Social and cultural anthropology Books

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Book SynopsisMost studies of violence in the Middle East and South Asia come from the perspective of honour or political violence. By contrast, this important study offers a new perspective on its causes in Pakistan's unruly North-West Frontier Province, challenging stereotyped images of a region and people miscast as extremist and militant. Based on an in-depth study of local conflicts, the book sheds light on the complexities of violence, not only at the structural or systemic level, but also as experienced by the men involved in lethal conflict.In this way, the book provides a subjective and experiential approach to violence that is applicable beyond the field locality and relevant for advancing the study of violence in the Middle East and South Asia.Trade Review'We should make the best possible use of this analysis: for its daring perspectives, extreme empirical findings, and wide relevance. It deserves a very careful reading for its contributions to so many aspects of our understanding of honour, politics and human society' - Fredrik BarthTable of ContentsForeword; Preface; Acknowledgements; Glossary; 1 Introduction; 2 Belonging to the Palas Valley; 3 The textured landscape; 4 Land of contention; 5 Being, longing and belonging; 6 Condemned and confined; 7 Magic and honour; 8 Contesting the boundaries; 9 Brooding over the big trees; 10 Thresholds and transitions; Notes; References; Index.

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Book SynopsisAt face value, this book is about medicine in Cambodia over the last hundred years. At the same time, however, by using 'medicine' (in the sense of ideas, practices and institutions relating to health and illness) as a prism through which to view colonial and post-colonial Cambodian society more generally, it offers an historical and contemporary anthropology of the nation of Cambodia. Rich in ethnographic detail derived from both contemporary anthropological fieldwork and colonial archival material, the study is an account of the simultaneous presence in Cambodia of two medical traditions: the modern, biomedical one first introduced by the French colonial power at the turn of the twentieth century, and the indigenous Khmer health cosmology. In their reliance on one or the other of the two traditions, to a large extent the Khmer people have been concerned to find efficient medical treatment that also adheres to social norms (not least the emphasis on the morality of social relations). This concern is also evident in the prevailing medical pluralism in Cambodia today. The authors trace the interaction (and lack thereof) between these two traditions from the French colonial period via the political upheavals of the 1970s through to the present day. The result is more than a medical anthropology; this is a key text that also makes a significant contribution to the anthropological study of Cambodian society at large and will be an important resource for development planners and aid workers in medical and related fields.Trade Review'This is a compelling, persuasive study of the indigenizationA" of global bio-political knowledge in Cambodia from colonial to modern times. Rigorously researched, balanced in interpretation and cautionary rather than idealistic, scholars and policymakers alike will derive much benefit from this insightful assessment of the human condition in Cambodia today. It is benchmark, interdisciplinary social science for showing us how social order and everyday survival are continually shaped and reshaped by successive models of governance.' - Laura Summers, University of HullTable of ContentsPreface vii Glossary xi 1. Introduction 1 2. Colonialism and Medicine in Indochina 18 3. French Medicine in Cambodia 43 4. The Khmer Rouge Medical Regime and Socialist Health 84 5. Indigenous Practitioners: Healers, Spirit Mediums and Magic Monks 129 6. Midwives and the Medicalization of Motherhood 169 7. Leprosy: Symbol and Social Suffering 203 8. Contemporary Healthcare Resources 233 9. Conclusion 270 Appendix 275 References 277 Index 297

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Book SynopsisHailed on its first publication as 'an outstanding contribution to Southeast Asian ethnography - highly recommended not only for specialists in traditional hunting and fishing but also for those readers who wish to gain some insight from the native's point of view - into a fascinating tribal minority culture of highland Southeast Asia' (Roland Mischung, Asian Folklore Studies).This reproduction of the 1991 edition is augmented by new material on food cultivation and its preparation among the Kammu by Kam Raw (Damrong Tayanin) and an essay by Hakan Lundstrom.

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Book SynopsisA fresh understanding of the ongoing Thai political conflict is offered in this exploration of the connections between status, space, and social life in Bangkok. Looking beyond the ‘urban–rural divide’, the author points to a more complex reality in which city and countryside are linked by reciprocal relations based on status and class. Everyday interclass relations in Bangkok have seen a diminishment and marginalization of upcountry Thais by the urban middle classes, thus creating an incendiary dynamic exploited in the current political power struggle. At the same time, middle-class culture and identity are shaped by elite perceptions but aspirations for upward mobility are thwarted by structural constraints and a privileging of wealth and connections. Disenchantment is feeding a potentially explosive political situation yet there are few chances for reform while most people feel their only avenue for advancement is via the current system that many perceive as unjust.

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Book SynopsisThis is a must-have volume for scholars, other fieldworkers and policy-makers preparing to work in Timor-Leste, invaluable for those needing to understand the country from afar, and a fascinating read for anyone interested in the Timorese world. A ground-breaking exploration of research methodologies in Timor-Leste, the first of its kind, it brings together ten authors (veterans and early-career researchers) who have helped found Timor studies and broadly represent a range of fieldwork practices and challenges in what has been described as one of the most complex, contested, attractive and dangerous ethnographic field sites on the planet. Here, they present their experiences of conducting anthropological, historical and archival fieldwork in this new nation, spanning the period from colonial times to the present day. The volume further explores how researchers might examine processes of 'nation-making' without taking particular claims about what constitutes Timorese national identity for granted. Many of the chapters thereby engage critically with some of the preconceived understandings and ideas about what kind of place Timor-Leste is that have characterized both academic research and development debates, and which have been challenged through the ethnographic or historical research of the contributing authors. The volume thus reflects and highlights the contestations and deliberations symptomatic of the country's nation-building process. It is also timely, coming as Timor studies enter a productive new phase following the country's independence and at a critical moment in the debate about the future of area studies vis-a-vis the traditional disciplines.

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Book SynopsisThis is a must-have volume for scholars, other fieldworkers and policy-makers preparing to work in Timor-Leste, invaluable for those needing to understand the country from afar, and a fascinating read for anyone interested in the Timorese world. A ground-breaking exploration of research methodologies in Timor-Leste, the first of its kind, it brings together ten authors (veterans and early-career researchers) who have helped found Timor studies and broadly represent a range of fieldwork practices and challenges in what has been described as one of the most complex, contested, attractive and dangerous ethnographic field sites on the planet. Here, they present their experiences of conducting anthropological, historical and archival fieldwork in this new nation, spanning the period from colonial times to the present day. The volume further explores how researchers might examine processes of 'nation-making' without taking particular claims about what constitutes Timorese national identity for granted. Many of the chapters thereby engage critically with some of the preconceived understandings and ideas about what kind of place Timor-Leste is that have characterized both academic research and development debates, and which have been challenged through the ethnographic or historical research of the contributing authors. The volume thus reflects and highlights the contestations and deliberations symptomatic of the country's nation-building process. It is also timely, coming as Timor studies enter a productive new phase following the country's independence and at a critical moment in the debate about the future of area studies vis-a-vis the traditional disciplines.

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Book SynopsisThere is no moment of our waking life in which we do not experience sounds or make sounds. The human body is a sound-making organism. In densely peopled areas like many parts of Southeast Asia, then, the potential is for tumult, an infinity of different sounds competing to be heard. Pandemonium is not unheard of in Southeast Asia - not least in times of political unrest - but in everyday situations uproar is uncommon; cultural, social, political and personal factors (among others) work to calm, channel or even silence the tumult. Providing focus to this interdisciplinary volume on sound in SE Asia are detailed descriptions of the context of sounds and sound-making within the region's diverse socio-cultural semiotic frames of hierarchy and power. Drawing on examples from Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines, each author discusses some aspect of sound in relation to their ethnographic context. Sound examples are also found on a companion website. Varied approaches to understanding sound are offered but in some way each relates to hierarchy and power. All show the importance of sound for understanding the processual implementation of hierarchy (or its opposite) in the construction of the social environment and the role of sound in the efficacious engagement of power in a variety of religious and political form. This is a much-needed volume, long overdue, not only offers non-Western perspectives to a field that is firmly Eurocentric; it also goes beyond examining sound in isolation, considering this instead in relation to the other senses and to sociocultural constructions. In such ways, then, the volume offers new directions of study, an exciting prospect.Trade ReviewHumans are surrounded by sound day and night and yet very few scholars have studied our sonic environment. "Hearing Southeast Asia" breaks the silence at last. It is the first major volume to explore the soundscapes of insular and mainland Southeast Asia. The chapters cover the full range of sounds from the sound wars of noisy megacities to the quiet healing music or ritual whispering of tribal communities. The authors form the fine fleur of sonic studies, mostly using an ethnographic approach. "Hearing Southeast Asia" will remain the standard work on Southeast Asian soundscapes for a long time to come. (Freek Colombijn, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)

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Book SynopsisDecades of war, social upheaval and political change have not lessened the enduring interest of the people of East Timor (Timor-Leste) in their oral traditions, something they share with their neighbors in the eastern islands of Indonesia. Although oral literature continues to occupy a central place in Timorese cultures, new forms of expression are emerging (for instance via published fiction and in social media). Nonetheless, the corpus of Timorese oral narrative largely retains an underlying metaphysical unity. Among others, it continues to express indigenous notions about gender and precedence - two important sociocultural markers that are among the most prominent topics currently under discussion by scholars of the region today. What has yet to be done, however, is to bring Timorese oral narratives into mainstream social science scholarship by subjecting them to a rigorous scholarly analysis. That is the purpose of this masterly study by the veteran Timor scholar, David Hicks. Drawing upon more than a half century of fieldwork and publishing, he discusses the tropes found in and illuminating Timorese metaphysical thought and literature. No other work has discussed these tropes before nor indeed attempted to discern patterns of thought in Timorese narratives. Certainly, the study will be of interest to scholars of literature, social science, structural analysis, Indonesian cultures and philosophy, as well as to those interested in the country's colonial past and in efforts to conserve its natural environment. The book should also appeal to educated citizens of Timor-Leste; here is a work illuminating how future aspirations might be grounded in a common heritage.

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Book SynopsisThis remarkable and timely ethnography explores how fishing communities living on the fringe of the South China Sea in central Vietnam interact with state and religious authorities as well as their farmer neighbors - even while handling new geopolitical challenges. The focus is mainly on marginal people and their navigation between competing forces over the decades of massive change since their incorporation into the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in 1975. The sea, however, plays a major role in this study as does the location: a once-peripheral area now at the center of a global struggle for sovereignty, influence and control in the South China Sea. The coastal fishing communities at the heart of this study are peripheral not so much because of geographical remoteness as their presumed social 'backwardness'; they only partially fit into the social imaginary of Vietnam's territory and nation. The state thus tries to incorporate them through various cultural agendas while religious reformers seek to purify their religious practices. Yet, recently, these communities have also come to be seen as guardians of an ancient fishing culture, important in Vietnam's resistance to Chinese claims over the South China Sea. The fishers have responded to their situation with a blend of conformity, co-option and subtle indiscipline. A complex, triadic relationship is at play here. Within it are various shifting binaries - e.g. secular/religious, fishers/farmers, local ritual/Buddhist doctrine, etc. - and different protagonists (state officials, religious figures, fishermen and -women) who construct, enact, and deconstruct these relations in shifting alliances and changing contexts. Fishers, Monks and Cadres is a significant new work. Its vivid portrait of local beliefs and practices makes a powerful argument for looking beyond monolithic religious traditions. Its triadic analysis and subtle use of binaries offer startlingly fresh ways to view Vietnamese society and local political power. The book demonstrates Vietnam is more than urban and agrarian society in the Red River Basin and Mekong Delta. Finally, the author builds on intensive, long-term research to portray a region at the forefront of geopolitical struggle, offering insights that will be fascinating and revealing to a much broader readership.

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Book SynopsisFor many years, fieldwork was impossible in Laos due to the wars and then because of the overthrow of the royal power and the establishment of a revolutionary regime. Yet this country – where, to this day, very diverse ethnic minorities make up more than half the population – has long been considered by ethnologists as a quite unique place of study. Although limited in number, several good ethnographies were conducted during colonial times and after independence until the 1960s, both among certain ethnic minorities and among Lao villagers. But, with rare exceptions, they adopted a narrow focus, producing ethnic monographs or even village studies. It was not until the 1990s that some international researchers were able to return to the field in Laos, often in difficult and precarious conditions. While recognizing the value of some early ethnographies, their approach deliberately turned towards anthropological questioning with new theoretical perspectives. The book brings together several of these anthropological studies representative of a new generation of researchers engaged in fieldwork, often in collaboration with Lao researchers in joint projects. Among other aspects, their research demonstrates the value of studying the political role of the state in the management of multi-ethnicity as well as in the management of religion. But they also re-situate the study of a particular ethnic minority in the broader field of interethnic relations at the regional or national level. Published in collaboration with the École française d’Extrême-Orient (EFEO), the book is a tribute to the late Grant Evans, whose work remains emblematic of this “anthropological turn” in Lao studies.

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Book SynopsisThis is the first anthropological monograph of Muslim and Hindu lives in contemporary Myanmar. In it, Judith Beyer introduces the concept of "we-formation" as a fundamental yet underexplored capacity of humans to relate to one another outside of and apart from demarcated ethno-religious lines and corporate groups. We-formation complements the established sociological concept of community, which suggests shared origins, beliefs, values, and belonging. Community is not only a key term in academic debates; it is also a hot topic among Beyer's interlocutors in urban Yangon, who draw on it to make claims about themselves and others. Invoking "community" is a conscious and strategic act, even as it asserts and reinforces stereotypes of Hindus and Muslims as minorities. In Myanmar, this understanding of community keeps self-identified members of these groups in a subaltern position vis-a-vis the Buddhist majority population. Beyer demonstrates the concept's enduring political and legal role since being imposed on "Burmese Indians" under colonial British rule. But individuals are always more than members of groups. The author draws on ethnomethodology and existential anthropology to reveal how people's bodily movements, verbal articulations, and non-verbal expressions in communal spaces are crucial elements in practices of we-formation. Her participant observation in mosques and temples, during rituals and processions, and in private homes reveals a sensitivity to tacit and intercorporeal phenomena that is still rare in anthropological analysis. Rethinking Community in Myanmar develops a theoretical and methodological approach that reconciles individuality and intersubjectivity and that is applicable far beyond the Southeast Asian context. Its focus on we-formation also offers insights into the dynamics of resistance to the attempted military coup of 2021. The newly formed civil disobedience movement derives its power not only from having a common enemy, but also from each individual's determination to live freely in a more just society.Trade Review“Beyer’s book and her fascinating fieldwork in the varied groups of Indian descent in Rangoon, reshapes not just how we understand people who have long been dismissively homogenized in Burmese and academic discourse, but it offers insightful reformulations of how people construct identity unlimited by the categories imposed upon them.”(Alicia Turner, Assistant Professor of Humanities and Religious Studies at York University); “Judith Beyer’s impressive ethnographic account of Muslims and Hindus in Yangon invites us to consider the dialectic between everyday experiences of co-existence and categorical claims of community without collapsing the distinctions between these practices. This monograph introduces a valuable theoretical framework for delving into the formation of we-ness without assuming that this is inevitably conjoined with processes of othering. I expect that concepts like ‘we-formation’ will quickly be adopted by scholars in a variety of fields including myself.” (Vered Amit, Professor of Sociology and Anthropology at Concordia University, Montreal, Canada); "Judith Beyer’s brilliant ethnography of ‘practices of we-formation’ among Muslims and Hindus in urban Yangon compellingly demonstrates that neither the individual nor the community is sui generis; each is a condition of the possibility of the other. Beyer’s in-depth fieldwork, vivid writing, and theoretical insights make this book a stunning contribution to existential anthropology.” (Michael Jackson, Distinguished Professor of World Religions at Harvard Divinity School)

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Book SynopsisCet ouvrage s'inscrit dans une suite de travaux consacrés aux populations forestières d'Afrique Centrale et, parmi elles, plus particulièrement aux Pygmées Aka. Il constitue une étude pluridisciplinaire centrée sur l'approche linguistique des différents aspects de la réalité sociale. Dans cette perspective, la langue se situe à la fois comme un aspect de cette réalité sociale et comme le thesaurus et le véhicule de celle-ci. L'ouvrage résulte de la coopération d'un groupe de travail officiellement constitué depuis 1977, mais dont les activités coordonnées de plus ou moins près remontent à 1971. Il rassemble les connaissances acquises sur cette population pygmée et sur son milieu naturel et humain par des chercheurs de différentes disciplines: linguistique, ethnologie, ethnolinguistique, ethnosciences (ethnobotanique, ethnozoologie, ethnomédecine et ethnopharmacologie), écologie, ethnomusicologie.

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Book SynopsisCet ouvrage est une contribution originale aux debats sur la grammaticalisation et sur le statut des categories linguistiques. Il presente, en effet, un phenomene qui n'a pas ete systematiquement decrit jusqu'ici et que l'on peut appeler "grammaticalisation synchronique" ou "transcategorialite": dans de nombreuses langues, on trouve ainsi un certain nombre de morphemes qui fonctionnent, en synchronie, dans differentes categories syntaxiques. Il s'agit, par exemple, de lexemes utilises par ailleurs en fonction prepositionnelle et subordonnante, ou de morphemes grammaticaux a la fois determinants du nom et marqueurs predicatifs ou encore introducteurs de propositions. Ces morphemes, que l'on a appeles "transcategoriels" (ou plurifonctionnels), fonctionnent donc a differentes echelles syntaxiques et presentent une polysemie remarquable accompagnant ce changement de categorie syntaxique. S'appuyant sur un premier echantillonnage d'une quinzaine de langues, genetiquement mais aussi typologiquement assez differentes (appartenant principalement a la famille Niger-Congo mais aussi aux familles nilo-saharienne, oceanienne et afro-asiatique), l'ouvrage tente ainsi de mettre en lumiere la dynamique particuliere des systemes linguistiques qui se manifeste au travers de ces changements de categories en synchronie, ainsi que ses conditions de fonctionnement: lois regulieres permettant d'expliquer le passage d'un emploi a un autre, role du contexte dans les changements de categories et variations de sens. Il montre egalement que les langues ne presentent pas toutes la meme aptitude a la transcategorialite et ouvre ainsi une nouvelle piste de reflexion sur la typologie de la transcategorialite et ses liens avec les systemes linguistiques.

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Book SynopsisCet ouvrage est le fruit d'une collaboration entre l'universite de Bayreuth (departements Afrikanistik I et II) et l'unite mixte de recherche Langage, Langues et Cultures d'Afrique Noire (LLACAN, UMR 8135, CNRS-INALCO-Paris 7). Les onze articles ici reunis presentent des donnees de plus de 250 langues d'Afrique. Le materiau utilise est souvent inedit et de premiere main, et constitue de ce fait un corpus unique. P. BOYELDIEU: Les pronoms logophoriques dans les langues d'Afrique centrale. P. BOYELDIEU et P. NOUGAYROL: Les marques personnelles des langues SBB: traits systematiques et perspectives historiques. S. CHAKER: Les paradigmes personnels du berbere. C. DITTEMER, D. IBRISZIMOW et K. BRUNK: Les pronoms en tchadique: vue d'ensemble. G. MIEHE: Les pronoms personnels dans les langues Gur. D. MORIN: Approche systematique des pronoms en afar. E. OREAL: Les marques personnelles en ancien egyptien: morphologie et fonction. K. POZDNIAKOV et G. SEGERER: Reconstruction des pronoms atlantiques et typologie des systemes pronominaux. K. POZDNIAKOV et G. SEGERER: Reconstruction des pronoms personnels du proto-Cangin. M.-C. SIMEONE-SENELLE: Caracteristiques des pronoms et marques personnels en Afro-asiatique. H. TOURNEUX: Les marques personnelles en kotoko et en mafa/wandala.

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Book SynopsisFrom the late 18th to the early 20th century northern Luristan was dominated by feuding tribal leaders, more or less independent of the Qadjar State. The religious concepts of the illiterate Luristani nomads of this period are reflected in the iconography of the pictorial tombstones. Inge Demant Mortensen's book on the Luristani Pictorial Tombstones is primarily based on her studies of the nomadic cemeteries during her fieldwork in Luristan in the 1970s. Her focus is on the testimony of the pictorial tombstones and the religious messages and connotations they reveal. As a background for the interpretation of these messages she makes an attempt to establish the historical, social, and religious context of the cemeteries, and to identify the tribal identity of the nomads residing or moving from winter to summer pastures within the plains and valleys of northern Luristan, where the pictorial stelae and obelisks occur.

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Book SynopsisCet ouvrage, en hommage à Marceau Gast, explore la diversité et la richesse de l'÷uvre scientifique de ce chercheur au parcours original. Lait, grain, meules, coffres, saisons, géophagie, décors géométriques, sandales, salutations, étoiles, parenté, alliance... L'énumération des objets et des terrains auquels s'est intéressé Marceau Gast ressemble à un inventaire à la Prévert, mais leur apparente disparité poursuit une interrogation fondamentale: comment survivre en milieu extrême? C'est en effet une cohérence forte qui se dégage des questions récurrentes posées par ce chercheur qui aimait la vie: quelles solutions matérielles et immatérielles inventent les hommes pour se nourrir, se protéger, s'apparenter et construire leur société dans des environnements particulièrement hostiles comme la montagne ou le désert qui fut pour lui également une véritable école de vie. Le livre rassemble des contributions qui montrent les multiples facettes de l'itinéraire, des terrains et des objets d'étude de ce chercheur original. Ethnologue, spécialiste du monde touareg, Marceau Gast a été un précurseur des études sur l'alimentation, les techniques et la culture matérielle des Touaregs de l'Ahaggar (dans les années 1960), avant de s'engager dans des thématiques d'anthropologie sociale: structures de parenté, héritage, histoire et tradition orales. L'ethnologie du Sahara central n'a pas été son unique horizon: ouvert à la comparaison, il a mené des enquêtes également en Kabylie, au Yémen, dans le Queyras et en Haute Provence et a participé à de nombreux programmes interdisciplinaires associant ethnologues, préhistoriens, anthropologues, nutritionistes, biologistes. Ses nombreux ami(e)s et collègues, du Sahara, du CRAPE (Alger), du LAPMO, de l'IREMAM (Aix-en-Provence) et d'ailleurs ont voulu à l'occasion de la rencontre organisée par Salem Chaker et Hélène Claudot-Hawad les 14 et 15 mars 2011 à Aix-en-Provence rendre hommage à l'homme et au chercheur à la carrière remarquable, par la profondeur de son ancrage dans un terrain, sa diversité et son ouverture aux disciplines connexes, son ouverture à l'Autre et aux autres, notamment aux jeunes chercheurs qu'il était toujours prêt à aider et à conseiller.

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Book SynopsisL'affirmation que les peuples autochtones d'Amerique, du Groenland ou d'Australie, seraient, comme les Grecs de l'Antiquite, "nes de la terre", habite bien des nationalismes indigenes. Le present ouvrage s'interroge sur le caractere traditionnel de ces representations de la "terre-mere". Pour ce faire, il entreprend une plongee dans les mythes des Polynesiens, descendants de migrants asiatiques devenus autochtones des iles du Pacifique. Si leurs mythes evoquent bien la naissance d'une humanite primordiale a partir de la terre, cette terre n'est pourtant pas celle de leur sejour actuel. Dans ces mythes, la qualite des premiers humains, nes du sol, signifie-t-elle l'archaisme, l'appartenance, l'exclusion? Quelles sont fondamentalement les lecons de l'autochtonie, de la Grece antique aux rivages de l'Oceanie?

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Book SynopsisAutant anthropologiques au sens large que proprement historiques ou linguistiques, les articles specialises de l'Encyclopedie berbere etudient les caracteristiques des populations berberes et leur originalite dans l'ensemble mediterraneen, islamique et africain.

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Book SynopsisAutant anthropologiques au sens large que proprement historiques ou linguistiques, les articles specialises de l'Encyclopedie berbere etudient les caracteristiques des populations berberes et leur originalite dans l'ensemble mediterraneen, islamique et africain.

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Book SynopsisAutant anthropologiques au sens large que proprement historiques ou linguistiques, les articles spécialisés de l'Encyclopédie berbère étudient les caractéristiques des populations berbères et leur originalité dans l'ensemble méditerranéen, islamique et africain.

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