Social and cultural anthropology Books

Book SynopsisTrade Review"Based on extensive fieldwork, this book is part ethnography of a marginal Cambodian hill tribe of rice farmers, the Jarai, and part eco/cultural treatise about the mutual influences between people and their land and between history and memory." * Choice *"[N]ot your average academic book...a truly interdisciplinary contribution...Its strength lies precisely in this interdisciplinarity, allowing Padwe to draw out novel and thought-provoking insights in an engaging writing style (complemented with beautiful photos)." * South East Asia Research *"[T]he book analyzes forest biota and agricultural practices, enabling a new approach to conceptualizing landscapes that melds representation, materiality and ecology." * New Books in Southeast Asian Studies (NBN) *"By zooming in on vernacular geography and ecology in combination with history and anthropology, Padwe has crafted a compelling addition to this small library of vernacular highland histories in mainland Southeast Asia. A highly readable book that does not suffer from overtheorization, Disturbed Forests, Fragmented Memories will be of interest for historians and anthropologists of the region and, more importantly, for those interested in how a “more-than-human anthropology” and history might look like in practice." * Journal of Asian Studies *"Southeast Asia scholars in multiple fields will be drawn to the book for its impeccable attention to the ethnographic, oral, and archival record of the Vietnam-Cambodian borderlands." * Journal of Peasant Studies *"The stories that Padwe narrates are a pleasure to read and capture a sense of the world in which the highlanders of northeastern Cambodia live." * Journal of Vietnamese Studies *"Being of blurred genre, beyond traditional disciplinary boundaries of anthropology, human geography, Southeast Asia studies, or ethnohistory, this text may be of comparative interest for those anywhere engaged in bottom-up restoration—whether Native American revival of land stewardship through cultural burning, urban folk attempting to restore gift economies through permaculture garden systems, and others thinking deeply about ecological resilience and recuperation in the conjunctures of our post-pandemic world." * Conservation and Society *"This thought-provoking book...is excellent in its richness and detail." * Pacific Affairs *"[A] beautifully written and insightful ethnography that draws on Jonathan Padwe's long-term work in the Jarai village of Tang Kadon, in Cambodia's Ratanakiri province...Although Disturbed Forests, Fragmented Lives is a wonderful example of more-than-human anthropology, it will resonate with broader audiences who work on frontier dynamics, violence, memory and the co-production of nature–society in and beyond mainland Southeast Asia." * Journal of Southeast Asian Studies *

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"The Earth's Blanket is an excellent distillation of traditional teachings and narratives. This thoroughly researched book provides the necessary framework for identifying a resource management grounded in cultural traditions and wisdom and is capable of achieving a sustainable agro-ecology." * Agricultural History *Table of ContentsPreface and Acknowledgments Prologue: The Land and the Peoples 1. Wealth and Value in a Changing Land 2. Land-based Stories of People and Home Places 3. A Kincentric Approach to Nature 4. Honouring Nature through Ceremony and Ritual 5. The Balance between Humans and Nature 6. Looking After the Lands and Waters 7. Everything Is One 8. Finding Meaning in a Contemporary Context Source Notes References Index

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Book SynopsisIllustrates the complexity of social ties among groups and individuals, and their connections with the natural worldTrade Review"Rupp's readable ethnography offers a compelling, convincing update to the anthropological literature on hunter-gatherers. Summing Up: Recommended." * Choice *Table of ContentsAcknowledgements Foreword Introduction: Forests of Belonging 1. Paradigms: The Forest and Its People 2. Belonging: Ethnic Affiliations and Confluences 3. Spaces: Beyond Nature and Culture 4. Ambiguities: Interethnic Marriage and Descent 5. Tangles: Parallel Clans, Alliances, Rituals, and Collective Work 6. Identities: People in Changing Contexts 7. Contradictions: Identities, Opportunities, and Conflicts Conclusion: Rethinking. Social Identities, Ethnic Affiliations, and Stereotypes Notes Glossary of Non-English Terms Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisProvides an introduction to Chinookan culture and research and is a foundation for future workTrade Review"It is the sort of book that will be both indispensable to any Chinookan scholar and the subject of envy by historians beyond. Although the aspiration is orthodox, and as a result expansive, this project is clearly an attempt to move beyond the constraints of the early culture-area overview, most visibly in the inclusion of Chinookan authors." -- Andrew Martindale * BC Studies *"This excellent book...is divided into two parts, one focusing on what is known of the Chinook precontact, the other on their postcontact world. With chapters ranging from the environment, subsistence, and exchange to social organization and culture, part 1 has something for all. Of note, and certainly heartbreaking, are the chapters in the second part that discuss the politico-legal situation and history of the Chinookan peoples. Highly recommended." * Choice *"[The book] illustrates how rich and effective tribal and academic collaborations can be. Twenty-one tribal professionals and scholars (anthropologists, archaeologists, historians) contributed deeply researched chapters to this collection, and together their entries expand existing knowledge about and interpretations of Chinook peoples." -- Laurie Arnold * Columbia: The Journal of Northwest History *"This mature and welcome work provides lifelong academic insights concerning complex hunter-gatherers, regional social networks, ethnogenesis of modern Chinooks, comparisons of highly varied research, and strong voices of living Chinooks." -- Jay Miller * Western Historical Quarterly *"With coverage that ranges from 10,000 or more years to the present, Chinookan Peoples of the Lower Columbia explores the Chinookan world before and after contact, the advent and impacts of disease, demographic shifts, fishing and hunting practices and rights, treaty-making, and legal decisions—just to name a few of the topics under investigation. Compellingly, what is revealed is not always what one might expect." -- Cary C. Collins * Journal of the West *"In this impressive volume, the editors bring together the foremost scholars in the field….[A] tour de force examination of ancient and modern “ethnogensis”….This study is tight, focused, well-organized, comprehensive, even encyclopedic (in the best sense of the word)" -- David Arnold * Pacific Historical Review *"Chinookan Peoples draws upon an impressive body of research by some of the most eminent scholars in the field. . . . [A] starting point for understanding the most important elements of Chinookan culture and history." -- Wendi A. Lindquist * Pacific Northwest Quarterly *Table of ContentsList of Maps, Tables, and Online Materials Preface Acknowledgments The Chinook People Today / Tony A. Johnson Part I. The Chinookan World 1. Environment and Archaeology of the Lower Columbia / Elizabeth A. Sobel, Kenneth M. Ames, and Robert J. Losey 2. Cultural Geography of the Lower Columbia / David V. Ellis 3. Ethnobiology: Nonfishing Subsistence and Production / D. Ann Trieu Gahr 4. Aboriginal Fisheries of the Lower Columbia River / Virginia L. Butler and Michael A. Martin 5. Lower Columbia Trade and Exchange Systems / Yvonne Hajda and Elizabeth A. Sobel 6. Houses and Households / Kenneth M. Ames and Elizabeth A. Sobel 7. Social and Political Organization / Yvonne Hajda 8. Chinookan Oral Literature / Dell Hymes and William R. Seaburg 9. Lower Columbia Chinookan Ceremonialism / Robert T. Boyd 10. Lower Columbia River Art / Tony A. Johnson and Adam McIsaac Part II . After Euro-American Contact 11. Lower Chinookan Disease and Demography /Robert T. Boyd 12. The Chinookan Encounter with Euro-Americans in the Lower Columbia River Valley / William L. Lang 13. Chinuk Wawa and Its Roots in Chinookan / Henry B. Zenk and Tony A. Johnson 14. “Now You See Them, Now You Don’t”: Chinook Tribal Affairs and the Struggle for Federal Recognition / Andrew Fisher and Melinda Marie Jetté 15. Honoring Our tilixam: Chinookan People of Grand Ronde / David G. Lewis, Eirik Thorsgard, and Chuck Williams 16. Chinookan Writings: Anthropological Research and Historiography / Wayne Suttles and William L. Lang Bibliography Contributors Index

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Book SynopsisOpen-access edition: DOI 10.6069/9780295805979This ethnography explores contemporary narratives of Han-ness, revealing the nuances of what Han identity means today in relation to that of the fifty-five officially recognized minority ethnic groups in China, as well as in relation to home place identities and the country's national identity. Based on research she conducted among native and migrant Han in Shanghai and Beijing, Aqsu (in Xinjiang), and the Sichuan-Yunnan border area, Agnieszka Joniak-Luthi uncovers and discusses these identity topographies. Bringing into focus the Han majority, which has long acted as an unexamined backdrop to ethnic minorities, Joniak-Luthi contributes to the emerging field of critical Han studies as she considers how the Han describe themselves - particularly what unites and divides them - as well as the functions of Han identity and the processes through which it is maintained and reproduced. The Han will appeal to scholars and students of contemporary CTrade Review"Contemporary anthropological research infrequently focuses on the Han, who constitute 91.5 percent of the Chinese population. Social anthropologist Joniak-Lüthi takes a big step “to explore the Han and Han-ness”… An ambitious work, similar to defining America and Americanism. Recommended." * Choice *"This should be a must-read for anyone interested in historical and contemporary notions of identity in China." -- Carla Nappi * New Books Network *"I am constantly intrigued by what it means to be Han. . . . Agnieszka Joniak-Lüthi's remarkable new book casts light on this question, and reveals Hanness as a slippery and multivalent designation. . . . The fieldwork undertaken by the author for this study, and the deep analysis to which she has subjected it, has produced a wonderful contribution to scholarship on the Han, but I believe it illumines also the ways in which we all see ourselves." -- Simon Wickhamsmith * New Books Asia *Table of ContentsForeword by Stevan Harrell Acknowledgments Introduction 1. Narrating “the Han” 2. Contemporary Narratives of Han-ness 3. Topographies of Identity 4. Othering, Exclusion, and Discrimination 5. Fragmented Identities, the Han Minzu, and Ethnicity Epilogue Notes Glossary of Chinese Characters References Index

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Conjuring Property provides a rare insight into the social structure, class divisions and psychology of colonist communities. The awareness and empathy that can be taken from Campbell’s findings are his most significant contribution, and will prove valuable to anyone seeking a greater understanding of the Amazon’s complex, and often oversimplified, society." -- Catherine Morgans * Latin American Bureau’s Latin America Inside Out (LAIO) Blog *"Campbell’s excellent research and writing takes on extra significance in producing a full and nuanced ethnography of a colonist settlement in the central Brazilian Amazon. . . . An effective and dynamic portrait of this ‘frontier’ region." -- Evan Killick * Journal of Anthropological Research *"A real novelty for studies on the Amazon. It helps rethink the region’s identity and history by showing the agency of small and mid-range settlers with unprecedented precision and evidence. . . . A particularly important book for historians." -- Antoine Acker * H-LatAm *"Campbell explores in thrilling detail the way that these territorial policies have intersected with life on the ground to produce both spectacular and scandalous policy failures and the effective transformation of the region. . . . This is an honest and necessary assessment of the potentially catastrophic future that Amazonia faces emerging from this rigorous, important, and rather devastating research into how capitalism and the state are constructed on a daily basis in Amazonia." -- Brenda Baletti * AAG Review of Books *"Conjuring Property is a welcome close ethnographic account. . . . Campbell’s prose reads effortlessly, and the reader is transported from intimate conversations with homesteaders to more abstract discussions on Marx’ concept of alienation without a hint of altitude sickness. . . . The book enters the shelves of works such as Social Facts and Fabrications by Moore (1986) and Weapons of the Weak by Scott (1985)." -- Christian Lund * Journal of Agrarian Change *"A real novelty for studies on the Amazon. It helps rethink the region’s identity and history by showing the agency of small and mid-range settlers with unprecedented precision and evidence. . . . A particularly important book for historians." * H-LatAm *"Conjuring Property provides particularly salient lessons for anthropologists as well as multidisciplinary researchers and practitioners of conservation, development, and environmental governance." -- Jeffrey Hoelle * American Ethnologist (AE) *"Shows how the land law in Brazil has evolved since the Amazon colonization era and how the government and many NGOs influenced local communities to participate in development planning and the propagation of development concepts in land claiming in the Amazon." -- Marcellus M. Caldas * Journal of Latin American Geography *"One of far too few works in the literature on the Brazilian Amazon today explicitly focused on the fate and visons of colonizers. . . . [Campbell] shows unique evidence of the colonizers simultaneously claiming land under sustainable development schemes while not giving up on other land claims based on past land regularization schemes. . . . The book sheds light on how property is not a fixed category and comprises part of a political economy in formation." -- Martin Delaroche * Anthropos *"Demonstrates how colonists conjucture, speculate, and manipulate the environment, and each other’s labor, in hope that their rationale and actions will fit desired state-sanctioned property forms in the future. . . . [A] complex and well-written ethnography. . . . Describes how improvisation transforms into legitimacy through an emerging neoliberal order that is ‘rigged for theft and destruction.'" -- John Ben Soileau * Anthropology and Humanism *"Conjuring Property moves easily between critical theory, history, and ethnographic narrative. The tempo is well-suited for undergraduate and graduate courses in environmental and political anthropology, rural sociology, and ethnographic writing and methods. I highly recommended it." * Anthropology and Humanism *Table of ContentsForeword by K. Sivaramakrishnan Preface Acknowledgments Abbreviations Introduction | Real Estate in Wild Country 1. Frontier Capitalism and Figuring the State 2. The Labors of Grilagem 3. Speculative Accumulation 4. Living Proleptically in the Environmental Era 5. Regularization and the Land Question Conclusion | On Property and Devastation Notes Glossary Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"A distinctive and imaginative account of the peculiar and often mystified enclaves or ‘fragmented territories’ on the border between India and Bangladesh. . . . Cons offers a rich and nuanced ethnography of multiple dimensions of everyday struggles, contestations, and opportunities in Dahagram. . . . Sensitive Space opens new conceptual avenues for analyses on the Indo-Bangladeshi border as well as border studies more generally." -- Prithvi Hirani * Antipode: A Radical Journal of Geography *"Cons . . . allows his rich ethnographic material to reveal the complexities of postcolonial sovereignty, insecurity, and precarity. The result is a highly readable, theoretically acute, and sharply insightful work." -- Sankaran Krishna * Journal of Asian Studies *

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Book SynopsisA leading thinker on Canada's place in the world contends that our country's greatest untapped resource may be the three million Canadians who don't live here.Entrepreneurs, educators, humanitarians: an entire province's worth of Canadian citizens live outside Canada. Some will return, others won't. But what they all share is the ability, and often the desire, to export Canadian values to a world sorely in need of them. And to act as ambassadors for Canada in industries and societies where diplomatic efforts find little traction. Surely a country with people as diverse as Canada's ought to plug itself into every corner of the globe. We don't, and sometimes not even when our expats are eager to help.Failing to put this desire to work, contends bestselling author and longtime foreign correspondent John Stackhouse, is a grave error for a small country whose voice is getting lost behind developing nations of rapidly increasing influence. The soft power we once boaste

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Book SynopsisFrom the mountains of California to a forgotten steel vat at the Smithsonian, this "eloquent and soul-searching book" (Lit) is "a compelling account of one of American anthropology's strangest, saddest chapters" (Archaeology).

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Book SynopsisNew York Times Bestseller “An exquisite, hilarious and devastating dissection.” —Malcolm GladwellTrade Review"[A] delectably merciless (yet affectionate) taxonomy." -- Liesl Schillinger - Vogue"Lyall is a first-rate reporter, and her book has all the hallmarks of her journalism: it is warm, blunt, confessional, companionable.… [She] is at her tart, observant best." -- Matt Weiland - New York Times Book Review"A razor-sharp, hilarious, wickedly insightful, decidedly biased account." -- Graydon Carter"Gleefully funny." -- Judith Newman - People"Because Lyall is rather witty and understated herself, as well as a dogged, meticulous reporter, the result is a book that is both funny and illuminating." -- Laurie Hertzel - Minneapolis Star Tribune"Sarah Lyall is the wittiest observer of the English and their curious habits. Now she’s written a book that takes her game to an entirely new level. It’s funny, it’s delightful and anyone with even a passing interest in these strange people should read it." -- Michael Lewis"By turns wry, mordant, affectionate, bitter and sweet. I never miss any of Sarah Lyall’s dispatches because, while they manage to remind me why I left, they also contrive to make me feel occasionally homesick." -- Christopher Hitchens"Sarah Lyall brings all the virtues of the best American journalism, including accuracy, to the task of analysing all the vices of British society, including hypocrisy, venality and hopeless confusion about sex. In addition to its importance as a sociological treatise, The Anglo Files is an indispensable guide to all the best true stories about the country to which she has emigrated, and in which she will now be hailed as one of its supreme analysts, preparatory to her being executed on Tower Green." -- Clive James"An entertaining, indeed delightful, book. If the exchange rate makes going there impossible, read this. It’s cheaper and almost as much fun." -- Jeff Simon - Buffalo News"A superb social and cultural anthropology by a reporter who has lived among her subjects without losing her sense of wonder for them. It is beautifully written, always insightful, and often hilarious. Imagine Margaret Mead channeling Jon Stewart and you have Sarah Lyall." -- Eric Lax

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Book SynopsisA beautifully written (The New Yorker) journey through the hidden world of elephants and their riders.Trade Review"... thought-provoking study…" -- Nature"Never truly domesticated, many elephants in South East Asia worked for humans during the day yet were let go at night to forage in the forest. Jacob Shell discusses this age-old pact between two brainy species. Even if our view of the human-animal relation is changing, the awe in which we hold elephants is amply fed by the stories and history in this fascinating book, especially those in which elephants appear to use their own judgment to solve problems in the field." -- Frans de Waal"Giants of the Monsoon Forest makes a powerfully, though subtly, persuasive case for elephants to continue as working animals. Highly readable, it should appeal to a wide audience, just as the writing of did in an earlier generation." -- Times Literary Supplement"In the end, Giants of the Monsoon Forest offers an absorbing look at the dual world of semicaptive Asian elephants and convincingly argues for the interdependence of elephants and forest protection." -- Science

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Book SynopsisA thought-provoking meditation on food, family, identity, immigration, and, most of all, hospitality--at the table and beyond--that's part food memoir, part appeal for more authentic decency in our daily worlds, and in the world at large.Be My Guest is an utterly unique, deeply personal meditation on what it means to tend to others and to ourselves--and how the two things work hand in hand. Priya Basil explores how food--and the act of offering food to others--are used to express love and support. Weaving together stories from her own life with knowledge gleaned from her Sikh heritage; her years spent in Kenya, India, Britain, and Germany; and ideas from Derrida, Plato, Arendt, and Peter Singer, Basil focuses an unexpected and illuminating light on what it means to be both a host and a guest. Lively, wide-ranging, and impassioned, Be My Guest is a singular work, at once a deeply felt plea for a kinder, more welcoming world and a reminder that, fundamentally

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Book SynopsisA bold, hopeful, and thought-provoking account by “one of the world’s leading thinkers” (The Observer) of how we built a lonely world, how the pandemic accelerated the problem, and what we must do to come together again “A compelling vision for how we can bridge our many divides at this time of great change and disruption.”—Arianna Huffington, founder and CEO of Thrive Global “An important new book.”—The Economist NEXT BIG IDEA CLUB NOMINEE • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY WIRED (UK) AND THE DAILY TELEGRAPH Loneliness has become the defining condition of the twenty-first century. It is damaging our health, our wealth, and our happiness and even threatening our democracy. Never has it been more pervasive or more widespread, but never has there been more that we can do about it. Even before a global p

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Book SynopsisMichael Tomasello offers the most detailed account to date of the evolution of human moral psychology. Based on experimental data comparing great apes and human children, he reconstructs two key evolutionary steps whereby early humans gradually became an ultra-cooperative and, eventually, a moral species capable of acting as a plural agent “we”.Trade ReviewTomasello is convincing, above all, because he has run many of the relevant studies (on chimps, bonobos and children) himself. He concludes by emphasizing the powerful influence of broad cultural groups on modern humans…Tomasello also makes an endearing guide, appearing happily amazed that morality exists at all. -- Michael Bond * New Scientist *If you’re after a definitive guide to explain how humans became an ultra-cooperative and, eventually, moral species, this must be it. Evolutionary anthropologist Michael Tomasello has followed his last book, A Natural History of Human Thinking, with another hard hitter. * New Scientist *This is an extremely worthwhile addition to the literature on the evolution of morality. It is well written and strikes an excellent balance between easy accessibility and nuanced and novel ideas. This book will appeal to students and researchers from a range of disciplines. -- Richard Joyce, author of The Evolution of MoralityThis is an important synthesis of the ideas Tomasello has been developing over a number of years, extended with an offer of a philosophically relevant genealogy of morality. Readers will learn much from this informed review of the extensive literature on the evolution of morality—a substantial part of which consists of the major contributions Tomasello and his colleagues have made. -- Philip Kitcher, author of The Ethical Project

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Book SynopsisPULITZER PRIZE FINALIST • Drawing on a wealth of research, this fascinating book (The New York Times Book Review) charts the invention of our current Yuletide traditions, from St. Nicholas to the Christmas tree and, perhaps most radically, the practice of giving gifts to children. Anyone who laments the excesses of Christmas might consider the Puritans of colonial Massachusetts: they simply outlawed the holiday. The Puritans had their reasons, since Christmas was once an occasion for drunkenness and riot, when poor wassailers  extorted food and drink from the well-to-do. In this intriguing and innovative work of social history, Stephen Nissenbaum rediscovers Christmas's carnival origins and shows how it was transformed, during the nineteenth century, into a festival of domesticity and consumerism.    Bursting with detail, filled with subversive readings of such seasonal classics as A Visit from St. Nicholas

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Book SynopsisChappell's lively prose, accompanied by Jett's haunting black-and-white photographs, will delight all those drawn to the seclusion, peacefulness, and melancholy of old graveyards.Jacket illustration: Lower Hooper's Island, MarylandTrade ReviewFrom Helen Chappell, a native and resident of Talbot County and one of the very best writers in the region, comes observation and musing about dead people, graveyards, tombstones, funerals, burials, and grieving customs around the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland, Virginia, and D.C... Being witty as well as serious about death in the same book is a risky business, of course. But Chappell manages it handily... The best-written and most entertaining new book on the subject. -- John Goodspeed Easton Star DemocratTable of ContentsPreface AcknowledgmentsChapter 1. In The Midst Of Life, We Are In DeathChapter 2. Parting ShotChapter 3. She Came Back From The GraveChapter 4. Tales From Tidewater VirginiaChapter 5. Customary WoeChapter 6. BatwingsChapter 7. Harriet Tubman Is Buried AwayChapter 8. A Lonely Place To LieChapter 9. The Last WordChapter 10. Congressional CemeteryChapter 11. Murdered By Cyrus StackChapter 12. Death And The DoctorChapter 13. Green Mount, BaltimoreChapter 14. Kids Just Know These Things Chapter 15. Oat Hill And Rock CreekChapter 16. Scott And ZeldaChapter 17. Floating CoffinsChapter 18. Arlington National Cemetery Chapter 19. One That Got AwayChapter 20. Larger Than DeathChapter 21. On Death And BurialChapter 22. Old St. Paul's Cemetery Chapter 23. Arvel Johnson On His Native SoilChapter 24. Miss Olivia And Miss JuneChapter 25. Paying Our Respects To Mr. PoeChapter 26. Arts And CraftsChapter 27. A Tribute To The Graveyard MindSuggested Reading

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Book SynopsisTunis, with his painstaking attention to authentic detail and his vast knowledge, could present such a complete treasury of the way things were done before machines obliterated this phase of early American life.Trade ReviewOf great interest to historians of technology including blacksmiths... Tunis's work is a useful overview of tools and processes in the hand-craft era and the beginning of the industrial revolution... With their well-balanced blend of text and drawings they provide an interesting sampling of colonial craft practices, as well as a delightful 'flavor of the times.' We [blacksmiths] should all become familiar with this widely read book. -- John Austen The Newsletter of the Blacksmiths' Guild of the PotomacTable of ContentsPreface AcknowledgmentsChapter 1. New World, New WaysChapter 2. Country WorkChapter 3. Town ShopsChapter 4. Bespoke WorkChapter 5. Group WorkChapter 6. Manufactories

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Book SynopsisFavazza critically assesses new and significant biological, ethnological, social, and psychological findings regarding self-injury; presents current understandings of self-injurious acts from cultural and clinical perspectives; and places self-mutilation in historical and contemporary context.Trade Review"The second edition of the fascinating but gruesome Bodies under Siege by Armando R. Favazza explores the various ways in which people mutilate their bodies. Favazza explores the historical background and offers insights into how and why people do truly appalling things to their limbs, heads, and genitals. He pleads for understanding for a group of patients who are often seen as bizarre and repellent." (New Scientist) "The seminal book on [nonsuicidal self-injury]; presents a comprehensive historical, anthropological, and clinical review of the topic." (Current Directions in Psychological Science) "A compendium of cultural and clinical reports of self-mutilation and a summary of what is and what is not known about therapy, the book is a major contribution to both the anthropological and psychiatric literature. I know that having read it I will see my next self-mutilating patient through more insightful and compassionate eyes." (Journal of Nervous and Mental Disorders)"Table of ContentsPreface to the Third EditionPart I: Mutilative Beliefs, Religion, Eating, and Ethology1. Mutilative Beliefs, Attitudes, Practices, and Images2. Self-mutilation in Myths of Creation, Shamanism, and Religion3. Self-injury and Eating Disorders4. Animals and AutomutilationPart II: Mutilation and Self-Injury of Body Parts: Cultural and Clinical Cases5. The Head and Its Parts6. The Limbs7. The Skin8. The GenitalsPart III: Insight and Treatment9. Understanding Self-injury10. The Assessment, Psychology, and Biology of Self-injury11. Treatment12. Personal ReflectionsEpilogue: Body Play: My Journey, Fakir MusafarReferencesIndex

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Book SynopsisFor fans of Sapiens and The Dawn of Everything, a groundbreaking exploration of gendered oppression—its origins, its histories, our attempts to understand it, and our efforts to combat itFor centuries, societies have treated male domination as natural to the human species. But how would our understanding of gender inequality—our imagined past and contested present— look if we didn’t assume that men have always ruled over women? If we saw inequality as something more fragile that has had to be constantly remade and reasserted?In this bold and radical book, award-winning science journalist Angela Saini explores the roots of what we call patriarchy, uncovering a complex history of how it first became embedded in societies and spread across the globe from prehistory into the present. She travels to the world’s earliest known human settlements, analyzes the latest research findings in science and archaeology, and traces cult

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Book SynopsisIn this comprehensive exploration of the history and practice of folk medicine in the Appalachian region, Anthony Cavender melds folklore, medical anthropology and Appalachian history and draws extensively on oral histories and archival sources from the 19th to the 21st century.

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Book SynopsisThursby cites rituals for loved ones separated at the time of death, the frivolities surrounding death, funeral foods and feasts, post-funeral rites and ongoing commemorations, and many other facets of the American way of dealing with death.

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