Conceiving A Nation

This new edition in The New History of Scotland series, replacing Alfred Smyth's Warlords and Holy Men (1984), covers the history of Scotland in the period up to 900 AD. A great deal has changed in the historiography of this period in the intervening three decades: an entire Pictish kingdom has moved nearly a hundred miles to the north; new archaeological finds have forced us to rethink old assumptions; and the writing of early medieval history is beginning to struggle out of the shadow of later medieval sources which have too often been read rather naively and without sufficient regard for their implicit ideological agenda.Gilbert Markus brings a stimulating approach to studying this elusive period, analysing both its litter of physical evidence as well as its literary sources - what he calls 'luminous debris' - as a method of shedding light on the reality of the period. In doing so, he reforms our historical perceptions of what has often been dismissed as a 'dark age'.

Current conflicts in both national and international arenas have undermined the natural, organic concept of nationhood as conventionally espoused in the nineteenth century. Conceiving a Nation argues that the modern understanding of the nation as a contested concept—as the product of a fluid and ongoing process of negotiation open to a range of livable solutions—is actually rooted in the Bible. This book draws attention to the contribution that the Bible makes to political discourse about the nation. The Bible is particularly well suited to this open-ended discourse because of its own nature as a text whose ambiguity and laconic quality render it constantly open to new interpretations and applicable to changing circumstances. The Bible offers a pluralistic understanding of different models of political development for different nations, and it depicts altering concepts of national identity over time. In this book, Morgenstern reads the Bible as the source of a dynamic critique of the ideas that are conventionally considered to be fundamental to national identity, treating in successive chapters the ethnic (Ruth), the cultural (Samson), the political (Jotham), and the territorial (Esther). Throughout, she explores a number of common themes, such as the relationship of women to political authority and the “strangeness” of Israelite political existence. In the Conclusion, she elucidates how biblical analysis can aid in recognition of modern claims to nationhood.

This title covers the history of Scotland in the period up to 900 AD. A great deal has changed in the historiography of this period in the intervening three decades: an entire Pictish kingdom has moved nearly 100 miles to the north; new archaeological finds have forced us to rethink old assumptions; and the writing of early medieval history is beginning to struggle out of the shadow of later medieval sources which have too often been read rather naively and without sufficient regard for their implicit ideological agenda. Gilbert Markus brings a stimulating approach to studying this elusive period, analysing both its litter of physical evidence as well as its literary sources - what he calls 'luminous debris' - as a method of shedding light on the reality of the period. In doing so, he reforms our historical perceptions of what has often been dismissed as a 'dark age'.

This new edition in The New History of Scotland series, replacing Alfred Smyth?s Warlords and Holy Men (1984), covers the history of Scotland in the period up to 900 AD. A great deal has changed in the historiography of this period in the intervening three decades: an entire Pictish kingdom has moved nearly a hundred miles to the north; new archaeological finds have forced us to rethink old assumptions; and the writing of early medieval history is beginning to struggle out of the shadow of later medieval sources which have too often been read rather naively and without sufficient regard for their implicit ideological agenda. Gilbert Márkus brings a stimulating approach to studying this elusive period, analysing both its litter of physical evidence as well as its literary sources - what he calls?luminous débris? - as a method of shedding light on the reality of the period. In doing so, he reforms our historical perceptions of what has often been dismissed as a?dark age?

After Cuba’s 1959 revolution, the Castro government sought to instill a new social order. Hoping to achieve a new and egalitarian society, the state invested in policies designed to promote the well-being of women and children. Yet once the Soviet Union fell and Cuba’s economic troubles worsened, these programs began to collapse, with serious results for Cuban families. Conceiving Cuba offers an intimate look at how, with the island’s political and economic future in question, reproduction has become the subject of heated public debates and agonizing private decisions. Drawing from several years of first-hand observations and interviews, anthropologist Elise Andaya takes us inside Cuba’s households and medical systems. Along the way, she introduces us to the women who wrestle with the difficult question of whether they can afford a child, as well as the doctors who, with only meager resources at their disposal, struggle to balance the needs of their patients with the mandates of the state. Andaya’s groundbreaking research considers not only how socialist policies have profoundly affected the ways Cuban families imagine the future, but also how the current crisis in reproduction has deeply influenced ordinary Cubans’ views on socialism and the future of the revolution. Casting a sympathetic eye upon a troubled state, Conceiving Cuba gives new life to the notion that the personal is always political.

Current conflicts in both national and international arenas have undermined the natural, organic concept of nationhood as conventionally espoused in the nineteenth century. Conceiving a Nation argues that the modern understanding of the nation as a contested concept—as the product of a fluid and ongoing process of negotiation open to a range of livable solutions—is actually rooted in the Bible. This book draws attention to the contribution that the Bible makes to political discourse about the nation. The Bible is particularly well suited to this open-ended discourse because of its own nature as a text whose ambiguity and laconic quality render it constantly open to new interpretations and applicable to changing circumstances. The Bible offers a pluralistic understanding of different models of political development for different nations, and it depicts altering concepts of national identity over time. In this book, Morgenstern reads the Bible as the source of a dynamic critique of the ideas that are conventionally considered to be fundamental to national identity, treating in successive chapters the ethnic (Ruth), the cultural (Samson), the political (Jotham), and the territorial (Esther). Throughout, she explores a number of common themes, such as the relationship of women to political authority and the “strangeness” of Israelite political existence. In the Conclusion, she elucidates how biblical analysis can aid in recognition of modern claims to nationhood.

In questioning what we share as human beings and whether we can ever live in peace with one another, the contributors to this study consider the multiple meanings of the term cosmopolitanism in the past and present. They then develop new ways of conceiving cosmopolitanism for the 21st century and beyond.