What need is there for kinship? What good is it anyway? The questions are as old as anthropology itself, but few answers have been enduringly persuasive. Kinship systems can contribute to our enslavement, but more often they permit, channel, and facilitate our relations with others and our further fashioning of ourselves--as kin but also as subjects of other kinds. When they do, they are among the matrices of our lives as ethical beings. Each contributor to this innovative book treats his or her own alterity as the touchstone of the exploration of an ethnographically and historically specific ethics of kinship. Together, the chapters reveal the irreducible complexity of the entanglement of the subject of kinship with the subject of nation, class, ethnicity, gender, desire. The chapters speak eloquently to the sometimes liberating stories that we cannot help but keep telling about our kin and ourselves.

Quick Ethnography (QE) is an easy-to-read guide to the rapid collection of high quality ethnographic data for use in research, policy analysis, and decision-making. It addresses the needs of social scientists grappling with complex cultural social interactions and cultural change occurring in communities around the globe by offering a comprehensive, integrated multi-method approach that will increase research productivity. Handwerker provides step-by-step procedures for producing lots of data very quickly, outlining how ethnographers must control field preparation, data collection, and methods of data analysis. The rigorous QE approach allows greater precision and subtlety of ethnographic description and explanation that is not always possible in applied contract work (known as Rapid Assessment Procedures). The author, an anthropologist who has been teaching and consulting on fieldwork methods for over 25 years, includes extensive examples of research design and management that are valuable for the novice as well as for experienced researchers in all social science disciplines. Visit the author's web site.

Focusing on the daily concerns and routine events of people in the past, Investigating the Ordinary argues for a paradigm shift in the way southeastern archaeologists operate. Instead of dividing archaeological work by time periods or artifact types, the essays in this volume unite separate areas of research through the theme of the everyday. Ordinary activities studied here range from flint-knapping to ceremonial crafting, from subsistence to social gatherings, and from the Paleoindian period to the nineteenth century. Contributors demonstrate that attention to everyday life can help researchers avoid overemphasizing data and jargon and instead discover connections between the people of different eras. This approach will also inspire archaeologists with ways to engage the public with their work and with the deep history of the southeastern United States.

The Kets of Central Siberia are perhaps the most enigmatic of Siberia's aboriginal tribes. Numbering barely 1100 souls at the end of the 20th century and living in several small villages on the middle reaches of the Yenisei, the Kets have retained much of their ancient culture, as well as their unique language. Genetic studies of the Ket hint at an ancient affininty with Tibetans, Burmese, and other peoples of South East Asia not shared by any other Siberian people. The Ket language, which is unrelated to any other living Siberian tongue, also appears to be a relic of a bygone linguistic landscape of Inner Asia. Linguists have attempted to link Ket with North Caucasian, Sino-Tibetan, Burushashi, Basque and Na Dene. None of these links have been proved to the satisfaction of linguists, and the research continues. Despite a growing interest in all aspects of Yeniseian studies, most information on the Kets and their extinct relatives, the Yughs, Kotts, Assans, Arins and Pumpokols, has hitherto remained inaccessible to the English-speaking scholar. This book offers encyclopaedic English-language description of existing sources of information on Yeniseian peoples and languages and inclu

A significant work by one of anthropology's most important scholars, this book provides an introduction to the Chiapas Mayan community of Mexico, better known for their role in the Zapatista Rebellion. June Nash updates the status of this centuries-old confrontation as well as presenting a fascinating examination of how the Chiapas, as a governing entity, are entering into the New World Order.
Using the Chiapas as a case study of the effects and possibilities of globalization Nash views the Zapatista Rebellion as one expression of the Maya's attempts to remain true to their culture in the face of the extraordinary changes taking place in Mexico today. At issue here are the competing influences of Western modernity and the cultural traditions of the Chiapas-ideas about governing, identity, cultural traditions, and communal obligations are all at stake.
Based on over 40 years studying the Chiapas, Nash argues that this famous indigenous tribe has much to tell us about autonomy, nationality and globalization. Within a global economy, the Chiapas challenge for autonomy can be seen as a model for redefining ethnic group relations and the development process within Mexico, the hemisphere and our global society.

eBook available with sample pages: 0203906705

A significant work by one of anthropology's most important scholars, this book provides an introduction to the Chiapas Mayan community of Mexico, better known for their role in the Zapatista Rebellion. June Nash updates the status of this centuries-old confrontation as well as presenting a fascinating examination of how the Chiapas, as a governing entity, are entering into the New World Order.
Using the Chiapas as a case study of the effects and possibilities of globalization Nash views the Zapatista Rebellion as one expression of the Maya's attempts to remain true to their culture in the face of the extraordinary changes taking place in Mexico today. At issue here are the competing influences of Western modernity and the cultural traditions of the Chiapas-ideas about governing, identity, cultural traditions, and communal obligations are all at stake.
Based on over 40 years studying the Chiapas, Nash argues that this famous indigenous tribe has much to tell us about autonomy, nationality and globalization. Within a global economy, the Chiapas challenge for autonomy can be seen as a model for redefining ethnic group relations and the development process within Mexico, the hemisphere and our global society.

Examines the issues facing indigenous peoples and ethnic minorities, including their role in the nation's constitutional and legal developments, and makes a number of recommendations which would satisfy their demands without compromising the sovereignty of the state.

""Doing Fieldwork" warrants our attention because its message, bolstered by the editor's new introduction, is that the 1930's heralded a paradigm shift in anthropology, and further that this shift in fact addressed the same contenious issues raised in today's so-called crisis of representation." -- Hispanic American Historical Review "A candid, detailed window into the fieldwork and analytical thinking of two of our most influential anthropologists. A gem for students of method and theory in ethnography."-Susan C. M. Scrimshaw, University of Illinois at Chicago
"This lively exchange of letters reveals how, by batting hunches and hypotheses back and forth, often agreeing, sometimes disagreeing, Redfield and Tax developed and sharpened theories (always grounded in ethnographic data) relating to such themes as worldview, race relations, caste vs. class, and acculturation. The book provides fascinating insights into the differences between the fieldwork experience in pre- and post-World War II years. It is essential reading for anyone interested in the history of social science." -George M. Foster, University of California, Berkeley
Prior to the 1930s the highlands of Guatemala were largely undescribed, except in travelogues. Just two decades later, the highlands had become one of the most anthropologically well-investigated areas of the world. This is largely due to the research that Robert Redfield and Sol Tax carried out between 1934 and 1941. Separately and together, Redfield and Tax anticipated and guided anthropological investigations of people living in peasant and urban communities in other areas of the world. Their work helped to define the major outlines of research in the 1970s, and since then much writing about the region has been formulated in critical response to the Redfield-Tax program.
Not coincidentally, since the mid-1970s anthropology has been caught up in a wave of self-doubt about the status of fieldwork and the authority of ethnographic description. This critical stance has often cast ethnography as a creative, literary enterprise. This volume presents a timely view of the process of ethnography as carried out by two of its early practitioners. Containing a wealth of ethnographic detail, the book reveals how Redfield and Tax developed and tested ethnological hypotheses, and it allows us to follow the development of their major theoretical statements. The result is an exceptionally clear picture of the process of ethnography. Redfield and Tax emerge as rigorous and sensitive observers of social life whose observations bear importantly on contemporary understandings of the ethnology of Guatemala and the enterprise of anthropology. This book will be of interest to students of method and theory in ethnography, Latin Americanists, and other professionals interested in the history of idea.
Robert A. Rubinstein has conducted fieldwork in Yucatan, Mexico, in Belize, in rural Egypt, and in the United States. He is editor, with Mary LeCron Foster, of Peace and War: Cross-Cultural Perspectives (also available from Transaction).

This unique work challenges the assumption that dictionaries act as objective records of our language, and instead argues that the English dictionary is a fundamentally ethnocentric work. Using theoretical, historical and empirical analyses, Phil Benson shows how English dictionaries have filtered knowledge through predominantly Anglo-American perspectives. The book includes a major case study of the most recent edition of the Oxford English Dictionary and its treatment of China.

eBook available with sample pages: 0203205715

Ethnicity is a highly politicized issue in contemporary China. Twentieth-century nation-building has been intimately involved with classification of ChinaOs fifty-five ethnic minorities and with fostering harmony and unity among nationalities. Officially sanctioned social science classifies the majority group, the so-called Han, at the pinnacle of modernization and civilization and most other groups as Oprimitive.O In post-socialist China, popular conceptions of self, person, and nation intersect with political and scholarly concerns with identity, sometimes contradicting them and sometimes reinforcing them. In Portraits of OPrimitives, O Susan D. Blum explores how Han in the city of Kunming, in southwest China, regard ethnic minorities and, by extension, themselves. She sketches Oportraits, O or cognitive prototypes, of ethnic groups in a variety of contexts, explaining the perceived visibility of each group (which almost never correlates with size of population). Ideas of OHannessO can be understood in part through Han desire to identify unique characteristics in ethnic minorities and also through Han celebration of the differences that distance minorities. The book considers questions of identity, alterity, and self in the context of a complex nation-state, employing methods from linguistic anthropology and psychological anthropology, as well as other forms of cultural analysis. Providing nuanced views of relationships among political, scholarly, and popular models of identity, this book will be an invaluable guide for those working in China studies, anthropology, and ethnic studies.

Growing up in the late 1800s, Black Elk saw that the American Indian way of life was in great danger of disappearing. In his old age, he told his life story, in great detail, to writer John Neihardt, allowing the spiritual beliefs, ceremonies, and religion of the Plains Indians to be preserved and passed on to new generations of Indian people. Black Elk fulfilled his vision of protecting his people as the Great Spirit had told him he was meant to do. Through historically accurate illustrations and photos, inspiring age-appropriate activities, and Black Elk's own words, this colorful biography introduces a remarkable person to children in a way they can understand and enjoy. Includes resources for parents and teachers, a list of important words to know, and a timeline of events in the life of Black Elk.

This book suggests that concepts of race have all but lost their relevance as sociologically significant descriptions. This book surveys ways in which social scientists have attempted to come to terms with this situation, before developing an alternative approach based on recent work by realist authors. This approach offers a radical revision of orthodox debates about race concepts, about the possibility of a social science and about the nature of empirical research. This is illustrated through two policy examples: an account of post war migration to the UK, and debates about trans-racial adoption in the UK and the USA.

Social Complexity in the Making is a highly accessible ethnography which explains the history and evolution of Ilahita, an Arapesh-speaking village in the interior Sepik region of northeastern New Guinea. This village, unlike others in the region, expanded at an uncharacteristically fast rate more than a century ago and has maintained its large size (more than 1500) and importance until the present day. The fascinating story of how Ilahita became this size and how organizational innovations evolved there to absorb internal pressures for disintegration, bears on a question debated ever since Plato raised it: what does it take for people to live together in harmony?
Anthropologist Donald Tuzin, drawing on more than two years fieldwork in the village, studies the reasons behind this unusual population growth. He discovers the behaviour and policies of the Tambaran, the all-male society which was the back bone of Ilahitan society, and examines the effect of the outside influences such as World War II on the village.
This work is a unique example of an anthropological case study which will be widely used amongst undergraduates and academics. It provides an excellent insight into techniques of ethnography and contributes to a deeper understanding of what makes a society evolve (and/or collapse).

Kinship and Continuity is a vivid ethnographic account of the development of the Pakistani presence in Oxford, from after World War II to the present day. Alison Shaw addresses the dynamics of migration, patterns of residence and kinship, ideas about health and illness, and notions of political and religious authority, and discusses the transformations and continuities of the lives of British Pakistanis against the backdrop of rural Pakistan and local socio-economic changes. This is a fully updated, revised edition of the book first published in 1988.

The "British in Spain" achieved notoriety during the 1980s. As a group they were stereotyped as being made up of exiled criminals, drunken hooligans and inward looking pensioners - unwelcome colonisers reconstructing their own insular "little England". Presenting a more complex picture, this book-length ethnography of the British expatriate community draws on history, social geography, tourism studies, and theories of ethnicity and community to frame detailed interviews with British migrants themselves. What emerges is an account of who migrates, their reasons for migration and the day to day realities of expatriate life. Whilst Britons migrating to Spain have not integrated into their host communities, neither have they colonised swathes of the Spanish coast. The author presents instead a marginal group occupying a liminal space between two countries and two cultures. It should appeal to social anthropologists and sociologists as well as to the general reader.

Historical studies of white racial thought focus exclusively on white ideas about the "Negroes". Bay's study is the first to examine the reverse -- black ideas about whites, and, consequently, black understandings of race and racial categories. Bay examines African-American ideas about white racial character and destiny in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In examining black racial thought, this work also explores the extent to which black Americans accepted or rejected 19th century notions about innate racial characteristics.

This ethnographic study explores the status of African Americans during the Reconstruction era, examining the particularities of such topics as race relations, social systems, legal systems, and economic and political status. Rather than dealing with the status of African Americans as an isolated human rights issue, Gao examines the African American role in American society in the context of American society, particularly paying attention to the intellectual roots of the belief system of white and black Americans during the Reconstruction.

The "British in Spain" achieved notoriety during the 1980s. As a group they were stereotyped as being made up of exiled criminals, drunken hooligans and inward looking pensioners - unwelcome colonisers reconstructing their own insular "little England". Presenting a more complex picture, this book-length ethnography of the British expatriate community draws on history, social geography, tourism studies, and theories of ethnicity and community to frame detailed interviews with British migrants themselves. What emerges is an account of who migrates, their reasons for migration and the day to day realities of expatriate life. Whilst Britons migrating to Spain have not integrated into their host communities, neither have they colonised swathes of the Spanish coast. The author presents instead a marginal group occupying a liminal space between two countries and two cultures. It should appeal to social anthropologists and sociologists as well as to the general reader.

The presence and impact of Hispanics/Latinos in the United States cannot be ignored. Already the largest minority group, by 2050 their numbers will exceed all the other minority groups in the United States combined.
This volume, called by one US reviewer `the best set of essays that I have ever read on Latino identity and group rights', addresses the issues concerned through a varied and interdisciplinary approach. With first-rate scholarship from a group of internationally renowned, established contributors, this collection of cutting-edge material makes a significant contribution to Latin American studies as well as Philosophy and Ethnic studies.

The presence and impact of Hispanics/Latinos in the United States cannot be ignored. Already the largest minority group, by 2050 their numbers will exceed all the other minority groups in the United States combined.
This volume, called by one US reviewer `the best set of essays that I have ever read on Latino identity and group rights', addresses the issues concerned through a varied and interdisciplinary approach. With first-rate scholarship from a group of internationally renowned, established contributors, this collection of cutting-edge material makes a significant contribution to Latin American studies as well as Philosophy and Ethnic studies.

Scattered across the South-East Asian massif, a few dozen ethnic groups (numbering around 50 million) maintain highly original cultural identities and political and economic traditions, against pressure from national majorities. They face the same challenges; the means by which social change has been imposed by the lowlanders are similar from country to country, and the results are comparable.

Series Information:
Opening Out: Feminism for Today

A book about changing historical discourses of social differentiation and distinction in one of the ethnically and politically most complex regions of the world. Deals with crucial issues in currently renewed debates on cultural pluralism, nationalism, irredentism, ethnic dispersal, and the relations between global and local cultural forms.

''This book will make a significant contribution in the debate abour gender relation and power and provides a refreshing idea of addressing women's power in existing gender relation' - Salma Akhter, University of Cambridge

An ethnographic study of a school and community in East Africa focusing on the role school plays in the development of the children's identity and relationships to their parents and community, as well as in the development of the region.