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­This book discusses how cities'identities are formed and developed over time and portrays architecture and the arts as the embodiment of the historical, cultural, and economic characteristics of cities. Furthermore, it explores strategies and solutions to preserve the cultural heritage along the Silk Road, representing a compilation of research addressing the economic and social opportunities and challenges related to the development of a more sustainable and responsible approach to tourism development and the preservation of heritage. As such, it covers a wide range of audiences including economists, architects, planners, tourism experts, and decision-makers interested in making use of cities'available resources and features, offering strategies to explore development opportunities through sustainable and responsible tourism along the Silk Road. ­ This book is a culmination of selected research papers from the first version of the International Conference on'Silk Road Sustainable Tourism Development and Cultural Heritage (SRSTDCH)'which was held in 2021 in collaboration with Aristotle University of ­ Thessaloniki, the European Interdisciplinary Silk Road Tourism Centre, Greece and the 5th Edition of the International Conference on “Cities'Identity ­Through Architecture and Arts (CITAA)” which was held in 2021 in collaboration with University of Pisa, Italy.

In China, heritage projects are sprouting across the countryside carrying the promise of Xi Jinping's “Chinese dream” as a call for the great revival and rejuvenation of the nation. This book unravels the workings behind these promises through the story of remaking Meili, a Dong ethnic minority village nestled along the margins of China, into a “Traditional Village” heritage site. In a past riven by deep political and societal disruptions, Meili becomes a medium for contesting, mediating and continuously inventing representations of tradition that aligns with the Chinese Communist Party's mission towards continuity and stability. The outcome is an original depiction of the compromises that shape heritage-making in a rural ethnic corner of China. Filled with rich, fine-grained narrative and analysis, Suvi Rautio offers a unique lens to the politics of inventing tradition and its far-reaching consequences in steering China's national identity under Xi Jinping rule.

This volume examines the role of culture in developing social, cultural and political discourses of HIV/AIDS from a contemporary viewpoint. In doing so, the memory of HIV/AIDS is a powerful tool to examine representations of the past and connect them with future debates. This reassessment of HIV/AIDS explores the most appropriate way to come to terms with a past that involved a negative, stigmatised and marginalised representation. Therefore, remembering plays a key role in generating collective memory, which allows for the exchange of mnemonic content between individual minds, creates discourses on memory and commemoration, and disseminates versions of the past that may affect the representation of HIV/AIDS in the future. Indeed, rewriting about the past also means assessing our responsibility towards the present and the potential of transmission to future generations, especially in times of pandemics.

The book brings a new approach to see the art history of Hong Kong as a historical mediator and offers alternative perspective to discern the current hype of archive research and archival art practices, which informs the commitment in the constant production of socio-political meanings through arts. The book addresses the current social-political crises of Hong Kong by connecting art, memory, history, and political participation together through the site of archive and contextualises in both local and global perspectives, it also focuses on the artist archive, namely Ha Bik Chuen Archive, and archival art practices of contemporary Hong Kong, particularly in the social and political unrests, however, it ripples resonance and reflection not only in the local context but also to the region. The book is intended to the readers who are interested in both representational and interpretational nature of art and searching for alternatives means to perceive histories.

This timely and ambitious volume - a product of close research collaboration with the United Nations Multi-Country Office for Micronesia - is conceived as a holistic “journey” across various domains of progress in a region that, despite fundamental common traits, remains vast and diverse. Pacific island countries and territories (PICTs) have (too) often been identified with elements of vulnerability, whether these be social, economic, or environmental in nature. While these factors cannot be overlooked, this volume aims to showcase not only the long-standing and emerging challenges but, perhaps more importantly, the opportunities, the resilience, the resourcefulness, and the ambition that local socioeconomic development patterns in the Pacific already encompass. Beyond PICTs themselves, we hope that the analyses collected in this book will contribute to highlighting the global significance of the human–nature nexus in the current Anthropocene. Often captured in the concept of “small islands, big oceans”, the importance of the region and its islands and peoples transcends the geographical remoteness and small size of many PICTs.

​This work analyzes carnival in Rio de Janeiro through the irreverent view disclosed by the illustrated Brazilian magazines Fon-Fon! and Careta. For such purpose, texts and illustrations elaborated by great names in caricature and literature were used, as well as by journalists who remained anonymous due to the fact that their chronicles and articles did not carry their signatures. The way in which carnival was dealt with in said publications, was intimately related to the world view which intellectuals enjoyed, the Belle Epoque, and to the readers of these magazines: the urban middle classes and part of the elite. To understand both the view and the type of humoristic approach used, songs and the works of chronicle writers, memorialists and historians who worked on the theme were also investigated. At the end, what could be verified through the study of these publications was the importance that carnival enjoyed in the lives of those men of letters and brushes, and how relevant was the counterpart which they made possible not only to readers, but also to us, historians. Through these publications, it is possible to redeem and reconstruct part of the history of carnival as well as understand the context of the period, political problems, stylishness, innovations and changes in the lives of Rio de Janeiro (carioca) dwellers. So much attention to the theme from the illustrated press denotes the importance of carnival to the financial health of newspaper companies, since the subject and its well-humored approach pleased readers, besides showing that not only did those writers and artists write about the festivities in an irreverent manner, but they also actively participated in them as carnival merrymakers, and therefore they were, themselves, artificers of that history.

Forderungen an eine deutsche Auswärtige Kulturpolitik, die sich nicht mehr an nationalstaatlichen Interessen, sondern an geteilter Verantwortung orientiert, sind allgegenwärtig. In diesem Kontext leistet die hier vorgestellte Untersuchung einen wissenschaftlichen Beitrag zur Auswärtigen Kulturpolitik in der Welterbekonvention. Constanze Metzger analysiert die außenkulturpolitische Entwicklung Deutschlands in der UNESCO bis 1972 – dem Jahr, in dem die Welterbekonvention verabschiedet wurde. Sie evaluiert Wechselwirkungen zwischen nationalstaatlichen Interessen und transnationalen Zielen in der Konvention und verdeutlicht Interdependenzen von Politik und Kultur, die sowohl Konfliktpotentiale als auch Kooperationsmöglichkeiten zum Kulturerbeschutz bieten. Auf diesen Erkenntnissen aufbauend wird die praktische Umsetzung transnationaler und grenzüberschreitender Welterbestätten am Beispiel des deutsch-polnischen Muskauer Parks untersucht. Die Autorin beantwortet die Frage, ob hier das Nationale aufgelöst und dadurch Weltkulturerbe ohne Grenzen geschützt wird. Daraus resultierend schlägt die Autorin Desiderata einer transnationalen Auswärtigen Kulturpolitik vor.

The 2030 agenda for development, or what is known as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), is perhaps the most ambitious agenda collectively agreed upon by 193 countries in human history. Yet, the framers of the 2030 agenda for development forgot to dedicate one goal focused on the role of communication in achieving the SDGs. Such oversight has attracted the attention of media and communication scholars alike, journalists, and policymakers who understand that it is nearly impossible to achieve the SDGs without the articulation and embrace of the role of communication in development. Volume 2 provides in-depth and specific explorations into regional perspectives concerning communication and the SDGs, with research on a rich array of sources, including Latin America, Africa, Australia, as well as special cases relating to timely studies such as social media, COVID-19, marginalized voices, and women's equality.

This Open access book is a collection of interviews published by China News Service, a Beijing-based news agency, in its “West-East Talk” column. It has been divided into five sections: “Mutual Learning Among Civilizations,” “Hot Issues,” “About China,” “Sino-U.S. Relations” and “Cultural Collision”. The interviews are with more than 50 eminent scholars, scientists, politicians, authors, etc., from different parts of the world as well as China, who have an association with China and see the real China beyond the stereotypes. Besides current global issues, the book also covers Chinese culture, history as well as China-U.S. relations, described as one of the most important bilateral relationships in the world today. The book aims to build a platform for dialogue among different civilizations and appreciate the “harmony within diversity” of different cultures, especially of the East and West. We hope it will foster tolerance and rationality, dispelling the misconceptions about China inparticular.

The present book examines cultural diversities of Northeast India. The sixteen essays included in the volume cover various aspects of cultural forms and their practices among the communities of Northeast. The present volume is expected to serve as a bridge between vanishing cultural forms and their commodification, on the one hand, and their cultural ritual origins, evolution and significance in identity formation, on the other. The book analyses continuity of cultural forms, their representations and often their reinventions under globalisation. Further, the book underlines historical forces such as colonialism and religious conversion that have transformed communities and their cultural practices. Yet some of the pre-colonial, ritual-performative traditions hold on. Through insightful analyses, this book offers an informed view of the region's historical, ethnic and cultural practices. It is expected that the volume will be useful for scholars and students interested in Northeast studies.

Border Urbanism presents a global array of authors'research that tackles the perception, interpretation, and nature of borders from a transdisciplinary perspective. The authors examine ways in which borders attempt to define socially, economically, politically, and historically incompatible systems, from micro neighbourhoods to global macro territories, and how this blurs urban order that results in an absence of cohesion. Their analysis of contextual worldwide settings considers the unique issues and the broad scope of forces that shape borders and separate socioeconomic, political, cultural, and historical polarities. The authors consider ways in which the resulting urban border conditions determine the mobility of goods, resources, and people and how these delineations define relationships that influence geopolitical relationships, socioeconomic transactions, and people's lives at multiple levels. They address the temporal issues defined by a variety of unique urban conditions that result from these lateral thresholds. Each chapter contributes to a critical discourse of the subject of border urbanism and the phenomenon created by separation, demarcation, and segregation as well as by conflict and coexistence. The transdisciplinary approach of Border Urbanism ensures that it will be of interest to individuals across a spectrum of professions and disciplines. Professionals such as urban planners, designers, architects, developers, and civil and environmental engineers and students of these disciplines will be particularly interested as will allied professionals and those not traditionally associated with urbanism; these include artists, sociologists, historians, lawyers, politicians, and civic and government leaders. The authors'global perspectives, combined with their expertise in environmental, historical, cultural, social, political, and geographic areas, will appeal to anyone interested in border urbanism and its intersection with these areas.

Africa is a continent on the upswing, developing great economic momentum. If German companies want to participate in Africa's upswing, they need to be familiar with some special features. This book shows the way to successful business in Africa. It is a practical, yet scientifically based guide for all entrepreneurs and economically interested parties who want to be successful in Africa. It combines the experience of many companies with the scientific perspective and findings of the Centre for Business and Technology in Africa at Flensburg University of Applied Sciences.In the 2nd edition new developments on the African continent are taken up and current answers are given to the classical questions, which each actor must answer for itself, which wants to be economically successful in Africa: WHY Africa is interesting for the business, WHERE the largest chances of success exist, HOW to proceed and WHICH approaches for the future organization of the economic relations betweenGermany and Africa are promising.The book describes how to invest in Africa and bundles the current experiences of managers of large corporations and family businesses with a long history on the continent.

Myanmar has faced numerous divisions that hinder its democratization and peacebuilding processes since emerging out of decades of military dictatorship. The coup d'état in 2021 terminated Myanmar's limited and nascent democratization under the civilian leadership of the National League for Democracy (NLD); not only did the coup regime resurface old struggles, but also created new ones. Against the backdrop of Myanmar's changing political landscapes from military to quasi-civilian to civilian rule in 2016, and back to military rule in 2021, the book discusses the various forms of interconnected struggles, both old and new. In this process, the contributed chapters come together to highlight the changing dynamics of stakeholders, relations between agents and beneficiaries, and the generated evolutionary processes in Myanmar's democratization and its reversal. This book brings an even mix of researchers both within and outside of Myanmar to critically discuss how different agents and their interactions, in the form of center-periphery as well as state-non-state relations, continuously shape today's political landscape. Its interdisciplinary composition also invites readers from various backgrounds to grasp with engaged research that identifies the various challenges and addresses ways in which to facilitate change from local and international perspectives.

This book enables readers to understand contemporary Japanese society and culture. Since it is written by experts, it allows readers to start with any chapters they are interested in. It also provides a unique way to introduce Japanese society and culture to those who have never visited or studied Japanese society by reading articles from various authors on topics such as gender, family, economy, natural disasters and politics and laws. It provides scholars, academics, graduate students and the general educated audience all the information required to understand contemporary Japanese society and culture fully and see the diverse perspectives available.

Afrika ist ein Kontinent im Aufschwung, der eine große wirtschaftliche Dynamik entwickelt. Wenn deutsche Unternehmen am Aufschwung Afrikas partizipieren wollen, müssen sie mit einigen Besonderheiten vertraut sein. Das Buch zeigt diesen Weg zu erfolgreichen Geschäften in Afrika. Es ist ein praxisorientierter, gleichwohl wissenschaftlich fundierter Ratgeber für alle Unternehmer und wirtschaftlich Interessierten, die in Afrika erfolgreich sein wollen. Es vereint dabei die Erfahrungen vieler Unternehmen mit der wissenschaftlichen Perspektive und den Erkenntnissen des Centre for Business und Technology in Africa der Hochschule Flensburg.In der 2. Auflage werden neue Entwicklungen auf dem afrikanischen Kontinent aufgegriffen und aktuelle Antworten gegeben auf die klassischen Fragen, die jeder Akteur für sich beantworten muss, der in Afrika wirtschaftlich erfolgreich sein will: WARUM Afrika für das Geschäft interessant ist, WO die größten Erfolgsaussichten bestehen, WIE vorzugehen ist und WELCHE Ansätze zur künftigen Gestaltung der Wirtschaftsbeziehungen zwischen Deutschland und Afrika erfolgsvorsprechend sind.Das Buch beschreibt, wie in Afrika investiert werden kann und bündelt die aktuellen Erfahrungen von Managern großer Konzerne und Familienunternehmen mit langjähriger Geschichte auf dem Kontinent.

This book covers many aspects of innovation theory, evolutionary economics, economic geography, and simulation models. It is one of the first books to comprehensively and systematically focus on the evolution of regional innovation based on provincial experience in emerging economics, including stylized facts, theoretical explanation, and simulation. The book is devoted to a pioneering process-based regional innovation matrix used for classifying a regional innovation model, which is illustrated by real-world cases and data analyses. The topics addressed here include path dependency, lock-in, routines, variations, selectivity, regional gap, innovation progress, agglomeration, and innovation efficiency. The simulation methods describing the dynamics of regional innovation evaluation on economics are developed as well. The primary objective of this work is to provide a tractable and useful regional governance tool for researchers and policy makers in regional science, human geography,and related disciplines. The book is highly recommended to readers who seek more insight into the continuous development of China or regional development gaps.

This book, bringing together a multi-voiced dialogue between academic scholars and professionals from diverse fields, shares a comprehensive and heterogeneous look at the interdisciplinarity of Galician Studies while examining a chronologically broad range of subjects from the 1800s to the present. This volume carves out a distinct approach to gender studies investigating issues of culture, language, displacement, counterculture artists, and community projects as related to questions of politics, gender and class. Women, conceived as both individual and political bodies, are studied, among other things, as an example of what it means to struggle from the margins emphasizing the importance of looking at the opposition between the center and the peripheries when studying the relationship between space and culture.

This book offers the first comprehensive collection of essays on the key concepts of Kitaro Nishida (1870-1945), the father of modern Japanese philosophy and founder of the Kyoto School. The essays analyze several of the major philosophical concepts in Nishida, including pure experience, absolute will, place, and acting intuition. They examine the meaning and positioning of Nishida's philosophy in the history of philosophy, as well as in the contemporary world, and discuss the relevance of his philosophy in the present context. The book next looks at the significance of Nishida's philosophy in the wider contexts of science, arts, and religion. The book includes a glossary of key terms that have been translated in a unified manner throughout the volume.

This book describes the geography of Uzbekistan and its unique history and culture. It focuses on the development of Uzbekistan as a result of its location on the crossroads of the Silk Road. The influence of global and regional environmental challenges on the current landscape and similar issues are discussed and analyzed from a historical perspective. Contemporary tensions and reforms in social, economical and cultural life are described with the aim to draw a picture of modern paths to transformation and development. The Geography of Uzbekistan includes also information on geology, nature and natural resources, in particular water. The book discusses the social and environmental impacts of the Aral Sea disaster and shows new paths of transformation and development for this Central Asian country.

This book provides a comparative and contemporary account of social stratification in the Central European states of Czechia, Poland, Hungary, and Slovakia (the Visegrad Four – V4 group), and also by contrast with Austria. It looks at the shared history of these countries as part of the erstwhile Austro-Hungarian Empire. While the V4 states experienced, for decades, the regressive authoritarian Soviet rule, Austria escaped this fate. The question is how some common historical roots, impact of the communist regime, and transition paths have shaped the specific social structures of V4 countries which differ despite belonging to a relatively homogeneous region. The book examines the changes and developments through analyses of large comparative surveys and other data collected after 1990, most notably using the European Union's survey “Statistics on Income and Living Conditions” (EU-SILC) that has been fielded since 2005. The book starts with an outline of the long-term developmentsin key social structure dimensions which occurred during the post-communist transition. The analytical chapters then discuss topics previously not much examined in social stratification perspective: subjective well-being, couples'status, cultural activities and differences among retirees. This book is intended for social scientists working on stratification research, and, specifically, V4 societies and politics.

In this collective work, researchers from different disciplines reflect upon the challenges and opportunities of decolonizing transpacific studies through the lens of a few paradigmatic case-studies that deal with connections between East Asia and Latin America. The present book offers a productive problematization of the idea of the transpacific as a concept and a space that is not restricted to a single definition. We defend that the transpacific can instead promote an understanding of agents and experiences that share many common traits that have been generally overlooked by a hegemonic interpretation of knowledge and the relationship between regions.By fostering an environment that not only accepts a plurality of views but that actively looks to accommodate analogous, tangential, and even contradicting approaches to the study of our ideas, we seek a double objective. First, we hope to highlight precisely the richness within the idea of the transpacific, avoiding sticking to any particular conception to it while at the same time acknowledging and owning each of our points of enunciation. Our second objective is part of a constant struggle in the quest towards social and epistemic justice. By adopting this stance of plurality, we can fight against structures of knowledge production and reproduction that willingly or unintentionally instill specific interpretations in ways that inculcate exclusivity.The goal of this book is opening up and expanding the debate regarding transpacific connections, examining the limits and promises of including these experiences within the conceptual paradigm of the Global South, and showcasing different ways of approaching decolonial research to the study of the relationship between East Asia and Latin America.

This book examines the cultural articulation of Spanish History (and histories (remembered, meaningful experiences). It analyzes how real people and fictional characters experience the rupture of post-war repression, as their vindicating collective memory counters the authoritarian narrative and laws that demonized and criminalized them. The book, that breaks the persistent cycle of denial of Francoist malfeasance, is a resource for scholars and students who research the representation of Spain's dictatorship, its aftermath and the recovery of postdictatorial memory.