it recover from loss, and respond to suffering? Witness her journey as Naomi struggles to honor and respect her husband while desperately trying to save a prodigal son. Peek through the window of her heart as she weighs the balance of caring for other's children while suffering the loss from her own womb. Share in the rebirth of her spirit as she hopes and trusts God for total restoration. Appearing at the end of each chapter are five key points designed to usher your heart into a journey of surrender and healing: DEVOTIONAL ANECDOTES: lessons intended to develop inner strength and confidence; QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER: designed to make you think deeply and look insightfully; WORDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT: to fall in your barren place and produce fruit in your due season; SONGS FOR YOUR SEASON: to seize the opportunity for music to heal; and, ACTS OF KINDNESS: so you may carry out a good deed for yourself or another. Don't be afraid. Take this journey with her.

The second edition of Leadership offers a unique, highly-applied academic treatise on leadership, uniquely blending a chronological analysis of the last 100 years of leadership theory with exclusive CEO interviews. The case studies, expert insights and other teaching aids are timely and hard hitting, making this textbook relevant, insightful and informative, while a research chapter empowers the reader to competently question the leaders that shape our world. The world has turned on its political and corporate axis since the first edition of Leadership was published, and it became necessary to produce a second edition that fully encapsulated, respected and observed these changes. Numerous new case studies, discussion starters and examples subsequently reflect today’s volatile technological, political, financial and social shifts, while exclusive interviews with successful CEOs powerfully blend theory with practice. Readers will learn the importance of navigating leadership in the most testing of times. A new chapter, ‘Researching leadership’, offers the reader the opportunity to develop significantly as a leadership researcher and to ably question reality in a post-truth world. A self-leadership chapter equips the reader to develop their own leadership capabilities, while retaining the ability to avoid destructive leadership. Ultimately, readers will become empowered to appreciate the complex, intersectional nature of leadership and to learn what it takes to lead in today’s politically, technologically and socially tumultuous world. This book will be particularly engaging for students and educators at secondary school, college, undergraduate and postgraduate level, and for leadership/management consultants. While the book's primary role remains as a core text for leadership, management and business modules, it will also be of interest to students on many other courses (e.g. psychology, politics, sociology). Packed with teaching resources which educators will find particularly useful, Leadership is the only textbook of its kind to offer such an applied view of this subject via the inclusion of 12 (mostly CEO) expert insights. The first edition was an "Amazon Hot New Release", so this second edition might also hold interest for a general readership.

The Aesthetics of Desire and Surprise: Phenomenology and Speculation covers issues central to contemporary continental philosophy (desire, expectations, excess, rupture, transcendence, immanence, surprise). The proposed term desire||surprise captures the phenomenological-speculative character of the pair not yet and no longer. Non-obvious parallels between different thinkers are drawn, and the argumentation is organized around philosophical figures relevant in the sequence desire – excess –pause (rupture, break) – recuperation (surprise). The works of Levinas, Žižek, Bataille, Blanchot, Foucault, and Ricoeur are interpreted and positioned according to the proposed template of desire - excess - pause. The consideration of limit experiences involves authors fascinated by transgression, and the question of whether excess is immanent or transcendent. This discussion considers works by Nietzsche, Deleuze, Žižek, and Foucault. The analysis of surprise and the beginning of recovery after the pause considers works by Fink, Merleau-Ponty, Nancy, Lyotard, Dufrenne, Bachelard, and Seel. The provocative argument elaborated in this work is that surprise starts with indifference. Furthermore, the argument is that surprise begins where the concept reaches its ending, hence that the limit of speculative thinking at its ending is the limit of aesthetics at its beginning. The work of Hegel, Schelling and Jaspers are discussed in order to argue for the beginning of aesthetics there where knowledge ends. Philosophical thematic is contextualized via sections on artists such as Duchamp and Mondrian, and on some films, provoking interest of aestheticians working in art history and cultural studies departments.

Lady Jeanette Bower had always known what her life was going to look like. It had been drummed into her since she was a little girl. She would marry a titled gentleman and make him a splendid wife who was above reproach. It was what her mother had always wanted for her and Lady Jeanette always did what her mother wanted her to do. She was a good girl. The only problem was, Lady Jeanette didn’t expect a six foot four Australian with sparkling tawny coloured eyes and a mischievous grin to walk into her life and show that there was perhaps another path for her to take. Drew Taylor had just landed his dream job and the fact that it was half way around the world from his meddling mother was just icing on the cake. He never expected to be swept off his feet by a woman on a hot pink Ducati who also happened to be one of the Queen’s Ladies in Waiting. And then there was the complication of the Viscount she was supposed to marry. How could a cane farmer’s son from tropical Queensland compete with a man who could give Lady Jeanette the title she had always wanted? He couldn’t, but that wouldn’t stop him from trying.

First Published in 1998. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.