Social and cultural anthropology Books

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Book SynopsisThis volume explores the whole inner story of modern culture since the Dark Ages, treating modern man's unique position as the creator of his own mythology.

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Book SynopsisPower is conventionally regarded as being held by social institutions. We are taught to believe that it is these social structures that determine the environment and circumstances of individual lives. In I Am Dynamite, the anthropologist Nigel Rappaport argues for a different view. Focusing on the lives and works of the writer and Auschwitz survivor Primo Levi, refugee and engineer Ben Glaser, Israeli ceramicist and immigrant Rachel Siblerstein, artist Stanley Spencer, and philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, he shows how we can have the capacity and inclination to formulate ''life projects''. It is in the pursuit of these life projects, that is, making our life our work, that we can avoid the structures of ideology and institution.Trade Review'An important and contentious book... It could stimulate a cult!' - Anthony Cohen, Queen Margaret University College, Edinburgh'[Rapport's] use of ethnographic biographies provides an exciting model for future anthropological investigations and helps us to retain understanding and sympathy for people and the reality of their lived worlds for them.' - The Australian Journal of AnthropologyTable of ContentsPART I: PROPOSITIONS individuality: Consciousness, World-view, Narrative, Life-Project and Interaction, Individuality and Ironic Displacement, Displacement and '"In Order To" Motives', "In Order To" Motives and Prior Conditions, The Conditions of Political Power and Existential Power PART II: ILLUSTRATIONS Friedrich Nietzsche and the Wilfulness of Power-Quanta, Ben Glaser and the Composing of 'Cosmos 1' and '2', Rachel Silberstein and the Relentless Road to Personal Completion, Stanley Spencer and the Visionary Metaphysic of Love PART III: DISCUSSIONS The Power of Any Body-in-its-Environment, Total Institutions and the Violence of Society: The Death of Power?

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Book SynopsisSince the development of modern medicine, men have become increasingly involved in childbearing as obstetricians and, more recently, as fathers. This book argues that the beneficial contribution of men has been taken for granted. Certain changes to childbearing practice have resulted, which, together with men''s involvement, have been encouraged without any reference to evidence and without adequate opportunity for reflection.Considering the findings of recent research and wider literature, and using qualitative research with mothers the text examines: how men became increasingly involved in childbearing the medicalisation of childbirth the difficulties men experience with childbirth as fathers challenging situations, such as fathers'' grief the taken-for-granted assumptions that men's increased contribution to childbearing is beneficialThis text will be of great interest to academics and postgraduate students of midwifery, obstetrics, mediTable of ContentsIntroduction 1. Cultures and Times 2. The Midwife and Medical Men 3. Fathers and Fatherhood 4. The Labour and the Birth 5. Becoming a Father After the Birth 6. Childbearing and Domestic Violence 7. Men and Loss in Childbearing 8. How to Help - The Midwife's Role 9. Conclusion

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Book SynopsisIn 1968 University of California Press published an unusual manuscript by an anthropology student named Carlos Castaneda. The Teachings of Don Juan enthralled a generation of seekers dissatisfied with the limitations of the Western world view. This is the story of a journey that has left an impression on the life of more than a million readers.Trade Review"Taken together [Castaneda's books] form a work among the best that the science of anthropology has produced." The New York Times Book Review "Extraordinary in every sense of the word." The New York Times "An unparalleled breakthrough... Remarkable." Los Angeles Times

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Book SynopsisJames Hogg's Jacobite Relics - originally commissioned by the Highland Society of London in 1817 - is an important addition to The Collected Works of James Hogg.Trade ReviewA thorough genealogist of Hogg's airs and texts, and a skilful unraveller of their secrets, Pittock has contributed substantially to our understanding of how the nineteenth century constructed its eighteenth-century past, and mediated its folk-cultural present. This is a major contribution to Hogg studies, but it is even more important than that. The Relics - which Murray Pittock stamps with unquestioned editorial quality - and the Stirling/South Carolina Research Edition's commitment to presenting new scholarly editions of all Hogg's song collections, with the literary and musical components, is certainly to be celebrated. Hogg can then stand alongside Burns and Scott. This strikes me as an exemplary edition in the sense that it amply fulfills the need for a text in an area where textual exploration/ discovery is/ has moved rapidly of late. Pittock is the expert in the field! I recommend it without hesitation. -- Professor Jeremy Black, University of Exeter Professor Pittock's edition of Hogg's Jacobite Relics promises to be an important volume - not only in terms of the larger Stirling/ South Carolina Edition of the Works of James Hogg, but also in the field of Scottish song. His careful annotation, which draws on many years of research into the traditions of Jacobite song, will make this the authoritative edition of a hitherto neglected, but extremely significant collection by a major Scottish writer. -- Fiona Stafford, Somerville College, Oxford A thorough genealogist of Hogg's airs and texts, and a skilful unraveller of their secrets, Pittock has contributed substantially to our understanding of how the nineteenth century constructed its eighteenth-century past, and mediated its folk-cultural present. This is a major contribution to Hogg studies, but it is even more important than that. The Relics - which Murray Pittock stamps with unquestioned editorial quality - and the Stirling/South Carolina Research Edition's commitment to presenting new scholarly editions of all Hogg's song collections, with the literary and musical components, is certainly to be celebrated. Hogg can then stand alongside Burns and Scott. This strikes me as an exemplary edition in the sense that it amply fulfills the need for a text in an area where textual exploration/ discovery is/ has moved rapidly of late. Pittock is the expert in the field! I recommend it without hesitation. Professor Pittock's edition of Hogg's Jacobite Relics promises to be an important volume - not only in terms of the larger Stirling/ South Carolina Edition of the Works of James Hogg, but also in the field of Scottish song. His careful annotation, which draws on many years of research into the traditions of Jacobite song, will make this the authoritative edition of a hitherto neglected, but extremely significant collection by a major Scottish writer.

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Book SynopsisJames Hogg's Jacobite Relics - originally commissioned by the Highland Society of London in 1817 - is an important addition to The Collected Works of James Hogg.Trade ReviewAn impressive series of scholarly editions of Hogg's work, a series that shows a range and variety of work probably unsuspected by those of us who have been familiar only with The Private Memories and Confessions of a Justified Sinner! Hogg collected poems of the preceding century. It is a major achievement on the part of Pittock to show the dynamism and the complexity of Hogg's interaction with this material of the past. Source histories, anecdotes, and other documentary evidence build a comprehensive picture of how each song contributes to our understanding of the Jacobite tradition and its representation in and beyond established records! [the general editors] could not have found a more knowledgeable or dedicated editor for the Relics than Pittock! apart from its immense scholarly importance, this volume is sure to bring pleasure to many readers with less academic or less specialized interests in traditional song, in Jacobitism, in Hogg, or in Scottish literature. It will also appeal to some who are just curious to find out what any of these matters might be about, and why they continue to fascinate and impassion. The influence of Hogg's early nineteenth-century social and political context in determining the shape and emphasis of his Jacobite canon, and the interplay among oral, print and manuscript media are explored with laser-sharp insight. This edition deserves further applause for attaching due weight to the airs which the Whig and Jacobite muses employed. Edinburgh University Press continues the mighty task of reprinting James Hogg's complete works with The Jacobite Relics of Scotland (First Series).. Reprinting the 1819 edition beautifully, this contains Hogg's notes and transcriptions of the Jacobite cause, along with additional editorial notes. EUP also publishes a paperback version of the complete works. In the latest batch: The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner (GBP8.99), Three perils of Woman (GBP9.99), The Shepherd's Calendar and Tales of the Wars of Montrose (both GBP8.99).. Every edition contains an extensive introduction and editorial notes with practically no stone left unturned. If you want to read Hogg, this is the place to start. James Hogg's Jacobite Relics is interesting on perhaps more levels than any other document of its time, standing at the crossroads of just about every issue of interest to the folklorist, historian, or literature scholar of the last three centuries. It is high time that Hogg's key text was made more accessible. A 'capital old song' runs Hogg's famous commentary on his own composition, 'Donald Macgillivray' (p.280) included in the Relics. Fortunately for him, and for us, he was right: the song, the book and, indeed, Murray Pittock's new edition, are all capital productions. An impressive series of scholarly editions of Hogg's work, a series that shows a range and variety of work probably unsuspected by those of us who have been familiar only with The Private Memories and Confessions of a Justified Sinner! Hogg collected poems of the preceding century. It is a major achievement on the part of Pittock to show the dynamism and the complexity of Hogg's interaction with this material of the past. Source histories, anecdotes, and other documentary evidence build a comprehensive picture of how each song contributes to our understanding of the Jacobite tradition and its representation in and beyond established records! [the general editors] could not have found a more knowledgeable or dedicated editor for the Relics than Pittock! apart from its immense scholarly importance, this volume is sure to bring pleasure to many readers with less academic or less specialized interests in traditional song, in Jacobitism, in Hogg, or in Scottish literature. It will also appeal to some who are just curious to find out what any of these matters might be about, and why they continue to fascinate and impassion. The influence of Hogg's early nineteenth-century social and political context in determining the shape and emphasis of his Jacobite canon, and the interplay among oral, print and manuscript media are explored with laser-sharp insight. This edition deserves further applause for attaching due weight to the airs which the Whig and Jacobite muses employed. Edinburgh University Press continues the mighty task of reprinting James Hogg's complete works with The Jacobite Relics of Scotland (First Series).. Reprinting the 1819 edition beautifully, this contains Hogg's notes and transcriptions of the Jacobite cause, along with additional editorial notes. EUP also publishes a paperback version of the complete works. In the latest batch: The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner (GBP8.99), Three perils of Woman (GBP9.99), The Shepherd's Calendar and Tales of the Wars of Montrose (both GBP8.99).. Every edition contains an extensive introduction and editorial notes with practically no stone left unturned. If you want to read Hogg, this is the place to start. James Hogg's Jacobite Relics is interesting on perhaps more levels than any other document of its time, standing at the crossroads of just about every issue of interest to the folklorist, historian, or literature scholar of the last three centuries. It is high time that Hogg's key text was made more accessible. A 'capital old song' runs Hogg's famous commentary on his own composition, 'Donald Macgillivray' (p.280) included in the Relics. Fortunately for him, and for us, he was right: the song, the book and, indeed, Murray Pittock's new edition, are all capital productions.

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Book SynopsisCritiques the politics of cultural identity, exploring the difference between political roles and collective identities.Trade ReviewCultural Identity and Political Ethics is written simply but not without elegance... The arguments it makes are strong and relevant to an increasingly globalised and multicultural world; policy makers should take good stock of this book. British Politics and Policy at LSE Blog Cultural Identity and Political Ethics is written simply but not without elegance... The arguments it makes are strong and relevant to an increasingly globalised and multicultural world; policy makers should take good stock of this book.Table of ContentsAcknowledgements; 1. The Politics of Identity; 2. National Character; 3. The Idea of Deep Identity; 4. Types of Identity; 5. The Embodiment of Cultural Identity; 6. Identity and Subjectivity; 7. The Art of Identity; 8. The Ethics of Identity

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Book SynopsisCritiques the politics of cultural identity, exploring the difference between political roles and collective identities.Trade ReviewCultural Identity and Political Ethics is written simply but not without elegance... The arguments it makes are strong and relevant to an increasingly globalised and multicultural world; policy makers should take good stock of this book. British Politics and Policy at LSE Blog Cultural Identity and Political Ethics is written simply but not without elegance... The arguments it makes are strong and relevant to an increasingly globalised and multicultural world; policy makers should take good stock of this book.Table of ContentsAcknowledgements; 1. The Politics of Identity; 2. National Character; 3. The Idea of Deep Identity; 4. Types of Identity; 5. The Embodiment of Cultural Identity; 6. Identity and Subjectivity; 7. The Art of Identity; 8. The Ethics of Identity

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Book SynopsisRitual, art and secrecy in Casamance, Senegal.Trade ReviewDe Jong's work covers a diverse array of subjects in the Casamance region of Senegal, a multi-ethnic region in the sway of global modernity, including initiation ceremonies, age-sets and gendering, Islamisation, state formation, civil unrest, and the commoditisation of performance as 'heritage'. [It offers] a solid and thought-provoking engagement with contemporary theoreticians. Nicolas Argenti, Brunel University -- Social Anthropology 17/4 De Jong's work covers a diverse array of subjects in the Casamance region of Senegal, a multi-ethnic region in the sway of global modernity, including initiation ceremonies, age-sets and gendering, Islamisation, state formation, civil unrest, and the commoditisation of performance as 'heritage'. [It offers] a solid and thought-provoking engagement with contemporary theoreticians. Nicolas Argenti, Brunel UniversityTable of ContentsPart I Introduction; Power of Secrecy; Part II Transitions; Jola Initiations, Gendered Localities; Out of Diaspora, Into the Forest; The Politics of Representation; Part III: Trajectories; Mandinko Initiation: The Making of an Urban Locality; Secrecy, Sacrilege and the State; Part IV Traces; Masquerade and Migration; The Art of Tradition; Writing Secrecy.

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Book SynopsisThis book challenges the usual ways in which development and change are regarded in rural Africa and provides a corrective to state-centred studies of development.Trade Review... a refreshing and original antidote to the myopic habits of conventional scholarship... [an] illuminating, astute, against-the-grain study of real-existing development.' -- James C. Scott, Sterling Professor of Political Science and Anthropology, Yale University ! an excellent critique of perspectives focusing on the success of a reform-minded Ugandan state. Jones portrays instead the weakness of central government in the countryside and the deleterious effects of 'external' development schemes. His focus is on change generated from within the local community by the coalescences and interchanges among religious and kin-based associations. -- Joan Vincent, Emeritus Professor of Anthropology, Columbia University Beyond the State in Rural Uganda offers a new anthropological perspective on how to think about processes of social and political change in poorer parts of the world, appealing to anyone interested in African development. Society Now An accessible, intelligent and stimulating account, and a very welcome addition to the literature on Uganda. -- Tania Kaiser, School of Oriental and African Studies Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute ... a refreshing and original antidote to the myopic habits of conventional scholarship... [an] illuminating, astute, against-the-grain study of real-existing development.' ! an excellent critique of perspectives focusing on the success of a reform-minded Ugandan state. Jones portrays instead the weakness of central government in the countryside and the deleterious effects of 'external' development schemes. His focus is on change generated from within the local community by the coalescences and interchanges among religious and kin-based associations. Beyond the State in Rural Uganda offers a new anthropological perspective on how to think about processes of social and political change in poorer parts of the world, appealing to anyone interested in African development. An accessible, intelligent and stimulating account, and a very welcome addition to the literature on Uganda.Table of Contents1. Introduction; Moving the State from the Centre; In Between "Development"; The Rest of the Book; 2. Introducing Oledai; Themes that Cut Across Developments in the Village; Seniority, Prosperity, Propriety; Explaining Change in the Village; 3. Teso Society through the Twentieth Century; From Stateless to Sub-Colonial; Teso through the Post-Colonial Period; The Teso Insurgency; Conclusion; 4. The Village Court and the Withdrawn State; Away from Decentralisation; The History of the State in Teso Villages; The Actual Work of the Village Council in Oledai; Conclusion; 5. The Pentecostal Church; The Nature of Pentecostalism; Pentecostalism in the Teso Region; The Incorporation of Pentecostalism; The Limits to Incorporation; Conclusion; 6. The Anglican and Catholic Churches; The Historic Mission Churches in Teso; The Influence of Pentecostalism; Conclusion; 7. Burial Societies; The Work of Burial Societies; The Genealogy of Burial Societies; Burial Societies and Local Borrowings; The Past in the Present; Conclusion; 8. Conclusion; Churches and the Meaning Of Change; Burials, Ideas and Institutional Change; Uganda in Between; Appendix A: Research Methods; Appendix B: Interviews; Interviews Conducted in the Sub-Parish of Oledai; Interviews: Others; Participants in Group Discussions in Oledai; Participants in Group Discussions in Agolitom (Conducted in Ateso).

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Book SynopsisThis book fills this gap and provides an essential resource for academics and researchers with an interest in cinematic representations of the family and transnational cinema.

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Book SynopsisIslam is stereotypically presented as a monolithic civilisation that has stifled the emergence of cultural pluralism and individual freedom. In contrast, this volume showcases the diversity and plurality of Muslim societies. It includes case studies on rituals and symbols in Syria, Tunisia, Damascus, Algeria, Britain, Pakistan, Brazil and Lebanon.Table of ContentsIntroduction, Baudouin Dupret, Thomas Pierret, Paulo G. Pinto and Kathryn Spellman-Poots; Part One: Rituals and Symbols:; 1. Black Magic, Divination and Remedial Reproductive Agency in Northern Pakistan, Emma Varley; 2. Preparing for the Hajj in Contemporary Tunisia: Between Religious and Administrative Ritual, Katia Boissevain; 3. 'There Used To Be Terrible Disbelief': Mourning and Social Change in Northern Syria, Katharina Lange; 4. Manifestations of Ashura among Young British Shi'is, Kathryn Spellman-Poots; 5. The Ma'ruf: An Ethnography of Ritual (South Algeria), Yazid Ben Hounet; 6. The Sufi Ritual of the Darb al-Shish and the Ethnography of Religious Experience, Paulo G. Pinto; 7. Preaching for Converts: Knowledge and Power in the Sunni Community in Rio de Janeiro, Gisele Fonseca Chagas; 8. Worshipping the Martyr President: The Darih of Rafiq Hariri in Beirut, Ward Vloerberghs; 9. Staging the Authority of the Ulama: The Celebration of the Mawlid in Urban Syria, Thomas Pierret; Part Two: Practices and Actions, Cedric Baylocq and Akila Drici-Bechikh; 10. The Salafi and the Others: An Ethnography of Intracommunal Relations in French Islam, Cedric Baylocq and Akila Drici-Bechiki; 11. Describing Religious Practices among University Students: A Case Study from the University of Jordan, Amman, Daniele Cantini; 12. Referring to Islam in Mutual Teasing: Notes on an Encounter between Two Tanzanian Revivalists, Sigurd D'hondt; 13. Salafis as Shaykhs: Othering the Pious in Cairo, Aymon Kreil; 14. Ethics of Care, Politics of Solidarity: Islamic Charitable Organisations in Turkey, Hilal Alkan-Zeybek; 15. Making Shari'a Alive: Court Practice under an Ethnographic Lens, Susanne Dahlgren; 16. Referring to Islam as a Practice: Audiences, Relevancies and Language Games within the Egyptian Parliament, Enrique Klaus and Baudouin Dupret; 17. Contesting Public Images of 'Abd al-Halim Mahmud (1910-78): Who is an Authentic Scholar?, Hatsuki Aishima; Part Three: The Ethnography of History; 18. Possessed of Documents: Hybrid Laws and Translated Texts in the Hadhrami Diaspora, Michael Gilsenan; About the Contributors; Index.

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Book SynopsisOffers an in-depth critical exploration of cinematic representations of the family in transnational cinema. This book fills this gap and provides an essential resource for academics and researchers with an interest in cinematic representations of the family and transnational cinema.

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Book SynopsisAn interdisciplinary study of the State Home and School for Dependent and Neglected Children, Rhode Island's state custodial institution for children from 1885 to 1979.Trade ReviewThis is an intriguing case study and the volume includes considerable detail about the archaeological remains and the history of the institution. * Current World Archaeology *Morenon (anthropology, Rhode Island College) uses historical archaeology to examine the Rhode Island State Home and School, a late-19th- and 20th-century state institution that housed children whose parents were unable to care for them. The author situates the State Home in its historical and cultural contexts as a Gilded Age response to social changes resulting from urbanization and industrialization. He weaves together various strands, including archaeological data, architecture, life histories, and institutional records to highlight the importance of the site and the relevance of studying relatively recent institutions. Building on a long tradition of research in historical archaeology, the volume sheds new light on those who have been forgotten, focusing on the lives of children, a significant population that rarely sees careful archaeological study. Theoretically informed and methodologically sound, Morenon's study highlights the importance of an archaeological approach for understanding the recent past. Poignant and powerful, this is an excellent contribution to the archaeology of institutional life and an important example of the scholarship of civic engagement and public responsibility. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower- and upper-division undergraduates; graduate students; professionals. * CHOICE *Table of Contents1: Forgotten Childhoods 2: Children Lost and Found 3: Child Narratives in Unexamined Records 4: Recording Archaeological Details and Creating New Child Narratives 5: Collaborating 6: Do Archaeologists Overlook Children? 7: Dependent Children in Context 8: Neglected Children as Civic Responsibility 9: From Victorian Landscapes to a Child’s Treatment Center 10: Unearthing Cultural Details 11: Play and Community Relations 12: Bureaucracies, Power, and Punishment 13: Why Don’t I Know This? Appendix A: State Home and School Project Timeline (2001–2010) Appendix B: Rhode Island State Home and School/O’Rourke Children’s Center: Oral History Project Appendix C: POST-2002 ARCHAEOLOGICAL FIELD PROTOCOL

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Book SynopsisWith a new introduction by the authors, this paperback edition of Jane Austen and the Fiction of Culture takes the complete body of work of a major novelist as the basis for rethinking ethnographic representation and cross-cultural analysis.Trade ReviewThis is an extraordinarily stimulating book—not least because the authors require the reader to confront an ethnographer of another time and another place whose own insights translate directly into contemporary concerns. Its core is one of Jane Austen's great insights: that significant observation does not require a vast canvas—it requires, simply but rigorously, the capacity to make what one observes signify. -- Marilyn Strathern, University of ManchesterTable of ContentsChapter 1 Introduction Chapter 2 A World of Marriage Chapter 3 The Natural, the Civil, and the Unnatural Chapter 4 Family, Connections, and Incest Chapter 5 Hierarchies of Choice Chapter 6 Courting Exchanges and Alter-Cultural Marriages Chapter 7 Creative Dance and the Problem of Theatricality Chapter 8 Narrating Multiple Realities Chapter 9 Dialogue and Translation Chapter 10 But What, Then, of Reality?

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Book SynopsisBrent Luvaas is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Drexel University, USATrade ReviewHas street style enriched and democratized fashion or has the latter eaten the former for breakfast? Brent Luvaas' own take on street style gives a unique and much-needed perspective from which we can begin to see what is and what will happen to the presentation of the self in public. * Ted Polhemus, photographer and author of Streetstyle: From Sidewalk to Catwalk *Brent Luvaas is the first academic to show that street style photography is serious business. Style and sartorial expression are important parts of our visual culture, playing a huge role in building our identities, and communicating to others. Street Style is an intriguing study of how street style blogs have become an inseparable part of the fashion industry. * Liisa Jokinen, writer, photographer and founder of street style blog Hel Looks *What I learned from [Street Style] has expanded the way I see fashion. * Dress: The Journal of the Costume Society of America *This refreshing and engaging book takes us on a journey from the novice street style photographer through to the established street style fashion blogger. It goes far beyond the superficial as Luvaas’ auto-ethnographic account exposes the world of the fashion blogger with an anthropologist’s insightful eye and art of story-telling. * Sophie Woodward, University of Manchester, UK *In this book, Luvaas treats us to an array of beautiful street style photographs. But he does so within a theoretically and methodologically sophisticated analysis of street style in its historical and transnational contexts. He also offers us access to his own subjectivity and sense of “style radar” as a street style photographer and blogger. His self-reflexive awareness of the still-primarily masculinized space of the urban flâneur contributes to the power of this book to unlock binary oppositions between insider versus outsider, amateur versus professional, and street style versus street fashion. * Susan Kaiser, University of California, Davis, USA *Table of ContentsIntroduction: Anthropology, Street Style 1. On “The Street”: A Conceptual History of Street Style Photography 2. Traveling the Street Style Blogosphere: Amateur Anthropology from Around the Globe 3. Style Radar: On Becoming a Street Style Blogger and Knowing Whom to Shoot 4. The Subject(s) of Street Style: Street Portraits as Fashion Singularities 5. The Business of Blogging: Free Labor, Freelancing, and Free Stuff 6. Scene from the Sidewalk: Shooting Street Style at New York Fashion Week 7. Conclusion: Straight Up, Redux Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisTable of Contentsv. 1. The past.

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Book SynopsisFor more than 1000 years Africans from Senegal to the Cape wore bangles, lots of them. The bangle style was African and unique chunky, weighty and solid.Their precious metal was not gold or silver but bronze. They established their own sophisticated technology.This once uniform decorative culture has almost disappeared. In this book, the beautiful, meaningful African bangle culture is recorded.Trade Review“The author explores a hugely important but overlooked aspect of the traditional cultures of Africa and throws fascinating new light on its richness” Malcolm McLeod CBE, formerly Keeper of Ethnography, British Museum;“If you have roots in Africa read this – and be proud.” Schelley Kiah, Film and Television Art Dept. Coordinator, Hollywood.Table of ContentsPREFACE THE BANGLE CULTURE A spontaneous and unique culture Bangles not rings Precious metal; bronze – not gold or silver The African style; weighty, chunky, solid The defining material culture of sub-Saharan Africa THE BRONZE BANGLE What is “bronze”? What is a “bangle”? Bronze bangles – the supply The distribution of metallurgical skills Bangles for everyone The demand How did the bangle culture arise? The bigger story A typology of bronze bangles OTHER MATERIALS Bronze is not the only material The companions – Iron and ivory The outliers – stone and gold Animal, vegetable, mineral, including glass and glass beads LIVING THE BANGLE CULTURE More than decoration Barter: standard of value: store of wealth: medium of exchange Martial uses Beauty: “Il faut souffrir pour être belle” Dance Decline and fall THE BANGLE CULTURE TODAY What is left in Africa? Does the bangle culture survive among African Americans? Books, films, et cetera Bibliography Index Photographs Present-day states of sub-Saharan Africa

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