Introducting Medieval Travel Writing

I am excited to announce our more recent acquisition:  Medieval Travel Writing.  The core of the material in this database contains a magnificent collection of medieval manuscripts from libraries around the world and dating from the 13th to the 16th centuries. The main focus is accounts of journeys to the Holy Land, India and China. The original documents are in a range of languages including French, Latin, German, Spanish, Dutch and English. Supporting the manuscripts are relevant secondary texts of translations and editions, as well as full catalogue details. In addition there is a gallery of maps and images, a bibliography and chronology, and a slideshow. The sources included tell us much about the attitudes and preconceptions of people across Europe in the medieval period, shedding light on issues of race, economics, trade, militarism, politics, literature, and science. This collection will enrich the experience of all those exploring topics such as the nature of pilgrimage, the origins of global trade, travels to the Holy Land, the Silk Road, and the representation of the ‘East’ and the ‘Other’ in the Middle Ages.

New Databases

Hello Everyone!
Early Spring, I sent out a list of Adam Matthews Databases that we were considering for acquisition. I am thrilled to inform you that we have acquired 5 of these databases. Below is the information on 4: Empire Online; Defining Gender; Perdita Manuscripts, and Slavery Abolition. The fifth has not been released yet and we are eaglery awaiting news from Adam Matthews of its availability. [electronic access to these databases is available from Databases A-Z or Databases by Subject, Humanities & Social Sciences]

Defining Gender, 1450-1910 provides access to primary sources for the study and analysis of gender that focuses on 15th to early 20th century and covers 5 major themes: Conduct and Politness, Domesticity and Family, Consumption and Leisure, Education and Sensibility, and the Body. This database contains images, ephemera, pamphlets, college records and exam papers, books, diaries, periodicals, letters, ledgers, account books, education practice and pedagogy, government papers, illustrated writings on anatomy, midwifery, art and fashion, manuscripts, poetry, novels, ballads, drama, receipt books, travel writing, conduct, and advice literature.
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Empire Online provides access to rare primary sources that covers 5 aspects of the colonial experience. It has a thematic layout spanning Cultural Contracts, Literature of the Empire, Religion, Race, Class, and Imperialism. It contains essays that introduce the material and suggest possible pathways for research and teaching. The database content is augmented with images and unique source materials such as maps, manuscripts, pamphlets, paintings, drawings, and rare books.
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Perdita Manuscripts: Women Writers, 1500-1700 is produced in association with the Perdita Project based at the University of Warwick and Nottingham Trent University, and brings little known and valuable materials from scattered locations. The database provides access to manuscripts that were written or compiled by women in the British Isles during the 16th and 17th centuries, biographical and bibliographical resources, and contextual essays by academics working in the field.
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Slavery, Abolition & Social Justice, 1490-2007 provides access to many thousands of original manuscripts, pamphlets, books, paintings, maps, and images. Most are reproduced as high quality greyscale images, but there are also a significant number of color images. There are 17 thematic areas: Slavery in Early Americas, African Coast, Middle Passage, Slavery and Agriculture, Urban and Domestic Slavery, Slave Testimony, Spiritualism and Religion in Slave communities, Resistance and Revolts, the Underground Railroad, the Abolition Movement and the Slavery Debate, Legislation and Politics, Freed Slaves, Freedmen and Free Black Settlements, Education, Slavery and the Islamic World, Varieties of Slave Experience, Slavery Today and the Legacy of Slavery, the Evolution of Slaver. All areas can be searched full-text.

Not every Jewel is desirable!

Disclaimer: This is by no means a scholarly attempt at critiquing the following work. I just hope to provide the readers with an understanding from a different lens and more questions to contemplate.Sherry Jones’ recent book, Jewel of Madina, stirred quite the controversy (read the LA Times article). To summarize, the story follows the life relationship between the Prophet Mohammed’s (sahlla ‘llahu alayhi wa sallam) and his first wife, Aisha. Outside of the subject of the book, a major debate is its classification as historical fiction. Why is this a problem? Well, essentially because the subject is far from fiction to Muslims.Let me first admit, I have not read the book yet but I do plan to read it. However, the excerpts I read were quite indicative of the books future. In one chapter, there’s a rather descriptive scene of Aisha secretly observing an intimate encounter between Hamal and a little girl, or rather his wife. That’s how Aisha leared about marriage, as the book implies.What’s interesting is the publisher’s claim that the book is “extensively researched and elegantly crafted”. I am sorry, but in all my years of learning about Islam and reading its texts, there was not one incident of such intimate graphic details about anyone, let alone the Profphet or his wives.This begs the question, “where does the writer’s responsibility begin and end?”. Does classifying a work as fiction relieve the writers from their (ethical) responsibility towards the subjects they treat? We are not talking about complete fiction here. We are talking about fiction based on characters that actually existed. In general, everyone is fair game. But there are subjects that are (and should be) taboo for many; god, for example.Outside of the taboos, the book is filled with orientalist ideologies. It’s basically an exotic tale of a love between the Prophet and his wife as viewed by a westerner. But even outside of love matters, it is filled with a westerner’s point of view. For example, there’s a scene where the narrator, Aisha, tells us of some animosity between her mother and her father’s first wife (Queen Sheeba, as her mother calls her). Why is this animosity? Because the “Queen”, a dark plumb woman, is jealous of Aisha’s mother, a fair woman. Could this be an implied representation of the East’s secret desire for the West (dark vs. white – evil vs. good)? That this book was well researched is hardly an appropriate claim. This love story doesn’t “unveil” the human side of its characters, but rather views them through a very blurred pair of western glasses. It’s the western viewpoint that’s “veiled”, and not with a Hijaab, but rather a Burqa. Should it be taken personally? That’s an individual matter. To many Muslims (but also Christians, Jews, and other religions), religious subjects or icons are taboo. It should hardly surprise anyone that a book like that creates such difficulties for the author and publisher. The biggest concern is the community reaction. I am concerned that increasingly people (of various fundamental beliefs) are appointing themselves judge and jury of the actions of fellow humans.

Configuring the User as Everybody: Gender and Design Cultures in Information and Communication Technologies

This article, in in Science, Technology & Human Values, Vol. 29, No. 1, 30-63 (2004) is based on two case studies of the design of electronic communication networks developed in the public and private sector, and explores the barriers within current design cultures to account for the needs and diversity of users. Whereas the constraints on user-centered design are usually described in macrosociological terms, in which the user–technology relation is merely understood as a process of the inclusion or exclusion of users in design, the authors suggest that it is important to adopt a semiotic approach. Moreover, they argue that we need to take into account the gender identity of designers to understand how design practices in ICT prioritize male users. The article shows how configuring the user as “everybody” and the use of the “I-methodology” are important constraints in the development of technologies that aim to reach users in all their diversity. <based on abstract provided by Sage Journals online. For full-text access information, please contact me.>

Picturing Poverty: Print Culture and FSA Photographs.

Picturing Poverty

 

Cara Finnegan’s Picturing Poverty discusses the relationship between “seeing and knowing”.  She demonstrates how magazines used images taken by the Farm Security Administration (FSA) between 1930 and the middle of World War II were used to frame the discussion of rural poverty in the United States.

 Book Details:

Hardcover: 260 pages

Publisher: Smithsonian (March 17, 2003)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 1588341186

ISBN-13: 978-1588341181