Brill okt 2007 (25 Ergebnisse)

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - 'The role of producer organizations in market chains has received increasing attention in recent years, both from governments and donors. In order to lower transaction costs, markets demand that smallholder farmers operate in an organized manner. However, though the policy openings for support seem promising, smallholder market access through farmer-led economic organisations is not easy. This book presents various approaches to support producer organisations in terms of providing economic services to their members, with a focus on developing countries. Markets are increasingly fragmented in value chains that link farmers with specific processors, retailers and consumer segments. Several contributions in this book analyse these dynamics in specific value chains, such as the fair trade and organic agriculture and their potential to provide market outlets for smallholder farmers. This book is the result of a Dutch partnership between policy makers, researchers and practitioners designed to confront ideas with realities. Organized in a platform called Agri-ProFocus, members aim to provide more and better support to producer organisations in the South. Through so-called expert meetings, staff from donor organisations and knowledge centres, government officials, and business representatives, share their experiences and lessons learned. The experiences presented in this book are not recipes for instant success, but instead, highlight that support processes are often more fragile and slower moving than policy makers realise. This book is essential reading for scholars, practitioners and researchers interested in supporting and facilitating trajectories of change led by producer organisations in developing countries.'.…

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - 'This book develops an integrated research framework in which social science and natural science merge in the analysis of the relationships and transactions within the mango supply chain from Costa Rica. More specifically, behaviour economics, and institutional economics is combined with quality management and product development techniques. This book is also important because it uses an innovative gaming simulation for research and not only for training. The game develops a standard supply chain for a perishable product, which is used for simulating the bargaining power and revenue distribution of the agents in the chain and the governance structure preferred for doing business. This game simulation is played by the real producers in the field. Other important topics covered are quality management and quality variability. Studying quality management (intrinsic and extrinsic attributes) in relation to the farm household characteristics, production system and agreements, enables us to define some economic incentives to improve the quality of the produce. Studying the variability of the produce helps us understand and describe how the different management practices throughout the chain affects the quality of the produce. This relates to the market outlet choice the producers make and the strategic behaviour they have. This book is of interest for professionals and practitioners involved in the design, management and assessment of national and international supply chains for perishable produce.'.…

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - 'During the last decade, sector wide crises in agriculture have rapidly followed each other, resulting in serious consumer concerns about the quality and safety of agri-food products. To prevent new crises, governments have developed quality regulations and retailers have introduced quality management standards. However, concerns have been raised about the administrative burdens placed on firms, because they must comply with many private and public quality regulations. Therefore, both government and firms strive for more integration and self regulation of quality management systems. By combining managerial and economic theory, this study builds a framework to demonstrate the impact of integrated quality management on self regulation and performance. Using empirical evidence from the poultry meat, the fruit and vegetable and the flower and potted plant chains, this study shows that integrated quality management systems positively affect performance and self regulation. However, it is necessary to find committed partners that share the firm's quality objectives. In most cases, too strict enforcement of quality requirements is destructive, initiates conflict and does not lead to higher performance. Furthermore, governmental agencies should focus on innovative approaches to assure quality. Not legislation, but factors such as media attention and corporate social responsibility enlarge the integration of quality management systems. This book is recommended for a broad audience of professionals, practitioners and policy makers who concern themselves with the design, management and assessment of quality management and self regulation in agri-food supply chains.'.…

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Imported schnapps gin has a remarkable history in West Africa. Gin was imported in great quantities between 1880 and World War I, when its consumption showed access to the modern, international world. Subsequently schnapps was transformed into a good that signified traditional, local culture. Today, imported schnapps has high status because of its importance for African ritual and as symbol of the status of chiefs and elders, but actual consumption is limited. This book explores this unexpected trajectory of commoditisation to investigate how imported goods acquire specific local meanings. This analysis of consumption and marketing of gin contributes to our understanding of patterns of consumption, rejection and appropriation within processes of identity formation, elite formation, and the redefinition of community in colonial and postcolonial West Africa.…

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Decision Science is the discipline that is concerned with the development and applications of quantitative methods and techniques to support decision making processes. This book discusses the general principles of often used optimisation techniques such as Linear Programming, Integer Programming, Dynamic Programming, Non-linear Programming, Network Theory and Simulation. It aims to fill the gap between theory and practice. It especially discusses the theoretical background of important quantitative methods and techniques as well as how they can be applied to practical decision making problems. Therefore the modelling process is illustrated with examples of corporate firms, consumers, governments and other non-profit organizations. Decision science: theory and application is a thoroughly revised edition of two former Dutch versions. The authors have used their extensive didactical experience to find a proper balance between mathematical exactness, knowledge and readability on the one hand and understanding, insights and applicability of the subjects on the other hand. Virtually every topic in the text is illustrated by small, class-tested, numerical examples, exercises and graphical illustrations. This edition contains more than 160 figures. The book is therefore an elemental asset in introductory courses on decision science. It is addressed to undergraduates, postgraduates and research students.…

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - This volume comprises contributions from several fields of study in the social sciences. The different disciplinary angles intersect at the level of the research subjects: families, households and consumers. Together they reflect a broad field of study that always had its particular niche in Wageningen as 'household and consumer studies'. The five separate parts: the formation and dissolution of families; stratification and inequality; consumer and household behaviour; leisure time; and hygiene, health and society, nicely reflect the broadness of this field. The eighteen contributions in this volume were purposefully selected, not only based on their contents and quality, but also because of their relationship to the work of Kees de Hoog, who retired this year. Although Kees de Hoog is a professor of family sociology and family policy, his work throughout the years has extended far beyond that and covers the fields that are captured by the different parts in this book. Therefore the contributions in this volume comprise an interesting read for scholars all over the world who have an interest in families, consumers, households, and the ways they interface.…

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - This volume comprises thirteen articles each written to provide an exposition and analysis of a specific topic drawn from the European Convention on Human Rights. Many of these topics are either explored for the first time or from a novel perspective. All the topics are examined and presented from a critical standpoint and some important judgments of the European Court of Human Rights are taken to task. Some of the essays have been previously published in a variety of legal periodicals, and have been reproduced in this volume in order to make them more widely accessible.…

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Revisiting al-Andalus brings together a range of recent scholarship on the material culture of Islamic Iberia, highlighting especially the new directions that have developed in the Anglo-American branch of this field since the 1992 catalogue of the influential exhibition, Al-Andalus: the Art of Islamic Spain. Together with examples of recent Spanish scholarship on medieval architecture and urbanism, the volume's contributors (historians of art and architecture, archaeologists, and architects) explore topics such as the relationship between Andalusi literature and art; architecture, urbanism, and court culture; domestic architecture; archaeology as a tool for analyzing economic and architectural history; cultural transfer between the Iberian Peninsula and the New World; 19th-century 'rediscovery' of al-Andalus; and modern architectural and historiographical attempts to construct an Andalusi cultural identity.Contributors include: Antonio Almagro, Glaire D. Anderson, Rebecca Bridgman, María Judith Feliciano, Kathryn Ferry, Pedro Jiménez, Julio Navarro, Camila Mileto, Antonio Orihuela, Jennifer Roberson, Cynthia Robinson, Mariam Rosser-Owen, Antonio Vallejo Triano, and Fernando Vegas.…

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Presenting new insights into the history and interaction between Jewish and Christian liturgy and worship, the various contributions offer a deeper understanding of the identity of Judaism and Christianity. It addresses issues such as: Is the Eucharistic Prayer a Berakha and what information is available for the reconstruction of the history of the Jewish Grace after Meals How does Jewish liturgy rework the Bible, and are Christians and Jews using similar methods when they create liturgical poetry on the basis of a biblical text Which texts of the Cairo Genizah are of direct importance for the history of Christian liturgies, and are Christian creeds in fact Prayers or Hymns What does it mean that both Jews and Christians recite Isaiah's'Holy, Holy, Holy'at important points in their respective liturgies Questions like these brought together scholars and specialists from different disciplines to share their recent insights at a conference in Aachen, Germany, and to offer the reader a fascinating discourse on a broad range of aspects of Jewish and Christian liturgies.…

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - This volume brings together over 25 articles by many of the most important authors who have worked on issues directly related to the theme of religion and globalization. An additional emphasis on culture flags the inclusion of the relation of religion to its wider social context and also permits questioning the boundaries of religion so as to avoid a strong bias in favour of the analysis of institutionalized religion. The key emphasis of the book, however, is the focus specifically on religion, a topic that is still largely ignored in the burgeoning literature on globalization. The articles are divided into five subthemes: theoretical issues; historical approaches to religion and globalization; forms and boundaries of religion; key issues (such as ecology and gender); and regional perspectives.Contributors: Afe Adogame, Elisabeth Arweck, Lori Beaman, Peter Beyer, John Boli, Gary Bouma, Dave Brewington, George Van Campbell, José Casanova, Paul Freston, Nobutaka Inoue, Laurel Kearns, Otto Maduro, Vasilios Makrides, Meredith McGuire, Vincenzo Pace, Rubina Ramji, James T. Richardson, Ole Riis, Roland Robertson, Marie-Andrée Roy, Shandip Saha, John H. Simpson, James V. Spickard, William Stahl, George Thomas, Bryan Turner, Margit Warburg, Michael Wilkinson.…

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - These twenty-three essays, presented by students, colleagues, and friends to Thomas A. Brady, Jr., the Sather Emeritus Professor of History at the University of California at Berkeley, explore the historiographies of the Reformation from the fifteenth century to the present and study the social and cultural history of religion from the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries, especially in Germany but also in Switzerland, the Netherlands, and colonial Mexico. Contributors include: Dean Bell, Peter Blickle, Christoph Burger, Roger Chickering, Constantin Fasolt, Kaspar von Greyerz, Bernd Hamm, Craig Harline, Joel Harrington, Susan Karant-Nunn, Greta Kroeker, Amy Leonard, Marc Lienhard, Terence McIntosh, Erik Midelfort, Christopher Ocker, Michael Printy, Anne J.Schutte, Julie Tanaka, William B.Taylor, Elaine Tennant, Lee Palmer Wandel, and Ellen Yutzy Glebe. Publications by Thomas A. Brady, Jr.: - Edited by Thomas A. Brady, Jr., Heiko A. Oberman, and James D. Tracy, Handbook of European History 1400-1600: Late Middle Ages, Renaissance and Reformation. I: Structures and Assertions, ISBN: 9789004097605 - Edited by Thomas A. Brady, Jr., Heiko A. Oberman, and James D. Tracy, Handbook of European History 1400-1600: Late Middle Ages, Renaissance and Reformation. II: Visions, Programs, Outcomes, ISBN: 9789004097612 - Edited by Thomas A. Brady, Jr., Katherine G. Brady, Susan Karant-Nunn and James D. Tracy, The Work of Heiko A. Oberman, ISBN: 9789004125698 - Protestant Politics: Jacob Sturm (1489-1553) and the German Reformation, ISBN: 9780391038233 - Edited by H.A. Oberman and T.A. Brady, Jr., Itinerarium Italicum: The Profile of the Italian Renaissance in the Mirror of its European Transformations, ISBN: 9789004042599 - Ruling Class, Regime and Reformation at Strasbourg 1520-1555, ISBN: 9789004052857 - Communities, Politics, and Reformation in Early Modern Europe, ISBN: 9789004110014 Editor of Studies in Central European Histories.…

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Much of the recent scholarly writings and debates on amnesty have revolved around its lawfulness, when granted in respect of the most serious crimes under international law committed in the context of civil armed conflicts. The inconclusiveness of international law on this issue - with positive international law and opinio juris calling for criminal prosecution, and State's practice favouring practical political solutions - does nothing more than deepen the confusion already affecting the international legality of national amnesties. Building on emerging trends in State's practice, this book attempts to clarify the question of the legality of national amnesties for crimes against humanity by suggesting a compromised legal framework within which amnesty and accountability can both be accommodated.…

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Written Documents in the Workplace is divided into three parts, the first of which provides a linguistic definition of professional documents, describing their different types and genres. This definition necessarily takes into account both the formal characteristics of these types of document (e.g. nature of linguistic units involved) and their functional goals (the way these linguistic units are used to fulfill the text's communicative aim). The second part focuses on the mental mechanisms involved in written production in the workplace. One of the aims of a professional writer is to compose a text which can be understood. Text composition involves specific processes and strategies that can be enhanced. This last aspect leads us to devote the third and final section to the comprehension of written documents in the workplace. Awareness of the strategies implemented by different readers (with more or less domain expertise) in order to understand technical and professional documents can enhance the latter's readability.…

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - This biography recalls the fascinating life of the second Reformed minister of New Amsterdam (present-day New York), Everardus Bogardus, a poor but gifted youth who worked himself upward into the ministry. The first part of the book provides an in-depth analysis of his mystical experience as a 15-year old orphan in his hometown Woerden (Holland) and its significance in the Dutch context. The second part explores Bogardus's agency in the colonial context and his appropriation of his new fatherland - as a minister among the Europeans, the Native Americans, and the blacks, as a spokesman of the opposition during Kieft's War, and as a colonist married to the famous Anneke Jans. This biography is conceived as a mentality history of an early modern male individual.Fulfilling God's Mission: The Two Worlds of Dominie Everardus Bogardus, 1607-1647 has been granted the 2008 Hendrick's Award.…

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - 'Dietary fibre is of interest to both science and industry, and yet despite growing awareness of its benefits to health and nutrition, intakes remain below the recommended level. Industry has responded by developing new applications, products and processes to help consumers increase their fibre intake in a convenient way. While regulations on health claims are being developed for example in the EU, some countries have allowed the use of health claims to help promote consumer awareness of the benefits of a higher fibre intake, and to inform consumers of good sources of fibre. At the same time science is developing the concept of dietary fibre. The mechanisms and actual components behind the physiological effects are of particular interest, and so are the analytical tools to measure these. The fate of dietary fibre in the gut, where certain fibre components are fermented and converted by microbes gains a great deal of attention. The role of molecular weight and viscosity of dietary fibre components in determining the health benefits are also discussed. This book is essential reading for all researchers and those who concern themselves with bioprocesses and food technology. 'Dietary fibre components and functions' covers the most up-to-date research available on dietary fibre and will be an indispensable tool for all scientists involved in research and development in this field.'.…

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Based on new oral sources, carefully analyzed, this book explores the relationships between Jewish subjects and their tribal chieftains in Kurdistan, focusing on the patronage and justice provided by the chieftains and the financial support provided by the Jews to endure troubles and caprices of chieftains. New reports and vivid tales unveil the status of Jews in the tribal setting; the slavery of rural Jews; the conversion to Islam and the defense mechanisms adopted by Jewish leaders to annul conversion of abducted women. Other topics are the trade and occupations of the Jews and their financial exploitation by chieftains. The last part explores the experience of Jewish communities in Iraqi Kurdistan between World War I and the mass-migration to Israel (1951-52).…

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - This book examines a number of themes relating to housing in Late Antiquity. Two extensive bibliographic essays provide an overview of published literature relating to housing in this period. A selection of thematic essays focus on episcopia, lighting, privacy vs. public access, and building regulations. These are complemented by regional syntheses covering Spain and Africa and case studies of recently investigated urban houses from across the Mediterranean, from Gaul to Jordan. Whilst being firmly based in Late Antiquity, the volume also looks forward to Middle Byzantine and Early Islamic housing, with papers on rock-cut houses in Cappadocia and a wealthy dar from Pella in Jordan, destroyed by earthquake, with its inhabitants inside, in A.D. 749. …

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - 'This is a multi-authored book concerning the perceived threat and recorded increase of emerging pests and vector-borne diseases affecting man and animals in Europe. Historically, Europe suffered from numerous pests and vector-borne diseases, including yellow fever, malaria, plague and typhus. Introduction of hygienic measures, drugs and vector control caused the disappearance of many of these diseases from Europe. In the (sub)tropics, however, many of these diseases still thrive, causing serious health problems for humans and animals. Increased trade, leading to animal and human movement and climate change cause reason to assume that several of these diseases might become re-established or allow 'new' diseases and pests to be introduced in Europe. The recent outbreaks of bluetongue virus in North-western Europe highlights this concern, requiring an effective surveillance systems for the early detection of pests and vector-borne diseases. In 24 chapters this book provides examples of the most likely pests and diseases affecting man and animals in Europe, with emphasis on ecological factors favouring these diseases and methods for prevention and intervention. The authors are recognized experts in specific fields. All chapters are peer reviewed.'. …

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - The classical model of international lawmaking posits governments as exclusively authoritative actors. However, commercially-oriented entities have long been protagonists within the prevailing international legal order, concluding contracts and resolving disputes with governments. Is the international legal personality of corporations undergoing further qualitative transformations Corporations influence the State practice constitutive of custom and create, refashion or challenge normative rules. The corporate willingness to fill legal lacunae where governments do not exercise their full regulatory responsibility is also observable through resort to alternative legal mechanisms. Corporations moreover contribute directly to treaty negotiations and occupy crucial roles during subsequent implementation. Indeed, an analysis of the access conditions and participatory modalities for non-State actors could support a right to participate under common international procedural law. Their substantive contributions are also evident when corporations participate in enforcing international law against governments through national courts, diplomatic protection (including the WTO) and arbitration (including NAFTA). However, the practice of intergovernmental organizations reveals several challenges including managing corporate interaction with developing country governments and other non-State actors. Acknowledging corporate contributions also has important implications for national regulatory autonomy, the ability of governments to mediate contested policy issues, the democratic legitimacy of the contemporary lawmaking process and an understanding of consent as the underlying basis for international law.…

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Root-lesion nematodes of the genus Pratylenchus are recognised worldwide as one of the major constraints of crops of primary economic importance. Pratylenchus spp. comprises around 70 nominal species of worldwide distribution which parasitize a wide variety of plants. The book consists of ten chapters and presents summarised and specialised information concerning the importance of the Pratylenchus species in: agricultural crops, and their world distribution (chapter 1); taxonomy, systematic, general morphology and diagnostic traits of Pratylenchus spp. including new technologies based on biochemical and molecular analyses (chapters 2-6); biology, epidemiology, ecology, host-parasite relationships, and pathogenicity (chapters 7-9). Finally, it illustrates different management strategies for Pratylenchus species, including, crop rotation, host-plant resistance, chemical control, soil solarisation, and biological control (chapter 10).…

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - This collection offers an overview of the issues involved concerning the interface between human rights and intellectual property rights (IPRs). It makes clear that two schools of thought have developed. The first school maintains that human rights and IPRs are in fundamental conflict. Strong protection of IP is incompatible with human rights obligations. Thus, for resolving the conflict between the two, it is suggested that human rights should always prevail over IPRs. Whereas the second school of thought asserts that human rights and IPRs pursue the same aim; that is to define the appropriate scope of private monopoly power to create incentives for authors and inventors, while ensuring that the public has adequate access to the fruits of their efforts. Accordingly, they argue, human rights and IP are compatible. However, what is needed is to strike a balance between the provision of incentives to innovate and public access to products of that innovation. This collection explores this balance and the extent to which human rights standards can influence the interpretation of IP norms, for example in defining the scope of IPRs. The discussion on the relationship of human rights and IPRs is an ongoing one; this volume makes a valuable contribution to the debate and will further stimulate the interest to explore and address these complex and challenging issues. This is the second volume in The Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law 'New Authors' series, which contains the best theses from the human rights masters programmes in Lund and Venice.…

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Around 1720 in Fez A?mad b. al-Mubarak al-Lama?i, a religious scholar, wrote down the words and teachings of the Sufi master ?Abd al-?Aziz al-Dabbagh. Al-Dabbagh shunned religious studies but, having reached illumination and met with the Prophet Mu?ammad, he was able to explain any obscurities in the Qur?an, ?adiths and sayings of earlier Sufis. The resulting book, known as the Ibriz, describes how al-Dabbagh attained illumination and access to the Prophet, as well as his teachings about the Council of the godly that regulates the world, relations between master and disciple, the darkness in men's bodies, Adam's creation, Barzakh, Paradise and Hell, and much more besides.This 'encyclopaedia' of Sufism with its many teaching stories and illustrations provides a window onto social life and religious ideas in Fez a generation or so before powerful outside forces began to play a role in the radical transformation of Morocco.…

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - For a lifetime Kees Versteegh played a leading role in Arabic linguistics, dialects (diglossia, creolization, pidginization), the history of Arabic grammar, and other fields related to Arabic. From among his global contacts, colleagues contributed to a Liber Amicorum in appreciation of his stimulating efforts to reopen, deepen and complete our knowledge of Arabic Grammar and Linguistics.In three sections, History, Linguistics and Dialects, 27 contributors discuss (alphabetically): bilingual verb construction; contractual language; current developments; language description; language use; lexicology; organization of language; pause; sentence types; and specific topics: ?alla?i; featuring; government; homonymy; ?i?mar; inflection; ma?dar; the origin of grammatical tradition; variety conflicts; and verbal schematic (ir)regularities; waqf; and ?arf.…

Taschenbuch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Das Werk bietet eine umfassende und fundierte Einführung in die Theorie der empirischen Wissenschaften. Nachdem in den ersten beiden Kapiteln die Entwicklung der Wissenschaftstheorie sowie die Dynamik wissenschaftlicher Theorien im Vordergrund stehen, werden in einem zweiten Teil zentrale Problemfelder wissenschaftstheoretischer Reflexion systematisch behandelt: Wissenschaftliche Erklärung, Kausalität, Induktion und Bestätigung, Naturgesetze, die Rolle des Experiments in den Wissenschaften, Reduktion und Emergenz sowie Wissenschaftlicher Realismus. Im dritten Teil des Buches werden Erträge der wissenschaftstheoretischen Analyse einzelwissenschaftlicher Theorien vorgestellt: Raum-Zeit-Theorien, Quantentheorie, biologische Evolutionstheorie, der Funktionsbegriff in der Biologie sowie Theorien komplexer Systeme. Die verschiedenen Kapitel wurden von ausgewiesenen Kennern der betreffenden Teilgebiete verfasst, was die nötige fachliche Tiefe und Aktualität gewährleistet, ohne dass der einführende Charakter verloren ginge. Das Buch richtet sich an Studierende der Philosophie und der empirischen Wissenschaften, vor allem der Naturwissenschaften, an Lehrende in Universität und Schule, sowie an alle, die an der Frage interessiert sind, wie wissenschaftliche Erkenntnisgewinnung funktioniert. Die einzelnen Kapitel können unabhängig voneinander studiert werden, am Ende jedes Kapitels werden Literaturhinweise zur vertiefenden Beschäftigung mit dem Thema gegeben. Ein Glossar und ein Sachregister runden das Buch ab.…

Buch. Zustand: Neu. Neuware - Die Frage nach der neuen Sichtbarkeit des Todes und der Toten wird in diesem Band anhand von zahlreichen Beispielen aus Künsten und Medien diskutiert. Zu den elementaren Leitsätzen einer Beschreibung und Kritik der Moderne zählt die Behauptung, der Tod werde zunehmend verdrängt und ausgeschlossen. Gegen diese Behauptung lässt sich einwenden, der Tod selbst bleibe - aller Metaphysik zum Trotz - prinzipiell unvorstellbar, ungreifbar, opak. Der Tod kann also gar nicht verdrängt oder ausgeschlossen werden, ganz im Gegensatz zu den Sterbenden und Toten, die ab dem 19. Jahrhundert aus dem gesellschaftlichen Verkehr, den Praktiken und Inszenierungen eines symbolischen Tauschs, ins Niemandsland der Kliniken, Obduktionssäle, Leichenschauhäuser und exterritorialisierten Friedhöfe abgeschoben wurden. In seiner Studie über Nikolai Lesskow behauptete Walter Benjamin, es sei vielleicht der unbewusste 'Hauptzweck' der bürgerlichen Gesellschaft gewesen, 'den Leuten die Möglichkeit zu verschaffen, sich dem Anblick von Sterbenden zu entziehen'. Seit einigen Jahren wird jedoch eine Revision dieser kulturkritischen Diagnosen geradezu erzwungen. Die Toten sind zurückgekehrt, nicht nur als Thema spiritueller, psychologischer oder philosophischer Diskurse, sondern in konkreter, sinnlicher, materieller Gestalt. Diese Rückkehr ereignet sich in den Künsten, in Literatur, Fotografien, Rauminstallationen und Ausstellungen; sie ereignet sich in Filmen und TV-Serien (wie 'Six Feet Under', 'CSI' oder 'Crossing Jordan'), die das Publikum in allen forensischen Details über die konkrete Materialität der Toten aufklären; sichtbar wird sie auch in neu gestalteten Bestattungspraktiken oder in den öffentlichen Debatten um Sterbehilfe, Hospizbewegung, Transplantationsmedizin oder das biotechnologische Versprechen der Langlebigkeit - wenn nicht gar 'Unsterblichkeit'. Ins Zentrum der Aufmerksamkeit rückt daher die Frage, ob sich gegenwärtig ein kulturelles System von Symbolen und Ritualen zu entwickeln beginnt, das zu einer neuen Sichtbarkeit des Todes und der Toten beiträgt.…