The whole world is changing with incredible speed towards something radically new, yet people across the globe also show resistance to the forces that homogenize our lives. This book deals with a community that has found its niche in the remote Niamgiri mountain range of Odisha (India) and is struggling to preserve its way of life: the Dongria Kond. In recent years, they made the headlines as the real "Avatars" because they successfully fought a multinational company's plans to mine the mountains. From the perspective of the Dongria Kond, these mountains are the seat of gods, and the whole environment is animated by spiritual forces. This highly complex cosmic order includes humans and non-humans and rests on a divine law (niam). This book captures the viewpoint of the Dongria Kond and provides deep insights into their vision of the world. It offers elaborate accounts of how the Dongria relate to the outside world, conceive of their own society and engage in complex rituals in order to (re-)establish the cosmos. The book confronts the reader with radically different imaginings of familiar human concerns: love, fertility, wealth, status and well-being.

Intimate relationships exist in social domains, in which there are cultural rules regarding appropriate behaviors. But they also inhabit psychological domains of thoughts, feelings, and desires. How are intimate relationships experienced by people living in various types of romantic or sexual relationships and in various cultural regions around the world? In what ways are they similar, and in what ways are they different? This book presents a cross-cultural extension of the findings originating from the classic Boston Couples Study. Amassing a wealth of new data from almost 9,000 participants worldwide, Hill explores the factors that predict having a current partner, relationship satisfaction, and relationship commitment. These predictions are compared across eight relationship types and nine cultural regions, then uniquely combined in a Comprehensive Partner Model and a Comprehensive Commitment Model. The findings test the generalizability of previous theories about intimate relationships, with implications for self-reflection, couples counseling, and well-being.

This innovative volume demonstrates that the body was central to the construction and maintenance of British authority in India. "Imperial Bodies" explores ways in which the transformation of the British presence in India between 1800 and 1947 involved and relied upon changes in the way the British in India managed, disciplined and displayed their bodies. The move from commerce to control, and then to imperialism and Empire corresponded to a shift in bodily norms. As the nineteenth century progressed, an openness and interest in India gave way to a ban on things Indian. The British rejected curries for tinned ham, cool white clothing for black broadcloth and Indian mistresses for English wives. By the twentieth century, the British official had been transformed into an upright, decent representative of British virtues whose task was to bring civilization to India.

By the late nineteenth century, racial theory focused attention on the physique to such an extent that the body became a distinct category within official discourse, regarded as an instrument of rule. The body was used symbolically during Raj ceremonial, and even the pith helmet worn by officials was turned from a reminder of British vulnerability in the tropics into a symbol of British power.

Through an in-depth discussion of texts and practices, the body is introduced into the historical account as an active social principle: a force in the construction of social inequalities along lines of race and class. Drawing on a wide range of sources including government records, newspapers, private letters, medical handbooks and cookery books, E.M. Collingham paints a vivid picture of the life and manners of the Britishin India.

This important contribution to both British and imperial history will appeal to students and scholars of cultural and colonial history.

Family businesses have been an important part of the economy in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, and in the Chinese diaspora, and, since the reforms, in mainland China itself. Some people have argued that the success of Chinese family businesses occurs because of the special characteristics and approach of such businesses. This book examines the nature of Chinese family business and the key issues involved by exploring in detail the case of a leading Hong Kong jewellery company which was established in the early 1960s and which has grown to become one of the biggest jewellery manufacturers, exporters, and retailers in post-war Hong Kong. The book considers the motivations of Chinese people to set up their own businesses, outlining the strategies adopted, including the strategies for raising capital, and the qualities of successful Chinese entrepreneurs. It discusses the management of the company, including relations between family members, profit sharing and succession planning, and assesses how conflict and crises are coped with and overcome. It charts the evolution of the company, looking at how it has been transformed into a listed corporation. The book concludes by arguing for the importance of studying Chinese family businesses culturally.

Who are wild geese families? They are middle-class Korean transnational families whose mothers and children migrate abroad for children's education while fathers remain in Korea and economically support their families. While their transnational separation is initiated as a family strategy, it unexpectedly leads to substantial transformations in their lives and relationships. Korean Wild Geese Families explores the experiences of Korean wild geese families in North America, focusing on their gender, family, social, and legal dynamics throughout transnational separation: before separation, during separation, and after reunification. Se Hwa Lee discusses the themes of (1) changes in wild geese parents' relative gender statuses, housework patterns, and spousal relationships; (2) changes in mothering/fathering practices and intergenerational relationships; and (3) wild geese families' settlement and integration in the host societies and re-adaptation to Korea after family reunification. To further the discussion, Se Hwa Lee includes interviews with mothers in both the United States and Canada, as well as fathers in Korea, so that she compares the effects of immigration policies between the two countries and presents gender-balanced explanations. The author sheds light on Asian documented immigrants' hardships and different degrees of empowerment and incorporation in the host societies by the type of legal status.

Around one in five prisoners report the previous or current incarceration of a parent. Many such prisoners attest to the long-term negative effects of parental incarceration on one's own sense of self and on the range and quality of opportunities for building a conventional life. And yet, the problem of intergenerational incarceration has received only passing attention from academics, and virtually little if any consideration from policy makers and correctional officials. This book - the first of its kind - offers an in-depth examination of the causes, experiences and consequences of intergenerational incarceration. It draws extensively from surveys and interviews with second-, third-, fourth- and fifth-generation prisoners to explicate the personal, familial and socio-economic contexts typically associated with incarceration across generations. The book examines 1) the emergence of the prison as a dominant if not life-defining institution for some families, 2) the link between intergenerational trauma, crime and intergenerational incarceration, 3) the role of police, courts, and corrections in amplifying or ameliorating such problems, and 4) the possible means for preventing intergenerational incarceration. This is undeniably a book that bears witness to many tragic and traumatic stories. But it is also a work premised on the idea that knowing these stories - knowing that they often resist alignment with pre-conceived ideas about who prisoners are or who they might become - is part and parcel of advancing critical debate and, more importantly, of creating real change. Written in a clear and direct style, this book will appeal to students and scholars in criminology, sociology, cultural studies, social theory and those interested in learning about more about families in prison.

This book presents new interdisciplinary and intersectional research about women as mothers, highlighting that alternative accounts of mothering can challenge normative societal assumptions and broaden understandings of women as mothers, mothering and motherhoods. Mothering occurs within unequal power relations associated with the disadvantages and privileges of an unjust and patriarchal society. Social inequalities associated with gender, race, class, age, ability, sexuality, violence and nationalism intersect in the lives of women as mothers, to shape their lived experiences and perspectives on mothering. Showcasing the breadth and depth of feminist research on mothering, this book gives attention to the diversity of ways in which mothering is constructed and responded to as well as how mothering is experienced. Drawing on intersectional feminist thought, the book challenges normative visions of 'good mothering' and interrogates constructs of 'bad mothering'. It brings together insights from multidisciplinary scholars who use feminist approaches in their research on mothering, to inform policy development and practice when working with women as mothers in diverse circumstances. Intersections of Mothering highlights the complexities of mothering in a contemporary world, show the benefits of considering mothering through an intersectional feminist lens, make visible lived experiences of mothers and provides challenges to dominant imaginings of and service responses to women as mothers. Intersections of Mothering will be essential reading for interdisciplinary scholars and students in criminology, gender and women's studies, motherhood studies, social welfare, social work, social policy and public health policy, in addition to practitioners and policy workers that respond to women as mothers.

The Passage from Youth to Adulthood explores a society unanchored from culturally endorsed rites of passage, in which young people and adults appear to build their identities within a culture of dependency. In this book, author Pierluca Birindelli interviews Italian young adults still living with their parents, and focuses on how those individuals view the bedroom and the objects therein. From there, he analyzes self-narrations and longer autobiographies written by university students, measuring his impressions against sociological, psychological, and anthropological literature. Birindelli explores the paradigm of what he calls "intergenerational collusion," in which fathers and sons are playing to the same script, heedless of the common good, the other, and the future. Finally, integrating the experience of young Americans abroad sparks transcultural reflections about the concept of play and the authenticity of social performance.

- Includes contributions from a wide range of international authors. - The first book to address the dynamic issues related to sexuality from a social work perspective. - Provides a holistic overview of the topic by including both diverse and inclusive perspectives.

Supriya Singh tells the stories of 12 Anglo-Celtic and Indian women in Australia who survived economic abuse. She describes the lived experience of coercive control underlying economic abuse across cultures. Each story shows how the woman was trapped and lost her freedom because her husband denied her money, appropriated her assets and sabotaged her ability to be in paid work. These stories are about silence, shame and embarrassment that this could happen despite professional and graduate education. Some of the women were the main earners in their household. Women spoke of being afraid, of trying to leave, of losing their sense of self. Many suffered physical and mental ill-health, not knowing what would trigger the violence. Some attempted suicide. None of the women fully realised they were suffering family violence through economic abuse, whilst it was happening to them. The stories of Anglo-Celtic and Indian women show economic abuse is not associated with a specific system of money management and control. It is when the morality of money is betrayed that control becomes coercive. Money as a medium of care then becomes a medium of abuse. The women's stories demonstrate the importance of talking about money and relationships with future partners, across life stages and with their sons and daughters. The women saw this as an essential step for preventing and lessening economic abuse. A vital read for scholars of domestic abuse and family violence that will also be valuable for sociologists of money.

This book discusses and analyses the ways in which fatherhood is in transition in contemporary and globalized society. The authors identify and examine fathering practices in relation to hegemonic and marginal patterns of masculinity, the concept of heteronormativity and sexuality, and patterns of segregation, class and national differences. Contextualised in relation to theories of fatherhood and relevant statistics, Fatherhood in Transition presents rich empirical material gathered in a number of western countries. It focuses on key themes including transnational fathering and families, gay fathers and the virtual global arena of fatherhood images found on the internet. Containing a number of new discussions about masculinity and fatherhood, whilst contributing to and developing existing debates and theories about men, masculinity, gender and society, this book will be of interest to students and scholars across a range of disciplines, including Men's Studies, Gender Studies, Sociology, Psychology, Media Studies and Cultural Studies.

Rachel Spronk has written a well composed, highly interesting and maybe even path-breaking book... It is innovative in its focus on sexuality as bodily experience and implications for 'the gendered sense of self' of these young men and women and] is also innovative in terms of methodology; first and foremost by its focus on a group of young professional men and women. . Signe Arnfred, Roskilde University

Spronk's theoretical take on this theme is seminal and challenging. She convincingly shows that a constructivist approach - emphasizing the social and historical construction of people's practices and views on sex and sexuality - is highly relevant to understanding how people navigate their lives. But she emphasizes also its limitations because her informants' insistence that the natural, bodily power of sexual feelings has to be brought in as well. . Peter Geschiere, University of Amsterdam

Among both male and female young urban professionals in Nairobi, sexuality is a key to achieving a 'modern' identity. These young men and women see themselves as the avant garde of a new Africa, while they also express the recurring worry of how to combine an 'African' identity with the new lifestyles with which they are experimenting. By focusing on public debates and their preoccupations with issues of African heritage, gerontocratic power relations and conventional morality on the one hand, and personal sexual relationships, intimacy and self-perceptions on the other, this study works out the complexities of sexuality and culture in the context of modernity in an African society. It moves beyond an investigation of a health or development perspective of sexuality and instead examines desire, pleasure and eroticism, revealing new insights into the methodology and theory of the study of sexuality within the social sciences. Sexuality serves as a prism for analysing how social developments generate new notions of self in postcolonial Kenya and is a crucial component towards understanding the way people recognize and deal with modern changes in their personal lives.

Rachel Spronk is Assistant Professor at the Sociology and Anthropology Department at the University of Amsterdam. She has published on intimacy and middle class formation in Kenya, on methodological questions of sexuality research and on the bounds of poststructural approaches to understand how sex(uality) is experienced.

This book explores a deeply personal aspect of globalization: the adoption of Asian children by white Americans. It is based on dozens of interviews with adoptive mothers and adoption social workers, nearly two hundred letters and essays written by Korean birth mothers who put their children up for adoption, and field work at an adoption agency in South Korea. It also includes analyses and explanations of U.S. and South Korean governments' social characteristics and policies regarding adoptions and how relations between nations have affected international adoption. The book focuses on whether the commonly held notion that adoptions are to serve children's welfare and their best interests has tended to render gendered aspects of international adoptions invisible. Factors such as gender inequality, social control of women's reproductive power, patriarchic family structure, and social beliefs concerning womanhood and motherhood that affect international adoptions are revealed in this book. The multiple ways in which adoptive, birth, and foster mothers experience gender oppression from their different social positions of class, race, and nationality are explored and the interdependencies and inequalities of the motherhoods of these three groups of women are brought to light.

Unique in its intergenerational approach to understanding motherhood in China, this book sets out to study Chinese mothers' experiences of childrearing, emphasising that gender is not immutable and that motherhood is not isolated from other social domains. The author adopts an historical and sociological design with a case study approach to investigate three living generations of women from 12 families of varied social-economic backgrounds in China. By comparing three aspects of these mothers' lives - namely the growing-up experiences, mothering experiences and intergenerational transmission between mothers and daughters - this research provides an invaluable opportunity to 'observe' how changing structural elements shaped mothers' varied subjectivities similarly or differently. It also addresses the continuities of the women's experiences, highlighting the gendered and devalued roles in childcare that existed across three generations, reflecting the complex dynamic relationship between women's agency and China's social structures. This is an essential read for researchers, students, professionals and practitioners in the fields of sociology of families, childhood and education, gender studies, motherhood/parenthood studies, narrative studies, social policy and development studies.

Little research has explored the everyday, simple and long-term experience of maternal holding, particularly after the first year of a child's life. The research that has been undertaken commonly examines holding through the lens of attachment with a focus on the impact of holding upon the child. Employing an arts-based collaborative inquiry approach, participants' stories of holding, as well as the author's own, convey the significant maternal experiences of holding their children over individual arts therapeutic sessions. Optimal moments of holding included strange, powerful and meaningful experiences of expansion into self-in-relationship. Attention is drawn to the ways in which holding can alert us to the current state of mother/child relationships; how we understand, story and structure those relationships; and the ways in which we can attend to holding in order to develop deeply satisfying experiences of a mother/child 'us'. An Arts Therapeutic Approach to Maternal Holding aims to draw attention to the intersubjective qualities of the mother/child relationship, explore why holding matters, and offer suggestions for therapeutic practice. This book is essential reading for therapeutic practitioners and those in allied health fields who work with mothers and children.

It's no secret that tens of thousands of Chinese children have been adopted by American parents and that Western aid organizations have invested in helping orphans in China-but why have Chinese authorities allowed this exchange, and what does it reveal about processes of globalization? Countries that allow their vulnerable children to be cared for by outsiders are typically viewed as weaker global players. However, Leslie K. Wang argues that China has turned this notion on its head by outsourcing the care of its unwanted children to attract foreign resources and secure closer ties with Western nations. She demonstrates the two main ways that this "outsourced intimacy" operates as an ongoing transnational exchange: first, through the exportation of mostly healthy girls into Western homes via adoption, and second, through the subsequent importation of first-world actors, resources, and practices into orphanages to care for the mostly special needs youth left behind. Outsourced Children reveals the different care standards offered in Chinese state-run orphanages that were aided by Western humanitarian organizations. Wang explains how such transnational partnerships place marginalized children squarely at the intersection of public and private spheres, state and civil society, and local and global agendas. While Western societies view childhood as an innocent time, unaffected by politics, this book explores how children both symbolize and influence national futures.

Sharing the care of children in families is increasingly becoming the norm in modern-day society as more mothers enter paid work and government campaigns endeavour to increase the number of men working in childcare. However, running alongside debates of gender imbalance in childcare, there has also been mounting anxiety from the media and public about the risks of child abuse, often perceived as being mostly perpetrated by men and calling for firmer regulation of men's involvement with children. This book asks whether men's care for children, both as fathers and practitioners, actually differs at all from the care provided by mothers and female carers? In what ways do men and concepts of masculinity need to change if they are to play a greater role in the care of children or are such societal perceptions based on outdated gender stereotypes? Bringing together cutting-edge theory, up-to-date research and current practice, this book analyses the role of both fathers and male professionals working with children and highlights the implications of this for future policy and practice. It also examines dominant notions of masculinity and representations of male carers in the media and popular culture, asking how our societal expectations may need to evolve if men are to play an equal role in the care of children as demanded by current policy and wider social developments.

This book examines, in a culturally and contextually sensitive way, the particularity of what it means to be young in post-Mao China undergoing rapid and dramatic transformation by comparing childhood and youth experiences over three generations. The analysis draws on life-history interviews with Beijing young men and women in their last upper secondary year, their parents and their grandparents. The book offers a comprehensive coverage of the various aspects of life pertinent to youth experiences and compares each of these across three generations, treating them as interrelated and mutually affecting processes - childhood, intergenerational relationships, education and future plans, gender and sexuality. By offering both men's and women's accounts of their childhood and youth experiences, which for the three generations combined extend over nearly a century, the book sheds useful light on how gender and sexuality have evolved in China. Fengshu Liu concludes that the young generation's lives feature a 'maximization desire', in sharp contrast to the two older generations' childhood and youth experiences. The book meticulously weaves rich ethnographic details and individual life stories into a larger and unfolding picture of historical, social and cultural trends, while providing critical insight into Chinese modernization and modernity against the backdrop of globalization. It can thus be an enjoyable read also for people beyond the academia interested in China's social and cultural transformation and its children and youth.

Based on field studies and in-depth interviews across rural and urban China, this book presents a socio-legal analysis of non-state organised care for some of China's most vulnerable children. The first full-length book to examine non-state organised care of modern China's 'lonely children' (gu'er), this book describes the context in which abandonment occurs and the care provided to children unlikely to be adopted because of their disability. It also explores the various faith groups and humanitarian workers providing this care in private orphanages and foster homes in response to perceived deficiencies in the state orphanage system, in the context of a broader societal shift from 'welfare statism' to 'welfare pluralism'. Formal law and policy has not always kept pace with this shift. This study demonstrates that, in practice, state regulation of these unauthorised care providers has mostly centred on local-level negotiations, hidden rules, and discretion, with mixed outcomes for children. However there has also been a recent shift towards tighter state control and clearer laws, policies, and standards. This timely research sheds light on the life paths and stories of today's 'lonely children' and the changing terrain of civil society, humanitarianism, policy-making, and state power in modern China. As such, this book will appeal to students and scholars of Asian and Chinese studies, law and society, NGOs, and comparative social and child welfare.

Narrative and Dramatic Approaches to Children's Life Story with Foster, Adoptive and Kinship Families outlines narrative and dramatic approaches to improve vulnerable family relationships. It provides a model which offers new ways for parents to practise communicating with their children and develop positive relationships. The book focuses on the Theatre of Attachment model - a highly innovative approach which draws from a strong theoretical base to demonstrate the importance of narrative and dramatic play for sharing the children's life history in the family home with their adoptive, foster or kinship parents. An emphasis is on having fun ways to work through complex feelings and divided loyalties, so as to secure attachment. This practice model aims to raise children's self-esteem and communication skills and to combat the profound effects of abuse, neglect on trauma on children's development. This book will be of great interest for academics, post-graduate students, universities and Training bodies, service providers and practitioners involved in social work and creative therapies, child psychologists, child psychotherapists and public and private adoption and foster care agencies.

On Divorce is an anti-divorce treatise by Louis de Bonald, originally published in 1801 in response to the institution of divorce in France in the aftermath of the French Revolution. Examining the social structures of Christians, Jews, Asians, Greeks, and Romans, On Divorce links a theory of the family to a theory of politics and argues the family is a basic component of a stable society. As a politician, Bonald gave a crucial anti-divorce speech in the French legislature that summarized the argument of On Divorce. Due largely to Bonald's efforts, France abolished divorce in 1816.

According to Bonald, human society is composed of three interactive societies: religious society, domestic society (the family), and public society (the state). These societies operate on common principles and can only be analyzed in relation to one another. Since, in this view, the family, not the individual, is the basic unit of society, divorce represents a fundamental assault on the social order.

Bonald was one of the three principal founders of conservatism, along with Edmund Burke and Joseph de Maistre. Bonald's influence has been felt across the political spectrum and in areas as diverse as political theory, sociology, and literature. Of great interest to students of political philosophy, this work will be of equal value to those concerned with divorce and other social questions.

Parent-directed aggression and violence by children is a complex issue and may not be explained by focusing upon a single factor. The affected parents tend to delay seeking help from professionals due to not knowing where to seek help or even an inability to identify their experiences as a problem. This book provides parents and professionals with the much-needed information to tackle this incidence. In this book, Hue San Kuay and Graham Towl draw upon the evidence from past studies and case examples to describe the occurrence of child to parent aggression and violence, and highlight the roles by individuals and communities in intervening and preventing agression and violence. The nature-versus-nurture debate is included and callous-unemotional traits are explained as a predictor of aggression. The effect of parent-directed aggression is discussed, and prevention and intervention methods are presented. Delaying help-seeking could lead to serious consequences and make it harder to effectively intervene. Child to Parent Aggression and Violence is an essential read for practitioners and researchers working with parents, and most importantly, for parents themselves. This book includes suggestions for interventions, self-assessment on parent-directed aggression by children, and points of contact as reference to ease the process for both parents and practitioners. The authors will donate their royalties in full to Family Lives, UK. This organisation was registered as a charity in 1999. Previously known as Parentline, they provide support for families through a helpline and also offer drop-in sessions. They give tailored parental support within the community and schools, and offer support on issues such as bullying, special educational needs, and support for specific groups.

Parent-directed aggression and violence by children is a complex issue and may not be explained by focusing upon a single factor. The affected parents tend to delay seeking help from professionals due to not knowing where to seek help or even an inability to identify their experiences as a problem. This book provides parents and professionals with the much-needed information to tackle this incidence. In this book, Hue San Kuay and Graham Towl draw upon the evidence from past studies and case examples to describe the occurrence of child to parent aggression and violence, and highlight the roles by individuals and communities in intervening and preventing agression and violence. The nature-versus-nurture debate is included and callous-unemotional traits are explained as a predictor of aggression. The effect of parent-directed aggression is discussed, and prevention and intervention methods are presented. Delaying help-seeking could lead to serious consequences and make it harder to effectively intervene. Child to Parent Aggression and Violence is an essential read for practitioners and researchers working with parents, and most importantly, for parents themselves. This book includes suggestions for interventions, self-assessment on parent-directed aggression by children, and points of contact as reference to ease the process for both parents and practitioners. The authors will donate their royalties in full to Family Lives, UK. This organisation was registered as a charity in 1999. Previously known as Parentline, they provide support for families through a helpline and also offer drop-in sessions. They give tailored parental support within the community and schools, and offer support on issues such as bullying, special educational needs, and support for specific groups.

In the last forty years anthropologists have made major contributions to understanding the heterogeneity of reproductive trends and processes underlying them. Fertility transition, rather than the story of the triumphant spread of Western birth control rationality, reveals a diversity of reproductive means and ends continuing before, during, and after transition. This collection brings together anthropological case studies, placing them in a comparative framework of compositional demography and conjunctural action. The volume addresses major issues of inequality and distribution which shape population and social structures, and in which fertility trends and the formation and size of families are not decided solely or primarily by reproduction.