ASIA PACIFIC MEDIA NETWORK:
Congratulations to our Asia Pacific Media Network (APMN) chair, Dr Heather Devere, who has another book on the politics of friendship out. Published by Palgrave Macmillan, Medieval Conceptions of Friendship: Spiritual, Secular and Political is a scholarly work that assembles an array of academic commentary on friendship and love in the Middle Ages.  The three Abrahamic religions of Christianity, Islam and Judaism furnish interpretations of the spiritual role of friendship and there is also a wealth of literature on concepts such as courtly and chivalric love and friendship. Also, pertinent to the Medieval era is the development of political treaties of friendship between emerging nation states.  

Throughout, the contemporaneous work of women and references to them are located, ensuring that they are visible.  

Interestingly, this 1000-year history has relevance for us currently.  Devere argues that discord, war, misogyny, riven communities, erosion of trust, values challenged, and increase in fear and anxiety, are all disturbingly familiar.  We can see in the Medieval literature how the values of friendship "can work against hostility and enmity and provide reassurance, a sense of belonging, support, companionship, loyalty, refuge, security, comfort and consolation… 

"Friendship gives a base for stability in societies, encouraging unity, harmony, concord, peace, order, cooperation and solidatiry. Friendship contributes to justice, equality, reason and respect… Friendship is hopeful and hope-filled politics."