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Books > Science & Mathematics > Biology, life sciences > Human biology & related topics > Biological anthropology > General
This is the first account of the Lapita peoples, the common
ancestor of the Polynesians, Micronesians, and
Austronesian-speaking Melanesians who over the last 4000 years
colonized the islands of the Pacific, including New Zealand and
territories as far afield as Fiji and Hawaii. Its purpose is to
provide answers to some of the most puzzling archaeological and
anthropological questions: who were the Lapita peoples? what was
their history? how were they able to travel such great distances?
and why did they do so? Recent discoveries (several by the author
of this book) have begun at last to yield a coherent picture of
these elusive peoples. Professor Kirch takes the reader back many thousands of years to
the earliest evidence of the Lapita peoples. He describes the
research itself and conveys the excitement of the first discoveries
of Lapita settlements, tools and pottery. He then traces the
remarkable cultural development and spread of the Lapita peoples
across the unoccupied islands of Eastern Melanesia, Micronesia and
Western Polynesia. He shows how they became the progenitors of the
Polynesian and Austronesian-speaking Melanesian peoples. The author describes Lapita sites, communities and landscapes,
the development of their decorated ceramics, and their shell-tool
industry. He reveals the means by which they accomplished such
prodigious voyages and explains why they undertook them. He
illustrates his account with specially drawn maps and with a wide
range of photographs, many published for the first time.
This is an analysis of the nature and impact of the Indian presence in Britain, and British reactions to it. From the late 19th to the early 20th century, the number of Indians arriving in Britain, to gain qualifications and learn about British society, began to grow. The greater visibility of Indians at the Inns of Court and universities fuelled British fears, arising out of popular culture and the political situation in India, about the damaging effects of students' residence in Britain. The British authorities took measures to restrict the size of the Indian student population and control political activities, placing themselves in direct conflict with the students. Indians resented this encroachment of the state into their lives, which were already beset by problems of racial discrimination, isolation, and, in some cases, deprivation. Many students turned to politics, and this study shows how indigenous elites from dependent colonies, in this case India, were able to appropriate ideas and institutions, to challenge, subvert - and sometimes prove their affinity with - British metropolitan society.
This is an analysis of the nature and impact of the Indian presence in Britain, and British reactions to it. From the late 19th to the early 20th century, the number of Indians arriving in Britain, to gain qualifications and learn about British society, began to grow. The greater visibility of Indians at the Inns of Court and universities fuelled British fears, arising out of popular culture and the political situation in India, about the damaging effects of students' residence in Britain. The British authorities took measures to restrict the size of the Indian student population and control political activities, placing themselves in direct conflict with the students. Indians resented this encroachment of the state into their lives, which were already beset by problems of racial discrimination, isolation, and, in some cases, deprivation. Many students turned to politics, and this study shows how indigenous elites from dependent colonies, in this case India, were able to appropriate ideas and institutions, to challenge, subvert - and sometimes prove their affinity with - British metropolitan society.
White Identities provides a comprehensive overview of this debate, drawing together the various strands of recent research into an accessible but challenging introduction. The author argues that 'White Studies', as it is presently conceived, is an American project, reflecting American interpretations of race and history. However the book shows that the impact of white identities is international in scope and significance. Thus, only a thorough historical and international perspective on whiteness can provide a proper introduction to the subject, an introduction that has relevance to students worldwide.
Sambach brings together an ethnograhic study of a school and community in East Africa. Stambach focuses 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. At issue here are the competing influences of Western modernity and the cultural traditions of East Africa-ideas about gender roles, sexuality, identity, and family and communal obligations are all at stake. Stambach looks at the controversial practice of female circumcision in the context of school and community teachings about girls' bodies and examines cultural signifiers like music, clothing and food to discuss the tensions in the region.
Landscapes of Betrayal, Landscapes of Joy provides a rare glimpse into the world of teenagers, from beach parties to bedrooms, from the math class to the midnight movies. In this fascinating ethnography, Herb Childress demonstrates how our buildings and landscapes (and the institutions that shape them) systematically shortchange our kids, eliminating opportunities for challenge and growth and encouraging their passivity. After examining the places to which the kids were devoted, where they worked hardest, and where they were at their best, Childress offers ideas for change.
"Though America had been rightfully portrayed as born of democratic principles, to no less an extent was it born of undemocratic ones. America is thus a living contradiction of many dimensions -- historical, sociological, and psychological -- that have manifested themselves at every level of society -- individual, communal, and natural". So writes Philip Perlmutter, whose Legacy of Hate explores this "living contradiction" by tracing the development of American minority group relations, beginning with the arrival of white Europeans and moving through the eighteenth and industrially expanding nineteenth centuries; the explosion of immigration and its attendant problems in the twentieth century; and a final chapter exploring how prejudice (racial, religious, and ethnic) has been institutionalized in the educational systems and laws. Throughout this provocative book, Perlmutter focuses on where and why various groups encountered prejudice and discrimination and how their experiences have shaped the society we live in and how we think about one another.
The result of 25 years of research with different tribal groups in the Arabian peninsula, this study focuses on ethnographic description of Arab tribal societies in five regions of the peninsula, with comparative material from others. Having become aware of the depth in time of Arab tribal structures, the authors have developed a view of Arabic tribal discourse where "tribe" is seen as essentially an identity that confers access to a social structure and its processes. This insight enables the authors to clarify tribal processes of land use and resource management which are normally "invisible," as they leave few written records and the archaeological remains are notoriously difficult to date. The contextual nature of description by local users leads to a reevaluation of social categories, and to an awareness of relationships between bedouin and peasant, tribesman and townsman. A detailed appreciation of the different agricultural, pastoral and fishing practices of the region is presented, together with the underpinning of indigenous theories of land use and resource management. This detailed monograph incorporates many theoretical aspects, including concepts of indigenous theories
In this timely and well-argued book, author Philip Nicholson offers a provocative explanation of the force and place of race in modern history, showing that race and nation have a linked history. Using the deliberately ironic metaphor of the double helix, the author shows the close historical connection of race and nation as each interrelates with the other in shaping and carrying social and institutional practices over many centuries. Five themes recur throughout the work: modernity is built on the twin pillars of race and nation; national instability, rivalry, and imperial conquest -- outside of dynastic, religious, or feudal disputes -- evoke differential (i.e., racial) human social categories, loyalties, and mythologies; racial vilification emerges out of material and cultural expropriation; racial degradation is typically the inverse projection of dominant national normative values, beliefs, or ideals; and race and nation share in the twists and turns of modern history and are inseparably linked and interdependent.
Developed as a question-and-answer field research report into the status of Buraku people in Japan today, this text also looks at the wider issues of prejudice as found within Japanese society, from old people to women, ethnicity and nationality.
Recent years have seen a resurgence of separatist sentiments among national minorities in many industrial societies, including the United Kingdom. In 1997, the Scottish and Welsh both set up their own parliamentary bodies, while the tragic events in Northern Ireland continued to be a reminder of the Irish problem. These phenomena call into question widely accepted social theories which assume that ethnic attachments in a society will wane as industrialization proceeds. This book presents the social basis of ethnic identity, and examines changes in the strength of ethnic solidarity in the United Kingdom in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In addition to its value as a case study, the work also has important comparative implications, for it suggests that internal colonialism of the kind experienced in the British Isles has its analogues in the histories of other industrial societies. Hechter examines the unexpected persistence of ethnicity in the politics of industrial societies by focusing on the British Isles. Why do many of the inhabitants of Wales, Scotland, and Ireland continue to maintain an ethnic identity opposed to England? Hechter explains the salience of ethnic identity by analyzing the relationships between England, the national core, and its periphery, the Celtic fringe, in the light of two alternative models of core-periphery relations in the industrial setting. These are a "diffusion" model, which predicts that intergroup contact leads to ethnic homogenization, and an "internal colonial" model, in which such contact heightens distinctive ethnic identification. His findings lend support to the internal colonial model, and show that, although industrialization did contribute to a decline in interregional linguistic differences, it resulted neither in the cultural assimilation of Celtic lands, nor in the development of regional economic equality. The study concludes that ethnic solidarity will inevitably emerge among groups which are relegated to inferior positions in a cultural division of labor. This is an important contribution to the understanding of socioeconomic development and ethnicity.
When the golfer Tiger Woods proclaimed himself a "Caublinasian," affirming his mixed Caucasian, Black, Native American and Asian ancestry, a storm of controversy was created in a world still perceived in terms of "black" and "white." This book is about ordinary lives facing similar dilemmas of racial identity, of belonging and not belonging. It tells the stories of six women of mixed African/ African Caribbean and white European heritage to show how the often painful experience of being a stranger in two cultures can be named and celebrated. Jayne Ifekwunigwe explores the cultural and historical roots of the popular discourses of race. She analyzes the problem of theorizing mixed racial and/or cultural identity in a global context, always relating it to the real-life experiences of these women.
This book recreates the lost world of the hominid species that lived and flourished for around one million years before, and in some cases after, the evolution of modern humans some 200,000 years ago. It also investigates how, when, where and why the modern human species appeared and in due course became dominant. These are the subjects of as much heated controversy among as they are of considerable interest to anthropologists, biologists, archaeologists and numerous others.Making use of a wide range of evidence the book considers issues in evolutionary archaeology such as how far can the early australopithecines, parathropines, Homo erectus, and the neanderthals be seen as populations on the way to being human, or as distinct, unique species? How far can these species be said to have cultural characteristics and what can be said of their social organization, group structures and adaptive strategies? How do these compare with ape communities then and now, and with those of the earliest modern humans? And do those behavioural comparisons provide a key to hominid evolution? Answering these questions leads the author not only toward a rational account of modern human origins, but toward an explanation of the origins and evolutionary role of cognition, communication and language - of the knowledge that gives our species its name.Written in non-technical language, Humans Before Humanity may be expected to have a significant scientific impact and to be of very wide interest indeed.The paperback edition contains a guide to further reading by chapter, which also outlines current developments in the field.
Detours of Decolonization examines three seemingly disparate and high profile events in postcolonial India that captured nation and transnational/diasporic interest since the 1990s: the emergence of the Indian homosexual, the new trans/national heterosexual woman, lesbian suicides, marriage and kinship contracts in small towns around India and the simultaneous evolution of the modern homophobia and lesbian NGOs. These events demonstrate the material, political, and cultural contexts within which postcolonial subjects negotiate their lived experiences within moments of decolonization and recolonization.
Violent conflicts rooted in ethnicity have erupted all over the
world. Since the Cold War ended and a new world order has failed to
emerge, political leaders in countries long repressed by
authoritarianism, such as Yugoslavia, have found it easy to
mobilize populations with the ethnic rallying cry. Thus, the
worldwide shift to democratization has often resulted in something
quite different from effective pluralism.
This text challenges the national frames of reference of the debates which surround questions of ethnicity, race and cultural difference by investigating contemporary theories, policies and practices of cultural pluralism across eight countries with historical links in British colonialism: the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India, South Africa, Ireland and Britain. Written as history, theory, autobiography and political polemic, the book combines general theoretical discussions of the principles of cultural pluralism, nationalism, and minority identities with informative studies of specific local histories and political conflicts. Seeking to identify common problems and precepts in the postcolonial era, the contributors discuss such issues as political versus cultural constructions of nationhood in the USA and Australia; communalism and colonialism in India; Irish sectarianism and identity politics; ethnic nationalism in post-apartheid South Africa; British multiculturalism as a "heritage" industry; multicultural law and education in Canada and New Zealand; and refugees, migrancy and identity in a global cultural economy.
Whether initiating girls or healing cattle, bringing rain or protesting taxation, many in Africa share a vision of a world where the cultural, symbolic and cosmic categories of "male" and "female" serve, through ritual, to both re-image and transform the world. This book introduces recent gender theory to the analysis of African ethnography, exp loring the ways in which ideational gender categories permeate African systems of thought and ritual practices.;Thus, the book provides a framework with which to evaluate previous ethnographic material on Africa. In addition, it presents a broad range of new case studies - of hunter-gatherers, agriculturalists and pastoralists - revealing the varied and complex ways in which African ideas and ideals of what it means to be "male" and "female" broadly inform and give meaning to a wide range of transformative rituals. |
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