Description
Book SynopsisIllustrates how ethnographic research itself can become a tool for activism. This book features ten studies that present activist groups across US - from transgender activists in New York City, to South Asian teenagers in Silicon Valley, to evangelical Christians and Palestinian Americans.
Trade ReviewEngagingly written, the volume will appeal across the readership spectrum, from general readers to professionals...Recommended. All levels and libraries. -- S. Cable Choice The volumes focus on activism and identity provides a compelling image of an activist strategy for advancing social research. -- Elisia L. Cohen Argumentation And Advocacy The strength Checker and Fishman's Local Actions is in its clearly written, accessible case studies of efforts at social change. -- Karen Brodkin Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power Local Actions is a welcome volume that represents a (still) rare instance of anthropologists engaging in the study of political processes in western society; it provides us with detail-rich and nuanced understandings of politics as it takes place in practice, and in everyday settings. -- Davide Pero Social Anthropology
Table of ContentsForeword, by Faye Ginsburg Acknowledgments Introduction, by Melissa Checker and Maggie Fishman Treading Murky Waters: Day-To-Day Dilemmas in the Construction of a Pluralistic U.S. Environmental Movement, by Melissa Checker Creating Art, Creating Citizens: Arts Education as Cultural Activism, by Maggie Fishman Creating a Political Space for American Indian Economic Development: Indian Gaming and American Indian Activism, by Kate Spilde "The Calculus of Pain": Violence, Anthropological Ethics, and the Category Transgender, by David Valentine We Shall Overcome? Changing Politics and Changing Sexuality in the Ex-Gay Movement, by Tanya Erzen Sins of Our Soccer Moms: Servant Evangelism and the Spiritual Injuries of Class, by Omri Elisha Food Fights: Contesting "Cultural Diversity" in Crown Heights, by Henry Goldschmidt FOBby or Tight? "Multicultural Day" and Other Struggles in Two Silicon Valley High Schools, by Shalini Shankar Gathering "Roots" and Making History in the Korean Adoptee Community, by Eleana Kim Activism and Exile: Palestinianness and the Politics of Solidarity, by Rabab Abdulhadi
