bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
“Time … Never Stops”
Authors: Burton Rachal , Cooper Ayanni C. H. 
Published: February 2025

Abstract
When the trailer for Jordan Peele’s Us (2019) was released in late 2018, viewers were struck by its inclusion of the creepy remix of hip-hop classic “I Got 5 On It” (1995). The trailer demonstrates the power of music—especially African diasporic music—in building suspense in Black horror media. Lovecraft Country (2020) similarly deploys elements of the Black diasporic soundscape to chilling and powerful effect. Part of what makes the show incredibly special is how the creative team disrupts narrative temporalities by relishing in both seamless and jagged “sonic anachronisms.” Using the show’s soundtrack Lovecraft Country acoustically integrates different time periods in Black history and mixes genres, blending minstrel songs from the late 1840s and current hip-hop music, along with speeches and spoken-word performances. These key samples occur alongside images of “pop-locking pickaninnies,” Chicago in the summertime, and racially segregated Midwestern towns. In this way, Lovecraft Country unites sound and horror to highlight the pervasiveness of anti-Blackness globally.
(Re)Summoning Candyman for a “Post-Racial” Era
Authors: Craig Byron B , Rahko Stephen E. 
Published: February 2025

Abstract
Since its release in 1992, the Candyman franchise has polarized scholars and critics. Many have persuasively argued that Bernard Rose’s original film celebrates white womanhood while advancing racist tropes and narratives of abject Black masculinity and miscegenation. In contrast, others have defended the film, arguing that Candyman is a complex figure. This chapter responds to scholarly commentary about the Candyman horror franchise by focusing on Nia DaCosta and Jordan Peele’s 2021 adaptation, which is set in present-day Chicago. Drawing on horror scholarship that traces the relationship between the genre’s rhetorical conventions and cultural trauma, theorists of Afro-pessimism, and postmodern theories of adaptation, this chapter is an original Afro-pessimistic interpretation of Candyman. We understand DaCosta and Peele’s adaptation as a response to current post-racial ideologies that allegorically critiques the legacy of slavery and race trauma. DaCosta and Peele advance an “allegorical adaptation” of Candyman that can be read as Afro-pessimistic.
The Allegory of the Tickle Monster
Authors: Adams Tessa 
Published: February 2025

Abstract
In 2016, Black British director Remi Weekes made the short horror film Tickle Monster, in which aspiring Grime rap artist Elliot discovers that his girlfriend’s room is haunted by the tickle monster. While only four minutes and fifteen seconds long, Tickle Monster offers a strong critique of race and is a companion to Weekes’s more well-known film His House (2020). Taxonomies of race are presented through the lens of critical race theory. This theory has roots in U.S. critical legal studies and is relatively new to U.K. discourses. This chapter argues that both are responses to oppression, microaggressions, and post-racialism. Further, this chapter argues that Monster and House are responses to how Blackness has been historically constructed and erased from the United Kingdom’s culture. These films are reminders to audiences that while racism may not always present itself as overt, it is a constant that is covert and overt in its attacks. This chapter argues that Weekes’s films encourage audiences to “stay woke.”
Zombie Roar
Authors: Shank Dominique 
Published: February 2025

Abstract
Zombies are a staple of contemporary horror and have been remarkably adaptable mass-cultural monsters. For well over a century, they have metaphorized any number of societal anxieties. However, as historian Amy Wilentz reminds us, the zombie originated in “old African religious beliefs and the pain of slavery.” Those transatlantic roots are on bruising display in Mati Diop’s Atlantique (2019) and Bertrand Bonello’s Zombi Child (2019). This chapter explores how Atlantique and Child resist deployments of sensational horror film conventions. Both films attempt to recast the zombie as an interlocutor that can communicate the grievances of the dead to the living. In this way, the zombies are beings possessed by a race, class, and gender consciousness with subversive anticolonial potential. Perhaps most tellingly, both films cast the zombie as brutally ordinary. These zombies are doubly horrifying, because they resemble the millions of workers whose labor capitalists exploit.
Historical Legends of the Buddha in the Region of Bongabhumi
Authors: Chowdhury Sanjoy Barua 
Published: February 2025

Abstract
In the region of Bongabhumi, Buddhism has an extensive tradition of elegance, history, and heritage from over 2,600 years ago. This chapter centers on the Buddha’s footprint in the soil of ancient Bongabhumi, revealing a connection between the Buddha and the people of ancient Bengal from its inception. Additionally, it focuses on two historical Buddhist pilgrimage sites: Chakrashala Phratara Cetiya and Ramu Rangkut Banasram Bouddho Bihar of Bangladesh. To clarify the historical legend of Buddhism in the region of Bongabhumi, this chapter also discusses Buddhist transmissions in the Bengal Delta up to the modern period, as well as illustrates how Buddhist communities and their contemporary practices express lived Buddhism in Bongabhumi.
Mary Magdalene in Africa
Authors: Okure Teresa 
Published: February 2025

Abstract
Mary Magdalene is a little-known figure among contemporary African Christians, aside from their encounter with her story in the gospels. As a result, there are few scholarly works on the ways in which African scholars interpret her role in Christian theology. The available works largely reject the negative depictions of Mary Magdalene as a prostitute, instead focusing on her as a faithful disciple of Jesus and the designated bearer of his resurrection message. They use her as a model and inspiration for women in the modern African contexts. In many ways, their interpretation rejects the overall neocolonial conception of Africa and African Christianity. This review of Mary Magdalene in Africa also calls for just actions to be taken with respect to both Mary Magdalene and Africa.
Understanding NATO
Authors: Sperling James , Webber Mark 
Published: February 2025

Abstract
NATO has shaped the governance of transatlantic security since 1949. Since the 1990s, NATO has helped redefine the meaning of liberal interventionism, orchestrated the longest-running counterterrorism and counter-insurgency operation in modern times, and has resurrected territorial defence in Europe. NATO has also been implicated in watershed moments of recent global history—from the end of the Cold War through to 9/11 (when the Alliance’s mutual defence clause was first invoked), and the Russia–Ukraine war. NATO is assessed along four dimensions: its uniqueness as a military alliance; its enduring character and ability to adapt to a changing security environment; its determining role in the national security calculations of the allies; and its ability to withstand controversies both among the allies themselves and with those states who sit outside NATO’s membership.
Gender
Authors: Wright Katharine A. M. 
Published: February 2025

Abstract
The Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) agenda has been formally integrated into NATO’s mission. The 2022 Strategic Concept describes WPS as informing all of the Alliance’s core tasks. What can a gender perspective add to our understanding of the Alliance? In this light, this chapter’s first step is to address the question ‘where are the women at NATO?’ so as to expose the gender politics and hierarchies that underpin NATO as an institution. Its second step is to trace the origins of NATO’s engagement with the WPS agenda. A concern with the status of women in national armed forces dates back to the Alliance’s origins. The chapter then interrogates why feminist theorizing of NATO has remained in its infancy before looking at more recent feminist conceptualizations of the Alliance. The conclusion argues that gender and feminist approaches provide an important contribution to understanding the Alliance and its place in global power structures.
Strategy
Authors: Freedman Lawrence , Michaels Jeffrey H. 
Published: February 2025

Abstract
The evolution of NATO’s formal strategies, embodied principally in successive Strategic Concepts, is a window on NATO’s role in transatlantic security. This chapter covers the internal debates about the direction of the Alliance and the difficulties of achieving consensus on NATO strategy. It also highlights the different functions that Alliance strategy documents serve. The chapter examines NATO during the Cold War, and specifically how Alliance strategy accommodated nuclear and conventional forces to deter attack. It then moves to the post-Cold War period and examines the Alliance’s transformation from a collective defensive posture to one geared toward out-of-area operations in the Balkans, Afghanistan, and Libya. The chapter then addresses NATO’s post-2014 efforts to balance its out-of-area commitments with the task of reassuring the allies on the eastern flank—both within the context of deterring a resurgent Russia and tackling the challenge of a rising China.
Doctrine
Authors: Deni John R. 
Published: February 2025

Abstract
Why does NATO doctrine appear as a lagging indicator of the changing character of conflict? During the Cold War, the post-Cold War period, and the period after Russia’s 2014 invasion of Ukraine, the Alliance has routinely promulgated doctrine well after it has begun conducting operations that would have fallen under the retrospective doctrine’s guidance. For instance, allied doctrine on peace support operations was first released in 2001, several years after NATO had begun its peace support and stabilization mission in Bosnia. This chapter unpacks the reasons why allied doctrine seems so often behind the curve. In doing so, it examines the evolution of NATO doctrine over the last several decades, from the early Cold War years through to the present day. It first identifies how NATO defines doctrine, who develops it, and how that doctrine is developed. A brief concluding section looks at the challenges of building a collective military doctrine in an alliance of equally sovereign members (something which has only become more difficult as NATO membership has expanded).
Nuclear Deterrence
Authors: Yost David S. 
Published: February 2025

Abstract
This chapter considers the history of NATO nuclear deterrence and related issues of decision-making, arms control, and risk- and responsibility-sharing. The chapter takes note of the origins of US nuclear commitments to NATO Europe, nuclear-sharing arrangements, the development of British and French nuclear forces, and the role of American strategic nuclear forces. The complex challenges of addressing deterrence as well as arms control objectives are illustrated by the efforts of the allies since the late 1970s to grapple with what became known as long-range theatre nuclear forces (LRTNF) and intermediate-range nuclear forces (INF). More recent strategic challenges are evident in how NATO has adapted its deterrence posture to account for the adversarial relationship with Russia. Politically, the allies have had to grapple with issues raised by the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
Covid-19, Crisis Management, and Civil Emergency Response
Authors: Baciu Cornelia 
Published: February 2025

Abstract
The connection between health and security has attracted considerable scholarly attention in recent years. The health–security nexus raises a two-part question: do health-related matters pose threats to security and, if so, what is the role of security and defence organizations in countering them? Its response to COVID-19 is an example of the Alliance’s crisis management approach. NATO has performed both crisis and civil response functions since the 1950s. This chapter first examines the link between crisis management and national security. It then considers the NATO legal framework and crisis management infrastructure. Third, it unpacks historical examples of NATO civil emergency response, before moving to a case study of NATO’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It concludes with a critical reflection on NATO’s role during pandemics and on its wider commitment to emergency response.
Domestic Politics
Authors: Hofmann Stephanie C. , Williams Michael John 
Published: February 2025

Abstract
Domestic politics matters in foreign, security, and defence policies, and helps explain national orientations towards NATO. This chapter looks first at domestic actors and processes. Actors and processes are usually studied separately under the rubric of ‘organizational’ and ‘party politics’ approaches. These two approaches can be applied to both big and small allies in order to understand their preferences and behaviour within NATO. The chapter then turns to the different institutional constraints that can moderate both bureaucratic and party actors’ preferences at different times during the multilateral policy-making process. This demonstrates how organizational and party politics approaches can be fruitfully combined. We then show how NATO affects the politics of its members. Through the lens of domestic politics, we can highlight whether and how NATO has become more politicized domestically. Debates over populism and democracy illustrate the relationship between NATO and its members’ domestic politics. The chapter concludes with a discussion of new avenues for research.
Italy
Authors: Ratti Luca 
Published: February 2025

Abstract
For over seventy years, Italy has been one of NATO’s staunchest allies, actively contributing to allied policy and operations within and outside of Europe. Initially seen as a liability, Italy slowly turned into an indispensable asset on the Alliance’s southern flank. Italy’s support of NATO reflects first and foremost the strong bilateral bond with the United States. Persisting economic and social difficulties, the fear of being marginalized by France and Germany (particularly after the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union), the growing assertiveness of other regional and global powers in areas geographically and historically close to Italy, as well as the impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on European and Mediterranean security have kept the Alliance at the centre of Italian national security policy.
Australia
Authors: Schreer Ben 
Published: February 2025

Abstract
Australia has long been a key Asia-Pacific partner for NATO in a relationship supported by a congruence of values and overlapping interests. Australia played a significant role in NATO’s mission in Afghanistan and has stood alongside the NATO allies in supporting Ukraine’s resistance to Russian occupation. A shared concern with China provides a long-term impetus to NATO–Australia ties. Against this background, this chapter develops a conceptual lens with which to assess NATO–Australia relations. It then traces the historical evolution of the relationship since the Cold War and concludes that despite shared values and interests obstacles remain to realizing the relationship’s full potential. Much will depend on NATO’s willingness to assume a security role in the Asia–Pacific.
The Mesolithic
Authors: Warren Graeme 
Published: February 2025

Abstract
This chapter asks two simple questions: what the Mesolithic is and why it matters. Answering the first question requires a review of the history of the definition of the Mesolithic including an emphasis on alternative ways of approaching the periodization of human activity. The second question asks what value knowledge about the Mesolithic brings and what might be distinctive about the period. Beyond increasing our understanding of particular regional sequences, is there something that the study of the Mesolithic might contribute to broader understandings of human variation? Both questions require reflection on the ever-expanding academic industry that is the Mesolithic. The chapter concludes by affirming the potential for a reflexive, creative Mesolithic archaeology that can celebrate different forms of human life.
Continental European Plain
Authors: Grużdź Witold , Groß Daniel , Pyżewicz Katarzyna , Vashanau Aliaksandr 
Published: February 2025

Abstract
This chapter focuses on presenting changes in the material culture from the ninth–fourth millennia bc, in the Northern and Eastern European Plains territory. Most of the data is based on literature and our own analyses carried out on selected C14 dated sites. We focus on the diversity in the lithic materials and the technology of blade production. The tool typology and lithic technology are characterized within the archaeological cultures Komornica, Butovo/Kunda, Kudlaevka, Chojnice-Pieńki, and Janisławice. This nomenclature is still used in the literature, but the perception of the cultures has shifted from perceiving them as societies to treating them as basic terminology to describe the most common groups of Mesolithic materials.
Sea
Authors: Bjerck Hein B. 
Published: February 2025

Abstract
This chapter gives a regional and temporal overview of the Mesolithic archaeological record, and demonstrates a wide range of styles of marine foraging and seafaring along the European shores. Marine resources are varied and stable, encompass wide-ranging nutritional values and raw materials, and were beyond depletion by the Mesolithic pre-industrial means of harvesting. Also, seafaring increased mobility range, reach, and speed, and also the capacity to carry people, equipment, and produce far and wide by a variety of vessels. The Mesolithic seas were as affluent as they were risky to exploit. Humans at sea are always ‘cyborgs’—depending on material devices that now are integrated in the Mesolithic archaeological record, and may be analysed by the discipline’s scientific methods. This leaves us with an optimistic starting point for addressing ‘Sea’ in Mesolithic Europe. However, a very large part of the Mesolithic coastal areas was flooded by the 130 m postglacial sea-level rise, and hence little explored.
Mountains and High Altitudes
Authors: Visentin Davide 
Published: February 2025

Abstract
Mountains and highland territories represented a significant ecological resource for the last European hunter-gatherers. This chapter discusses the current definition of a mountain and how this seasonal resource was exploited by Mesolithic groups. It makes particular reference to the rich evidence coming from the Alps, the main European mountain ridge. Nonetheless, the variability connected to the exploitation of the principal European mountain sectors is taken into account as much as possible. The main topics addressed are: (a) the role of mountain regions within the general settlement systems of the Mesolithic groups; (b) the possible reasons that led to the intense occupation of the uplands and in general of the ecotone zones found in mountain areas; (c) the local mobility within mountainous landscapes; and (d) the toolkits/materials that were brought along while settling these territories.
Time Matters
Authors: Schulting Rick J. , Meiklejohn Christopher 
Published: February 2025

Abstract
A robust chronology is essential for providing a framework within which various technological and social aspects of Mesolithic societies can be investigated. It is also crucial in the search for potential consequences of environmental change on human societies over the millennia that constitute the European Mesolithic. This chapter reviews developments in radiocarbon dating and their impact on our ability to construct increasingly high-resolution chronologies. Some challenges are also highlighted, most notably the imprecision created by marine and freshwater reservoir effects. A series of kernel density estimation (KDE) plots on dated human remains from various western European countries are presented and discussed. While the search for finer-scale chronologies is important, it is argued that this needs to be complemented by a consideration of long-term processes acting well beyond the range of individual human lifetimes. Time operates on different scales that are relevant for different kinds of questions.
Demography, Life Histories, and Population Dynamics
Authors: Stutz Aaron Jonas 
Published: February 2025

Abstract
Palaeodemography is the study of past population systems and population dynamics. This topic is central for understanding Mesolithic hunter-gatherer-fishers at multiple scales, from lived experience to long-term change in coupled human–environment systems. Multiple methods are increasingly used to study the palaeodemography of Mesolithic hunter-gatherer-fisher populations in Europe. Analysis of large calibrated-radiocarbon-date datasets is now often combined with palaeogenomic analyses of DNA-fragments recovered from Mesolithic human remains. These data complement model-driven bioarchaeological analyses of life history patterns in skeletal samples of Mesolithic people interred in cemeteries and other mortuary features. Recent research reveals that migration and admixture between Mesolithic forager- and Neolithic farming communities were geographically variable but tended to be asymmetric, favouring net forager geneflow into farming groups. Mesolithic populations constituted resilient cultural and demographic systems that persisted over thousands of years. Yet, Neolithic farming populations—exhibiting evidence for higher fertility, higher mortality, and higher residential population densities—were part of biocultural systems that were often dependent on more ecologically disruptive, intense levels of energy and resource extraction.
Coexistence with Neolithic Neighbours
Authors: Diniz Mariana 
Published: February 2025

Abstract
Mesolithic–Neolithic transition is one of the most debated topics in Prehistoric archaeology. This cultural turnover represents a major and irreversible shift in the human trajectory. In Europe, this transition from the hunter-gatherer to the agro-pastoral way of life is rooted in Near Eastern domesticated plants and animals. Wheat, barley, cattle, sheep/goat, pig, pottery, polished stone tools technologies, along with new ontologies over humans, societies, and landscapes, will appear during the Middle Holocene, in different European areas and in an eastern/western and southern/northern chronological gradient. After the seventh millennium bc in the Aegean, and the fourth millennium bc in southern Scandinavia and the British Islands, a Neolithic Europe arose. Previously, Mesolithic hunter-gatherers occupied this vast landscape marked by a strong geological, environmental, and cultural diversity where Atlantic coastal areas, but also some large riverbanks, were selected as privileged settlement areas. Scattered in small groups across vast territories, Mesolithic hunter-gatherers will, at some point, face expansionist—from a geographic and demographic perspective—Neolithic agro-pastoral groups. The social processes underlying those encounters encompass migration, resistance, and acculturation, creating a complex scenario where regional tendencies can be found along with specific cultural choices. Physical violence is absent, or extremely rare. And although subtle, the Mesolithic legacy can be found in Neolithic Europe in the form of lithic technologies, artefacts typologies, and human genes.