bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Music, Religious Experience, and Nationalism in Marathi Rashtriya Kirtan
Authors: Schultz Anna
Published: December 2024

Throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, India has been marred by waves of Hindu nationalist violence. A robust body of scholarship interrogates the politicians and nationalist organizations who use religion to further India’s nationalist agendas, but less attention has been given to nationalism as it seeps into ritual contexts. In these contexts, nationalism is experienced not as politics but as religion. In order to understand the emotional registers of Hindu nationalism, we need to pay careful attention to how nationalism becomes religious experience, a process often activated through music. This chapter attends to singer-storytellers known as rashtriya kirtankars who generate devotion to nationalism (Hindu and otherwise) through their spirited ritual performances in the Marathi language. Using examples from two different kirtankars on different points of the political spectrum, the chapter considers how meanings are shaped and how emotions are generated in rashtriya kirtan performance.
“We Know What Our Folk Culture Is from Commercial Videos”
Authors: Fiol Stefan
Published: December 2024

Commercial music plays a central role in creating value for the lok sanskriti (folk culture) of the Uttarakhand Himalayas in North India. Most recording artists have recorded songs that are rooted in village-based rhythmic and melodic features, and often these tracks are labeled lokgeet (folksong). However, in commercial productions, lok sanskriti is not treated as a way of life but rather as a set of discrete audio and visual features. Because of the economic and cultural feedback between festival and studio contexts, the process of manufacturing folk music in the studio significantly shapes the process of sustaining folk culture in the village. By shifting between ethnographic examples in studio and festival locations, this chapter interrogates the circular process whereby commercial recordings become a source of creativity for festival dance-song performances, and the latter become a source of creativity for recording studio projects.
Pedagogy and Embodiment in the Transmission of Kerala Temple Drumming
Authors: Groesbeck Rolf
Published: December 2024

This chapter argues that among some temple and dance-drama drummers in Kerala, the transmission of knowledge in the initial stages of pedagogy, in both private and institutional contexts, involves a process of becoming a student (sisyan) as well as accruing musical knowledge. Through these processes the student is constructed in some ways as a younger version of the teacher, but in others as a different type of person altogether, roughly corresponding to the first of four stages of Sanskrit life-stage theory: the brahmacharya (disciple). This disciple/teacher distinction manifests itself also in realms such as personal appearance, presentation of the body, and emotional expression, as well as musical style. In other words, a dichotomous construction of selfhood permeates a number of categories of musical and social behavior and thought.
Sonic Gift-Giving in Sri Lankan Buddhism
Authors: Sykes Jim
Published: December 2024

The Berava (Beravā) have long been Sri Lanka’s premier caste of ritualists, drummers, and dancers. In this chapter, I argue that because of a doctrinal stipulation (the Seventh Precept) that prohibits Buddhists from engaging in music and dance (including monks and the laity on certain occasions), Berava drumming is structured as sacred speech rather than “music” so that it may be acceptable as an offering to the Buddha and deities (who are bodhisattas or Buddhas-to-be). Focusing on the drum associated with Sri Lanka’s southern “low country” (the pahata rata beraya or “low-country drum”), I show that its performance consists of lines or “feet” (padas) of drumming with combined syllables (aksaras) that move from less-metered to more-metered (and back), including speech-like offerings to the Buddha and drumming for yakku (demons) that is inauspicious, shorter, and more closely hints at meter. Ritual drummers focus on accurately pronouncing padas rather than on rigorously placing drum strokes on subdivisions of a beat cycle (the traditional South Asian term, tala, is not used to refer to meter). Berava drumming serves as a respectful offering to the deities who protect the island from disasters like drought and pestilence, and as a means to help ward off certain illnesses brought on by yakku.
Contemporizing Kandyan Dance
Authors: Reed Susan A.
Published: December 2024

Contemporary dancers in South Asia grapple with questions of how to make classical dance forms relevant for current times. This chapter focuses on the philosophy and practice of Sri Lanka’s foremost contemporary dancer, Venuri Perera, illustrating how she seeks to challenge the dominant conception of Kandyan dance, Sri Lanka’s preeminent dance, as a sacred cultural object to be preserved. Adapting the strictures and structures of the dance—and articulating this process as “play”—Venuri redefines Kandyan dance as an artistic form that can be used to embody and express contemporary aesthetic and social concerns. This philosophy of play is also central to her dance teaching. Eschewing the hierarchy embedded in the traditional teacher-student relationship, she creates a climate of openness with her students, encouraging them to question and engage in dialogues about their process and practice.
Dance In The Round
Authors: Desai Parijat
Published: December 2024

In 2016, Parijat Desai began developing Dance In The Round as a vehicle to create collective movement experiences based on circle dances originating in Gujarat, India, called garba and raas. Alarmed by anti-democratic, anti-immigrant forces in the United States and inspired by the multifaceted benefits of garba-raas, Desai modeled these new movement spaces on principles of this evolving tradition. In this chapter, Desai describes ways she has investigated the inner wisdom of garba to help move through current challenges of disconnection, disembodiment, and collective trauma. Garba’s form and structure—its circular formations and shifting spatial relationships between people—express and support social values of inclusion, individual expression, and interdependence. The chapter discusses some of the ways she has marshaled garba’s format of repeating rhythms, simple claps, spiraling motions, and climaxing tempos to energize participants, and how she has mobilized the egalitarian, porous circles of garba to welcome rather than exclude.
Randomized Controlled Trials and Alternatives for the EBP Process
Authors: Garcia Antonio R. , Corcoran Jacqueline
Published: December 2024

Chapter 4 delves into why a randomized controlled trial (RCT) is the strongest single study design when examining the impact of an intervention. A case study is presented to illustrate the evidence-based practice (EBP) process, how to locate and critique RCTs to inform practice, and to determine whether indeed the novel intervention in the RCT should be implemented for your client(s). Other research designs that practitioners may often rely on to answer practice questions in the absence of RCT’s are reviewed.
Evaluating Client Progress
Authors: Garcia Antonio R. , Corcoran Jacqueline
Published: December 2024

Chapter 10 offers a brief overview of why monitoring client progress is critical to the EBP process. Numerous approaches to monitoring client progress and ensuring that the issues of concern are addressed are presented. Still, many students and practitioners may experience challenges identifying the “best” method to monitor client progress. This chapter discusses the pros and cons of several methods, including standardized measures, goal attainment scaling, individualized rating scales, behavioral observations, and client logs. Some of these methods are discussed in terms of a case study assigned to a social work intern. Other case studies, delineating the process for developing a plan for monitoring client progress are presented to enhance learning.
Review and Conclusion
Authors: Garcia Antonio R. , Corcoran Jacqueline
Published: December 2024

Chapter 11 reviews key concepts and complex case studies to illustrate the refined EBP process. As we highlighted in each chapter, social workers must grapple with simultaneously balancing (1) client needs and preferences, (2) the best available evidence, and (3) the implementation context. In this chapter, we review the framework for aligning these three essential ingredients of the EBP process and present case studies and activities to increase your confidence in applying and translating evidence to practice. In these case studies, the complexity of grappling with the implementation context is considered. The chapter concludes with several practice-related activities to help you integrate key concepts we presented in this book.
Alienated Affections
Authors: Krivulskaya Suzanna
Published: December 2024

Henry Ward Beecher’s 1875 trial was the most infamous pastoral sex scandal of the nineteenth century. When women’s rights activist Victoria Woodhull published an exposé of Beecher’s private life, the nation faced a crisis of confidence in one of its most sacred institutions. Beecher embodied a certain kind of Protestant respectability, and his moral failings had the potential to undermine Christianity’s authority on matters of family and sexuality. The question of Beecher’s innocence or guilt divided the nation and caused a reckoning with whether Protestant pastors posed a threat to the sanctity of the family unit. The case also propelled extensive internal negotiations within the press about whether journalists could discuss the scandal in print and what the coverage would mean for the reputation of Protestantism. In the end, the scandal emboldened the press to scrutinize the private proclivities of all manner of religious leaders—both fringe and mainstream.
Queer Silences
Authors: Krivulskaya Suzanna
Published: December 2024

The mid-twentieth century saw a curious paucity of Protestant sex scandals in the press. By then, Christian leaders invented better ways of keeping their scandals secret. Yet traces of evidence of ongoing sexual improprieties among the nation’s religious leaders survive. As fundamentalist elites shielded fellow pastors from well-substantiated reports of sexual deviance, lesser-known ministers experimented with avoiding the consequences of their actions by switching denominations and moving churches to erase any trace of scandal. The ruptures of the midcentury allowed conservative white Protestants in particular to build coalitions organized around common political commitments, which in turn enabled them to protect each other from scandal’s reach.
Public Relations
Authors: Krivulskaya Suzanna
Published: December 2024

The political scandals of the 1970s and 1980s rearticulated the need for the press to serve as the watchdog at all levels of national leadership, and public interest in the intimate affairs of Protestant pastors was revived. Gratuitously lavish lifestyles flaunted by a new generation of televangelists pushed investigative reporters to look into their financial and sexual ethics. Celebrity ministers Billy James Hargis, Jim Bakker, and Jimmy Swaggart were each accused of sexual improprieties and turned to various strategies for survival: ranging from obfuscation to confession. These preachers’ downfalls led to an all-time low public opinion of organized religion and undermined the nation’s trust in the character and intentions of the most zealous crusaders of the age. Still, all three men were able to return to the public stage and resume their ministries—raising questions about whether somewhere in the course of the twentieth century scandal lost its potency as an instrument of censure.
Heroes and Stalin Cult Films
Authors: Titus Joan
Published: December 2024

Chapter 6 (“Heroes and Stalin Cult Films”) provides an examination of Shostakovich’s scores to Stalin cult films and a biopic: Fall of Berlin (Padyeniye Berlina, dir. Mikheil Chiaureli, 1949), Belinsky (dir. Grigory Kozintsev, 1950, rel. 1953), and Unforgettable Year 1919 (Nezabïvayemïy 1919, dir. Mikheil Chiaureli, 1952). It contains analyses of excess in the scores to the Stalin cult films (Fall of Berlin and Unforgettable Year 1919), particularly in relation to gender and the Soviet Man, race/ethnicity, and nation; and a neo-romantic musical representation of a famed literary figure in Belinsky. Examinations of these scores demonstrates how Shostakovich musically navigated Stalin’s representation on film and created his score to the last Stalinist biopic.
Appalachia
Authors: Borasky Stacey
Published: December 2024

This chapter critically examines prevailing stereotypes about Appalachia perpetuated by works such as J. D. Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy. As a West Virginia native and social worker, the author challenges misconceptions and emphasizes the diversity, resilience, and strong values of the people who live in Appalachia. The chapter discusses the complexities of social work practice in the region by sharing personal experiences, unique aspects of rural practice, and the pivotal role of government. The chapter makes the case that effective social work practice requires human and cultural understanding, letting go of harmful myths and stereotypes, and fostering genuine connections and solidarity with the people of Appalachia.
Down a Rocky Road
Authors: Daley Michael R.
Published: December 2024

Social workers are often educated in urban models of practice, and much, if not all, of their practice and field experiences enforce these urban centric models. This chapter presents the narrative of the author who began as an urban-raised and -educated person and spent the early years of professional practice in an exclusively urban setting. It details the slow and often challenging transition to rural social work and incorporating a rural cultural perspective into practice. The narrative observes that rural social work is not confined to small communities but, rather, is found in large cities because when rural people move, they do not abandon their culture. This argues for better understanding of rural people, their beliefs, and their contributions and suggests that social work education should better prepare students for an understanding of rural culture and how to incorporate that into practice. The chapter concludes that social workers can transition into good rural practitioners even if they are not from rural backgrounds, but such transition may take some self-education. It presents several lessons that can be learned along the way.
Working With Latino Day Laborers in Rural Communities
Authors: Cordova Wilma
Published: December 2024

Rural communities can pose mental health challenges for Latino day laborers (LDLs) as they attempt to obtain and navigate specialized mental health services while acclimating to a new country. This is especially true for those who do not know the customs and language in the United States. Mental health services are necessary for migrant workers because they live in constant fear and experience many hardships. This chapter discusses the barriers that LDLs face living as immigrants in areas where they are not always welcome, as well as the strengths they exhibit. It also discusses and provides practical social work strategies and tactics for both the novice and seasoned social worker.
Of Square Pegs and Round Holes
Authors: Daley Michael R.
Published: December 2024

The rural environment plays a significant role in influencing peoples’ behavior, and the understanding of rural people in their environment is especially critical to engage in effective social work with them. The chapter discusses elements of the rural environment at multiple systems, including micro-, mezzo-, and macro-level influences on individual and collective behavior. The types of influences on rural people that are important for social workers to consider include unique languages, values, and collective norms that may affect the nature of the professional relationship. A clear understanding of these elements of rural behavior is essential to effective engagement with clients, assessment of problems, and implementation of intervention methods. It is also important to engage community resources and work with them effectively to address individual and community problems. Examples of rural language, values, and behavior are provided and discussed in terms of how these may affect social workers in carrying out their professional duties.
Rural Housing and Homelessness
Authors: Daley Michael R.
Published: December 2024

This chapter discusses issues regarding rural housing and homelessness in small communities in the United States. Housing concerns and homelessness are more easily recognized in urban areas; the social problems they cause for rural communities are less well known. The availability of quality, affordable housing is crucial to individuals and families on limited incomes. Without affordable housing, the cost of housing consumes so much income that other basic human needs may have to go unmet. Substandard housing can be hazardous, and in communities with a shortage of quality housing, substandard housing may be the only option for a place to live. For years, the rate of building new rural housing units has not met demand. Residents in rural areas tend to have lower incomes, rural housing tends to be older, there are more substandard dwelling units, and there are fewer housing options. These factors contribute to people having to pay higher rents for substandard housing, divert income from essentials such as food and health care, live in overcrowded living conditions, and make frequent moves; they also lead to increased homelessness. Rural homelessness is frequently overlooked because it appears different from urban homelessness. And rural communities have few services for the homeless. The social work interventions suggested in this chapter are development of community partnerships and educating to increase acceptance to apply for state and federal housing grants to improve or renovate substandard housing units.
Ingram in the 1560s
Authors: Snow Dean
Published: December 2024

David Ingram grew up in Barking, England, now a suburb of London. He was a child during the tumultuous reign of Henry VIII, and he came of age during the religious strife of his reign and those of Henry’s daughter Mary I and her half-sister Elizabeth I. Elizabeth was initially against slavery, but she warmed to the practice as she came to understand its financial benefits. John Hawkins became Elizabeth’s slaver, making his first voyage to Africa and then to Spanish colonies around the Caribbean Sea in 1564–1565. There he illegally sold enslaved Africans to colonists using a combination of threats, bribes, and violence. He made a second voyage in 1564, on which David Ingram was probably a crewman. In 1567 Hawkins set out on his third voyage, this time with a flagship, the Jesus of Lübeck, on loan from Queen Elizabeth. This time David Ingram was certainly aboard as a crewman, and his extraordinary journey began when the fleet left Plymouth.
Ingram in Africa
Authors: Snow Dean
Published: December 2024

John Hawkins’s fleet of slaving ships reach Sierra Leone after a stormy voyage by way of the Canary Islands. Ingram was impressed by the people of West Africa. He described their environment, resources, and customs in sympathetic terms. Although he was probably not fully literate, Ingram had a natural historian’s interest in the cultures, technology, botany, and zoology of West Africa. Surviving documents clearly show that Ingram began the story of his extraordinary journey with his observations in Africa. Hawkins organized the enslavement of hundreds of Africans by siding with the winners of a local war. After filling his cargo holds with the captured people, he took his fleet westward across the Atlantic to the Caribbean Sea.
The Return: Autumn 1569
Authors: Snow Dean
Published: December 2024

The evidence indicates that Ingram and his companions had reached the northeastern end of the North American trail system in central Maine, and that they continued by birchbark canoe. The Penobscots helped the three men get to the town Ingram called Guinda, the farthest north they reached in their long journey. There, on the St. Johns River, the people signed to them that a European ship was anchored at the river’s mouth on the Bay of Fundy. They paddled downstream and found the French ship Gargarine there. Captain Champaign agreed to take them back to France after completing some trading with the local people. After a stop at Newfoundland, the ship crossed the Atlantic to La Havre. From there the three men easily found transportation back to England as winter set in. An astonished John Hawkins greeted them and gave each a substantial reward.
Milestones
Authors: Ghyoot Mathias
Published: December 2024

This chapter documents how the imprisoned Brothers, in the years 1949–1951, carried on their social, political, and educational activities behind bars in two main prison camps: first at Camp Huckstep, and later, at Camp Ṭūr. The chapter not only emphasizes the organizational capacities of the incarcerated Brothers, but also highlights the cultural production that the prison ordeal triggered in the Brothers as they attempted to make sense of the abrupt downturn in their fortunes. Despite their ability to preserve their organization inside the camps, the Brothers would, in 1949, witness four major events that increasingly challenged their unity, and which will be addressed in this chapter: (1) the assassination of the Prime Minister, Maḥmūd al-Nuqrāshī; (2) the transfer of the Brothers to the remote Camp Ṭūr; (3) the assassination of their General Guide, Ḥasan al-Bannā; and (4) the emergence of a divide between the rebellious young cadres and a nonconfrontational leadership over the question of the recourse to political violence in Egypt.
The Great Retreat
Authors: Kuo Didi
Published: December 2024

The Great Retreat: How Political Parties Should Behave and Why They Don’t examines political parties as an institution central to democracy. It provides a defense of parties, and argues that to strengthen democracy, we need stronger parties. It provides a history of the relationship of parties to democracy, showing how parties shaped democratic governance, socialized citizens into politics, and created effective representative institutions. The Great Retreat traces the decline of the mass organization party and the rising pressures on parties in a neoliberal era. It also shows how parties historically mediated democratic capitalism, arguing that their contemporary inability to do so has furthered democratic backsliding. Drawing lessons from party development in other regions of the world, including Europe and Latin America, this book argues for a comparative approach to understanding American political parties. It cautions against the antiparty sentiment in democracies today, arguing that stronger parties have the potential to renew democracy.
Building the Party
Authors: Kuo Didi
Published: December 2024

This chapter provides a history of party-building in an era of the mass organization party. While parties began as legislative factions in limited democracies, they developed new organizational capacities as suffrage expanded. Through the expansion of local party offices, political parties conducted elections, mobilized voters, and maintained party loyalty. In the advanced democracies, political parties grew their memberships through the provision of services and social policies. Parties were embedded with civil society, and their infrastructure was linked to associations and labor unions. As patterns of civic and political participation changed in the late twentieth century, growing more nationalized and less reliant on direct supporters, the relationship of parties to voters also weakened.
Selling the Party
Authors: Kuo Didi
Published: December 2024

This chapter traces the development of a politics industry, and its contribution to the nationalization of campaigns and partisan polarization, with a focus on the United States. It looks at communications and campaign technologies as well as deregulation of campaign finance in the nineteen-nineties and early eighties. As parties have invested more resources in the data game of campaigns, they have outsourced many other functions---including mobilization, representation, and interest articulation---to non-party groups, which weakens the ability of parties to govern effectively. This chapter also provides a recent history of campaign finance, and explains how the decentralization of campaign finance makes it harder for parties to manage insurgent candidates.
Strategies for Involving Emerging Adults with Participatory Action Research
Authors: Raza Syeda S. , Katsiaficas Dalal
Published: December 2024

Emerging adults are coming of age at a time when many are on the front lines of various youth movements calling for racial, economic, immigration, and climate justice. As such, providing emerging adults with opportunities to serve as co-researchers about issues relevant to their lived experiences can promote social transformation and empowerment. Therefore, the purpose of this chapter is to illustrate the ways in which emerging adults’ voices and needs, particularly those at the margins, can be centered through Participatory Action Research (PAR) frameworks. Strategies and recommendations to include emerging adults through each step of the research design, analysis, and dissemination processes are discussed and relevant examples are provided.
Qualitative Data Collection Strategies for the Study of Emerging Adults
Authors: Schwab Joseph R.
Published: December 2024

This chapter provides an overview of the options available for collecting qualitative data in research on emerging adulthood. Four main types of qualitative data are identified: interview data, observational data, visual data, and public data. With each type, a brief history is provided, guidelines for how to collect that type of data are offered, and examples from published emerging adult research that collected that type of data are presented. Meta-theoretical considerations integral to these methodological decisions are also discussed, including the major ontological and epistemological assumptions inherent in the most widely used qualitative research traditions. Many other how-to books and articles are referenced throughout to provide the novice qualitative researcher with further information, elaboration, and guidelines. The hope is that researchers new to qualitative methods find this chapter informative as a helpful first step in their journeys as qualitative researchers.
Measuring Emerging Adults’ Daily Life
Authors: Harald Gmelin Jan-Ole , Kunnen E. Saskia
Published: December 2024

This chapter aims to provide guidance on how to conceptualize “intensive” longitudinal studies that capture participants’ daily lives at multiple times over (relatively) short intervals. Such methods are especially valuable for research questions concerning the emergence, change, and stability of specific phenomena, such as identity within individuals over time. This is relevant in emerging adulthood, which sees fast changes with often important life-long outcomes. The chapter outlines key decisions that researchers must make when designing such studies, including the formulation of a research question; the choice of a timescale; operationalization of the intensive measure of the phenomenon under study; choosing an assessment method and the choice for a qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods design; choosing a sample size; and selecting participants and building a relationship. Rather than advocating for a particular methodology, the chapter provides examples of studies and a detailed case study to illustrate these decisions.
Studying Emerging Adulthood with a Crowd
Authors: Grahe Jon E. , Lee Seungyeon , Obeid Rita , McFall Joseph , Fagan Jessica
Published: December 2024

This chapter presents practical examples and makes recommendations about studying emerging adulthood using crowd-sourced research approaches. Examples are drawn from three studies (one ongoing) to assess the Emerging Adulthood Measured at Multiple Institutions project. Spanning 20 years, it is one of the earliest crowd-sourcing research projects in psychology; these studies offer lessons based on findings and the trials and errors in managing them. In addition to reviewing each study and its implications, this chapter discusses the management of crowd-sourcing projects, including administration and project management. Ideally, readers will gain an understanding of the most realistic way to study emerging adulthood with a crowd.
Best Practices in Structural Equation Modeling with Cross-Sectional, Emerging Adult Data
Authors: Ferreira Tiago , Nunes Filipa , Mena Matos Paula
Published: December 2024

Structural equation modeling (SEM) refers to a family of related procedures commonly applied in research with emerging adults. As the methodology of SEM is constantly evolving, up-to-date guidelines for building and testing SEM models are always needed. This chapter provides a basic introduction to SEM and an overview of the best practices for building and testing models on cross-sectional data. It presents practical guidelines for emerging adulthood researchers, focusing on the general steps that comprise the SEM analysis process. In doing so, it discusses the essential steps of SEM: model specification, identification, estimation, and evaluation. The chapter adopts a non-technical language and hands-on approach, providing examples of studies with real data to illustrate the use of SEM to investigate specific research questions in emerging adulthood. Additionally, this chapter provides a list of resources for further understanding SEM and the extensions of SEM.
Identifying Meaningful Groups of Emerging Adults
Authors: Christiaens Annabelle H. T. , Nelemans Stefanie A. , Branje Susan
Published: December 2024

This chapter provides an overview of the use of latent class analysis and latent profile analysis in both cross-sectional and longitudinal research in emerging adulthood. Latent class analysis and latent profile analysis are statistical techniques for identifying unobserved subgroups of individuals within a sample that share similar characteristics. This chapter serves as a guide through these analyses by providing some background information on latent class analysis and latent profile analysis, a step-by-step procedure for conducting latent class analysis and latent profile analysis, and some critical notes on the use of latent class analysis and latent profile analysis. Moreover, this chapter provides a list of resources for further reading on latent class analysis /latent profile analysis and their extensions.
Conclusion
Authors: Miller Brian J.
Published: December 2024

Chapter 9 summarizes how evangelicals came to embrace the American suburbs and discusses five takeaways from the book: fully understanding evangelicals requires analyzing the suburbs they have often made home; interest in how evangelicals engage with race and ethnicity, social class, and gender should account for how these have been shaped by and lived out in suburban contexts; the in-betweenness of suburbs – between large cities and more rural areas – and evangelicals wanting to engage society but maintain their distinct beliefs, behaviors, and belonging puts evangelicals in a unique position of interacting with other social actors and places; evangelicals would benefit from deeper social and theological thought and study about suburbs and places; and understanding religion and place requires adding choices and responses to places from religious groups in addition to theories of religious groups seeking niches and resources, and uneven development patterns shaping places.
A Measure Short of War
Authors: Kastner Jill , Wohlforth William C.
Published: December 2024

This book is a primer on the history of subversion—hostile domestic interference to undermine or manipulate a rival—among rival great powers. It provides a conceptual apparatus for understanding why and when great powers meddle in each other’s domestic affairs and examines subversion via compact case studies exploring 2,000 years of mischief and manipulation. Evidence from classical antiquity and early modern Europe to the great-power rivalries of the nineteenth century, the 1930s, and the Cold War illustrates subversion’s allure, its operational possibilities, and the means for fighting back against it. The book helps readers understand how hostile meddling in rivals’ domestic politics has shaped great power politics from Ancient Greece through the Cold War. With this unique transhistorical conceptual and empirical base, the book then dives deeply into subversion’s brief exit after the Cold War and its role in the return of great power rivalry after 2008. It places Russia’s 2016 operation against the United States in historical perspective, and it assesses subversion’s role in great power rivalry in the past, present, and future. As the first study of this phenomenon that is focused on subversion among great power peers, the book fills key gaps in scholarship on international relations, history, and intelligence studies.
Subversion 101
Authors: Kastner Jill , Wohlforth William C.
Published: December 2024

This chapter offers a distinctive definition of subversion as hostile meddling in a rival’s domestic politics, against the wishes of the existing regime, in order to weaken it or change its foreign policy. It explains the reasoning behind the authors’ approach, examining historical episodes of subversion from the ancient world to the present day. It explains why a focus on this form of statecraft among peer great powers is novel and necessary, and it provides a cost–benefit framework for assessing subversion’s role through time. The chapter identifies subversion’s low costs and flexibility as key benefits, and it identifies the potential for escalation and the erosion of trust as key costs. The chapter suggests conditions under which the balance may tilt toward offense and defense in subversive statecraft.
Classical Antiquity
Authors: Kastner Jill , Wohlforth William C.
Published: December 2024

This chapter examines episodes of ancient subversion among some of the most powerful states and city-states of the Classical world. Beginning with the rivalry between Sparta and Athens, it explores incidents of propaganda, disinformation, bribery, and more violent measures during a time of near constant warfare. The chapter discusses the role of subversion in contributing to the onset of the Peloponnesian War. Its uses during the conflict, particularly by the Athenian statesman Alcibiades, are discussed. The chapter covers subversive activities in the struggle between Philip II of Macedon and the Greek states in the fourth century bc, as well as subversion in Rome’s foreign affairs in both the Republic and the Empire. It concludes that the essential elements of today’s subversive operations were very much in use in ancient times, with more impact and frequency than seen in modern times.
The Nineteenth Century
Authors: Kastner Jill , Wohlforth William C.
Published: December 2024

This chapter examines the role of subversion—hostile meddling in a rival’s domestic politics—in nineteenth-century European statecraft. It unpacks subversion’s understudied interaction with the balance of power politics of the early, middle, and late century. Cases feature Britain versus Russia’s Tsar Paul, the potential intervention in Russian Poland, Bismarck versus France after the Franco-Prussian War, and Bismarck’s efforts to undermine Britain’s Prime Minister William Gladstone. The politics of alignment turn out to be central, as expected in a multipolar balance of power system. The chapter explains why restraint tended to prevail over the temptation to undermine rivals via subversive meddling.
Looking Back
Authors: Kastner Jill , Wohlforth William C.
Published: December 2024

This chapter presents general findings concerning subversive statecraft among great power peers through history. It explains why constraints tend to dominate inducements to subvert great powers, keeping subversion to a simmer. It delineates the larger scale shifts in the strategic environment that account for variation and change in subversion over time. It also offers a compact assessment of the three roles subversion plays in great power rivalries: as a safety valve, allowing great powers to try to realize their objectives without triggering a larger conflict; as merely a way station on the route to conflict; and as an independent catalyst of intensified rivalry.
Running with the Surrealists
Authors: Osei Adjoa
Published: December 2024

Elsie Houston was preoccupied with the artistic; however, surrealism and left-wing politics were inextricably connected, and she straddled both spheres. Her marriage to French poet Benjamin Péret brought her into contact with the likes of André Breton, and Elsie engaged with the key tenets of surrealism by juxtaposing Afro-Brazilian and classical music. Her transnational community also included Brazilian modernists that were known as antropófagos—the artistic cannibals. Elsie was photographed by Man Ray, appeared in a radio show alongside Duke Ellington, and performed in stylish clubs and cabarets. Other women performers who were part of this cabaret scene include the Afro-Guadeloupean dancer and muse Adrienne “Ady” Fidelin; Brazilian singer, dancer, and actress Araci Cortes; and African American dancer Zaidee Jackson. Elsie’s academic work published in Paris focused on African contributions to Brazilian society and musical culture, and she therefore acted as a cultural translator of Brazilian identity.
A Passport to Brazil
Authors: Osei Adjoa
Published: December 2024

Arriving in New York City in 1937 under the sponsorship of the Brazilian government, Elsie Houston became a kind of Brazilian cultural ambassador during the Good Neighbor era. She was known as the principal interpreter of Villa-Lobos’s compositions and for her “voodoo incantations” or “magic songs”—the monikers given by the US press for her renditions of Afro-Brazilian folk songs. Her artistic cosmopolitanism, which foregrounded Afro-diasporic music, proposed American interhemispheric reconciliation and also black-white reconciliation, albeit oftentimes through an exoticist lens. She performed a palatable, non-threatening version of ethnic otherness for US audiences. Her persona shifted between accentuating American sameness and highlighting radical difference, and she was perceived by US audiences as an “authentic” embodiment of Afro-Brazilian culture.
Understanding the Effectiveness of Formers
Authors: Koehler Daniel
Published: December 2024

Formers are referred to broadly, but there are nuances and challenges with this term. It is important to recognize that the term formers contributes to their stigmatization and fails to capture their own personal growth—the term is used reluctantly for the sake of clarity but in practice the term should be “retired.” The label former captures a wide range of individual experiences, and therefore formers should not be viewed as a homogeneous group. In its simplest form, the label refers to individuals who identify (or in some cases who are attributed) as having left behind attitudinal and/or behavioral engagement in violent extremism or combatant groups (including groups labeled as terrorist).
Being a Former, Becoming a Mentor, and the Value of Using Formers in the Swedish Exit Program
Authors: Christensen Tina Wilchen
Published: December 2024

Mentoring is a common approach in programs aimed at countering violent extremism, but what does mentoring constitute in this context, how do formers become mentors, and how can exit programs benefit from engaging them? Based on an ethnographic fieldwork at the Swedish nongovernmental organization EXIT, which facilitates right-wing extremist disengagement, this chapter discusses what mentoring implies and some of the challenges involved in engaging formers in exit programs. It illustrates practices that support formers becoming mentors and ways in which exit programs gain from engaging them. Although good intentions and a shared past between a mentor and mentee are important, it is not enough for a mentor to support a mentee in an exit process. Rather, formers need to reinterpret their narrative of (dis)engagement shape by programs’ institutional logics, receive supervision, and learn to act on a deliberate practice to become mentors who adds value to exit programs.
Moral Injury, Moral Blindness, and Political Non-Repentance
Authors: Alonso Rogelio
Published: December 2024

This chapter assesses the role that former members of the terrorist group Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA) may play in preventing and countering violent extremism (P/CVE). Different categories of former ETA members can be differentiated according to their degree of distancing from the group, the extent of their deradicalization when this happened, the period of time when they disengaged, as well as their motives and means. Three main types of formers emerge when analyzing the scope of the disengagement and deradicalization processes of those who have distanced from ETA: those with a “moral injury”; those with a “moral blindness”; and those who have abandoned violence, criticizing it albeit with certain qualifications and a lack of political repentance. These varying degrees determine different types of disengagement at the physical and psychological level, exposing the real extent of formers’ deradicalization when this occurs and, consequently, their potential effectiveness or ineffectiveness in P/CVE.
The Role of Former Northern Irish Combatants in Building Peace and Preventing Violence
Authors: Ferguson Neil , Flack Patrick
Published: December 2024

Although the ability of former combatants to add value to preventing and countering violent extremism (P/CVE) and peacebuilding programs is widely accepted, it is a controversial approach with complex challenges. This chapter explores these issues within the Northern Irish setting, focusing on the role of former Northern Irish paramilitary combatants in reducing violence, transforming conflict, and building peaceful community relations across Northern Ireland. The chapter begins with a discussion of the conflict and the impact of the conflict on the post-Agreement landscape of Northern Ireland and the role of former combatants in both the conflict and peace process. The chapter then discusses research exploring the motivations behind engagement in P/CVE and conflict transformation activity among former paramilitaries, in addition to drivers and barriers to engagement in this activity. Finally, the chapter explores intra-community perceptions of loyalist conflict transformation and P/VE work and examines levels of community support for this activity.
Do Former Child Soldiers Have a Role in Peacebuilding in Colombia?
Authors: Martuscelli Patrícia Nabuco , Villa Rafael Duarte
Published: December 2024

This chapter discusses the connections between former child soldiers (demobilized by their own decision [collectively or alone] or because they were liberated from an armed group) and peacebuilding in Colombia. The current challenges that former child soldiers face in Colombia are considered. Understanding the relationship between former child soldiers and peacebuilding in Colombia is an important topic because (a) Colombia has a history of failing child soldiers during the demobilization of the paramilitary group AUC and (b) there is a risk of re-recruitment of child soldiers and the COVID-19 pandemic has aggravated this risk. Although the Colombian government negotiated a peace agreement with the main guerrilla group, FARC-EP, in 2016, dissident groups of the FARC-EP and other armed groups continue to actively recruit children in Colombia. This risk of re-recruitment represents a clear threat for sustainable peace in the country.
Collaboration with Former Extremists
Authors: Davies Lynn
Published: December 2024

This chapter analyzes the prospects and challenges in inviting former extremists to share their lived experiences and understandings with young people in various youth settings, especially in schools. The chapter is based on work with the organization ConnectFutures, which facilitates practical training for formers. Such engagement is part of broader programmatic work to build resilience in young people to violent extremism and exploitation, with a range of programs across the United Kingdom targeted at different groups, ages, and settings. It is suggested that former extremists have instrumental potential to contribute to youth resilience, although there are risks associated with it.
Life After Hate
Authors: Galloway Brad
Published: December 2024

Former extremists have been working in the preventing and countering violent extremism (P/CVE) field for more than two decades. P/CVE programs and the broader P/CVE field have benefited from formers’ involvement in the work, but not without challenges. This chapter explains the implications of using formers in P/CVE settings. In addition, it provides a brief account regarding the effectiveness of utilizing formers in P/CVE and subsequently the promises and challenges this poses. The chapter also presents several recommendations for utilizing formers more effectively. Although formers are an asset in the P/CVE field, more research and evaluation would assist further growth regarding where formers might continue to contribute to helping deter, prevent, and counter violent extremism.
Setting the Stage
Authors: Lucero Lisa J.
Published: December 2024

This chapter takes the reader on a journey through the humid and biodiverse tropical jungles of Central America, with its rainy and dry seasons, plethora of inhabitants, and three realms—the Upperworld, the Earth’s surface, and the Underworld. It highlights what living in the tropics entails and what it would have been like for the ancestral Maya in the southern lowlands of present-day Belize, Guatemala, and parts of Mexico and Honduras. The tropical forest provided varied resources that the Maya relied on sustainably for millennia—game, food, fuel, medicines, and materials used to make pole-and-thatch houses, stone tools, and pottery. No plants or animals became extinct. Forest collaboration worked for millennia. Biodiversity, however, is decreasing rapidly due to the use of non-Maya practices (monocropping, extensive deforestation, and chemical pesticides), which is not a good thing since forests provision the ecosystems on which Earth’s inhabitants rely—water, food, and air.
The Maya
Authors: Lucero Lisa J.
Published: December 2024

This chapter introduces Maya history and details the Maya people’s resilience. The First Americans arrived 20,000 years ago during the last ice age and came face to face with megafauna (giant sloths, mammoths) and relied on hunting and gathering until the introduction of maize and other domesticated crops. The Maya and their ancestors were part of an interwoven history with other Mesoamerican peoples. Farming communities (c. 2000 bce) led to landscape transformation, growing population, and eventually, the emergence of hundreds of cities and kings. Rural farmers relied on urban reservoirs during seasonal drought. When several prolonged droughts struck beginning c. 800 ce, reservoir levels plummeted, crops failed, and famine ensued. Subjects blamed their kings and deserted them and the cities by 900 ce. Farmers adapted and moved on. This story continued until the early 1500s when the Spanish invaded and forced religious conversion and brought with them violence and epidemic diseases.