By the early summer of 2012 we had started my sabbatical in Birmingham, and this chapter explores the changes for us and for me as a result of being in a new environment, along with friends who found it hard to talk to me about the cancer experience. I had a research fellowship at the University of Birmingham, and Mayu started an MA.

Women’s mental health has been shaped by patriarchal societal biases in science, medicine and society. Early medical texts attributed women’s distress to their reproductive system or sexual deprivation. In the Middle Ages, mental illness was often misinterpreted as witchcraft, reinforcing harmful beliefs about female autonomy, and in the nineteenth century, male-dominated medical science pathologised women’s independence with diagnoses such as ‘moral insanity’ to justify institutionalising women who defied social norms. Twentieth-century feminism underpinned advances in medicine and social reform, shaping health policy and psychiatric practice, although controversies around research into hormone replacement therapy (HRT) disrupted momentum. Despite progress, persistent gender bias in research and access to mental health care persists, particularly for marginalised groups, although initiatives like the Women’s Health Strategy offer hope for a more equitable future.

Chapter 5 assesses the patronage and use of books in the late ninth and early tenth centuries. The following case studies are discussed: two earlier Anglo-Saxon prayerbooks (the Book of Cerne and Book of Nunnaminster) to which new material was added, a new volume of Latin hagiographies (Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, lat. 5574), and a Carolingian manuscript to which several additions were made by English-trained scribes (London, British Library, Cotton Vespasian D. xiv, fols. 170–224). Engagement with these books took place in diverse settings, some of which were more informal than one might expect. The motivations for such activity are assessed too. These case studies pave the way for a holistic assessment of the contemporary manuscript corpus. Physical qualities, texts and languages are considered, as are the possible settings in which books were produced and used. Attention is drawn to the evidence for female book use, and to the importance of international networks. Continuities with earlier decades are acknowledged, as are new developments, including a more pronounced association between books and bishops. The chapter closes with a call to remain open-minded about this book culture’s range of social contexts and participants.

This chapter provides a snapshot of Rwanda’s evolving political settlement and economic development trajectory. The chapter begins by highlighting significant structural vulnerabilities that shaped Rwanda’s domestic politics historically, including ethnicity-based inequalities and political contestation, historical divisions associated with the royal family and aristocracy, refugee issues, inadequate employment opportunities and regional inequalities. It then highlights the rapid growth that took place in Rwanda over the last three decades, which has also been accompanied by significant export diversification. It then provides a brief political settlement analysis of present-day Rwanda, highlighting how development is being contested transnationally, pointing to the key vulnerabilities characterising its hub-based strategy. In particular, it describes how increased elite vulnerability has meant that the government has been reluctant to support domestic capital. As a result, the Rwandan government has failed to develop effective state–business relations aimed at achieving structural transformation.

The book is motivated by the question of analysing how Rwanda’s development trajectory can contribute to our understanding of why structural transformation remains so elusive. This chapter introduces the central contributions of the book. First, the book employs structuralist political settlements analysis to highlight how contemporary late development is contested transnationally, prompting the need for analysis across different scales. Second, the book describes how African growth has been largely driven by the services sector and Rwanda is emblematic of contemporary African growth experiences, especially since, like elsewhere on the continent, structural transformation has remained elusive. Third, the book contributes to existing literature on Rwanda by highlighting that the Rwandan Patriotic Front prioritised services-based strategies partly to reduce its reliance on domestic businesspeople because of the elite vulnerability that has characterised its rule. This strategy has yielded growth and export diversification without achieving structural transformation because elite vulnerability has inhibited effective state–business relations. The introduction also includes a discussion of the methodology employed in the book and the structure of the chapters that follow.

While early postwar musical modernist explorations seemed progressive during the 1950s, Yugoslav composers faced European and American avant-garde trends at the inaugural Music Biennale Zagreb in 1961. Founded by Croatian composer Milko Kelemen, who refused to conform to the demands of socialist realism, the Zagreb Biennale was the most significant cultural event in Yugoslavia in the early 1960s and continued to play a pivotal role in the country’s cultural diplomacy over the next three decades. Taking advantage of the Cold War political divisions, Yugoslavia’s unique position as a “liberal” communist state that did not belong to either bloc, and an economic model that adopted elements of socialism and capitalism, Kelemen devised a plan that reads like a Cold War spy novel. Pitting the Soviets against the Americans and Western Europeans with fabricated stories, Kelemen managed to secure the participation of the most recognizable figures in contemporary music in the US and Europe. Consequently, his festival became one of the most relevant international festivals of contemporary music and a forum for Yugoslavia’s engagement with Western avant-gardism.

The emperor, and his granddaughter, joined me as in-patients (they had their own floor), and I reflect on this experience and other experiences with Japanese national symbols like singing (or not) the anthem at School Open Days.

The 104-year-long Rana regime (1846–1951) prevented writers from writing for lay people, let alone the voices of the marginalized or janajatis, Indigenous people in this context. Writing remained a practice in praise of the Rana regime or the people in power. Literature became the genre belonging to societal elites. Social change through writing became a far cry from reality. Playfulness and freshness in writing – which could be obtained through the voices of the marginalized or through the projection of human relationships and their interactive minds – remained a distant shore. Krishna Lal Subba was imprisoned for nine years for writing a book, Makaiko Kheti (1920), meaning the cultivation of maize (Pandey 2012). Writing was fully censored. It would be a dangerous matter to attempt to write in a regime that did not want the lay people becoming aware and educated, and they always remained as “others” or marginalized. Freedom of literary expression was strictly limited by the Rana government (Hutt 1990). If anyone published a book without the Gorkha Language Publication Committee's approval, the publisher would be fined 50 Nepali rupees, and they would be punished if the book did not meet the Committee's guidelines (Acharya 2022).

However, toward the end of the Rana regime, “some writers had started rejecting the classical conventions of the older tradition, others adapted traditional genres and styles to express new concerns” (Hutt 1990: 5). Laxmi Prasad Devkota's “Muna Madan” (1936) has remained immensely popular over the years, establishing itself as a cornerstone of Nepali literature. It transcends genres, becoming a literary and jhyaure masterpiece, deeply resonating with the masses. Despite its widespread appeal, the content candidly delves into the lives of marginalized communities, shedding light on the “other” and offering a vivid portrayal of society and sociocultural milieu during that era.

The comprehension of pointing gestures extends beyond humans, with various species showing an ability to interpret such cues. Domestication and/or experience with humans have likely influenced this ability, although the evidence focuses primarily on canids rather than other domestic species. This chapter highlights current research on the use of human pointing and other social cues in domestic animals, particularly horses, goats and pigs. However, studies in other taxa and species, such as cattle or poultry, are scarce. The chapter also addresses future challenges in the field, including the need for improved comparability of data through a comparative approach and the development of more sophisticated task designs to elucidate the cognitive mechanisms involved in solving such tasks.

This chapter introduces Mayu's parents, and the intimate relationship we had with them. There is a flashback to our younger lives, when in our 20s we were racially attacked by a distant relative.