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Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Anthropology > General
The charismatic movement has a high profile in contemporary Christianity. The book's contributors include insiders and outsiders, charismatics and sociologists; with Britain as their focus, they trace the movement's international connections, historical development and variety. The book provides a wealth of information and analysis which will interest both those within the movement and students of religion wanting to know more about it.
The primordial bonds of early societies-common ancestry or tribal bonds and territorial or neighborhood bonds-are at the root of early political organization. States based on common tribal or ethnic identity have tended to develop into highly nationalistic states. The civic state, based upon territory, appeared in embryonic form in Athens. It was Rome, however, that made the complete transition, creating a civic state based on an association of free citizens, irrespective of ethnicity. The tribal state in its extreme, often totalitarian, form has led to genocide, holocausts, and ethnic cleansing. The civic or territorial state has developed into modern pluralistic, multiethnic, democratic states with equal rights for diverse groups. This was accomplished by a historical process of separation of ethnicity from citizenship. As Feliks Gross shows, there are many types of civic and tribal states: they do not fit into a single model, but they can be grouped into related families. This important survey of political and social development will be of great interest to students and scholars of political sociology, ethnic studies, and political history.
Japan remains one of the most intriguing yet least understood nations. In a much needed balanced and comprehensive analysis, among other remarkable revelations, this book presents for the first time a vital key to understanding the organization of Japan's society and the behavior of its people. The Japanese are not driven by a universal morality based on good and Evil, but by broad aesthetic concepts based on Pure and Impure. What they include as "impure" will surprise many readers.
Phantom limb pain is one of the most intractable and merciless pains ever known-a pain that haunts appendages that do not physically exist, often persisting with uncanny realness long after fleshy limbs have been traumatically, surgically, or congenitally lost. The very existence and "naturalness" of this pain has been instrumental in modern science's ability to create prosthetic technologies that many feel have transformative, self-actualizing, and even transcendent power. In Phantom Limb, Cassandra S. Crawford critically examines phantom limb pain and its relationship to prosthetic innovation, tracing the major shifts in knowledge of the causes and characteristics of the phenomenon. Crawford exposes how the meanings of phantom limb pain have been influenced by developments in prosthetic science and ideas about the extraordinary power of these technologies to liberate and fundamentally alter the human body, mind, and spirit. Through intensive observation at a prosthetic clinic, interviews with key researchers and clinicians, and an analysis of historical and contemporary psychological and medical literature, she examines the modernization of amputation and exposes how medical understanding about phantom limbs has changed from the late-19th to the early-21st century. Crawford interrogates the impact of advances in technology, medicine, psychology and neuroscience, as well as changes in the meaning of limb loss, popular representations of amputees, and corporeal ideology. Phantom Limb questions our most deeply held ideas of what is normal, natural, and even moral about the physical human body.
In this ground-breaking book, a theory of 'distortion' - of the way in which the processes of human life are subject to interference, diversion and transformation - is developed by way of the art of one of Britain's greatest twentieth-century painters and that art's public reception. Devoted to his native village of Cookham-on-Thames, Stanley Spencer painted not only landscapes and portraits with loving detail but also the 'memory-feelings' which he felt were a 'sacred' part of his consciousness. Yet Spencer was also a controversial public figure, with some taking the view that his visionary paintings were ugly distortions of human life, even marks of an immoral nature. Examining how Spencer lived his vision, how he painted it and wrote it, and also how his attempts to communicate that vision were received by his contemporaries and have continued to be interpreted since his death, the author posits distortion as key: an intrinsic aspect both of human creation and of human interaction. What we intend to make, to say, to do and have done, often mutates in the process of being expressed or put into effect: we live amid distortion. Love - the affective appreciation of one another - is then a means by which we accommodate distortion and its consequences in our lives. An illustration, through Stanley Spencer's story, of significant aspects of a human condition, this book will appeal across disciplines, including to art historians and students of Spencer's work, as well as to scholars of anthropology with interests in creativity, perception and interpretation.
Events are "generative moments" in at least three senses: events are created by and condense larger-scale social structures; as moments, they spark and give rise to new social processes; in themselves, events may also serve to analyze social situations and relationships. Based on ethnographic studies from around the world-varying from rituals and meetings over protests and conflicts to natural disasters and management-this volume analyzes generative moments through events that hold the key to understanding larger social situations. These events-including the Ashura ritual in Bahrain, social cleavages in South Africa, a Buddhist cave in Nepal, drought in Burkina Faso, an earthquake in Pakistan, the cartoon crisis in Denmark, corporate management at Bang & Olufsen, protest meetings in Europe, and flooding and urban citizenship in Mozambique-are not simply destructive disasters, crises, and conflicts, but also generative and constitutive of the social.
Volume three concerns political action on the margins of conventional political participation in a democracy: extremist, protest, and social movements. This theme covers a huge spectrum, ranging from pro-democracy movements in authoritarian regimes to anti-democratic extremist. The volume is organised in four sections: first, a theoretical paper linking the social movements literature to the literature on democratization; second, a series of comparative studies; third, essays on the United States and western Europe; and finally, a set of studies of successful or failed democratic transition in Yugoslavia, South Africa and the Philippines. The first section presents an ambitious synthesis of social movement theories with the 'political interactionist' theories of democratization associated with Guillermo O'Donnell, Philippe Schmitter, Adam Przeworski and others. The second section contains comparative studies, examining whether recent right-wing extremist voting in western Europe represents a real shift to the right. Two dimensions of nationalism in eastern Europe are examined and another chapter looks at two contextual factors affecting political protest in western democracies: mobilization by collective organizations and national political and socioeconomic conditions. Finally Karl-Dieter Opp examines the prospective role of political protest in the European unification process. Four papers pursue the analysis of contemporary far right in France, Germany and Austria. What are the characteristics of French National Front voters? Focus is also placed on right-wing violence in unified Germany and racism and anti-semitism in Austria. Two potential threats to democracy are studied: Basque terrorism and nazism in interwar Germany. Finally in this, there is an examination of the rise to power of the Nazy Party in Germany.
This anthology brings together studies of post-colonial, post-Cold War Central Eurasia. This part of the world is in transition from Soviet institutions to independent statehood, nation building, resistance against state expansion, cultural change and the release of market forces. The theoretical framework of the study is called 'critical geo-politics.' The objective of the work is to better comprehend the nature of the post-colonial 'Great Game'. Part I studies US power projection activity in the region. America is extending its World War II trans-oceanic 'defense perimeter into the fossile fuel rich area between integrating Europe, recovering Russia and industrializing China. Part II details various aspects of state-nation building and soci-cultural and economic change in the region. Part III studies interactions between outsiders, neighbors and Central Asian Republics. Conflict and cooperation in the Caspian region is studied in part IV, with Aral Sea and Azerbijan as cases. Revised edition of the book published under the same title in 2004 (ISBN 90 04 12809 3).
Immigrants, Schooling and Social Mobility confronts a central issue in the study of immigration and ethnicity of the opposition between culture and structure, and presents a collection of essays that transcend simplistic either/or approaches to this issue. The contributions explore educational and economic mobility of immigrant groups in Europe and America.
Nursing practice needs to be informed by an understanding of people and the societies in which they live. This introductory text has been designed specifically to discuss those aspects of sociology which are most relevant to nursing and the health care context in which it takes place. Divided into five sections linking to key issues of relevance to nursing, it provides an accessible introduction to major sociological themes and ideas. Each chapter clearly sets out the key concepts itcovers and includes case studies and examples which link to a variety of settings and client groups. The reader is encouraged to consider issues critically,via the use of reflection and discussion questions, and further reading and references are provided for each chapter. At the end of the book, there is a helpful glossary of sociological terminology. All students taking nursing and health sciences courses, and social sciences modules will find this book a readable and above all, relevant, introduction to sociology and health care.Applied to Nursing and Health Care Explains sociological ideas and theories in terms of their relevance to nursing practiceStudent features include: Discussion Questions, Case Studies and Further Reading Glossary of Terms
This book focuses attention on a relatively neglected component of communication-silence-in order to present current research from a number of disciplines and also to stimulate further research on the subject. Silence is often viewed as an out-of-awareness phenomenon against which talk is perceived. By reversing polarities and treating silence as a figure to be examined against talk, we are given a heightened awareness of the universal aspects of human behavior while emphasizing its complex nature as a cultural phenomenon.
What is existential anthropology, and how would you define it? What has been gained by using existential perspectives in your fieldwork and writing? Editors Michael Jackson and Albert Piette each invited anthropologists on both sides of the Atlantic to address these questions and explore how various approaches to the human condition might be brought together on the levels of method and of theory. Both editors also bring their own perspective: while Jackson has drawn on phenomenology, deploying the concepts of intersubjectivity, lifeworld, experience, existential mobility, and event, Piette has drawn on Heidegger's Dasein-analysis, and developed a phenomenographical method for the observation and description of human beings in their singularity and ever-changing situations.
This investigation of time and space is motivated by gaps in our current understanding: by the lack of definitions, by our failure to appreciate the nature of these entities, by our inability to pin down their properties. The author's approach is based on two key ideas: The first idea is to seek the geo-historical origins of time and space concepts. A thorough investigation of a diversified archaeological corpus, allows him to draft coherent definitions; it furthermore gives clues as to whether time and space were discovered or invented. The second idea is to define the units before trying to define space and time. The results presented here are unexpected: Time and space were not discovered in nature, but they were invented; time is not a phenomenon and space has no materiality; they are only concepts. This runs contrary to the opinion of most scientific and the philosophical authorities, although one would seek in vain for a theoretical validation of the conventional position. This book will provide much food for thought for philosophers and scientists, as well as interested general readers.
A fascinating look at the role of the media in fostering nationalism, with a comparative approach that shows the interactions between American, Russian and German nationalism. Extreme nationalism is a subject of enormous contemporary significance today. Does patriotic pride inevitably develop into nationalistic aggression? Is this exacerbated by the global outreach of the media? And what is the relationship between mainstream politics and increasingly vocal far-right groups in Britain, the US, Germany and Russia? This book addresses these questions from a variety of angles, exploring topics ranging from the War on Terror to Holocaust denial, from the 'sanctity' of Rasputin to the 'martyrdom' of Rudolf Hess.
The changes that are engulfing the world today--the fall of nation-states and dictatorships, migrations and border crossings, revolution, democratization, and the international spread of capital--call for new approaches to the subject of crime. Anthropologists engage a variety of methods to answer that call in Crime’s Power. Their view of crime extends into the intimacies of everyday life as war transforms personal identities, the violence of a serial killer inhabits paintings, and as the feel of imprisonment reveals society's potentials. Moving beyond the fixities of law, this book explores the nature of crime as an expression of power across the spectrum of human differences.
While the field of aesthetics has long been dominated by European philosophy, recent inquiries have expanded the arena to accommodate different cultures as well as different definitions and meanings. Aesthetics often establishes the pattern that connects culture functions in a society. In African and African American societies it functions as the keeper of the traditions. The African aesthetic is visible from popular culture to the classical cultures. In all art forms, including body adornment arts, there emerge symbols, colors, rhythms, styles, and forms that function as artistic instruments and cultural histories. While acknowledging African cultural diversity, the focus here is on the commonalities in the aesthetic that make an Ibo recognize a Kikuyu and a Jamaican recognize a Chewa and an African American recognize a Sotho. The deep structure manifest in African cultures in the diaspora is proof of the aesthetic continuity. The debate continues over the exact nature of African aesthetics, and in this volume scholars and teachers in the fields of African and African American studies approach the subject from a broad range of disciplines. Dance, music, art, theatre, and literature are examined in order fully to appreciate and delineate what the specific qualities and aspects of an African aesthetic might be. Additionally, theoretical concepts and issues are discussed in order to define more clearly what is meant by an African aesthetic. The term African here applies to all Africans, both continental and diasporan, and encompasses historically used terms such as Negro, Black, and Afro-American. This thoughtful and thought-provoking volume will be a valuable addition to the readings of scholars and students in fields ranging from African studies to general philosophy and cultural studies.
The largest Japanese community outside East Asia in the 1930s and one long neglected in English-language scholarship was in Brazil. Drawing heavily on little-used sources, including the Japanese-language press of Brazil, Stewart Lone explores the growth of expatriate settlements, small businesses, schools, civic groups, and sports and leisure. Lone reinterprets issues of Japanese identity and relations with other peoples.
This monograph is an anthropological study of the social significance of English among Kru residents of Monrovia, the capital city of Liberia. The volume contributes to our understanding of how contemporary Africans use language to negotiate conflicts and aspirations based on socioeconomic position and ethnic solidarity. aftermath of the first modern war.
Everywhere in the world communities and nations organize themselves in relation to water. We divert water from rivers, lakes, and aquifers to our homes, workplaces, irrigation canals, and hydro-generating stations. We use it for bathing, swimming, recreation, and it functions as a symbol of purity in ritual performances. In order to facilitate and manage our relationship with water, we develop institutions, technologies, and cultural practices entirely devoted to its appropriation and distribution, and through these institutions we construct relations of class, gender, ethnicity, and nationality. Relying on first-hand ethnographic research, the contributors to this volume examine the social life of water in diverse settings and explore the impacts of commodification, urbanization, and technology on the availability and quality of water supplies. Each case study speaks to a local set of issues, but the overall perspective is global, with representation from all continents.
The longing for authenticity, on an individual or collective level, connects the search for external expressions to internal orientations. What is largely referred to as production of authenticity is a reformulation of cultural values and norms within the ongoing process of modernity, impacted by globalization and contemporary transnational cultural flows. This collection interrogates the notion of authenticity from an anthropological point of view and considers authenticity in terms of how meaning is produced in and through discourses about authenticity. Incorporating case studies from four continents, the topics reach from art and colonialism to exoticism-primitivism, film, ritual and wilderness. Some contributors emphasise the dichotomy between the academic use of the term and the one deployed in public spaces and political projects. All, however, consider authenticity as something that can only be understood ethnographically, and not as a simple characteristic or category used to distinguish some behaviors, experiences or material things from other less authentic versions.
One of the most influential anthropological works of the last two decades, Alfred Gell's Art and Agency is a provocative and ambitious work that both challenged and reshaped anthropological understandings of art, agency, creativity and the social. It has become a touchstone in contemporary artifact-based scholarship. This volume brings together leading anthropologists, archaeologists, art historians and other scholars into an interdisciplinary dialogue with Art and Agency, generating a timely re-engagement with the themes, issues and arguments at the heart of Gell's work, which remains salient, and controversial, in the social sciences and humanities. Extending his theory into new territory - from music to literary technology and ontology to technological change - the contributors do not simply take stock, but also provoke, critically reassessing this important work while using it to challenge conceptual and disciplinary boundaries.
Hardbound. This book is designed to give an overview and critical assessment of the developing field of tourism study in anthropology. It aims to engage the reader with questions that anthropologists have raised about tourist and the ways that they have dealt with them in their research. Basic research from three theoretical perspectives is reviewed and assessed: tourist as a form of development or acculturation, as a personal transition, and as a kind of social super structure. In later chapters, the applied side of the field is examined, including considerations of tourist policy and sustainable tourism development. Most chapters include summary case studies illustrating some of the important points under examination. The book concludes with a discussion of the integration of basic and applied approaches in the anthropological agenda on tourism and suggestions concerning the future course of study in the field.
aAlways fascinating, often brilliant.a aHorneas study raises thorny yet critical questions and offers a
nuanced reading of both black emigrants and soldiers, cautioning
against an overly romanticized vision of either group. Readers
interested in the history of black menas military participation and
the broader history of American social and political history in the
First World War era will find this book a welcome addition to the
literature.a "Horne tells this story in expert fashion...The book's strengths
lie in its thick description of how perceptions about the
revolution affected black-white relations in the United States, an
achievement that points the way toward a better understanding of
civil rights history in the context of international
relations." Too often, when America speaks of race, it is in black and white terms. Dialogue surrounding race seems always to position whiteness as the center around which all other colors revolve. Meanwhile relations between minorities are largely ignored, surfacing in our consciousness only when tensions flare, as in the case of Black-Korean violence in Los Angeles. In our life times, Whites will no longer constitute a majority in America. As a result, Black/Brown relations--and the need for this relationship to be fruitful and mutually supportive--take on an even greater urgency. Yet, this relationship has been troubled, characterized too often by a misguided sense of competitiveness, hostility, and even violence, as evidenced by the Miami race riots of the 1980s. In this brief, accessible, impassioned volume, Bill Piatt surveys Black/Brownrelations in their entirety, devoting chapters to such issues as competition in a shrinking labor market, the re-segregation of our public schools, the language barrier, gang warfare, and voting coalitions. Reviewing similarities and differences between the Black and Brown experience in America, Bill Piatt emphasizes the need for solidarity and mutual understanding and offers explicit proposals for greater racial harmony. Blacks and Browns must get along not only for their sake, he argues, but for a stronger, more stable America.
First published in 1995. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company. |
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