Adorno, Foucault and the Critique of the West by Deborah Cook

$39.99 AUD

Category: LGBTI & Queer Studies

The alliance of critical theory between Frankfurt and ParisAdorno, Foucault and the Critique of the West argues that critical theory continues to offer valuable resources for critique and contestation during this turbulent period. To assess these resources, it examines the work of two of the twentieth c entury's more prominent social theorists: Theodor W. Adorno and Michel Foucault. Although Adorno was situated squarely in the Marxist tradition that Foucault would occasionally challenge, Deborah Cook demonstrates that their critiques of our current predicament are complementary in important respects. Among other things, these critiques converge in their focus on the historical conditions-economic in Adorno and political in Foucault-that gave rise to the racist and authoritarian tendencies that continue to blight the West. Cook also shows that, when Adorno and Foucault plumb the economic and political forces that have shaped our identities, they offer remarkably similar answers to the perennial question: What is to be done? ...Show more

Belonging by bell hooks

$54.99 AUD

Category: Cultural Theory

What does it mean to call a place home? Who is allowed to become a member of a community? When can we say that we truly belong?These are some of the questions of place and belonging that renowned cultural critic bell hooks examines in her new book, Belonging: A Culture of Place. Traversing past and pres ent, Belonging charts a cyclical journey in which hooks moves from place to place, from country to city and back again, only to end where she began—her old Kentucky home.hooks has written provocatively about race, gender, and class; and in this book she turns her attention to focus on issues of land and land ownership. Reflecting on the fact that 90% of all black people lived in the agrarian South before mass migration to northern cities in the early 1900s, she writes about black farmers, about black folks who have been committed both in the past and in the present to local food production, to being organic, and to finding solace in nature. Naturally, it would be impossible to contemplate these issues without thinking about the politics of race and class. Reflecting on the racism that continues to find expression in the world of real estate, she writes about segregation in housing and economic racialized zoning. In these critical essays, hooks finds surprising connections that link of the environment and sustainability to the politics of race and class that reach far beyond Kentucky.With characteristic insight and honesty, Belonging offers a remarkable vision of a world where all people—wherever they may call home—can live fully and well, where everyone can belong. ...Show more

Gay Life and Culture: A World History by Robert Aldrich

$69.95 AUD

Category: History

"Gay Life and Culture" is the first ever comprehensive, global account of gay history. It is spectacularly illustrated throughout and includes an extensive selection of images, many of them only recently recovered. From Theocritus' verses to Queer as Folk, from the berdaches of North America to the boy - wives of Aboriginal Australia, this extraordinarily wide-ranging book illustrates both the commonality of love and lust, and the various ways in which such desires have been constructed through the ages. ...Show more

Indigenous Men and MasculinitiesLegacies, Identities, Regeneration by Warren Cariou

$55.00 AUD

Category: Cultural Theory

What do we know of masculinities in non-patriarchal societies? Indigenous peoples of the Americas and beyond come from traditions of gender equity, complementarity, and the sacred feminine, concepts that were unimaginable and shocking to Euro-western peoples at contact. Indigenous Men and Masculinities , edited by Kim Anderson and Robert Alexander Innes, brings together prominent thinkers to explore the meaning of masculinities and being a man within such traditions, further examining the colonial disruption and imposition of patriarchy on Indigenous men. Building on Indigenous knowledge systems, Indigenous feminism, and queer theory, the sixteen essays by scholars and activists from Canada, the U.S., and New Zealand open pathways for the nascent field of Indigenous masculinities. The authors explore subjects of representation through art and literature, as well as Indigenous masculinities in sport, prisons, and gangs. Indigenous Men and Masculinities highlights voices of Indigenous male writers, traditional knowledge keepers, ex-gang members, war veterans, fathers, youth, two-spirited people, and Indigenous men working to end violence against women. It offers a refreshing vision toward equitable societies that celebrate healthy and diverse masculinities. ...Show more

Life Is Hard: Machismo, Danger and the I

$28.60 AUD

Category: Cultural Theory

On Offence: The Politics of Indignation by King Richard

$27.99 AUD

Category: Cultural Theory

Most of us know what it is to be offended. In a society bound by complicated behavioural codes, the potential for offence is ever-present, the varieties of emotional trespass legion. A person who claimed never to have taken offence would either be lying or uniquely tolerant, while someone who claimed ne ver to have given offence would most likely be delusional. Offence, it seems, is as intimately mapped into the human condition as hunger and lust. Yet in the last 50 years, the way in which we take offence has undergone a radical change. Everyone is offended; hurt feelings are paraded like union banners. Offence has been democractised - and that is not good for democracy. It has opened the door to a new mood of censoriousness, self-pity and self-righteousness: a world of 'offensitivity'. This mood is poisoning public debate not because it creates division, but because it is intellectually void: suddenly, it is how we feel that counts, not what we think. Political and religious leaders seek to turn offence to their advantage, while the media makes it entertainment. Offence is given in all directions, and taken even when not intended. Ironically, unofficial censorship has reopened the door to official censorship; blowing the dust off old blasphemy laws, we are moving forward into the past. On Offence will consider how this came about by tracing the history of identity politics and political correctness. What, exactly, is offence? What is the relationship between offence and religion? How is offence used by politicians, media commentators, and social-media pundits? Is there anything we can do to halt the spread of offensitivity? Politeness is a noble quality, and decorum will always have its place. But when respect for one's fellow humans is bought at the cost of honest criticism, it's time for us to reconsider. ...Show more

Our Happy Hours: LGBT Voices From the Gay Bars

$24.95 AUD

Category: History

Race, Gender and the Activism of Black Feminist Theory: Working with Audre Lorde by Suryia Nayak

$58.99 AUD

Category: Cultural Theory | Series: Concepts for Critical Psychology

Beginning from the premise that psychology needs to be questioned, dismantled and new perspectives brought to the table in order to produce alternative solutions, this book takes an unusual transdisciplinary step into the activism of Black feminist theory. The author, Suryia Nayak, presents a close read ing of Audre Lorde and other related scholars to demonstrate how the activism of Black feminist theory is concerned with issues central to radical critical thinking and practice, such as identity, alienation, trauma, loss, the position and constitution of individuals within relationships, the family, community and society. Nayak reveals how Black feminist theory seeks to address issues that are also a core concern of critical psychology, including individualism, essentialism and normalization. Her work grapples with several issues at the heart of key contemporary debates concerning methodology, identity, difference, race and gender. Using a powerful line of argument, the book weaves these themes together to show how the activism of Black feminist theory in general, and the work of Audre Lorde in particular, can be used to effect social change in response to the damaging psychological impact of oppressive social constructions. Race, Gender and the Activism of Black Feminist Theory will be of great interest to advanced students, researchers, political activist and practitioners in psychology, counselling, psychotherapy, mental health, social work and community development. ...Show more

Sex at Dawn : The Prehistoric Origins of Modern Sexuality by Christopher Ryan; Cacilda Jethá

$27.99 AUD

Category: Cultural Theory

Since Darwin's day, we've been told that sexual monogamy comes naturally to our species. Mainstream science - as well as religious and cultural institutions - has maintained that men and women evolved in families in which a man's possessions and protection were exchanged for a woman's fertility and fide lity. In this groundbreaking book, however, Christopher Ryan and Cacilda Jethá argue that human beings evolved in egalitarian groups that shared food, child care, and, often, sexual partners. Weaving together evidence from anthropology, archaeology, primatology, anatomy, and psychosexuality, the authors show how far from human nature monogamy really is. With intelligence and humour, Ryan and Jethá explain how our promiscuous past haunts our contemporary struggles. They explore why many people find long-term fidelity so difficult; why sexual passion tends to fade even as love deepens; why homosexuality persists in the face of standard evolutionary logic; and what the human body reveals about the prehistoric origins of modern sexuality. Shocking, enlightening, and ultimately inspiring, Sex at Dawnoffers a revolutionary understanding of why we live and love as we do. ...Show more