Editorial

 

 

Welcome to the second edition of the Dignity Press Newsletter! Today we celebrate the World Book and Copyright Day, created in 1995 by the UNESCO. Let me take this opportunity to thank all our readers, authors, supporters, and friends! 

 

After more than two years, we can now look back on a successful start of Dignity Press and World Dignity University Press. As an all volunteer-supported nonprofit publisher, we hoped our initiative would prove to be sustainable. Thanks to so many of you, we have developed an impressively diverse collection of publications!

 

I am very happy about the encouragement and support we have received from all of the authors, readers, and volunteers working with us. Authors from all over the world have sent us book proposals and manuscripts that are highly relevant to our work. I especially want to thank all of them for entrusting Dignity Press with their manuscripts from the very beginning. Their confidence in our effort is a great honor for all of us. 

 

Before I share with you all the news about our publications, let me shortly address one question which is asked frequently: "Why do we have a 'double name' in the logo: Dignity Press/World Dignity University Press?"

 

From the beginning of this initiative we envisioned two types of publications. First, Dignity Press was designed to develop publications that would help the general public become more aware of how the dynamics of human dignity and humiliation impact personal, social, and global experience. Second, the World Dignity University Press was designed to provide scholars and researchers with a rigorous publishing venue for investigating the many complexities of dignity and humiliation from various academic viewpoints and disciplines. The World Dignity University Press works within the larger vision of Dignity Press to cultivate a new body of knowledge topics.

 

Dear friends, let me invite you to scroll down and enjoy reading descriptions of our newest publications. You can also click the thumbnails on the right that will take you directly to a webpage for each book. If you would like to purchase a book, the easiest way is to buy it online through the Dignity Press website. Our books are also available through conventional distributors, including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and various bookstores.

 

Thanks again for your support and encouragement of Dignity Press!

 

Uli Spalthoff

Director of Operations 

 

NewbooksNew Books

Over the last two years, Dignity Press has published an exciting collection of books illustrating a great diversity in topics and styles, from authors coming from all continents. We now have books printed in three languages. In addition to our English-language books, we have our first book in French and two books in German.

  

Pierre Amal Kana is a journalist with roots in Africa. Based on his experience reporting from Afghanistan, he has written the novel Afghanistan - Le rêve pashtoun et la voie de la paix (in french language). In it he describes an optimist's vision of how Afghanistan might find a way out of its current dire situation. This timely book emphasizes a positive attitude toward the people of Afghanistan, which is sorely needed.
 
Michael H. Prosser, Mansoureh Sharifzadeh and Zhang Shengyong's Finding Cross-Cultural Common Ground describes how education for intercultural understanding can build the foundation for global peace. The authors are from the United States, Iran, and China, all having international teaching experience. In addition to their own analysis, they present lively accounts from people and places all over the world working to advance education for global peace.
 
Francisco Cardoso Gomes de Matos, a brilliant peace linguist who has made countless intellectual contributions to the Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies network over the years, is the author of
Dignity - A Multidimensional View. In this book, de Matos offers insightful reflections about many aspects of dignity, providing a valuable resource for all "human dignifiers". He employs a colorful spectrum of poetic forms that illustrate his highly creative way of communicating an important message to the world.
Kenday S. Kamara is a consultant with international organizations and an expert in organizations and technologies for social development. His book, Online Collaborative Learning, provides a detailed account of the possibilities and challenges of utilizing web-based learning solutions to help non-governmental organizations to achieve their goals.
 
Cui Litang, from Xiamen, China, and Michael H. Prosser are co-editors of Social Media in Asia. This book is a collection of essays focusing on the changing landscape of communication. As communication via social media becomes more and more commonplace among people all over the world, analyzing social media becomes even more crucial for developing intercultural understanding. Featuring 29 essays examining issues in 14 countries in the Asia-Pacific region, this book provides fresh perspectives on intercultural  dialogue.
 
Howard Richards has published a second book with us, this time together with
Joanna Swanger. Gandhi and the Future of Economics analyzes how the economic teaching and practice of Mahatma Gandhi was later taken up and further developed by major leaders from the Indian subcontinent.
This book offers a fascinating discussion for people who are thinking about radical changes to our existing economic systems. 
 
Deepak Tripathi, a journalist and historian with roots in India, has travelled the world extensively. His new book, A Journey Through Turbulence, is a collection of his writings in the last decade, covering a vast landscape and many subjects, from the United States, Britain, and the European Union, to conflicts in South Asia, the Middle East as well as the Arab Awakening. This book describes a shift of power from the West to the East around the globe. 
  
Hilarie Roseman, from Australia, is the author of a new book about conflict and how to overcome it,
Based on dissertation research, the author examines how members of Jewish, Christian, and Islamic organizations address unresolved questions of reconciliation and forgiveness. Mending human relationships means forgetting and disposing of old hurtful memories, looking carefully at human needs with the love and forgiveness that religions teach, and working together to construct peace.
 

Finally, as someone from Germany, I am happy to announce also two books in German:

  

Helmut Starrach has travelled the world as a photographer and has previously published a couple of books about places like Mount Athos and the Himalayan former kingdom Mustang. His newest book,  

Ein liebendes und ruheloses Herz, is about Saint Augustine. Starrach traveled to places where St. Augustine lived and taught and to the monasteries where St. Augustine's history is kept. This book combines Starrach's photos with excerpts from St. Augustine's scriptures.  

    

Petrus Ceelen is a theologian and therapist who worked for decades with prisoners, HIV-patients, homeless people and others in need of someone to talk with. He has also provided hospice care and grief counseling, and has personally engaged in many efforts to give the least privileged members of society a dignifying funeral service. He has distilled observations from thousands of funeral services and reflections about his experience in his book Halt die Ohren steif - 99 Friedhofsgeschichten (English: "Keep Your Chin Up! 99 Stories from the Graveyard"). We all know that sometimes we need to defuse our feelings of grief by looking for humor in the midst of our pain. These feelings are not suppressed in this book and graphic artist Karl Bechloch offers lighthearted illustrations of these end-of-life experiences.

AboutusAbout Us

Like our parent organization Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies, Dignity Press is a non-profit organization without paid employees. All publishing activities are conducted by dedicated volunteers who generously donate their time and skills to this effort. Income from sales is shared between authors and Dignity Press, with the Dignity Press portion supporting the work of the World Dignity University Initiative and the Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies network.

 

More about us at www.dignitypress.org and www.humiliationstudies.org.
Newsletter 02
April 2014

Contents:

Pierre-Amal Kana: Afghanistan - Le rêve pashtoun et la voie de la paix 

 Prosser, Zhang, Sharifzadeh: Finding Cross-Cultural Common Ground 

Francisco Cardoso Gomes de Matos: Dignity - A Multidimensional View  

 Kenday Kamara: Online Collaborative Learning 

 Cui Litang, M. Prosser (eds):Social Media in Asia 

 Richards and Swanger: Gandhi and the Future of Economics 

 Deepak Tripathi: A Journey through Turbulence 

 Hilarie Roseman: Generating Forgiveness 

 Helmut Starrach: Ein liebendes und ruheloses Herz 

 Petrus Ceelen: Halt die Ohren steif 

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