Anthropology Books

Book Synopsishe Handbook of Sociocultural Anthropology presents a state of the art overview of the subject - its methodologies, current debates, history and future. It will provide the ultimate source of authoritative, critical descriptions of all the key aspects of the discipline as well as a consideration of the general state of the discipline at a time when there is notable uncertainty about its foundations, composition and direction. Divided into five core sections, the Handbook: examines the changing theoretical and analytical orientations that have led to new ways of carrying out research; presents an analysis of the traditional historical core and how the discipline has changed since 1980; considers the ethnographic regions where work has had the greatest impact on anthropology as a whole; outlines the people and institutions that are the context in which the discipline operates, covering topics from research funding to professional ethics.Bringing together leading international scholars, thTrade ReviewThis book warrants praise from the outset as the gargantuan task it represents does exactly what it sets out to do making it both a pleasure to peruse but also a vitally important and erudite addition to an anthropologist’s library... The terrain covered in this handbook is considerable, from chapters discussing Amazonia to South Asia, environment to sexuality, border politics to methodologies... A dialogue by the discipline with the discipline and one worth engaging. - LSE Review of Books - James Cuffe, University College CorkTable of ContentsGeneral IntroductionPART 1: ORIENTATIONSIntroduction1. Culture2. Power 3. Postmodernism4. Political economy5. MethodologyPART 2: ELEMENTSIntroduction6. Kinship7. Economy8. Politics9. Religion10. ExchangePART 3: ISSUESIntroduction11. Gender12. Development13. Ethnicity14. Migration15. Consumption16. Environment17. Globalisation18. Material Culture and ArtPART 4: REGIONSIntroduction19. Melanesia20. Africa21. Post-Socialist societies22. South Asia23. Amazonia24. The WestPART 5: CONTEXTIntroduction25. Research funding26. Enrolment and employment27. Applied & public anthropology28. Related disciplines29. EthicsBibliographyIndex

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Book Synopsis"First Time" traces the shape of historical thought among peoples who had previously been denied any history at all. Each page of the book presents s transcript of oral histories told by living Saramakas about their 18th century ancestors, with additional commentary.Trade Review"Sensitive and honest, First-Time is required reading for all who seek to learn something new through first-hand, long-term research with non-western intellectuals." - Norman E. Whitten, Jr., Ethnohistory

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Book SynopsisGlobal events of the early twenty-first century have placed stress on the relationship among anthropology, governance, and war. This title includes the essays that consider how anthropologists can, should, and do respond to military overtures, and articulate anthropological perspectives on global war and power relations.Trade Review"This extensive compendium of critical ideas, information, and narrative accounts makes for an absorbing reading experience. Beyond its cogency for present debates, it might well serve as a historical marker for future researchers, likely to become as important as an expression of a certain epoch of anthropological relevance to events as Reinventing Anthropology has been in the context of the 1960s." - George Marcus, University of California, Irvine"

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Book SynopsisThe first synthesis of the writings of ethnologists, historians, and anthropologists on contemporary Arawakan culturesTrade Review"A tour de force of scholarship by individuals at the very cutting edge of their discipline." Norman Whitten, the professor emeritus of anthropology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

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Book SynopsisStructure, Meaning and Ritual in the Narratives of the Southern San analyses texts drawn from the Bleek and Lloyd Archive - arguably one of the most important collections for the understanding of South African cultural heritage and in particular the traditions of the /Xam, South Africa's 'first people'. Initially appearing in a now rare 1986 edition and here re-issued for the first time, the doctoral thesis on which the book is based became the catalyst for much scholarly research.The book offers an analysis of the entire corpus of /Xam narratives found in the Bleek and Lloyd collection, focusing particularly on the cycle of narratives concerning the trickster /Kaggen (Mantis). These are examined on three levels from the 'deep structures' with resonances in other areas of /Xam culture and supernatural belief, through the recurring patterns of narrative composition apparent across the cycle, and finally touching on the observable differences in the performances by the various /Xam collaborators. The exposition of the connections between these levels is cogently argued and richly supported by detailed reference to the ethnographic record specific to the /Xam. The work also contains two supporting ethnographic appendixes relating to beliefs and practices concerning shamans and girls' puberty observances.Hewitt's text remains the only comprehensive and detailed study of /Xam narrative, and it has become itself the object of study by researchers and Ph.D candidates in South Africa, the UK, Canada and elsewhere. This new edition at last makes Hewitt's important work more widely available. It will be a welcome addition to the recently burgeoning literature on the place of the /Xam hunter-gatherers in the complex history of South African culture and society.Trade ReviewRoger Hewitt's 'centrally important thesis... was the first to recognize the significance of the [Bleek and Lloyd] archive and give us the inaugural scholarly introduction to it. Pippa Skotnes, director of the Bleek and Lloyd archive This remains a remarkable work of scholarship. Andrew Bank, historian, University of the Western Cape

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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Book SynopsisIn this work of historical imagination, Jacobson argues that race resides in contingencies of politics and culture. Linking whiteness studies to traditional historical inquiry, he shows that in a nation of immigrants, race has been at the core of civic assimilationethnic minorities, in becoming American, were re-racialized to become Caucasian.Trade ReviewWhiteness of a Different Color offers an unanswerable demonstration that the historical whitening of European immigrants intensified 'race' as the marker of a white/black divide. Jacobson challenges at once the revival of the Caucasian racial category and the real inequalities to which it points. -- Michael Rogin, Robson Professor of Political Science, University of California, BerkeleyIn this fascinating book, Jacobson traces the development of racial identity in America. Between the 1840s and the 1920s, racial differences and hierarchy between Anglo-Saxons and other white ethnic groups were given great significance. "White ethnics" were generally considered as distinct and inferior to the original Anglo Saxon immigrants...[Whiteness of a Different Color] explodes the myth of the American melting pot. Jacobson demonstrates how white racial inclusion was inextricably linked with the exclusion of non-whites and, interestingly, how their widely-recognised whiteness is partly due to the presence of non-white groups...This is a thought-provoking account of an often overlooked topic. -- Claire Xanthos * The Voice *Whiteness of a Different Color tells us about the varying, and inevitably failing, attempts to come to terms with the concept of "whiteness", which, despite its vicissitude and inconclusiveness, was, and still is, one of the most important notions in American political culture...True to his "identities" as historian and American Studies scholar, Jacobson's sources are tremendously varied, ranging from novels, films, print journals, to legal records, colonial charters, and state constitutions...The book's argument is most convincing. -- Christiane Harzig * International Review of Social History *[Matthew Frye Jacobson's] analysis of the European immigrant experiences, American racial classifications and "their fluidity over time" is a valuable addition to the flourishing genre of "whiteness studies" in the fields of labour and working-class history...Racial categories and perceptions, Jacobson argues, are cultural and political fabrications, reflections of power relationships in a society that has periodically needed to construct (and reconstruct) an "American" and "white" identity out of an increasingly polyglot European immigrant population...Whiteness of a Different Color is a subtle and sensitive exegesis and deconstruction of the immigrant experience in American culture. -- John White * Times Higher Education Supplement *Jacobson builds a history of how the category of "whiteness" plays in American history...His goal is to demystify, and the tone he takes does exactly that. Wry and often sarcastic, his bite is sharpened by his ability to pick out the dark, unintentional humor from his sources. -- Willoughby Mariano * New Haven Advocate *Jacobson's important book helps to fill an important gap in the literature about the history of European immigrants assuming different racial identities in the United States...Because of its broad sweep of history, Jacobson is able to reveal previously ignored ways in which anti-racism coalitions have succeeded without yielding to assimilationist ideology. -- Louis Anthes * H-Net Reviews *Jacobson has written a provocative, nuanced account of American race formation and especially of the way in which many American immigrants from Europe were cast initially as "nonwhites" in the late 19th century...Using a variety of sources, including film and fiction, Jacobson concludes that whiteness is clearly a socially constructed category infinitely malleable as a political tool. This historical survey is highly recommended for all libraries. -- Anthony O. Edmonds * Library Journal *This groundbreaking book advances the study of white identity (both as category and as consciousness) significantly. It takes intellectual chances and makes the risks pay off. -- David Roediger, author of The Wages of WhitenessWhiteness of a Different Color is nothing less than a powerful synthesis of American history. Viewing the U.S. through the prism of race, Matthew Frye Jacobson re-writes 'immigrant history' and, in the process, discovers the key to America's past and future. -- Robin D.G. Kelley, author of Race RebelsTable of Contents* Note on Usage * Introduction: The Fabrication of Race * The Political History of Whiteness *"Free White Persons" in the Republic, 1790--1840 * Anglo-Saxons and Others, 1840--1924 * Becoming Caucasian, 1924--1965 * History, Race, and Perception *1877: The Instability of Race * Looking Jewish, Seeing Jews * The Manufacture of Caucasians * The Crucible of Empire * Naturalization and the Courts * The Dawning Civil Rights Era * Epilogue: Ethnic Revival and the Denial of White Privilege * Notes * Acknowledgments * Index

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Book SynopsisModern Japan offers us a view of a highly developed society with its own internal logic. Eiko Ikegami makes this logic accessible to us through a sweeping investigation into the roots of Japanese organizational structures.Trade ReviewEiko Ikegami examines the nature and historical development of the samurai ethos, specifically concepts of honour, in the belief that the ideas which evolved among samurai in that context in pre-modern Japan do much to explain the paradox that a society almost universally regarded as conformist has undergone changes in the past 100 years that have been radical, even revolutionary, and owed much of their character to individual initiative. It is a very large subject… Professor Ikegami has produced a book of major importance for the understanding of Japan. * Times Literary Supplement *This book has already been widely praised by prominent American political scientists and historians for answering how the Japanese achieved modernity without traveling the route taken by Western countries. At once a remarkable historical study of the samurai warrior class from its ancient origins to its transformation under the Tokugawa regime and a comparative study that makes Japan available for analysis alongside other great instances of state formation… Beautifully written. It will undoubtedly become standard reading in universities around the world. * Foreign Affairs *[Ikegami’s] analysis…constitute[s] a very important contribution combining historical, sociological, and anthropological approaches to the analysis of Japanese society and history… Full of very important insights. -- S. N. Eisenstadt * American Journal of Sociology *Eiko Ikegami’s study of the samurai during Japan’s feudal period is a book of considerable intellectual sophistication. The analysis is rigorous and elegant, and in the course of time will no doubt be regarded as the definitive statement on this subject… This is a superb book. -- T. L. Richardson * Asian Affairs *Ikegami’s mastery of the sources, not only for the Tokugawa Period but going all the way back to the beginning of Japanese history, is most impressive… One can learn a great deal about premodern Japanese society from this book. -- Robert N. Bellah * Contemporary Sociology *Ikegami offers persuasive, well-documented answers in this remarkable book. Two interwoven and recurring themes are central to her thesis. The first is the samurai ethos of what she labels ‘honorific individualism’ marked by an obsession with personal dignity, self-esteem, and reputation… The second is the unresolvable and dramatic conflict between autonomy and heteronomy—between the violence-based honor of the samurai elite and the need to control them under a collective political order. Ikegami explores the historical sites and paths of these themes, painstakingly tracing their origins, development, transformation, and recurrence. The final product is a historical sociology of Japan on a grand scale… The book deserves the attention of anyone interested in historical and comparative sociology or ethnography, cultural psychology, and enduring issues of individual freedom versus social order… Non-academic readers will find an educational and entertaining story in this elegantly written book. -- Takie Sugiyama Lebra * Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies *Ikegami’s multidimensional approach fuses historical and political processes with an examination of four aspects of samurai life: the system of vassalage; the emergence of the ie, or house, as a social unit among the landed military elite; the military role of the samurai and the nature of warfare; and the relationship of the samurai class to other social classes… In addition to explaining the cultural origins of contemporary forms of social organization in Japan, The Taming of the Samurai makes a major contribution to the cross-cultural study of individuality and identity. -- Janet Goff * Japan Quarterly *An important contribution to Japanese sociology and history. -- Carl Steenstrup * Journal of Japanese Studies *The story of how the forty-seven loyal retainers took revenge for their lord’s death in 1703 is the most retold tale in Japanese literature and history, but Ikegami brings to it a fresh perspective based on her historical analysis of what honor meant in samurai society… Packed with ideas, this book is certain to be debated long and hard in Japanese history circles. it is to be hoped that it will have a similar impact on scholars trying to understand the ingredients of state formation in societies around the world. -- Anne Walthall * Journal of Social History *This book is a must for those who wish to know why Japan succeeded in its industrialization effort and how the otherwise paradoxical sense of collectivism versus individualism exists in Japan. General readers; upper-division undergraduates and above. -- M. Y. Rynn * Choice *Ikegami analyzes the Japanese state so sure-handedly that old prejudices fall away and the Japanese path of change, in all its distinctness, becomes available for comparison with other great experiences of state formation. Japanese traits that once seemed peculiarities of an inscrutable culture become, in her deft treatment, understandable consequences of a vast political transformation. -- Charles Tilly, Center for Studies of Social Change, The New School for Social ResearchTable of ContentsI. A Sociological Approach Introduction 1. Honor, State Formation, and Social Theories II. Origins in Violence 2. The Coming of the Samurai: Violence and Culture in the Ancient World 3. Vassalage and Honor 4. The Rite of Honorable Death: Warfare and the Samurai Sensibility III. Disintegration and Reorganization 5. Social Reorganization in the Late Medieval Period 6. A Society Organized for War IV. The Paradoxical Nature of Tokugawa

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Book SynopsisDraws on research in archeology, anthropology, linguistics and on historiography. This book charts the development of Ethiopian peoples and their society, placing emphasis on the African origins of Ethiopian civilization.Trade Review"Clear, balanced and well informed, drawing on the latest sources to valuable effect, especially in references to archaeological work." Times Literary Supplement "Richard Pankhurst's contribution to The Peoples of Africa series will be a useful tool for students and general readers who are new to Ethiopian history." Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies "The Ethiopians makes an excellent introduction to the fascinating past of Ethiopia." Danny Yee's Book Reviews - For the full text of this review please visit: http://dannyreviews.com/h/Ethiopians.html "... excellent, based on current scholarship, factual and replete with the type of generalizations necessary for a good tertiary study." Journal of African HistoryTable of ContentsList of Plates. List of Maps. Series Editor's Preface. Table of Dates. Maps. 1. Prehistory and Geography. 2. Punt, Pharaohs and Ptolemies, the Aksumite Kingdom, and the Coming of Christianity. 3. The Zagwé Dynasty, Lalibala Churches, and Solomonic 'Restoration'. 4. Life in the Middle Ages, Contacts with Muslim Neighbours and Far-off Christians. 5. Ahmad ibn Ibrahim, Oromo Migration, and Ottoman Seizure of Massawa. 6. The Move of Capital North-West, and the Roman Catholic Interlude. 7. The Rise and Fall of Gondar. 8. The Early Nineteenth-Century, and the Advent of Téwodros II. 9. Yohannes, Menilek, and the European Powers. 10. Beginnings of Modernisation, Menilek, Iyasu, Zawditu, and Haile Sellassie. 11. Invasion, Occupation, and Liberation. 12. Restoration and Revolution. Bibliography. Index.

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Book SynopsisReligion's impact on Indian society analyzed by Prof. Venugopal. Essays highlight role in addressing challenges, preserving culture. Emphasizes religion's vital role in Indian society's survival.

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Book SynopsisA radical critique of the heritage industries.Trade Review'The Heritage Machine pushes us to question disciplinary boundaries through a well-crafted and critical analysis of 'heritage' that combines introspection with ethnographic approaches. Gonzalez's provocation in this book is radical' -- Dante Angelo, Universidad de Tarapac, Chile'Gonzalez identifies the varied and complex agency of a once despised and now exoticized population against the oppressive backdrop of Spanish nationalism and international neoliberalism. He thereby also throws down a provocative gauntlet to current assumptions in academic heritage discourse' -- Michael Herzfeld, Ernest E. Monrad Professor of the Social Sciences, Harvard University'An engaging and theoretically grounded analysis of 'heritage' as a form of relation in fetishist societies. Alonso offers an insightful ethnographic exploration while deconstructing the Maragato myth, one of the 'damned peoples' of Spain' -- Cristina Sanchez-Carretero, Spanish National Research CouncilTable of ContentsList of Figures Series Preface 1. Introduction 2. The Emergence of Heritage 3. Race, Ethnicity and Nationalism in Spain 4. The Subordination of Peasants in Maragateria 5. Before Heritage: 'Juntas Vecinales' and 'Tamboriteros' 6. Social Construction of Heritage in the Teleno Military Shooting Range 7. Pseudo-archaeology and the Critique of Heritage Epistemology 8. Return to the Countryside in Prada de la Sierra 9. The Heritage Machine in Val de San Lorenzo 10. The Spectacle of the Other and the Negation of Heritage Bibilography Index

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Book SynopsisIn the top corner of the window a pale, milky-white wisp is rising almost to the top of our ten-foot ceiling. I am startled but not afraid. Mostly, I am engrossed; I have never seen anything like this before (or since) and it fascinates me.Dennis Waskul writes these linesabout his first-hand experience with the supernaturalin the introduction to his beguiling book Ghostly Encounters. Based on two years of fieldwork and interviews with 71 midwestern Americans, the Waskuls' book is a reflexive ethnography that examines how people experience ghosts and hauntings in everyday life. The authors explore how uncanny happenings become ghosts, and the reasons people struggle with or against a will to believe. They present the variety and character of hauntings and ghostly encounters, outcomes of people telling haunted legends, and the nested consequences of ghostly experiences. Through these stories, Ghostly Encounters seeks to understand the persistence of uncanny experiences and beliefs in gTable of ContentsPrefaceAcknowledgments1 The Trouble with Ghosts2 Ghostly Reason3 Ghostly Topology4 Ghostly Legends5 Ghostly SpeculationsAppendix: Methods and DataReferencesIndex

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Book SynopsisIn a volume that brings together a wide range of disciplines - art history, sociology, architecture, cultural anthropology, and environmental psychology - Irene Cieraad presents a collection of articles that focuses on the practices and symbolism of domestic space in Western society.Trade ReviewThis volume on domestic space brings together research traditions that have never mingled before: art history, social history, women's studies, design history, architectural history, cultural anthropology, ethnology, sociology, housing sociology, environmental psychology, material cultural studies and consumer studies.... The book displays the varied approaches that can be taken when studying domestic space and is a very interesting read. - Area ""Amsterdam anthropologist Irene Cieraad edits this interdisciplinary collection of articles looking inward at Western urban living and examining what our homes reveal about our cultures and societies." - Today's Books

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Book SynopsisA new edition of a classic work of American history that eloquently examines the rise of antimodernism at the turn of the twentieth century.Trade Review"Auspicious radical history: cogently argued, crisply written, and alive with intellectual passion."-- "Kirkus Reviews" "This is a powerful and provocative reinterpretation. . . of the dominant Anglo-American culture of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It is a book that all scholars in the field will have to take into account."-- "American Historical Review"Table of ContentsForeword by Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen Preface (1994) Preface Acknowledgments 1. Roots of Antimodernism: The Crisis of Cultural Authority during the Late Nineteenth Century A Pattern of Evasive Banality: Official Modern Culture in Industrial America A Social Crisis: The Republican Tradition and the Radical Specter Unreal City: Social Science, Secularization, and the Emergence of Weightlessness Psychic Crisis: Neurasthenia and the Emergence of a Therapeutic World View 2. The Figure of the Artisan: Arts and Crafts Ideology Origins of the American Craft Revival: Persons and Perceptions Revitalization and Transformation in Arts and Crafts Ideology: The Simple Life, Aestheticism, Educational Reform Reversing Antimodernism: The Factory, the Market, and the Process of Rationalization The Fate of the Craft Ideal 3. The Destructive Element: Modern Commercial Society and the Martial Ideal From Domestic Realism to “Real Life” Class, Race, and the Worship of Force The Psychological Uses of the Martial Ideal: The Cult of Experience and the Quest for Authentic Selfhood The Psychological Uses of the Martial Ideal: Guiney, Norris, Adams 4. The Morning of Belief: Medieval Mentalities in a Modern World The Image of Childhood and the Childhood of the Race Medieval Sincerity: Genteel and Robust Medieval Vitality: The Erotic Union of Sacred and Profane The Medieval Unconscious: Therapy and Protest 5. The Religion of Beauty: Catholic Forms and American Consciousness The Rise of Catholic Taste: Cultural Authority and Personal Regeneration Art, Ritual, and Belief: The Protestant Dilemma American Anglo-Catholicism: Legitimation and Protest The Poles of Anglicanism: Cram and Scudder 6. From Patriarchy to Nirvana: Patterns of Ambivalence The Problem of Victorian Ambivalence: Sources and Solutions The Lotus and the Father: Bigelow, Lowell, Lodge William Sturgis Bigelow Percival Lowell George Cabot Lodge Aesthetic Catholicism and “Feminine” Values: Norton, Hall, Brooks Charles Eliot Norton G. Stanley Hall Van Wyck Brooks 7. From Filial Loyalty to Religious Protest: Henry Adams Early Manhood: The Meandering Track of the Family Go-Cart Husband, Historian, Novelist: Adams’s Crisis of Generativity The Antimodern Quest: From Niagara to the Virgin Between Father and Mother, I: The Virgin, the Dynamo, and the Angelic Doctor Between Father and Mother, II: The Antimodern Modernist Epilogue Biographical Appendix Notes Index

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Book SynopsisThe Perfect Vaginahighlights the complexities involved with Female Genital Cosmetic Surgery, its role in Western beauty culture, and the creation and control of body image in countries where self-care is valorized and medicine is increasingly harnessed for enhancement as well as health.Trade ReviewThe Perfect Vagina highlights the complexities involved with FGCS, its role in Western beauty culture, and the creation and control of body image in countries where self-care is valorized and medicine is increasingly harnessed for enhancement as well as health. -- Jana Byars * New Books Network *Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsPrologue: Mandy's StoryIntroduction: Vulnerable Vulvas1. Melting Snowflakes: Toward a Clean Slit2. Normativity and the Contradictory Nature of Normal3. Seeking Vulval Perfection4. Vulva Las Vegas: Science, Magic (a Gamble) or More of the Same?5. Autonomy, Risk, Desire, and MagicAppendicesReferencesIndex

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Book SynopsisReflecting in 1769 on the manners and customs of the South Sea islands, Joseph Banks remarked that ‘in every expedient for taking fish they are vastly ingenious.’ Hence the title of this book on Pacific material culture, past and present, with broad themes of origins, the movement of peoples and the development of their technologies.Table of ContentsIntroduction; Early Maori disc pendants; Gourd artefacts from the Kohika lake village; Cooking with pots -- again; Metal Pa Kahawai; A cache of fishhooks from Serendipity Cave; Horticultural site complexes on stony soils of the eastern North Island; Arthur of HMS Adventure and Veryan, Cornwall; Me'a lalanga and the category Koloa; Ancestral Polynesian fishing gear; Reading Pacific pots; The rise of the Saudeleur; A study of gorges from the Gogna-Cove Beach Site, Guam; The role of fishing lure shanks for the past people of Pohnpei; Shell fishhooks of the Lapita cultural complex; The material culture of Makira; Shaft-hole stone implements of New Britain; Pottery styles at Wanelek, Papua New Guinea; Still vastly ingenious? Globalisation and the collecting of Pacific material cultures.

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Book SynopsisThe growing absence of meaningful ritual in contemporary Western societies has led to cohesive research on the history of ritualizing behaviour in different cultures. The relatively new field of ritology, which includes neuroscience, anthropology, cultural psychology, psychotherapy and even art and performance, raises questions about the significance and practice of ritual today. This book is the first of its kind to discuss the importance of secular rituals for cultural and personal growth. Using a transdisciplinary approach, a range of contributors provide an authoritative account of the science and history of rituals and their role in creating healthy societies in the modern age.Trade ReviewEmerging Ritual in Secular Societies is a timely addition to the scholarship of sociology and culture, and indeed, to sociology of religion as well. Often overlooked by those who equate ritual with religion, the authors of this book provide rich descriptions of how secular rituals bind communities together and create meaning for groups and individuals. -- Sharon L. Miller, Ph.D. Director of Research, Auburn Theological Seminary, USABased on instructive case studies, this book contributes very valuable insights on the importance and functions of non-religious rituals within secularized pluralistic societies in order to create individual meaning in life and establish social cohesion in heterogeneous contexts. -- Professor Dr. René Gründer, Sociologist, GermanyEmerging Ritual in Secular Societies constitutes an important contribution to the burgeoning field of Ritual Studies. The essays featured in this edited volume, written by leading anthropologists, psychologists, and sociologists, as well as ritual professionals, present a unique vantage point that combines both academic and practical concerns. Focusing on contemporary secular rituals, Emerging Ritual in Secular Societies successfully navigates between ritual theory and practice, offering answers to such issues as the role of ritual in modern life and the mechanisms involved in constructing new rituals to celebrate life events in a non-religious context. For far too long, modern scholars of ritual have ignored the perspectives of living ritualists in favor of developing theoretical frameworks that analyzed ritual from a supposed perspective of scientific cognitive distance. Following in the footsteps of contemporary ritologists such as Ronald Grimes, this volume aims to rectify this situation by offering a transdisciplinary exploration of ritual presented by experienced professionals involved in the creation and practice of new forms of ritual activity. This well-written and informative work will be of strong interest to scholars and students of ritual alike. -- Ori Tavor, Lecturer in Chinese Studies, Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, University of Pennsylvania, USAEmerging Ritual in Secular Societies is a rich collection of essays, case studies, and interviews that help us understand how people make meaning, mark life transitions, and construct spiritual journeys without the benefit of religious institutions. It contributes not only to our knowledge of ritual practices and secularization, but also to our appreciation of the multiple ways people employ their imaginations to connect with the mystery of grace and the power of human community. -- The Rev. Dr. Deborah Kapp, Edward F. and Phyllis K. Campbell Professor of Urban Ministry, McCormick Theological SeminaryThis fine volume shines a much-needed light on the growing field of secular ritual, and its breadth and depth offer rich insights for scholars and practitioners alike. It's a wonderful contribution to the important conversation about finding meaning and connection in an ever-more complex world. -- Sarah Kerr, PhD. Death Doula & Ritual Practitioner, Soul Passages, CanadaThis book is indeed a transdisciplinary conversation on how ritual supports society in its primary role. The writers remind us that throughout the history of civilisation we have used ritual to deal with potentially traumatic events. As a therapist I particularly appreciate how Robert Scaer relates ritual to the neurophysiology of trauma. In trauma therapy our first challenge is helping people feel safe so they can self-regulate. Matthieu Smyth considers ritual a privileged means for group self-regulation through attachment and emotional attunement. Michael Picucci contributes outstanding resources for the use of ritual in clinical practice as well as in intimate relationships. The case studies and research demonstrate the importance of respecting ritual timing, interpersonal resonance and our own biological rhythms. Integrating all of these aspects in one book was a stroke of genius! -- Sonia Gomes, PhD in Clinical Psychology, International SE Advanced Faculty of the Somatic Experiencing Trauma Institute, USA. Creator of SOMA (Embodiment - Touch & Movement in Somatic Experiencing) in Brazil and USAAs an artist I'm drawn to secular ritual - those events where we 'make meaning' with each other outside of (though perhaps borrowing from) traditions. We dearly need guidance in this moment, as traditions harden into entrenched divisions. This book on contemporary ritual encourages us to rethink what it is that unites us, what deserves to be celebrated, and how to reinvent rituals to bridge our differences -- Suzanne Lacy, Ph.D. Artist, Professor, Roski School of Art and Design, University of Southern CaliforniaThrough ritual we can experience stability and safety. As we 'do something' to mark an occasion, we connect with other people and something beyond ourselves. Those with complex trauma suffer greatly from loss of equilibrium and connection with others. Emerging Ritual in Secular Societies opens the way to treating emotional responses to trauma by ritualising transitions and celebrating life. This is effective when, as Jeltje Gordon-Lennox writes, ritual is a body-based, rather than a cognitive experience. -- Dagmar Härle, Master of Psychotraumatology (University of Zurich); Practitioner of Somatic Experience, TCTSY-Facilitator (Traumacenter Traumasensitive Yoga)A well-researched book, with engaging dialogue on emerging ritual through the human sciences, art and life experiences, which leaves the door open for intelligent discussion. This is more than an academic book, it's a well-intended and clear-sighted discussion. I believe this book will benefit any reader and is an absolute must for many years to come. -- Cécile Wesolowski, www.cecilewesolowski.comThis creative enlightening book is rich in perspectives. It conveys a deep understanding of the value and meaning of rituals and incorporates many moving and powerful examples. It will appeal to anthropologists and psychotherapists, celebrants and faith leaders and individuals looking to express themselves at significant moments in their lives. It has the potential to spark ideas and give depth to people's experience. -- Dr Sharon Pettle, Consultant Clinical Psychologist & Systemic Psychotherapist, UKWhy do citizens of secular societies continue to ritualize? Contributors to this provocative volume answer with a focus on how we are actually doing it, documenting the immense creativity with which people craft and enact new rituals to celebrate unions, mark life transitions, say goodbye, heal, reconcile and remember, but also to experience the world afresh. -- Jane K. Cowan Ph.D. Professor of Anthropology, University of Sussex, UKA delightful exploration of meaning-making beyond the frontal cortex. This fascinating book describes secular ritual as "multi-media packages" of "human technology" for making meaning through sound, touch, smell, taste, color, shape, and motion. A sensual map for times of transition. -- Lisa Schirch, Ph.D. author of 'Ritual and Symbol in Peacebuilding' and Research Professor at Eastern Mennonite University, Virginia, USARitual has been an overlooked asset to the healing of trauma and to restoring broken connections. The diverse contributors to this volume make this a widespread and accessible work for all those interested in ritual and social trauma. -- Peter A Levine Author of Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma and Trauma and MemoryDemonstrating the need for a more inclusive ritual grammar, Emerging Ritual in Secular Societies meets the demands of a changing world. The variety of discussions in this book contribute generously to the bricolage that is the secular ritualist's toolbox. It is a highly useful methodology for practitioners. -- Nina Faartoft, Head of Ceremonies, Danish Humanist Society, anthropologist and funeral celebrantThis volume offers a much-needed roadmap for exploring a new territory: that of making sense of life through secular ritual, both in public and in private spaces. It offers foundational chapters and a number of useful case studies. It is a major contribution to the field of ritual studies and will be highly helpful to both scholars and practitioners. -- Peter Nissen, Professor of Spirituality Studies, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The NetherlandsTable of ContentsList of Illustrations. Credits. Notes on Contributors. Introduction. Jeltje Gordon-Lennox, Ashoka Association, Geneva, CH. Part I THE ORIGINS OF RITUAL. 1. The Art of Ritual and the Ritual of Art. Ellen Dissanayake. 2. Human Rituals and Ethology: A Scholar's Journey. Matthieu Smyth, Ritual Anthropologist, University of Strasbourg. 3. The Neurophysiology of Ritual and Trauma: Cultural Implications. Robert C. Scaer, Neurologist, Psychologist, Colorado, USA. Part II - SENSEMAKING IN LIFE EVENTS. 4. The Rhyme and Reason of Ritualmaking. Jeltje Gordon-Lennox. 5. Case Study: A Nordic Rite of Passage Come of Age. Jeltje Gordon-Lennox with Lene Mürer, Siri Sandberg and Inger-Johanne Slaatta (Norwegian Humanist Assocation), Marie Louise Petersen (Danish Humanist Society), Bjarni Jonsson (Icelandic Ethical Humanist Association), and Tuomas Rutanen (Finnish Prometheus Camps Association). 6. Multicultural Wedding Ceremonies: Venturing into the World of Diversity. Andrés Allemand Smaller, Journalist, Geneva, CH. 7. Case Study: A Funeral Ceremony for a Violinist. Christine Behrend, Celebrant, Pully, CH. 8. Case Study: A Memorial and a Wedding Rolled into one Humanist Ceremony. Isabel Russo, Head of Ceremonies at British Humanist Association, London, UK. 9. Part III RITUALIZING IN INTIMATE SPACES. 9. Ritual - A Resource for Health and Transformation in the Twenty-first Century. Michael Picucci, PhD., New York City, USA. 10. Sensing the Dead: The Role of Embodiment, the Senses and Material Objects in the Ritualization of Mourning. Joanna Wojtkowiak, PhD., Cultural Psychologist, University of Humanistic Studies, Utrecht, NL. 11. Food and Ritual. Lindy Mechefske, Journalist, Ontario, CAN. Part IV RITUALIZING IN PUBLIC PLACES. 12. Commemorative Ritual and the Power of Place. Irene Stengs, PhD, Cultural Anthropologist, Amsterdam, NL. 13. New Ritual Society: Consumerist Revolution and the Rediscovery of Ritual. Gianpiero Vincenzo, Accademia di Belle Arti di Catania, Italy. 14. Ritual and Contemporary Art. Jacqueline Millner, Sydney College of the Arts, Sydney, AUS. 15. Interview: Ritual Artist Ida van der Lee. Index.

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Book SynopsisHistories you can trust.Imagine the planet, as if from an immense distance of time and space, as a galactic observer might see itwith the kind of objectivity that we, who are enmeshed in our history, cant attain.The Oxford History of the World encompasses the whole span of human history. It brings together some of the world''s leading historians, under the expert guidance of Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, to tell the 200,000-year story of our world, from the emergence of homo sapiens through to the twenty-first century: the environmental convulsions; the interplay of ideas (good and bad); the cultural phases and exchanges; the collisions and collaborations in politics; the successions of states and empires; the unlocking of energy; the evolutions of economies; the contacts, conflicts, and contagions that have all contributed to making the world we now inhabit.Trade ReviewWhen a renowned academic publisher such as Oxford University Press gathers well-known (mainly British and American) historians to write a history of the whole world, one can expect a cross between the highest condition, light and metaphorical language and opulent visualization - and this is exactly what this volume delivers. * Matthias Middell, Comparativ *To say that The Oxford History Of The World is a monumental undertaking is something of an understatement. In just over 400 pages some of the world's most noted historians come together to tell the story of human history, from its first breath to the modern age ... The result is a triumph ... As accessible as it is well-researched, it really is a joy to read and will satisfy anyone who wants to delve deeper into the history of the world. * All About History *Extraordinary ... [A] beautiful book, with accessible essays of such originality * Richard Drayton, Times Literary Supplement *Some books are admirable because of their sheer scope and ambition, and this overview of the entirety of the human story fits firmly within that category. * History Revealed *A handy compendium of some of the major moments and periods of transformation in human history, set in a global context. * Lucia Marchini, Minerva *Condensing the story of humanity's 200,000 year tenure on Earth into 450 pages could be an act of hubris or the result of orderly - yet imaginative - minds making connections across centuries and continents. The Oxford History of the World is more the latter... a pleasure to read with many thought-provoking passages. * David Luhrssen, Shepherd Express *Are you intellectually curious, but very busy? Would you have liked to understand the biggest questions about the history of the last 200,000 years, but you don't have the time required to read 97 different fat books to tell you the answers? Are you looking for just one book that will summarize it all? Then this is your book! It's exciting, up-to-date, and well-written. You'll love it! * Jared Diamond, Professor of Geography at UCLA and Pulitzer-Prize-winning author of Guns, Germs, and Steel and The World Until Yesterday *Felipe Fernández-Armesto and his gifted team have produced the world history for our times, ecologically oriented, written from multiple standpoints and informed by systematic comparison. * Peter Burke, Professor Emeritus of Cultural History, University of Cambridge *A truly remarkable book. * Richard Lofthouse, Quad Magazine *Brilliant and provocative * Art Eyewitness *Table of ContentsPart I: Children of the Ice 1: Clive Gamble: Humanity From the Ice: The Emergence and Spread of an Adaptive Species 2: Felipe Fernández-Armesto: The Mind in the Ice: Art and Thought before Agriculture Part II: Of Mud and Metal 3: Martin Jones: Into a Warming World 4: Felipe Fernández-Armesto: The Farmers' Empires: Climax and Crises in Agrarian States and Cities Part III: The Oscillations of Empires 5: John Brooke: Material Life: Bronze Age Crisis to the Black Death 6: David Northrup: Intellectual Traditions: Philosophy, Science, Religion, and the Arts, 500 BCE - 1350 CE 7: Ian Morris: Growth: Social and Political Organizations, 1000 BC-AD 1350 Part IV: The Climatic Reversal 8: David Northrup: A Converging World: Economic and Ecological Encounters, 1350-1815 9: Manuel Lucena-Giraldo: Renaissances, Reformations, and Mental Revolutions: Intellect and Arts in the Early Modern World 10: Anjana Singh: Connected by Emotions and Experiences: Monarchs, Merchants, Mercenaries, and Migrants in the Early Modern World Part V: The Great Acceleration 11: David Christian: The Anthropocene Epoch: The Background to Two Transformative Centuries 12: Paolo Luca Bernardini: The Modern World and Its Demons: Ideology and After in Arts, Letters and Thought, 1815-2008 13: Jeremy Black: Politics and Society in the Kaleidoscope of Change: Relationships, Institutions, and Conflicts from the Beginnings of Western Hegemony to the American Supremacy

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Book SynopsisFailing Forward documents the global rise of neoliberal conservation as a response to biodiversity loss and unpacks how this approach has managed to fail forward over time despite its ineffectiveness. At its core, neoliberal conservation promotes market-based instruments intended to reconcile environmental preservation and economic development by harnessing preservation itself as the source of both conservation finance and capital accumulation more generally. Robert Fletcher describes how this project has developed over the past several decades along with the expanding network of organizations and actors that have come together around its promotion. Drawing on Lacanian psychoanalysis, he explores why this strategy continues to captivate states, nongovernmental organizations, international financial institutions, and the private sector alike despite its significant deficiencies. Ultimately, Fletcher contends, neoliberal conservation should be understood as a failed attempt to render gloTable of ContentsContents List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Abbreviations Introduction: Capitalism on Trial 1 • Conceptualizing Neoliberal Biopower 2 • Conjuring Natural Capital 3 • Imagining the Market 4 • The Neoliberal Ecolaboratory 5 • The Anti-regulation Machine 6 • How to Fail Forward 7 • Neoliberal Conservation in Ruins? 8 • There Is No Alternative to Degrowth Conclusion: Traversing the Neoliberal Fantasy Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisWINNER, 2024 Jock Young Criminological Imagination Book Award, given by the Division on Critical Criminology & Social Justice of American Society of CriminologyA riveting indictment of a government that fails to help citizens in need of aid, protection, andhumanityThe Shaming State argues that Americans have been abandoned by a government that has relinquished its duties of care toward its citizens. Sara Salman describes a government that withholds care in times of need and instead shames the very citizens it claims to serve, both poor and middle class. She argues that the state does so by emphasizing personal responsibility, thus tacitly blaming the needy for relying on state programs. This blame is pervasive in the American cultural imagination, existing in political discourse and internalized by Americans. This book explores how shaming is exhibited by state and political institutions by showing the ways in which the state withholds care, and how people who need that care are humiliTrade Review"The Shaming State offers a brilliant ethnographic analysis of how the supposedly compassionate welfare state produced just the opposite of its explicitly stated intentions. Focusing on problems faced by immigrants in Michigan and by people traumatized by Hurricane Sandy in New York City, Sara Salman shows similarities and differences in the two U.S. cases while calling for a genuinely more caring approach to public policies and governmental assistance. Scholars, policymakers, and activists will learn much from this detailed, insightful, and beautifully written study." * Lynn S. Chancer, author of After the Rise and Stall of American Feminism: Taking Back a Revolution *"In moments of acute need and social vulnerability arising from displacement and persecution, how does the state respond in aid to groups in need? Salman examines with rigor, humanity, and beautiful prose how two seemingly dissimilar groups experience cultural notions of worthiness, precarity, suspicion, and responsibility. As the book centers the psychology of shame and moral worth, readers learn how government bureaucracies communicate deservingness to groups and in so doing the limits of a caring state and the American Dream." * Lauren Duquette-Rury, author of Exit and Voice: The Paradox of Cross-Border Politics in Mexico *"This is an intriguing, timely, and insightful book that examines how care is administered and vulnerability is mitigated in the US. Or not administered or mitigated because of longstanding hostility to such assistance from whichever political party is in office. Instead, these aspects of American society have made it a shaming state." * John Pratt, author of Law, Insecurity and Risk Control: Neo-Liberal Governance and the Populist Revolt *

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Book SynopsisOffers for the first time a critical, wide-ranging geographical and temporal look at the varieties of whale histories in the Pacific. The contributors, from around the Pacific, present a wealth of fascinating stories while breaking new methodological ground in environmental history, women’s history, animal studies, and Indigenous ontologies.

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Book SynopsisAlison J. Clarke is Professor of Design History and Theory, and Director of the Victor J. Papanek Foundation at the University of Applied Arts Vienna, Austria.Trade ReviewIn recent decades designers have armed themselves with ethnographic methods, left the creative studio, and ventured out into the field. In a parallel movement, anthropologists have drawn unexpected insight from the designer’s task of structuring our common experience. This fascinating volume offers diverse perspectives on the affinities between these complementary fields. * Barry Katz, professor of industrial and interaction design at California College of the Arts, USA *Table of ContentsList of Illustrations List of Contributors Acknowledgments Introduction 1. Materials and Design, Susanne Küchler (UCL, UK) 2. Objects in Sociology, Harvey Molotch (NYU, USA) 3. The Anthropological Object in Design: From Victor Papenek to Superstudio, Alison J. Clarke (University of Applied Arts Vienna, Austria) 4. Valuable to Values: How "User Research" Ought to Change, Maria Bezaitis (Intel Corporation, USA) and Rick E. Robinson (University of Colorado, USA) 5. Poetic Observation: What Designers Make of What They See, Jane Fulton Suri (IDEO, USA) 6. Prototyping the Social: Temporality and Speculative Futures at the Intersection of Design and Culture, Jamer Hunt (Parsons School of Design, USA) 7. Consuming IKEA and Inspiration as Material Form, Pauline Garvey (Maynooth University, Ireland) 8. "Erotic Needlework": Vernacular Designs on the 21st-century Market, Nicolette Makovicky (University of Oxford) 9. Functioning Forms / Anti-Design, Vladimir Arkhipov (Independent Artist) 10. Coloring Cars: Customizing Motor Vehicles in the East of the Australian Western Desert, Diana Young, The University of Queensland, Australia) 11. The Internet, the Parliament, and the Pub, Lane DeNicola (Emory College of Arts and Sciences, USA) 12. Interior Decoration: Offline and Online, Daniel Miller (UCL, UK) 13. Designing Financial Literacy in Haiti, Erin B. Taylor and Heather A. Horst (Western Sydney University, Australia) 14. Stirring the Anthropological Imagination: Ontological Design in Spaces of Transition, Arturo Escobar (University of North Carolina, USA) Index

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Book SynopsisThis collection of essays brings together two sets of articles and book chapters by Mariam Abou Zahab, the extraordinary late scholar of Islam in South Asia. The first part of the volume examines Shia–Sunni relations in Pakistan, while the second concerns violent Islamism in the country, covering both the Talibanisation of the Pashtun belt and the jihadi dimension of South Asian Salafism. Throughout these texts, Abou Zahab explores the many reasons why Pakistan has been the crucible of political Islam. She offers a historical view of this development, factoring in the impact of colonialism and conflict, including the Soviet-Afghan War and the post-9/11 Western military operations in Afghanistan. While making clear the major importance of these external influences, from Saudi Arabia and Iran to the US, she also places Pakistan's political Islam in the context of local cultures, mobilising her anthropological erudition without ever indulging in culturalism. Finally, she emphasises the sociological determinants of sectarianism, Talibanism and jihadism, as well as the political economy of these ideologies. Abou Zahab's knowledge is exhaustive, but in these papers she offers an elegant synthesis in which each word matters. This volume is indispensable for understanding the present dynamics of Pakistan.Trade Review‘[This book] gives those seeking a deeper understanding of Pakistan a valuable resource.’ -- Survival'This book flows from real knowledge. Blessed with considerable linguistic skills, the insights of political science, sociology and Islamic studies, plus the understanding of a believing Muslim, Zahab offers unrivalled insights into social and religious change in Pakistan.' -- Francis Robinson, Professor of the History of South Asia, Royal Holloway, University of London'Mariam Abou Zahab’s work is an event itself, presenting Pakistan beyond the binaries of conservative and liberal, Sunni and Shii, modernist and Sufi. Her truly kaleidoscopic analysis shows the many colours of Islam in Pakistan, interrogating our understanding of Islamism and sectarianism.' -- Sajjad Rizvi, Associate Professor of Islamic Intellectual History and Islamic Studies, University of Exeter'The depth and breadth of Mariam Abou Zahab’s knowledge and understanding about Pakistan is truly stunning. This dedicated, gifted social scientist deftly answers why things have happened and how they are interconnected with questions of identity and meaning.' -- Anita M. Weiss, Professor of International Studies, University of Oregon; author of Countering Violent Extremism in Pakistan: Local Actions, Local Voices'By far the most sophisticated and well-informed scholar of sectarian and militant Islam in Pakistan, Mariam Abou Zahab was also a remarkable personality. This collection brings together her work on Pakistan for the first time, which still remains as relevant as it was when first written and indeed unsurpassed by new scholarship. Its publication represents an event of the first order for the study of Pakistan.' -- Faisal Devji, Professor of Indian History and Director of the Asian Studies Centre, University of Oxford

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Book SynopsisThis book explores the structural features of Indian society, such as caste, tribe, sect, rural-urban relations, sanskritization and untouchability. Based on a wealth of field research as well as archival material, the book Interrogates the prevailing thinking in Indian sociology on these structures; Studies Indian society from contemporary as well as historical perspectives; Analyses caste divisions vis-Ã-vis caste hierarchy; Critically examines the public policies regarding caste-less society, reservations for Backward Classes, and the caste census. This second edition, with four new chapters, will be a key text for students and scholars of sociology, social anthropology, political science, modern history, development studies and South Asian studies.Trade Review"This book forces its reader to revisit the Indian society as it exists today… [it] comes as a fresh guide for young sociologists in understanding the Indian social structure in a refreshing and befitting academic framework." — Rajesh Gill, Sociological Bulletin"Shah’s articles open up some less trodden paths in the study of India." — Sirpa Tenhunen, Journal of the Royal Anthropological InstituteTable of ContentsIntroduction 1. Caste in the 21st Century: From System to Elements 2. Purity, Impurity, Untouchability: Then and Now 3. Sanskritization Revisited 4. Sects and Hindu Social Structure 5. The Rural–Urban Networks in India 6. The ‘Dalit’ Category and Its Differentiation 7. Can the Caste Census be Reliable? 8. Division and Hierarchy: An Overview of Caste in Gujarat 9. Untouchability, the Untouchables and Social Change in Gujarat 10. The Tribes — So-called — of Gujarat: In the Perspective of Time 11. The Mirage of a Casteless Society in India 12. A Government Programme to Train Scheduled Caste Priests 13. The Village in the City, the City in the Village 14. Myths, Rural and Urban

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Book SynopsisFocusing on the unacknowledged, personal and often unconscious dimension, Sex explores the intersection between sex and ethnography. Anthropological writing tends to focus on the influence of status markers such as position, gender, ethnicity, and age on fieldwork. By contrast, far less attention has been paid to how sex, sexuality, eroticism, desire, attraction, and rejection affect ethnographic research. In the book, anthropologists reflect on their own encounters with sex during fieldwork, revealing how attraction and desire influence the choice of fieldwork subjects, field sites and friendships. They also examine the resulting impact on fieldwork findings and the generation of knowledge. Based on fieldwork in Germany, Denmark, Greece, the USA, Brazil, South Africa, Singapore, Turkey, Israel, Morocco, and India, the contributors go beyond the common heterosexuality/homosexuality divide to address topics which include celibacy, polyamory and sadomasochism. This long overdue text provTrade Review"At last, a comprehensive volume on sex that crosses oceans and brings ethnographers from across the globe into conversation with one another. Work in this field has too long been ghettoized in narrow domains, either topically or geographically, and this rich collection overcomes longstanding barriers and lays a foundation for new forms of comparison and theoretical innovation, expanding the boundaries of what we all thought we meant by “sex.” - Ellen Lewin, University of Iowa, USA Taking us from Brazilian saunas to a refugee NGO in Greece, from queer Malay Muslims in Singapore to NeoPagans in Texas, these thirteen essays reveal how sex unsettles fieldwork. Contributors reflect on how bodily intimacies, kindlings of lust or longing, and moments of recognition or crossed signals generate fresh ethnographic insight. This is a candid, vulnerable, and thought-provoking volume on sex and ethnography today. - Margot Weiss, Wesleyan University, USA More than 20 years after “Taboo” (Kulick/Wilson, 1995) and “Out in the field” (Lewin/Leap, 1996), these encounters in the field give fresh and ground-breaking insights into the social experience of sex in various ways. Enclosing a wide range of locations, practices and desires, the well-reflected reports of embodied fieldwork show the diversity of “doing relations” with and through sex and intimacy. Overall, this anthology will strengthen the links between queer studies and anthropology. - Beate Binder, Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany"Table of ContentsForewordJohn Borneman, Princeton University, USAIntroductionRichard Joseph Martin, Harvard University, USA and Dieter Haller, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany1. Towards an Intimately 'Impure' Ethnography: The Limits of Non-Participant ObservationTimothy M. Hall, University of California, Los Angeles, USA2. When Bodies Talk: Indulging AnthropologySebastian Mohr, Aarhus University, Denmark3. 'Going With': Desire and Power Amid the Politics of Asylum in GreeceHeath Cabot, College of the Atlantic, USA4. (Un)Changing Men in the Face of AIDS in South AfricaHanspeter Reihling, Freie Universitat Berlin, Germany5. Fieldwork and Erotic Subjectivity in an American NeoPagan CommunitySusan Harper, Texas Women's University, USA6. The Anthropologist’s New Clothes: Ethnographic Exposure and BDSM in BerlinRichard Joseph Martin, Harvard University, USA7. A Camel Walks into a Brothel: Passing Anxieties in the Sexual Economies of BrazilGregory C. Mitchell, Williams College, USA8. In Bed with My Informant: Navigating Intimacy and Ethics in SingaporeAdlina Maulud, Purdue University, USA9. Dating a Gypsy Punk Musician and Ethnographic Fieldwork among Brazilian RomaniesDiana Budur, Princeton University, USA10. Public Vegetarianism and Public Menstruation: Staging Chastity in GujaratAndrea Luithle-Hardenberg, Tubingen University, Germany11. The Naked Fear: Desire and Identity in MoroccoDieter Haller, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany12. Faux Amis: On the Morals of Not Being Gay in IstanbulSamuel Williams, Musée du quai Branly, France13. Im/Possibilities in the Field: Lessons from JerusalemRobert Phillips, Ball State University, USAGuide for Further ReadingWilliam Leap, American University, USABibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisThis text seeks to show that anarchy, as the absence of government, is neither chaos nor some Utopian dream, but a system which has characterized much of the human past.

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Book SynopsisThis volume explores the ways petroleum as an industry and substance has moulded the social, cultural and artistic life of the Middle East. Rather than tackle the powers of this crucial resource from the perspective of macro-economics, impersonal rentier states and large corporations, this book ?brings oil back? into the ebbs and flows of Middle Eastern life. It focuses on the ways petroleum mediates and is mediated by national formations and imaginaries, visual practices, as well as scientific, business and artistic production. In focusing on the largest oil producing and exporting region in the world, this volume sheds light on the effects and affects of petroleum?s presence within and beyond the oil-industry.

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Book SynopsisWe live in an era in which many of the men occupying the highest seats of power--from the movie producer's chair to the desk chair of the Oval Office--think misogyny is perfectly permissible. The same dynamics repeat themselves at every scale. And yet, while we may criticise the vulgarity and violence of these men, much of our society at best gives the behaviour a pass, or at worst, subscribes to an ideology that actively permits it. And whether one approves of or loathes the behaviour, in most cases it's still explained as men being men, either with a "boys will be boys" wink, or a disapproving description of Donald Trump's high testosterone levels (from Frank Bruni in the New York Times) or a claim that Barack Obama's were too low (from Kathleen Parker in the Washington Post).In Are Men Animals?, anthropologist Matthew Gutmann argues that biology alone is an insufficient explanation for bad behaviour--and turns everything we thought we knew about masculinity, testosterone, and the modern male on its head. The trick, he reveals, is to figure out where the line between nature and nurture really lies. To find out, Gutmann embarks on a global investigation of machismo spanning from Mexico City to Shanghai, from close-knit communities to sprawling college campuses, from rehab programmes in Oakland to the frontlines of war in Iraq. Along the way, he questions the extent to which we think men's bodies control their destinies, and how that changes how we understand matters like competition, conflict, and international combat. Ultimately, Gutmann implores us to expand our ideas of what a modern man should or could look like, for the benefit of our society as a whole.Provocative and incredibly timely, this book will be the definitive manifesto for a revamped understanding of modern masculinity, one that every man--and woman--needs.

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Book SynopsisAn illuminating guide to publishing a scholarly journal written by a former editor-in-chiefAmerican Anthropologist is the flagship journal of the American Anthropological Association, published quarterly, reaching more than 12,000 readers with each issue and representing four distinct subfields. The journal publishes articles that add to, integrate, synthesize, and interpret anthropological knowledge; commentaries and essays on issues of importance to the discipline; and reviews of books, films, sound recordings, and exhibits. From 2012 to 2016, Michael Chibnik was editor-in-chief of American Anthropologist. In Scholarship, Money, and Prose, he writes a candid account of the complex and challenging work entailed in its production. Providing detailed ethnographic and historical descriptions of the operations of a major journal and behind-the-scenes anecdotes of his experiences, Chibnik makes transparent the work of an editor-in-chief. He reveals how he assembled diverse materials, assTrade Review"[A] great short book by Michael Chibnik, recounting his time as editor of American Anthropologist. It's an approachable and well-organized explanation of how a big academic journal works, the kind of practical guide we need more of in higher education." * Higher Education Strategy *"There is much to be gleaned from this deceptively straight-forward account—which, as Michael Chibnik notes, is part memoir and part ethnography—of what goes on behind the scenes to produce American Anthropologist, the flagship journal of the American Anthropological Association. Drawing on his experience as the journal’s editor-in-chief and on his expertise in the anthropology of work, Chibnik emphasizes enduring themes and trends because he wants his book to serve as a usefully representative example of what it is like to produce any academic journal. " * American Ethnologist *"Scholarship, Money, and Prose is an engaging and informative narrative that conveys the sense of the job of an editor and its pivotal role in the production and circulation of scholarly work. Original and distinctive, the book is a singular exploration of an editorial career." * Donald Brenneis, University of California, Santa Cruz *"Michael Chibnik presents a provocative first-hand account of the ways and means by which, as editor of a flagship journal, he navigated the sometimes turbulent crosscurrents between his commitment to disciplinary coherence and the pragmatics of running the journal as a revenue-generating operation for a non-profit membership organization." * Carol J. Greenhouse, Princeton University *

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Book SynopsisA historically rich account of how “go-betweens”--individuals who could bridge indigenous and European cultures--helped shape Brazilian society in the sixteenth century.Trade Review"Based on a broad array of sources, including extensive archival research, this book presents a provocatively new interpretation of indigenous-European relations in Portuguese America, as they unfolded over the course of the sixteenth century... The topic is fascinating and the sources extremely rich and suggestive." --John Monteiro, Anthropology Department, UNICAMP, Brazil, and Visiting Professor of History, Harvard UniversityTable of Contents A Note on Spelling and Citation Acknowledgments 1. Go-betweens 2. Encounter 3. Possession 4. Conversion 5. Biology 6. Slavery 7. Resistance 8. Power Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisThe Field of Cultural Production brings together Bourdieua s most important writings on art, literature and aesthetics.Trade Review'As we have come to expect of him, Pierre Bourdieu's lucid analysis of the field of cultural production once again provides us with key terms for understanding the issues at the forefront of current critical debate. His accounts of the economy of symbolic capital, and of cultural power relations will undoubtedly become classic formulations, shaping future work on the sociology of culture.' Professor Lisa Jardine, University of London Table of ContentsPreface. Editor's Introduction: Pierre Bourdieu on Art, Literature and Culture. Part I: The Field of Cultural Production. 1. The Field of Cultural Production, or: The Economic World Reversed. 2. The Production of Belief: Contribution to an Economy of Symbolic Goods. 3. The Market of Symbolic Goods. Part II: Flaubert and the French Literary Field. 4. Is the Structure of Sentimental Education an Instance of Social Self-analysis?. 5. Field of Power, Literary Field and Habitus. 6. Principles for a Sociology of Cultural Works. 7. Flaubert's Point of View. Part III: The Pure Gaze: Essays on Art. 8. Outline of a Sociological Theory of Art Perception. 9. Manet and the Instutitionalization of Anomie. 10. The Historical Genesis of a Pure Aesthetic. Notes. Selected Bibliography. Index.

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Book SynopsisThe end of the world is a seemingly interminable topic Ð at least, of course, until it happens. Environmental catastrophe and planetary apocalypse are subjects of enduring fascination and, as ethnographic studies show, human cultures have approached them in very different ways. Indeed, in the face of the growing perception of the dire effects of global warming, some of these visions have been given a new lease on life. Information and analyses concerning the human causes and the catastrophic consequences of the planetary ‘crisis’ have been accumulating at an ever-increasing rate, mobilising popular opinion as well as academic reflection. In this book, philosopher Déborah Danowski and anthropologist Eduardo Viveiros de Castro offer a bold overview and interpretation of these current discourses on ‘the end of the world’, reading them as thought experiments on the decline of the West’s anthropological adventure Ð that is, as attempts, though not necessarily intentional ones, at inventing a mythology that is adequate to the present. This work has important implications for the future development of ecological practices and it will appeal to a broad audience interested in contemporary anthropology, philosophy, and environmentalism.Trade Review�In their powerful essay on the climate crisis that humans face today, Danowski and Viveiros de Castro propose nothing short of a radically new and pluralist philosophical anthropology that is bound to reinvigorate humanist and post-humanist debates on anthropogenic global warming. A brilliant tour de force.� Dipesh Chakrabarty, The University of Chicago �This is a passionate, profoundly intelligent book. The ends of time are not the Anthropocene; that is a boundary, not a destiny. What comes next cannot be allowed to be the barbarism of the techno moderns. In this book, recomposition tracks along the Möbius strip of still imaginable, still liveable thought, mythology, and world-making practices indigenous to terrans. Actual indigenous peoples, who have refused to end in end time after end time, can perhaps teach the �needed subsistence of the future.� Donna Haraway, University of CaliforniaTable of ContentsForeword by Bruno Latour vii Prefatory note x Acknowledgments xiii 1 What rough beast ... 1 2 ... Its hour come round at last ... 8 3 ... Slouches toward bethlehem to be born? 23 4 The outside without thought, or the death of the other 28 5 Alone at last 41 6 A world of people 61 7 Humans and terrans in the Gaia War 79 Conclusion: World on the brink 109 Notes 124 Bibliography 152 Index 169

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