Governmental social institutions are responsible for major policy decisions that deeply affect our everyday lives. This edited collection analyzes the effects of the main macro-social systems--law and politics, economic development, education, social welfare, health, mental health, transportation, housing, and religion--on the lives of African Americans, Hispanics, Asians, and Native Americans. The contributors, who are experts with the particular fields they address, reveal that macro-social systems are characterized by widespread, severe discrimination in the form of laws, attitudes, and behaviors towards ethnic minorities. Their analyses, which include both historical and contemporary perspectives, are accompanied by suggestions for policy measures aimed at improving the lives of ethnic minorities.

Since the politicization of anthropology in the 1970s, most anthropologists have been reluctant to approach the topic of universals-that is, phenomena that occur regularly in all known human societies. In this volume, Christoph Antweiler reasserts the importance of these cross-cultural commonalities for anthropological research and for life and co-existence beyond the academy. The question presented here is how anthropology can help us approach humanity in its entirety, understanding the world less as a globe, with an emphasis on differences, but as a planet, from a vantage point open to commonalities.

This innovative volume presents the personal aspects of retirement--the feelings, pleasures, and problems of this life event, expressed in the words of retirees. The author considers work patterns prior to retirement, the decision-making process itself, and the aftermath of the decision to retire. This passage of worker to retiree addresses concerns and questions that are important to many of those about to retire: how working conditions and other factors can affect the decision to retire; problems of a workaholic; how to handle leisure interests on a full-time basis; widowhood and retirement; depression; retirement insurance; mandatory retirement; volunteer work; and many other topics. The retirees include men and women who are blue- and white-collar workers, hourly paid or salaried: CEO of a major international corporation; social worker; college instructor; dentist; journalist; production controller in manufacturing; automobile dealer. Thus readers can easily identify with others who have made this journey before them and share their experiences, becoming more knowledgeable and more confident about their futures.

The UNESCO World Heritage Convention is one of the most widely ratified international treaties, and a place on the World Heritage List is a widely coveted mark of distinction. Building on ethnographic fieldwork at Committee sessions, interviews and documentary study, the book links the change in operations of the World Heritage Committee with structural nation-centeredness, vulnerable procedures for evaluation, monitoring and decision-making, and loose heritage conceptions that have been inconsistently applied. As the most ambitious study of the World Heritage arena so far, this volume dissects the inner workings of a prominent global body, demonstrating the power of ethnography in the highly formalised and diplomatic context of a multilateral organisation.

Here, sociologist Ralph Pyle investigates the extent to which a male-dominated, Ivy League educated Protestant establishment in the United States since World War II has given way to an elite whose diversity is more representative of the general population. While there is evidence that major changes have diminished the social, political, and economic prerogatives of the traditional Protestant establishment, the author finds that those in command positions of the most influential institutions bear a strong resemblance to their predecessors who directed affairs in an earlier era. Even if the current expansion of influence among previously disempowered groups continues at its present rate, the disproportionate power of white Protestant Ivy Leaguers will persist for several decades to come.

Food, Power, and Resistance in the Andes is a dynamic, interdisciplinary study of how food's symbolic and pragmatic meanings influence access to power and the possibility of resistance in the Andes. In the Andes, cooking often provides Quechua women with a discursive space for achieving economic self-reliance, creative expression, and for maintaining socio-cultural identities and practices. This book explores the ways in which artistic representations of food and cooks often convey subversive meanings that resist attempts to locate indigenous Andeans-and Quechua women in particular-at the margins of power. In addition to providing an introduction to the meanings and symbolisms associated with various Andean foods, this book also includes the literary analysis of Andean poetry and prose, as well as several Quechua oral narratives collected and translated by the author during fieldwork carried out over a period of several years in the southern Peruvian Andes. By following the thematic thread of artistic representations of food, this book allows readers to explore a variety of Andean art forms created in both colonial and contemporary contexts. In genres such as the novel, Quechua oral narrative, historical chronicle, testimonies, photography, painting, and film, artists represent Quechua cooks who utilize their access to food preparation and distribution as a tactic for evading the attempts of a patriarchal hegemony to silence their voices, desires, values, and cultural expressions. Whether presented orally, visually, or in a print medium, each of these narratives represents food and cooking as a site where conflict ensues, symbolic meanings are negotiated, and identities are (re)constructed. Food, Power, and Resistance will be of interest to Andean Studies and Food Studies scholars, and to students of Anthropology and Latin American Studies.

The series comprises critical review articles that keep researchers in different areas of the field informed on the latest research results, ideas, and advances. Contributions to Volume 21 focus on: the clinically diverse diseases classified as peroxisomal disorders; X-linked immunodeficiencies; gen

Our Lives Are But Stories explores the crucial role of personal storytelling in the lives of a unique generation of women -- Jewish women who left the Muslim country of Tunisia to settle in the newly created Israeli state. To this day, the older generation of Tunisian Israelis continues to rely on storytelling as a form of education, entertainment, and socialization. But for women this art has taken on new dimensions, especially as they seek to impart their values to the young. Here Esther Schely-Newman expertly interweaves the personal accounts of the private lives of four Tunisian-Israeli women to analyze the rich complexities of communication. She considers how various approaches to narration reflect storytelling as a cultural phenomenon and highlights the need to understand stories in the contexts in which they are told.

The four narrators grew up in a culture in which women's stories were confined to the private sphere, were usually told to other women, and were supposedly fiction -- or at least metaphors masking their real lives. Forced migration to farming communities in Israel and the shock of being uprooted created new identities for women and new outlets for storytelling. Women narrators increasingly began to tell more openly of their personal lives. Schely-Newman organizes her narrators' accounts by the themes of childhood, marriage, motherhood, immigration, and old age and considers a wide range of factors that shape the narration, including audience, intent, choice of language, and Jewish-Muslim culture. The result is a fascinating blend of analysis, narration, and history.

This book presents new perspectives on Southeast Asia using cases from a range of ethnic groups, cultures and histories, written by scholars from different ethnicities, generations, disciplines and scientific traditions. It examines various research trajectories, engaging with epistemological debates on the 'global' and 'local', on 'insiders' and 'outsiders', and the role played by personal experiences in the collection and analysis of empirical data. The volume provides subjects for debate rarely addressed in formal approaches to data gathering and analysis. Rather than grappling with the usual methodological building blocks of research training, it focuses on neglected issues in the research experience including chance, error, coincidence, mishap, dead ends, silence, secrets, improvisation, remembering, digital challenges and shifting tracks. Fieldwork and the Self is relevant to academics and researchers from universities and international organisations who are engaged in teaching and learning in area studies and social science research methods. "A rich and compelling set of writings about fieldwork in, and beyond, Southeast Asia". - Lyn Parker, Emeritus Professor, University of Western Australia "A must-read for all, especially emerging scholars on Southeast Asia, and a refreshing read for critical 'old hands' on the region". - Abdul Rahman Embong, Emeritus Professor, Institute of Malaysian and International Studies (IKMAS), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia "An impressive collection of essays by two academics who have devoted their academic life to anthropological fieldwork in Southeast Asia". - Shamsul A.B., Distinguished Professor and UNESCO Chair, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia "The contributors share an unquenchable and passionate curiosity for Southeast Asia. They have survived the uncertainties and disillusionment of their fieldwork and remained first-grade scholars". - Marie-Sybille de Vienne, Professor, National Institute for Oriental Languages and Civilisations, Paris "A penetrating reflection on current social science research on Southeast Asia". - Hans-Dieter Evers, Professor Emeritus and Senior Fellow, University of Bonn

In Kerala, political activists with a background in Communism are now instead asserting political demands on the basis of indigenous identity. Why did a notion of indigenous belonging come to replace the discourse of class in subaltern struggles? Indigenist Mobilization answers this question through a detailed ethnographic study of the dynamics between the Communist party and indigenist activists, and the subtle ways in which global capitalist restructuring leads to a resonance of indigenist visions in the changing everyday working lives of subaltern groups in Kerala.

Through an interdisciplinary conversation with contributors from social anthropology, religious studies, film studies, literary studies, cultural studies, and history, Crafting Chinese Memories is a novel book which addresses how works of art shape memories, and offers new ways of conceptualising storytelling, memory-making, art, and materiality. It explores the memories of artists, filmmakers, novelists, storytellers, and persons who come to terms with their own histories even as they reveal the social memories of watershed events in modern China.

This book explores the communication challenges faced by parents as they raise children who are bi-cultural, multi-cultural, or are adopted from a heritage other than the parents. Each contributor views the family as a site of intercultural dialogue and mediation, and uses compelling studies throughout to examine the parents who creatively balance cultural influences within their families. Using television depictions of parents on Modern Family and All-American Muslim to the everyday activities of mixed-ethnicity and international families, Mediating Cultures reports the communication strategies employed by the parents as they strive to create affirming relationships between children and their heritages. This collection brings together two largely separate literatures of family communication and intercultural communication studies with accessible yet context-driven studies to explain how families integrate multiple cultural heritages and perspectives.

Terrorism threatens to destroy the world, corruption runs rampant, and natural resources are being depleted. Will these problems ever be solved? If events continue on their current course, these issues could destroy us. It is imperative that we take steps to understand evolutionary natural selection and the processes that have shaped world affairs over the past forty thousand years. Only by learning about social evolution and how ideologies have shaped societies will we be able to play active roles in trying to solve society's problems. Author Charles Brough covers topics such as basic behavior, the development of the first patriarchal system, barbarism and the rise of religions, and possible alternatives to Western civilization. Learn why the green revolution is falling behind, the implications of climate change, and how lagging energy supplies will affect the world. This social approach to studying evolution and humanity is different than anything you've ever encountered. You must be willing to understand the function that ideologies serve without believing in any of them to gain a deeper perspective on what may be The Last Civilization.

Hip-Hop Within and Without the Academy explores why hip-hop has become such a meaningful musical genre for so many musicians, artists, and fans around the world. Through multiple interviews with hip-hop emcees, DJs, and turntablists, the authors explore how these artists learn and what this music means in their everyday lives. This research reveals how hip-hop is used by many marginalized peoples around the world to help express their ideas and opinions, and even to teach the younger generation about their culture and tradition. In addition, this book dives into how hip-hop is currently being studied in higher education and academia. In the process, the authors reveal the difficulties inherent in bringing this kind of music into institutional contexts and acknowledge the conflicts that are present between hip-hop artists and academics who study the culture. Building on the notion of bringing hip-hop into educational settings, the book discusses how hip-hop is currently being used in public school settings, and how educators can include and embrace hip-hop s educational potential more fully while maintaining hip-hop s authenticity and appealing to young people. Ultimately, this book reveals how hip-hop s universal appeal can be harnessed to help make general and music education more meaningful for contemporary youth."

This book tells the story of the Peace Community of San Jose de Apartado, an emblematic grassroots social movement of peasant farmers, who unusually declared themselves 'neutral' to Colombia's internal armed conflict, in the north-west region of Uraba. It reveals two core narratives in the Community's collective identity, which Burnyeat calls the 'radical' and the 'organic' narratives. These refer to the historically-constituted interpretative frameworks according to which they perceive respectively the Colombian state, and their relationship with their natural and social environments. Together, these two narratives form an 'Alternative Community' collective identity, comprising a distinctive conception of grassroots peace-building. This study, centered on the Community's socio-economic cacao-farming project, offers an innovative way of approaching victims' organizations and social movements through critical, post-modern politics and anthropology. It will become essential reading to Latin American ethnographers and historians, and all interested in conflict resolution and transitional justice. Read the author's blog drawing on the book here: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/latamcaribbean/2018/06/07/colombias-unsung-heroes/

As critical voices question the quality, authenticity, and value of people, goods, and words in post-Mao China, accusations of emptiness render things open to new investments of meaning, substance, and value. Exploring the production of lack and desire through fine-grained ethnography, this volume examines how diagnoses of emptiness operate in a range of very different domains in contemporary China: In the ostensibly meritocratic exam system and the rhetoric of officials, in underground churches, housing bubbles, and nationalist fantasies, in bodies possessed by spirits and evaluations of jade, there is a pervasive concern with states of lack and emptiness and the contributions suggest that this play of emptiness and fullness is crucial to ongoing constructions of quality, value, and subjectivity in China.

This book examines the clothing worn by African Americans in the southern United States during the thirty years before the American Civil War. Drawing on a wide range of sources, most notably oral narratives recorded in the 1930s, this rich account shows that African Americans demonstrated a thorough knowledge of the role clothing played in demarcating age, sex, status, work, recreation, as well as special secular and sacred events. Testimonies offer proof of African Americans' vast technical skills in producing cloth and clothing, which served both as a fundamental reflection of the peoples' Afrocentric craftsmanship and aesthetic sensibilities, and as a reaction to their particular place in American society. Previous work on clothing in this period has tended to focus on white viewpoints, and as a consequence the dress worn by the enslaved has generally been seen as a static standard imposed by white overlords. This excellent study departs from conventional interpretations to show that the clothing of the enslaved changed over time, served multiple functions and represented customs and attitudes which evolved distinctly from within African American communities. In short, it represents a vital contribution to African American studies, as well as to dress and textile history, and cultural and folklore studies.

This book offers a new perspective into the world of international schools and the lucrative industry that accompanies it. It examines how the notion of the 'global' becomes a successful commodity, an important social imaginary and a valuable identity marker for these communities of privileged migrants and host country nationals. The author invites the reader on an ethnographic journey through an international school community located in Germany - illuminating the central features that define and maintain the sector, including its emphasis on 'globality', engagement with the concept of 'Third Culture Kid', and its wider contentious relationship with the 'local'. While much attention is placed on 'global citizenship', international school communities experience degrees of isolation, limited mobility, over-protection and dependency on the school community- impacting their everyday lives, inside and outside the school. This book is guided by larger questions pertaining to the education and mobilities of 'migrant' youths and young adults, as well as the notion of what it means to be 'global' today.

First published in 1989. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

This book provides an empirical and philosophical investigation of self-tracking practices. In recent years, there has been an explosion of apps and devices that enable the data capturing and monitoring of everyday activities, behaviours and habits. Encouraged by movements such as the Quantified Self, a growing number of people are embracing this culture of quantification and tracking in the spirit of improving their health and wellbeing. The aim of this book is to enhance understanding of this fast-growing trend, bringing together scholars who are working at the forefront of the critical study of self-tracking practices. Each chapter provides a different conceptual lens through which one can examine these practices, while grounding the discussion in relevant empirical examples. From phenomenology to discourse analysis, from questions of identity, privacy and agency to issues of surveillance and tracking at the workplace, this edited collection takes on a wide, and yet focused, approach to the timely topic of self-tracking. It constitutes a useful companion for scholars, students and everyday users interested in the Quantified Self phenomenon.

The use of visual art is relatively common in scientific literature, and academic publications sometimes reproduce famous paintings to attract potential readers. When used in this manner, artwork is just a marginal adornment. In The Painted Mind, however, each chapter is inspired by an artistic masterpiece. Throughout the book, Dr. Troisi highlights the artistic significance of each painting and introduces the reader to their creators' biographical stories. The Painted Mind has a scientific focus on the evolutionary analysis of human mind and behavior. Its discussion of emotions and behaviors integrates a variety of perspectives that can ultimately be reduced to the evolutionary distinction between proximate mechanisms and adaptive functions. Although Dr. Troisi is primarily a clinical psychiatrist, his eclectic scientific background-ranging from primate ethology to neuroscience, from behavioral biology to molecular genetics, and from Darwinian psychiatry to evolutionary psychology-gives his writing a unique perspective. In addition to integrating data and findings from each of these disciplines, the book's presentation of evolutionary theories of the human mind is also intermixed with lively discussion of individual cases. Some are clinical cases from Dr. Troisi's own psychiatric practice; others reference the psychological profiles of historical figures and fictional characters.

El Salvador's civil war began in 1980 and ended twelve bloody years later.It saw extreme violence on both sides, including the terrorising and targetingof civilians by death squads, recruitment of child soldiers, and the death anddisappearance of more than 75,000 people. Examining El Salvador's vibrantlife-story literature written in the aftermath of this terrible conflict-includingmemoirs and testimonials-Erik Ching seeks to understand how thewar has come to be remembered and rebattled by Salvadorans and what thatmeans for their society today. Ching identifies four memory communities that dominate nationalpostwar views: civilian elites, military officers, guerrilla commanders, andworking class and poor testimonialists. Pushing distinct and divergent stories,these groups are today engaged in what Ching terms a "narrative battle"for control over the memory of the war. Their ongoing publications in themarketplace of ideas tend to direct Salvadorans' attempts to negotiate thewar's meaning and legacy, and Ching suggests that a more open, coordinatedreconciliation process is needed in this postconflict society. In the meantime,El Salvador, fractured by conflicting interpretations of its national trauma,is hindered in dealing with the immediate problems posed by the nexus ofneoliberalism, gang violence, and outmigration.

Littleton. Columbine. Sandy Hook. Each school shooting in the United States is followed by a series of questions. Why does this happen? Who are the shooters? How can this be prevented? Along with parents, school officials, media outlets, and scholars, popular culture has also attempted to respond to these questions through a variety of fictional portrayals of rampage violence. Rampage Violence Narratives: What Fictional Accounts of Rampage Violence Say about the Future of America's Youth offers a detailed look at the state of youth identity in American cultural representations of youth violence through an extended analysis of over forty primary sources of fictional narratives of urban and suburban school violence. Representations of suburban and rural school shootings that are modeled after real-life events serve to shape popular understandings of the relationship between education and American identity, the liminal space between childhood and adulthood, and the centrality of white heterosexual masculinity to definitions of social, political, and economic success in the United States.Through a series of 'case studies' that offer in-depth examinations of fictional depictions of school shootings in film and literature, it becomes clear that these stories are representative of a larger social narrative regarding the future of the United States. The continuing struggle to understand youth violence is part of an ongoing conversation about what it means to raise future citizens within a cultural moment that views youth through a lens of anxiety rather than optimism.

In this significant scholarly contribution to the study of ethnic minorities, Chalsa Loo documents a distinctive American community--Chinatown, San Francisco. Based on an interview survey of residents of Chinatown, Loo's study tests prevailing psychological and sociological theories, and ultimately dispels stereotypes about Asian Americans, replacing them with empirically derived realities of American life. "Chinatown: Most Time, Hard Time" comprehensively covers a range of significant areas of life, integrating several disciplines and combining the rigor of scientific analysis with the richness of individual experience through the use of photographs and personal vignettes.

This valuable analysis serves as a model of comprehensive, quantitative multidomain interview sample survey research. It provides data on the major domains of life for all Americans, but particularly for ethnic Americans: neighborhood, crowding, health, mental health, employment, language and cultural barriers, quality of life, and differences between men and women. This book is scholarly yet readable, and will be particularly useful to social scientists, educators, researchers, human service professionals, and policy planners.