THEMATIC ISSUE: RETHINKING URBANIZATION AND ITS LIVING LANDSCAPES FROM THE INSPIRING PERSPECTIVE OF A GREAT “MAESTRO” Edited by Marcella Frangipane and Linda Manzanilla INTRODUCTION. THE MANY DIMENSIONS OF THE “CITY” IN EARLY SOCIETIES Marcella Frangipane THE ORIGINS OF CIVIC LIFE – A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE David Wengrow MESOPOTAMIA AND NEIGHBOURING REGIONS SIXTY YEARS AFTER CITY INVINCIBLE, SURVEYS AND THE URBAN REVOLUTION IN QUESTION Pascal Butterlin THE CITY OF URUK AND ITS HINTERLAND Hans ...

This paper discusses socio-cultural developments in central and southern Italy between the late 3rd and the early 1st millennia BC, particularly focussing on settlement patterns. Over this span of time, the foundations were laid for the process towards urbanisation that occurred in various Italian regions at the threshold of the historic period. Two major settlement patterns are recognised, each having specific variations on a regional scale and depending on environmental conditions: 1) sm...

As is well known, years ago C. Renfrew adopted the social model of chiefdom to explain the emergence of outstanding megalithic centres in the Maltese archipelago in the mid-4th millennium BC. This represented a pioneering attempt to apply to a Prehistoric Mediterranean context the model, advanced by Neoevolutionary American anthropologists, that exemplifies unequal societies with an established hierarchy based on birthrights. Since then, the concept of chiefdom has been widely debated amon...

In the light of recent thinking, this is a consideration of two interconnected subjects: Agency Theory and Marxist Archaeology. It is a re-examination aimed at evaluating to what extent these theories can still contribute to the development of theoretical discussion in Prehistoric Archaeology; going beyond the limits inherent in research focussed on individuals in Prehistoric contexts to highlight the role of collective actions within Prehistoric communities as triggering factors in socio-...

Writing letters to powerful people to win their favor and garner rewards such as political office, tax relief, and recommendations was an institution in Renaissance Florence; the practice was an important tool for those seeking social mobility, security, and recognition by others. In this detailed study of political and social patronage in fifteenth-century Florence, Paul D. McLean shows that patronage was much more than a pursuit of specific rewards. It was also a pursuit of relationships...

The cultural theorist Iain Chambers is known for his historically grounded, philosophically informed, and politically pointed inquiries into issues of identity, alterity, and migration, and the challenge postcolonial studies poses to conventional Western thought. With Mediterranean Crossings, he challenges insufficient prevailing characterizations of the Mediterranean by offering a vibrant interdisciplinary and intercultural interpretation of the region’s culture and history. The ...

Translating Culture Specific References on Television provides a model for investigating the problems posed by culture specific references in translation, drawing on case studies that explore the translational norms of contemporary Italian dubbing practices. This monograph makes a distinctive contribution to the study of audiovisual translation and culture specific references in its focus on dubbing as opposed to subtitling, and on contemporary television series, rather than cinem...

A wooden model and a city. A large wooden model of a valuable church and a small city that is perhaps still unsure of itself. The clash between these two completely independent and autonomous realities opens up a path of inquiry that deserves to be followed, if only out of a legitimate and very human sense of curiosity. The following pages intend to follow this path, this itinerary marked out within the sphere of knowledge.

The Mirage of America in Contemporary Italian Literature and Film explores the use of images associated with the United States in Italian novels and films released between the 1980s and the 2000s. In this study, Barbara Alfano looks at the ways in which the individuals portrayed in these works – and the intellectuals who created them – confront the cultural construct of the American myth. As Alfano demonstrates, this myth is an integral part of Italians’ discourse to define themse...

Marco Bellocchio is one of Italy's most important and prolific directors, with a career spanning five decades. In this book, Clodagh J. Brook explores the boundaries between the public and the private, the political and the personal, and the collective and the individual as they appear in Bellocchio's films. Including work on psychoanalysis, politics, film production, autobiography, and the relationship between film tradition and contemporary culture, Marco Bellocchio touches on f...

The History of Western Art Study Brief offers a handy quick reference guide to art history concepts, including an overview of different art forms and the concepts and methodologies used in properly evaluating and critiquing artworks. A concise summary of the western art periods and movements is provided. Each period’s representative characteristics as well as major artists and their significant works are included with many enlightening visuals. Inside you will have right at your fingertips...

Winner of the MLA Aldo and Jeanne Scaglione Prize for Italian Studies 2016Winner of the American Association for Italian Studies Book Prize 2016This book is available as open access through the Bloomsbury Open Access programme and is available on www.bloomsburycollections.com.Written by one of Europe's leading critics, Ecocriticism and Italy reads the diverse landscapes of Italy in the cultural imagination. From death in Ven...