Designed to provoke controversy, the papers in this volume concentrate on two main themes: the study of myth and totemism. Starting with an English translation of La Geste d'Asdiwal, which is widely considered to be the most brilliant of all of Levi-Strauss's shorter expositions of his technique of myth analysis, the volume also contains criticism of this essay. The second part of the volume discusses how far Levi-Strauss's treatment of totemism as a system of category formation can be correlated with the facts that an ethnographer encounters in the field. First published in 1967.

Social anthropology is, in the classic definition, dedicated to the study of distant civilizations in their traditional and contemporary forms. But there is a larger aspiration: the comparative study of all human societies in the light of those challengingly unfamiliar beliefs and customs that expose our own ethnocentric limitations and put us in our place within the wider gamut of the world's civilizations. Thematically guided by social setting and cultural expression of identity, Social and Cultural Anthropology in Perspective is a dynamic and highly acclaimed introduction to the field of social anthropology, which also examines its links with cultural anthropology. A challenging new introduction critically surveys the latest trends, pointing to weaknesses as well as strengths.

Presented in a clear, lively, and entertaining fashion, this volume offers a comprehensive and up-to-date guide to social anthropology for use by teachers and students. Skillfully weaving together theory and ethnographic data, author Ioan M. Lewis advocates an eclectic approach to anthropology. He combines the strengths of British structural-functionalism with the leading ideas of Marx, Freud, and Levi-Strauss while utilizing the methods of historians, political scientists, and psychologists. One of Lewis' particular concerns is to reveal how insights from "traditional" cultures illuminate what we take for granted in contemporary industrial and post-industrial society. He also shows how, in the pluralist world in which we live, those who study "other" cultures ultimately learn about themselves. Social anthropology is thus shown to be as relevant today as it has been in the past.

What it means to be a Jew lies at the very heart of "Confessions of a Secular Jew," a provocative memoir and a thoughtful speculation on the nature of Jewish identity and experience in an increasingly secular world. The legacy bequeathed to Eugene Goodheart was a "progressive" secular Yiddish education which identified Jewish struggles against oppression with working class struggles against exploitation. In the vanguard was the Soviet Union. Goodheart's heroes were Moses, Bar Kochbah, Judah Maccabee, Karl Marx and that strange honorary Jew, Joseph Stalin, whose anti-Semitism would later become known to the world. "Confessions of a Secular Jew" is the story of Goodheart's disillusionment with the naive, even false, progressivism of that education. At the same time, it is an attempt to rescue and come to grips with the positive remains of that education and heritage. In the introduction to the new Transaction edition of his memoir, Goodheart addresses the themes of social justice, Zionism, chosenness, messianism, and alienation from a secular Jewish perspective. The memoir takes the reader from Goodheart's coming of age in Brooklyn to his higher education at Columbia College in the early fifties and beyond to his varied career as university teacher and literary critic. The memoir provides memorable characterizations of writers whom he knew, among them Lionel Trilling (his teacher), Saul Bellow, Richard Wright (whom he met in Paris), Hannah Arendt, and Philip Rahv.

This widely-acclaimed book on a troubled period of Kenyan history summarizes some of the more important Kikuyu customs, and a discussion of their break-down under the impact of European civilization. This discussion illustrates why and how the Mau Mau came into being and how the situation could be improved so that peace could once again come to Kenya.

What does it mean to be white? This remains the question at large in the continued effort to examine how white racial identity is constructed and how systems of white privilege operate in everyday life. White Out brings together the original work of leading scholars across the disciplines of sociology, philosophy, history and anthropology to give readers an important and cutting-edge study of "whiteness".
This landmark collection moves beyond the personal narratives and surface discussions that have dominated the first generation of whiteness studies and brings discussion towards an actual structural analysis of racism. The essays cover such topics as the philosophy of whiteness; the belief in color blindness; the effects of white privilege; and the possibility for anti-racism. Collected together, these essays provide both a critical analysis and a path for future directions for the field.

This book, together with "Latino Language and Literacy in Ethnolinguistic Chicago," documents how the future in a globalizing world is not only increasingly multilingual, but that diversity in language use (within one language and across languages) will always be with us. Most of the chapters in "Ethnolinguistic Chicago" are based on ethnographic studies of language, though several provide historical narratives as well. As a whole, this book offers a richly diverse set of portraits whose central themes emerged inductively from the research process and the communities themselves. All chapters emphasize language use as centrally related to ethnic, class, or gender identities. As such, this volume will interest anthropologists, sociologists, linguists, historians, educators and educational researchers, and others whose concerns require an understanding of "ground-level" phenomena relevant to contemporary social issues.

First published in 1939 by Routledge, this classic ethnography portrays the aboriginal woman as she really is - a complex social personality with her own prerogatives, duties, problems, beliefs, rituals and point of view. This groundbreaking and enduring study was researched in North-West Australia between 1935 and 1936 and was written by a woman who truly pioneered the study of gender in anthropology

Contents:
1 Introduction, 2 An Ethnographic Gaze: Scenes in the Anthropological Life of Timothy Asch, 3 Man, A Course of Study: Situating Tim Asch's Pedagogy and Ethnographic Films, 4 At the Beginning: Tim Asch in the Early Sixties,5 Efforts and Events in a Long Collaboration: Working with Tim Asch on Ethnographic Films on Roti in Eastern Indonesia, 6 From Event to Ethnography: Film-making and Ethnographic Research in Tana 'Ai Flores (Eastern Indonesia), 7 The Consequences of Conation: Pedagogy and the Inductive Films of an Ethical Film-maker, 8 Producing Culture: Shifting Representations of Social Theory in the Films of Tim Asch, 9 Subjects, Images, Voices: Representing Gender in Ethnographic Film, 10 Timothy Asch, the Rise of Visual Anthropology, and the Human Studies Film Archive, 11 Tim Asch, Otherness and Film Reception, 12 What Really Happened: A Reassessment of The Ax Fight, 13 The Ax Fight on CD-ROM, 14 Person, Event, and the Location of the Cinematic Subject in Timothy Asch's Films on Indonesia

Recent research suggests that ethnic boundaries are permeable, and that ethnic identities are overlapping. This is particularly true when cultures come into direct contact, as with the Egyptian conquest of Nubia in the second millennium BC. Professor Smith uses Nubia as a case study to explore the nature of ethnic identity. By using the tools of anthropology, he examines the ancient Egyptian construction of ethnic identities with its stark contrast between civilized Egyptians and barbaric foreigners - those who made up the 'Wretched Kush' of the title.

Universities have become important sources of patronage and professional artistic preparation. With the growing academization of art instruction, young artists are increasingly socialized in bureaucratic settings, and mature artists find themselves working as organizational employees in an academic setting. As these artists lose the social marginality and independence associated with an earlier, more individual aesthetic production, much cultural mythology about work in the arts becomes obsolete.
This classic ethnography, based on fieldwork and interviews carried out at the California Institute of the Arts in the 1980s, analyzes the day-to-day life of an organization devoted to work in the arts. It charts the rise and demise of a particular academic art "scene," an occupational utopian community that recruited its members by promising them an ideal work setting. Now available in paperback, it offers insight into the worlds of art and education, and how they interact in particular settings. The nature of career experience in the arts, in particular its temporal structure, makes these occupations particularly receptive to utopian thought. The occupational utopia that served as a recruitment myth for the particular organization under scrutiny is examined for what it reveals about the otherwise unexpressed impulses of the work world.
"One of those rare works that so strikingly captures enduring social truths that its appeal will be as great for the general reader as the specialist."--Michael Useem, The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
" A] signal contribution to the relatively recent but growing field of the sociology of art. It will be widely discussed for a very long time as a work of extraordinary and extraordinarily attractive talent."--Kurt H. Wolff, Brandeis University
"A major original work both in sociology of the arts and in sociology of education. Her analysis goes far beyond any similar interpretations of art education or of the art world. It is a lasting contribution to sociology and should become a classic."--Maurice R. Stein, Jacob S. Potofsky, Brandeis University
Judith Adler is professor of sociology at Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada. She holds a Ph.D. from Brandeis University, and she has been published in "Society, Social Research, Issues in Criminology, Theory and Society," and "The American Journal of Sociology."

Recent research suggests that ethnic boundaries are permeable, and that ethnic identities are overlapping. This is particularly true when cultures come into direct contact, as with the Egyptian conquest of Nubia in the second millennium BC. Professor Smith uses Nubia as a case study to explore the nature of ethnic identity. By using the tools of anthropology, he examines the ancient Egyptian construction of ethnic identities with its stark contrast between civilized Egyptians and barbaric foreigners - those who made up the 'Wretched Kush' of the title.

"This study represents an attempt to provide the kind of book that I wish could have been placed in my hands when I first began to work amongst the Santals," says the author in his Preface. Based on material gathered during his 11-year residence amongst the Santal people, this is a pioneering anthropological study of one of the largest tribal peoples of India, whose homeland is based around the area north east of the Ganges. A proud and self reliant people who once rioted against the corruption of British tax officials in colonial India, they have retained their own language and independent religion. Culshaw explores every aspect of their culture, from their perception of themselves, and their interaction with their neighbours, to the intricacies of their art, both verbal and visual. The inclusion of diagrams of Santal instruments, and translations of their poetry and song, combined with the careful descriptions of the importance of both ceremonial and celebratory dance, animates the description of these people and accentuates the diversity and richness of their beliefs. The reader is taken on a journey of discovery, through the most important episodes in life, including birth, marriage and death, to encourage understanding of the customs and practices of these dignified people. Elements of everyday life, such as the manner in which the tribe is structured, and the impact of natural events that are so important to an agricultural community, are contrasted with their belief system, myths, legends and religion. Covering their history, their relationships with other ethnic groups, their social organisation and daily lives, their customs and religious beliefs, their art and folklore, and the impact of the Christian missions on their way of life, this wide-ranging account provides an excellent introduction to a fascinating culture, and deserves to be acknowledged as one of the most important books on this subject. Includes a glossary of Santali words and kinship terms.

Political anthropology has long been among the most vibrant subdisciplines within anthropology, and work done in this area has been instrumental in exploring some of the most significant issues of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, including (post)colonialism, development and underdevelopment, identity politics, nationalism/transnationalism, and political violence. In"The Anthropology of Politics: A Reader in Ethnography, Theory, and Critique "readers will find a remarkable collection of classic and contemporary articles on the subject.

Following on from her landmark book on politics and anthropology, in this volume Joan Vincent provides a sweeping historical and theoretical introduction to the field. Selected readings from figures such as E. E. Evans-Pritchard, Edmund Leach, Victor Turner, Eric Wolf, Benedict Anderson, Talal Asad, Michael Taussig, Jean and John Comaroff, and Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak are enriched by Vincent's headnotes and suggestions for further reading. "The Anthropology of Politics "will prove an indispensable resource for students, scholars, and instructors alike.

The Arab countries and the Arab Middle East have been projected as homogeneous and united social and political entities. Yet beneath the surface, ethnic tensions and conflicts simmer. Some of these conflicts are well known and the issues arising therefrom are part of the regular diet of news. Other tensions involving ethnic minorities and ethnic diasporas are less well known. But they are no less problematic for regional actors. Particularly so since they are not only influenced by global developments, but they also significantly influence political, economic, cultural and ideological regional and intrastate developments. ... The purpose of this book is to highlight the factors, forces, and circumstances that affect inter-communal relations in the region, and point toward strategies and circumstances that promote or hinder coexistence and integration, or antagonism. By studying diasporas in the Middle East in terms of their significant regional factors in relation to the Middle Eastern diaspora worldwide, this book makes an important and unique contribution to linking the study of Middle Eastern diasporas to the general new field of diasporic studies.

In the search of the social meaning of song, Songs and Gifts at the Frontier connects the performativity of ritual song to important cultural domains such as political economy and history. Song, it is argued, expresses notions of sociability, personhood, and subjectivity; it is more intelligible when understood as constitutive of material practices of everyday-life and local histories.
José S. Buenconsejo argues that song in the egalitarian moral economy is sacrificial, that is, it articulates the act of sharing in which performativity is akin to movements or flows of binding and unbinding of presences, affinity and estrangement, life and death that so characterize interpersonal relationships, nature and social life.

Can a state empower its citizens by classifying them? Or do reservation policies reinforce the very categories they are meant to eradicate? Indian reservation policies on government jobs, legislative seats and university admissions for disadvantaged groups, like affirmative action policies elsewhere, are based on the premise that recognizing group distinctions in society is necessary to subvert these distinctions. Yet the official identification of eligible groups has unintended side-effects on identity politics. Bridging theories which emphasize the fluidity of identities and those which highlight the utility of group-based mobilizations and policies, this book exposes didactic enforcement of categorizations, while recognizing the social and political gains facilitated by group-based strategies.

eBook available with sample pages: 020340193X

When, in 1935, Margaret Mead was asked by a member of the interdisciplinary committee of the Social Science Research Council to prepare a survey of several cultures for publication, she ended up creating a model for future ethnological survey texts, as well as furthering the understanding of cultural relativism in anthropological studies. The result of her work, "Cooperation and Competition Among Primitive Peoples," is fascinating. The essays do not purport to be source materials on the peoples being studied, but rather have been assembled as "interpretative" statements, meant to provide a background for planning future research in this field in our own society.
In many respects, this volume is a pioneer effort in anthropological literature. It remains firmly part of the genre of cooperative research, or "interdisciplinary research," though at the time of its original publication that phrase had yet to be coined. Additionally, this work is more theoretical in nature than a faithful anthropological record, as all the essays were written in New York City, on a low budget, and without fieldwork. The significance of these studies lies in the fact that "Cooperation and Competition Among Primitive Peoples" was the first attempt to think about the very complex problems of cultural character and social structure, coupled with a meticulous execution of comparative study. This work will be of great interest to anthropologists, cultural theorists, and students of interdisciplinary research.
The distinguished contributors include: Margaret Mead, the editor of this volume, who authored "The Arapesh of New Guinea," "The Manus of the Admiralty Islands," and "The Samoans"; Jeannette Mirsky, who contributed "The Eskimo of Greenland" and "The Dakota"; Ruth Landes, who wrote "The Ojibwa of Canada"; May Mandelbaum Edel, author of "The Bachiga of East Africa"; Irving Goldman, who contributed "The Ifugao of the Philippine Islands," "The Kwakiutl of Vancouver Island," "The Zuni of New Mexico," and "The Bathonga of South Africa"; Buell Quain, who penned "The Iriquois"; and Bernard Mishkin, author of "The Maori of New Zealand."
Margaret Mead (1901-1978) was associated with the American Museum of Natural History in New York for over fifty years, becoming Curator of Ethnology in 1964. She taught at Columbia University and the New School for Social Research as well as a number of other universities, and served as president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Anthropological Association. Among her many books is "Continuities in Cultural Evolution," available from Transaction Publishers.

Prominent sociologist Charles Lemert compellingly argues that race is the central feature of modern culture; this was true for the twentieth century and it will be true for the twenty-first. If we want to understand how the world works, Lemert explains, we must understand the centrality of race in our lives and in the foundation of our society. We must also be able to face up to what we've done to one another in the name of race.

This study explores the diverse struggles of incorporation pursued by immigrants from the Dominican Republic to New York City. This work chronicles the lives of Dominicans in New York City and their difficulties to incorporate themselves into American politics.

Bolt uses the relationship between China and Southeast Asia's ethnic Chinese as a case study, and he focuses on the potential role of a diaspora in the economic and political development of its homeland as well as the role of the state in dealing with transnational economic actors.

He examines China's post-1978 policy of attracting ethnic Chinese investment in light of historical relations between China and its diaspora community, demonstrating that China has, through various measures, consistently aimed at tapping the resources of Asia's ethnic Chinese. He then analyzes the contributions that ethnic Chinese have made to China's development, showing that such contributions have been tremendously important both in terms of the accumulation of capital and the transfer of business skills. Bolt probes how ethnic Chinese intervention in China's economy has affected the politics of the Chinese state. He concludes by looking at the international implications of Chinese development being spurred largely by a Chinese diaspora community, and he demonstrates how China's efforts to attract ethnic Chinese investments have complicated China's relations with Southeast Asia and led to discussions of a Greater China. An important analysis for scholars, researchers, and policy makers involved with contemporary Southeast Asian and Chinese political, military, and economic issues.

Cybertypes looks at the impact of the web and its discourses upon our ideas about race, and vice versa. Examining internet advertising, role-playing games, chat rooms, cyberpunk fiction from Neuromancer to The Matrix and web design, Nakamura traces the real-life consequences that follow when we attempt to push issues of race and identity on-line.

Cincinnati's East End river community has been home to generations of working-class people. This racially mixed community has roots that reach back as far as seven generations. But the community is vulnerable. Developers bulldoze "raggedy" but affordable housing to build upscale condos, even as East Enders fight to preserve the community by participating in urban development planning controlled by powerful outsiders.

This book portrays how East Enders practice the preservation of community. Drawing on more than six years of anthropological research and advocacy in the East End, Rhoda Halperin argues for redefining community not merely as a place, but as a set of culturally embedded and class-marked practices that give priority to caring for children and the elderly, procuring livelihood, and providing support for family, friends, and neighbors. These practices create the structures of community within the larger urban power structure.

Halperin uses different genres to weave the voices of East Enders throughout the book. Poems and narratives offer poignant insights into the daily struggles against impersonal market forces that work against the struggle for livelihood. This firsthand account questions commonly held assumptions about working-class people. In a fresh way, it reveals the cultural construction of marginality, from the viewpoints of both "real East Enders" and the urban power structure.

Teachers in low-income communities face serious impediments to effective teaching and learning. Through a unique blend of research and field experience, this book seeks to overcome the lack of communication and mutal understanding between teachers and students in urban schools. June Gordon provides nine case studies with insights as to how educators in urban settings may begin to understand the complexity of their students' lives, engaging those same students in the process of this discovery. Beyond the Classroom Walls provides inspiration and assistance to urban educators, concerned community members, or parents wishing to transform the way they view their community and the profession of teaching.

From Hunting to Drinking reveals the devastating effects that alcohol has had over a period of 30 years on Mornington Island, off the North Queensland Coast, Australia. David McKnight explores how drinking now affects all reaches of community life and reviews the history of drinking in Australia as well as its causes and asks why the situation has been allowed to continue, exploring the vested interest that the authorities have in the sale of alcohol on the island.

David Mcknight assesses the effects that alcohol has had on a small aboriginal community. He explores why drinking has become the main social activity, leading to high levels of illness, suicide and homicide.