Given that touch and touching is so central to everyday embodied existence, why has it been largely ignored by social scientists for so long? What is the place of touch in our mixed spaces of sociality, work, domesticity, recreation, creativity or care? What conceptual resources and academic languages can we reach towards when approaching tactile activities and somatic experiences through the body? How is this tactile landscape gendered? How is touch becoming revisited and revalidated in late capitalism through animal encounters, tourism, massage, beauty treatments, professional medicine, everyday spiritualities or the aseptic touch-free spaces of automated toilets? How is touch placed and valued within scholarly fieldwork and research itself, integral as it is to the production of embodied epistemologies? How is touch involved in such aesthetic experiences as shaping objects in sand, or encountering fleshly bodies within a painting? The goal of this edited collection, Touching Space, Placing Touch is twofold: 1. To further advance theoretical and empirical understanding of touch in social science scholarship by focussing on the differential social and cultural meanings of touching and the places of touch. 2. To develop a multi-faceted and interdisciplinary explanations of touch in terms of individual and social life, personal experiences and tasks, and their related cultural contexts. The twelve essays in this volume provide a rich combination of theoretical resources, methodological approaches and empirical investigation. Each chapter takes a distinct aspect of touch within a particular spatial context, exploring this through a mixture of sustained empirical work, critical theories of embodiment, philosophical and psychoanalytic approaches to gendered touch and touching, or the relationship between visual and non-visual culture, to articulate something of the variety and variability of touching experiences. The contributors are a mixture of established and emerging researchers within a growing interdisciplinary field of scholarship, yet the volume has a strong thematic identity and therefore represents the formative collection concerning the multiple senses of touch within social science scholarship at this time.

Book Description: After years as a black ops CIA agent, nothing surprises Roy Kincaid, yet his current assignment is close to a bust. How could his target—renegade genetic freaks—drop off the radar as if they never existed? Burnt out and discouraged, he hunches over a meal in a backwater diner when a half-frozen woman with the look of an abused runaway staggers through the door. On his feet in an instant, Roy kicks himself. His first instinct is to help her, make certain she stays long enough for the bluish cast to leave her lips. His second is to finish his meal and leave. The world is full of broken women. It’s not his job to fix them, but he can’t take his eyes off her. Glory’s telepathic ability blares a harsh warning. Roy hunts those like her, but damn if he didn’t buy her dinner. Maybe she can fool him, just for tonight. Add a dry motel room to the meal. If she plays it very cool, he’ll never find out she’s on the run from the same group he’s targeted for death. Enhanced genetics only go so far. A roadblock and her face on a Most Wanted flyer shatter her fragile truce with Roy. If her Handlers find her, they’ll kill her. If Roy finds out what she is, she’ll be worse than dead. Series Backstory: Sometime between the interminable wars in the Middle East and 9/11, the United States moved forward breeding a race of super humans. Clandestine labs formed, armed with eager scientists who’d always yearned to manipulate human DNA. At first the clones looked promising, growing to fighting size in as little as a dozen years, but V1 had design flaws. Seven years ago, a rogue group turned on their creators, blew up the lab, and hit all the other breeding farms, freeing whomever they could find. In the intervening time, they’ve retreated to hidden compounds and created a society run by men. Women are kept on a tight leash because the men fear if they discover their innate power, they’d launch their own rebellion. PRAISE FOR THE GENTECH REBELLION SERIES: “HOLY MOTHERSHIP! This is a SPECTACULAR sci-fi/paranormal romance of a book! It is just so...so...SO WOW!!!! I have read a fair number of Ann's books and have enjoyed EVERY. SINGLE. ONE!” Goodreads review “Add in enough action to leave you gasping for air, a splash of humor, a shot of mystery, stir in some psychic abilities and finish it off with a dash of romance and you are left with a read that will make you lose all track of time.” Goodreads review “From page one, I was drawn into Winning Glory by Ann Gimpel. The streets of downtown Seattle came to life right before my eyes, even though I've never visited the city. Detail to description is the mark of a premiere UF author, and Ms. Gimpel doesn't disappoint with book one in her new series.” Goodreads review “This is a new author for me, I've have never read Ann Gimpel Books before. I have to say I was impressed. This Author is very talented in the way she writes.” Goodreads review Fans of the following books and series are known to enjoy this science fiction romance series: a kingdom of exiles a shade of vampire academy of magic dragon's gift accidentally in love attack by magic dragon's gift awakening dragon born in fire burning tower call of the dragon choose love covert fae crime of magic dragon's gift crimes against magic dark stranger the dream darkness bound dragons of the darkblood secret society druid enforcer ghostwater goddesss choice golden age greyriver shifters hotbloods hour of darkness house of darken iron and magic jinn's dominion junkyard druid Kate Daniels’ Magic Series master of magic dragon's gift natural mage natural witch obsidian son raised in fire rogues of magic shadow keeper shadow kissed space knight 4 twisted fate unchained undercover magic dragon's gift war god's mantle wheel of time wild hunger Keywords related to this science fiction romance series: Science fiction romance, Genetic Engineering, Military romance, science fiction free, science fiction free e-books, science fiction, fantasy, and horror collection, Animals & Nature, Popular Series, Top Rated Books, Tricks, Fantasy Omnibus, Spells & Charms, Romance Books, Backcountry, Fantasy Romance Books, Essential Reads, Omnibus Bundle, Science Fiction Romance Series, Adventure Books, Mythology and Folklore, Top Rated Science Fiction Collection With Military, Fantasy Bundle, Heroine, Supernatural and Occult, Best Rated Omnibus, Omnibus Collection, SciFi Romance Books