BRILL
Human rights and intellectual property rights; tensions and convergences.
The intersection between intellectual property rights and human rights is complex but at its most basic relates to two dimensions: whether the right to intellectual property protection is a human right in and of itself and whether intellectual property rights may interfere with states' obligations under international human rights law, such as the obligation to ensure access to food, medicine, and education. The eight essays presented here collectively address both dimensions as they discuss the compatibility of curbing software piracy in e-commerce with human rights, stronger intellectual property rights as an obstacle or a condition for international technology transfer, the dual citizenship arrangement between Russia and Turkmenistan, patent rights and access to medicines, the role of professional and civil society organization beyond international legal mechanisms of implementing human rights treaties, application of the international debate concerning traditional knowledge to the Ecuadorian Amazon context, and implications for the right to food in Africa of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights and agricultural biotechnology. One of the essays, with unclear connections to the topic of intellectual property rights, concerns the El Salvadoran state's obligations to victims of crimes against international human rights law during the civil war of the 1980s. Martinus Nijhoff is an imprint of Brill. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Human rights related trade measures under international law; the legality of trade measures imposed in response to violations of human rights obligations under general international law.
Cassimatis (international law, Cambridge U.) addresses the question of when, if ever, it will be in accordance with international law for a state or group of states to adopt trade measures in order to coerce another state to comply with its international obligations to ensure respect for human rights. There is plenty of scholarship on the legality of Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, he says, and so he focuses on trade measures that are not authorized by resolutions adopted under it. The study is revised from his doctoral dissertation, for which he identifies neither a date nor an institution. Martinus Nijhoff is an imprint of Brill. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Hyphenated histories; articulations of Central European Bildung and Slavic studies in the contemporary academy.
Stating that "scholars, like snails, reproduce asexually," Gow (history, U. of Alberta) laments the undermining of traditional Bildung models of academic training by a globalized market mentality, in introducing nine chapters by a virtual collective of international scholars reflecting on the interdisciplinary Cultural Studies trend. Based on the "Hyphenated Histories" U. of Alberta conference in Edmonton in 2005, these papers ably represent paradigm shifts in the humanities. In challenges to postcolonial theory-based interpretations of central European history, case studies exemplify how transdisciplinary lenses can scale Slavic Studies' disciplinary divisions. E.g., contributors bridge history with cultural studies in discussing Susan Sontag's views on a Russian photography exhibit commemorating World War II, and Vertov's 1929 movie, Man with a Movie Camera. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Imagining creation.
In these proceedings of the conference entitled "Creation Stories" held by the Institute of Jewish Studies at University College, London, contributors describe a wide range of narratives, including the biblical, and compare content and intent. Topics include Mesopotamian creation stories, ancient Egyptian versions, Indian creation myths, origin myths of Africa south of the Sahara, modern Jewish attitudes toward the concept of myth, Alter's 1996 translation of Genesis 1-2, Slavonic creation stories and their role in the making of the Bible (with fascinating illustrations), Arab creation stories and Lurianic creation myths. The result is a fascinating interplay of the narratives of living and dead cultures, a rigorous consideration of oral and written texts and the complications between them, and a clear agenda for further studies. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Impersonal power; history and theory of the bourgeois state.
Examining the historical experiences of England and France, Gerstenberger (formerly of the U. of Bremen, Germany), constructs a theory of the evolution of the state — that is, the structural changes in the forms of organization and rule — in its feudal, ancien régime, and bourgeois forms that stands in opposition to modernization theory and its materialist variants. His argument rests on analysis of the social and cultural relations of each epoch as concerns personal versus generalized rule, economic expropriation, the generalization and institutionalization of rights, the shifting of interest ties from family structures to individuals as the bearer of interests, and the rise of individuality as a mode of public existence. Martinus-Nijhoff is an imprint of Brill. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
India traders of the middle ages; documents from the Cairo Geniza; "India book".
Decades in the making, this volume presents translations into English and full annotation of the 380 documents concerning the spice trade with India and other countries contained within the rich resource of the Ginezah documents. Highly detailed and knowledgeable, and beautifully presented by Brill, the presentation in English of so many documents related to trade with India, Yemen, and North Africa in the Middle Ages will be of use to scholars in a wide variety of fields. Gotein had assembled much of the material over a long period before his death in 1985. Friedman (Tel Aviv U., Israel), who had worked with Gotein on the project, undertook its completion. The entry for each document begins with a short section describing the condition of the document, its dimensions, and other physical details. A discussion follows, describing the layout and contents of the document and the individuals named. The English translation of the document follows this, with thorough annotation. A group of color and b&w plates of excellent quality are included depicting manuscript illumination of trade vessels, examples of the documents, and three maps. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
International encyclopedia of comparative law; v.10: Restitution/unjust enrichment and negotiorum gestio.
Compiled beginning in the 1970s and completed mainly by 1980, this resource remains valuable for its authoritative treatment of the history of this ever-pertinent aspect of comparative law. Chapter topics include the history of restitution in Anglo-American law, unjust enrichment in Eastern European countries, and payment of another's debt. The chapter on negotiorum gestio (by Samuel J. Stoljar of the Australian National U. in Canberra) offers detailed discussion of the foundations of the law, its place in French, German, and Anglo-American law, and analysis of the gestor's and the principal's rights. The volume's nine contributors (all are law professors) include Anthony H. Angleo at Victoria U. of Wellington, New Zealand; George E. Palmer, emeritus of U. of Michigan Ann Arbor; Ingeborg Schwenzer, at the U. of Basel in Switzerland; and Ewa Letowska at the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw, Poland. Three of the contributors are in Israel, at Tel Aviv U. and Hebrew U. Both editors are at the U. of Freiburg in Germany; Schlechtriem contributed the introduction and the chapter on unjust enrichment by interference with property rights. Martinus Nijhoff is an imprint of Brill. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
International labour law reports; v.26.
The annual publication documents labor law judgments by the highest courts in a number of jurisdictions, primarily for the benefit of judges, labor law practitioners, industrial relations specialists, and students who need authoritative information about emerging issues. Reporters from around the world include headnotes and usually an annotation with the basic facts of the case, the relevant statutory provisions and judicial precedents, the legal context in which the case arose, and the significance of the judgment to the law. Judgments are generally printed in extensio. The period covered here is October 2005 through September 2006. Nijhoff is an imprint of Brill. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
The intersection of international law, agricultural biotechnology, and infectious disease.
With an education encompassing law, biology, and anthropology, Mariani is an independent consultant specializing in biotechnology law and policy. Here she examines the current global and regional legal frameworks and perspectives for infectious disease and genetically modified organisms, and outlines possible options for future efforts at regulation. She argues that issues in this area must be considered within a more expansive framework that incorporates all possible influences and connections. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
International prisoner transfer.
This is the latest release, Release Number Three, February 2007, of a loose-leaf set for professionals. After a historical background, chapters cover statutes, treaties, and practice related to transfer of sentenced persons to and from the US, and international transfer and supervision of offenders sentenced to probation or released under supervision. Some 420 pages of appendices provide regulations, transfer treaties, recommendations, and guidelines from various US state and federal agencies and international bodies. Abbell is former director of the Office of International Affairs, Criminal Division, US Department of Justice. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Inventing the public sphere; the public debate during the investiture contest (c. 1030-1122); 2v.
Beginning in the mid-11th century as a dispute between Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor, and Pope Gregory VII over who would control appointments of church officials, the Investiture Contest would rage for decades until its resolution in 1122. In this two-volume work, Melve (Center for Medieval Studies, U. of Bergen, Germany) examines the public debate over investiture and the varied ways polemicists from different periods of the Contest forged their arguments, while also including a Habermasian historical-sociological approach to medieval public sphere formation as a secondary note. In the first volume he discusses structural changes in the public sphere during the Investiture Contest; the early-period polemics and public-sphere formation; polemical warfare in the papal and royal chanceries (1073-1082); and the debates of Gebhard, Weinrich, Manegold, and Guido over the papal letter to Hermann of Metz. In the second volume he includes chapters on Peter Crassus and the legal renaissance of the 11th century, the 'right order of the world' according to the Liber de unitate ecclesiae conservanda, the political-theoretical orientation of the late period, and the public debate on the investiture question (1058-1122). The work is a revised version of "The Medieval Public Sphere. Continuity and Innovation in the Polemical Literature of the Investiture Contest," Melve's doctoral thesis submitted to the faculty of humanities at the U. of Bergen in 2004. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Ion, or, On the Iliad.
This volume contains a linguistically reworked presentation, in Greek, of the Platonic dialogue Ion, which concerned poetics. An extensive introduction places the dialogue within Plato's oeuvre, reviews the textual foundation of the presentation, and explains the orthographical and punctuation choices. Also included is a 145-page philological commentary. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Islamic piety in medieval Syria; mosques, cemeteries, and sermons under the Zangids and Ayyubids (1146-1260).
The society that Talmon-Heller (Ben-Gurion U. of the Negev) studies, Bilad al-Sham, covered modern Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, and the West Bank as well as Syria. To reconstruct the religious beliefs and practices of members of that society during the 12th and 13th centuries AD, she draws on writings by its jurisconsults, preachers, and theologians. She also employs a kind of virtual ethnography to imagine traveling through cities, provincial towns, and villages during the period. Seeking to avoid the convention of a dichotomy between elite and popular faiths, she emphasizes hybrid orientations and negotiations about norms between different groups. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Jewish and Christian liturgy and worship; new insights into its history and interaction.
Scholars of liturgy in one or both of the related religions traveled to a symposium in Aachen in November 2003 to contribute papers that would interest the entire group and, without compromising sophistication and rigor, would be accessible to non-specialists. The 17 papers that completed the journey from there to these pages cover liturgical poetry, theology and history, and rabbinic Judaism and Christianity. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
The Jewish Bible and the Christian Bible: an introduction to the history of the Bible.
This 1998 English edition of the 1993 original, which includes significant new and corrected material, explains how biblical texts came to be recognized as canonical or apocryphal, how they were collected and transmitted, and how they are now interpreted and understood since the discovery of such primary sources as the Dead Sea Scrolls. Trebolle Barrera (Hebrew, Aramaic and religious studies, U. Complutense of Madrid) applies his experience as an editor of the scrolls to explain current debates on the historical contexts of the Bible, its literary history, its ancient versions and languages, textual criticism concerning it and the relevant hermeneutics and modes of interpretation. Trebolle Barrera includes a wide range of sources, including written and oral traditions, rabbinic and Christian exegesis, and literal and allegorical interpretations. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Jewish identity in the Greco-Roman world/Jüdische identität in der griechisch-römischen Welt.
Jewish identity showed diversity even in the late second Temple period, according to Frey (New Testament interpretation, U. of Munich), a Jewish history scholar at the Hebrew U., and a religious studies lecturer at the U. of Basel. Contributors to a dozen articles — half in untranslated German — discuss how classical Jewish identity survived the challenges of Hellenistic/early Roman culture, and the emergence of Christianity. They also address the position of women as "other" in rabbinic Judaism, the nature of philosopher Philo's diaspora Judaism, and apostle Paul's Jewish roots. Based on a conference held at the U. of Munich in 2004, the volume is indexed by modern authors; scriptural and other ancient passages; and Hebrew, Greek and Latin words and phrases. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Jinn eviction as a discourse of power; a multidisciplinary approach to Moroccan magical beliefs and practices.
Maarouf (literary and cultural studies, Chouaib Doukkali U., Morocco) analyzes the ritual practices of Jinn evictions in the marabout institutions of Islamic Morocco. He argues that submission of the sufferer of Jinn possession to the marabout ("saint") constructs an ideological discourse (in the Foucauldian sense) that reproduces social relationships of dominance and submission and encourages subaltern groups to continue to look to the miraculous for the amelioration of their social conditions. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
John Stewart of Baldynneis Roland Furious; a Scots poem in its European context.
Heddle (cultural studies, UHI Millennium Institute [U. of the Highlands and Islands, Scotland]) presents an edition of a Renaissance Scottish poem that was theoretically a translation of Ariosto's (1474-1533) Orlando Furioso but was more of a creative imitation of the type encouraged and prescribed by James VI to bring vernacular Scottish literature into step with that of the rest of Europe. She includes an extensive critical introduction, endnotes, and a glossary. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
John Wyclif's discourse on dominion in community.
Whether a civic leader was worthy of such a post was not an accident, according to Wyclif, and any effort to gain or reject dominion was a part of the will of God. Therefore, dominion was the result of an individual's contract with God and an outcome of a complex and deliberate relationship. Here Boreczky (English cultural studies, Eotvos Lorand U.) begins the process of reconstruction of Wyclif's reputation as a major influence in intellectual history, conducting a very close reading of Wyclif's theological and political discourse on the integrity of man and nature. Boreczky finds that the purposeful life held in close communion with God resulted not only in spiritual sanctity for the individual but abundance of both love and goods in the community. The result is rigorous but accessible and provides thorough evidence of Wyclif's merits as a philosopher as well as theologian. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
The king of drinks; schnapps gin from modernity to tradition.
Most foreign products imported into West Africa are advertised as links to the modern international world, but advertisements for schnapps gin from the Netherlands evoke African tradition and a link to the traditional status of chiefs and elders. Bersselaar (African history, U. of Liverpool) explores the history of this peculiar phenomenon as an example of how imported goods acquire specific local meanings. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
