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Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Social institutions > Customs & folklore
"Embodied Resistance" engages the rich and complex range of
society's contemporary "body outlaws"--people from many social
locations who violate norms about the private, the repellent, or
the forbidden. This collection ventures beyond the conventional
focus on the "disciplined body" and instead, examines conformity
from the perspective of resisters. By balancing accessibly written
original ethnographic research with personal narratives, Embodied
Resistance provides a window into the everyday lives of those who
defy or violate socially constructed body rules and conventions.
Gathered here are gems galore, which, while revealing much as to
the Chinese national psyche, highlight particular traits and
characteristics that span the globe. We all know Chairman Mau's
infamous 'It doesn't matter what colour the cat, as long as it
catches mice', but most of us would only recognize an approximate
English equivalent of 'A mighty dragon cannot crush a local snake'
or, 'A Phoenix might come out of a crow's nest'. The beasts and
birds of legend and folklore provide the inimitable Kathryn Lamb's
pen with a feast of hilarious subjects, not least a certain
revolution at one ill-fated dinner party...
Ethnographies fatefully rely on chance encounters and mysteriously
so such encounters come true. "Dead in Banaras" is an instance of
just such a fateful chance encounter. In its inception, it set out
to follow the 'dead' across multiple social locations of
crematoria, hospital, morgue and the aghorashram, in order to
assemble a contemporary moment in the funerary iconicity of the
well known North Indian city of Banaras. The crematoria in plural
because the open-air manual pyres and closed-door electric furnaces
sit side by side within the symbolic inside of the city. The
hospital and morgue became chosen destinations because in the local
moral world, the city is a medical metropolis anchored by a famed
university hospital and storied through real life dramatic
narratives of medical emergency, saving and untimely death.
Aghorashram on the other hand as an urban Shaivite clinic and
hermitage for sexual and reproductive cures works with funerary
substances as pharmacopeia. Early on, while undertaking fieldwork,
these funerary journeys of the' dead' had a chance encounter with
the author's father's death in the city. The same set of places,
thereafter, spoke through the sensory logic of the author's
father's death. Dead in Banaras is, thus, both an ethnography of
being in the dead centre of a city and an autobiographical funeral
travelling (Shav Yatra) that narrates the city through a mourner's
logic of using the pyre to illuminate the dead as a multiplicity.
The interrelationship between fashion and celebrity is now a
salient and pervasive feature of the media world. This accessible
text presents the first in-depth study of the phenomenon, assessing
the degree to which celebrity culture has reshaped the fashion
system.
"Fashion and Celebrity Culture" critically examines the history
of this relationship from its growth in the nineteenth century to
its mutation during the twentieth century to the dramatic changes
that have transpired in the last two decades. It addresses the
fashion-celebrity nexus as it plays itself out across mainstream
cinema, television and music and in the celebrity status of a range
of designers, models and artists. It explores the strategies that
have enabled visual culture to recast itself in the new climate of
celebrity obsession, popular culture and the art world to respond
adaptively to its insistent pressures.
With its engaging analysis and case studies from Lillian Gish to
Louis Vuitton to Lady Gaga, "Fashion and Celebrity Culture" is of
major interest to students of fashion, media studies, film,
television studies and popular culture, and anyone with an interest
in this global phenomenon.
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.
In Victorian England, women's accessories were always much more
than incidental finishing touches to their elaborate dress.
Accessories helped women to fashion their identities.Victorian
Fashion Accessories explores how women's use of gloves, parasols,
fans and vanity sets revealed their class, gender and colonial
aspirations. The colour and fit of a pair of gloves could help a
middle-class woman indicate her class aspirations.The sun filtering
through a rose-colored parasol would provide a woman of a certain
age with the glow of youth. The use of a fan was a socially
acceptable means of attracting interest and flirting.Even the
choice of vanity set on a woman's bedroom dresser reflected her
complicity with colonial expansion. By paying attention to the
particular details of women's accessories we discover the beliefs
embedded in these artefacts and enhance our understanding of the
culture at large. Beaujot's engaging prose illuminates the complex
identities of the women who used accessories in the Victorian
culture that created and consumed them. Victorian Fashion
Accessories is essential reading for students and scholars of,
history, gender studies, cultural studies, material culture and
fashion studies, as well as anyone interested in the history of
dress.
Recent years have seen dramatic changes to the events industry. The
influence of social media and global communications technology,
increased focus on environmental sustainably and social
responsibility, and changes to the economic and cultural landscape
have driven rapid expansion and increased competition. Special
Events: Creating and Sustaining a New World for Celebration has
been the event planner's essential guide for three decades,
providing comprehensive coverage of the theory, concepts and
practice of event management. The new Eighth Edition continues to
be the definitive guide for creating, organizing, promoting, and
managing special events of all kinds. Authors, Seungwon "Shawn" Lee
and Joe Goldblatt, internationally-recognized leaders and educators
in the industry, guide readers through all the aspects of
professional event planning with their broad understanding of
diverse cultures and business sectors. This definitive resource
enables current and future event leaders to stretch the boundaries
of the profession and meaningfully impact individuals,
organizations, and cultures around the globe. Global case studies
of high-profile events, such as the PyeongChang Winter Olympic
Games and Norway's Constitution Day annual event, complement
discussions of contemporary issues surrounding safety, security,
and risk management. Each chapter includes "Ecologic," "Techview,"
and/or "Secureview," mini-case studies, a glossary of terms,
plentiful charts, graphs, and illustrations, and links to
additional online resources.
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.
Singing for the Gods develops a new approach towards an old
question in the study of religion - the relationship of myth and
ritual. Focusing on ancient Greek religion, Barbara Kowalzig
exploits the joint occurrence of myth and ritual in archaic and
classical Greek song-culture. She shows how choral performances of
myth and ritual, taking place all over the ancient Greek world in
the early fifth century BC, help to effect social and political
change in their own time. Religious song emerges as integral to a
rapidly changing society hovering between local, regional, and
panhellenic identities and between aristocratic rule and democracy.
Drawing on contemporary debates on myth, ritual, and performance in
social anthropology, modern history, and theatre studies, this book
establishes Greek religion's dynamic role and gives religious
song-culture its deserved place in the study of Greek history.
From booties and scarves to art and fashion, "The Culture of
Knitting" addresses knitting since 1970. Investigating knitting as
art, craft, design, fashion, performance and as an aspect of the
everyday, the text uncovers the cultural significance of knitting.
Drawing on a variety of sources, including interviews with knitters
from different disciplines as well as amateurs, the text breaks
down hierarchical boundaries and stereotypical assumptions that
have hitherto negated the academic study of knitting, and it
highlights the diversity and complexity of knitting in all its
guises. "The Culture of Knitting" investigates not merely why
knitting is so popular now, but the reasons why knitting has such
longevity. By assessing the literature of knitting, manuals,
patterns, social and regional histories, alongside testimonial
discussions with artists, designers, craftspeople and amateurs, it
offers new ways of seeing, new methods of critiquing knitting,
without the constraints of disciplinary boundaries in the hope of
creating an environment in which knitting can be valued, recognized
and discussed.
The iconic bags, the instantly recognizable packaging, the
celebrity fans - Hermes is the last word in luxurious accessories.
Through the generations, Hermes have created innovative and
exquisite accessories for the most glamorous customers. From their
nineteenth-century saddlery workshop to 1960s Paris and beyond,
Hermes has graced the arms and wardrobes of style icons from Grace
Kelly and Jane Birkin to Victoria Beckham and Kim Kardashian.
Little Book of Hermes tells the story of the evolution of the House
of Hermes, through beautiful illustrations of the most coveted
items and authoritative text by fashion historian Karen Homer.
This book provides a fascinating, up-to-date overview of the
social, cultural, economic, and political landscapes of Tanzania.
In Culture and Customs of Tanzania, author Kefa M. Otiso presents
an approachable basic overview of the country's key
characteristics, covering topics such as Tanzania's land, peoples,
languages, education system, resources, occupations, economy,
government, and history. This recent addition to Greenwood's
Culture and Customs of Africa series also contains chapters that
portray the culture and social customs of Tanzania, such as the
country's religion and worldview; literature, film, and media; art,
architecture, and housing; cuisine and traditional dress; gender
roles, marriage, family structures, and lifestyle; and music,
dance, and drama. Describes historical events from the late 1800s
to the present day Provides several maps depicting Tanzania's
location in Africa, major physical features, administrative units,
urban areas, ethnic groups, and population distribution Contains an
interdisciplinary bibliography of sources in the areas of
geography, history, anthropology, and popular culture Includes a
glossary of key terms, places, cities, ethnic groups, and
personalities
This collection of Japanese fairy tales is the outcome of a
suggestion made to me indirectly through a friend by Mr. Andrew
Lang. They have been translated from the modern version written by
Sadanami Sanjin. These stories are not literal translations, and
though the Japanese story and all quaint Japanese expressions have
been faithfully preserved, they have been told more with the view
to interest young readers of the West than the technical student of
folk - lore. Grateful acknowledgment is due to Mr. Y. Yasuoka, Miss
Fusa Okamoto, my brother Nobumori Ozaki, Dr. Yoshihiro Takaki, and
Miss Kameko Yamao, who have helped me with translations.
Throughout its history Nicaragua has been plagued by corruption,
social and racial inequality, civil unrest, and foreign
interference. Yet despite being the second poorest nation in South
America, Nicaragua maintains a rich and vibrant culture that
reflects its strong Catholic devotion, diverse indigenous roots,
and overwhelming zest for life. Culture and Customs of Nicaragua
introduces students and general readers to Nicaragua's unique blend
of religious and traditional holidays, so numerous that the country
is said to be in a constant state of celebration; its growing film
industry; its many styles of dance, the popular "street theatre"
open to all bystanders; important contributions to Spanish
literature, local cuisines, architecture, social norms, and more.
Readers learn what it is like to live in one of Latin America's
most disillusioned countries but also discover the passionate
culture that defines and sustains the Nicaraguan people.
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