The topic of chapter 6 is unequal representation with particular emphasis on intersecting identities, voice and agency. The chapter digs deeper into the issue of policy priorities with a view to uncover who — and to some extent also what issues — female parliamentarians in the region represent as well as the reasoning behind their choices, not based on voting patterns as has traditionally been the case in such analyses, but anchored in personal narratives. The chapter accordingly explores the quality of representation (symbolic, descriptive and substantive) and helps us gain an understanding of which women and policy areas are represented, and which are underrepresented in politics at the national level, something which has very significant implications for not only climate change mitigation, but also adaptation and impacts. As the analysis progresses, it becomes clear that the female parliamentarians in the MENA tend to represent ‘people like me’, a reality which poses a serious problem for the quality of women’s representation, because the majority of women are simply not represented in earnest.

The routines of hospital life for cancer in-patients, and the self-developed routines within these routines, are discussed here.

This chapter discusses whether the existing IP laws in Europe offer sufficient room for upcycling from the perspective of fundamental rights. It is argued that both the EU Charter and the ECHR may include obligations to facilitate the innovative reuse of materials. This is considered both as a matter of artistic freedom and as a positive obligation to safeguard the right to life, health, and a sustainable environment. From this perspective, existing IP laws may not be accommodating enough of creative and innovative upcycling practices. It is suggested that, as a matter of direct effect of primary EU law, both the Charter and free movement of goods may have a limiting effect on the enforceability of IP rights.

Upcycling, the creative reuse of pre-existing materials, offers clear environmental benefits by reducing waste and conserving resources, while also promoting sustainable consumption. However, despite its potential, consumer understanding of upcycling remains limited, with many either unfamiliar with the term or conflating it with other sustainable practices. This conceptual ambiguity can undermine confidence in upcycled products, hinder market adoption, and pose challenges for businesses. The inclusion of branded materials in upcycled goods further complicates the landscape, raising legal and reputational concerns for trademark holders and prompting questions about consumer confusion and fairness. To investigate these issues, this chapter presents empirical insights from three studies involving 2,393 participants. Study 1 examines consumers’ understanding of upcycling. Study 2 explores how branded materials in upcycled products influence evaluations and manufacturer identification. Study 3 assesses the effect of different information about manufacturers on consumer perceptions and recall. Findings provide a foundation for considering the legality of trademark use in upcycling and inform strategies for promoting consumer awareness, supporting sustainable business models, and safeguarding both brand and consumer interests in the transition from a linear to a circular economy.

This chapter focuses on the eigenvalues of a prescribed matrix associated with a signed graph. The exposition begins with the concept of main eigenvalues and examines their role in various structural analyses. It then proceeds to specific computations, including determinants, relationships with the spectrum of the underlying graph, and the effects of particular operations on signed graphs and their resulting spectra. Further developments consider signed graphs with specified spectral properties, such as those exhibiting a symmetric spectrum. The chapter also explores eigenvalue bounds, including limit points for the largest eigenvalue, spectral distances between signed graphs, and spectral deviations of a signed graph relative to related signed graphs, providing a detailed and comprehensive analysis of these spectral characteristics.

A case study of a patient diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder demonstrates the entanglements of phenomenology of spirituality and psychopathology, and the implications of failing to properly understand the importance of these entanglements when planning treatment. The concepts of entanglement, pragmatic atheism, spirituality and religion are introduced. Spirituality and religion are both complex and contested concepts which elude simple definition, but a person-centred holistic model of psychiatry requires giving attention to the whole person, ‘body, mind and spirit’. The biopsychosocial model does not explicitly address spirituality, but spirituality is entangled with the biological, psychological and social aspects of the matrix. The chapter discusses the secular context within which psychiatry is generally seen to be practised (at least in the Western world), the perceived tension between science and religion that it often evokes, the nature of psychiatry as concerned with the study and treatment of mental illnesses, and the way in which these illnesses affect our self-understanding and identity as human beings.

This chapter contrasts the growing acceptance of anger and grief in political theory with the persistent, one-sided pathologization of fear. While anger and grief are now frequently defended as politically valuable, fear is still dismissed as a primitive, irrational force threatening public life. Rather than defend fear, however, I criticise a pervasive argument against it, which relies on two dubious claims: (1) neuroscientific findings supposedly prove fear is inherently destructive in politics and (2) entire groups are driven by fear. I dispute the first claim by drawing on the work of LeDoux to show that ‘fear’ in neuroscientific research often differs fundamentally from the subjective experience of fear that critics often target. I dispute the second by arguing that attributions of fear to social groups and populations frequently hinge on weak evidence, such as conflating perceived threat with the emotional state of fear. Finally, I argue that the fear of fear in political theory is harmful. It fuels unwarranted attributions of fear that oversimplify the complexities of political behaviour and risk compounding the marginalisation of socio-economically disadvantaged people.

Early modern European imperialism in the Americas is distinctive in the broader history of empires in its fusion of economic interests and geopolitical rivalries with religious objectives and rationales, despite sectarian divides. Taking a comparative hemispheric perspective, this chapter provides an overview of the imperial contexts in which colonial literatures emerged in the Spanish, Portuguese, British, and French empires in the Americas and describes the development of the various colonial literary and generic landscapes in these realms in terms of their diverse modes of economic exploitation and political domination within an emergent global capitalist system.

The archaeology of Byzantium is the archaeology of an empire whose chronological bounds, broadly speaking, spanned the fourth through fifteenth century AD. The authors whose works are collected in this handbook examine methods and practice of Byzantine archaeology as well as the materials typically encountered in artifacts produced within the imperial boundaries. Byzantine archaeology is still a relatively young discipline, and, while vast in its scope and ambition, work in the field tends to be challenging to access. This volume aims to remedy this situation by providing current views of the nature of Byzantine archaeology, exploring crucial studies which elucidate salient features of the empire’s people, as well as offering glimpses of how things may develop in the near future.