Silja Laine – författare

The Materiality of Literary Narratives in Urban History explores a variety of geographical and cultural contexts to examine what literary texts, grasped as material objects and reflections on urban materialities, have to offer for urban history.

The contributing writers’ approach to literary narratives and materialities in urban history is summarised within the conceptualisation ‘materiality in/of literature’: the way in which literary narratives at once refer to the material world and actively partake in the material construction of the world. This book takes a geographically multipolar and multidisciplinary approach to discuss cities in the UK, the US, India, South Africa, Finland, and France whilst examining a wide range of textual genres from the novel to cartoons, advertising copy, architecture and urban planning, and archaeological writing. In the process, attention is drawn to narrative complexities embedded within literary fiction and to the dialogue between narratives and historical change.

The Materiality of Literary Narratives in Urban History has three areas of focus: literary fiction as form of urban materiality, literary narratives as social investigations of the material city, and the narrating of silenced material lives as witnessed in various narrative sources.

The Materiality of Literary Narratives in Urban History explores a variety of geographical and cultural contexts to examine what literary texts, grasped as material objects and reflections on urban materialities, have to offer for urban history.

The contributing writers’ approach to literary narratives and materialities in urban history is summarised within the conceptualisation ‘materiality in/of literature’: the way in which literary narratives at once refer to the material world and actively partake in the material construction of the world. This book takes a geographically multipolar and multidisciplinary approach to discuss cities in the UK, the US, India, South Africa, Finland, and France whilst examining a wide range of textual genres from the novel to cartoons, advertising copy, architecture and urban planning, and archaeological writing. In the process, attention is drawn to narrative complexities embedded within literary fiction and to the dialogue between narratives and historical change.

The Materiality of Literary Narratives in Urban History has three areas of focus: literary fiction as form of urban materiality, literary narratives as social investigations of the material city, and the narrating of silenced material lives as witnessed in various narrative sources.

With no linear cause-and-effect relationship between marine environmental changes and the often human-induced stressors which produce them, the changes to our seas and oceans are complex and uncertain, arising from multiple and interconnected issues. Bringing together academic expertise from different fields of study, this innovative book engages with stakeholders and branches of local ecological knowledge to address marine changes, outlining how they must be studied from multiple perspectives rather than a single academic discipline to reach effective solutions. Discussing marine interdisciplinarity in action, the book features international case studies from diverse fields across the ocean sciences, humanities and social sciences that explore art and science collaborations in practice.

Showcasing the practical challenges and opportunities of such research, this will prove an invigorating read for students and scholars across such subject areas as environmental governance and regulation, marine and ocean sciences, sustainability studies and climate change. Its findings will also be of use to policymakers and practitioners concerned with marine changes across the world.