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Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Anthropology
Cosmopolitanism - the genuine appreciation of cultural and racial
diversity - is often associated with adult worldliness and
sophistication. Yet, as this innovative new book suggests, children
growing up in multicultural environments might be the most
cosmopolitan group of all. City Kids profiles fifth-graders in one
of New York City's most diverse public schools, detailing how they
collectively developed a sophisticated understanding of race that
challenged many of the stereotypes, myths, and commonplaces they
had learned from mainstream American culture. Anthropologist Maria
Kromidas spent over a year interviewing and observing these young
people both inside and outside the classroom, and she vividly
relates their sometimes awkward, often playful attempts to bridge
cultural rifts and reimagine racial categories. Kromidas looks at
how children learned race in their interactions with each other and
with teachers in five different areas - navigating urban space,
building friendships, carrying out schoolwork, dealing with the
school's disciplinary policies, and enacting sexualities. The
children's interactions in these areas contested and reframed race.
Even as Kromidas highlights the lively and quirky individuals
within this super-diverse group of kids, she presents their
communal ethos as a model for convivial living in multiracial
settings. By analyzing practices within the classroom, school, and
larger community, City Kids offers advice on how to nurture kids'
cosmopolitan tendencies, making it a valuable resource for
educators, parents, and anyone else who is concerned with America's
deep racial divides. Kromidas not only examines how we can teach
children about antiracism, but also considers what they might have
to teach us.
In this comprehensive study, Kenneth Morgan provides an
authoritative account of European exploration and discovery in
Australia. The book presents a detailed chronological overview of
European interests in the Australian continent, from initial
speculations about the 'Great Southern Land' to the major
hydrographic expeditions of the 19th century. In particular, he
analyses the early crossings of the Dutch in the 17th century, the
exploits of English 'buccaneer adventurer' William Dampier, the
famous voyages of James Cook and Matthew Flinders, and the
little-known French annexation of Australia in 1772. Introducing
new findings and drawing on the latest in historiographical
research, this book situates developments in navigation, nautical
astronomy and cartography within the broader contexts of imperial,
colonial, and maritime history.
Cybercartography in a Reconciliation Community: Engaging
Intersecting Perspectives, Volume Eight gathers perspectives on
issues related to reconciliation-primarily in a residential /
boarding school context-and demonstrates the unifying power of
Cybercartography by identifying intersections among different
knowledge perspectives. Concerned with understanding approaches
toward reconciliation and education, preference is given to
reflexivity in research and knowledge dissemination. The
positionality aspect of reflexivity is reflected in the chapter
contributions concerning various aspects of cybercartographic atlas
design and development research, and related activities. In this
regard, the book offers theoretical and practical knowledge of
collaborative transdisciplinary research through its reflexive
assessment of the relationships, processes and knowledge involved
in cybercartographic research. Using, most specifically, the
Residential Schools Land Memory Mapping Project for context,
Cybercartography in a Reconciliation Community provides a high
speed tour through the project's innovative collaborative approach
to mapping institutional material and volunteered geographic
information. Exploring Cybercartography through the lens of this
atlas project provides for a comprehensive understanding of both
Cybercartography and transdisciplinary research, while informing
the reader of education and reconciliation initiatives in Canada,
the U.S., the U.K. and Italy.
This collection of essays considers the means and extent of Haiti's
'exceptionalization' - its perception in multiple arenas as
definitively unique with respect not only to the countries of the
North Atlantic, but also to the rest of the Americas. Painted as
repulsive and attractive, abject and resilient, singular and
exemplary, Haiti has long been framed discursively by an
extraordinary epistemological ambivalence. This nation has served
at once as cautionary tale, model for humanitarian aid and
development projects and point of origin for general theorising of
the so-called Third World. What to make of this dialectic of
exemplarity and alterity? How to pull apart this multivalent
narrative in order to examine its constituent parts?
Conscientiously gesturing to James Clifford's The Predicament of
Culture (1988), the contributors to The Haiti Exception work on the
edge of multiple disciplines, notably that of anthropology, to take
up these and other such questions from a variety of methodological
and disciplinary perspectives, including Africana Studies,
Anthrohistory, Art History, Black Studies, Caribbean Studies,
education, ethnology, Jewish Studies, Literary Studies, Performance
Studies and Urban Studies. As contributors revise and interrogate
their respective praxes, they accept the challenge of thinking
about the particular stakes of and motivations for their own
commitment to Haiti.
The concept of 'radicalization' is now used to account for all
forms of violent and non-violent political Islam. Used widely
within the security services and picked up by academia, the term
was initially coined by the General Intelligence and Security
Service of the Netherlands (AIVD) after the 9/11 and Pentagon
attacks, an origin that is rarely recognised. This book comprises
contributions from leading scholars in the field of critical
security studies to trace the introduction, adoption and
dissemination of 'radicalization' as a concept. It is the first
book to offer a critical analysis and history of the term as an
'empty signifier', that is, a word that might not necessarily refer
to something existing in the real world. The diverse contributions
consider how the term has circulated since its emergence in the
Netherlands and Belgium, its appearance in academia, its existence
among the people categorized as 'radicals' and its impact on
relationships of trust between public officials and their clients.
Building on the traditions of critical security studies and
critical studies on terrorism, the book reaffirms the importance of
a reflective approach to counter-radicalization discourse and
policies. It will be essential reading for scholars of security
studies, political anthropology, the study of Islam in the west and
European studies.
This book raises the question of what an Indigenous church is and
how its members define their ties of affiliation or separation.
Establishing a pioneering dialogue between Amazonian and Gran Chaco
studies on Indigenous Christianity, the contributions address
historical processes, cosmological conceptions, ritual practices,
leadership dynamics, and material formations involved in the
creation and diversification of Indigenous churches. Instead of
focusing on the study of missionary ideologies and praxis, the book
explores Indigenous peoples' interpretations of Christianity and
the institutional arrangements they make to create, expand, or
dismantle their churches. In doing so, the volume offers a South
American contribution to the theoretical project of the
anthropology of Christianity, especially as it relates to the issue
of denominationalism and inter-denominational relations.
The present book examines the cultural diversities of the Northeast
region in India. The chapters cover various aspects of cultural
forms and practices of the communities. It serves as a bridge
between vanishing cultural forms and their commodification, on the
one hand, and their cultural ritual origins, evolution and
significance in identity formation, on the other. The book analyses
the continuity of cultural forms, their plural embodied
representations associated with people's belief systems and their
reinventions under globalisation. Further, the book underlines
historical forces such as colonialism and religious conversion that
transformed socio-cultural practices. Yet some of the pre-colonial,
ritual-performative traditions hold on. Theoretically rich in
analysis, this book presents a balanced view of the region's
historical, ethnic-folk and socio-cultural aspects. The book is
invaluable to students and researchers in cultural studies,
anthropology, folklore, history and literature. It is also helpful
for those critical readers engaged in research and interested in
Northeast cultural forms and practices.
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