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Books > Social sciences > General
For well over a half century, Norman Whitten has spent a third of
his professional life undertaking ethnography with Afro-Latin
American and Indigenous peoples living in tropical forest-riverine
environments of northern South America. He has spent the other two
thirds engaged with theory construction in anthropology in
institutional settings. In this memoir, he tells of his
contributions to ethnography as a theory-constructive endeavor, and
depicts an academic and practical environment in which strong
support exists, but where obstacles and strong resistance must also
be navigated. Ethnographers construct theory within and sometimes
against disciplinary frameworks, working back and forth between
explication and explanation to make contributions to diverse and
sometimes divergent literatures. This book traces Whitten's career
from graduate student through a long and productive career as an
anthropologist and ethnographer. Along the way, the reader gains
valuable and sometimes surprising perspectives on American
anthropology from 1950s to the present day, and insights into the
different roles of the professional anthropologist. Whitten
poignantly describes and analyzes the wrenching experience of
moving from immersion in an Amazonian shamanic universe to
administrative duties in a dysfunctional academic setting. As a
mentor, author and editor of prominent books and journals, he
highlights the importance of connecting a local study with the
wider world. As a museum curator, he argues that it is above all a
deep connection with living people that gives resonance to objects
on display and agency to those studied. Throughout, Whitten makes a
resounding case for serious, longitudinal ethnography as the
foundation of anthropological theory, past, present and future.
Patterns Through Time offers a moral and intellectual compass for
all those who are embarking, traveling, looking back upon, or
otherwise navigating the journey from casual observer of human life
worlds to engaged ethnographer and accomplished professional
anthropologist. This thoughtfully crafted, imaginative, and
powerfully written memoir by a respected elder with more than five
decades of experience as an ethnographer, author, editor, and
beloved mentor should be required reading for all anthropologists
and anyone who cares about the future of the discipline's unique
blending of scientific rigor and humanistic values. Jonathan D.
Hill, Professor of Anthropology, SIUC and President, Society for
the Anthropology of Lowland South America (2014-17)
Looking at the breadth of Joan Didion’s writing, from journalism,
essays, fiction, memoir and screen plays, it may appear that there
is no unifying thread, but Matthew R. McLennan argues that ‘the
ethics of memory’ – the question of which norms should guide
public and private remembrance – offers a promising vision of
what is most characteristic and salient in Didion’s works. By
framing her universe as indifferent and essentially precarious,
McLennan demonstrates how this outlook guides Didion’s
reflections on key themes linked to memory: namely witnessing and
grieving, nostalgia, and the paradoxically amnesiac qualities of
our increasingly archived public life that she explored in famous
texts like Slouching Towards Bethlehem, The Year of Magical
Thinking and Salvador. McLennan moves beyond the interpretive value
of such an approach and frames Didion as a serious, iconoclastic
philosopher of time and memory. Through her encounters with the
past, the writer is shown to offer lessons for the future in an
increasingly perilous and unsettled world.
Don't just see the sights-get to know the people. New Zealand, or
Aotearoa (the "Land of the Long, White Cloud") as it is known by
the Maori population, is a land of myth and reality, contrast and
contradiction, rolling hills and glacial mountains, native bush and
gentle farmland. Its people are friendly and welcoming and will
often go the extra mile to help you without expecting anything in
return. Maori heritage and culture are an integral part of Aotearoa
today, and wherever you go, its influence is palpable. As a nation
of immigrants, New Zealanders are used to newcomers, yet those who
take the time to learn about the country's traditions and the
values that people hold dear will be rewarded with a more
meaningful and enriching experience of this beautiful land. Culture
smart! New Zealand helps you get to the heart of this diverse and
multicultural nation. It examines the impact of history, religion,
and politics, while tips and vital insights into Kiwi attitudes,
customs, and social life will help deepen your experience of this
country and its fair-minded people. Have a richer and more
meaningful experience abroad through a better understanding of the
local culture. Chapters on history, values, attitudes, and
traditions will help you to better understand your hosts, while
tips on etiquette and communicating will help you to navigate
unfamiliar situations and avoid faux pas.
On China’s biggest social media platform, Weibo, feminists are
staying one step ahead of the censors. Weibo Feminism is the first
book to explore in-depth the connections and forms of resistance
that feminist activists in China are making in online spaces
despite increasing crackdowns on free speech and public expression.
Aviva Wei Xue and Kate Rose explore the many forms of contemporary
feminism in China, from activist campaigns against sexual
harassment and domestic violence, through to Weibo Reading groups
of feminist texts and subversive online novels published on the
platform. The book includes an in-depth case study of feminist
support networks for overwhelmingly female frontline medical staff
that have sprung up on social media in the wake of the COVID-19
pandemic. Weibo Feminism goes on to asks what lessons are being
learned in contemporary China for the cause of social justice for
women around the world.
Insists on the importance of embodiment and movement to the
creation of Black sociality Linking African diasporic performance,
disability studies, and movement studies, Falling, Floating,
Flickering approaches disability transnationally by centering
Black, African, and diasporic experiences. By eschewing capital’s
weighted calculus of which bodies hold value, this book centers
alternate morphologies and movement practices that have previously
been dismissed as abnormal or unrecognizable. To move beyond
binaries of ability, Hershini Bhana Young traverses multiple
geohistories and cultural forms stretching from the United States
and the Mediterranean to Sierra Leone, Nigeria, and South Africa,
as well as independent and experimental film, novels, sculptures,
images, dance, performances, and anecdotes. In doing so, she argues
for the importance of differential embodiment and movement to the
creation and survival of Black sociality, and refutes stereotypic
notions of Africa as less progressive than the West in recognizing
the rights of disabled people. Ultimately, this book foregrounds
the engagement of diasporic Africans, who are still reeling from
the violence of colonialism, slavery, poverty, and war, as they
gesture toward a liberatory Black sociality by falling, floating,
and flickering.
“Small” cities have something to offer in terms of theoretical
resources and renewing our understanding of urban life. In other
words, all cities do matter and are therefore worthy of drawing from.
Condemning “insignificant” cities to oblivion is a travesty that will
leave urban studies poorer. Importantly, no city is reducible to one
register in the representation of its essence.
In Writing Windhoek, Ellison Tjirera makes an attempt to revivify the
Capital city of Namibia and treat it as an idea meriting a closer
examination and reflection. In illuminating the essence of Windhoek’s
cityness, this book traces its history of spatial segregation, an
imprint that continues to define contemporary city life. The cultural
memory of Windhoek is analysed as a way of accessing what is otherwise
a not so obvious strand through which to understand a city that has
escaped a sustained scholarly rendition. In his further layering of the
city, Tjirera provides a portrait of Windhoek through urban fantasies,
regimes of the legal, and how migration is implicated in shaping social
heterogeneity and concatenations of various urban rhythms.
The book examines the Law of Adverse Possession in both the UK and
Nigeria, and gives a critique of the ways in which it is regarded
by both the State and the judicial system in these jurisdictions.
Although much has been written about adverse possession from an
Anglo-American perspective, the Nigerian aspect of this book is
unique and brings an important point of difference when thinking
about the right to settle, work and own land in an international
arena. This book will be of interest to students of law (especially
comparative and property law); to scholars and activists with an
interest in land settlement by indigenous and dispossessed peoples;
a useful guide for the court in the dispensation of justice; and a
pilot for the State in managing property relations.
This powerful book explains the debilitating effects of social
anxiety and the development of the disorder, emphasizing the need
for a resolution of this disorder and identifying common but
unhelpful coping mechanisms as well as true methods to change and
live life unafraid of social situations. It is estimated that some
15 million Americans suffer from social anxiety disorder. For these
individuals, parties, sporting events, and even workplaces or
public shopping environments evoke anxiety and fear. People who
suffer from social anxiety disorder—the most common of all
anxiety disorders—fear being scrutinized and judged by others in
social or performance situations. They know their fear is
unreasonable, but are powerless against the anxiety. This book
provides comprehensive coverage of social anxiety disorder by
covering its history, explaining the symptoms and root causes, and
presenting information on how to make the key changes in thought
that can help sufferers find relief and be more comfortable in the
modern world. The author uses case histories and dialogue in
therapeutic settings to provide a realistic depiction of social
anxiety that makes the topic more relevant and understandable to
clinicians, students, and friends and family members of sufferers
who want to help the socially anxious individual. The emphasis on
people's resistance to changing or even examining the basis of
their underlying beliefs illustrates the importance of this topic
to the overall foundation of social anxiety and the urgency of
addressing belief systems in the process of resolution and
recovery.
The promises and conflicts faced by public figures, artists, and
leaders of Northeast Los Angeles as they enliven and defend their
neighborhoods Los Angeles is well known as a sprawling metropolis
with endless freeways that can make the city feel isolating and
separate its communities. Yet in the past decade, as Jan Lin argues
in Taking Back the Boulevard, there has been a noticeable renewal
of public life on several of the city’s iconic boulevards,
including Atlantic, Crenshaw, Lankershim, Sunset, Western, and
Wilshire. These arteries connect neighborhoods across the city,
traverse socioeconomic divides and ethnic enclaves, and can be
understood as the true locational heart of public life in the
metropolis. Focusing especially on the cultural scene of Northeast
Los Angeles, Lin shows how these gentrifying communities help
satisfy a white middle-class consumer demand for authentic
experiences of “living on the edge” and a spirit of cultural
rebellion. These neighborhoods have gone through several stages,
from streetcar suburbs, to disinvested neighborhoods with the
construction of freeways and white flight, to immigrant enclaves,
to the home of Chicano/a artists in the 1970s. Those artists were
then followed by non-Chicano/a, white artists, who were later
threatened with displacement by gentrifiers attracted by the
neighborhoods’ culture, street life, and green amenities that
earlier inhabitants had worked to create. Lin argues that
gentrification is not a single transition, but a series of changes
that disinvest and re-invest neighborhoods with financial and
cultural capital. Drawing on community survey research, interviews
with community residents and leaders, and ethnographic observation,
this book argues that the revitalization in Northeast LA by arts
leaders and neighborhood activists marks a departure in the
political culture from the older civic engagement to more socially
progressive coalition work involving preservationists,
environmentalists, citizen protestors, and arts organizers.
Finally, Lin explores how accelerated gentrification and mass
displacement of Latino/a and working-class households in the 2010s
has sparked new rounds of activism as the community grapples with
new class conflicts and racial divides in the struggle to
self-determine its future.
Investigates how the Christian fundamentalist movement brings
Creationism into the mainstream through a Kentucky museum In
Creating the Creation Museum, Kathleen C. Oberlin shows us how the
largest Creationist organization, Answers in Genesis (AiG), built a
museum—which has had over three million visitors—to make its
movement mainstream. She takes us behind the scenes, vividly
bringing the museum to life by detailing its infamous exhibits on
human fossils, dinosaur remains, and more. Drawing on over three
years of research at the Creation Museum, where she was granted
rare access to AiG’s leadership, Oberlin examines how the museum
convincingly reframes scientific facts, such as modeling itself on
traditional natural history museums. Through a unique historical
dataset of over 1,000 internal documents from creationist
organizations and an analysis of media coverage, Creating the
Creation Museum shows how the museum works as a site of social
movement activity and a place to contest the secular mainstream.
Oberlin ultimately argues that the Creation Museum has real-world
consequences in today’s polarized era.
Part of the enduring fascination of the Salem witch trials is the
fact that, to date, no one theory has been able to fully explain
the events that ravaged Salem in 1692. Countless causes, from
ergot-infected rye to actual demonic posession, have been offered
to explain why the accusations and erratic behavior of seven
village girls left hundreds accused, over 20 dead, and the
townspeople of eastern Massachusetts shaken. Through a multitude of
resources, this authoritative source explores this tumultuous
episode in early American history, including the religious and
political climate of Puritan New England; the testimony and
examinations given at the trials; the accusers and their
relationships to the accused; major interpretations of the events,
from the 17th century to the present day; and the aftermath of the
trials and their impact on later generations. This jam-packed
documentary and reference guide includes: Five thematic essays
exploring the event, including historical background,
interpretations, and aftermath biographical sketches of every major
player involved in the trials, from ministers to afflicted girls
fifty primary document excerpts, including petitions, letters, and
revealing trial testimony a chronology of events an annotated
bibliography of print and nonprint sources for further research a
glossary of key names, terms, and language used at the trials over
25 photos of depictions and historical sites A must-have for any
student of American history, this resource gives a unique glimpse
into the 17th century politics, religious culture, and gender
issues that created the Salem witchcraft episode, and gives context
to an impact that still resonates today, in everythingfrom modern
political life to popular culture.
'MASTERFUL' Time Out 'REVELATORY' Scotland on Sunday 'GLORIOUSLY
READABLE' Metro 'FASCINATING' Independent 'EXCELLENT' Telegraph
'ABSORBING' Guardian Winner of the British Sports Book Awards
Football Book of the Year The fifteenth anniversary edition, fully
revised and updated, of Jonathan Wilson's modern classic. In the
modern classic, Jonathan Wilson pulls apart the finer details of
the world's game, tracing the global history of tactics, from
modern pioneers right back to the beginning, when chaos reigned.
Along the way, he looks at the lives of great players and thinkers
who shaped the sport, and probes why the English, in particular,
have proved themselves unwilling to grapple with the abstract.
Fully revised and updated, this fifteenth-anniversary edition
analyses the evolution of modern international football, including
the 2022 World Cup, charting the influence of the great Spanish,
German and Portuguese tacticians of the last decade, whilst
pondering the effects of footballs increased globalisation and
commercialisation.
The WJEC/Eduqas Media Studies for A Level Year 2 & A2 Student
Book has been revised and updated to reflect the latest amendments
to the specification. This accessible and engaging resource will
support students through their A Level Media Studies course. -
Endorsed by WJEC/Eduqas it offers high quality support you can
trust. - Covers the new set products for assessment from 2024
onwards. - Includes new examples of contemporary media products
across a range of forms with updated sections on media contexts to
reflect recent developments in culture and society. - Up-to-date
statistics and information about media industries and audiences. -
New activities to reinforce students' knowledge and understanding.
- Up-to-date information about the exam components including
practice questions to help students with the skills they need for
assessment.
Can you imagine swapping your body for a virtual version? This
technology-based look at the afterlife chronicles America's
fascination with death and reveals how digital immortality may
become a reality. The Internet has reinvented the paradigm of life
and death: social media enables a discourse with loved ones long
after their deaths, while gaming sites provide opportunities for
multiple lives and life forms. In this thought-provoking work,
author Kevin O'Neill examines America's concept of afterlife—as
imagined in cyberspace—and considers how technologies designed to
emulate immortality present serious challenges to our ideas about
human identity and to our religious beliefs about heaven and hell.
The first part of the work—covering the period between 1840 and
1860—addresses post-mortem photography, cemetery design, and
spiritualism. The second section discusses Internet afterlife,
including online memorials and cemeteries; social media legacy
pages; and sites that curate passwords, bequests, and final
requests. The work concludes with chapters on the transhumanist
movement, the philosophical and religious debates about Internet
immortality, and the study of technologies attempting to extend
life long after the human form ceases.
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