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Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Anthropology
"A New History of Anthropology" collects original writings from
pre-eminent scholars to create a sophisticated but accessible guide
to the development of the field.
Re-examines the history of anthropology through the lens of the
new globalized world
Provides a comprehensive history of the discipline, from its
prehistory in the 'age of exploration' through to anthropology's
current condition and its relationship with other disciplines
Places ideas and practices within the context of their time and
place of origin
Looks at anthropology's role in colonization, early traditions in
the field, and topical issues from various periods in the field's
history, and examines its relationship to other disciplines
Tropes of Intolerance is a Baedeker of bigotry, a short course on
xenophobic racism and populist nationalism - both enduring threats
to the social fabric of democratic societies. Each chapter is a
self-contained commentary and a building block. In the first, the
author considers the concepts of pride and prejudice and discusses
patterns of discrimination and strategies of resistance. This is
following by an illustrated consideration of the emblems of enmity
- words, signs, symbols and other verbal and visual expressions of
both chauvinism and intolerance. Linking the first two, the third
chapter explores the nature of American Nativism and its
contemporary expression. This is followed by an assessment of the
exploitation of anxiety among particularly vulnerable sectors of
society by skillful, manipulative leaders and their agents and the
exacerbation of social divisions by the use of stereotyping,
stigmatizing, and labeling. Chapter Five, "Trumped Up," narrows the
focus to the present day, the president himself, and his
exacerbation of polarizing particularism. A sixth chapter examines
two of the most malignant ideologies -- resurgent anti-Semitism and
the rise of Islamophobia -- bringing readers full circle. In
addition to a brief Coda and a glossary of key terms related to the
principal topic, there is a post-election Afterword written in late
November, 2020.
A critical analysis of white, working class North Americans'
motivations and experiences when traveling to Central Europe for
donor egg IVF Each year, more and more Americans travel out of the
country seeking low cost medical treatments abroad, including
fertility treatments such as in vitro fertilization (IVF). As the
lower middle classes of the United States have been priced out of
an expensive privatized "baby business," the Czech Republic has
emerged as a central hub of fertility tourism, offering a
plentitude of blonde-haired, blue-eyed egg donors at a fraction of
the price. Fertility Holidays presents a critical analysis of
white, working class North Americans' motivations and experiences
when traveling to Central Europe for donor egg IVF. Within this
diaspora, patients become consumers, urged on by the representation
of a white Europe and an empathetic health care system, which seems
nonexistent at home. As the volume traces these American fertility
journeys halfway around the world, it uncovers layers of
contradiction embedded in global reproductive medicine. Speier
reveals the extent to which reproductive travel heightens the hope
ingrained in reproductive technologies, especially when the
procedures are framed as "holidays." The pitch of combining a
vacation with their treatment promises couples a stress-free IVF
cycle; yet, in truth, they may become tangled in fraught situations
as they endure an emotionally wrought cycle of IVF in a strange
place. Offering an intimate, first-hand account of North Americans'
journeys to the Czech Republic for IVF, Fertility Holidays exposes
reproductive travel as a form of consumption which is motivated by
complex layers of desire for white babies, a European vacation,
better health care, and technological success.
The Turkic-Turkish Theme in Traditional Malay Literature is the
first detailed study of the representation of the Turkic peoples
and Ottoman Turks in Malay literature between the 14th-19th
centuries. Drawing on a wide range of texts, Vladimir Braginsky
uncovers manifold metamorphoses and diverse forms of localisation
of this Turkic-Turkish theme. This theme has strongly influenced
the religious and political ideals and political mythology of Malay
society. By creating fictional rather than realistic portrayals of
the Turks and Turkey, imagining the king of Rum as the origin point
of Malay dynasties, and dreaming of Ottoman assistance in the jihad
against the colonial powers, Malay literati ultimately sought to
empower the Malay 'self' by bringing it closer to the Turkish
'other'.
This book is an "apologia" for the rooted intellectual against the
disdainful condescension of the cosmopolitan intellectual an
apology in the Socratic sense of the word. It reflects the author s
Texas rootedness unapologetically and offers a polemical but
thoughtful indictment of the intellectual prejudice against
rootedness; but it is ultimately about the universal human struggle
with origins.
Bettina E. Schmidt explores experiences usually labelled as spirit
possession, a highly contested and challenged term, using extensive
ethnographic research conducted in Sao Paulo, the largest city in
Brazil and home to a range of religions which practice spirit
possession. The book is enriched by excerpts from interviews with
people about their experiences. It focuses on spirit possession in
Afro-Brazilian religions and spiritism, as well as discussing the
notion of exorcism in Charismatic Christian communities. Spirits
and Trance in Brazil: An Anthropology of Religious Experience is
divided into three sections which present the three main areas in
the study of spirit possession. The first section looks at the
social dimension of spirit possession, in particular gender roles
associated with spirit possession in Brazil and racial
stratification of the communities. It shows how gender roles and
racial composition have adapted alongside changes in society in the
last 100 years. The second section focuses on the way people
interpret their practice. It shows that the interpretations of this
practice depend on the human relationship to the possessing
entities. The third section explores a relatively new field of
research, the Western discourse of mind/body dualism and the wide
field of cognition and embodiment. All sections together confirm
the significance of discussing spirit possession within a wider
framework that embraces physical elements as well as cultural and
social ones. Bringing together sociological, anthropological,
phenomenological and religious studies approaches, this book offers
a new perspective on the study of spirit possession.
Sex in the Middle East and North Africa examines the sexual
practices, politics, and complexities of the modern Arab world.
Short chapters feature a variety of experts in anthropology,
sociology, health science, and cultural studies. Many of the
chapters are based on original ethnographic and interview work with
subjects involved in these practices and include their voices. The
book is organized into three sections: Single and Dating, Engaged
and Married, and It's Complicated. The allusion to categories of
relationship status on social media is at once a nod to the
compulsion to categorize, recognition of the many ways that
categorization is rarely straightforward, and acknowledgment that
much of the intimate lives described by the contributors is
mediated by online technologies.
Each morning we establish an image and an identity for ourselves
through the simple act of getting dressed. Why Women Wear What they
Wear presents an intimate ethnography of clothing choice. The book
uses real women's lives and clothing decisions-observed and
discussed at the moment of getting dressed - to illustrate theories
of clothing, the body, and identity. Woodward pieces together what
women actually think about clothing, dress and the body in a world
where popular media and culture presents an increasingly extreme
and distorted view of femininity and the ideal body. Immediately
accessible to all those who have stood in front of a mirror and
wondered 'does my bum look big in this?', 'is this skirt really
me?' or 'does this jacket match?', Why Women Wear What they Wear
provides students of anthropology and fashion with a fresh
perspective on the social issues and constraints we are all
consciously or unconsciously negotiating when we get dressed.
Flexible Families examines the struggles among Nicaraguan migrants
in Costa Rica (and their families back in Nicaragua) to maintain a
sense of family across borders. The book is based on more than
twenty-four months of ethnographic fieldwork in Costa Rica and
Nicaragua (2009-2012) and more than ten years of engagement with
Nicaraguan migrant communities. Author Caitlin Fouratt finds that
migration and family intersect as sites for triaging inequality,
economic crisis, and a lack of state-provided social services since
the 1990s. Flexible Families situates transnational families in an
analysis of the history of unstable family life in Nicaragua due to
decades of war and economic crisis, rather than in the migration
process itself, which is often blamed for family breakdown in
public discourse. Fouratt argues that the kinds of family
configurations often seen as problematic consequences of
migration-specifically single mothers, absent fathers, and
grandmother caregivers-represent flexible family configurations
that have enabled Nicaraguan families to survive the chronic crises
of the past decades. By examining the work that goes into forging
and sustaining transnational kinship, the book argues for a
rethinking of national belonging and discourses of solidarity. In
parallel, the book critically examines conditions in Costa Rica,
especially the ways in which the instabilities and inequalities
that have haunted the rest of the region have begun to take shape
there, resulting in perceptions of increased crime rates and a
declining quality of life. By linking this crisis of Costa Rican
exceptionalism to recent immigration reform, the book also builds
on scholarship about the production and experiences of immigrant
exclusion. Flexible Families offers insight into the impacts of
increasingly restrictive immigration policies in the everyday lives
of transnational families within the developing world.
The state of Israel was established in 1948 as a Jewish democracy
without a legal separation between religion and the state. This
state-religion tension has been a central political, social, and
moral issue in Israel, resulting in a theocracy-democracy cultural
conflict between secular Jews and the fundamentalist
ultra-orthodox-Haredi-counter-cultural community in Israel. And one
of the major arenas where such conflicts are played out is the
media. An expert on the construction of social and moral problems,
Nachman Ben-Yehuda examines more than 50 years of media-reported
unconventional and deviant behavior by the Haredi community. He
finds that not only have they increased over the years, but their
most salient feature is violence. This violence is not random or
precipitated by some situational emotional rage-it is planned and
aims to achieve political goals. Using verbal and non-verbal
violence in the forms of curses, intimidations, threats, setting
fires, throwing stones, beatings, staging mass violations and more,
Haredi activists try to drive Israel towards a more theocratic
society. Most of the struggle is focused on feuds around the
state-religion status quo and the public arena. Driven by a
theological notion that stipulates that all Jews are mutually
responsible and accountable to the Almighty, these activists
believe that the sins of the few are paid by the many. Making
Israel a theocracy will, they believe, reduce the risk of
transcendental penalties. Like other democracies, Israel has had to
face significant theocratic and secular pressures. The political
structure that accommodates these contradicting pressures is
effectively a theocratic democracy. Characterized by chronic
negotiations, tensions, and accommodations, it is by nature an
unstable structure. However, it allows citizens with different
worldviews to live under one umbrella of a nation state without
tearing the social fabric apart.
This book is an interdisciplinary collection of essays on the
society and cultures of twenty-first century Japanese
transnationals: first-generation migrants (Issei), and their
descendants who were born and grew up outside Japan (Nikkei); and
Japanese nationals who today find themselves living overseas. The
authors-international specialists from anthropology, sociology,
history, and education-explore how individual and community
cultural identities are deeply integrated in ethnic and economic
structures, and how cultural heritage is manifested in various
Japanese transnational communities. These papers use individual
cases to tackle the bigger issues of personal identity, ethnic
community, and economic survival in an internationalized global
world. This book, then, offers new perspectives on the
anthropology, sociology, history, and economics of an important,
though largely under-reported, transnational community. While
previous studies have focused on a few specific and well-known
cases-for example, the World War II internment of Japanese
Americans and their attempts at redress, Japanese agriculture
workers in Brazil, or temporary "returnee" dekasegi workers-this
book examines Japanese transnationalism from a broader perspective,
including Japanese nationals living overseas permanently or
temporarily, and Europeans of Japanese ancestry who have recently
rediscovered their Japanese roots. Besides looking at Japanese and
Nikkei migrants in North and South America, this volume examines
some little-explored venues such as Indonesia, Spain, and Germany.
The connections among all these Japanese transnational
communities-real or imagined are explored ethnographically and
historically. And instead of simply focusing on social problems
resulting from racial discrimination-and the political actions
involved in implementing or fighting it-this volume offers more
nuanced dialogue about the issues involved with Japanese
transnationalism, in particular how ethnic identity is formed and
how Japanese transnational communities have been created, and
re-created, all over the world. Also, while until now less
attention has been paid to fitting the Japanese case into a larger
theoretical framework of globalization and migration studies, the
papers presented here-along with a detailed theoretical
introduction-attempt to rectify this.
The content of this volume reflects theoretical and practical
discussions on cultural issues influenced by increased adoption of
information and communication technologies. The penetration of new
forms of communication, such as online social networking, internet
video-casting, and massive online multiplayer gaming; the
experience and exploration of virtual worlds; and the massive
adoption of ever-emergent ICT technologies; are all developments in
desperate need of serious examination. It is not surprising that
these new realities, and the questions and issues to which they
give rise, have drawn increasing attention from academics. Those
engaging these issues do so from a wide range of academic fields.
Accordingly, the authors contributing to this volume represent an
impressive array of academic disciplines and varied perspectives,
including philosophy, sociology, religion, anthropology, digital
humanities, literature studies, film science, new media studies and
still others. Thus, the subsequent chapters offer the reader a
multidimensional examination of this volume's unifying theme: the
ways and extent to which current and anticipated cybernetic
environments have altered, and will continue to shape, our
understandings of what it means to be human.
Humanizing LIS Education and Practice: Diversity by Design
demonstrates that diversity concerns are relevant to all and need
to be approached in a systematic way. Developing the Diversity by
Design concept articulated by Dali and Caidi in 2017, the book
promotes the notion of the diversity mindset. Grouped into three
parts, the chapters within this volume have been written by an
international team of seasoned academics and practitioners who make
diversity integral to their professional and scholarly activities.
Building on the Diversity by Design approach, the book presents
case studies with practice models for two primary audiences: LIS
educators and LIS practitioners. Chapters cover a range of issues,
including, but not limited to, academic promotion and tenure; the
decolonization of LIS education; engaging Indigenous and
multicultural communities; librarians' professional development in
diversity and social justice; and the decolonization of library
access practices and policies. As a collection, the book
illustrates a systems-thinking approach to fostering diversity and
inclusion in LIS, integrating it by design into the LIS curriculum
and professional practice. Calling on individuals, organizations,
policymakers, and LIS educators to make diversity integral to their
daily activities and curriculum, Humanizing LIS Education and
Practice: Diversity by Design will be of interest to anyone engaged
in research and professional practice in Library and Information
Science.
New scientific discoveries, technologies and techniques often find
their way into the space and equipment of domestic and professional
kitchens. Using approaches based on anthropology, archaeology and
history, Cooking Technology reveals the impact these and the
associated broader socio-cultural, political and economic changes
have on everyday culinary practices, explaining why people
transform - or, indeed, refuse to change - their kitchens and food
habits. Focusing on Mexico and Latin America, the authors look at
poor, rural households as well as the kitchens of the well-to-do
and professional chefs. Topics range from state subsidies for
traditional ingredients, to the promotion of fusion foods, and the
meaning of kitchens and cooking in different localities, as a
result of people taking their cooking technologies and ingredients
with them to recreate their kitchens abroad. What emerges is an
image of Latin American kitchens as places where 'traditional' and
'modern' culinary values are constantly being renegotiated. The
thirteen chapters feature case studies of areas in Mexico, the
American-Mexican border, Cuba, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Venezuela,
Colombia, Peru, and Brazil. With contributions from an
international range of leading experts, Cooking Technology fills an
important gap in the literature and provides an excellent
introduction to the topic for students and researchers working in
food studies, anthropology, history, and Latin American studies.
The New Southern European Diaspora: Youth, Unemployment, and
Migration uses a qualitative and ethnographic approach to
investigate the movement of young adults from areas in southern
Europe that are still impacted by the 2008 economic crisis. With a
particular focus on Spain, Portugal, and Italy, Ricucci examines
the difficulties faced by young adults who are entering the labor
market and are developing plans to move abroad. Ricucci further
investigates mobility and its drivers, relationships among mobile
youth and their social networks, perceptions of intra-European
Union youth mobility, and the role of institutions, especially
schools, in the development of mobility plans. This book is
recommended for scholars of anthropology, political science, and
economics.
Whenever people from different cultural and religious backgrounds
converge, it produces tension and ambivalence. This study delves
into conflicts in interreligious educational processes in both
theory and practice, presenting the results of empirical research
conducted at schools and universities and formulating
ground-breaking practical perspectives for interreligious
collaboration in various religious-pedagogical settings.
This book explores Native American literary responses to biomedical
discourses and biomedicalization processes as they circulate in
social and cultural contexts. Native American communities resist
reductivism of biomedicine that excludes Indigenous (and
non-Western) epistemologies and instead draw attention to how
illness, healing, treatment, and genetic research are socially
constructed and dependent on inherently racialist thinking. This
volume highlights how interventions into the hegemony of
biomedicine are vigorously addressed in Native American literature.
The book covers tuberculosis and diabetes epidemics, the emergence
of Native American DNA, discoveries in biotechnology, and the
problematics of a biomedical model of psychiatry. The book analyzes
work by Louise Erdrich, Sherman Alexie, LeAnne Howe, Linda Hogan,
Heid E. Erdrich, Elissa Washuta and Frances Washburn. The book will
appeal to scholars of Native American and Indigenous Studies, as
well as to others with an interest in literature and medicine.
Fifteen years after the end of a protracted civil and regional war,
Beirut broke out in violence once again, forcing residents to
contend with many forms of insecurity, amid an often violent
political and economic landscape. Providing a picture of what
ordinary life is like for urban dwellers surviving sectarian
violence, The Insecure City captures the day-to-day experiences of
citizens of Beirut moving through a war-torn landscape. While
living in Beirut, Kristin Monroe conducted interviews with a
diverse group of residents of the city. She found that when people
spoke about getting around in Beirut, they were also expressing
larger concerns about social, political, and economic life. It was
not only violence that threatened Beirut's ordinary residents, but
also class dynamics that made life even more precarious. For
instance, the installation of checkpoints and the rerouting of
traffic - set up for the security of the elite - forced the less
fortunate to alter their lives in ways that made them more at risk.
Similarly, the ability to pass through security blockades often had
to do with an individual's visible markers of class, such as
clothing, hairstyle, and type of car. Monroe examines how
understandings and practices of spatial mobility in the city
reflect social differences, and how such experiences led residents
to be bitterly critical of their government. In The Insecure City,
Monroe takes urban anthropology in a new and meaningful direction,
discussing traffic in the Middle East to show that when people move
through Beirut they are experiencing the intersection of citizen
and state, of the more and less privileged, and, in general, the
city's politically polarized geography.
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