The Liminal Horse

The historical horse is at once material and abstract, as is the notion of the border. Borders and frontiers are not only markers delineating geographical spaces but also mental constructs: there are borders between order and disorder, between what is permitted and what is prohibited. Boundaries and liminal spaces also exist in the material, economic, political, moral, legal and religious spheres. In this volume, the contributing authors explore the theme of the liminality of the horse in all of these historical arenas, asking how does one reconcile the very different roles played by the horse in human history?

The Relational Horse explores the possibilities of including the horse’s perspective into the study of human-horse relationships. Case studies from across a range of time periods, activities, and disciplines provide fresh ways to understand horses, themselves, in relationships with humans.

New things are forgotten old things - this rediscovery of the past is especially important in horsemanship and equestrian sports. Despite advances in sciences and technology, the physiologies and psychologies of the two principal agents, the equid and the human, have undergone relatively few changes since horse domestication. The studies collected in this volume outline such essential and recurring challenges in equestrianism as gender issues, equine identification, the use of hyperflexion and groundwork in training, as well as many others, from prehistory to this day.

The Meaning of Horses: Biosocial Encounters examines some of the engagements or entanglements that link the lived experiences of human and non-human animals. The contributors discuss horse-human relationships in multiple contexts, times and places, highlighting variations in the meaning of horses as well as universals of ‘horsiness’. They consider how horses are unlike other animals, and cover topics such as commodification, identity, communication and performance. This collection emphasises the agency of the horse and a need to move beyond anthropocentric studies, with a theoretical approach that features naturecultures, co-being and biosocial encounters as interactive forms of becoming. Rooted in anthropology and multispecies ethnography, this book introduces new questions and areas for consideration in the field of animals and society.

Scholars in the field of children’s literature studies began taking an interest in the concept of “liminal spaces” around the turn of the 21st century. For the first time, Liminal Spaces in Children’s and Young Adult Literature: Stories from the In Between brings together in one volume a collection of original essays on this topic by leading children’s literature scholars. The contributors in this collection take a wide variety of approaches to their explorations of liminal spaces in children’s and young adult literature. Some discuss how children’s books portray the liminal nature of physical spaces, such as the children’s room in a library. Others deal with more abstract portrayals, such as the imaginary space where Max goes to escape the reality of his bedroom in Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are. All of the contributors, however, provide keen insights into how liminal spaces figure in children’s and young adult literature.

"Eighteen essays investigate philosophical aspects of the feline mind and the world of cats, illustrated by anecdotes about cats the authors have known"--Provided by publisher.

To truly know Rhiannon, we must excavate the layers of her myth, decode the meaning of her symbols, and seek to restore the significance of her very name. Although she has a mythology around her, and has many modern-day devotees, nowhere in ancient lore has she been identified as a Goddess. We have no known cult centers or devotional altars dedicated to Rhiannon. How then do we approach this revered Lady? How can we best know her as Goddess? We need but call to her, and ask for what we need. Be it her bag of plenty, the soul-healing song of her birds, or the empowerment of the sovereignty she holds, when you call to Rhiannon, the Divine Queen of the Britons, know that she will stop… and know that she will answer your call.

Colour defines our material world, operates as a communication tool and creates meaning. This book revisits well known and well documented sites or artefacts and explores their colours and colour connotations by looking at various contexts such as processes, landscape, iconography, body decoration or the colour connotations of death.