Over the past decade, Tiny Housing has become something of a viral sensation in the US. From Instagrammable enclaves for young professionals to vast municipality-supported schemes seeking to address homelessness, tiny house sites are proliferating across the country.



This book takes a look at life inside the ‘Tiny House Nation’, shining an intimate light on a phenomenon widely celebrated in the mainstream media. The book presents textured narrative accounts from and striking images of Tiny Home residents, their homes and communities, while analysing the broader socio-economic structures shaping their lives. In so doing, it paints a compelling and complex picture of a trend at the crossroads of several key social, cultural and economic shifts, at a pivotal moment for America’s housing future.

Fundamentally, this is a book about paradoxes. The paradox of tiny housing offering freedom from the constraints of capitalism, whilst at the same time remaining embedded within capitalist systems. The paradox of those who ‘go tiny’ both choosing an alternative lifestyle, and those who are pushed into tiny housing as a consequence of limited choice. The paradox of Austin, Texas, as both a countercultural enclave and hyper-capitalist tech haven. And the paradox of tiny house ethoses in Austin, as both centring community and shared assets, and individualist libertarianism. These paradoxes do not necessarily sit in opposition to one another, but are all bound up in the complexity of what tiny housing has to offer as an alternative way of living.

Despite its unattainability for all but the most privileged, the American Dream - the home-owning society, the suburban bliss, the white picket fence - remains emblematic of the residential Good Life. But in the decades since the turn of the millennium the dream has been shrunk down, expectations of a decent home literally reduced. Whilst for some this has led to forms of freedom and fulfilment, it has also contributed to the normalisation of cities so outrageously expensive that all people can afford are miniature homes on the urban periphery. As this book shows, both impacts of tiny housing are equally true, and one does not cancel out the other. Tiny housing embodies an important societal crossroads. In some respects, it offers an alternative to the prevailing housing status quo. In others, it demonstrates what options have already been taken away from us.

from the Introduction



‘In the rest of this book, we’ll lead you through our exploration of tiny housing in Texas. We’ll start, in the next chapter, by introducing some of the places and people we encountered on our travels to set the scene. Then, the ‘pathways’ chapter examines the various conditions and journeys through which people end up living tiny. As you’ll see, our attempt to produce a diagram of pathways to tiny living escalated into the production of a fully blown board game. We describe this diagrammatic board game to show the complex and nuanced personal and structural circumstances that lead people into tiny housing. From there, we go into three empirical chapters, focusing on economies of tiny living, the materiality of tiny housing as domestic spaces, and community culture. We then draw the book to a close, and speculate about what tiny housing means for the future of domestic life, especially in relation to the American Dream.



‘Throughout the book our descriptions are accompanied by photographs taken by Cian Oba-Smith, who accompanied us on our first trip to Texas in 2022. The hype around tiny housing is undoubtedly driven, in large part, by the aesthetic cultures surrounding it. Tiny homes are the picturesque, boutique, upmarket cousin of mobile homes and trailers. They are distinguished from these other types of small housing, as we’ll argue in this book, specifically by their aesthetics. Anyone who ventures into the world of tiny housing for more than five minutes will see how thick this aesthetic culture is. From beautifully curated Instagram pages, to countless coffee table books, to Etsy shops dedicated to crafted tiny house merchandise, a key part of living tiny is enjoying and embracing its aesthetics. By working with Cian we were able to focus (literally) on these aesthetic dimensions of tiny housing. However, we were also able to capture some of what’s not presented in promotional tiny house materials; the constraints, the challenges and the complexities that come along with the joy and the freedom. We’re positioning this book as something of a disrupted coffee table book. On an initial flick through it might not look too different to the photography books that valorise tiny living, but you’ll already know, if you’ve read this far, that our approach is more nuanced. Our attempt has been to expose the ‘real’ Tiny House Nation. Not to attack it, not to deny its beneficial impacts for a huge number of people, but to inject some nuance into the debate so that we can take forward the positives of tiny living without normalising the negatives.’

The book aims to give prominence to the way the concept of communication has been deployed within philosophical debates. It shows how philosophers have adopted this concept in their discussions on the issues of intersubjectivity, community and the ethics of dialogue.

Although mainstream philosophers do not, as yet, consider the philosophy of communication as a branch in its own right, instead subsuming it within the philosophy of language as pragmatics, the concept of communication is broader than that of language. This book aims to develop the relationship between communication and philosophy further.



Mangion hopes to encourage others to conduct further research by aligning communication with questions that are of a philosophical nature.

How does whiteness sediment worlds? How does it format individuality in the name of a neurotypicality that polices how one bodies, and how one comes to know? And how does a poetics of relation shift the very logic of this sedimentation?

Edouard Glissant’s poetics of relation are bold in their call to “consent not to be a single being.” This transindividual consent, born in the process of worlds crafting themselves in what he would call an “aesthetics of the earth,” are felt in Fernand Deligny’s errant lines. These errant lines, traced to move with the complex gestures of autistics over a period of several years in Monoblet, France (1965-1970), offer an alternative to pathology, and individual psychological assessment.



The Being of Relation brings these two projects into encounter, exploring what else blackness can be at this non-pathological juncture where what is foregrounded is the very being of relation. On the way, trails of whiteness are excavated and interrogated. The aim: to move toward parapedagogies of resistance, in a logic of a poetics of relation, a logic of neurodiversity, minor sociality and the kind of difference without separability that refuses the binary that holds neurotypicality – as whiteness – in place.

Traits is timely and needed. It provides a pathway to cultivate an entrepreneurial mindset in nonprofit arts management students and in those in the nonprofit field. Traits is not another academic, hypothetical, imagining text. Rather, Traits is a tactical, centred on entrepreneurial leadership, offering a concrete case example, Imagination Stage.

2020 brought significant changes to the world’s business and social fabric. The nonprofit arts has been greatly impacted with the highest unemployment rate during the peak of the pandemic response to the slow and inconsistent return of patrons. Internally, organizations had to address often long-over-due adaptations to the inclusive and accessible practices demanded by their communities, including equitable pay scales, diversity, inclusion and access on stage, staffs, and boards.

Consequently, many nonprofit arts organizations are now less viable; many have gone out of business; and most are struggling to adopt new post-pandemic practices that promote a new culture in their organization. The authors contend that those organizations that have survived are led by social entrepreneurs who were always ahead of the curve and able to adapt.

The authors’ underlying assumption is that while entrepreneurship may be innate in some, in most it is not - even in those who lead organizations. But it can also be taught – just like any form of leadership. And this is what Traits does.

While existing studies have extensively explored various facets of international students’ experiences, a gap remains in understanding the connection between their social capital accumulation and information-seeking practices that shape the incoming students’ extended transition process. Successful information-seeking is not solely related to academic outcome; it is also influenced by the social capital resources available within and beyond familiar cultural groups. This article sheds light on how international students’ social capital accumulation shapes their information searches across various online and offline social networks. A total of ten international students were interviewed at the beginning and the end of their first semester in Germany during the 2022–23 academic year. The findings demonstrate that the incoming students’ information-seeking strategies and social capital accumulation change over time. The students rely on their previously established social connections offline and online when preparing for their departure. Upon arrival in Germany, the students continue to search for information within their linguistic and cultural familiar groups, but their information-seeking process shifts to local in-person contexts. During the semester, lecturers and fellow students become useful information sources at the university while the students develop confidence in their foreign language skills.

This article examines Queer Taiwan, a docu-series focusing on LGBTQ topics in Taiwan. Among the very first original content commissioned by GagaOOLala, Asia’s first LGBTQ streaming platform, Queer Taiwan is imbued with messages of social import while tracing the history and recording the current fight for LGBTQ rights. By adopting a participatory approach, Queer Taiwan sparked conversation on hotly debated topics among different social groups with the goal of enhancing mutual understanding and shedding light on common misconceptions. This article explores how these conversations reflect the changing social outlook and public attitudes during Taiwan’s journey towards marriage equality. It includes a discussion of the socialization and politicization of sexual identity by situating it within the history of Taiwan’s national identity politics, a pervasive theme of the island’s queer literature and cinema. The analysis encompasses queer cinema, documentaries in particular, illustrating how non-fiction film envisions the parallels between campaigns to assert queer pride and Taiwanese distinctiveness. This study illuminates the relationship between queer cinema and the wider sociopolitical landscape in the run-up to Taiwan’s legalization of same-sex marriage.

Though queer critics and queer theory tend to frame queer identities as marginal, this edited volume draws attention to a dynamic field in which a wide variety of queer identities can be put on display and consumed by audiences. Cementing a foundational understanding of queerness that is at odds with current shifts in media production, contributors present a broad variety of queer identities from across a range of televisual shows and genres to reconsider the marginalization of queerness in the twenty-first century. Doing so challenges preexisting notions that such “mainstreamification” necessitates being subsumed by the cisheteropatriarchy. This project argues the opposite, showing that heteronormative assumptions are outdated and that new queer representations lay the groundwork for filling gaps that queer criticism has left open.

Thomas Brassington is a researcher whose work explores intersections of queerness and the Gothic in contemporary popular culture. Debra Ferreday is a feminist cultural theorist whose research concerns gender, feminist theory, sexuality, critical race theory, queer theory, and embodiment. Dany Girard is a queer researcher whose work primarily explores representations of gender, asexualities, and queer theory in television and film.

Review of: Cosmetics Marketing: Strategy and Innovation in the Beauty Industry, Lindsay Karchin and Delphine Horvath (2023)

London: Bloomsbury Visual Arts, 253 pp.,

ISBN 978-1-35029-943-6, p/bk, $44.95

Review of: Hang Ups: Reflections on the Causes and Consequences of Fashion’s ‘Western’-Centrism, Benjamin Linley Wild (2024)

London, New York, New Delhi and Sydney: Bloomsbury Visual Arts, 292 pp.,

ISBN 978-1-35019-724-4, h/bk, $103.50

ISBN 978-1-35019-723-7, p/bk, $34.15

ISBN 978-1-35019-725-1, e-PDF, $27.32

ISBN 978-1-35019-726-8, e-book, $27.32

Review of: Dress and Identity in America: The Baby Boom Years 1946–1964, Daniel Delis Hill (2024)

London: Bloomsbury Visual Arts, 242 pp.,

ISBN 978-1-3503, h/bk, $80.50

Review of: Shirts, Shifts and Sheets of Fine Linen: British Seamstresses from the 17th to the 19th Century, Pam Inder (2024)

London: Bloomsbury Visual Arts, 311 pp.,

ISBN 978-1-35025-296-7, h/bk, $115.00

ISBN 978-1-35025-297-4, e-PDF, $103.50

ISBN 978-1-35025-298-1, e-book, $103.50

Review of: New Approaches to Decolonizing Fashion History and Period Styles: Refashioning Pedagogies, Ashley Bellet (ed.) (2024)

New York: Routledge, 228 pp.,

ISBN 978-1-03223-542-4, p/bk, $42.95

Review of: Luxury Fashion and Media Communication: Between the Material and Immaterial, Paula von Wachenfeldt and Magdalena Petersson McIntyre (eds) (2024)

New York: Bloomsbury Visual Arts, 214 pp.,

ISBN 978-1-35029-106-5, h/bk, £85.00

This article examines the advocacy role of Indian-Australian ethnic media and their efforts to address sociocultural issues within the Indian diaspora in Australia. Based on interviews with twelve media producers, the study explores how these outlets raise awareness of challenges such as casteism, dowry practices and sociopolitical divides. Ethnic media play a vital role in multicultural societies, expressing cultural identity while managing relationships between minority and majority groups. However, the findings show that financial and structural constraints often lead to editorial caution, especially regarding contentious topics. This restraint is largely driven by reliance on advertising revenue from community businesses and government sources, which affects editorial decisions. The study also reveals that these outlets often prioritize a broader national identity over engaging with internal divisions within the Indian diaspora, such as those related to religion, caste and class. The concept of multi-ethnic public sphere further supports the idea that ethnic media can promote inter-cultural dialogue, though their potential is limited by ongoing financial challenges. This article highlights the need for greater institutional and financial backing to strengthen ethnic media’s ability to serve their communities. Supporting these outlets would allow for more active engagement with marginalized groups and internal dynamics, positioning Indian-Australian ethnic media as key advocates for community interests within Australia’s multicultural framework and contributing to social change.

Women administrators are responsible for a broad array of difficult management tasks that affect their higher education institutions. There exist great societal expectations regarding women’s dress and appearance management practices. In this study, we identify the clothing-related influences women leaders used to develop their roles as university administrators. We interviewed 36 women in high-level administrative leadership roles at a Midwestern doctoral-granting land grant university. Qualitative thematic analysis revealed four major influences: (1) the importance of complying with the (unofficial) university dress code or ‘uniform’, (2) the comparison, negotiation and influence of others, (3) dressing for their roles and (4) fitting into social and cultural norms. Through the lens of social identity theory, findings revealed that administrators’ practices were negotiated through a process of observation, contemplation of their own individuality and responsibilities, and close identification of themselves as leaders within their specific university setting. Implications for retailers and aspiring leaders are included.

Consumer behaviour is known to change during trying times as consumption has implications for the self. In fact, the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic saw a rise in self-gifting. Adopting a psychological lens, this novel study explored females’ experiences of self-gifting luxury fashion during the pandemic. Given the under-researched area, an exploratory qualitative approach was adopted and interpretative phenomenological analysis was used to understand participants’ experiences. A homogenous sample of four females were interviewed using semi-structured interviews to elicit rich data. Findings demonstrated that self-gifting of luxury fashion during the pandemic was a complex phenomenon that seemed to contribute to participants’ psychological well-being. The discussion links and extends the literature on self-gifting, luxury consumer behaviour and consumption during trying times. It highlights implications for academic research, individuals, brands and retailers.

This study delves into the critical factors influencing children’s clothing design through a multifaceted approach. The investigation elucidates the most significant design elements by employing qualitative research methods, the fuzzy Delphi method (FDM), and the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP). Initially, semi-structured interviews were conducted with experienced professionals, encompassing children’s clothing designers and related specialists with a minimum of fifteen years of expertise. These interviews served to gather valuable insights and experiences. Subsequently, the FDM was utilized to assess the relative importance of identified design elements. Finally, the FAHP was implemented to determine the weights assigned to each factor, establishing a hierarchy of importance. The findings reveal that safety reigns supreme as the most critical design consideration. Following safety are comfort, style elements and practicality. Safety prioritizes the utilization of non-toxic materials and secure fastenings. Comfort emphasizes breathable fabrics and textures that are gentle against the skin. Style elements encompass colour palettes, patterns and the incorporation of creative design aspects. Practical considerations delve into age-appropriateness, freedom of movement, garments with multifunctional purposes and enduring durability. This comprehensive study offers invaluable guidance for the field of children’s clothing design. It empowers designers to effectively address the needs of children while aligning with parental expectations. Ultimately, this approach propels market development and fosters children’s enhanced quality of life.

This cultural history critically examines product design and its development from pre-industrial times to the present day, considering major milestones in the mass production of goods and services, aiming to incorporate a more inclusive worldview than traditional surveys of the topic.

The breadth and versatility of product design through history has been profound. Products have long supported the integration and interpretation of emerging technologies into our lives. These objects include everything from tools, accessories, furniture, and clothing, to types of transportation, websites, and mobile apps. Products provide singular or multiple functions, are tangible and intangible, and in many instances have impacted the quality of our lives by saving time or money or by increasing feelings of personal satisfaction. At the same time, many products have negatively impacted people and the environment. For nearly every product that makes it into the hands of a consumer, there is also a designer who created it and someone who laboured to make it.



Examines the relationship between products, consumption, sustainability, politics, and social movements. This "pocket history" surveys product design from the agricultural revolution and the birth of cities, through industrialisation, and a digital design revolution.

This article explores the implementation and impact of a local democracy programme as a citizenship education framework in Kenya. Focusing on the pedagogical approach of ‘Transmission, Transaction and Reflection’ in Kenya, it examines how secondary students engage with local democratic governance and societal issues by creating and distributing reports in their newsletters. The study reveals the benefits and challenges of integrating citizenship education into the curriculum, highlighting the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical application, and demonstrates that experiential learning activities, such as student-led reporting, can significantly enhance students’ understanding of democratic values and active citizenship. It underscores the necessity of bridging the theoretical–practical divide to effectively prepare students for their roles as engaged, empowered and ethical citizens. These valuable insights into pedagogical strategies can foster more inclusive and participatory citizenship education in Kenya and similar African contexts.

This edited collection features fourteen newly commissioned articles, each of which responds to the theme of plague from different disciplinary perspectives. Contributors focus on the effects of COVID-19 on everyday life, drawing also on insights from different historical experiences of plague as a way of exploring human responses to epidemics, past and present.

Each chapter opens with a different illustration that serves as a source for subsequent discussion, enabling readers to make connections between everyday objects, experiences, and broader critical debates about plague and its impact on humanity. Thought-provoking commentaries stem from a variety of humanities disciplines including archaeology, electronic literature, history, linguistics, media and cultural studies, and musicology.



Encountering the Plague explores ways in which humanities research can play a meaningful role in key social and political debates, and provides compelling examples of how the past can inform our understanding of the present.

Plagues occurred several times in history and were also often described in literary contexts. In his essay, the author addresses these issues, exploring in particular the question of what ancient texts can still tell us today in terms of responses to the current pandemic.

This chapter explores the social and spatial ramifications of plague in early modern towns and cities, with special reference to intoxicants and intoxicating spaces. Focussing on the cases of Amsterdam, Hamburg, London, and Stockholm –all of which experienced multiple ‘visitations’ during the so-called second plague pandemic – it explores the implications of disease with no cure for the use and governance of urban spaces (especially those designed for sociability, such as alehouses and coffeehouses), and considers the role of intoxicants both old and new in medical repertoires.

This chapter explores how people deal with the pandemic today. For the purpose of the analysis, a perceptual-linguistic perspective was adopted using methodological tools proposed by cognitive linguistics. The general thesis assumes that when faced with a new experience, humans need to give it meaning, and the way they do that is expressed in language. Selected language structures appearing in the Polish media during the pandemic (2020-2021) were analysed. From the perceptual point of view, how the pandemic was framed launched a category related to the medical domain, which in turn triggered a sense of agency and responsibility, and not – as before – external control, understood as delegating responsibility to gods or higher forces.

The paper is about the COVID-19 discourse in the mainstream news portals in Lithuania presented as a critical review of contradicting approaches that developed together with the chronology of the events. It is supplemented by the linguistic analyses of the discourse, concentrated on its semantics, especially disrupted use of abstract notions.

This article compares two first-hand accounts of the plague in London in the early and mid-seventeenth century, those of Thomas Dekker, “The Wonderful Year, 1603” and Nathaniel Hodges, ‘Loimologia, or, an historical Account of the Plague in London in 1665”, with the aim of understanding how, within a two-generation gap, two Londoners described the plague and its consequences. It is set in the political and intellectual context of the contemporary literature on the plague, in particular that of the treatises published in the sixteenth and early seventeenth century.