Anthropology Books

Book SynopsisWho believes in conspiracy theories, and why are some people more susceptible to them than others?What are the consequences of such beliefs?Has a conspiracy theory ever turned out to be true?The Psychology of Conspiracy Theories debunks the myth that conspiracy theories are a modern phenomenon, exploring their broad social contexts, from politics to the workplace. The book explains why some people are more susceptible to these beliefs than others and how they are produced by recognizable and predictable psychological processes.Featuring examples such as the 9/11 terrorist attacks and climate change, The Psychology of Conspiracy Theories shows us that while such beliefs are not always irrational and are not a pathological trait, they can be harmful to individuals and society.Table of Contents Preface Chapter 1 –Psychology of Conspiracy Theories Chapter 2 – When do People Believe Conspiracy Theories? Chapter 3 – The Architecture of Belief Chapter 4 – The Social Roots of Conspiracy Theories Chapter 5 – Conspiracy Theories and Ideology Chapter 6 – Explaining and Reducing Conspiracy Theories Further Reading Notes References

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Book SynopsisWindow on Humanity is a brief introduction to general anthropology. It covers the four subfields biological anthropology, anthropological archaeology, sociocultural anthropology, and linguistic anthropology as well as anthropology's two dimensions academic and applied anthropology.  Its shorter length increases instructors options for assigning additional readingcase studies, readers, and other supplements within a one semester course. Window on Humanity can also work well in a quarter system, for which traditional texts may be too long. While presenting core concepts and topics, Window also aims to demonstrate anthropology's relevance to the 21st-century world we inhabit. The text aims to instill an appreciation of human diversity, of anthropology as a field, and of how an anthropological approach can build on, and help make sense of, the experience that students bring to the classroom. Table of ContentsChapter 1 - What Is Anthropology? Chapter 2 - Culture Chapter 3 - Doing Anthropology Chapter 4 - Evolution, Genetics, and Human Variation Chapter 5 - The Primates Chapter 6 - Early Hominins Chapter 7 - The Genus Homo Chapter 8 - The First Farmers Chapter 9 - The First Cities and States Chapter 10 - Language and Communication Chapter 11 - Making a Living Chapter 12 - Political Systems Chapter 13 - Families, Kinship, and Marriage Chapter 14 – Gender Chapter 15 - Religion Chapter 16 - Ethnicity and Race Chapter 17 - Applying Anthropology Chapter 18 - The World System, Colonialism, and Inequality Chapter 19 – Anthropology’s Role in a Globalizing World Glossary Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisThis book, edited by Eva Bermúdez-Figueroa and Beltrán Roca, explores different dimensions of Andalusian society. Despite the plurality of topics and approaches, a common thread connects all the chapters. Andalusian culture, in its multiple manifestations, is clearly shaped by its semi-peripheral position within Spain, the European Union, and the world-system. The semi-peripheral position of Andalusia manifests in religiosity, migration, collective action, poverty, social policy, and economic activities such as fishing and tourism, among others. While some of these manifestations can be understood as forms of resistance to situations of oppression derived from economic and sociopolitical dependency, they tend to reproduce this dependency at the same time. This is why Andalusian culture is extremely ambiguous, inconsistent, and complex (especially for a foreign observer). The book includes several studies on different aspects of the Andalusian reality. The authors belong to different scientific disciplines, in particular to sociology, social and cultural anthropology, social work, and economics. In addition, they work in different academic institutions: The University of Seville, the University of Cádiz, the University Pablo de Olavide, and the Autonomous University of Madrid. This book has been divided into three parts; they have been titled as History, Society, and Diversity. Each section consists of three chapters. These sections were selected because the chapters in them focus on different dimensions of the reality of Andalusia: Its historical backgrounds, critical current dynamics of its social reality, and the presence of a growing cultural diversity as a destination for international migration (a tendency especially meaningful since the beginning of the 21st century). The reader must be warned that some chapters could fit into other sectionsfor example, addressing historical insights and cultural trends at the same time. However, they have been organized with the aim of facilitating an international audiences understanding of the main features and complexities of the Andalusian culture.

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Book SynopsisPottery: History, Preparation and Uses opens with a discussion of silicates, the most abundant minerals on the Earth''s crust. Clays (which are silicates) were used by ancient people for making pottery, bricks, and tablets for writing. The authors propose that by using a methodology borrowed from educational psychology, both the motor skills and cognitive development of various individuals may be evaluated through the analysis of brush strokes, decorative syntax, vessel symmetry, and finger marks. In this way, it is possible to determine to what extent children were involved in producing pottery in the Middle and Late Bronze Ages on Cyprus. In closing, an analysis of the functionality of 1,133 complete Iberian vessels dated from the 6th century BC until 1st century AD is provided. This analysis is carried out not only synchronically, differentiated by settlements, but also in a diachronic way.

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Book SynopsisWhile creativity and solidarity form the main constructive profile for our species, the primal animal drive for dominance involving basal brain circuits places our future at risk. This bipolar nature distorts the global perspective of our collective future and ecological conditions. Our species' behavioural construction has its roots in ancestral habits and survival drives that were crystallized in basic neurobehavioral circuits over millennia, be it as predators or potential prey. Its expression acquired further complexity through the development of social/cultural cues, and was kept-in-check by conditional inhibitory processes. How much of our current drive - individually and as a global community - is caused by those inherited traits imprinted in our animal condition? This book analyses the increasing bipolar construction in terms of dominant groups affecting critical access to current knowledge and information, a profound gap among populations concerning a modern humane quality of life, and present trends pertaining to our ecological habitat. These dynamic processes seem to be in a free-running mode, only conditioned by the prevalence of power concentration in the hands of worldwide minority groups. This worldwide disjointed perspective is further distorted by diverse cultural profiles and interests accessing information and its impact on lifestyles. Our species' true nature has highly conserved remnants of our animal origin expressed as animal drives embodied before and during the evolutionary process as Homo and under inhibitory social control. These involve territorial, survival, and dominant cues on top of which sapiens' cultural development profiles have taken place; that is, the hidden ancestral human nature. Competition to control and prevail in those domains has unveiled a long-lived struggle for dominance in political and financial (corporate- or state-bound) prevalence. Below this stratum of power-seekers, a large proportion of the service-bound and marginal populations crawl for their survival, often approaching inhuman conditions. Fundamentalist beliefs, the disregard of environmental abuse, belligerence to resolve discrepancies, personal and group-centred greed, growing inequalities, disinformation from dominant carriers, and intolerance to alternative viewpoints describe our species' developmentally immature collective behaviour. If not just an evolutionary stage, then we in fact belong to the "wrong species" (Colombo, 2010), and are on a path toward our demise or a bipolar evolution of our species, but not necessarily a collective, cooperative, shared development that respects various cultural profiles. The increasing speed of knowledge development widens the gap among populations with different cultural values and those that are underdeveloped or living in subhuman conditions. Since we exited the period of egalitarian-prone hunter gatherers, we have been conditioned by elite or institutionalized dominant powers and given limited access to information, which is used as a means for domination. Hence, our future depends not only on our social, political, and financial decision-makers but also on the degree of our permissive, functional absence from such a scenario.Table of ContentsAcknowledgments; A Few General Premises; Preliminary Notes; Foreword; The Hidden Ancestral Human Nature; Global Access to Quality of Life: Human and Ecological Domains. An Evolutive Concept of Poverty and Marginality; Political and Financial Corporate Powers Drive Informational Development and Expansion of Prevalent Groups of Opinion. The Internet Missile and Its Limitations to Penetrate Cultural Structures; Institutional Attempts to Translate into Figures the Presence of Global Developmental Conditions. Further Contrasting Data on the World State of Affairs Regarding Social Equity; Further Consequences of Socio-Political Practices; Additional Factors Feeding the Grand Divide; The Sociocultural gap: Possible Paths towards the Future. Greed and Profit are the Backbones of Capitalism; Social Benefits Are just a Spin-off and an Instrument for Further Expansion of Dominance. The Concept of Profit as Fuel for Human Evolution. Relative Rates of Technological Evolution Concerning the Populations Critical Knowledge and Awareness; The Homo inside the Sapiens: The Evolutive Concept of Dominance and Its Widespread Expression at All Levels of the Human Sociocultural Domain. Social Inequity and Its Evolutive Anlage. The Global Human Condition, Another Version of the Cultural Derivation from Our Animal Heritage. Technological Development and Extraterrestrial Space Exploration: Reaching the Event Zone of Our Human Exploratory Drive; Addendum; References; Index.

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Book SynopsisThis book provides a perspective on how life can start and evolve from a simple elemental form. This book will be of interest to those interested in the history and development of evolutionary science.Table of ContentsList of Illustrations; Glossary; Preface; Translators Preface; Haeckels Classification of the Animal World; The Fundamental Law of Organic Evolution; The Older Embryology; Modern Embryology; The Older Phylogeny; The Modern Science of Evolution; The Ovum and the Amba; Conception; The Gastræa Theory; The Gastrulation of the Vertebrate; The Clom Theory; The Vertebrate Character of Man; Embryonic Shield and Germinative Area; Dorsal Body and Ventral Body; The Articulation of the Body; Ftal Membranes and Circulation; Structure of the Lancelet and the Sea-Squirt; Embryology of the Lancelet and the Sea-Squirt; Duration of the History of Our Stem; Our Protist Ancestors; Our Worm-Like Ancestors; Our Fish-Like Ancestors; Our Five-Toed Ancestors; Our Ape Ancestors; Evolution of the Nervous System; Evolution of the Sense-Organs; Evolution of the Organs of Movement; The Evolution of the Alimentary System; Evolution of the Vascular System; Evolution of the Sexual Organs; Results of Anthropogeny; Index.

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Book SynopsisWhy are the plots of Shakespeare and his contemporaries so different from those of his predecessors? This book argues that the answer is in part that certain forms of expectation were largely undeveloped in the medieval period. More broadly, it suggests that many of the causal and temporal thought processes that are second nature to us operated very differently or had not been developed in the minds of most medieval people. And conversely, it suggests that other mental faculties (such as the ability to respond to some of the elemental appeal of poetry) may have become dulled by the post-renaissance rationalist emphasis in our culture.In addition to drawing on a broad range of etymological and literary evidence (from the 10th century Gnomic verses to 16th-century drama) the book delves into medieval history, and draws many anthropological parallels. This is a significant study in the nature of narrative and an important investigation into the mental and cultural worlds of Shakespeare and his predecessors.Trade Review“Maintains that the Renaissance did not just introduce new ideas into Western culture but radically changed cognitive processes, the way people thought…raises enormous issues…rich and interesting.” — Studies in English Literature“Fascinating ideas…succeeds in demonstrating the emergence of a new cognitive faculty in Western culture.” — The Toronto Star“Intriguing, interesting and original!” — American Historical Review“Startles and compels attention…impressively detailed.” — The Kingston Whig-StandardTable of ContentsPrefacePart I: The Issue of Cognitive Processes Anthropological Perspectives Historical Perspectives Literary Perspectives Part II: The Roots of Expectation Expectation The Dawn of the Artificial Day: Medieval Temporal Thought Processes Thinking Across the Past Thinking into the Future Causation and Probability Part III: Literary Expectations Expectation and Literary Plots The Ways of Thought of Medieval Literature Shakespeare and the Revolution in Literary Plotting Illusion: Expectation's Dramatic By-Product Simon Forman's Expectations Postscript: Zimbabwe, 1985Notes and ReferencesIndex

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Book SynopsisThis edition assembles the major essays on race and imperialism written by Nancy Cunard in the 1930s and 1940s. As a British expatriate living in France, and as a politically-engaged poet, editor, publisher, and journalist, Nancy Cunard devoted much of her energy to the cause of racial justice.This Broadview edition contextualizes Cunard’s writings on race in terms of the relations among modernism, gender, and empire. It includes a range of contemporaneous documents that place her essays in dialogue with other European writers and with the work of writers of the African diaspora.Trade Review“This is a timely and much-needed edition.” ― Jane Marcus, CUNY Graduate Center and the City College of New York“Assembling Cunard’s key political writings on race and imperialism, and graced with a well-informed critical introduction, this beautifully conceived anthology also facilitates discussion of the complex intersections of gender with other issues and forms of identification in modernism. The appendices set Cunard’s texts into their original relation with contemporary modernist debates. An invaluable resource.” ― Bonnie Kime Scott, San Diego State University“This wonderful selection of Cunard’s work gives us new insight into the race politics of the twentieth century and the modernist project. Moynagh’s excellent introduction situates Cunard’s writings and identifications in fascinating and illuminating ways. This is a terrific collection.” ― Laura Marcus, University of Sussex“Moynagh’s insightful, inclusive, yet theoretically specific introduction to this collection of Cunard’s essays, complemented by a cogent selection of appendices, provide the relevant cultural and historical grounds to understand Cunard and the implications her work holds for current scholarship. Reading Cunard’s essays through Moynagh’s carefully crafted context makes possible further revisionist readings of modernism by situating Nancy Cunard and her writing on race and empire in a way that advances understanding of the interdependent relationship between radical politics, gender, race and modernism.” ― Holly McSpadden, Missouri Southern State University, in English Studies in CanadaTable of ContentsAcknowledgementsIntroductionNancy Cunard: A Brief ChronologyA Note on the TextA Note on the AppendicesEssays on Race and EmpireImperial Eyes “Harlem Reviewed” “Jamaica—the Negro Island” The White Man’s Duty: An Analysis of the Colonial Question inLight of the Atlantic Charter Miscegenation Blues Black Man and White Ladyship: An Anniversary “The American Moron and the American of Sense—Letters on the Negro” The Red and the Black “Scottsboro—and Other Scottsboros” “A Reactionary Negro Organisation: A Short Review of Dr.DuBois, The Crisis, and the NAACP in 1932” Appendix A: Imperial Eyes Mary Gaunt, from Alone in West Africa (1912) Margery Perham, from West African Passage (1931-1932) C.L.R. James, from The Case for West Indian Self-Government (1932) Appendix B: Miscegenation Blues Albert Edward Wiggam, from “Woman’s Place In Race Improvement,” The Fruit of the Family Tree (1924) W.E.B. DuBois, “The Marrying of Black Folk” (1910) Ida B. Wells-Barnett, from Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All its Phases (1892) Appendix C: The Red and the Black W.E.B. DuBois, “The Class Struggle” (1921) Richard Wright, from American Hunger ([1944] 1977) Appendix D: Claude McKay, from A Long Way from Home: An Autobiography (1937)Select Bibliography

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Book SynopsisThis study of eunuchs guides readers as they travel through various lands and periods, familiarizing themselves with the duties and responsibilities, the unspeakable torments and the passions and joys of these individuals. Eunuchs were not simply ""bedchamber attendants"", as the Greek term suggests. Nor were they always slaves. They could just as well be ascetics, priests, magicians, scholars, physicians, military commanders, admirals or senior officials at the courts of both eastern and western rulers. In the Byzantine empire, the only office they were precluded from attaining was that of emperor. The rich and varied forms of religious, social and sexual life associated with eunuchs and castrati embrace a wealth of myths relating to gods and demons, initiation rites, rituals and magic. They touch on the history of law and medicine, various systems of government, and secret societies. And they are presented to us in terms of the cruellest punishments and tortures. On the one hand, they facilitated unique developments in the evolution of vocal music, and on the other, they gave rise to a multiplicity of human behavioural patterns that reflect every aspect of good and evil. Readers should become acquainted with various forms of sexuality, such as androgyny, transvestism, transsexualism and homosexuality, and learn about the historical, religious and social issues associated with their characteristic ""life settings"". Whether out of a sense of shame or because of moral considerations, these phenomena appear only on the margins of the history of customs and mores.

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Book SynopsisThis collection of short essays attempts to depict life, thought and actions indigenous to Black Africa and what has been happening there especially as a result of the White Man''s penetration into the Black Man''s life and institutions. This penetration was gradual at first, as in colonial times, but since the end of the Second World War it has become massive. Each essay looks at an African concept, attitude or person, or a combination of these, and hopes to stimulate further reading and reflection on the reader''s part. The author believes that lack of real knowledge about Africans, their beliefs, values, traditions as well as their general outlook on life, is a constant source of unnecessary mistrust, friction and recurrently enervating misunderstandings. These essays make an attempt to look into the minds and attitudes of Africans contending with difficulties not of African origin in our contemporary world.

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Book SynopsisThis thought-provoking book is divided into two parts, each of which contains four chapters. In Part I, titled "Rethinking Resistance", contributors assert that "resistance" continues to hold utility as both an analytic concept and mode of action in the world, and therefore demands renewed engagement. Part II contains essays that offer novel frames for addressing progressive social change that might serve to replace "resistance" entirely, and thus is entitled "Thinking Beyond".

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Book SynopsisThe blood-brain barrier (BBB) is a membranic structure that acts primarily to protect the brain from chemicals in the blood, while still allowing essential metabolic function. It is composed of endothelial cells, which are packed very tightly in brain capillaries. This higher density restricts passage of substances from the bloodstream much more than endothelial cells in capillaries elsewhere in the body. Astrocyte cell projections called astrocytic feet (also known as "glia limitans") surround the endothelial cells of the BBB, providing biochemical support to those cells. The BBB is distinct from the similar blood-cerebrospinal fluid barrier, a function of the choroidal cells of the choroid plexus, and from the Blood-retinal barrier, which can be considered a part of the whole (the retina of the eye is an extension to the central nervous system and as such, can be considered part of the BBB).

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Book SynopsisEthnography is a research based method on observing people in their natural environment rather than in a formal research setting. Because people and culture are so incredibly complex, ethnography offers a way to make sense of this complexity. It goes beyond a person''s preconceptions by immersion into the world of others. Some cultural anthropologists consider ethnography the essence of the discipline. This book provides suggestions on how the analytical process and findings of ethnography and other forms of social science research may be applied. It also describes conceptual and methodological challenges related to qualitative research in general, and ethnography in particular. Ethnographic research that seeks to create understanding of abused children and their well-being is also included in this book.

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Book SynopsisIn this book, the authors present current research in anthropology research. Topics discussed in this compilation include the recent developments in Christian theological anthropology; dental age as a biological indicator to estimate chronological age; the role of design ethnography in the development of corporate anthropology; mind-group identity and social alchemy; the evidence for sociality in fossil primates; and mountain studies in anthropology.

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Book SynopsisIn this book, the authors present new developments in archaeology research. Topics include the adequacy of small-scale samplings from ancient pottery for instrumental analysis; the problem of phosphorous pollution in ceramic archaeological materials buried in the ground and polluted Neolithic pottery; and the huge potential in applying archaeological stratigraphic excavation to all kinds of objects, such as paintings, sculptures and even archaeological artefacts themselves.

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Book SynopsisThis book deals with the marginalisation of a minority tribal group (the Lodhas) in the West Bengal state of India and the role of a democratic welfare state in improving the living conditions of the tribe. The Lodha tribal community of West Bengal has a long history of drawing the attention of administrators, anthropologists, social activists and the media. In the colonial times, this community was designated as a ''criminal tribe'' and carried the social stigma during the post-colonial period, although the Government created category after category (eg: ''Denotified'' and ''Primitive Tribal Group'') to designate this marginalised community. The grass root level reality, which emerged from media reports, anthropologists'' accounts and activists'' literature, revealed that the marginalisation of the Lodhas continued long after the Independence of the country. What seemed to lacking in the long narrative of the Lodhas is an empirical, comprehensive and specific location based field study on the assessment of the various attempts by the Government and the administration towards the process of development of this marginalised tribal community of West Bengal. Under this broader context, this book is a modest attempt to make a location based empirical assessment of the ground realities of the development of the Lodhas, which revealed from the beginning until today, the governmental attempts towards the improvement of the living conditions of the community which were misplaced, and as a result, the funds remained wasted and did not work at all, although variations in terms of utilisation were also observed. It is therefore recommended that a more careful and down to earth approach which is sensitive towards the needs of the community should be undertaken to demarginalise the Lodhas of West Bengal. The book would be helpful for the graduate students and instructors in Social Anthropology, Sociology, Political Science, Economics, History, Public Administration, Development Studies, Social Work and Rural Development. It will be also useful for doctoral level students in the various branches of social science. The book would be of use to the government officials, policy makers, NGO workers and other development practitioners working in the field.

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Book SynopsisThis theory of culture, a synthesis of thinking from Europe, the Americas and Asia, illustrates the function and meaning of culture rather than form. It fuses philosophy, anthropology, sociology, history, science, psychology, literature, literary criticism and linguistics all areas that a comprehensive theory must comprise because they constitute culture. The essence of culture is identity, or psychosocial homeostasis. A primary problem for cultural solution is the determination of what has identity. As social concepts, individuals can have identity in some cultures but not in others. Where identity is possible, it is generally derived from shared identities of defined groups and even of the culture itself. Essential identity of individuals, even in cultures that admit it, does not occur within the scope of culture. This theory concerns the possibilities and forms of culturally recognizable identity. The Editor of this book examines this Cultural Theory for the humanities.

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Book SynopsisIn the last decade, a dramatic increase in overweight individuals and obesity has been reported in both developed and underdeveloped countries. Noncommunicable diseases, as well as type 2 diabetes and obesity are one of the most common causes of long-term disability, especially cardiovascular disease (CVD), which is still the leading cause of death in the industrialised world. Accumulating evidence over the last 50 years indicates that exercise may postpone or counteract, at least partially, the debilitating consequences of CVD and prevent complications provoked by the inactive state. Today, we can conclude that lack of physical activity or lack of a physically active lifestyle is clearly an overall high health risk. Societal indicators of reductions in human energy expenditure and increases in sedentary behavior during the past several decades are particularly striking. By the year 2000, the human race reached a sort of historical landmark; for the first time in human evolution, the number of adults with excess weight surpassed the number of those who were underweight. Excess adiposity/body weight is now widely recognised as one of today''s leading health threats. Although obesity during childhood is indicated as a complex disorder, the prevalence of overweight and obese children is continually growing globally. This has become a concern to public health, as overweight and obesity during childhood tracks into adulthood and is associated with short- and long-term adverse health outcomes. A number of research articles in this monograph provide interesting and innovating practical suggestions, applications, and directions for some future research. The researched phenomena include: the first physical movements of life recognised as fetal movements and a mother''s physiological states; potential differences in cardiovascular fitness between schoolchildren from urban and rural areas, with respect to their age and gender; evidence for the 5-year regular sport exercise effect of on muscle contractile properties in children; trend changes of physical abilities of school children; the effects of linear and change-of-direction speed training methods on the sprint performance of young adults; the relationship between sports experience and performance scores on a health-related physical fitness test among female university freshmen; the application of sports activities that improve the level of upper extremity motor abilities in people with spinal cord injuries; theoretical frameworks supporting learning-inclusive environment details; basic approaches for the inclusion of people with disabilities in community recreation programs; the relation between health and fitness characteristics by Special Olympic athletes competing as cross-country skiers; the relations between physical activity and/or physical exercise and body composition characteristics in the working-age population of both genders; evidence- based information about the effects of sedentary behavior on physiological function in humans; new facts resulting from numerous clinical and epidemiological studies about the effects of physical activity, and reducing the risk of breast and prostate cancer; and information about the connection between physical activity and cognition across the human life span. Finally, the last chapter examines the opinion of the elderly about the impact of physical activity in some segments concerning the quality of life of people living in the Third Age.

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Book Synopsis*A Blackwell's Book of the Year* *A Waterstones Best Popular Science Book of 2022* *A Telegraph Best Book for Summer 2022* *As heard on BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour* 'Excellent ... one of those rare pop-science books that make you look at the whole world differently' The Daily Telegraph ***** 'Riveting' Mail on Sunday ***** 'Captivating' Guardian, Book of the Day 'Compelling' Observer Before the nineteenth century, the term normal was rarely ever associated with human behaviour. Normal was a term used in maths: people weren't normal - triangles were. But from the 1830s, this branch of science really took off across Europe and North America, with a proliferation of IQ tests, sex studies, a census of hallucinations - even a UK beauty map (which concluded the women in Aberdeen were "the most repellent"). This book tells the surprising history how the very notion of the normal came about, how it shaped us all, often while entrenching oppressive values. Sarah Chaney looks at why we're still asking the internet: Do I have a normal body? Is my sex life normal? Are my kids normal? And along the way, she challenges why we ever thought it might be a desirable thing to be.Trade ReviewEureka! Sarah Chaney's excellent Am I Normal? is one of those rare pop-science books that make you look at the whole world differently -- Tim Smith-Laing * The Daily Telegraph, ***** *Captivating -- Book of the Day * Guardian *Riveting ... The moral of the story, indeed of this engaging book, is that instead of ruminating endlessly on the worried (and unanswerable) question Am I Normal?, we should be asking ourselves instead whether normal even exists and why, quite frankly, anyone cares * Mail on Sunday, ***** *Compelling, highly readable ... Encompassing everything from sex surveys to baby weight, beauty standards to sexuality, this is a brilliantly engaging work of popular science * Observer *Sarah Chaney charts, fascinatingly, [a] progressive creep of the idea of the "normal" into the heart of society... shocking and salutary * The Times *This fascinating read will change the way we think about what is normal * Buzz *

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Book SynopsisLike the clear morning song of te koparapara, the bellbird, this book aims to allow the Maori world to speak for itself through an accessible introduction to Maori culture, history and society from an indigenous perspective. In twenty-one illustrated chapters, leading scholars introduce Maori culture (including tikanga on and off the marae and key rituals like powhiri and tangihanga), Maori history (from the beginning of the world and the waka migration through to Maori protest and urbanisation in the twentieth century), and Maori society today (including twenty-first century issues like education, health, political economy and identity). Each chapter provides a descriptive narrative covering the major themes, written in accessible formal English, including appropriate references to te reo Maori and to the wider Pacific. Chapters are illustrated with a mixture of images, maps and diagrams as well as relevant songs and sayings. Te Koparapara is an authoritative and accessible introduction to the past, present and future of the Maaori world for students and general readers.

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Book SynopsisAn outstanding study of Aboriginal women's lives. Living in the community, developing friendships which spanned decades, Diane Bell shines a light on the importance of women's role in Australian Aboriginal desert culture. As maintainers of land, ritual and culture, indigenous women of central Australia share the patterns of their lives in this remarkable and enduring book. Diane Bell was controversial in the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and remains so today. Not everyone agrees with her but she demands to be read.

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Book SynopsisDr. Thomas Morland Hocken (1836--1910) arrived in Dunedin in 1862 at the age of 26. Throughout his busy life as a medical practitioner he amassed books, manuscripts, sketches, maps, and photographs of early New Zealand. Much of his initial collecting focused on the early discovery narratives of James Cook, the writings of Rev. Samuel Marsden and his contemporaries, Edward Gibbon Wakefield and the New Zealand Company, and Maori, especially in the south. He gifted his collection to the University of Otago in 1910. In this magnificent piece of research, Donald Kerr examines Hocken''s collecting activities and his vital contribution to preserving the history of New Zealand''s early postcontact period.

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Book SynopsisMen Do It Too: Opting Out and In offers a timely and comprehensive analysis of the phenomenon of men leaving mainstream careers models, adding to current debates on opting out. The book investigates how globalization, individualization, and this age of high modernity, in addition to issues of masculinity and what it means to be a man in contemporary society and organizational contexts, affect decisions to opt out. Throughout the book, social theory and relevant debates are interwoven with the narratives of 15 men who have left successful careers and mainstream career models to live and work on their own terms: six from the United States, five from Finland, and four from the UK. The narratives help illustrate the issues presented, as well as providing an insight into the men’s identity work throughout their opting out processes. In addition, Biese explores what organizations can learn from the knowledge gathered in her research on men (and women) opting out. This is important in order to create sustainable work environments that not only attract but also retain employees.

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Book SynopsisAlready Scripture asks many questions regarding anthropological problems. In the 20th century, the scholarly field of anthropology has become a lot more complex heuristically, methodically and hermeneutically. Therefore, modern research needs to answer arisen questions considering a wide range of disciplines: Sociology, Philosophy, Ethics and also Empirical Research. This volume is an interdisciplinary project within theology. Contributions seek to not only reflect the state of the art in anthropological research from a theological point of view, but also provide a theological interpretation of one virulent question: What is a Human?

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Book SynopsisWorld War I marks a well-known turning point in anthropology, and this volume is the first to examine the variety of forms it took in Europe. Distinct national traditions emerged and institutes were founded, partly due to collaborations with the military. Researchers in the cultural sciences used war zones to gain access to "informants": prisoner-of-war and refugee camps, occupied territories, even the front lines. Anthropologists tailored their inquiries to aid the war effort, contributed to interpretations of the war as a "struggle" between "races", and assessed the "warlike" nature of the Balkan region, whose crises were key to the outbreak of the Great War.Trade Review"[The] combination of carefully developed specific points of research and thorough reexamination of paradigmatic theoretical models should make this volume an indispensable reading and an important point of reference for years to come." Aleksandar Boskovic, Anthropos, 107 (2012) Reviewed in: European Association of Social Anthropologists, (2011), Marius Turda

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Book SynopsisRiding, hunting, fishing, bullfighting: Human-animal relations are diverse. This anthology presents various case studies of situations in which humans and animals come into contact and asks for the anthropological and philosophical implications of such encounters. The contributions by renowned scholars such as Albert Piette and Kazuyoshi Sugawara present multidisciplinary methodological reflections on concepts such as embodiment, emplacement, or the "conditio animalia" (in addition to the "conditio humana") as well as a consideration of the term "situationality" within the field of anthropology.

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Book SynopsisAyse Güngör investigates art practices between art and anthropology in Turkey, as well as the implications of contemporary art for those disciplines. She discusses various approaches based on anthropological theories on the forms of relation and theories of artistic practices on socio-political issues. Based on long-term research with contemporary artists such as Nil Yalter, Gülsün Karamustafa, Esra Ersen, Kutlug Ataman, Tayfun Serttas, Köken Ergun, Dilek Winchester and Artikisler Collective, this book analyzes the objectives of art and anthropology in order to determine new possibilities and divergences arising from this interdisciplinary confluence.Table of ContentsIntroduction; On the Relation Between Art and Anthropology; An Anthropological Approach to Contemporary Art; The Emergence of Contemporary Art in Turkey; Anthropological Practices of Contemporary Artists from Turkey; Conclusion; Acknowledgments; Bibliography.

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Book SynopsisSocio-ecological conflicts about land use in Latin America are complex: they involve various actors and flare up due to the dynamics of colonization, spatial appropriation, and the commodification of land. This volume of the Handbook The Anthropocene as Multiple Crisis focuses on land use in the main macro-regions of Latin America from the colonial regime to the contemporary era of the Anthropocene. The contributions touch upon numerous aspects, from the transformations of material to the social practices, their political and legal regulations as well as the imaginaries of virgin territories. Consequently, far from limiting themselves to a static cartography of land use, the contributors investigate the appropriations of borders and historic transformations in land use.

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Book SynopsisThis innovative book offers a fresh perspective on the national work culture of Russia and the substantial role foreign institutional and cultural impact has had in shaping it. Russia's contemporary work culture is understood as a national system supplemented by new values and attitudes that have been adopted through the mediation of foreign individuals and corporations or in response to the challenges of Western competition. It is argued that the foreign factor triggers change in the landscape of Russia's work culture, the scope of which depends on the type of influence. However, there is a certain core of the work culture that remains resistant to any external impact.Trade ReviewThis volume is by no means just an exposition of yet another point of view on the phenomenon of Russian work culture and its role in Russias modernization breakthroughs. It presents an unexpected and original approach, an absolutely new perspective of this seemingly old topic. On the one hand, the authors consider Russias national work culture in the context of foreign influence and test it for resistance to external pressures. On the other hand, they reveal the foreign trace in its fabric ― the features that were introduced and internalized in the course of direct and indirect contacts with foreign cultures. For the authors, Russian national work culture is not a finished, static entity, but a dynamic system that is in permanent interaction with (predominantly) Western culture and has largely developed in direct competition with it. It is this approach that makes this book exceptionally appealing. -- Vladimir N. Leksin, Institute of System Analysis of the Russian Academy of SciencesTHE PUBLICATION OF THIS BOOK IN ENGLISH MARKS THE NEXT TURN IN the ever-important and ever-uneasy relationship between Russia and the West, both in its pragmatic and ideological dimensions Judith Pallot, University of Oxford, Europe-Asia Studies, November 2018

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Book SynopsisWhat are the reasons behind, and trajectories of, the rapid cultural changes in Ukraine since 2013? This volume highlights: the role of the Revolution of Dignity and the Russian-Ukrainian war in the formation of Ukrainian civil society; the forms of warfare waged by Moscow against Kyiv, including information and religious wars; Ukrainian and Russian identities and cultural realignment; sources of destabilisation in Ukraine and beyond; memory politics and Russian foreign policies; the Kremlins geopolitical goals in its 'near abroad'; and factors determining Ukraines future and survival in a state of war. The studies included in this collection illuminate the growing gap between the political and social systems of Ukraine and Russia. The anthology illustrates how the Ukrainian revolution of 20132014, Russias annexation of the Crimean peninsula, and its invasion of eastern Ukraine have altered the post-Cold War political landscape and, with it, the regional and global power and security dynamics.Trade Review"This book explores the Ukrainian crisis using a different approach, not often seen in other works. The authors have attempted to view the Ukrainian crisis not at the level of competition between superpowers and the issue of East and West, but from a social and identity perspective. In this they have been successful. As a result, the reader gains a more thorough understanding of events and better perceives the complexities of the tensions between Ukraine and Russia and, hence, between Russia and the West...."Ghasem Torabi (2018) Revolution and War in Contemporary Ukraine. The Challenge of Change, Europe-Asia Studies, 70:2, 303-304, DOI: 10.1080/09668136.2018.1430225Table of ContentsIntroduction; The Ukrainian Revolution of 2013-2014 & the Sources of Russia's Response; Ukraine is the Epicenter of the 'World Hurricane"; Ukraine & Russia: Entangled Histories, Contested Identities, & a War of Narratives; Living with Ambiguities: Meanings of Nationalism in the Russian-Ukrainian War; Ideologies of Language in Wartime; Ukrainian Euromaidan as Social & Cultural Performance; The Annexation of Crimea: Russia's Response to Ukraine's Revolution; Russian Hegemony in the Black Sea Basin: The "Third Rome" in Contemporary Geopolitics; The Invisible Front: Russia, Trolls, & the Information War Against Ukraine; The Impact of Russia's Intervention in Ukraine on Muslim, Jewish & Baptist Communities; The Perpetual Cycle of Political Corruption in Ukraine & Post-Revolutionary Attempts to Break Through It; Police Reform: Challenges & Prospects; Epilogue; Index.

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Book SynopsisThese beautiful and timeless stories from the African Bush were gathered more than a century ago and have touched thousands of readers ever since. The South African-born author, Sir Laurens van der Post, revered them and helped to make them known throughout the world. For this special new edition, Gregory McNamee has adapted the original nineteenth-century English translations to create modern versions of the stories for readers without a prior knowledge of the Bushman ways of life. The stories carry universal observations and truths and, with their historical and ethnographic roots in the African Bushman culture, they are fascinating and educational for readers and listeners of all ages. They bear powerful testimony to a desert people living at one with Nature.

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Book SynopsisThis new edition of the long-out-of print classic collection of Bushman tales provides a fascinating look into the life of these little-known people. As Megan Biesele writes in her Foreword: The fact that a family of trained linguists and their associates sat down between 1870 and 1884 with a group of /Xam people who had been temporarily sprung free of imprisonment in Cape Town''s Breakwater Prison has immense potential consequences. San people today, like indigenous peoples all over the world, are quietly organising educational futures for themselves which will make fine use of this record of the intellectual history of their culture. This edition reproduces the English text of the 1911 edition and is richly illustrated with photographs.

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Book SynopsisThis publication El Plástico, the Sun that lives inside the Rock is an observation on evolution of material plasticity, it is a story about plastic whose native land is Mesoamerica. It explores the past, present and future of plastic through encounters with various people a weaver from Oaxaca, a taxi driver, a sociologist working on trash collection in Mexico City and the owner of a small family-run plastic factory. The book contains a polymorphous project resulting from several years of research by artist Viktorija Rybakova and designer Goda Budvytyt?, it also includes a conversation between philosophers Kristupas Sabolius and Catherine Malabou, and essays by Post Brothers and Chris Fitzpatrick.

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Book SynopsisThe text surveys the position of Hindu women and suggests solutions for present-day problems related to childhood, education, marriage, divorce, widowhood, public life, religion, property rights, dress, and general attitudes towards women.

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