Social and cultural anthropology Books
University of British Columbia Press Witness to the Human Rights Tribunals
Book SynopsisWitness to the Human Rights Tribunals offers a behind-the-scenes account of the difficulties facing Indigenous people in human rights tribunals, and the struggles of experts to keep their own testimony from being undermined.Trade Reviewengagingly practical instead of theoretical. -- G. Christensen, Stetson University College of Law * CHOICE Connect *Table of ContentsForeword / Sharon Venne-ManyfingersIntroductionPart 1: Anthropology and Law1 My Life in Anthropology and Law2 Symbolic Violence, Trauma, and Human Rights3 Thinning the Evidence, Discrediting the Expert Witness4 Entering Evidence in an Adversarial System5 Anthropologists versus LawyersPart 2: The Tribunal6 The British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal7 McCue v. University of British Columbia8 Menzies v. Vancouver Police DepartmentConclusionCaselaw and Legal Materials; References; Index
£26.99
Cornell University Press Gifts Favors and Banquets
Book SynopsisAn elaborate and pervasive set of practices, called guanxi, underlies everyday social relationships in contemporary China. Obtaining and changing job assignments, buying certain foods and consumer items, getting into good hospitals, buying train...Trade ReviewI heartily recommend this book. It is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the meaning of social relationships in Chinese society. -- Gary G. Hamilton * American Journal of Sociology *To what extent did traditional customs and practices persist under the surface during the decades of Mao's rule, or are present forms a genuine revival? To what extent do these revivals testify to the enduring strength of the Chinese cultural tradition or are they to be explained much more as reflections of popular experiences during the socialist and reform eras' Mayfair Yang's book represents one of the most ambitious and systematic attempts to deal with a whole range of such questions. -- Martin King Whyte * The Journal of Asian Studies *
£97.20
Cornell University Press Fieldnotes
Book SynopsisThirteen distinguished anthropologists describe how they create and use the unique forms of writing they produce in the field. They also discuss the fieldnotes of seminal figures—Frank Cushing, Franz Boas, W. H. R. Rivers, Bronislaw Malinowski, and...
£97.20
Cornell University Press Humiliation And Other Essays on Honor Social
Book SynopsisA brilliant, sometimes unsettling look at how ancient codes of honor figure in the social discomforts of everyday life.Trade ReviewIn an illuminating and darkly intelligent study, Miller has revealed humiliation as the closet dominatrix she is, an emotion whose power to discipline us makes the world go round.... Miller makes his pages blaze and roar by throwing another handful of hollow complacencies upon the fire.... The five essays making up this book are about the persistence of the norm of reciprocity in our daily lives, about the possibility of tracking emotions across time and culture, and about the ways in which shame and envy and especially humiliation sustain 'cultures of honor' to this day. * Speculum *Miller deploys the resources of a host of disparate disciplines in order to reveal the remarkable richness of certain emotional experiences—emotions that help shape the words and actions of human beings when they perform the immensely complex work ofmaintaining the social worlds that they construct, and which help construct them. In doing so, he has written a unique and valuable book. * Yale Journal of Law and the Humanities *Translating emotions over time and across cultures is Miller's major methodological challenge—and he meets it with ranging and learned references, a wry and unpretentious style, and a genuine respect for the power of those ancient, forgotten sources on which modern social exchange depends. * Kirkus Reviews *
£45.00
Cornell University Press Cambodian Culture Since 1975
Book SynopsisSince the civil war of the 1970s, Cambodia has suffered devastating upheavals that killed a million ' people and exiled hundreds of thousands. This book is the first to examine Cambodian culture after the ravages of the Pol Pot regime-and to bear witness to the transformation and persistence of tradition among contemporary Cambodians at home...Trade ReviewCambodian Culture Since 1975 is a significant and much-needed contribution to... a rekindling of interest in Khmer studies. For Khmer specialists, Southeast Asian studies scholars and generalists, this highly readable, sensitively written collection of essays is indispensable.... This book has a wealth of ethnographic information and analysis to offer those interested in Khmer studies and those looking for comparative material on diasporic and holocaust experiences, as well as scholars with an interest in Southeast Asian culture.... For any discussion of Cambodia's attempts to come to grips wth its past and look into the future, this book is a valuable and empathetic repository of information that will serve as a model for future work. -- Bonnie Brereton * Khosana *
£97.20
Cornell University Press Strawberry Fields
Book SynopsisTrade ReviewThis book exemplifies salutary trends in anthropology: practice theory, respect for ethnography in the face of the inadequacy of one-dimensional theoretical abstraction, and the importance of time depth. You may learn more than you ever wanted to about strawberries in California, but you will understand it and that will help you understand other phenomena. -- E. Paul Durrenberger, University of Iowa * American Anthropologist *
£97.20
MB - Cornell University Press Heroic Poets Poetic Heroes The Ethnography of Performance in an Arabic Oral Epic Tradition
Trade ReviewThe richness of Reynolds’s text and his scholarly accomplishment serve as poignant reminders of how little we know about Arab folk performances and how difficult it is to teach these great traditions to our students. -- Virginia Danielson * Middle East Studies Association Bulletin *Reynolds’s book both complements the works of his predecessors and surpasses them in the area on which he focuses. With it, we have a full and methodologically sophisticated treatment of the social poetics of Sirat Bani Hilal performance that is a model of how such research should be conducted. -- Peter Heath * International Journal of Middle East Studies *
£42.30
Cornell University Press Antler on the Sea
Book SynopsisAnna M. Kerttula, an anthropologist, offers a vivid portrayal of life in Sireniki, a Siberian village on the Bering Sea. Once a traditional Yup'ik community, it was by the final years of the Soviet Empire home to three cultural groups: the Yup'ik...Trade ReviewAnna M. Kerttula offers a vivid portrayal of life in Sireniki. * Cultural Survival Quarterly *
£97.20
Cornell University Press Cultural Pluralism and Dilemmas of Justice
Book SynopsisHow should democratic societies define justice for cultural minority groups, and how might such justice be secured? This book is a nuanced and judicious response to a critical issue in political theory—the challenge of according equal respect and...Trade ReviewBased on her own experiences as a citizen of Canada, a country in which cultural minorities play an important role in social and political issues, Monique Deveaux's Cultural Pluralism and Dilemmas of Justice stands as a relevent work in the field of political science.... Deveaux's ideas seem to be fair and well-argued, positing deliberative liberalism as a viable alternative to traditional liberal theories. -- Ruling Barragan Yanez * www.polylog.org *Monique Deveaux's principal claims in this extremely clear and well-written book is that if modern liberal democracies are to do justice to the claims of minority cultural groups in their midst, they are going to have to be much more democratic, and perhaps somewhat less liberal, than they have heretofore been. -- Daniel M. Weinstock, University of Montreal * Ethics *The writing style is very sophisicated.... The text appears to have been well edited and contains a large and useful bibliography. Recommended for graduate and faculty collections. * Choice *Debates about cultural pluralism have dominated democratic theory in the last decades.... Monique Deveaux offers us a comprehensive assessment of these debates, considering proponents of liberal toleration, liberal perectionists such as Kymlicka and Raz, deliberative democrats such as Young and Benhabib, as well as offering her own deliberative brand of liberalism. Her discussion of these arguments is judicious and subtle.... One of the merits of Deveaux's reconstruction of the debates about cultural pluralism is to show that a tolerant, respectful and multiperspectival polity needs to develop institutions that express robust normative commitments to respect and equality. -- James Bohman * Philosophy in Review *This is a pithy little book, and Deveaux's analysis of how existing models of liberalism and democracy fail to secure rich cultural pluralism is enlightening. -- Alice Hearst, Smith College * The Law and Politics Book Review *
£57.60
Cornell University Press Stalinist Values The Cultural Norms of Soviet
Book SynopsisSoviet official culture underwent a dramatic shift in the mid-1930s, when Stalin and his fellow leaders began to promote conventional norms, patriarchal families, tsarist heroes, and Russian literary classics. For Leon Trotsky—and many later...Trade ReviewHoffmann... argues that campaigns for literacy, sobriety, personal hygiene and 'cultured speech' helped promote an aspect of social transformation that coexisted with the forced labor camps and mayhem. Drawing on original archival research, he documents a less well-known movement that involved reproduction incentives in the face of plummeting birth rates during the 1930s, which ironically coincided with earlier efforts for sexual abstinence to preserve 'energy for socially productive work.' * Library Journal *Using a variety of sources, including the Russian archives, the author has written a brilliant description of Stalinist values and proved that Stalin was an ideologue to the end. He shows that the ideology failed precisely because it was an ideology—out of touch with reality and people. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above. * Choice *Hoffmann provides a new cultural framework for understanding Soviet history during the interwar period.... Hoffmann argues that the Stalinist state neither 'betrayed' the socialist revolutionary nor 'retreated' to traditional Russian mores. Instead he shows that the Stalinist order, like other European post-Enlightenment states, sought to catalogue, mobilize, and shape its citizens into ideal men and women. Defining modernity as the rise of the interventionist state and the birth of mass politics, Hoffmann details the various ways that the Soviet state tried to enlighten and transform human nature in their quest to create an ideal socialist order.... This book will force us to think about the wider international implications of Stalinism. The writing is a model of clarity, and the text can be used at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. -- Choi Chatterjee * American Historical Review *
£97.20
Cornell University Press Deaf in Japan Signing and the Politics of
Book SynopsisA groundbreaking study of deaf identity, minority politics, and sign language, traces the history of the deaf community in Japan.Trade ReviewNakamura's methodology combines the field techniques of anthropology, archival research, and the political analysis of social movements to gather information on deaf movements in Japan in the postwar era, with the goal of understanding what it means to subscribe to 'deaf identity' in Japan. She frequently includes cross-cultural perspectives from international deaf movements and language systems to contextualize the Japanese case, as well as poses thoughtful and provocative questions about personal and communal identities by comparing the Japanese deaf community to other minority groups in Japan. Nakamura's monograph is extremely important because it explores disability in a wider context—as deafness cuts across all class, ethnic, and gender lines—and explores disability as a social construct for identity formation. -- Carolyn S. Stevens * Journal of Japanese Studies *
£97.20
MB - Cornell University Press The Gumilev Mystique Biopolitics Eurasianism and
Book SynopsisIn The Gumilev Mystique, Mark Bassin investigates the complex structure of Lev Gumilev's theories, revealing how they reflected and helped shape a variety of academic as well as political and social discourses in the USSR, and he traces how his authority has grown yet greater across the former Soviet Union.Trade Review"The Gumilev Mystique is by far the most authoritative account in English on the ideas and life of a scholar whose star is still rising in Eurasia. In this widely researched book, Mark Bassin explains the popularity of Gumilev and explores the process by which a somewhat repressed figure in the Stalinist period became a guru of the post-Soviet period. The book reads extremely well and has a quality to it that makes the reader want to know what will come next from this outlandish figure whose real life is stranger than fiction." -- David G. Anderson, University of Aberdeen, author of Identity and Ecology in Arctic Siberia: The Number One Reindeer Brigade"A son of two great Russian poets and an inmate of Stalin's Gulag, Lev Gumilev was the founding father of neo-Eurasianism, a powerful ideological framework for claiming Russia's special civilization and for justifying its predominance on the territory of the USSR. In tracing the origins and transformation of Gumilev’s theories, this book provides the best available explanation of the appeal of neo-Eurasianism in Russia,including among its top political leaders." -- Vera Tolz-Zilitinkevic, University of Manchester, author of Russia’s Own Orient: The Politics of Identity and Oriental Studies in the Late Imperial and Early Soviet Periods"In 1996, the government of independent Kazakhstan named a new university after him. In 2005, the capital of Tatarstan commemorated his work by erecting a statue in the middle of Kazan. There is a mountain peak in the Altai range and a street in the Kalmyk Elista named after him. A son of Russia's two major poets, a prisoner of the Gulag, a celebrity historian, and a key figure behind the revival of the Eurasianist movement, Lev Gumilev was the man who provided postsocialist nationalisms with a conceptual lexicon and theoretical models. In this lucid and informative book, Mark Bassin meticulously reconstructs historical details, social networks, and intellectual contexts that shaped Gumilev's essentializing theory of 'biological communities’ and their ethnogenesis. The Gumilev Mystique is an important and timely biography of the ideas that continue to constitute the theoretical core of nation building processes in postcommunist societies." -- Serguei Alex. Oushakine, Princeton University, author of The Patriotism of Despair: Nation, War, and Loss in RussiaTable of ContentsIntroduction Part 1 GUMILEV'S THEORY OF ETHNOS AND ETHNOGENESIS1. The Nature of Ethnicity2. Ethnogenesis, Passionarnost′, and the Biosphere 3. Varieties of Ethnic Interaction 4. The Ethnogenetic Drama of Russian History Part 2 THE SOVIET RECEPTION OF GUMILEV5. Soviet Visions of Society and Nature 6. Ethnicity as Ideology and Politics 7. Gumilev and the Russian Nationalists Part 3 GUMILEV AFTER COMMUNISM8. Neo-Eurasianism and the Russian Question 9. Biopolitics and the Ubiquity of Ethnicity 10. "The Patron of the Turkic Peoples" Conclusion: The Political Significance of Gumilev
£97.20
Cornell University Press Privatizing China Socialism from Afar
Book SynopsisPrivatizing China gives readers a grounded, fine-grained intimacy with the variety and complexity of everyday conduct in China's turbulent transformation.Trade Review"Privatizing China is an outstanding contribution to the literature on the extraordinary changes taking place in China today. Its authors analyze fresh evidence through new and compelling frameworks that capture the often contradictory but always fascinating 'assemblages' that constitute Chinese social, economic, cultural, and political life. All of the essays adopt a mode of presentation and argumentation that moves back and forth between theoretical commentary and ethnographic description; all are clearly written, highly accessible, moving, and evocative in their storytelling."-Susan Greenhalgh, University of California, Irvine "Privatizing China is an important book that deserves a close reading by all scholars interested in postsocialist societies and/or twenty-first-century socialisms. Contributors explore China's headlong plunge into the privatization of housing, urban land, labor, consumption practices, health care, and new media. This is anthropology at its very best."-James L. Watson, Fairbank Professor of Chinese Society and Professor of Anthropology, Harvard UniversityTable of ContentsIntroduction: Privatizing China: Powers of the Self, Socialism from Afar by Aihwa Ong and Li Zhang PART I. POWERS OF PROPERTY Emerging Class Practices 1. Private Homes, Distinct Lifestyles: Performing a New Middle Class by Li Zhang 2. Property Rights and Homeowner Activism in New Neighborhoods by Benjamin L. Read Accumulating Land and Money 3. Socialist Land Masters: The Territorial Politics of Accumulation by You-tien Hsing 4. Tax Tensions: Struggles over Income and Revenue by Bei Li and Steven M. Sheffrin Negotiating Neoliberal Values 5. "Reorganized Moralism": The Politics of Transnational Labor Codes by Pun Ngai 6. Neoliberalism and Hmong/Miao Transnational Media Ventures by Louisa Schein PART II.POWERS OF THE SELF Taking Care of One's Health 7. Consuming Medicine and Biotechnology in China by Nancy N. Chen 8. Should I Quit?: Tobacco, Fraught Identity, and the Risks of Governmentality by Matthew Kohrman 9.Wild Consumption: Relocating Responsibilities in the Time of SARS by Mei Zhan Managing the Professional Self 10. Post-Mao Professionalism: Self-enterprise and Patriotism by Lisa M. Hoffman 11. Self-fashioning Shanghainese: Dancing across Spheres of Value by Aihwa Ong Search for the Self in New Publics 12. Living Buddhas, Netizens, and the Price of Religious Freedom by Dan Smyer Yu 13. Privatizing Control: Internet Cafes in China by Zhou Yongming Afterword: Thinking Outside the Leninist Corporate Box by Ralph A. Litzinger Notes Contributors Index
£97.20
Cornell University Press Making Virtual Worlds
Book SynopsisMalaby shows how the workers of a very young but quickly growing company were themselves caught up in ideas about technology, games, and organizations, and struggled to manage not only their virtual world but also themselves in a nonhierarchical fashion.Trade ReviewMalaby presents an ethnography of Linden Labs, the creators of the Second Life virtual world. Which is to say, he focuses not on how users of Second Life feel about their experience, but rather on how the Linden Lab people strategize and implemented the wider structure of that virtual world. Malaby looks at the clash at Linden Labs of the liberal ideology espousing a flat organization of creative peers with the reality of a hierarchy in which people are ranked according to their perceived level of creativity. * Choice *
£24.29
Cornell University Press The Breakup 2.0
Book SynopsisA few generations ago, college students showed their romantic commitments by exchanging special objects: rings, pins, varsity letter jackets. Pins and rings were handy, telling everyone in local communities that you were spoken for, and when you broke up, the absence of a ring let everyone know you were available again. Is being Facebook official really more complicated, or are status updates just a new version of these old tokens?Many people are now fascinated by how new media has affected the intricacies of relationships and their dissolution. People often talk about Facebook and Twitter as platforms that have led to a seismic shift in transparency and (over)sharing. What are the new rules for breaking up? These rules are argued over and mocked in venues from the New York Times to lamebook.com, but well-thought-out and informed considerations of the topic are rare.Ilana Gershon was intrigued by the degree to which her students used new media to communicate important Trade ReviewBreaking up is hard to do, and, as Ilana Gershon observes, it can be even harder when technology is brought into the mix. Gershon interviewed over 70 people (many of them college students) to examine how they used chatting, email, texting, and social networking websites in conjunction with their relationships and found that opinions and social rules governing the intersection of romance and technology are still highly variable. Why would some people rather break up through email, while others prefer instant messaging? What kind of problems arise when a couple has different ideas about how to digitally negotiate the end of their relationship? How do the social and public aspects of sites like Facebook affect one's actions during a relationship and after its dissolution? Mindful of the complicated nature of the topic, Gershon never attempts to define which behaviors are right or wrong but instead concentrates on exploring the ways people think about these tools and what their beliefs show about society's responses to technology. Though written with an academic focus, this is an intriguing read for anyone interested in how social conventions for new media develop and the ways that technology is changing romantic relationships. * Library Journal *In her surprisingly gripping first book, Gershon argues that Facebook and other forms of new media social networking have radically changed the playing field of accepted interactions. Generations navigate these new forms differently and a whole new set of norms is being developed to judge behavior. No subject has dominated the discussion more than the ways in which we handle romantic relationships: when they begin, when to go public, and how to bring them to an end. Do people really break up via text message? The answer is yes, and Gershon asserts that in this case 'the medium is at odds with the message.' A professor of communications, the author takes a distinctly academic approach, lending legitimacy to what might otherwise be easily dismissed. She understands how new media shapes social communications and addresses its constant evolution. Readers interested in communication theory and new media evolution will appreciate the author's excellent balance of analysis, anecdote, and readability. * Publishers Weekly *Table of ContentsIntroduction1 Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover: Media Ideologies and Idioms of Practice2 E-mail My Heart: The Structure of Technology and Heartache3 Remediation and Heartache4 How Do You Know?5 Breaking Up in a PublicConclusion Bibliography Index
£39.60
Cornell University Press Not Quite Shamans
Book SynopsisAn ethnography of recent societal transformations in Mongolia and their impact on local belief systems.Trade ReviewNot Quite Shamans is a beautifully written, rich, and detailed ethnographic account of a remote corner of postsocialist Mongolia. Empathetic but never apologetic, Pedersen presents a balanced account of what was certainly a very arduous, evenlife-threatening, fieldwork research.... [N]ot Quite Shamans will certainly become a seminal text, not only for Mongolian and Inner Asian specialists but indeed as a detailed and perceptive analysis of postsocialism and shamanism. -- Franck Billé * Current Anthropology *A fascinating journey through the hitherto little remarked complexities of post-socialist rural Mongolia, where formerly suppressed and semi-destroyed shamanic and Buddhist traditions have resurfaced to compete with one another and also with modernity.... Composed with scholarly erudition, thoughtful reflection, and true storyteller acumen, this engaging account fills a significant void in understanding contemporary Mongolian society. Its wealth of useful ethnographic and linguistic detail offers much to anthropologists and social historians alike. Summing up: Highly recommended. * Choice *In this book, the author claims that the agsan ataman is a typical image of a rural village in postsocialist Mongolia. As the instrument of occult forces whose manifestation is beyond his control, the agsan person is like a shaman, but not quite (p. 4). The author calls his study 'shamanism without shamans', because he studied not proper shamans but half-shamans and shaman-like cases.... [T]his work is an enormous contribution to studies deconstructing shamanism. -- Bumochir Dulam * Nationalities Papers *It is tricky to define anything using a negative, especially in a book title. Yet Morten Pedersen has succeeded in making his theme of perpetual transitional instability in Mongolia one that centers on the concept of not quite shamans. He argues that those Mongolian shamans of the Darhad region conventionally trained to control dark spirit worlds have all but disappeared, given the repressions and pressures of communists, and before them, Buddhists.... Pedersen's work is a fine contribution to the anthropological literature on Mongolia.... -- Marjorie Mandelstam Balzer * Anthropology and Humanism *Table of ContentsIntroduction 1 Shamanic States 2 The Shamanic Predicament 3 Layered Lands, Layered Minds 4 The Shaman's Two Bodies 5 Mischievous Souls 6 ConclusionBibliography Glossary Index
£97.20
Cornell University Press Voyages
Book SynopsisMost Americans are unaware that the United States is a major terminus for the people of Tonga, an island nation in the South Pacific. Small examines Tongan migration to the United States in a transnational perspective, stressing that many of the new migrant populations seem to successfully manage dual lives, in both the old country and the new. To that end, she describes life in contemporary Tongan communities and in U.S. settings.Library JournalThe central idea of Voyagesthat Tonga and all Tongans exist at this moment in time in a transnational spacecomes through vividly and powerfully, and the durability of this image is testimony to the success of Small''s experiment in ethnographic writing.The Contemporary PacificVoyages is a valuable contribution to the literature on immigration and on Asian Americans. Its clear, informal prose style also makes it an ideal book for undergraduate or graduate classes in anthropology, sociology, cultural geography, or Asian American Trade ReviewVoyages is a valuable contribution to the literature on immigration and on Asian Americans. Its clear, informal prose style also makes it an ideal book for undergraduate or graduate classes in anthropology, sociology, cultural geography, or Asian American studies. * International Migration Review *Voyages: From Tongan Villages to American Suburbs provide[s] valuable ways of thinking about migration, the nature of difference and flexible and sometimes transient identities....Small's book is full of experiential moments and turning points – expected and unexpected – in the lives of potential and actual migrants. -- John Connell * Journal of Pacific History *Most Americans are unaware that the United States is a major terminus for the people of Tonga, an island nation in the South Pacific. Small examines Tongan migration to the United States in a transnational perspective, stressing that many of the new migrant populations seem to successfully manage dual lives, in both the old country and the new. To that end, she describes life in contemporary Tongan communities and in U.S. settings. * Library Journal *The central idea of Voyages—that Tonga and all Tongans exist at this moment in time in a transnational space—comes through vividly and powerfully, and the durability of this image is testimony to the success of Small's experiment in ethnographic writing. * The Contemporary Pacific *Table of ContentsPreface to the Second Edition Acknowledgments Author's NoteI. Departures 1. Portrait of a Migrating Village 2. Why Migrate?II. Arrivals 3. Coming to America 4. One Family's Story 5. Palu, the One Who Left 6. An Anthropologist over TimeIII. Returns 7. Going Home: Tongan Village Life in the 1990s 8. Distant Family 9. Finau, the One Who Stayed 10. TraditionIV. Travels Ahead 11. The Meanings of Tongan Migration 12. Anthropology in a Transnational WorldV. Revisiting Globalization 13. California Dreams 14. Back to the Islands 15. Reflections on and of GlobalizationAppendix: Tongan Population and Migration EstimatesNotes Bibliography Index
£97.20
Cornell University Press Kith Kin and Neighbors
Book SynopsisPerhaps the most complete reconstruction ever written of life in an early modern European city, this book sets a new standard for urban history and for work on the religious and communal life of Eastern Europe.Trade ReviewFrick's work is an inspiration and a treasury of information to any scholar dealing with almost any aspect of early-modern European history. It is exuberant in detail, yet not overburdened; such a book could have been written very differently. Frick leads the reader by the hand through the streets of a city throbbing with life, echoing to the sounds of bells from different churches and an almost Pentecostal variety of Vilnian voices. The book is an exciting time-travel guide besides its scholarly excellence. -- Maria Takala-Roszczenko * The Catholic Historical Review *"The book is studded with amusing anecdotes and memorable passages... This is a multilayered 'thick description' of innumerable archival documents, not an attempt to make sweeping generalizations or provide an overview of religious history is the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Cornell University Press also deserves praise for producing this long, complex, and fascinating book on a topic that would probably not appear to be at the height of present scholarly fashions. For anyone interested in Slavic linguistics, Polish-Lithuanian history in the modern period, or urban history in east central Europe, Kith, Kin, and Neighbors is a must-read, while the rich material and lively writing will captivate historians, linguists, and Slavists of any period." —Theodore R. Weeks, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, Slavic ReviewThis remarkable volume spreads before the reader one of the most detailed pictures of social, cultural, and religious life in an early modern European town that I have ever seen. Since the town in question is Wilno (called Vilnius by Lithuanians and Vilna by Russians and Jews), capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which was one of the constituent parts of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the picture is a complex one. It combines in a fascinating blend much that is familiar from other parts of Europe with the features specific to Eastern Europe....The book's great success is in capturing the immediacy of Wilno’s multiconfessionality through the intensive use of personal stories. The reader can thus get to know at least some of seventeenth-century Wilno’s population by name, to recognize the prominent families, and often to see the same people in action in a range of different settings. The author’s close attention to the source material also permits him to examine the full range of social structures and relations that made up early modern urban life without ignoring the frictions and tensions they inevitably caused. This is social history at its best[.]. -- Adam Teller, * The Journal of Modern History *Table of ContentsIntroduction1. Over the Quartermaster's Shoulder2. The Neighbors3. One Roof, Four Walls4. The Bells of Wilno5. Stereotyping, Writing, Speaking6. Birth, Baptism, Godparenting7. Education and Apprenticeship8. Courtship and Marriage9. Marital Discontents10. Guild House, Workshop, Brotherhood Altar11. Going to Law: The Language of Litigation12. War, Occupation, Exile, Liberation (1655–1661)13. Old Age and Poor Relief14. Death in WilnoEpilogue: Conflict and CoexistenceAppendix A: Selected Streets and Areas Treated in the TextAppendix B: Genealogical TablesAbbreviations Notes Works Cited Index
£66.60
Cornell University Press The Law of Kinship
Book SynopsisIn France as elsewhere in recent years, legislative debates over single-parent households, same-sex unions, new reproductive technologies, transsexuality, and other challenges to long-held assumptions about the structure of family and kinship relations have been deeply divisive. What strikes many as uniquely French, however, is the extent to which many of these discussionswhether in legislative chambers, courtrooms, or the mass mediahave been conducted in the frequently abstract vocabularies of anthropology and psychoanalysis. In this highly original book, Camille Robcis seeks to explain why and how academic discourses on kinship have intersected and overlapped with political debates on the familyand on the nature of French republicanism itself. She focuses on the theories of Claude Lévi-Strauss and Jacques Lacan, both of whom highlighted the interdependence of the sexual and the social by positing a direct correlation between kinship and socialization. Robcis traces how theiTrade ReviewAll in all, this is a superb book that brilliantly links two fields—intellectual history and the history of law and policy—normally kept separate. In particular, Robcis is to be congratulated for not reproducing what often seems the willful obscurity and grandstanding of Lacan and others. Most important of all, Robcis finds her way though two exceptionalclaims to universal validity—French republicanism, which prioritizes the social bond, and American liberalism, which prioritizes the individual, without succumbing to the provincialism and tendentiousness of either. -- Eli Zaretsky * The Journal of Modern History *Robcis is a careful, deliberate worker in this book. She moves ably from source to source, establishing arigorous and convincing narrative of the place of the family in republican ideals in the modern period,and is equally adept at drawing evidence from ministerial documents, philosophical engagements, andpolitical platforms. -- Richard C. Keller * H-France Review *Table of ContentsIntroductionPart One: The Rise of Familialism1. Familialism and the Republican Social Contract2. Kinship and the Structuralist Social Contract3. The Circulation of Structuralism in the French Public SpherePart Two: The Critique of Familialism4. The "Quiet Revolution" in Family Policy and Family Law5. Fatherless Societies and Anti- Oedipal PhilosophiesPart Three: The Return of Familialism6. Alternative Kinships and Republican StructuralismEpilogue: Kinship, Ethics, and the NationBibliographyIndex
£97.20
Cornell University Press Taming Tibet
Book SynopsisThe violent protests in Lhasa in 2008 against Chinese rule were met by disbelief and anger on the part of Chinese citizens and state authorities, perplexed by Tibetans'' apparent ingratitude for the generous provision of development. In Taming Tibet, Emily T. Yeh examines how Chinese development projects in Tibet served to consolidate state space and power. Drawing on sixteen months of ethnographic fieldwork between 2000 and 2009, Yeh traces how the transformation of the material landscape of Tibet between the 1950s and the first decade of the twenty-first century has often been enacted through the labor of Tibetans themselves. Focusing on Lhasa, Yeh shows how attempts to foster and improve Tibetan livelihoods through the expansion of markets and the subsidized building of new houses, the control over movement and space, and the education of Tibetan desires for development have worked together at different times and how they are experienced in everyday life. The masterTrade ReviewIn Taming Tibet, Emily Yeh offers a new twist to current paradigms of Chinese development, presenting a trove of new evidence from China's politically unstable western periphery. Drawing on 16 months of intensive fieldwork undertaken between 2000 and 2009, Yeh traces the devastating effects of China's recent state-subsidized and state-led land development campaign in Lhasa and its peri-urban regions.... Yeh's fieldwork, coming during a period of rapid transformation in China's land regime, provides a valuable counterpoint to a development literature that has focused for decades on China's coastal regions to the neglect of its hinterland. -- Julia Chuang * The Journal of Peasant Studies *In her masterful new book, Taming Tibet, Emily Yeh discusses the gift of development in modern Lhasa in a critical fashion, providing an excellent and informative examination of Chinese development projects over the last sixty plus years.... It will be of use to scholars from a variety of fields including ethnicity in China, development studies, and geography, and is also a welcome addition to the Tibetological field. -- Timothy Thurston * Asian Ethnology *This is an important and authoritative analysis of contemporary socio-economics and politics in Tibet and does require some understanding of the academic discipline involved. However, the technical jargon is offset to a great extent by the numerous first-hand accounts of the author's time in and around Lhasa, which are invariably insightful, often entertaining, and help to bring a touch of light relief to what is essentially a dark and sombre subject. -- Wendy Palace * Asian Affairs *Table of ContentsPreface Note on Transliterations and Place Names Abbreviations and Terms Introduction A Celebration 1. State Space: Power, Fear, and the State of Exception Hearing and Forgetting Part I. Soil The Aftermath of 2008 (I) 2. Cultivating Control: Nature, Gender, and Memories of Labor in State Incorporation Part II. Plastic Lhasa Humor 3. Vectors of Development: Migrants and the Making of "Little Sichuan" Signs of Lhasa 4. The Micropolitics of Marginalization Science and Technology Transfer Day 5. Indolence and the Cultural Politics of Development Part III. Concrete Michael Jackson as Lhasa 6. "Build a Civilized City": Making Lhasa Urban The Aftermath of 2008 (II) 7. Engineering Indebtedness and Image: Comfortable Housing and the New Socialist Countryside Conclusion Afterword: Fire References Notes Index
£97.20
Cornell University Press The Life Informatic
Book SynopsisNews journalism is in the midst of radical transformation brought about by the spread of digital information and communication technology and the rise of neoliberalism. What does it look like, however, from the inside of a news organization? In The Life Informatic, Dominic Boyer offers the first anthropological ethnography of contemporary office-based news journalism. The result is a fascinating account of journalists struggling to maintain their expertise and authority, even as they find their principles and skills profoundly challenged by ever more complex and fast-moving streams of information. Boyer conducted his fieldwork inside three news organizations in Germany (a world leader in digital journalism) supplemented by extensive interviews in the United States. His findings challenge popular and scholarly images of journalists as roving truth-seekers, showing instead the extent to which sedentary office-based screenwork (such as gathering and processing information onlineTrade Review"Boyer analyzes the nuances of screen-oriented news-work in truly exemplary fashion; indeedmany journalism studies scholars and budding newsroom ethnographers could learn a great deal from this practicing anthropologist about how to so newsroom fieldwork well... we must take the arguments of The Life Informatic seriously. It certainly stands as a remarkably important piece of ethnographic and anthropological scholarship." —C.W. AndersonCollege of Staten Island (CUNY) * Anthropological Quarterly *Dominic Boyer's thoughtful exploration of news production in Germany is a standout among recent newsroom studies based on ethnography, observation, or participant observation....Boyer writes that he envisioned The Life Informatic as 'short, accessible, and above all teachable,' and it is all those things. Any of the ethnographic chapters could be used in a graduate or advanced undergraduate course without the instructor feeling that he or she needed to assign the entire book. -- Susan Keith * Journalism *In his intriguing new study The Life Informatic: Newsmaking in the Digital Era, anthropologist Dominic Boyer.. brings a rich ethnographic focus on daily labor practices rather than on industry—or organization—scale relationships....[this] deep ethnographic study reveals in sharp detail one aspect of the 'life informatic' when it comes to the competitive environment of global, digital, and often entertainment-focused journalism. -- Greg Downey * Technology and Culture *In The Life Informatic, Dominic Boyer examines the changing news industry by observing journalists at work, in the hope that mapping the flow of information between and within newsrooms will help us understand how news is made in today's post-broadcast era. Boyer is ultimately successful in presenting a contemporary account of the converged newsroom and adding to a body of evidence-based thought about how to build a sustainable industry in the future. -- Scott Bridges * Inside Story *This book offers much that will interest advanced students of journalism and anthropology. * Choice *Table of ContentsPrologueIntroduction: News Journalism Today1. The Craft of Slotting: Screenwork, Attentional Practices, and News Value at an International News Agency2. Click and Spin: Time, Feedback, and Expertise at an Online News Portal3. Countdown: Professionalism, Publicity, and Po liti cal Culture in 24/7 News Radio4. The News Informatic: Five Refl ections on Journalism in the Era of Digital LiberalismEpilogue: Informatic Unconscious: On the Evolution of Digital Reason in AnthropologyNotes Bibliography
£97.20
MB - Cornell University Press Scrambling for Africa AIDS Expertise and the
Book SynopsisCrane reveals how Africa went from being a continent largely excluded from advancements in HIV medicine to an area of central concern and knowledge production within the increasingly popular field of global health science.Trade ReviewAnthropologist Crane (Univ. of Washington-Bothell) presents a solidly documented and well-reasoned discussion of AIDS and its far-reaching effects. An excellent overview deals with resistance to treatment.. Recommended. Graduate students, faculty, professionals. * Choice *Table of ContentsIntroduction1. Resistant to Treatment2. The Molecular Politics of HIV3. The Turn Towards Africa4. Research and Development5. Doing Global HealthConclusionReferences Index
£81.00
Cornell University Press Becoming Muslim in Imperial Russia
Book SynopsisKefeli shows how traditional education, with Sufi mystical components, helped to Islamize Finno-Ugric and Turkic peoples in the Kama-Volga countryside and set the stage for the development of modernist Islam in Russia.Trade ReviewAgnès Kefeli's book vividly recreates the dynamic cultural world of the indigenous people of the Middle Volga region on the eve of the advent of modern education, and it places the nineteenth-century Kräshen apostasy movements within the context of ethnic and religious diversity and multiplicity of available identities. Kefeli's work underscores the shifting religious and cultural boundaries among the communities located on the fault line between Islam and Christianity and demonstrates the ways in which the interaction between the two shaped and continues to shape identities in theVolga-Ural region and Russia at large. Historians, scholars of religion and literature will greatly benefit from this rich, imaginative and impeccably researched book. -- Madina Zainullina Goldberg * Russian Review *Agnès Nilüfer Kefeli's fresh, original, and comprehensively researched examination of baptized Tatar (Kräshen) apostasy in the late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century tsarist state represents a major advance for scholarship on the social and religious history of imperial Russia. Relying on a diverse array of archival sources, family histories, biographies of theProphet, Sufi texts, and other genres of popular religious literature, this book treats the great Kräshen apostasies, or movements to gain the state's permission to 'return’ to Islam spanning the period from roughly 1802–1905, as a site of communal identity formation and negotiation. This negotiation, Kefeli argues, took place in a realm of religious practice embracing Islam, Orthodox Christianity, and animist practices common among semi-nomadicsteppe peoples. -- Eren Tasar * Canadian Slavonic Papers *In this much-needed and fascinating study, Agnès Nilüfer Kefeli unravels a story of the Kräshens, baptized Tatars who apostatized in masses throughout the long nineteenth century. How and why this became possible are the central questions of this book. Kefeli skilfully shows that the apostasy movements were products of spiritual battles, conscious missionary efforts, competing religious influences, agency and religious education.The book is richly illustrated and contains useful maps of the Middle Volga. It is highly recommended for students and scholars of Muslim communities of Russian and Eurasia, Sufism in Eurasia, and modern Islamic history. -- Rozaliya Garipova * Central Asian Survey *The Volga basin in what is now Tatarstan has been a frontier zone between the Slavic-Christian and Muslim-Turkic worlds in Eurasia for over a millennium. It provides an ideal locale for a fruitful study of religious traditions and their interactions, but very few scholars in the world have the necessary linguisticand disciplinary skills to do justice to the subject. For this reason, Agnes Kefeli's book is a tour de force. She brings tobear on her analysis a mastery of sources in Russian and Tatar, a keen understanding of popular religion and religious change, and a solid command of issues of empire. -- Adeeb Khalid * Journal of Religion *This is an excellent book for scholars and advanced students interested in Imperial Russia's Christian-versus-Islamic struggle among peoples (primarily Tatars, but also others, such as the Chuvash, Maris, and Udmurts) in its Middle Volga region. The book's subtitle indicates its main focus, which is based on fieldwork and extensive archival and other research (indicated in copious footnotes and bibliography). The role of literacy, education, women, Tatar modernists, and the reaction of the Russian government and Orthodox Church also receive special attention. Kefeli (Arizona State Univ.) demonstrates that the apostasy of tens of thousands of Kräshens (Tatar Christians) and others was much more complex than previously acknowledged. -- W.G. Moss * Choice *This book is timely, given the growth of Islam in Europe due to immigration and conversion and renewed debates about the Krashen apostasies in Tatarstan today. Kefeli's book provides deep history to this current situation, and reminds us of the persistence of tsarist-era history into the present. -- Eileen Kane, Connecticut College * Slavic Review *Table of ContentsIntroduction1. Apostasy, Conversion, and Literacy at Work2. Popular Knowledge of Islam on the Volga Frontier3. Tailors, Sufis, and Abïstays: Agents of Change4. Christian Martyrdom in Bolghar Land5. Desacralization of Islamic Knowledge and National MartyrdomConclusion and EpilogueSelected Bibliography Index
£45.90
Cornell University Press The Edge of Extinction
Book SynopsisJules Pretty explores life and change in a dozen environments and cultures across the world, taking us on a series of remarkable journeys to show that there are many different ways to live in cooperation with nature.Trade Review[Pretty] describes an astonishing diversity of human experience in which our species has learned to live well with, rather than against, nature and often each other. -- Andrew Simms * The Guardian *Jules Pretty traveled the world to find places where people live and work in concert with the land. In this book, he shares his story of these travels and the people he met along the way to emphasize the utter importance of caring for what we have before we have it no more.... He shares these stories to honor them and to educate us. -- REH * Wildlife Activist *The key to a long term sustainable future is an appeal to a loving care of beauty and the vibrant communities it gives rise to, rather than either the instilling of fear of catastrophe or utilitarian calculation. It is, finally, this recurring testimony that makes the book not only a thoughtful exploration of the lives of others, genuinely other, tracking different paths to the mainstream, but a tracing of the patterns of what it might mean to love a place and be at home in it. The homes themselves are all strikingly different but bound by being places that first and foremost are genuinely listened to—its possibilities and the stories it can give rise to. -- Nicholas Colloff * Network Review *Pretty (environment and society, Univ. of Essex; The Earth Only Endures) provides the reader with a verbal feast for the senses while detailing his experiences in a variety of landscapes, from the steppes of Russia to the farmland of Ohio's Amish country. The author reveals the ways in which many people around the globe continue to live in harmony with the land despite the unavoidable encroachment of modern technology and values. In what could be considered either a strength of the book or a weakness, Pretty stays away from divisive political statements regarding environmentalism, though he does advocate for governments to allow the indigenous peoples of their land to live with minimal intervention. This work is no political rallying cry; rather it is a celebration of the beauty and culture of "extreme" landscapes and slower lifestyles the world over. VERDICT Readers who delight in detailed travel writing will relish Pretty's masterly descriptions of deserts, swamps, and mountains, as well as the daily activities of those who live in these environments. * Library Journal *Table of Contents1. Seacoast: Ngai Tahu, Aotearoa (New Zealand) 2. Mountain: Huangshan, China 3. Desert Coast: Murujuga (Burrup), Australia 4. Steppe: Tuva, Russia 5. Snow: Karelia, Finland 6. Swamp: Okavango, Botswana 7. Marsh-Farm: East Anglia, England 8. Coast: Antrim Glens, Northern Ireland 9. Snow: Nitassinan, Labrador, Canada 10. Farm-City: Amish Country, Ohio, United States 11. Swamp: Atchafalaya Basin, Louisiana, United States 12. Desert: Timbisha (Death Valley), California, United States Coda: Dreaming of the Day AfterNotes Bibliography Acknowledgments
£20.89
MB - Cornell University Press Whose Bosnia Nationalism and Political
Book SynopsisAs the site of the assassination that triggered World War I and the place where the term "ethnic cleansing" was invented during the Yugoslav Wars of the 1990s, Bosnia has become a global symbol of nationalist conflict and ethnic division. But as Edin Hajdarpasic shows, formative contestations over the region began well before 1914, emerging...Trade ReviewScholars of the Balkans and beyond, have been waiting for an account like this for a long time—an account that is not afraid to ask difficult questions; approach them studiously, seriously, and in an interdisciplinary fashion; and answer them in a way that is supported by vast amount of evidence, grace, and honesty. * H-SAE *Elegantly written and full of unexpected (re)readings and provocative insights, this work towers over the already respectable stack of books on the cultural history of nationalism. What makes this work attractive is the wide culture and sophistication displayed, the ease with which Hajdarpasic moves from literary to philosophical allusions, the erudite interdisciplinary sweep, from anthropology to sociology and political science. This, more than the 'grounded theory,' really 'de-provincializes' its subject, and makes the work an important contribution not only to East European literature broadly, but to nationalism studies in general. * Austrian History Yearbook *A remarkably refreshing study that conveys clearly just how difficult it was for activists and governments not only to implant national consciousness in people largely indifferent to the idea, but, once they had done so, to guide its growth along lines that they could control.... Hajdarpasic's work makes an extremely valuable contribution to our understanding of the nineteenth-century Balkans and the roots of the fixation on nationalism evident in this area of history. It also should interest scholars in the wider field of nationalism studies, as it adopts an empirically grounded theoretical approach centered not only on the concept of the (br)other but on the open-ended nature of nationalism, which neither is controllable nor has any clear endpoint.... Hajdarpasic's work sets a new standard in modern Balkan history and should become a pillar of the field. * The American Historical Review *This is an impressive book, complex and challenging.... well-crafted, compellingly written, and extensively researched. It is probably the most important text to have been published on this subject in the English language. * Slavic Review *As a former Bosnian now living in the US, [Hajdarpasic] seeks a new paradigm—conceptually innovative and historical in its methodology—to obviate the vicissitudes of internecine nationalism in Bosnia.... Recommended. * Choice *A much-needed contribution that helps us understand not only contemporary Serbian and Croatian aspirations towards B-H, but also the roots of many notable artistic and cultural productions about the region.... An excellent historiographic work. * Slavic and East European Journal *Hajdarpasic's book is timely and relevant, not only in what it has to tell us about the binary nature of debates about national identity in the period treated by the book but also in southeastern Europe today.... The book also functions very well as a cultural history of Bosnia and Herzegovina and tackles an impressive number of literary and artistic works.... A very valuable and welcome addition to the English-language historiography of Bosnia and Herzegovina, specifically, and of the Balkans and nationalism studies more generally. * The Journal of Modern History *Hajdarpasic has written an insightfully nuanced, relevant and very much archival source- based monograph on transnational Serbian, Croatian and Bosnia-Herzegovina intellectual discourses during the long nineteenth century. His point of reference is an extraordinary spec- trum of nationalists – ethnographers, insurgents, teachers, academics, poets, politicians, and other actors often grouped together as intellectuals – who dreamed about and vied for the right to call Bosnia their own.... Hajdarpasic has contributed a valuable, exquisitely creative and in- sightful journey into the "South Slav problem" by southern European minds. * Jahrbcher fr Geschichte Osteuropas *Hajdarpasic's engagingly written book is a welcomed contribution to the studies of nationalism in general and late imperial Bosnia in particular. He successfully demonstrates how the writings of many national activists are studded with inconcsistencies, contradictions, half-knowledge, insults, irrational eruptions, expressions of hatred, calls for violent actions, and absurdities. * Südost-Forschungen *Hajdarpasic has produced a work throwing valuable light on nationalist thinking in Bosnia-Herzegovina in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, one that will be a resource for all future scholars of the subject. * English Historical Review *Table of ContentsIntroduction: Whose Bosnia?1. The Land of the People2. The Land of Suffering3. Nationalization and Its Discontents4. Year X, or 1914?5. Another ProblemEpilogue: Another BosniaNotes Index
£39.60
Cornell University Press Gangs of Russia
Book SynopsisSince their spectacular rise in the 1990s, Russian gangs have remained entrenched in many parts of the country. Some gang members have perished in gang wars or ended up behind prison bars, while others have made spectacular careers off the streets and joined the Russian elite. But the rank and file of gangs remain substantially incorporated into their communities and society as a whole, with bonds and identities that bridge the worlds of illegal enterprise and legal respectability. In Gangs of Russia, Svetlana Stephenson explores the secretive world of the gangs. Using in-depth interviews with gang members, law enforcers, and residents in the city of Kazan, together with analyses of historical and sociological accounts from across Russia, she presents the history of gangs both before and after the arrival of market capitalism.Contrary to predominant notions of gangs as collections of maladjusted delinquents or illegal enterprises, Stephenson argues, Russian gangTrade Review[I]n her landmark study, Gangs of Russia: From the Streets to the Corridors of Power, Svetlana Stephenson finds an analytical similarity between the two types of organizations: like the Mafia, gangs in Russia are woven into the fabric of society. They have roots in the community and instead of challenging the established order, they reinforce it... Stephenson finds that most of her interviewees had finished high school, were studying at university (in some cases, medicine and law), or held professional jobs. They do not come from broken homes and are in steady relationships. Many are married. Some even belong to belong to political parties, such as the pro-Putin United Russia, and have relatives working for the police. Over time, a number of them become respected businessmen and even local politicians. -- Federico Varese * Times Literary Supplement *A recent and valuable contribution to this field of study is Dr. Svetlana Stephenson's book Gangs of Russiaa fine expose that contributes much to our understanding of the very roots of the reality of Russia 'corruption [...] violence and crime.’ -- David Holohan * East-West Review *This is a history of the growth and partial assimilation of youth gangs in Russia after the collapse of Soviet socialism... highly recommended. -- M. G. Meacham * CHOICE *Stephenson's account of gang life has much to offer, and the complications in pursuing this research may have been truly staggering. The result is an exhaustive - but never exhausting – account of the multifaceted nature of Russian gang life – including a fascinating section on the fleeting existence of a handful of all-female street gangs. -- Maxim Edwards * Transitions Online *This rich, absorbing work should impel readers to ask questions about political and economic transitions... this research offers a powerful caveat with regard to building such systems based on mass immiseration. * Terrorism and Political Violence *Table of ContentsIntroduction: In the Shadow of the State1. Street Organizations and Gangs in Russia2. The Transformation of Gangs in the 1990s3. The Business of Bandit Gangs: From Predation to Assimilation4. Gang Organization5. Street Trajectories6. The Gang in the Community7. Life according to the Poniatiia: The Gang's Code8. Navigating the World of Violence9. Gang Culture and the Wider Russian SocietyConclusion: Out of the Shadows?Appendix. Development of Tatarstan Gangs: Three Examples Key to Interviewees Methodological Note Glossary References Index
£97.20
Cornell University Press FatTalk Nation
Book SynopsisIn recent decades, America has been waging a veritable war on fat in which not just public health authorities, but every sector of society is engaged in constant fat talk aimed at educating, badgering, and ridiculing heavy people into shedding pounds. We hear a great deal about the dangers of fatness to the nation, but little about the dangers of today's epidemic of fat talk to individuals and society at large. The human trauma caused by the war on fat is disturbingand it is virtually unknown. How do those who do not fit the ideal body type feel being the object of abuse, discrimination, and even revulsion? How do people feel being told they are a burden on the healthcare system for having a BMI outside what is deemedwith little solid scientific evidencehealthy? How do young people, already prone to self-doubt about their bodies, withstand the daily assault on their body type and sense of self-worth? In Fat-Talk Nation, Susan Greenhalgh tells the story of today's fight againsTrade ReviewAs Greenhalgh asks in the final pages, 'if one comment can destroy a child's life, what should we do now?' (p. 284) She offers some concrete and worthy initiatives that include dispelling biomyths, discouraging fat-talk, and banning fat-bullying (pp. 286–287). These are important suggestions that have the potential to change behaviours. * biosocieties *Her [Greenhalgh's] argument against the fat industry, presented in a Foucauldian manner, is extremely strong, particularly in the context of existing patriarchal hegemony. * Choice *In Fat-Talk Nation, Greenhalgh argues that the war on obesity is harmful to people of all sizes. Effectively appealing to logos, pathos, and ethos, she presents a range of negative effects (i.e. the human costs) the war is having on young people in the United States through weaving empirical evidence with autoethnographic essays. * Sociology of Health & Illness *Greenhalgh focuses her keen ethnographic eye on the personal narratives and the local moral worlds her students shared with her about their bodies and their struggles with fat. In a down-to-earth, accessible style, this book systematically details the many costs and unintended consequences of America's 'War on Obesity.'... Greenhalgh's smart, accessible text can be read by multiple audiences. Her formulation of fat talk, biobullying, and biomyths, etc. gives us an easy, clear vocabulary that can be used dynamically to problematize the war on fat in the public sphere and in public health. * Anthropological Quarterly *Fat-Talk Nation clearly underscores the ways in which America's war on obesity has really become a war on fat people.... Greenhalgh provides a vivid account of the intense physical and emotional suffering experienced by young people raised in an aggressively fat-phobic society, making her book a noteworthy contribution to the literature. * American Ethnologist journal *Table of ContentsPreface 1. A Biocitizenship Society to Fight Fat 2. Creating Thin, Fit Bodies 3. Obese 4. Overweight 5. Underweight 6. Normal 7. Physical and Mental Health at Risk 8. Families and Relationships Unhinged 9. Does Biocitizenship Help the Very Fat? 10. Social Justice and the End of the War on Fat Appendix Notes References Index
£97.20
Cornell University Press A World of Work
Book SynopsisEver wonder what it would be like to be a Parisian street magician? A fish farmer in Norway? A costume designer in Bollywood? This playful and accessible book looks at different types of work around the world.Trade Review"I read with real pleasure and enjoyment this imaginative collection of essays produced mostly by established anthropologists, and a few others who are practitioners of their crafts, on a quirky diversity of jobs. Charmingly, Ilana Gershon offers this collection as 'a graduation gift to my students, a bouquet of possibilities so that you can start thinking in concrete detail about what you need to know to do many different kinds of unusual jobs.' A very valuable gift indeed for the sorts of job markets that a highly cosmopolitan and ethnically diverse college student body faces today. I was charmed by its imaginative and readable format, and A World of Work is also quite a deep collection on the nature of work in a number of specializations. It is for anyone who enjoys the drama, humor, and achievement of applying learned skills in everyday life." -- George E. Marcus, Director of the Center for Ethnography, University of California, Irvine, co,-author of Designs for an Anthropology of the Contemporary"This delightful book takes the reader into the everyday work lives of people all over the world. What is it like to be doctor in Malawi, a magician in Paris, a crime scene investigator in Sweden? Each chapter is unexpected and engaging. You'll discover your own work and cultural underpinnings by experiencing how different life is for others. This is the most interesting and entertaining job-oriented book I’ve read in a long time." -- Nicholas Lore, best-selling author of The Pathfinder: How to Choose or Change Your Career for a Lifetime of Satisfaction and SuccessTable of ContentsIntroduction by Ilana Gershon1. Letter to a Young Malawian Doctor by Claire Wendland and Chiwoza Bandawe2. What You Need to Know to Be a Fish Farmer in West Norway by Marianne Elisabeth Lien and John Law3. How to Be a Magician in Paris by Graham M. Jones with Loïc Marquet4. Being a Village Court Magistrate in Papua New Guinea by Melissa Demian5. The Chaplain: Being a Physician of the Soul in a Secular Age by Winnifred Fallers Sullivan and Christopher Swift6. Being a Crime Scene Technician in Sweden by Corinna Kruse7. Playing Piano without a Piano in Bolivia by Michelle Bigenho8. Making Do in Perpetual Crisis: How to Be a Journalist in Buryatia by Kathryn E. Graber9. How to Be a Professional Organizer in the United States by Carrie M. Lane10. The Character in Question: How to Design Film Costumes in India by Lovleen Bains and Clare Wilkinson11. Reflections from a Life on the Line: How to Be a Factory Worker by Caitrin Lynch and Warren Chamberlain12. How to Be a Cell Phone Repair Technician by Amanda Kemble, Briel Kobak, Joshua A. Bell, and Joel Kuipers13. Becoming a Professional Wrestler in Mexico City by Heather Levi14. The Pains and Peaks of Being a Ballerina in London by Helena WulffAfterword by Jean LaveList of Contributors Index
£19.94
Cornell University Press Grains from Grass
Book SynopsisIn her ethnography of the Gwembe Tonga people of rural Zambia, Lisa Cliggett explores what happens to kinship ties in times of famine. The Tonga, a matrilineal Bantu-speaking society, had long lived and farmed along the banks of the Zambezi River, but...Trade Review"Grains from Grass is a rich and intimate exploration of what it means to be old and at the brink of survival in a poor rural community. Drawing on classic themes and methods of social anthropology, it provides a subtle account of sociocultural change." -- Alex de Waal, Fellow, Global Equity Initiative, Harvard University"In a readable but sophisticated introduction to anthropological approaches to the lives of the African poor, Lisa Cliggett describes age- and gender-specific dilemmas and strategies for physical, social, and spiritual welfare." -- Jane I. Guyer, The Johns Hopkins University"The themes of Grains from Grass transcend Africa and anthropology. Lisa Cliggett offers wonderful methodological lessons for transgenerational cooperation and provides a useful theoretical mechanism for making visible and for disentangling a complex set of relations that traditionally go unnoticed." -- James A. Pritchett, Boston UniversityTable of ContentsList of Maps Preface 1. Aging in the Non-Western World 2. Getting Down in the Valley 3. The Space and Time of Vulnerability 4. Making a Village-Style Living 5. Mother's Keepers, Father's Wives, and Residential Arrangements of the Old 6. Ancestors, Rituals, and Manipulating the Spirit World 7. Migration and Family Ties over Distance and Time 8. Getting By "Just Like That" Notes References Index
£19.99
Cornell University Press Mien Relations
Book SynopsisThailand's hill tribes have been the object of anthropological research, cultural tourism, and government intervention for a century, in large part because these groups are held to have preserved distinctive ethnic traditions despite their contacts...Trade Review"A detailed ethnography of the Mien people of Thailand is long overdue. Mien Relations addresses the transformations that have come to the upland regions of Thailand with a clear analytical vision, just as it engages various theoretical developments in anthropology over the last two decades. Hjorleifur Jonsson regards the Mien as modern Thai subjects, and his book is a true pleasure to read. It is clearly written, rich in ethnographic detail, and brilliantly argued." -- Ralph Litzinger, Duke University"Mien history and society come to life in this provocative and beautifully written ethnography. Hjorleifur Jonsson's striking analysis of how households and communities have re-formed within varied regional political economies cuts through the simplifications of earlier ethnographies as it also forms a cogent commentary on all ethnographic practice. Mien efforts to appeal to the standards of the nation-state—even when burning down the office—are equally riveting." -- Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing, University of California, Santa Cruz, author of Friction: An Ethnography of Global Connection"Mien Relations is a major contribution to knowledge about the highland minorities of mainland Southeast Asia, marking a radical break with traditional ethnographies. Hjorleifur Jonsson's work should encourage a new generation of scholars to conduct rich and historically grounded research. Combining rich archival materials with insights gained through fieldwork, Jonsson establishes that many elements of highland culture were shaped by specific historical and political influences. This book explodes the standard paradigm of highland minorities as remote from state control." -- Katherine A. Bowie, University of Wisconsin–Madison
£26.59
MB - Cornell University Press Juki Girls Good Girls Gender and Cultural
Book SynopsisCaitrin Lynch shows how contemporary Sri Lankan women navigate a complex web of political, cultural, and socioeconomic forces. Lynch details precisely how gender, nationalism, and globalization influence everyday life in Sri Lanka.Trade ReviewAnthropologist Caitrin Lynch writes a provocative ethnography about women workers in Sri Lanka's 200 Garment Factories Program, a state initiative that brought international industry to rural villages. Working at the intersection of globalization, gender studies, and labor relations, Lynch discusses the localization of production, examining how transnational capitalist dynamics settle into local contexts. This engaging book is based on eighteen months of qualitative research performed in two garment factories. The pages brim with lively characters and trenchant analysis. * Journal of Asian Studies *In Juki Girls, Good Girls, anthropologist Caitrin Lynch powerfully displays women's ability to contest and adapt to larger social, political, and economic structures as they fashion identities that are both modern and traditional. Above all, it is about women's agency and thus challenges the victim-oriented globalization literature. Lynch illustrates how even when women enact subordinating practices, they do so on their own terms in an ongoing process of subject formation. Juki Girls is an instant classic, highly recommended to generalists, undergraduates, and graduate students for his accessibility, clarity, and significance. * Feminist Studies *In keeping with the best traditions of anthropology, Lynch connects individual experience to the politico-economic structures within which women act on and understand their worlds. Juki Girls, Good Girls is an empirically rich and theoretically informed account of gender as a site of struggle and change; few readers will be disappointed. It reminds us that women's empowerment, while a laudable development goal, is far more complicated than many of us suspect. There is much in this book that will interest development scholars as well as those in gender and feminist studies, and both seasoned and novice researchers. * Pacific Affairs *Table of ContentsIntroduction Rohini: Young Women and Garment Life 1. Globalization, Gender, and Labor Chinta 2. Localizing Production Mala: The Truth about Women Workers at Garment Factories 3. The Politics of White Women's Underwear Geeta 4. Juki Girls, Good Girls, and the Village Context Sita 5. The Good Girls of Sri Lankan Modernity Geeta: Untitled 6. Paternalism and Factory Conflicts Conclusion
£20.79
Cornell University Press Privatizing China
Book SynopsisPrivatizing China gives readers a grounded, fine-grained intimacy with the variety and complexity of everyday conduct in China's turbulent transformation.Trade Review"Privatizing China is an outstanding contribution to the literature on the extraordinary changes taking place in China today. Its authors analyze fresh evidence through new and compelling frameworks that capture the often contradictory but always fascinating 'assemblages' that constitute Chinese social, economic, cultural, and political life. All of the essays adopt a mode of presentation and argumentation that moves back and forth between theoretical commentary and ethnographic description; all are clearly written, highly accessible, moving, and evocative in their storytelling." -- Susan Greenhalgh, University of California, IrvineTable of ContentsIntroduction: Privatizing China: Powers of the Self, Socialism from Afarby Aihwa Ong and Li ZhangPART I. POWERS OF PROPERTYEmerging Class Practices1. Private Homes, Distinct Lifestyles: Performing a New Middle Classby Li Zhang2. Property Rights and Homeowner Activism in New Neighborhoodsby Benjamin L. ReadAccumulating Land and Money3. Socialist Land Masters: The Territorial Politics of Accumulationby You-tien Hsing4. Tax Tensions: Struggles over Income and Revenueby Bei Li and Steven M. SheffrinNegotiating Neoliberal Values5. "Reorganized Moralism": The Politics of Transnational Labor Codesby Pun Ngai6. Neoliberalism and Hmong/Miao Transnational Media Venturesby Louisa ScheinPART II.POWERS OF THE SELFTaking Care of One's Health7. Consuming Medicine and Biotechnology in Chinaby Nancy N. Chen8. Should I Quit?: Tobacco, Fraught Identity, and the Risks of Governmentalityby Matthew Kohrman9.Wild Consumption: Relocating Responsibilities in the Time of SARSby Mei ZhanManaging the Professional Self10. Post-Mao Professionalism: Self-enterprise and Patriotismby Lisa M. Hoffman11. Self-fashioning Shanghainese: Dancing across Spheres of Valueby Aihwa OngSearch for the Self in New Publics12. Living Buddhas, Netizens, and the Price of Religious Freedomby Dan Smyer Yu13. Privatizing Control: Internet Cafes in Chinaby Zhou YongmingAfterword: Thinking Outside the Leninist Corporate Boxby Ralph A. LitzingerNotesContributorsIndex
£999.99
Cornell University Press Bush Wives and Girl Soldiers
Book SynopsisDuring the war in Sierra Leone (1991–2002), members of various rebel movements kidnapped thousands of girls and women, some of whom came to take an active part in the armed conflict alongside the rebels. In a stunning look at the life of women in...Trade ReviewThe book is an unsettling close-up of girls' and young women's everyday lives during and after the war. Coulter describes abduction, rape and all-pervasive violence in much greater detail than most anthropologists have dared to. She also scrutinizes the challenges that women face during demobilization, and the difficulties of reintegration and reconciliation.... Its disturbingly detailed ethnographic gaze on violence, its focus on the choiceless decisions that women (and many men) faced during the war, and on the ills of post-war reconciliation and reintegration, make it a highly recommendable book for any anthropologist who wants to learn about everyday reality in a war-torn society. -- Toomas Gross * Suomen Antropologi: Journal of the Finnish Anthropological Society *Table of ContentsIntroduction 1. A Decade of War—Centuries of Uncertainty 2. Gendered Lives in Rural Sierra Leone 3. Abduction and Everyday Rebel Life 4. From Rape Victims to Female Fighters 5. Reconciliation or Revenge 6. Surviving the Postwar Economy 7. Coming Home—Domesticating the Bush Conclusion Notes References Index
£22.79
Cornell University Press My Word
Book SynopsisClassroom Cheats Turn to Computers. Student Essays on Internet Offer Challenge to Teachers. Faking the Grade. Headlines such as these have been blaring the alarming news of an epidemic of plagiarism and cheating in American colleges: more than 75 percent of students admit to having cheated; 68 percent admit to cutting and pasting material from the Internet without citation. Professors are reminded almost daily that many of today''s college students operate under an entirely new set of assumptions about originality and ethics. Practices that even a decade ago would have been regarded almost universally as academically dishonest are now commonplace.Is this development an indication of dramatic shifts in education and the larger culture? In a book that dismisses hand-wringing in favor of a rich account of how students actually think and act, Susan D. Blum discovers two cultures that exist, often uneasily, side by side in the classroom. Relying extensively on interviews conductedTrade ReviewLike Margaret Mead among the Samoans, Blum views her subjects—digital natives—as an exotic species. She notes their constant use of email, text messaging and the Internet. She declares them to be 'the wordiest and most writerly generation in a long while' and anoints their conversational tendency to quote TV shows and films an admirable form of 'intertextuality.' They are 'storming the barricades' of a new digital future, she claims, using the Internet to engage in collaborative work and to expand their knowledge base. She finds the hapless faculty members charged with teaching such students 'embattled and bewildered.' In other words: Get Twittering, grandma. Blum also embraces various postmodern theories of plagiarism. Internet-savvy, intertextual ingénues don't steal words; they engage in 'patchwriting' and 'pastiche,' constructing essays the way they create eclectic music playlists for their iPods. This practice, she argues, can be viewed as a form of homage or reverence as much as theft. In fact, as Ms. Blum’s research demonstrates, students today view writing — however we might define such a thing in a 'pastiche' culture — as a purely instrumental activity: a means to an end. * Wall Street Journal *Table of ContentsIntroduction: Plagiarism in College1 A Question of Judgment: Plagiarism Is Not One Thing, Once and for All2 Intertexuality, Authorship, and Plagiarism: My Word, Your Word, Their Word -> Our Word3 Observing the Performance Self: Multiplicity versus Authenticity4 Growing Up in the College Bubble: The Tasks and Temptations of Adolescence5 No Magic Bullet: Deconstructing PlagiarismConclusion: What Is to Be Done?Notes Bibliography Acknowledgments Index
£999.99
Cornell University Press The Thought of Work
Book SynopsisWhat is work? Is it simply a burden to be tolerated or something more meaningful to one''s sense of identity and self-worth? And why does it matter? In a uniquely thought-provoking book, John W. Budd presents ten historical and contemporary views of work from across the social sciences and humanities. By uncovering the diverse ways in which we conceptualize worksuch as a way to serve or care for others, a source of freedom, a source of income, a method of psychological fulfillment, or a social relation shaped by class, gender, race, and powerThe Thought of Work reveals the wide-ranging nature of work and establishes its fundamental importance for the human experience. When we work, we experience our biological, psychological, economic, and social selves. Work locates us in the world, helps us and others make sense of who we are, and determines our access to material and social resources.By integrating these distinct views, Budd replaces the usual fragmentary approachesTrade ReviewBudd does an excellent job of describing how work has utterly triumphed among us... but also confronts the issue of the deeply and widely held view that work no longer offers food for the soul and that many people's experience of paid employment is characterized by a radical loss of meaningfulness beyond its obvious and fundamental functionality. -- Paul Gilfillan * Work, Employment & Society *John W. Budd's The Thought of Work provides a much needed and highly eloquent statement of the meanings and orientations to work across time and nations. It is essential reading for students of work from senior scholars to beginning undergraduates. -- Randy Hodson, Distinguished Professor of Social and Behavioral SciencesThe Ohio State University and past editor, * American Sociological Review *This is a really useful and important book for anyone working or especially teaching in the field of employment studies.... The book can be used in a number of ways and at different levels to teach about work. It is, for example, an excellent way to introduce students to the general subject matter of economic life. Importantly, it invites the reader to think in theoretical, conceptual and at times philosophical ways about work.... Budd and his publisher are to be congratulated on producing a text that will be an invaluable resource for teachers and students of sociology, philosophy, management and business, as well as other disciplines. The book deserves to be a staple on any self-respecting critical reading list on work and employment. The Thought of Work is part of a real renaissance in the interdisciplinary study of work and is to be applauded. -- Tim Strangleman * British Journal of Industrial Relations *Table of ContentsIntroduction 1. Work as a Curse 2. Work as Freedom 3. Work as a Commodity 4. Work as Occupational Citizenship 5. Work as Disutility 6. Work as Personal Fulfillment 7. Work as a Social Relation 8. Work as Caring for Others 9. Work as Identity 10. Work as Service Conclusion: Work MattersNotes Index
£23.74
Cornell University Press Retirement on the Line
Book SynopsisIn Retirement on the Line, Caitrin Lynch explores what Vita Needle's commitment to an elderly workforce means for the employer, the workers, the community, and society more generally.Trade ReviewIn Retirement on the Line, Caitrin Lynch provides a welcome ethnography of the labors of old workers at Vita Needle, a family-owned factory in Needham, Massachusetts...Lynch does a superb job of attending to the voices of old workers in this factory, revealing the complex labor relations within contemporary capitalism, and complicating the discussion of exploitation. The readability of her book makes it an excellent addition to courses not only on aging but in the sociology of work, which tends to ignore old workers or see them as something 'other'—and for this reason, it also stands as a scholarly contribution for those who examine paid work. -- Toni Calasanti * American Journal of Sociology *Stressing a 'cultural anthropology' vantage point, and claiming that new understandings may arise from duly considered work in its culture-related dynamics, this book actually delivers valuable learnings on capitalism as a cultural frame. We learn from it not so much on the meanings of working at old age, but rather on old age capitalism and its meanings. Studying workers who take the accumulation of surplus-value as the measure of all values— this certainly provides a lesson on the undeniable resilience and continuance of the capitalist worldview. * Critique of Anthropology *The book is based on intensive ethnographic research undertaken by the author during 2006-2011. Working on Vita's shop floor, side by side with factory employees, enabled the author to produce a rich, nuanced, and insightful piece of anthropological writing that not only explores "what work means for people...of conventional retirement age," but also touches upon broader social issues such as aging, productivity, and work ethic in the contemporary United States...Lynch’s book expands beyond a mere case study and proposes broader reflections on the struggles and aspirations of elderly employees—a group rarely studied by sociologists of work. -- HannaGospodarczyk * Laboratorium: Russian Review of Social Research *Table of ContentsCast of Characters Introduction: Making Needles, Making LivesPart I: Up the Stairs Pigeonholed by Jim Downey 1. Making Money for Fred: Productivity, People, and Purpose 2. Antique Machinery and Antique People: The Vita Needle Family 3. No Chains on the Seats: Freedom and FlexibilityPart II: In the Press 4. Riding the Gray Wave: Global Interest in Vita Needle 5. Rosa, a National Treasure: Agency in the Face of Media StardomConclusion: Vita's Larger LessonsPostscriptNotes References Acknowledgments Index
£19.54
Cornell University Press The Breakup 2.0
Book SynopsisA few generations ago, college students showed their romantic commitments by exchanging special objects: rings, pins, varsity letter jackets. Pins and rings were handy, telling everyone in local communities that you were spoken for, and when you broke up, the absence of a ring let everyone know you were available again. Is being Facebook official really more complicated, or are status updates just a new version of these old tokens?Many people are now fascinated by how new media has affected the intricacies of relationships and their dissolution. People often talk about Facebook and Twitter as platforms that have led to a seismic shift in transparency and (over)sharing. What are the new rules for breaking up? These rules are argued over and mocked in venues from the New York Times to lamebook.com, but well-thought-out and informed considerations of the topic are rare.Ilana Gershon was intrigued by the degree to which her students used new media to communicate important Trade ReviewBreaking up is hard to do, and, as Ilana Gershon observes, it can be even harder when technology is brought into the mix. Gershon interviewed over 70 people (many of them college students) to examine how they used chatting, email, texting, and social networking websites in conjunction with their relationships and found that opinions and social rules governing the intersection of romance and technology are still highly variable. Why would some people rather break up through email, while others prefer instant messaging? What kind of problems arise when a couple has different ideas about how to digitally negotiate the end of their relationship? How do the social and public aspects of sites like Facebook affect one's actions during a relationship and after its dissolution? Mindful of the complicated nature of the topic, Gershon never attempts to define which behaviors are right or wrong but instead concentrates on exploring the ways people think about these tools and what their beliefs show about society's responses to technology. Though written with an academic focus, this is an intriguing read for anyone interested in how social conventions for new media develop and the ways that technology is changing romantic relationships. * Library Journal *In her surprisingly gripping first book, Gershon argues that Facebook and other forms of new media social networking have radically changed the playing field of accepted interactions. Generations navigate these new forms differently and a whole new set of norms is being developed to judge behavior. No subject has dominated the discussion more than the ways in which we handle romantic relationships: when they begin, when to go public, and how to bring them to an end. Do people really break up via text message? The answer is yes, and Gershon asserts that in this case 'the medium is at odds with the message.' A professor of communications, the author takes a distinctly academic approach, lending legitimacy to what might otherwise be easily dismissed. She understands how new media shapes social communications and addresses its constant evolution. Readers interested in communication theory and new media evolution will appreciate the author's excellent balance of analysis, anecdote, and readability. * Publishers Weekly *Table of ContentsIntroduction1 Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover: Media Ideologies and Idioms of Practice2 E-mail My Heart: The Structure of Technology and Heartache3 Remediation and Heartache4 How Do You Know?5 Breaking Up in a PublicConclusion Bibliography Index
£15.99
Cornell University Press The Law of Kinship Anthropology Psychoanalysis
Book SynopsisIn this highly original book, Camille Robcis seeks to explain why and how academic discourses on kinship have intersected and overlapped with political debates on the family—and on the nature of French republicanism itself.Trade ReviewAll in all, this is a superb book that brilliantly links two fields—intellectual history and the history of law and policy—normally kept separate. In particular, Robcis is to be congratulated for not reproducing what often seems the willful obscurity and grandstanding of Lacan and others. Most important of all, Robcis finds her way though two exceptionalclaims to universal validity—French republicanism, which prioritizes the social bond, and American liberalism, which prioritizes the individual, without succumbing to the provincialism and tendentiousness of either. -- Eli Zaretsky * The Journal of Modern History *Robcis is a careful, deliberate worker in this book. She moves ably from source to source, establishing arigorous and convincing narrative of the place of the family in republican ideals in the modern period,and is equally adept at drawing evidence from ministerial documents, philosophical engagements, andpolitical platforms. -- Richard C. Keller * H-France Review *Table of ContentsIntroductionPart One: The Rise of Familialism1. Familialism and the Republican Social Contract2. Kinship and the Structuralist Social Contract3. The Circulation of Structuralism in the French Public SpherePart Two: The Critique of Familialism4. The "Quiet Revolution" in Family Policy and Family Law5. Fatherless Societies and Anti- Oedipal PhilosophiesPart Three: The Return of Familialism6. Alternative Kinships and Republican StructuralismEpilogue: Kinship, Ethics, and the NationBibliographyIndex
£28.49
Cornell University Press Violence and Vengeance
Book SynopsisBetween 1999 and 2000, sectarian fighting fanned across the eastern Indonesian province of North Maluku, leaving thousands dead and hundreds of thousands displaced. What began as local conflicts between migrants and indigenous people over administrative boundaries spiraled into a religious war pitting Muslims against Christians and continues to influence communal relationships more than a decade after the fighting stopped. Christopher R. Duncan spent several years conducting fieldwork in North Maluku, and in Violence and Vengeance, he examines how the individuals actually taking part in the fighting understood and experienced the conflict.Rather than dismiss religion as a facade for the political and economic motivations of the regional elite, Duncan explores how and why participants came to perceive the conflict as one of religious difference. He examines how these perceptions of religious violence altered the conflict, leading to large-scale massacres in houses of worship, Trade Review...Violence and Vengeance makes an immense contribution to our understands of the ways in which religion shapes local understandings of violence...Violence and Vengeance succeeds brilliantly in accomplishing this important task. * SOJOURN *Violence and Vengeanceis the best description we have of the post-New Order communal wars from the viewpoint of the participants... In aiming thus to go beyond causation (p.7), Chris Duncan has done the field a service. * Contemporary Southeast Asia *By focusing on narratives and perspectives of 'those who did the killing or witnessed the dying', and not the ‘objective academic analysis based on media reports and interviews with regional and national elites’ (8), Duncan makes a compelling argument of how religion influences people’s violent actions in the North Maluku conflict...the book is no doubt a welcome edition for the studies of religious conflict and conciliation, not only in North Maluku or Indonesia but also in other parts of the world that are plagued by interreligious tensions. * Anthropological Forum *Duncan... has extensive experience in this understudied part of Indonesia, including local language ability, and so is able to penetrate down to a very fundamental level in telling the story of what happened and what it means. Unlike many analysts, he is most interested in the specifically religious cast of the confrontation as voiced by local people. * Choice *The depth of knowledge and understanding of local dynamics displayed here, both pre- and post-conflict, sets this book aside from other works addressing the communal violence that ensued from the fall of the Suharto regime....Violence and Vengeance should become core reading material for anyone concerned with religiously informed violence (in Indonesia, Asia or elsewhere) as much as for scholars and students interested in methodological issues, whether as historians, political scientists or anthropologists. * South East Asia Research *[T]his marvelous ethnography about religion and communal violence in eastern Indonesia.... offer[s] a compelling corrective to those anthropologists, historians, and political scientists who have fetishized political economy at the cost of understanding religion only in instrumental terms. Christopher Duncan’s Violence and Vengeance thus provides an invaluable contribution to understanding how people in eastern Indonesia turned to religion and religious difference as they imagined, perpetrated, suffered, survived, and memorialized communal violence. * PoLAR *In this marvelous ethnography about religion and communal violence in eastern Indonesia, Duncan provides an important corrective to... assumptions about violence and religion.... Christopher Duncan’s Violence and Vengeance thus provides an invaluable contribution to understanding how people in eastern Indonesia turned to religion and religious difference as they imagined, perpetrated, suffered, survived, and memorialized communal violence. * Polar: Political & Legal Anthropology Review *Table of ContentsList of IllustrationsAcknowledgmentsList of AbbreviationsA Note on Translation and Pseudonyms1. Religious Violence?2. Historical Preludes to the 1999–2000 Conflict3. From Ethnic Conflict to Holy War4. Massacres, Militias, and Forced Conversions5. Peace and Reconciliation? From Violence to Coexistence6. Managing Memories: Competing Notions of Victimhood in North Maluku7. Memorializing the Dead in Postconflict North MalukuConclusionAppendix A: The Bloody Sosol LetterAppendix B: Peace Declaration of the Tobelo Adat Community
£23.74
Cornell University Press The Light of Knowledge
Book SynopsisSince the early 1990s hundreds of thousands of Tamil villagers in southern India have participated in literacy lessons, science demonstrations, and other events designed to transform them into active citizens with access to state power. These efforts to spread enlightenment among the oppressed are part of a movement known as the Arivoli Iyakkam (the Enlightenment Movement), considered to be among the most successful mass literacy movements in recent history. In The Light of Knowledge, Francis Cody's ethnography of the Arivoli Iyakkam highlights the paradoxes inherent in such movements that seek to emancipate people through literacy when literacy is a power-laden social practice in its own right. The Light of Knowledge is set primarily in the rural district of Pudukkottai in Tamil Nadu, and it is about activism among laboring women from marginalized castes who have been particularly active as learners and volunteers in the movement. In their endeavors to remake the Tamil countTrade ReviewOne might characterize Cody as involved in an attempt to theorize literacy activism in a manner at once with and beyond Foucault.... No doubt this [book] is a space worthy of further exploration. I would additionally suggest that the topics of desire and social position—topics which appear once and again in the margins of The Light of Knowledge—are of equal importance. * Polar: Political & Legal Anthropology Review *Table of ContentsForewordAcknowledgmentsList of AbbreviationsNote on TransliterationIntroduction: Of Light, Literacy, and Knowledge in the Tamil Countryside1. On Being a "Thumbprint": Time and Space in Arivoli Activism2. Feminizing Enlightenment: The Social and Reciprocal Agency3. Labors of Objectification: Words and Worlds of Pedagogy4. Search for a Method: The Media of Enlightenment5. Subject to Citizenship: Petitions and the Performativity of SignatureEpilogue: Reflections on a Time of Charismatic EnlightenmentNotesWorks CitedIndex
£26.59
MB - Cornell University Press The Viral Network
Book SynopsisIn The Viral Network, Theresa MacPhail examines our collective fascination with and fear of viruses through the lens of the 2009 H1N1 pandemic. In April 2009, a novel strain of H1N1 influenza virus resulting from a combination of bird, swine, and human flu viruses emerged in Veracruz, Mexico. The Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) announced an official end to the pandemic in August 2010. Experts agree that the global death toll reached 284,500. The public health response to the pandemic was complicated by the simultaneous economic crisis and by the public scrutiny of official response in an atmosphere of widespread connectivity. MacPhail follows the H1N1 influenza virus''s trajectory through time and space in order to construct a three-dimensional picture of what happens when global public health comes down with a case of the flu.The Viral Network affords a rare look inside the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, as well as Hong Kong's virology labs Trade ReviewThe author brings to light some very important issues associated with disease outbreaks that are worthy of dicsussion, and she offers a unique perspective on pandemic responses. Those with a particular interest in medical anthropology would likely enjoy this perspective. -- Sarah Bevins * BioScience *Table of ContentsPrologue to a Pathography1. Seeing the Past or Telling the Future?: On the Origins of Pandemics and the Phylogeny of Viral Expertise2. The Invisible Chapter (Work in the Lab)3. Quarantine, Epidemiological Knowledge, and Infectious Disease Research in Hong Kong4. The Siren's Song of Avian Influenza: A Brief History of Future Pandemics5. The Predictable Unpredictability of Viruses and the Concept of "Strategic Uncertainty"6. The Anthropology of Good Information: Data Deluge, Knowledge, and Context in Global Public Health7. The Heretics of Microbiology: Charisma, Expertise, Disbelief, and the Production of KnowledgeEpilogue Notes References
£25.64
Cornell University Press Humiliation
Book SynopsisHow do we feel when our friend turns up with a holiday present and we have nothing ready to give in exchange? What lies behind our small social panics and the maneuvers we use, to avoid losing face? Recognizing how much we care about how others see us, this wise and witty book tackles the complex subject of humiliation and the emotions that keep us going as self-respecting social actors.William Ian Miller writes astutely about a host of homely and seemingly banal social occasions and shows us what is buried behind them. In his view, our lives are permeated with sometimes merely uncomfortable, sometimes hair-raising rituals of shame and humiliation. Take the unwanted dinner invitation, the exchange of valentines in grade school, or the diabolically ingenious invention of the bridal registry. Readers will have no trouble recognizing the social situations he finds indicative of our often perilous dealings with each other.Educated as a literary critic and philologist, by pTrade ReviewIn an illuminating and darkly intelligent study, Miller has revealed humiliation as the closet dominatrix she is, an emotion whose power to discipline us makes the world go round.... Miller makes his pages blaze and roar by throwing another handful of hollow complacencies upon the fire.... The five essays making up this book are about the persistence of the norm of reciprocity in our daily lives, about the possibility of tracking emotions across time and culture, and about the ways in which shame and envy and especially humiliation sustain 'cultures of honor' to this day. * Speculum *Miller deploys the resources of a host of disparate disciplines in order to reveal the remarkable richness of certain emotional experiences—emotions that help shape the words and actions of human beings when they perform the immensely complex work ofmaintaining the social worlds that they construct, and which help construct them. In doing so, he has written a unique and valuable book. * Yale Journal of Law and the Humanities *Translating emotions over time and across cultures is Miller's major methodological challenge—and he meets it with ranging and learned references, a wry and unpretentious style, and a genuine respect for the power of those ancient, forgotten sources on which modern social exchange depends. * Kirkus Reviews *
£20.79
Cornell University Press Inside the Revolution Everyday Life in Socialist
Book SynopsisThe first ethnographic study of life in Cuba to emerge in over twenty years, Inside the Revolution offers a rare, close view of how socialist ideology translates into everyday experience in one Cuban municipality. Mona Rosendahl draws on eighteen...Trade Review"It is remarkable that of the hundreds of books published in recent decades on Cuba, so few have provided detail about the impact of Castro's regime on ordinary Cubans. Rosendahl's book does so, and for this reason is an invaluable contribution. . . . Inside the Revolution looks at family matters, marriage and work, household economies, bureaucracy, and the concept of mobilization, among other subjects. . . . Attractively printed . . . interesting photographs."—Choice"Rosendahl, a Swedish anthropologist, has written a rare close-up analysis of how the ideology of the Cuban revolution translates itself into everyday experience. Her study of a municipality in Oriente province provides a nuanced antidote to those who would argue that the regime no longer enjoys grassroots support."—Kenneth Maxwell, Foreign Affairs"This book not only contributes substantively to our understanding of what the Cuban revolution has meant to its people, but it offers invaluable methodological insight into the challenges of ethnographic research in a society where critical discourse is more tightly controlled. . . . This book not only informs, but entreats students of political economy, Latin cultures, gender roles, and social stratification to go beyond their preconceived ideas and take a systematic, firsthand look at Cuban socialism—its strengths and weaknesses. Rosendahl's observations and insights into Cuban life as well as her experiences in doing research in such a unique society should prove invaluable to a wide audience."—Contemporary Sociology"Inside the Revolution is a seriously researched and . . . well-written monograph."—Gert Oostinde, New West Indian Guide. 1999."Rosendahl's overall focus is ideology—understood broadly as a set of ideas that deals with society and social relations in terms of what is, what ought to be, and what may be. However, her aim is to demonstrate how the official political ideology is met and interpreted from a local point of view. Thus, she not only examines the premises and contents of the official ideology, but also examines how the ideology is codified and experienced in everyday life."—Marit Melhuus, University of Oslo. Ethnos Vol. 64:3, 1999"Rosendahl's ethnography takes readers to a place and time when Cubans suffered fewer hardships and shared a stronger faith in the Castro government: Orient province in the late 1980s. . . The study analyzes the transmission of socialist ideology, its translation into practice, and its refashioning into a 'folk version' of the official revolutionary discourse by ordinary Cubans. . . Her observations and interviews offer rare and valuable insights into life in provincial Cuba."—Michael Snodgrass, Indiana University-Purdue University, Latin American Research Review, Vol. 36, No. 3, 2001
£22.39
Cornell University Press Age of Contradiction
Book SynopsisHoward Brick offers a context for understanding historical events, cultural tensions, political figures, artistic works and trends of intellectual life. Putting ideas at the centre of an assessment of the 1960s, Brick explores the dilemmas, promise and legacy of American thought at that time.Trade ReviewHoward Brick has performed an important service and produced a remarkable book.... What Brick has done is to remind us of just how important ideas were in the 1960s and, equally important, to illustrate how these various threads of 1960s life—the political, the social, and the intellectual—all wound in and out of one another.... As a result, we cannot look back on the decade the same way ever again. -- Alexander Bloom * The Journal of American History *
£19.79
Cornell University Press Stalinist Values The Cultural Norms of Soviet
Book SynopsisSoviet official culture underwent a dramatic shift in the mid-1930s, when Stalin and his fellow leaders began to promote conventional norms, patriarchal families, tsarist heroes, and Russian literary classics. For Leon Trotsky—and many later...Trade ReviewHoffmann... argues that campaigns for literacy, sobriety, personal hygiene and 'cultured speech' helped promote an aspect of social transformation that coexisted with the forced labor camps and mayhem. Drawing on original archival research, he documents a less well-known movement that involved reproduction incentives in the face of plummeting birth rates during the 1930s, which ironically coincided with earlier efforts for sexual abstinence to preserve 'energy for socially productive work.' * Library Journal *Using a variety of sources, including the Russian archives, the author has written a brilliant description of Stalinist values and proved that Stalin was an ideologue to the end. He shows that the ideology failed precisely because it was an ideology—out of touch with reality and people. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above. * Choice *Hoffmann provides a new cultural framework for understanding Soviet history during the interwar period.... Hoffmann argues that the Stalinist state neither 'betrayed' the socialist revolutionary nor 'retreated' to traditional Russian mores. Instead he shows that the Stalinist order, like other European post-Enlightenment states, sought to catalogue, mobilize, and shape its citizens into ideal men and women. Defining modernity as the rise of the interventionist state and the birth of mass politics, Hoffmann details the various ways that the Soviet state tried to enlighten and transform human nature in their quest to create an ideal socialist order.... This book will force us to think about the wider international implications of Stalinism. The writing is a model of clarity, and the text can be used at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. -- Choi Chatterjee * American Historical Review *
£999.99
Cornell University Press If Each Comes Halfway
Book SynopsisFor twenty-five years, Kathryn S. March has collected the life stories of the women of a Buddhist Tamang farming community in Nepal. In "If Each Comes Halfway", she shows the process by which she and Tamang women reached across their cultural...Trade ReviewA beautiful ethnography that especially gives younger scholars a profound insight not only into the complexity of village life but more generally into fieldwork methodology. * Anthropology Review Database *If Each Comes Halfway is a beautiful ethnography that especially gives younger scholars a profound insight not only the complexity of village life but more generally into fieldwork methodology. As the title suggests, the book requested not only the engagement of these five Tamang women but also requires an open and engaged reader. -- Stefanie Lotter, University of Heidelberg * Anthropology Review *Kathryn March's careful research has resulted in a book that captures the essence of agricultural society as seen through the eyes of its female inhabitants. The result is an original project that blends anthropological scholarship with oral history. Interestingly, the narratives are a complex compendium of song and narrative.... Interwoven throughout these themes and narratives is the emergence of song as important adjunct to storytelling. The poetry and rhythm of songs help convey meaning and inspire an audience to focus its attention on the storyteller, March writes. Her research indicates the integral role music plays in preserving Tamang history.... The author evokes an otherworldly sense of this specific culture even as she strives to record their life histories as accurately as possible. The women interviewed literally put their hearts and souls into the telling and singing of their personal stories and of the larger story of the Tamang people. -- Andrea Kleinhenz * Z Magazine Online *
£31.50
Cornell University Press Reckoning with Homelessness
Book SynopsisKim Hopper has dedicated his career to trying to address the problem of homelessness in the United States. In this powerful book, he draws upon his dual strengths as anthropologist and advocate to provide a deeper understanding of the roots of homelessness.Trade ReviewReckoning with Homelessness... has to be among the best-written, most elegantly expressed works of urban anthropology ever.... Hopper's ethnographic ramble through the makeshift haunts of the world's richest city is inevitably ironic, bitterly painful, unfailingly informative. * Social Service Review *A frequently cited authority on the subject... Hopper is well versed in public policy efforts and has distinctive views about their efficacy—or lack thereof. His impassioned arguments for reimagined efforts to address the plight of the homeless cannot be ignored. * Library Journal *For more than twenty years, Kim Hopper has probed the scope and causes of homelessness. He possesses the fine touch of an ethnographer.... He has a novelist's knack of evoking lives of gritty substance. But he also has a scientist's desire to know... and provides us an unusually rich thick description of the phenomenon. * America *Hopper continues to push the envelope in the study of homelessness and, by extension, in the field of anthropology and on all fronts of the endeavor: theory, method, and politics. His work contains instances of brilliance as he offers his rich insight on the whole enterprise of poverty, homelessness, and contemporary citizenship.... Hopper challenges himself, his discipline, our collective social world, and each one of us to go beyond our moral witnessing to engaged advocacy and political action. Summing Up: Highly Recommended. * Choice *Table of ContentsPart I: Classification and History 1. This Business of Taking Stock 2. Unearned Keep: From Almshouse to Shelter in New York CityPart II: Fieldwork and Framework Introduction: Ethnography in the Annals of Homelessness 3. Streets, Shelters, and Flops: An Ethnographic Study of Homeless Men, 1979–1982 4. The Airport as Home 5. Out for the Count: The Census Bureau's 1990 S-Night Enumeration 6: Homelessness and African American MenPart III: Advocacy and Engagement 7. Negotiating Settlement: Advocacy for the Homeless Poor in the United States, 1980–1995 8. Limits to Witnessing: From Ethnography to EngagementNotes References Index
£24.69
MB - Cornell University Press Worked Over
Book SynopsisWorked Over is a book about large-scale social change seen at close range, through the lives of generations of working people in a small manufacturing center along New York State's old Erie Canal. Their compelling stories add a new dimension to...Trade ReviewDoukas argues that the culture of the villagers of central New York is based on the gospel of work and the egalitarianism, mutual aid, and respect for labor that it entails. That culture is directly opposed to leaders' gospel of wealth and the political and institutional structures it demands. How can there be such massive contradictions' Doukas documents how corporations imposed the cultural revolution with threats and the practices of economic violence and created local, regional, state, and national political structures to aid them. The author tells how a corporate conspiracy rewrote the American dream to create our current nightmare of unemployment, job insecurity, undercompensation, unavailability of health care, lack of control of our governments, death of democracy, and lack of space to even grow our own food and livestock.... She shows just how far we can go using our American language without making up words. That's one reason this is a good book. Consciousness of her use of the language, experience, and data are others. This is a book all of our students need to read and understand in order to know about their own lives and about the power of ethnography as well as the power of corporations. This is a book we all need to understand and discuss. -- Paul Durrenberger, Penn State University * Journal of Anthropological Research *Doukas tells the fascinating history of the Remingtons and their enterprises and how they were taken over by corporate trusts around 1886. That takeover, she argues, began an era of social distress and declining political autonomy that continues to the present day. -- Mat Rapacz * Evening Times *Dimitra Doukas's Worked Over is a good example of the innovative work from the emerging field called New Working-Class Studies.... The book begins by viewing the Mohawk Valley as, in a sense, a geographic stronghold for a social class. Valley residents disassociate themselves from nearby communities by rejecting values based on consumption and hierarchy.... Worked Over uses ethnography, history, and geography to study working-class life and culture. -- John Russo, Youngstown State University * Industrial and Labor Relations Review *Doukas's depiction of an economic worldview opposed to unrestrained, aggressive corporate capitalism is familiar to many sociologists and labor historians, but her effort to document it today and draw links to the past is instructive and meaningful.... Worked Over is eloquently written and cogently argued, and Doukas's measured passion and sprinkling of sardonic humor in the historical chapters bring a refreshing tone to her insightful book. * Contemporary Sociology *Global capitalism being what it is, there is no research topic more important to humankind than the study of the relationship between corporations and the communities that sustain them and are sustained by them. -- James P. Walsh, University of Michigan * Administrative Science Quarterly *Too often the social implications of the transformation from proprietary to managerial capitalism are overlooked, despite the dramatic impact that this development can have on the structure and well-being of a community.... Doukas draws on ethnographic and historical sources to paint her picture of the plight of the people in the Mohawk River Valley. Her book provides an excellent historical account of the development of the Remington works from its founding until the time of its sale to Hartley and Graham in 1886. -- Daniel Friel, New York University * Enterprise and Society *
£23.74
