Willemijn Ruberg – författare

This volume explores the changing field of cultural history to map out its new developments and future directions, covering major themes such as environment, (de)colonization, digitization, knowledge, heritage and embodied identity. After the rise of the ‘new cultural history’ in the 1980s, the field of cultural history is once again undergoing a time of change. This collection discusses and explains these changes, highlighting new themes from disability and race to technology and animals, and shows how the field has become increasingly entangled with other disciplines such as gender studies, science and technology studies, and critical heritage studies. Featuring an international team of experts working in cultural history today, Cultural History for a Changing World is an indispensable guide to the field.Each chapter historicizes and problematizes their topics, gives an overview of the different reactions within the field, and offers an outlook about future avenues and opportunities of research the respective topic offers. Introducing relevant case studies drawn from their own research, the authors show how these new approaches can work in practice. Also highlighting the opportunities offered by new approaches such as decolonial, environmental and digital methodologies, Cultural History for a Changing World sets out how this field has been adapting to, and sometimes instigating, shifts in society, and demonstrates how global cultural, social, political and economic changes are affecting the theories, methods and practices of cultural historians.

The body has come to occupy a central place in cultural history, with historians consistently exploring such themes as the history of disease, disability, beauty, and sexuality. This engaging and concise book offers a clear introduction to the history of the body, introducing a wide array of conceptual approaches to the field. It delineates the topic of body history and its origins in cultural history and gender history, distinguishing it from related disciplines such as the history of the self, the history of medicine, the history of emotion and gender history. Bringing in a wealth of thought-provoking examples from historical writing, it goes on to explore a range of themes, including racism, anorexia, gender and sexuality, psychoanalysis and agency. With further reading and explanations of key concepts provided throughout, this wide-ranging yet accessible text is the first introductory book to address this vibrant field from a theoretical perspective. It is ideal for students of historiography, medical history or the history of the body.

The body has come to occupy a central place in cultural history, with historians consistently exploring such themes as the history of disease, disability, beauty, and sexuality. This engaging and concise book offers a clear introduction to the history of the body, introducing a wide array of conceptual approaches to the field. It delineates the topic of body history and its origins in cultural history and gender history, distinguishing it from related disciplines such as the history of the self, the history of medicine, the history of emotion and gender history. Bringing in a wealth of thought-provoking examples from historical writing, it goes on to explore a range of themes, including racism, anorexia, gender and sexuality, psychoanalysis and agency. With further reading and explanations of key concepts provided throughout, this wide-ranging yet accessible text is the first introductory book to address this vibrant field from a theoretical perspective. It is ideal for students of historiography, medical history or the history of the body.

This edited volume examines the performance and role of scientific experts in modern European courts of law and police investigations. It discusses cases from criminal, civil and international law to parse the impact of forensic evidence and expertise in different European countries. The contributors show how modern forensic science and technology are inextricably entangled with political ideology, gender norms and changes in the law and legal systems. Discussing fascinating case studies, they highlight how the ideology of authoritarian and liberal regimes has affected the practical enactment of forensic expertise. They also emphasise the influence of images of masculinity and femininity on the performance of experts and on their assessment of evidence, victims and perpetrators. This book is an important contribution to our knowledge of modern European forensic practices.An electronic edition of this book is freely available under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND) licence.

Egodocuments are cherished because of the view they supposedly provide into the innermost feelings of individuals in past and present. Recent research, however, has shown the complexity of genres like autobiographies, diaries and letters. Building on critical and historical research into autobiographical writing, this book describes epistolary practices of the Dutch elite in the period 1770-1850. Analysing how cultural ideals of sincerity, individuality and naturalness influenced the style and contents of letters, the book also addresses the functions of letter writing in family life, like the formation of an adolescent identity and the relationship between parents and children. Correspondence was a vital means by which class and gender identities were performed and the appropriate emotions were shaped.