Addressing a field that has been dominated by astronomers, physicists, engineers, and computer scientists, the contributors to this collection raise questions that may have been overlooked by physical scientists about the ease of establishing meaningful communication with an extraterrestrial intelligence. These scholars are grappling with some of the enormous challenges that will face humanity if an information-rich signal emanating from another world is detected. By drawing on issues at the core of contemporary archaeology and anthropology, we can be much better prepared for contact with an extraterrestrial civilization, should that day ever come.

Watch Doug Vakoch's talk at TEDxNashville on "What would you say to an extraterrestrial"

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Addressing a field that has been dominated by astronomers, physicists, engineers, and computer scientists, the contributors to this collection raise questions that may have been overlooked by physical scientists about the ease of establishing meaningful communication with an extraterrestrial intelligence. These scholars are grappling with some of the enormous challenges that will face humanity if an information-rich signal emanating from another world is detected. By drawing on issues at the core of contemporary archaeology and anthropology, we can be much better prepared for contact with an extraterrestrial civilization, should that day ever come.

Watch Doug Vakoch's talk at TEDxNashville on "What would you say to an extraterrestrial"

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This book is dedicated to the imagination of migrant communities from former Yugoslavia. It contextualizes their imagination in relation to the history, space and culture of Yugoslavia. Its empirical basis is grounded in the contemporary history of the migration from former Yugoslavia. The first part of the work deals with the methodology and theory relevant to the case studies. Besides the theory of imagination originating in the thought of Émile Durkheim, Cornelius Castoriadis, Benedict Anderson and Arjun Appadurai. I have also focused on the theory of popular culture, quoting its founding thinkers related to the Birmingham school of Centre of contemporary Cultural Studies, as well as John Fiske and the parallel culture- -driven research of Pierre Bourdieu and Michel de Certeau. The theoretical framework of this book generally relates to Marxism, and the works of Antonio Gramsci, David Harvey, Immanuel Wallerstein, Slavoj Žižek and others. The methodology of this book is closely inspired by the anthropological tradition of participant observation. The primary sources are heterogeneous and partly issue from the narration of the informants during several in-depth interviews as well as from narration, edited either by the different institutions of the host-country or the by editors based in the home-country. The second part of the book provides a historical and geographical context for the case studies that follow. It presents the contemporary history of migration from the western Balkans starting at the beginning of the 20th century as cross border migrations following patterns of industrial modernisation. The economic migrations of the working classes were supplemented by migrations of members of the intellectual elites who chose merely symbolic destinations for emigration. However, the core-periphery of primarily economic relations of the world-system as identified by Immanuel Wallerstein remained unchanged even by this symbolic logic. Migrations during the second half of the 20th century are presented in more detail. The political turmoil of 1941-1948 which established the Yugoslav Socialist Federation in its position between the two blocs and this point is the essential contextual reference of this book. During the socialist years in Yugoslavia we may identify two main motives of migration – economic and political. These may somehow relate to the previous histories of popular and elite emigration but under the new political regime it changed substantially. These two motives are part of the establishment of specific segments of migrants and their interrelations. Starting from the early 1960s the economic motive of migration gave rise to the phenomenon of Gastatbajteri (guest-workers) that changed the social and cultural landscape of former Yugoslavia, and together with it also many cities of Western European and other host-countries. However, the frontier between the two types of migrants (political and economic) is not completely defined and in many cases the two motives coincided. The coincidence of the political and economic motives for migration may also be visible during and after the break-up of Yugoslavia. In this part of the book I cover the history of the 1990s refugee migrations that were often linked to the local practice of ethnic homogenization conducted by all parties involved in the series of conflicts. Besides, many migrants from regions that were not directly involved in the war used the possibility to obtain refugee status to escape the economic, social and intellectual downturn of the successor countries of former Yugoslavia. Here, the basic theoretical distinction between voluntary and involuntary migrations is discussed arguing that practically no migration is voluntary and should the migrants be completely free to choose, many would prefer to stay at home. Three host countries of migrants from former Yugoslavia are presented more in detail: France, Austria and the Czech Republic. Each of these countries has its specificities in the world-system and also in relation to migrations from former Yugoslavia. Differences and similarities among them are presented in relation to the different segments of migrants crystallised either according to their ethno-confessional/political background and/or motive of migration. Different segments of migrants from former Yugoslavia are formed around different memory-systems. As a first case study I present politics of memory linked to two lieux de mémoire – one in France (Villefranche-de-Rouergue) and one in Austria (Bleiburg). By coincidence both are important in particular for memories of migrants of Croatian origin. The two memorials however, present completely opposing views of national history. Villefranche- de-Rouergue is a symbol for Croatian antifacist resistance and Bleiburg a symbol for the retreat of collaborationist forces of the pro-Nazi puppet Independent state of Croatia. Both of these memorials however, form an example of political memory that even if on the first sight seems contradictory, is by definition syncretic. If the first case study deals with history and memory the second one completes it with the examination of the space dimension. Here I present different images linked to space that surrounded migrants from former Yugoslavia in their host-countries and I discuss also memories of spaces and places in the home-country. I identify three such images – Road, Landscape and Motherland. Based on these images I propose redesigning the nostalgic cartographies of migrants from those presenting world-views of the external researchers (nostalgia of multiculturalism) to those specifically declared by migrants (nostalgia of Home). The third case study is the one that is the most similar in form to most Cultural and Subcultural studies and deals in detail with imagination linked to music. Here, similar to the politics of memory, different segments of migrants are confronted with rock and folk music as well as with a specific local variety of pop-folk. Furthermore, patriotic and electronic music are discussed as well as the topic of Balkanism in cinematography and the communication of ethnic origins on French internet websites.

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Every day in Mumbai 5,000 dabbawalas (literally translated as "those who carry boxes") distribute a staggering 200,000 home-cooked lunchboxes to the city’s workers and students. Giving employment and status to thousands of largely illiterate villagers from Mumbai's hinterland, this co-operative has been in operation since the late nineteenth century. It provides one of the most efficient delivery networks in the world: only one lunch in six million goes astray. The Harvard Business School has used this venture as a case-history of a cooperative since 2009. Translated from the original Italian edition, Sara Roncaglia’s ethnographic description of the Mumbaite system reveals that, in contrast with more sophisticated market cultures, the order of affections and food containers maintains its tenacious hierarchy of precedence, which is as much about ethics as it is about taste and aesthetics. deeply rooted in the nutritional bond between family and work, men and women, etiquette and bodily ritual, and community membership. Uniquely born of Mumbai's mix of religions -- Hindu, Parsi, Christian, Jewish, Muslim -- as well as many languages and ethnic regions -- this cuisine is also the result of several cross-cultural marriages between Europeans and Indians. The sheer simplicity of the idea—a service for transporting food prepared at home by the family to a customer’s place of work—underlies an entrepreneurial strategy based on the ability to exploit the interaction with Mumbai’s complex ethnic and social configuration.

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Every day in Mumbai 5,000 dabbawalas (literally translated as "those who carry boxes") distribute a staggering 200,000 home-cooked lunchboxes to the city’s workers and students. Giving employment and status to thousands of largely illiterate villagers from Mumbai's hinterland, this co-operative has been in operation since the late nineteenth century. It provides one of the most efficient delivery networks in the world: only one lunch in six million goes astray. The Harvard Business School has used this venture as a case-history of a cooperative since 2009. Translated from the original Italian edition, Sara Roncaglia’s ethnographic description of the Mumbaite system reveals that, in contrast with more sophisticated market cultures, the order of affections and food containers maintains its tenacious hierarchy of precedence, which is as much about ethics as it is about taste and aesthetics. deeply rooted in the nutritional bond between family and work, men and women, etiquette and bodily ritual, and community membership. Uniquely born of Mumbai's mix of religions -- Hindu, Parsi, Christian, Jewish, Muslim -- as well as many languages and ethnic regions -- this cuisine is also the result of several cross-cultural marriages between Europeans and Indians. The sheer simplicity of the idea—a service for transporting food prepared at home by the family to a customer’s place of work—underlies an entrepreneurial strategy based on the ability to exploit the interaction with Mumbai’s complex ethnic and social configuration.

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Every day in Mumbai 5,000 dabbawalas (literally translated as "those who carry boxes") distribute a staggering 200,000 home-cooked lunchboxes to the city’s workers and students. Giving employment and status to thousands of largely illiterate villagers from Mumbai's hinterland, this co-operative has been in operation since the late nineteenth century. It provides one of the most efficient delivery networks in the world: only one lunch in six million goes astray. The Harvard Business School has used this venture as a case-history of a cooperative since 2009. Translated from the original Italian edition, Sara Roncaglia’s ethnographic description of the Mumbaite system reveals that, in contrast with more sophisticated market cultures, the order of affections and food containers maintains its tenacious hierarchy of precedence, which is as much about ethics as it is about taste and aesthetics. deeply rooted in the nutritional bond between family and work, men and women, etiquette and bodily ritual, and community membership. Uniquely born of Mumbai's mix of religions -- Hindu, Parsi, Christian, Jewish, Muslim -- as well as many languages and ethnic regions -- this cuisine is also the result of several cross-cultural marriages between Europeans and Indians. The sheer simplicity of the idea—a service for transporting food prepared at home by the family to a customer’s place of work—underlies an entrepreneurial strategy based on the ability to exploit the interaction with Mumbai’s complex ethnic and social configuration.

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Many lives were influenced by the political developments which took place in Czechoslovakia during the twentieth century. Yet with the exception of those “who make history” – people who have left deep traces in the collective memory of the nation – or those select eyewitnesses who have had the opportunity to testify to the “great” people and events in Czech history, the ordinary destinies of individual participants remain overshadowed. Such a selective approach, which is the product of historians’ reliance on the line of official (political) history, can give the false impression of a unified, and thus relatively unproblematic, form of the period under study. In an attempt to counteract this bias, the present publication focuses on reconstructing an alternative image of the period. Using a participants’ experience – the story of an “ordinary twentieth century man” – it focuses on the biography of a native of Prague, aircraft engineer and exile Vincenc Hodek Jr., whose personal and family history between the years 1904–1977 serve as a frame of the presented research. On a theoretical level, the text addresses issues typical of works dealing with history from below; namely the blending, influencing and encountering of the micro and macro perspectives. Thus, even though the present book purposefully prioritizes the personal history of Vincenc Hodek, the starting point for the (re)construction of the period are the events that showed to be of great relevance to the subsequent destinies of the participants. The importance of the context provided by “great” political history, which set the background for the Hodek family’s life, is not downplayed. By taking into account both perspectives and connecting them it is not only possible to trace the individual image of the twentieth century Czechoslovak, as reflected by personal moments of marriage or birth, but also to delineate the individuals’ role in the contemporaneous political-social atmosphere, as can be detected, for example, in Vincenc Hodek’s active participation in the resistance movement against the Nazi occupational power. This publication confirms that the micro perspective, continuously ignored by Czech scholars who have refused to acknowledge the tangible historical matter enfolded within personal accounts, is indeed necessary, alongside macro history, in constructing a comprehensive account of a period. Nevertheless, the book also tackles the problematic aspects of using egodocuments as a relevant historical source. Often criticised for their subjectivity and distortion, ego-documents have regularly been deemed inappropriate for general research. The present book, however, proves that in spite of their theoretical and practical disadvantages, personal histories present an all-encompassing source and, when seeking to present the micro historical perspective, an indispensable source of information that does not devalue the research but, on the contrary, renders a completely new perspective for those chapters of Czech history that have long been considered closed down from the point of view of official sources. The present publication, while not aspiring to relate how the period was perceived by the entire society of the period, represents one of the possible ways of (re)telling twentieth century Czech history. Other than exhibiting the micro historical variability of the period under study, this book also aims to accentuate the possibilities presented by some of the modern theoretical and methodological approaches that, in spite of numerous foreign inspirations, remain rather undervalued within the frame of Czech historical studies.

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The oath was an institution of fundamental importance across a wide range of social interactions throughout the ancient Greek world, making a crucial contribution to social stability and harmony; yet there has been no comprehensive, dedicated scholarly study of the subject for over a century. This volume of a two-volume study explores the nature of oaths as Greeks perceived it, the ways in which they were used (and sometimes abused) in Greek life and literature, and their inherent binding power. This title was made Open Access by libraries from around the world through Knowledge Unlatched.

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The oath was an institution of fundamental importance across a wide range of social interactions throughout the ancient Greek world, making a crucial contribution to social stability and harmony; yet there has been no comprehensive, dedicated scholarly study of the subject for over a century. This volume of a two-volume study explores the nature of oaths as Greeks perceived it, the ways in which they were used (and sometimes abused) in Greek life and literature, and their inherent binding power. This title was made Open Access by libraries from around the world through Knowledge Unlatched.

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Ruth Finnegan’s Oral Literature in Africa was first published in 1970, and since then has been widely praised as one of the most important books in its field. Based on years of fieldwork, the study traces the history of storytelling across the continent of Africa. This revised edition makes Finnegan’s ground-breaking research available to the next generation of scholars. It includes a new introduction, additional images and an updated bibliography, as well as its original chapters on poetry, prose, "drum language” and drama, and an overview of the social, linguistic and historical background of oral literature in Africa. This volume is complemented by original recordings of stories and songs from the Limba country (Sierra Leone), collected by Finnegan during her fieldwork in the late 1960s, which are freely accessible here. The book is available as a free pdf and ebook download thanks to the generous support of interested readers and organisations, who made donations using the crowd-funding website unglue.it. Oral Literature in Africa is part of the World Oral Literature Series published in conjunction with the World Oral Literature Project.

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Ruth Finnegan’s Oral Literature in Africa was first published in 1970, and since then has been widely praised as one of the most important books in its field. Based on years of fieldwork, the study traces the history of storytelling across the continent of Africa. This revised edition makes Finnegan’s ground-breaking research available to the next generation of scholars. It includes a new introduction, additional images and an updated bibliography, as well as its original chapters on poetry, prose, "drum language” and drama, and an overview of the social, linguistic and historical background of oral literature in Africa. This volume is complemented by original recordings of stories and songs from the Limba country (Sierra Leone), collected by Finnegan during her fieldwork in the late 1960s, which are freely accessible here. The book is available as a free pdf and ebook download thanks to the generous support of interested readers and organisations, who made donations using the crowd-funding website unglue.it. Oral Literature in Africa is part of the World Oral Literature Series published in conjunction with the World Oral Literature Project.

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Selfies, blogs and lifelogging devices have become important ways in which we understand ourselves. Jill Walker Rettberg analyses these and related genres as three intertwined modes of self-representation: visual, written and quantitative. Rettberg explores topics like the meaning of Instagram filters, smartphone apps that write your diary for you, and the ways in which governments and commercial entities create their own representations of us from the digital traces we leave behind as we go through our lives.

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Selfies, blogs and lifelogging devices have become important ways in which we understand ourselves. Jill Walker Rettberg analyses these and related genres as three intertwined modes of self-representation: visual, written and quantitative. Rettberg explores topics like the meaning of Instagram filters, smartphone apps that write your diary for you, and the ways in which governments and commercial entities create their own representations of us from the digital traces we leave behind as we go through our lives.

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In the past fifteen years, file sharing of digital cultural works between individuals has been at the center of a number of debates on the future of culture itself. To some, sharing constitutes piracy, to be fought against and eradicated. Others see it as unavoidable, and table proposals to compensate for its harmful effects. Meanwhile, little progress has been made towards addressing the real challenges facing culture in a digital world. Sharing starts from a radically different viewpoint, namely that the non-market sharing of digital works is both legitimate and useful. It supports this premise with empirical research, demonstrating that non-market sharing leads to more diversity in the attention given to various works. Taking stock of what we have learned about the cultural economy in recent years, Sharing sets out the conditions necessary for valuable cultural functions to remain sustainable in this context. Our software and datasets can be downloaded from the book site at http://www.sharing-thebook.net. On the same site, the reader can also run our models with adjusted parameters and upload datasets in order to run our algorithms for the study of diversity of attention.

Voor sommigen staat delen gelijk aan piraterij: iets wat moet worden bestreden. Anderen zien het als deel van het moderne leven en proberen de schadelijke effecten zoveel mogelijk te compenseren. Ondertussen wordt er weinig vooruitgang geboekt in het aanpakken van de echte problemen waar- mee de cultuur te maken krijgt wanneer steeds meer mensen kunnen bijdragen aan het produceren van cultureel waardevolle werken. Sharing stelt dat het niet-commercieel delen van digitale werken zowel legitiem als nuttig is, omdat het leidt tot meer diversiteit in de digitale culturele wereld. Sharing bespreekt nieuwe financieringsregelingen die geschikt zijn voor een digitale culturele sfeer waar werken vrijelijk gedeeld kunnen worden door individuen. Voor meer informatie over het boek, bezoek: Sharing-The Book

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