Issue 139, April 2017

Empires and Nation-states. This introduction to a special issue focuses on the complex and contradictory relationships of empires and nation-states. It contests the traditional views that posit nation-states and empires as the mutually exclusive forms of state organization. The paper identifies the key features of these two ideal types and then briefly reviews the current developments in this field. This introduction also provides a summary overview of the nine contributions that compose the special issue.

Issue 137, December 2016

Unease with Civilization: Elias, Koselleck, Alexander Articles The unease with civilization Nicole Pepperell Abstract: Norbert Elias’s concept of the civilizing process is perhaps the most controversial aspect of his work, attracting frequent criticism for its perceived Eurocentrism, as well as impassioned defences that critics have misunderstood the concept. In this piece, I explore how The…

Issue 136, October 2016

South African Papers   Why read Ivan Vladislavic? The papers gathered together in this special section of Thesis Eleven offer some clues to the curious, or to those watching the detectives. Vladislavic is one of the premier writers in and of South Africa, which is to say something, as this is a rich and vibrant…

Issue 135, August 2016

Mapping Western Australia. The Perth experience, and that of Western Australia, has differences that need to be recognized for what they are, rather than airbrushed over in the cause of generating a unified historical narrative that privileges the south-east corner of the continent and the reinforcement of Australia as a unified nation-state.