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Digital Media Ethics

This is the first textbook on the central ethical issues of digital media, ranging from computers and the Internet to mobile phones. It is also the first book of its kind to consider these issues from a global perspective, introducing ethical theories from multiple cultures.

States of Emergency: Documentaries, Wars, Democracies

Patricia Zimmermann describes the shifting terrains socially engaged documentary artists and experimental filmmakers encounter in the aftermath of corporate consolidation and technological transformations. Public space has been chiseled away and politically conscious documentaries forced to go underground. Viewing an array of subjects through technologies ranging from high-end video, camcorders, cable access, digital imaging systems, and media piracy, Zimmermann charts the intricately layered relationships between independent documentary, power, money, and culture.

"The Spectatorship of Suffering."

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This book is about the relationship between the spectators in countries of the west, and the distant sufferer on the television screen; the sufferer in Somalia, Nigeria, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, but also from New York and Washington DC. How do we relate to television images of the distant sufferer? The question touches on the ethical role of the media in public life today.

An Introduction to Global Health Delivery: Practice, Equity, Human Rights

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The field of global health has roots in the AIDS pandemic of the late 20th century, when the installation of health care systems supplanted older, low-cost prevention programs to help stem the spread of HIV in low- and middle-income Africa. Today's global health is rooted the belief that healthcare is a human right, and that by promoting health we can cultivate equity and social justice in places where such values aren't always found.

"A Rose by Any Other Name? Rethinking the Similarities and Differences between Male and Female Genital Cutting."

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In this article, we offer a critical examination of the tendency to segregate discussion of surgical alterations to the male and female genitals into separate compartments- the first known as circumcision, the second as genital mutilation. We argue that this fundamental problem of definition underlies the considerable controversy surrounding these procedures when carried out on minors, and that it hinders objective discussion of the alleged benefits, harms, and risks.

The Universal Enemy: Jihad, Empire, and the Challenge of Solidarity

No contemporary figure is more demonized than the Islamist foreign fighter who wages jihad around the world. Spreading violence, disregarding national borders, and rejecting secular norms, so-called jihadists seem opposed to universalism itself. In a radical departure from conventional wisdom on the topic, The Universal Enemy argues that transnational jihadists are engaged in their own form of universalism: these fighters struggle to realize an Islamist vision directed at all of humanity, transcending racial and cultural difference.

"Justice in Post-Conflict Settings: Islamic Law and Muslim Communities as Stakeholders in Transition,"

This essay is one of the first collaborative efforts to identify the underlying norms embedded in diverse traditions of Islamic law as these apply to contemporary Muslim communities experiencing conflict or transitioning from conflict. This long overdue endeavor draws upon comparative legal analyses, postconflict justice traditions, global governance, and empirical conflict studies to explore why Islamic legal norms are not often used as a resource for restraint and guidance in contemporary conflict settings.

"Ciudadana X: Gender Violence and the Denationalization of Women's Rights in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico."

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This article examines the troubling status of poor migrant women political actors in the denationalized space of Ciudad Juárez. Subaltern women's labors have served the state as a stabilizing force amidst the economic and political crises of the neo-liberal regime in ways that both promote and delimit new forms of female agency in the border region.