This is a paper that I presented at the 2019 MLA in Chicago. In this paper I situate discussions of the field of Iberian Studies within the context of the crisis of the Humanities and the future of Cultural Studies.

Which is the real version (final cut) of Blade Runner? The greatness of Blade Runner is that it has looked audiences in the eye over the years and offered the real empathy test – simply by testing our loyalties and sympathies.

Is it worst to be killed by a crazed mob wielding machetes or to die via conveyor belt and filing system? The Better Angels of Our Nature keeps falling victim to the halo effect, creating an aura around reason itself. The question, then, is whether the book should be viewed as a jewel in reason’s crown or as among its costume jewellery.

A handbook chapter discussing the relationship between “cultural studies” and “historical theory,” with a specific focus on four facets of cultural studies that help to shape its approach to scholarly research, evidence, and analysis: (1) its overtly political nature, (2) its interdisciplinarity, (3) its constructivism, and (4) its radical contextualism.

A lexicon like the Österreichisches Biographisches Lexikon 1815–1950 (Austrian Biographical Dictionary) seems to be as all in one cast because it is built on a set of formal rules for writing articles and some strict but basic criteria for the incorporation of new entries. The human reader can find information within that resource to a wide ra…[Read more]

The present article attempts to establish as accurately as possible the chronological trajectory of the unique codex of the Cancionero de Baena (PN1 in the Dutton nomenclature). It begins with a detailed examination of the codicological aspects of the manuscript, which serve to date its origin to around 1465. This origin, combined with the…[Read more]

‘Dharma’ (Rightousness)1 sometimes takes the shape of ‘Adharma’ (unrighteousness ).”2 The Mahābhārata gives a subtle message through the stories. Sage Viśhwamitra justifies stealing of a piece of dog’s flesh to save his life during famine. (Śāntiparvan). Blind adherence of the sage Kauśika to his vow of speaking truth led to the killing of the vi…[Read more]

What role does destruction play in the continued existence of a historical monument? Is destruction an inevitable part of its identity? Huyssen in his 2003 book, Present Pasts, suggests that, “…the only monument that counts, is the one already imagined as ruin.” On the other hand, the creation of the monumental itself is led by a quest for immor…[Read more]

In an ideal society, all inhabitants would be treated equally, but in reality there are divisions with groups of varying dominance, whether clear or hidden. Usually the dominant groups, powerful either by political, cultural or social hegemony create the narrative of ‘otherness’ and pass laws, some of which could be discriminatory. This is esp…[Read more]

Introduction. Open access to digital research output is increasing, but academic library policies can place restrictions on public access to libraries. This paper reports on a preliminary study to investigate the correlation between academic library access policies and institutional positions of openness to knowledge. Method. This primarily…[Read more]

Addressing Walt Whitman’s reception in Iran, the present essay focuses on the front cover of a book-length translation of Whitman into Persian to study how Whitman’s image is visually translated for an Iranian audience. Among literary discourses of contemporary Iran, the one that associates poetry with mysticism plays the most significant role in…[Read more]

Se suele señalar a 1385 como uno de los momentos de mayor incertidumbre política, social y económica no solo del medievo peninsular, sino prácticamente de toda la historia de España. En aquella precisa fecha, al factor estructural de lo que se ha venido en llamar la crisis del modelo de producción feudal, se le añadió un factor coyuntural bien co…[Read more]

A chapter on “Histories” in an edited collection on key terms in popular music studies. I make an argument for the need to always historicize the study of popular music, with 4 major points of emphasis:
1. Doing history is about interpreting facts, not just reporting them.
2. Historical contexts are things that we have to construct in our…[Read more]

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Eine kurze Geschichte der Heiligenverehrung rund um den wichtigsten serbisch-orthodoxen Heiligen. Dargestellt aus einer kultur-anthropologischen Perspektive und im Kontext der politischen Mythologien verschiedener Bewegungen serbischer Identitätsprojekte: vom Mittelalter bis in die Neuzeit, von dynastischer Kulturpropaganda bis zum…[Read more]

The idea of a critical theory has colonized the social consciousness of academia, and become an integral part of the pursuit of higher knowledge. Competing ideas have thereby become standard bearers in that critical theory acts as a measure of true understanding . The only problem, however, is that many of the distinct theories similarly answering…[Read more]

The Line of Control arbitrarily bifurcates Neelum valley, Kashmir into Pakistan and India. While the border attempts to constrain and categorize, the daily movements and flows of human and more-than-human bodies via “unofficial” routes and routines generate an understanding of Kashmir that is not dependent on geopolitics. Neelum as sculpted and…[Read more]

Chapter in Post-Dance, Edited by Danjel Andersson, Mette Edvarsdsen and Mårten Spångberg. MDT, 2017.
ISBN 978-91-983891-0-4. Based on materials from the workshop ‘Nor Culture Nor Art’, with Mårten Spångberg and Vanessa Ohlraum, at Learning Plays. A School of School, Impulse Theatre Festival in collaboration with Ringlokschuppen Ruhr. Mülheim…[Read more]

We live in an increasingly übercapitalist society. It’s übercapitalist in that a specific version of neoliberalism, characterised by low pay, zero-hours and fixed-term contracts, is growing ever more aggressive; and that the disruptive technology firm Uber offers one of the most high-profile examples of this intensified form of deregulated cap…[Read more]