Social and cultural anthropology Books

Book SynopsisEncounters, whether first or subsequent or whether cultural, economic, or ideological, mark the beginning of an acquaintance and measure both similarities and differences. What happens after an opening encounter is the topic of Citizens of the World: Adapting in the Eighteenth Century. Taking as its point of embarkation awareness of the mutuality of foreignness—of the unfamiliarity that characterizes all parties to a meeting of the minds, ways, or traditions—this exploratory volume considers the many approaches and strategies to adaptation in the Enlightenment and the long and complex process of reciprocal adjustment that created this enthusiastically outgoing era internationally. The eight essays of this volume examine four varieties of adaptation: the interdisciplinary, in which expanding realms of knowledge collide but cooperate; the transnational, in which longstanding traditions merge and hybridize; the gendered, in which personal identity and public pursuits negotiate; and the general, in which the adapting mentality energizes unprecedented efforts at ingenious recombination. Whether in cast-and-fired pottery or aboard imagined airships, adaptation, the authors in this volume demonstrate, all but defines a century in which the “all but” implies perpetual adjustment to everything else.Trade ReviewIn his introduction to this book, David Fairer announces it as a contribution to 'adaptation studies'. . . .Fairer's argument that the word 'adapt' fundamentally changed meaning in the 18th century is learned . . . In the contributed essays one reads of early balloonists who lost their lives because they could not steer their craft or keep them aloft; punch bowls and punch drinking in 18th-century novels, signs of a newly globalized economy; Jamaican poet Olive Senior's 2007 poems about William Beckford of Fonthill, whose fabulous wealth derived from West Indian sugar; the development of a canon of Vietnamese literature. * CHOICE *Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Acknowledgments Preface: Surviving the Eighteenth Century by Samara Anne Cahill Introduction: “All manag’d for the best”: Ecology and the Dynamics of Adaptation by David Fairer Part I: Interdisciplinary Adaptations Chapter One: The Elusive Image Rising over the Horizon: Re-contextualizing the Legacy of an Eighteenth-Century Aristocrat by Gilles Massot Chapter Two: Hot Air and Chilly Welcomes: Accidental Arrivals with Balloons and Airships in the Eighteenth Century and Beyond by Jessika Wichner Part II: Transnational Adaptations Chapter Three: Wide Open Hemispheres: Punch Bowls, Punch, and World Citizenship in Eighteenth-Century British Culture by Bärbel Czennia Chapter Four: “The story is now about us”: Olive Senior to “England’s wealthiest son” by Shirley Chew Part III: Gendered Adaptations Chapter Five: Avast Ye Mateys! There Be Pirates Here—But How Will We Recognize Them? by Kathryn Duncan Chapter Six: Sea and Mulberry: Hồ Xuân Hương, Nguyễn Du, and the Establishment of a Vietnamese National Literature by Susan Spencer and Nhu Nguyen Conclusion: The Coziness of Crisis: The Invigorating Enlightenment Art of Adapting to Almost Anything by Kevin L. Cope Bibliography Primary Sources Secondary Sources Index About the Contributors

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Book SynopsisAn artfully arranged collection of a rarely seen piece of Chicago gang history.

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Book SynopsisThis book describes and analyses the writings and records compiled by the notable linguist, T.G.H. Strehlow (1908-1978), on Australian Aboriginal religions, particularly as practised by the Arrernte of the central desert region. During numerous research trips between 1932 and 1966, the local Indigenous Arrernte Elders entrusted him with sacred objects, allowed him to film their secret rituals and record their songs, partly because he was regarded as one of them, an `insider’, who they believed would help preserve their ancient traditions in the face of threats posed by outside forces. Strehlow characterised Arrernte society as `personal monototemism in a polytotemic community’. This concept provides an important insight into understanding how Arrernte society was traditionally organised and how the societal structure was re-enforced by carefully organised rituals. Strehlow’s research into this complex societal system is here examined both in terms of its meaning and current application and with reference to how the societal structure traditionally was interwoven into religious understandings of the world. It exemplifies precisely how the `insider-outsider’ problem is embodied in one individual: he was accepted by the Arrernte people as an insider who used this knowledge to interpret Arrernte culture for non-Indigenous audiences (outsiders). The volume documents how Strehlow’s works are contributing to the current repatriation by Australian Aboriginal leaders of rituals, ancient songs, meanings associated with sacred objects and genealogies, much of which by the 1950s had been lost through the processes of colonisation, missionary influences and Australian governmental interference in the lives of Indigenous societies.Table of ContentsPreface Chapter One: The Context: Central Australia, T.G.H. Strehlow and His Detractors Chapter Two: Restoring the Chain of Memory: A Theory of Religion and Indigenous Religions Chapter Three: Eternity: Arrernte Myths of Creation Chapter Four: Personal Monototemism in a Polytotemic Community Chapter Five: Songs of Central Australia Chapter Six: `One Hour Before Sunset’: The Loss of Indigenous Religious Knowledge Chapter Seven: Strehlow the `Insider’ as a Phenomenologist of Religion Chapter Eight: T.G.H. Strehlow and the Repatriation of Knowledge in Central Australia Chapter Nine: Knowledge, Tradition and Authority

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Book SynopsisIn our twenty-first-century world, shaped by the transformative processes of migration, diasporization, and cosmopolitanization, musical performance conditions and contexts constantly change, while musical forms newly emerge and evolve. The development of Turkish folk music is well-documented, providing rich material for study in the motherland as well as in the diaspora. This book aims at exploring, describing, interpreting, and linking musical, contextual, and functional aspects of the manifestation of Turkish folk music in contemporary Turkey and the Turkish diaspora in the city of Ghent (Belgium). The Turkish presence in Ghent is particular in its size (approximately ten percent of the population) and constitution (mostly originating in the West Anatolian town of Emirdag). Anchored in detailed ethnographic reality, this book expands our views on what Turkish folk music signifies in the early twenty-first century, and adds to the apprehension and appreciation of this multifaceted, topical musical phenomenon. Its employed multi-sited, transnational comparative outlook is unique, with an added dimension generated by the inclusion of rural and small-town contexts complementing the urban perspective. Other contributions to the field include the transcription and analysis of performance styles, the evaluation of TRT discourses and practices, and the coverage of understudied research contexts (Ghent/Belgium and Emirdag).

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Book SynopsisEmbryology has evolved from myth in early cultures, who knew little about the details of conception and pregnancy, to the height of modern scientific knowledge. Thomas Weihs argues persuasively that new scientific understanding of embryology could engender a new mythology, and that, in fact, science and myth are complementary aspects of the study of new life.He explores the correspondence between the creation story in Genesis, and other creation myths, with the development of the human embryo, and also discusses how the intuitive heart-felt values we associate with pregnancy and birth can be reconciled with the science of our age.Table of ContentsForeword by John DavyIntroductionFrom Mythos to Science1. The story of creation2. A brief history of embryologyCurrent Thinking in Biology and Embryology3. Mendel and Darwin4. The beginnings of experimental embryology5. The discovery of genes6. The search for the origin of formFrom Science to Mythos7. Embryogenesis and Genesis8. Embryonic form development and cosmosBiology and Spirit9. Embryogenesis and the Gospels10. Form and individuality

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Book SynopsisAnthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss was among the most influential thinkers of the twentieth century. In this rigorous study, Maurice Godelier traces the evolution of his thought. Focusing primarily on Lévi-Strauss's analysis of kinship and myth, Godelier provides an assessment of his intellectual achievements and legacy. Meticulously researched, Lévi-Strauss is written in a clear and accessible style. The culmination of decades of engagement with Lévi-Strauss's work, this book will prove indispensible to students of his thought and structural anthropology more generally.Trade ReviewPraise for The Metamorphoses of KinshipThis is a blockbuster of a book. Nothing like it has been written since Lévi-Strauss's Structures élémentaires de la parenté (1949) or Meyer Fortes's Kinship and the Social Order (1969). Yet in the sweep of its evidence and argument, Godelier's summa is more ambitious and far-reaching than either of these. It is at once a major intervention in the discipline of anthropology, and a work of the widest human interest. Kinship has the reputation of being the most technical department of anthropology, the least accessible to a general public. But while Métamorphoses synthesizes a huge range of complex materials, it is written in an unfailingly lucid style that makes no assumptions of professional familiarity with terms and debates about kinship, but always takes care to explain them in language anyone can understand. The book is both a monument of scholarship and agripping set of reflections on universal experience. It is certain to be read and discussed for years to come. -- Jack Goody * New Left Review *Praise for The Metamorphoses of KinshipGodelier has reasserted the value of our rich tradition of discussions of kinship matters. He has also shown how the category has metamorphosed as it has drawn in new issues of pressing current importance in modern life and made his case that, far from being genuinely in decline, the study of kinship is central to our understanding of what it means to be human. -- Robert H. Barnes * Comparative Studies in Society and History *Praise for The Metamorphoses of KinshipIt is this constellation of world views and ways of being that we meet in Maurice Godelier's powerful and often provocative new book, The Metamorphoses of Kinship. In this timely and challenging study, Godelier heralds the revival of kinship studies within the discipline of anthropology. In striking and elucidating prose, Godelier writes both for the trained anthropologist and for the general public. This is a book that aims to introduce the merits of anthropology to a broader readership.With singular conviction and remarkable depth, Godelier traces anthropology's long courtship with kinship studies.a hopeful and compelling read. -- Fiona Murphy * Irish Times *Praise for The Metamorphoses of KinshipA truly monumental work * Times Higher Education Supplement *Praise forThe Mental and the MaterialEngaging and intriguing - Anthropology, it would seem, may yet return from the graveyard of structuralism to stir up some debate in the social sciences. * New Statesman *Praise for The Enigma of the GiftThis book restores one's faith in the anthropological project and will, I hope, mark the beginning of a new era of anthropological argumentation. one marvels at the clarity of Godelier's thought. He does not mask his central propositions in obscurantist post-modern prose. His use of abstruse concepts such as the 'real', the 'imaginary', and the 'symbolic' is not obtuse. He knows what he wants to say and his persuasive rhetoric is captivating... his use of the criticalmethod sets new standards for scholarly disputation. Godelier does not dismiss. He carefully criticises, modifies and transcends. The argument is forceful but always intellectually generous. But what really sets him apart is that the 'native point of view' is just as much the raw material for critique as is the point of view of fellow academics. As such, there is enough in this book to upset just about everybody.This provocative book is of interest not only to anthropologists and Pacific specialists, but also to historians, political scientists, religious studies specialists. Indeed, it should be read and debated by all scholars concerned with developing a critical stance on the human condition. -- Chris Gregory * Journal of Pacific History *Today, in his authoritative and unrivalled study, Maurice Godelier returns to Lévi-Strauss, the theoretician. Laying out his production in chronological order and examining it, Lévi-Strauss' former assistant at the Collège de France, and acclaimed anthropologist in his own right, Maurice Godelier has less appreciation for his style than his contemporaries: "The formulas are superb, but they are literally meaningless." At least the reader is forewarned. We are not here to chat. The book is divided in two parts: "Kinship" and "The myths". It is the first time the entire corpus of Lévi-Strauss' work has been presented in chronological order, by topic, and compared with recent research. Step by step, Godelier retraces sixty years of scholarship: we watch his thinking emerge and change, a laborer not content with a disorderly series of phenomena but who seeks the underlying rule, anonymous and silent - the rule of exchange, of marriage, of mind processes. In passing, Godelier clarifies the famous but misunderstood universality of the incest taboo and gives us access to little-known studies such as those concerning the notion of "house". But more than producing an inventory, Godelier takes stock. Against a background of unfailing admiration, Godelier points out Lévi-Strauss' deliberate omissions, his denial of the role of descent in the analysis of kinship systems, the absence of the political and religious domains in his understanding of the myths. But instead of eroding the monument, the criticism picks out its bone structure, reveals its formidable coherence and provides a better understanding of its singularity, of what makes this body of work seem such a stubborn undertaking, sometimes so sure of itself: the desire to make anthropology into a hard science that carries its reasoning through to its logical conclusions. -- Philippe Chevallier * L’Express *One would dream of seeing a study devoted to Godelier's production the likes of the one he himself has just published on Lévi-Strauss, whose assistant he was at the Collège de France after having first worked under Fernand Braudel. Godelier's Lévi-Strauss is like a Bourdieu that might have been written by Michel Foucault, a Jankelevitch by Emmanuel Lévinas or a Dumézil by Jean-Pierre Vernant: two minds viewing each other in a "mirror", the one illuminating the other. Godelier devotes himself to the most modest, attentive and insightful of critical readings (and clearly the best equipped from a scholarly standpoint). He runs Lévi-Strauss work through a veritable IRM, terming it "immense, multiple, uncommonly creative",a work that has "fecundated" the entire field of the human and social sciences. He shows its unity, its delicate architecture, the possible rebounds and developments - and also the dead-ends, the "omissions" and sometimes the errors. Maurice Godelier's book is not a homage to Lévi-Strauss; it is a homage to the scholarship, to the knowledge for which Lévi-Strauss laid the cornerstone. -- Robert Maggiori * Libération *

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Book SynopsisAs human migration brings an ever more diverse range of people, cultures and beliefs into contact, Western medical systems must adapt to cater for the different approaches it encounters towards illness, the body, gender, mental health and death.Based upon training courses taught by the author to staff at hospitals, mental health professionals, and on degree courses, this complete resource provides an essential foundation for understanding the complex and manifold approaches to medicine and health around the world. An awareness of this diversity moreover allows healthcare professionals to better engage with their patients and offer them satisfactory care and support in the future.Trade ReviewWestern medical science is in the midst of a massive re-evaluation of the nature of consciousness and how it manifests in the lives of humans. A key aspect of this movement is the role of spirituality in mental and physical health, and how these effects vary in different cultures. Natalie Tobert's Cultural Perspectives on Mental Wellbeing is a brilliant foray into this domain. This excellent treatise will be talked about for years to come by professionals and laypersons alike. -- Larry Dossey, MD, author of ONE MIND: How Our Individual Mind Is Part of a Greater Consciousness and Why It MattersThis is an important study highlighting the human and philosophical inadequacy of scientific and medical materialism, which is taken for granted when educating young scientists and doctors. This consensus leads to the categorisation of many human experiences as anomalous in terms of this limited if powerful understanding. When one questions and puts aside the assumption that consciousness is produced by the brain, many of the experiences discussed by Natalie become explicable and point towards a wider and deeper scientific and medical outlook, which has been the mission of the Scientific and Medical Network for over 40 years. I would encourage all health professionals to read this book with an open mind. -- David Lorimer, Programme Director, Scientific and Medical NetworkDr. Tobert brings many arguments and data to highlight the transient way humans accept knowledge, set laws, and then change their minds about what is 'correct'. She notes a gap between the perspectives of physicians and their patients: what is normal in one geographical location is not normal in another. A shift is needed - towards a more culturally universal paradigm. The author argues for the need to address questions of spirituality and religion, materialistic and spiritual perspectives and their importance for health. The book contains chapters on death and dying and shows how various experiences, among them near-death and end-of-life experiences, can radically cause a shift in worldview. This is a thoughtful medical anthropology book that takes a penetrative look at the variability of human views of life. -- Erlendur Haraldsson, author of At the Hour of DeathIn seventeen neat chapters, each helpfully introduced and then summarised for clarity, the author tackles pertinent subjects including 'cultural beliefs about health and illness', 'beliefs about conception and human identity', 'women's bodies and human behaviour', and 'cultural knowledge on death and dying'. This is a worthwhile book, making an ideal companion to two College publications: 'Spirituality and Psychiatry' (Cook et al, 2009) and 'Spirituality and Narrative in Psychiatric Practice' (Cook et al, 2016). Members of the Spirituality and Psychiatry SIG will certainly find it rewarding. Others might find it surprisingly beneficial, both accessible and enlightening, too. -- Larry Culliford * British Journal of Psychiatry *Table of ContentsForeword. Preface. Part 1: Introduction. 1. Consensual Reality, Spirituality and Religion. 2. Culture, Nationality and Ethnicity. 3. Cultural Beliefs about Health and Illness. 4. The Human Body. 5. Beliefs about Conception and Human Identity. 6. Women's Bodies and Human Behaviour. 7. Cultural U-turns and Changing Responses to Consensus. Part 2: 8. Cultural Knowledge on Death and Dying. 9. Cultural Beliefs about Survival Beyond Death. 10. Anomalous Experiences: A. Religious and Spiritual Experiences. 11. Anomalous Experiences: B. NDE, OBE, ELE. 12. Anomalous Experiences: C. Cultural Interpretations of Mental Health. 13. Anomalous Experiences: D. Popular Uprising and Spiritual Awakening. 14. Anomalous Experiences: E. Deliberate Shifts in Consciousness. 15. Why Address Cultural Understandings and Academic Fixity?. 16. Acknowledging Dissonance as a Way Forward. 17. Towards Positive Change. Bibliography.

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Book SynopsisPrisoners of the American Dream is Mike Davis's brilliant exegesis of a persistent and major analytical problem for Marxist historians and political economists: Why has the world's most industrially advanced nation never spawned a mass party of the working class? This series of essays surveys the history of the American bourgeois democratic revolution from its Jacksonian beginnings to the rise of the New Right and the reelection of Ronald Reagan, concluding with some bracing thoughts on the prospects for progressive politics in the United States.Trade ReviewImpressive - a perceptive and rigorous structural analysis. -- David Montgomery * The Nation *One of the most uncompromising books about American political economy ever written - brilliant, provocative, and exhaustively researched. * Village Voice *One of the most trenchant and original analyses of American politics. * Socialist Review *Prisoners of the American Dream established [Davis's] record of candidly examining the prospects for progressive social change and the dismal fate of organized labor in the United States, with its lack of a party or power. -- Micah Uetricht * The Nation *

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Book Synopsis'Mirrorlands' is a journey through space and time to the meeting points of Russia and China, the world’s largest and most populous countries. Charting an unconventional course southeast through Siberia, Inner Mongolia, the Russian Far East and Manchuria, anthropologist and linguist Ed Pulford sketches a rich series of encounters with people and places unknown not only to outsiders, but also to most residents of the capital cities where his journey begins and ends. What Russia and China have in common goes much deeper than their status as authoritarian post-socialist states or perceived menaces to Western hegemony. Their shared history can only fully be appreciated from an intimately local, borderland perspective. Along remote roads, rivers and railways, in cosmopolitan cities and indigenous villages of the northeast Asian frontiers, Pulford maps the strikingly similar ways in which these two vast empires have ruled their Eurasian domains, before, during and after socialism. With great cultural nuance, 'Mirrorlands' thoughtfully evokes the diverse daily interactions between residents of the Russia–China borderlands, and their resulting visions of ‘Europe’ and ‘Asia’. It is a vivid portrait of centuries of cross-border encounter, mimicry and conflict, key to understanding the global place and identity of two leading world powers.Trade Review'[Pulford's] exchanges -- with market stallholders, passengers on the train or bus, receptionists and anyone else who will talk to him -- form the core of his book. He intersperses them with snippets of history, all scrupulously accurate, and with descriptions of the cities he visits.' * Times Literary Supplement *‘[Mirrorlands is] fascinating and enlightening’. -- Foreign Affairs‘'Mirrorlands' is a collage of historical, anthroposociological, and geographical explanations that incorporates the observations and worldviews of dozens of residents who routinely interact along the border areas. This book is strongly recommended, as it will surely help readers understand the role borderlands play elsewhere.’ -- Choice‘Pulford is an articulate scholar and a talented linguist [and his] training as a social anthropologist is pervasive in his writing … the richness of 'Mirrorlands' is in the portraits of characters Pulford meets along the way.’ -- Asian Affairs'[''Mirrorlands''] offers a fascinating account of a region that is of strategic interest but remains poorly known … [the book] is unique in its deft winding in and out of the border, uncovering human stories from both sides.' -- The China Quarterly'[The] reader comes away enormously enriched and grateful for having been allowed to travel 'piggyback' on Pulford's shoulder and profit from his diverse and unexpected encounters.' -- The Heythrop Journal‘[Mirrorlands] provides an enchanting account of places and peoples of the remote crossroads connecting these two worlds.’ -- The Muslim World Book Review‘'Mirrorlands' is the story of Pulford’s journey, on buses and trains, from Moscow all the way to Beijing as he tries to understand the cultural exchanges and confrontations between two of Asia’s sprawling countries. The mirrorlands he refers to are not so much the countries themselves but the borderlands he travels through’. -- Full Stop‘Pulford offers a vivid and accessible account that simultaneously places his observations into historical and political context, while also allowing the reader to experience, as a fellow traveller, his personal reflections.’ -- Inner Asia'As sparkling as it is informative, Ed Pulford's wonderful book shines a rare light on the borderlands of the Far East between Russia and China.' -- Peter Frankopan, author of 'The Silk Roads''A journey into the dizzying interaction between Russia and China--from street market traders to high politics--each illuminating the other. A must-read to understand and enjoy the dynamic between two vast powers.' -- Peter Pomerantsev, author of 'Nothing Is True and Everything Is Possible''Calm and informative, "Mirrorlands" refuses to endorse the politics of either Russia or China, preferring to chart how lives and landscapes have been transformed by their experiments with industry, urbanity, socialism and capitalism.' -- Owen Hatherley, author of 'The Adventures of Owen Hatherley In The Post-Soviet Space''Pulford brings the reader to one of the weirdest and least reported corners of the world, that no-man's land at the eastern borders of Russia and China, wedged up against North Korea. This book is both academically rigorous and a rollicking fun adventure story.' -- Barbara Demick, author of 'Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea''Everything from history to economics makes it hard to disentangle Russia from China. In this lively, insightful and readable book, Ed Pulford travels through the two countries, looking for the myriad and often unexpected ways they connect and collide.' -- Mark Galeotti, author of 'The Vory: Russia's Super Mafia'

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Book SynopsisThis book argues that road-building was naturalised in the twentieth century to the point of common sense, integrating roadbuilding into a system of climate change denial hidden within a broad international development imperative. But if we can 'read' South Asian roads as forms of governance and knowledge, we can challenge the region's established geopolitical narratives, and the idea of a never-ending future. Highways to the End of the World explores the political economy of these ideas by focusing on the history of this phenomenon, and on the road-builders of South Asia themselves. How do these flamboyant and controversial 'roadmen' think about their work and the future of the planet? What do roads do, and why? And how did they become central to the region's nationalist and developmental projects in the first place? Edward Simpson's fascinating ethnographic account takes us from fume-filled toll booths in the heart of India, via overworked government offices in Pakistan, to pharaonic bridges in the Indian Ocean. Simpson follows the money, explores the politics of evidence, and argues against the utopian hyperbole of present-day 'road talk', finding both humanitarian crises and freewheeling international capital in the hedgerows. Roads have never been so interesting, or so controversial.Trade Review‘The book’s on-the-ground reporting from out-of-the-way places across India and Pakistan is outstanding.’ -- International Affairs'In this wonderfully original book, Simpson literally takes us on the road. What we get is an illuminating study of mobile as well as stationary lives, shaped by infrastructure into new social patterns, no longer tied to traditional locales like towns or villages. An innovative exploration.' -- Faisal Devji, Professor of Indian History, University of Oxford'A must-read account of the roads and roadmen of South Asia, staging a profound encounter between the desire for development and the accumulated risks of climate change in the twenty-first century.' -- Awadhendra Sharan, Director, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies'A brilliant example of how to combine the politics and poetics of infrastructure. Simpson's detailed historical and ethnographic analysis of roads as politically challenging commodities confronts the uncomfortable complicities of roads in the devastating consequences of climate change.' -- Penelope Harvey, Professor of Social Anthropology, University of Manchester'In this important anthropological study, Simpson examines how roads and road-building have formed a key role in the cultural and political life and development imperatives of India and Pakistan. A fantastic book!' -- Peter Merriman, Professor of Geography, Aberystwyth University, and author of Driving Spaces

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Book SynopsisIn Money: Ethnographic Encounters, anthropologists tell stories of their experiences with money in the field. Through vivid fieldwork accounts, they explore the ways money has influenced their perceptions and understandings of culture. These accounts raise critical questions. How do anthropologists come to know another culture through ordinary yet unexpected experiences with money? How is anthropological knowledge produced through these interactions?Money: Ethnographic Encounters offers students, teachers and researchers the opportunity to consider the work of anthropology through vigorous narrative. It also includes a Guide to Further Reading for students. With stories of fieldwork in such varied sites as Vietnam, Ghana, China, and Malawi, Money: Ethnographic Encounters is ideal for all students of anthropology.Trade ReviewThe book is remarkably coherent in tone. - Anthropological NotebookTable of ContentsPreface, John Borneman, Princeton University, USAIntroduction, Stefan Senders, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, USA, and Allison Truitt, Tulane University1. Equation Fixations: On the Whole and the Sum of Dollars In Foreign Exchange, Julie Y. Chu, Wellesley College, USA2. Changing Money in Post-Soviet Ukraine, JA Dickinson, University of Vermont, USA3. Dollars and Dolores in Postwar El Salvador, Ellen Moodie, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA4. Cold Cash and Hot Loans in Southern Vietnam, Allison Truitt5. The Smoking Wallet: An Anthropologist Meets Transnational Tobacco Corporations in Malawi, Marty Otañez, University of California San Francisco, USA6. What do You Want Me to Do, Bang My Head Against the Wall?, Stefan Senders, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, USA7. Circuits of Conversion: From 14,000 to 1, Naeem Inayatullah, Ithaca College, USAGuide to Further Reading Bibliography Notes on Contributors

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Book SynopsisMost of us know a bit about what passes for good manners - holding doors open, sending thank-you notes, no elbows on the table. We certainly know bad manners when we see them. But where has this patchwork of beliefs and behaviours come from? How did manners develop? How do they change? And why do they matter so much to us? In examining our manners, Henry Hitchings delves into the English character and investigates our notions of Englishness.Sorry! presents an amusing, illuminating and quirky audit of English manners. From basic table manners to appropriate sexual conduct, via hospitality, chivalry, faux pas and online etiquette, Hitchings traces the history of our country's customs and courtesies. Putting under the microscope some of our most astute observers of humanity, including Jane Austen and Samuel Pepys, he uses their lives and writings to pry open the often downright peculiar secrets of the English character. Hitchings' blend of history, anthropology and personal journey helps us understand our bizarre and contested cultural baggage - and ourselves.Trade Review'A writer of apparently limitless learning and intelligence, who writes works of scholarship masquerading as popular narrative non-fiction . . . the man is something else' * Guardian *'An excellent history, just don't read it at the dinner table . . . this insightful book will give you pause the next time you wipe your nose on the duvet or - social death! - top up your host's glass at a New Year's Eve party' * The Times *'Amusing and enlightening . . . he is particularly insightful in depicting the evolutionary shift manners have taken since they were first codified on paper in the Middle Ages' * Financial Times *'[Hitchings] is a lovely writer, full of interesting ideas and neat turns of phrase' * Daily Mail *'Hitchings has made a bold, entertaining and often imaginative, assault on a fundamentally impossible subject' * Observer *'Manners is a fascinating subject, and Hitchings handles it with all his customary wit, knowledge and elegance' * Mail on Sunday *'Highly entertaining and absorbing book' * Daily Telegraph *'Understated elegance . . . it is itself an impeccably well-mannered and deeply English product' * The Spectator *'Witty and sharp . . . full of diverting nuggets and anecdotes . . . elegantly written' * Sunday Times *'A scholarly study of English manners' * Country Life *'Illuminating and entertaining' * Sunday Telegraph *'Hitching's shares provocative opinions . . . he exhibits an appetite for confounding myths about social mores' * Metro *'Endlessly entertaining' * Literary Review *'Diverting new book' * Lady *An elegant and erudite book . . . Hitchings has an encyclopaedic mind, but like the well-mannered Englishman he is, wears his learning lightly * Independent *Full of diverting nuggets and anecdotes * Sunday Times *Very well-mannered and authoritative survey of British behaviour * Sunday Telegraph *What better book for a foreign beach than an exploration of our enduring stereotypes. This history of faux pas and foibles is ideal for broadcasting entertaining 'Did-you-knows?' * Mail on Sunday *He's terrific. He's struck the perfect balance between hard academic insight and sheer readability - and achieves both * Evening Standard *Scholarly without being heavy, and rich with acute anecdotes and diversions into social history . . . Pacy and enthusiastic, Hitchings's book entertains and enlightens * Daily Telegraph *The erudite and witty Henry Hitchings is the perfect guide through the minefield of social conventions we call manners * Mail on Sunday *

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Book SynopsisPersonal and yet utterly universal, inevitable and yet unknowable, death has been a dominant theme in all cultures, since earliest times. Different societies address death and the act of dying in culturally diverse ways; yet, remarkably, across the span of several millennia, we can recognize in the customs of ancient Greece and Rome ceremonies and rituals that have enduring present-day resonance. For example, preparing the corpse of the deceased, holding a memorial service, the practice of cremation and of burial in 'resting places' are all liminal processes that can trace their origin to ancient practices. Such rites - described by Cicero and Herodotus, among others - have defined traditional modern funerals. Yet of late there has been a shift away from classical ritual and sombre memorialization as the dead are transformed into spectacles. Ad hoc roadside shrines, 'virtual' burials, online guest-books and even jazz memorial processions and firework displays have come to the fore as new modes of marking, even celebrating, bereavement. What is causing this change, and how do urbanisation, economic factors and the rise of individualism play a part? Mario Erasmo creatively explores the nexus between classical and contemporary approaches to dying, death and interment. From theme funerals in St Louis to Etruscan sarcophagi, he offers a rich and insightful discussion of finitude across the ages.

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Book SynopsisTrading Worlds is an anthropological study of a little understood yet rapidly expanding global trading diaspora, namely the Afghan merchants of Afghanistan, Central Asia and Europe. It contests one-sided images that depict traders from this and other conflict regions as immoral profiteers, the cronies of warlords or international drug smugglers. It shows, rather, the active role these merchants play in an ever-more globalised political economy. Afghan merchants, the author demonstrates, forge and occupy critical eco- nomic niches, both at home and abroad: from the Persian Gulf to Central Asia, to the ports of the Black Sea; and in global cities such as Istanbul, Moscow and London, the traders' activities are shaping the material and cultural lives of the di- verse populations among whom they live. Through an exploration of the life histories, trading activities and everyday experiences of these mobile merchants, Magnus Marsden shows that traders' worlds are informed by complex forms of knowledge, skill, ethical sensibility, and long-lasting human relationships that often cut across and dissolve boundaries of nation, ethnicity, religion and ideology.

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Book SynopsisFrom the Chinese Emperors to the Romans and the Byzantines, from British Foreign Office agents in the Great Game to today's hippies, backpackers and aid workers, a long line of 'civilized', sedentary peoples have again and again misunderstood nomads, and nomadism. Caricatured as backward herders, thieving pastoralists, or members of some vast and undifferentiated horde of humanity forever wandering the planet, nomads are usually perceived as anything but modern and almost always as on the verge of obsolescence. 'The Civilization of Perpetual Movement' is the first examination of nomadism as a vital global political practice. Nick McDonell - bestselling novelist and war correspondent - draws upon his years spent with and research into nomads on every continent to illuminate what is, and has always been, a most modern practice. In the lucid, evocative prose which earnt him comparisons with Graham Greene and John Le Carre in the New York Times, McDonell illuminates the ways nomads and states influence each other, historically and today - with surprising consequences, from the plains and mountains of Central Asia to the grasslands of the Rift Valley.Part literary meditation, part reflection on international relations, part original history, 'The Civilization of Perpetual Movement' is an instant and unclassifiable classic, in the tradition of iconoclastic thinkers from Bruce Chatwin to James Scott to T. E. Lawrence.Trade Review'This book is exceptional not only for the new perspectives it gives on nomads, but for the out-of-the-box thinking which Nick McDonell applies throughout the text ... reading this book is an exercise in critical thinking.' * The Jordan Times *'Nick McDonell tackles one of the great blind spots of political science: the persistence of nomadism in the contemporary world. Nomads are not, McDonell shows, a relict of an earlier era of societal development, but a thoroughly modern challenge to contemporary governance.' * Alex de Waal, Research Professor and Executive Director of the World Peace Foundation, Tufts University *'In this intriguing, unusual and well-written little book, McDonell shares his frustrations with the political difficulties faced by nomadic peoples in the twenty-first century and the failure of international relations theory to comprehend nomads' lived realities. He describes in detail several instances of the unequal and often tragic clash between the "civilisation of perpetual movement" and that of tax-gathering, boundary-jealous, rule-bound, development-oriented states.' -- * Richard Tapper, Emeritus Professor at SOAS, University of London, and author of many books and articles on nomadism including Frontier Nomads of Iran *'Since he was a graduate student at Oxford, Nick McDonell has studied the question of how important nomadism has been to world history for the past 500 years. Very, is the answer. This well-written and extremely accessible book is an account of that journey.' * Dawn Chatty, Professor of Anthropology and Forced Migration and formerly Director of the Refugee Studies Centre, University of Oxford *

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Book SynopsisThe Human Terrain System (HTS) was catapulted into existence in 2006 by the US military's urgent need for knowledge of the human dimension of the battlespace in Iraq and Afghanistan. Its centrepiece was embedded groups of mixed military and civilian personnel, known as Human Terrain Teams (HTTs), whose mission was to conduct social science research and analysis and to advise military commanders about the local population. Bringing social science - and actual social scientists - to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan was bold and challenging. Despite the controversy over HTS among scholars, there is little good, reliable source material written by those with experience of HTS or about the actual work carried out by teams in theatre. This volume goes beyond the anecdotes, snippets and blogs to provide a comprehensive, objective and detailed view of HTS. The contributors put the program in historical context, discuss the obstacles it faced, analyse its successes, and detail the work of the teams downrange. Most importantly, they capture some of the diverse lived experience of HTS scholars and practitioners drawn from an eclectic array of the social sciences.Trade Review'Laurence and McFate have produced an invaluable contribution to the literature examining the role of social sciences generally and anthropology in particular in assisting military operations, especially in counterinsurgency. This volume combines superb first-hand reports of how human terrain teams function with deep analytical and ethical analysis. First rate.' * Martin L. Cook, Admiral James Bond Stockdale Professor of Professional Military Ethics, United States Naval War College *'The Human Terrain System was one of the most interesting innovations in a Department of Defense that was unprepared for the counterinsurgency campaigns of this century. This book captures many of the lessons learned from that wartime adaptation--lessons that will be essential preparation for the counterinsurgency campaigns that are sure to emerge in the years ahead.' * John Nagl, Ninth Headmaster, The Haverford School, and author of Knife Fights: A Memoir of Modern War *'Social Science Goes to War is an extraordinarily important contribution to the literature on the recent US wars. McFate, a co-founder of the Human Terrain System, and the other authors, unflinchingly examine their efforts to help the US military understand the socio-political realities of Iraq and Afghanistan. The United States knew painfully little about the these places, a deficit that fatally compromised the prospects for US-led counterinsurgency. The same knowledge will be needed if the US wishes help build the peace.' * Linda Robinson, senior international policy analyst at the RAND Corporation and author of One Hundred Victories: Special Ops and the Future of American Warfare *

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Book SynopsisOffering the reader an unflinching portrait of Daghestan and Chechnya-primarily its girls and women-this book presents the Caucasus through the eyes of a Polish woman who travelled there with her small child in the midst of a locally rooted but newly assertive Islamic revivalism. Shadowed by Russian secret police they, and later her husband, participate in Muslim rites in villages which penalise those caught smoking or drinking, even in their own homes; hang out with polygamous families; talk to activists whose stance on human rights or democracy has them on hit lists, and to young people about religion, polygamy, prostitution and sex. They also track down 'Wahhabis' (known locally as 'devils') who conceal their religious affiliations for fear of persecution. In Daghestan the authors encounter two Sufi religious leaders, both of whom were later murdered, and in Grozny activists who survived torture by betraying the innocent.They hang out with young women 'encouraged' by the Chechen regime to 'conduct themselves morally' for the good of the nation; accompany girls on dates; and find out from 18-year-old divorcees why it's better to share a bed with another wife than have no husband at all.Trade Review'The works of Bronislaw Malinowski and Ryszard Kapuscinski taught us that Polish travellers have a special place in the canon of ethnographic description. Here is another example of that distinguished tradition.' * Professor Georgi Derlugian, NYU, Abu Dhabi, author of Bourdieu's Secret Admirer in the Caucasus: A Biography in World-Systems Perspective *'By offering moving scenes from everyday life across a region consumed by history, Kaliszewska and Falkowski remind us why the North Caucasus is so compelling.' * Professor Bruce Grant, NYU, author of The Captive and the Gift: Cultural Histories of Sovereignty in Russia and the Caucasus *'This is a wonderful book. The North Caucasus republics of Chechnya and Daghestan have become a black hole in Europe, tainted by the word "terrorism." The authors, both scholars and inquisitive travelers, give us a vivid picture from the inside, with insights on everything from Islam to sex to Communism.' * Thomas de Waal, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace *

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Book SynopsisThe discovery of oil in the late 1960s catapulted the people of Abu Dhabi out of the isolating poverty into which it had plunged in the 1930s and onto the global stage. Massive construction projects built the city and infrastructural developments altered the physical and cultural landscape; in a few breathtaking decades, the lives of Emiratis were transformed by new opportunities and a social welfare system that offered free education, medical treatment, generous pensions, subsidies to families, and government incentives offered to citizens to participate in all sectors of the economy. Oil wealth also brought new expectations and new life-styles that are often sophisticated and lavish yet just as often criticized for being conspicuous displays of unbridled consumerism. Emirati Women offers a rare view into the lives of Emirati women and how they perceive the changes that have made poverty a dim and almost forgotten memory. In Emirati Women, Bristol-Rhys weaves together eight years of conversations and interviews with three generations of women, her observations of Emirati society in Abu Dhabi, the unflattering stereotypes commonly heard in the extensive expatriate communities, and discussions with her Emirati university students on topics ranging from marriage, independence, freedom, and the future.Trade Review'This book should be read by everyone interested in Arab women.' -- Middle East Journal'A collection of conversations with successive generations of Emirati women.' -- The National (Dubai)'Emirati Women is a very welcome addition to our knowledge of the people of the Arab Gulf and fills a large void in an area where women's voices, are, in general, still marginalised. Little that is published on the area offers readers the local inhabitants' viewpoint which is why the oral narratives and interviews presented in this book illustrate so tellingly the lives of those who are otherwise marginalised and ignored, thereby revealing a fascinating world that is usually obscured in conventional accounts.' -- Dr Wanda Krause, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London'Emirati Women is an engaging, insightful and lucidly written study on this important subject. Anyone who wants to discover how and why the role of women is changing within this dynamic Gulf state must read this book'. -- Steven Wright, Assistant Professor, Department of International Affairs, Qatar University, and author of The United States and Persian Gulf Security'By giving voice to women from different parts of society, Bristol-Rhys is able to paint a dense and colourful picture of social life in the contemporary UAE. Her portrayal of the wide variety of complex and often contradictory predicaments which structure Emirati women's lives, worlds, and worldviews constitutes a powerful counter-narrative to stereotypical and often homogenising misrepresentations of Emirati society, and of women in particular.' -- Journal of Arabian Studies

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Book SynopsisThe global icon is an omnipresent but poorly understood element of mass culture. This book asks why audiences around the world have embraced particular iconic figures, how perceptions of these figures have changed, and what this tells us about transnational relations since the Cold War era. Prestholdt addresses these questions by examining one type of icon: the anti-establishment figure. As symbols that represent sentiments, ideals, or something else recognizable to a wide audience, icons of dissent have been integrated into diverse political and consumer cultures, and global audiences have reinterpreted them over time. To illustrate these points the book examines four of the most evocative and controversial figures of the past fifty years: Che Guevara, Bob Marley, Tupac Shakur, and Osama bin Laden. Each has embodied a convergence of dissent, cultural politics, and consumerism, yet popular perceptions of each reveal the dissonance between shared, global references and locally contingent interpretations. By examining four very different figures, 'Icons of Dissent' offers new insights into global symbolic idioms, the mutability of common references, and the commodification of political sentiment in the contemporary world.Trade Review‘Prestholdt has tackled a daunting topic, and has done so with remarkable success. 'Icons of Dissent' is a searching analysis of the impact and influence of international icons and a worthy read for scholars. Prestholdt’s work should stimulate much more scholarship on the internationalization of icons.’ -- Choice'This lucidly written book combines perspectives from several disciplines and links the analysis of markets and commerce to that of branding and political dreams. Impressive and clear, it will be of great interest to scholars of anthropology, sociology and consumer studies.' -- Arjun Appadurai, Paulette Goddard Professor of Media, Culture, and Communication, NYU'In this extraordinarily well-written and luminously crafted book, Prestholdt makes a powerful case for why four diverse icons became emblematic of worldwide popular dissent. This book is "crucially crucial" reading for anyone who wishes to understand the twentieth century.' -- Selwyn R. Cudjoe, Professor of Africana Studies, Wellesley College and author of 'The Slave Master of Trinidad''With an acute grasp of art, history, political science, and the essence of human struggle, Prestholdt adeptly explains how the iconic representations of certain personalities capture people's imagination to transcend, and often contradict, their flesh-and-blood lives.' -- Michael Casey, author of 'Che's Afterlife: The Legacy of an Image'

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Book SynopsisOchre and Rust offers a fresh perspective on frontier relations between Australian Aboriginal people and European colonists. Nine museum artefacts take the reader into a fascinating zone of encounter and mutual curiosity between collectors and those indigenous people who piqued or responded to their interest. While colonialism is the broad frame, details gleaned from archives, images and the objects themselves reveal a new picture of interaction between individual Aboriginal people and European collectors. Philip Jones explores and makes sense of particular historical moments in colonial history, when Aboriginal people perceived and expected other, more elusive outcomes. Ochre and Rust, an elegantly written challenge to received wisdom about the colonial frontier, has won Australia's inaugural Prime Minister's Award for Literary Non-Fiction.Trade Review'It displaced all other reading until I reached the very last page. A truly remarkable book.' * Sir David Attenborough *‘[Ochre and Rust is] a compelling and powerful study that addresses a wide range of issues, including the sources of ethnographic knowledge, the premises of museum practices, the impact of missionary endeavors, the roots of artistic innovations, and more. … Engagingly written, meticulously documented, and richly illustrated, it is a work that deserves a broad readership.’ -- Journal of Interdisciplinary History

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Book SynopsisEthnographic writing has become all but ubiquitous in recent years. Although now considered a thoroughly modern and increasingly indispensable field of study, Ethnography’s roots go all the way back to antiquity. This volume brings together eleven original essays exploring the wider intellectual and cultural milieux from which ancient ethnography arose, its transformation and development in antiquity, and the way in which 19th century receptions of ethnographic traditions helped shape the modern study of the ancient world. Finally, it addresses the extent to which all these themes remain inextricably intertwined with shifting and often highly contested notions of culture, power and identity. Its chapters deal with the origins of the term ‘barbarian’, the role of ethnography in Tacitus’ Germania, Plutarch’s Lives, Xenophon’s Anabasis, and Athenaeus’ Deipnosophistae, Herodotean storytelling, Henry and George Rawlinson, and Megasthenes’ treatise on India. At a time when modern ethnographies are becoming increasingly prevalent, wide-ranging, and experimental in their approach to describing cultural difference, this book encourages us to think about ancient ethnography in new and interesting ways, highlighting the wealth of material available for study and the complexities underpinning ancient and modern notions of what it meant to be Greek, Roman or ‘barbarian’.Trade ReviewThis rich and inspiring new collection of articles, counting among its contributors the foremost scholars on ancient ethnographical writing, is a timely demonstration of the state of research in a field which is not only naturally diverse in subject matter, but also undergoing some very significant realignments. * ARCTOS *This carefully-edited and well-compiled collection is borne by a fascination with ancient ethnography. * Historische Zeitschrift (Bloomsbury translation) *Table of ContentsIntroduction Eran Almagor and Joseph Skinner Part 1: Beginnings The Invention of the ‘Barbarian’ in Late 6th Century BC Ionia Hyun Jin Kim (University of Sydney, Australia) The Stories of the Others: Storytelling and Inter-cultural Communication in the Herodotean Mediterranean Kostas Vlassopoulos (University of Nottingham, UK) Part 2: Responses Looking at the Other: Visual Mediation and Greek Identity in Xenophon’s Anabasis Rosie Harman (University College London, UK) Apologetic Ethnography: Megasthenes’ Indica and the Seleucid Elephant Paul J. Kosmin (Harvard University, USA) Monstrous Aetolians and Aetolian Monsters – A Politics of Ethnography? Jacek Rzepka (Warsaw University, Poland) Part 3: Transformations Ethnography and the Gods in Tacitus' Germania Greg Woolf (University of St. Andrews, UK) ‘But This Belongs to Another Discussion’: Ethnographic Digressions in Plutarch Eran Almagor (Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Israel) Ethnography and Authorial Voice in Athenaeus’ Deipnosophistae Katerina Oikonomopoulou (University of Patras, Greece) Part 4: Receptions Imperial Visions, Imagined Pasts: Ethnography and Identity on India's North-Western Frontier Joseph Skinner (University of Newcastle, UK) Exploring Virgin Fields: Henry and George Rawlinson on Ancient and Modern Orient Thomas Harrison (University of Liverpool, UK) The Scope of Ancient Ethnography Emma Dench (Harvard University, USA) Index

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Book SynopsisWhat does it mean to be Zulu today? Does being Zulu today differ from what it meant in the past? Zulu Identities wrestles with these and many other related questions to show how the characteristic traditions of a pre-industrial people have evolved into different cultural expressions of 'Zulu-ness' in modern South Africa. This authoritative and specially commissioned volume, which contains more collected expertise on the Zulus than is available from any other source, examines the legacies of Shaka, the intrigues of Zulu royalty, gender and generational struggles, cultural and symbolic projections, and spirituality. It highlights the debates in contemporary South Africa over the manipulation of Zulu heritage, whether deployed for party political purposes or exploited to promote eco - and battlefield-tourism. And finally the book contemplates the future of Zulu identity in a unitary South Africa seeking to embrace the forces of globalisation.Table of ContentsContents-Frames of Debate-Introduction: Zuluness in the Post- and Neo-worlds -The Empire Talks Back: Re-examining the Legacies of Shaka and - Reflections on the Politics of Being 'Zulu', 1820-1920 Foundations of Zuluness: Iron Ages to Late 1800s - A Brief Archaeology of Precolonial Farming in Kwa Zulu-Natal-Cattle Symbolism in Zulu Culture-Revisiting the Stereotype of Shaka's 'Devastations'-White Myths of Shaka-The Rise and Fall of the Zulu Kingdom-Zulu Nationalist Literary Representations of King Dingane-A Reassessment of Women's Power in the Zulu Kingdom-Enlightenment Theories of Civilisation and Savagery in British Natal: The Colonial Origins of the (Zulu) African Barbarism Myth- Awaken Nkulunkulu, Zulu God of the Old Testament: Pioneering Missionaries During the Early Age of Racial Spectacle-Faithful Anthropologists: Christianity, Ethnography and the Making of 'Zulu Religion' in Early Colonial Natal-'Bloodstained Grandeur': Colonial and Imperial Stereotypes of Zulu Warriors and Zulu Warfare The Roots of Gathering Struggles: Late Nineteenth Century to Middle Twentieth Century-'What Do You Red-Jackets Want in Our Country?': The Zulu Response to the British Invasion of 1879-The Roots of Gathering Struggles: Late Nineteenth Century to Middle Twentieth Century-Imperial Appropriations: Baden-Powell, the Wood Badge, and the Zulu Iziqu-'Happy Are Those Who Are Dead': Crises in African Life in Late-nineteenth-century and Early-twentieth-century Colonial Natal-The American Mission Revivals and Birth of Modern Zulu Evangelism-Zulus, African-Americans and the African Diaspora, 1879-1945-Chiefs, Cattle and 'Betterment': Contesting Zuluness and Segregationin the Reserves-'You Cannot Destroy a Person by Killing Him': Zulu Cosmopolitanismand the Politics of Zulu Cultural Revival-Changing Meanings of the Battle of Ncome and Images of King Dinganein Twentieth-century South Africa-The Sport of Zuluness: Masculinity, Class and Cultural Identity in-Generating Change, Engendering Tradition: Rural Dynamics and the Limits of Zuluness in Colonial Natal-Hybridities Customary Traditions, Healing and Spirituality, and Contentious Politics Customary Traditions, Healing and Spirituality, and Contentious Politics-Royal Precedents and Landscape Midwives: Claiming the Zululand-Credo Mutwa: New-age Zulu-Healing and Harming: Medicine, Madness, Witchcraft and Tradition-Albert Luthuli and Bantustan Politics of Kwa Zulu-Undivided Loyalties: Inkatha and the Boy Scout Movement-Shaka's Aeroplane: The Takeoff and Landing of Inkatha, Modern ZuluNationalism and Royal Politics-The Roots of Violence and Martial Zuluness on the East Rand, 1980-90-Monuments of Division: Apartheid and Post-apartheid Struggles over Zulu Nationalist Heritage Sites-Divisions and Realignments in Post-apartheid Zulu Local and National Politics-Symbolism's of Culture Beauty in the Hard Journey: Defining Trends in Twentieth-century Zulu Art-Ceremonial Beer Pots and their Uses-The Secret of Zulu Bead Language and Proportion and Balance of the Zulu Headrest (Isigqiki)-'Where's it Gone, Freedom? Composing Isicathamiya in Post-apartheid South Africa in the Age of 9/11-Zulu Names-Poetic Masters of Zuluness: The Dhomo-Vilakazi Literary Debate-Cry, The Beloved Country: A Murder in Alan Paton's Country, 1999-Failed Experiment? Challenging Homogenous 'Zululisation' in South Africa's Museums: The Case of Sisonke in Natal-'So that I will be a marriageable girl': Umemulo in Contemporary Zulu Society-Futures of Zuluness Two Bulls in One Kraal: Local Politics, 'Zulu History', and Heritage Tourismin Kosi Bay-Claiming Community: Restitution on the Eastern Shores of Lake St Lucia-Virginity Testing: A Backward-looking Response to Sexual Regulation in the HIV/AIDS Crisis-Nomkhubulwane: Reinventing a Zulu Goddess-AIDS in Zulu Idiom: Etiological Configurations of Women, Pollution and Modernity-Zulu-speaking Men and Changing Households-A Modern Coming of Age: Zulu Manhood, Domestic Work and the 'Kitchen Suit'-Silence, Death and Memory in the Time of AIDS -The Zulu Warrior Ethic and the Spirit of South African Capitalism-Zulu Identity in the International Context-Index

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Book SynopsisThis account of Middle Eastern creation myths is a very detailed in its geographical and historical focus, and impressively wide-ranging in its scope... the painstaking research and critical insight make this a very valuable contribution to the subject.'- Journal Of Beliefs & ValuesThis comprehensive study of Middle Eastern creation stories explores the region's 'forgotten' narratives, myths and traditions which have played a central role in the accounts of creation found in the Old Testament and the Quran. Drawing on stories from Ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, Anatolia, Syria-Palestine and Persia, Ewa Wasilewska shows how these narratives of creation, destruction and rebirth reach to the very roots of the Biblical and Quranic Genesis. She examines the beliefs of the ancient Sumerians, Egyptians, Akkadians, Babylonians, Assyrians, Canaanites, Hebrews and Arabs, and the early Indo-Europeans, placing them in the economic, political and social context of the region. She investigates the concept of 'religion' as defined by ancient and modern scholars, a concept which she argues emerged only with the establishment of religions focusing on one male deity, and she traces the gradual rise and fall of the female goddesses of creation.Creation Stories of the Middle Eastexplores a significant range of original myths, stories, timelines and maps of the region, invaluable to the student or enthusiast. By returning to the place where writing was first invented, Wasilewska opens up the mythology, religion and history of the last five thousand years in the Middle East.Table of ContentsPreface. Introduction. 1. In Search of Foundation: Sumerian Origin. 2. In Search of Control: Egyptian Theologies. 3. In Search of Tolerance: Anatolian, Canaanite and Persian Sources. 4. In Search of One God: Biblical and Quranic Attempts on Reconciling Realities. 5. Out of the Watery Abyss. 6. Divine Order and Its Creators. 7. Almost Divine? Chosen People. 8. Accident or Intention? The Egyptian Lack of Interest in Human Creation. 9. Of Mud and/or Divine. 10. Paradise: Divine or Human? 11.Were Gods Mad? The Destruction of Humankind. 12.Where Do We All Go? Conclusions. Bibliography. Maps. Chronological Charts. Index.

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Book SynopsisThe garment industry is one of the world's largest industries, yet there are few sustained examinations of its importance to the global economy and the very vital role that immigrant entrepreneurship has played. Focusing on the garment industry in seven world cities -Paris, London, Birmingham, Amsterdam, New York, Miami and Los Angeles- this book tackles the complex relationship between the development of immigrant entrepreneurship and the shift to global, post-industrial urban economies. The interconnections among immigrant entrepreneurs, social networks, market conditions and regulatory matters are thoroughly explored in a comparative way. Starting from the idea that general social, economic and political processes manifest themselves in ever changing, historically specific shapes, the contributors offer intriguing insights into the dynamics of entrepreneurial management against the backdrop of such processes as: the differential spatial impact of economic restructuring; the significance of governance at various levels; and the conditional use of social capital. With contributions from leading experts in the field, this is a must for those wishing to supplement their knowledge in globalization, labour, economics, immigration and the garment industry broadly speaking.Trade Review'Confounding the predictions of prophets and social thinkers alike, the garment industry, that avatar of cut-throat capitalism, 19th century style, hangs on in the new millennium, and by more than a thread. Travel the global cities with the contributors to this book, and one sees why: drawing on the insights of historians, sociologists, and anthropologists, Unravelling the Rag Trade shows how markets, politics, and migration ensure that clothing is still made in the advanced, post-industrial West. A true effort at comparative, not parallel, analysis, this book deserves the attention of anyone interested in migration, urban change, and globalization.'Roger Waldinger, UCLA'An innovative and fascinating comparison of parallel studies on the garment industry in seven major immigration receiving cities ... sets a new standard for research on the ethnic economy, and brings a range of new issues to the fore.'Jeffrey Reitz, University of Toronto'The wealth of detailed information on t

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Book SynopsisBased on over thirty years of conversations and interactions with Americans and Asians, Korean American Eun Kim presents American virtues and vices from an Asian perspective, using the ancient Asian concepts of yin and yang, which coexist in everything and complete each other to maintain cosmic harmony. In this way, Kim draws us to look at the yang (light) mirror of American vices and the yin (dark) mirror or American virtues. Examples of the virtues she discusses are generosity, competitive spirit, openness, and volunteerism. Some of the vices she explores are insistence on rights, refusal to grow up, arrogance, and tolerance of violence. In her fifty entries, the author describes and illustrates an American value and provides an Asian perspective on it as well as what she believes to be the dangers and opportunities inherent to each value. She uses personal experience, anecdotes and quotes from Asians and Americans both famous and unknown, historical background, general wisdom, and proverbs to enrich her writing. Eun Kim straddles two cultures, her Asian homeland and her adopted country, the United States. This is a highly personal and readable book, with insights that may make the American reader squirm uncomfortably in one paragraph and glow with pride in the next.Trade ReviewFor those Americans who wish to follow the adage, 'Know thyself, this straightforward book can be a guide. -- Deena Levine & AssociatesSince September 11, we've read a lot of articles that analyze 'Why They Hate Us. But, even though there's no denying many people around the world do hate America, a 'love-hate' attitude actually is more prevalent, argues Eun Y. Kim. There are plenty of practical reasons to read this book. Americans do business around the world and welcome millions of visitors and immigrants each year. But it's also just plain fun to see ourselves through the eyes of others. -- Mike Revzin, Journal ConstitutionA thoughtful and enlightening book based on a cross-cultural odyssey and enriched with social consciousness. Harnessing the concepts of yin and yang, the author has deciphered the fascinating kaleidoscope of American culture. The book will benefit cross-cultural trainers, diplomats, international business leaders, and the global reading public. -- Dr. DaChang Cong, Head of American Studies Program, University of Texas at Dallas

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Book Synopsis"The Symbol Theory, volume 13 in "The Collected Works of Norbert Elias", situates the human capacity for forming symbols in the long-term biological evolution of Homo sapiens, showing how it is linked through communication and orientation to group survival. Elias proceeds to recast the question of the ontological status of knowledge, moving beyond the old philosophical dualisms of idealism/materialism and subject/object. He readjusts the boundary between the 'social' and the 'natural' by interweaving evolutionary biology and the social sciences. "The Symbol Theory" provides nothing less than a new image of the human condition as an accidental outcome of the blind flux of an indifferent cosmos. Elias' Introduction now includes previously unpublished passages written in the days before he died.Table of ContentsNorbert Elias (1897-1990); Note on the text; Introduction; Towards a comprehensive understanding of human beings: reconfiguring sociology, evolutionary biology and philosophy; Languages as learned sound patterns and symbols as the 'fifth dimension'; 'Symbol emancipation' as an evolutionary breakthrough; The high survival value of communication by learned sound-symbols; To speak, to think, to know: the sociogenesis and psychogenesis of reality-congruent symbols; Human society as a level of nature: beyond idealism and materialism; From 'truth' to reality congruence: beyond traditional philosophical theories of knowledge; Concept-formation in the 'five-dimensional' human world: beyond abstraction explanations; The distant past and the long future: reality-congruent knowledge and human survival; Appendix: Previously unpublished passages in Elias's Introduction; Textual variants; Bibliography; Index.

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Book SynopsisThe publication of 'An Introduction to Scottish Ethnology' sees the completion of the fourteen-volume Scottish Life and Society series, originally conceived by the eminent ethnologist Professor Alexander Fenton. The series explores the many elements in Scottish history, language and culture which have shaped the identity of Scotland and Scots at local, regional and national level, placing these in an international context. Each of the thirteen volumes already published focuses on a particular theme or institution within Scottish society. This introduction provides an overview of the discipline of ethnology as it has developed in Scotland and more widely, the sources and methods for its study, and practical guidance on the means by which it can be examined within its constituent genres, based on the experience of those currently working with ethnological materials. Theory and practice are presented in an accessible fashion, making it an ideal companion for the student, the scholar and the interested amateur alike.

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Book SynopsisThis authoritative work sheds light on the religious world of the Kalasha people of the Birir valley of the Pakistani districtof Chitral, focusing on their winter feasts which culminate in a great winter solstice festival. The Kalasha representthe last example of the pre-Islamic cultures of the Hindu Kush/Karakorum, but are also the only observable example,worldwide, of an archaic Indo-European religion. Cacopardo addresses the historical and cultural context of the area and,referencing an array of relevant literature, offers comparisons with the Indian world and the religious folklore of Europe.Interdisciplinary and based on extensive field research, Pagan Christmas is the first extended ethnographic study devotedto this little known Kalasha community and represents a standard international reference source on the anthropology,ethnography and history of religions of Pakistan and Central South Asia.Augusto S. Cacopardo has conducted anthropological research in Pakistan under the aegis of the Istituto Italianoper l'Africa e l'Oriente and is Professor of Ethnography at the University of Florence.His publications include themonograph Gates of Peristan: History, Religion and Society in the Hindu Kush (2001), co-authored with his brother Alberto M. Cacopardo.

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Book SynopsisWhithorn: An Economy of People is an exploration of a unique face-to-face society in Galloway in the south west of Scotland. It paints a picture of a largely cashless economy based on trust, frugality and the skilled labour and strategies of its residents to remain independent of the rest of the world while keeping closely connected to each other. Between 2012 and 2013 Julia Muir Watt interviewed twenty-nine individuals from Whithorn and the Machars about their memories. From those interviewed we learn what it was like to grow up, to go to school, and to work and to play in Whithorn in the twentieth century, before and after the Second World War. A great strength of oral history is that it can provide a direct insight into a lived life. In this collection, we have many such insights into life in and around the burgh of Whithorn. In telling of their experiences, those interviewed also provide an understanding into what it felt like to live those lives. Co-published with the European Ethnological Research Centre based on the research undertaken by them in their programme Dumfries and Galloway:A Regional Ethnology – part of a wider research programme the Regional Ethnology of Scotland Project (RESP).Trade Review' … presents a fascinating picture of life in a particular part of Scotland, and the transcripts and extracts from oral testimonies included offer insight into a number of themes and issues about the experiences of the inhabitants of the area, relevant to a range of existing academic work … a welcome addition to the body of research examining 20th-century Scotland.' Scottish ArchivesTable of ContentsWhithorn Manse by Alistair Reid Acknowledgements Preface Editorial note Lost of Illustrations Introduction WHITHORN: AN ECONOMY OF PEOPLE, 1920-1960 1. Leaving and Returning: Nostalgia of the Writers 2. Outside-In: the Rural Town 3. Outside: the Farms 4. Work and rest: The Timing of Pleasures 5. Up and Down: Wealth and Poverty 6. Here and There 7. Here and Hereafter 8. Incursion and Dispersion: Second World War Index

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Book SynopsisThis book presents an innovative institutional transpositional ethnography that examines the textual trajectory of “the life of a calling script” from production by corporate management and clients to recontextualization by middle management and finally to application by agents in phone interactions. Drawing on an extensive original research it provides a behind-the-scenes view of a multilingual call center in London and critiques the archetypal modern workplace practices including extensive use of monitoring and standardization and use of low-skilled precariat labor. In doing so, it offers fresh perspectives on contemporary debates about resistance, agency, and compliance in globalized workplaces. This study will provide a valuable resource to students and scholars of management studies, communication, sociolinguistics, and linguistic anthropology.Trade Review“Johanna Woydack provides a clear ethnographic account, supported by a sophisticated analysis, of the inner workings of a call center in the United Kingdom. The text provides new insights on the roles of standardization and scripts as dynamics of the workplace … . This text will be a useful tool for researchers studying labor markets, capitalist modes of production, customer relations, sales, and telemarketing in service economies throughout the world.” (Amitabh Vikram Dwivedi, Exertions, Society for the Anthropology of Work, April 18, 2022)“Woydack provides a thorough and critical review of the literature as well as an excellent example of how to bring innovative theoretical and methodological approaches to the study of call centers. Woydack’s book is necessary reading for anyone engaging in linguistic ethnography or qualitative analysis of organizations or institutions as her tracking of textual trajectories throughout the call center provides an exceptionally useful methodological approach for research in contexts where texts can be omnipresent and yet ever-elusive to researchers.” (Grace Fay Cooper, Sociolinguistic Studies, Vol. 13 (2-4), 2019)“This book provides a unique perspective on the subject. While there are many examples of the script and how team leaders and agents would modify the master script, it would be helpful to have some authentic call samples to illustrate the actual exchanges. Professional communication, sociolinguistics and perhaps also business operation researchers will find this book useful.” (Jon S. Y. Hui, Language in Society, Vol. 48, 2019)“The book offers a new perspective on the contemporary debate on workplace standardization. The volume will be of interest to students and scholars interested in politeness research and intercultural communication as well as to call centre managers and business communication trainers.” (Sara Orthaber, Discourse & Communication, Vol. 13 (5), 2019)Table of ContentsChapter 1: Introduction.Chapter 2: Getting to know Callcentral: a first encounter.Chapter 3: The first stage of the script’s career: production of “the master script”.Chapter 4: The second stage in the script’s career: adaptation of the master script.Chapter 5: The final stage of the script’s career: enactment and use of the master script.Chapter 6: Standardization and agency intertwined.

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Book SynopsisThis book presents a kaleidoscopic view of the multidisciplinary field of research developed within Brazilian social sciences to study football as a major cultural and social phenomenon in the country. As a contributed volume, it brings together chapters authored by researchers from different disciplines, such as sociology, anthropology, political science, history, geography, economy, communication studies and physical education, who contributed to make Brazilian football a multifaceted object of study for the human and social sciences. The book is divided in four parts. The first two parts are dedicated to the "classic" areas, in which the best known research lines are concentrated: part one focuses on politics and history, while part two is dedicated to sociology and anthropology. The third part brings together studies from other four different areas: communication studies, geography, economy and physical education. The fourth part is organized not by disciplines, but around transversal themes, such as gender, violence, fans and racism. The varied approaches and different interpretations brought together in this book seek to provide an overview of the fertile academic debate that has stimulated the renewal of scientific research on football in Brazil, which makes Football and Social Sciences in Brazil a useful resource for researchers from different disciplines within the human and social sciences interested in the study of football as major cultural and social phenomenon all over the world. Table of Contents1.Football as a multifaceted object of academic studies in Brazil.- 2.Football and politics.- 3.“My concern was to play football”: relations between football and dictatorship.- 4.The political dimension of futebol-arte.- 5.1982 World Cup: Democratic winds in Spain and Brazil.-6. Brazilian football and history.- 7.Myths, football and national identity (1930-1983).- 8.Order & Progress on the Grandstands: Sports Journalism and the Genesis of uniformed football fans during the political regime of the Estado Novo (1937-1945).- 9.Sport and society in the writings of Roberto DaMatta.- 10.Neymar, football and the formation of a neoliberal culture.- 11.A modernity that is not complete? Ideas and interpretations about Brazilian football.- 12. FIFA, BRICS and the Soft Power discourse: analysis of the World Cup in South Africa, Brazil and Russia.- 13.Football and anthropology in Brazil.- 14.An ethnographic game of fluid categories of analysis.- 15. Garrincha, Pelé and Maradona: The sporting sacred in times of football icon veneration.- 16.When does the World Cup 2014 event start and end?.- 17.Football and communication studies in Brazil: Fences and crossroads of an indisciplinary field .- 18.Sport and the media in Brazil: vices and virtues of a secular marriage.- 19. World Cups’ geography: urban Brazil in 1950.- 20.Stadiums and arenas as privileged lenses to capture changes in urban space.- 21.The football industry in Brazil.- 22.The controversy over the introduction of the VAR in Brazil.- 23.Life projects, women and football.- 24.Brazil is Hexa: Marta’s Sporting Career.- 25.Gender expressions and the multiple practices of football in Brazil.- 26.Football, violence and democratic politics in Brazil.- 27.Narratives about football hooliganism in Brazil: (De)constructing the label "violent supporter".- 28.The experience of cheering in (so-called) “modern football”.- 29.Brazilian racism in Football.- 30."This is a reality": The racism narrated by black characters in Brazilian football.

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Book SynopsisPostcritical Ethnography (Allison Daniel Anders and George W. Noblit).- Critical Turns in Ethnography (Allison Daniel Anders and George W. Noblit).- Making Legible Vulnerable Lives: The Strange Reconciliations of Ambition and Love in Ethnographic Work (Marta Sánchez).- Be of Good Use: Exploring the Intersection of Critical Race Theory and Postcritical Ethnography (Daniella A. Cook).- A Moral Vision of Postcritical Ethnography: Reflexive Sensitivities that (In)form Ethnographic Political-Moral Agency (Tim Conder).- Kathas of Desi Women in Pardes: De/colonizing Formal and Informal Structures in Higher Education (Kakali Bhattacharya).- Teaching-Researching-Desiring: Relational Ethics and Inquiries Inspired by Poststructural and Posthumanist Philosophies (Candace R. Kuby).- Learning through Processing: Teaching and Researching with Queer and Social Justice Pedagogies (Summer Pennell).- Engaging with Crip Horizons' in the Study of Autistic Identity: A Discursive Project (Jessica N. Lester).- Crafting a Postcritical Compass (Allison Daniel Anders).- An Invitation to Postcritical Ethnography (George W. Noblit and Allison Daniel Anders).

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Book SynopsisMoralische Vorwürfe verletzen oder verärgern, vor allem wenn sie einen unvermutet und aus dem Hinterhalt treffen. Plötzlich gilt man als Rassist, Sexist oder gar als elitär. Die Daumen werden nach unten gekehrt und die Menge schreit "Buh". In den Chor einzustimmen verspricht den Teilnehmenden Statusgewinn, denn wer andere verurteilt, reiht sich damit sofort unter die Guten ein. Aber dieses Gutsein ist perfide. Die unbeirrbar auftretende Moral erweist sich bei näherer Betrachtung oftmals als boshaft. Sie macht Mehrdeutiges eindeutig und erzeugt so, was sie anprangert. Sie vermeidet Begründungen, belohnt das Ducken und vertraut auf die blanke Macht der Entrüsteten. Inhaltlich lässt sie sich nicht verallgemeinern, denn sie mutet Menschen zu, Verhaltensmaßstäben zu genügen, denen sie nicht genügen müssen. Die Bosheit dieser Moral gilt es zu begreifen und das Recht von ihrem Einfluss freizuhalten.

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Book SynopsisUnverkennbar gibt es seit einigen Jahren in der Philosophie Europas wieder ein programmatisches Bekenntnis zum Realismus. Es ist das Resultat einer am Ende des zwanzigsten Jahrhunderts fällig gewordenen Korrektur. Gleichzeitig lässt sich auch eine Renaissance idealistischer Denkansätze feststellen. Dieser Band vereinigt französische, deutsche und italienische Autorinnen und Autoren, die den Dialog zwischen Realismus und Idealismus aus historischer, erkenntnistheoretischer, phänomenologischer und ästhetischer Perspektive fortsetzen. Dieser Dialog, so zeigt sich, dient nach wie vor zur philosophischen Orientierung.

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Book SynopsisEinerseits gehört die Hoffnung zu den zentralen Themen menschlicher Existenz - diesseits und jenseits des Glaubens. Andererseits hält sich das (religions)philosophische, mehr noch das theologische Interesse an der Hoffnung in sehr engen Grenzen. Dafür gibt es Gründe, aber keine guten. Hartmut von Sass versucht nicht nur, jenes Missverhältnis zwischen Relevanz und Marginalisierung der Hoffnung abzutragen, sondern auf dem Weg dorthin zugleich eine neue Architektur der Hoffnung vorzuschlagen. Im vorliegenden Buch verfolgt er in fünf ähnlich aufgebauten Teilen einen konsistenten Gang der Argumentation. Im ersten Teil wird der dogmatische Rahmen abgesteckt, in welchen das Lehrstück der Hoffnung eingefügt wird. Dabei schlägt Hartmut von Sass vor, Theologie als Praxeologie des Glaubens zu verstehen. Im zweiten Teil stellt er die Differenz im Begriff der Hoffnung vor. Entsprechend ist die überaus umstrittene Unterscheidung zwischen einem materialen und modalen Begriff der Hoffnung gegen wichtige Einwände zu verteidigen. Dabei vertritt der Autor die Auffassung, dass dem Modus die Priorität gegenüber der Materialität der Hoffnung zukommt. Der modale Begriff (hoffnungsvoll leben) wird im dritten Teil im Blick auf die Zeiterfahrung, Identität und Statusfragen untersucht, der materiale Begriff (hoffen, dass x) im vierten Teil anhand seiner logischen Eigenschaften genauer entfaltet. Nach der Analyse folgt die Synthese: Im fünften Teil wird die Differenzierung zwischen Modus und Material 'aufgehoben', um zu zeigen, wie beide Begriffe miteinander interagieren. Dies führt zu Überlegungen zum Verhältnis von Hoffen und Handeln sowie zu einem Glauben, der sich auf die heutige Welt wirklich einlässt. In einem Epilog konkretisiert Hartmut von Sass anhand von drei zeitgenössischen Thematiken - Klima, Inklusion, Frieden -, was das für uns und unser Engagement bedeuten kann.

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