We emphasize the unique position enjoyed by the Mathieu groups as the only quadruply or quintuply transitive permutation groups that exist, other than the alternating and symmetric groups. Their involvement in the largest Conway group ·O, the Monster group M and many other exceptional sporadic simple groups is mentioned. Brief descriptions of several of the most important constructions of the group M24 are given.

This chapter considers how Anne Lister negotiated a place and identity for herself in (and beyond) Halifax society through her engagement in associational activity. This chapter positions Lister’s intellectual activity in the wider context of the opportunities for women’s participation in civic and intellectual life in this period, on a local and regional level, by considering her membership of more formal networks such as the York Friendly Society and the Halifax Literary and Philosophical Society, alongside informal ones of prominent local families. Lister’s status in her home town of Halifax was particular and unusual owing to the relatively open secret of her sexual nonconformity, as well as her propertied status as the owner of Shibden Hall. Building on the important work by Jill Liddington in Female Fortune (1998), which establishes Lister’s construction of a landed gentry identity that could compete with her fellow landowners, this chapter examines how far this exceptionality was able to carry her in evading the usual gendered constraints of intellectual life, and the ways in which she deployed traditionally patriarchal forms of power in accessing, promoting and disseminating civic projects such as the new ‘Lit and Phil’.

The conclusion ties together the framing of obscenity in how we evaluate corpse politics. It draws out five key points. First, dead bodies are vital matter, and examining dead bodies can not only shed light on cultural contexts, but it also blurs and complicates previous approaches to visuality and materiality. Second, dead bodies are inscribed with the workings of statecraft. The process of visually manifesting and narrativizing particular dead bodies is a complex social, cultural, and political process that is worth looking at. Third, what counts as obscene is a social construction and graphicness serves particular political ends. Fourth, obscene death is often characterized using the language of the extreme, the exceptional, and at times the unrepresentable. We should be asking ourselves what politics this state of exception serves, particularly about how images can both sustain and resist particular political orders. Lastly, the conclusion examines the idea of ethical witnessing, seeking to complicate the picture often painted of it, and reflect on what it means to write a book on corpse politics and the visceral experiences it often involves.

The chapter contains an overview of the main strands of philosophy and schools of thought that have influenced contemporary immigration policies, including the perception of a duty to admit persons who are in a vulnerable situation. Are there moral obligations that would qualify a state’s absolute sovereignty in deciding who should be admitted? Humanitarianism, as a norm, but also as an ideology in itself, has increasingly become a recognized part of state policies domestically as well as in foreign policy. Theories relating to assistance to those in need in foreign lands, including medical humanitarianism, have merged with domestic policy goals. The norm that often competes with humanitarianism is that of the national interests of states in terms of maintaining political and economic stability of their countries and concerns in regard to foreign policy.