Böcker utgivna av Amsterdam University Press

The corpus of art from the Pleistocene has grown substantially in recent decades, and with it, the earliest evidence of visual art has become much older than previously anticipated, going back over 100,000 years. This new information has rendered some traditional ideas about the recent origins of visual art obsolete. Existing archaeological and evolutionary models that aim to explain the mergence of visual art should now be reassessed in light of current data. That is the aim of this book. First, it reviews the earliest examples of different forms of visual art in two important archaeological periods of human artistic innovation, the height of the African Middle Stone Age, and the European Early Upper Palaeolithic. It then takes a critical view at three influential origins-of-art models, namely, the sexual selection model, the social cohesion model, and the cognitive evolution model. Finally, it offers an alternative proposal that redefines visual art as a communication signal and, using the archaeological evidence, relates its emergence and development to the evolution of human cooperation strategies. This book will appeal to anyone interested in the debate of the origins of art and the evolution of modern human cognition, behaviour, and culture.

A groundbreaking study of the rise of classification of reproductions to demonstrate trends in art history, and the relationship between image and text in the art literature

Special EURO 10,- discount for our ABG readers: now EURO 24,50 instead of EURO 34,50 Performing the Past is an investigation of the multiple social and culture practices through which Europeans have negotiated the space between their history and their memory over the past 200 years. In museums, in op

Relating to the current interest in the historiography of art history, this illuminating study offers a valuable contribution to the discussion surrounding its principles and values.

This first comprehensive overview of the process of commissioning and financing the construction of cathedrals in the Middle Ages reveals a financing system almost as monumental as the cathedrals themselves. Here we follow the historian on a fascinating examination of construction accounts and other sources - extant but never so minutely explored -

Provides insight into the vibrant popular music scene of contemporary China in the context of globalisation and rapid economic and social change

This insightful book describes China's growing range of activities in Africa and to what extent the Chinese model in Africa can act as an example for the West.

How do major reforms occur in notoriously resilient welfare states?

A witty, hard-hitting exploration of the ultimate aims of science in a dramatic form

This book examines the security dialogue between Japan and the EU starting with the establishment of the European Community-Japan cooperation in the late 1950s and continuing until today. It is a study of International Relations and International Relations history. It is both analytical and empirical research that applies constructivist approaches

The two most recent EU enlargements in May 2004 and in January 2007 have greatly increased the diversity of historic experiences and contemporary conceptions of statehood, nation-building and citizenship within the Union. How did newly formed states determine who would become their citizens? How do countries relate to their large emigrant communiti

A remarkable study on the theoretical critique of contemporary discourses on secularism and assimilation,and on perspective that assimilating distinct religious minorities by incorporating them into a secular and supposedly neutral public sphere may be self-subverting.

Synthesizing some 30 years of archaeological research in south-east Italy, this book discusses a millennium that witnessed breathtaking changes: the first millennium BC.

A historical recount on the development of Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party PAS and how it rose to become the most prominent Islamist party in Southeast Asia.

The book casts new light on the relation between religion and modernity in Southeast Asia and beyond.

The best available up-to-date scholarship in comparative socio-economic research in welfare state reform

This timely and enlightening volume highlights the latest urban research in the Netherlands.

An international comparative study on scientific research on the employment situation of migrants and ethnic minorities in European countries

This book explores several types of cultural practices involving the remembrance and restoration of past sounds. At the same time, it theorizes the cultural meaning of collecting, recycling, reciting, and remembering sound and music.

From Santa Claus and his sleigh to a dumbhead talking poppycock, the contributions of the Dutch language to American English are indelibly embedded to some of our most vernacular terms and expressions.

A compelling study of the often controversial role and meaning of the new media and digital cultures in contemporary society

A remarkable and wide-ranging examination of some of the crucial issues in film theory, drawing on the Foucauldian concepts of the dispositif and the episteme.

An illuminating and necessary contribution to the controversial debates on immigrant integration policy.

A definitive overview of the risks facing modern society and the necessary government measures to minimise them

This necessary and thought-provoking study brings together the organisational side of the world of the arts and the understanding of the many functions art fulfills in our culture.

The first-ever bilingual Dutch and English edition of Van den Vos Reynaerde, the celebrated medieval Dutch beast epic featuring a crafty fox

An engaging and definitive study of the secrets of the vast commercial success of the Dutch East India Company