Bücher veröffentlicht von Vernon Press

Numerous books have been written on the art of directing from the classical to contemporary times. Many of these works have concentrated on different facets of the discipline of directing such as the definition, history, and development of directing, as well as the qualities, functions, and types of directors. However, areas of directing that have not received much scholarly attention include works that serve as manuals for budding directors and studies that reflect the theory and practice of directing in Africa, especially from Nigerian theatre practitioners. While studies on directing, such as Wainstein's 'Stage Directing: A Director's Itinerary' (2012), Dean and Carra's 'Fundamentals of Play Directing' (2009), and Johnson's 'Visions Towards a Mission: The Art of Interpretative Directing' (2003), provide general insights on the art of directing plays, Emasealu's 'The Theatre of Ola Rotimi: Production and Performance Dynamics' (2010) and Uwatt's 'Playwriting and Directing in Nigeria: Interviews with Ola Rotimi' (2004), document the directorial practice of the Nigerian director, Ola Rotimi. Aside from documenting the directing techniques of key Western directors, this book's advantage over existing works is that it documents the directorial styles of Ola Rotimi and other West African directors, as well as the directorial techniques of directors from South, North, and East Africa. It also traces the evolution of the theatre stage, examines the directorial implications of the arena, proscenium, thrust, traverse and African traditional theatre stage orientations, and engages the notions of blocking, movement, directorial concept and directorial approach.In particular, this book aspires to contribute to the discourse on play directing with perspectives from African theatre. It also fills gaps in previous studies by delving into the notions of theatre and directing, the director's history, qualities, and tools. It examines types of directors, functions of the director, directing principles, and key Western and African theories of performance. It also evaluates the history of the theatre stage, the characteristics, benefits and drawbacks, and directorial implications of the arena stage, proscenium stage, thrust stage, traverse stage, African traditional theatre stage, the use of blocking, movement, and the meaning of directorial concept and directorial approach.

'Star Wars' is a global phenomenon that in 2022 celebrated its 45th year of transmedia storytelling, and it has never been more successful than it is today. More 'Star Wars' works than ever are currently available or in simultaneous development, including live-action and animated series, novels, comics, and merchandise, as well as the feature films for which the franchise is best known. 'Star Wars' fandom is worldwide, time-tested, and growing; academic interest in the franchise, both inside and outside of the classroom, is high. This accessible and multidisciplinary anthology covers topics across the full history of the franchise. With a range of essays by authors whose disciplines run from culture and religious studies to film, feminism, and philology, 'Star Wars: Essays Exploring a Galaxy Far, Far Away' speaks to academics in the field, students in the classroom, and anyone looking to broaden their understanding and deepen their appreciation for 'Star Wars'.

Pitirim A. Sorokin is a controversial figure in the history of sociology, of which he remains one of the masters. Those who read Sorokin today must, however, frame the historical reality experienced by the scholar (his Russian and American experiences) because the evolution of his thought had several phases that correspond to his personal, family, and professional lives (he founded and directed the Department of Sociology at Harvard University for many years). This Russian-American sociologist argued that socio-cultural phenomena must be studied following their dynamism (in space and time) since the constituent elements (personality, society, and culture) are constantly changing and cannot be studied separately. Reviving his thought is not a form of celebration but a moment to reflect on how some sociology classics still have their relevance and how, all too often, they are forgotten. This is why this book takes up his main conceptualizations by anchoring them to contemporary society, whose transformations are often difficult to read, and above all to highlight how the role of sociology as a science has, in part, lost sight of its ontological foundation as a service to humanity or public service. The theoretical paths taken by Sorokin range from Social and Cultural Dynamics to Social Mobility and to many other topics, such as man and society in calamities or love and altruism - one of Sorokin's latest topics. All these topics can revive the idea of a sociology that holds together the micro, meso, and macro dimensions and allows us to predict changes in society.

This book will focus on analyzing the different aspects of Japan's representation in the novels of Haruki Murakami and David Mitchell. It is proven that Murakami creates and recreates Japan without implementing any orientalist features or exotic imagery. In the works of both authors, the intent to depict a new world of Japan stripped of traditional stereotypical traits becomes clear. The difference between Murakami and Mitchell's representation of Japan lies in the difference between Japan as seen by the Japanese and Japan as seen by modern Westerners, but both are 'correct' images of Japan. It is a recreation of the global image of Japan.In that sense, the texts of Murakami and Mitchell are complementary representations of Japan through East-West cultural dialogue. Studying the representations of Japan and Japanese national character helps to understand the role of Murakami and Mitchell in the formation of a new image of Japan, the de-stereotyping of anachronistic ideas about Japanese national exclusivity, enriching by doing so the world literature with new visions of the country and its culture.The purpose of the comparative analysis of English and Japanese literary works performed in this work is to reveal both deep analogies and differences in the representation of the image of Japan, actualizing the national specificity of the texts. This research advances the understanding of how both general and specific components of literary representations of Japan and Japaneseness are manifested in the East-West cultural dialogue.

'Perspective: Selected Essays on Space in Art and Design' explores the ways in which visual and physical space have been designed and experienced in different cultures. This book amplifies the significance of space as a design element by examining its implications in various contexts through a global perspective of art and design.

This book examines intelligence as it applies to various facets of human life. It explores the evolutionary origin of intelligence and the genetics and neurobiology of intelligence. Every human being is intelligent, but some are more intelligent than others. We know this both by observing different people's behavior and position in life and by their different intelligence quotient (IQ) scores. Most of the business of life can be conducted on a basis of habit, with little need for exceptional intelligence, which is irrelevant for many day-to-day pursuits. However, people of higher intelligence do much better in life than those of lower intelligence in so many ways. They attain higher social class, better physical and mental health, are less likely to be criminals, and many other things. IQ tests measure different cognitive abilities, but there is a factor common to them all that psychometricians call Spearman's g, or simply g. What this means is that in tasks that tax the brain, however different they may be from one another, if a person is good at one mental task, he or she is likely to be good at others, although not necessarily to the same degree.

This edited volume is a detailed and critical study of Indian diaspora writings and its diverse themes. It focuses on dynamics and contemporary perspectives of Indian diaspora writings and analyzes emerging themes of this field like the experience of the Bihari diaspora, migration to Gulf countries, the relation between diasporic experience and self-translation, uprootedness and resistance discourse through ecocritical praxis and many more. With the aid of a subtle theoretical framework, the volume closely examines some of the key texts such as 'Goat Days, Baumgartner's Bombay, An Atlas of Impossible Longing, The Circle of Reason', and authors including Shauna Singh Baldwin, M.G. Vassanji, Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, V.S. Naipaul and others. The book also explores diaspora literature written in regional language and later translated into English and how they align with the fundamental Indian diaspora writings. A significant contribution to Indian diaspora writings; this volume will be of great importance to scholars and researchers of diaspora literature, migration and border studies, cultural, memory, and translation studies.

Culture is a 'cumulative custom of beliefs, values, rituals, and sanctions practiced by a group of people, province or country'. It is a more sensitive dimension of internationalization of any business and making it perform in a culturally diverse environment. Sometimes, nations/states lose their normative significance in a cross-cultural setting (e.g., India, South America). It is because they undermine their earlier philosophies of norms, values, and beliefs or neglect the cultural significance of other nations. In the current business and workplace dynamics, cultural components introduced significant changes in the core assumptions of business practices and skill expectations. This paradigm shift has forced business executives and managers to know how cultural differences affect inter- and intra-organizational functioning. It has made gaining cross-cultural compatibility a serious concern for business and academic communities worldwide. Therefore, this book facilitates business leaders, expatriate managers, business executives, academicians and scholars to explore different cross-cultural business perspectives and practices.

The economy of the industrialized countries in the 21st century has already moved to a new level of mass production and technology never seen before, thanks in part to globalization, advanced technologies, new organization management methods, and innovative supply chain. A relatively large number of mass-produced commodities (characterized as non-premium) and services in Western economies are somehow sold at discounts rather than regular prices at a much higher frequency that was never seen before. This phenomenon has completely changed how we look at the theory of the firm in microeconomics. This book is indented to introduce new ideas and theories by challenging the current modern micro-and-macro economic theories. In a globalized world, the economies of advanced countries have entered a new phase called "economy pricing," where most of the mass commodities are sold at a low price during certain periods of the year, called 'sales events'. In addition to low prices, most industrialized countries have had record low inflation, low-interest rates, low growth, and low unemployment rates. This book will contend how the "Economy Pricing System" is about to revolutionize how people look at a real economy's micro and macro effects.

There has been a recent surge of interest in the concept of co-teaching and co-research across institutions of HE locally and globally, as a response to limited international mobility due to COVID-19. We see co-teaching and co-research as teaching and research that connects educators and learners across different institutions and different contexts, be it across South Africa, Africa or the world. Co-teaching and co-research is linked in this book to the term 'networked learning', following the Networked Learning Editorial Collective's emphasis on relationships and collaboration rather than technology and foregrounding our strong commitment to social justice. Our collective experiences have shown that co-teaching and co-research are not easy endeavours, especially when they involve differently positioned and differently resourced contexts, students and academics. While these collaborations are enriching and exciting, they need careful support, preparation and time for sustained relationship building - topics that we find are not necessarily discussed in the literature around co-teaching and co-research. This book is an attempt towards closing this gap in knowledge by providing a range of chapters documenting personal experiences of academics and practitioners engaging in co-teaching and co-research across the African continent and beyond, facilitated by various networked learning tools and technologies. Framed by a spirit of sharing and connection, the book provides insights into the benefits and challenges of such collaborations, affordances of technologies to bridge unequal divides, emerging practices of continental collaboration and beyond. Additionally, the book provides an unusually honest and nuanced view on co-teaching and co-research across contexts of inequalities, foregrounding relationship- and community-building rather than technology and emphasising the importance of sustained connection and reflection in these collaborations. Applying a wide range of critical theoretical frameworks, these evidence-based but also reflective and reflexive contributions are a unique and important reminder that behind and through our screens, we connect as humans who yearn to learn from each other, but also need to learn how to learn from each other, when we do not share the same world views.