In Social Memory and History, a group of anthropologists, sociologists, social linguists, gerontologists, and historians explore the ways in which memory reconstructs the past and constructs the present. A substantial introduction by the editors outlines the key issues in the understanding of social memory: its nature and process, its personal and political implications, the crisis in memory, and the relationship between social and individual memory. Ten cross-cultural case studies-groups ranging from Kiowa songsters, Burgundian farmers, elderly Phildelaphia whites, Chilean political activists, American immigrants to Israel, and Irish working class women-then explore how social memory transmits culture or contests it at the individual, community, and national levels in both tangible and symbolic spheres.

This unusual and absorbing book takes a behind-the-gates look at what cemeteries mean to the people who visit them. Burial sites have long been recognized as windows onto past civilizations, yet the meanings of our present day cemeteries have been virtually ignored, even though they teach us much about ourselves. Through the process of choosing a memorial stone, inscribing it, and tending the grave garden, visitors fashion a dynamic and often intensely personal landscape of memory and mourning. The contemporary cemetery is also a place where new immigrant communities can reinforce group boundaries and establish a sense of homeland. Exploring the memorial practices of people from Greek Orthodox, Muslim, Jewish, Roman Catholic and Anglican faiths, as well as the unchurched, this book shows how the material artefacts of mourning express sentiments that are shared, understood, and validated by members of the secret cemetery community. This book contains much to commend it to professionals and practitioners.

Amulets are objects of supranormal potency that safeguard the wearer during critical periods of life passage and transformation. Ex-votos, small metal objects often in the shapes of human figures or specific parts of the body, are presented as gifts to supernatural beings in thankful reciprocation for favours received. Drawing on examples from the Alexander Girard Collection at the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe, this book describes the actual uses and ritual of the objects by people around the world who embrace different systems of faith and follow distinct cultural and ritual practices. The contributors, comprising an international group of historians, curators, folklorists, and anthropologists, focus on select pieces collected from Mexico, Guatemala, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Peru and Bolivia; Spain and Italy; Byzantium, Greece, and Poland; Morocco, Senegal, Ghana, Ethiopia; Egypt, Lebanon and Syria, Turkey, Iran; Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Burma, and Japan.