|
Showing 1 - 17 of
17 matches in All Departments
This book offers a portrait of early ethnographic work in the
American Arctic, with a focus on understanding the mutual
constitution of the Inuit and their early ethnographers. It draws
mainly on a rich repository of written testimonies from the early
twentieth century, the ‘great ethnographic period’ when new
scholarly interest in the region took off. Supplementing the
movements and observations of whalers, traders, and missionaries,
the early chroniclers offered new knowledge of Inuit life. Although
their descriptions of the Inuit bear the marks of their time, the
texts have left a deep mark on later developments and contributed
to a long-lasting view of human life in the Arctic. The chapters
show the infiltration of lives and landscapes, of thoughts and
materials, of Inuit and ethnographers. The book will be relevant to
anthropologists as well as historians, geographers, and others with
an interest the Arctic region and Indigenous studies.
On the basis of empirical studies, this book explores nature as an
integral part of the social worlds conventionally studied by
anthropologists. The book may be read as a form of scholarly
"edgework," resisting institutional divisions and conceptual
routines in the interest of exploring new modalities of
anthropological knowledge making. The present interest in the
natural world is partly a response to large-scale natural disasters
and global climate change, and to a keen sense that nature matters
matters to society at many levels, ranging from the microbiological
and genetic framing of reproduction, over co-species development,
to macro-ecological changes of weather and climate. Given that the
human footprint is now conspicuous across the entire globe, in the
oceans as well as in the atmosphere, it is difficult to claim that
nature is what is given and permanent, while people and societies
are ephemeral and simply derivative features. This implies that
society matters to nature, and some natural scientists look towards
the social sciences for an understanding of how people think and
how societies work. The book thus opens up a space for new forms of
reflection on how natures and societies are generated.
Drawing on a combination of perspectives from diverse fields,
this volume offers an anthropological study of climate change and
the ways in which people attempt to predict its local implications,
showing how the processes of knowledge making among lay people and
experts are not only comparable but also deeply entangled. Through
analysis of predictive practices in a diversity of regions affected
by climate change including coastal India, the Cook Islands, Tibet,
and the High Arctic, and various domains of scientific expertise
and policy making such as ice core drilling, flood risk modelling,
and coastal adaptation the book shows how all attempts at modelling
nature s course are deeply social, and how current research in
"climate" contributes to a rethinking of nature as a multiplicity
of modalities that impact social life. "
On the basis of empirical studies, this book explores nature as an
integral part of the social worlds conventionally studied by
anthropologists. The book may be read as a form of scholarly
"edgework," resisting institutional divisions and conceptual
routines in the interest of exploring new modalities of
anthropological knowledge making. The present interest in the
natural world is partly a response to large-scale natural disasters
and global climate change, and to a keen sense that nature matters
matters to society at many levels, ranging from the microbiological
and genetic framing of reproduction, over co-species development,
to macro-ecological changes of weather and climate. Given that the
human footprint is now conspicuous across the entire globe, in the
oceans as well as in the atmosphere, it is difficult to claim that
nature is what is given and permanent, while people and societies
are ephemeral and simply derivative features. This implies that
society matters to nature, and some natural scientists look towards
the social sciences for an understanding of how people think and
how societies work. The book thus opens up a space for new forms of
reflection on how natures and societies are generated.
Drawing on a combination of perspectives from diverse fields,
this volume offers an anthropological study of climate change and
the ways in which people attempt to predict its local implications,
showing how the processes of knowledge making among lay people and
experts are not only comparable but also deeply entangled. Through
analysis of predictive practices in a diversity of regions affected
by climate change - including coastal India, the Cook Islands,
Tibet, and the High Arctic, and various domains of scientific
expertise and policy making such as ice core drilling, flood risk
modelling, and coastal adaptation - the book shows how all attempts
at modelling nature's course are deeply social, and how current
research in "climate" contributes to a rethinking of nature as a
multiplicity of modalities that impact social life.
Culture has been subject to critical debate in anthropology during the past decade and this is related to a shift in emphasis from the bounded local culture to transnational cultural flows. At the same time that cultural mobility is being emphasized, the people studied by anthropologists are recasting culture as a place of belonging as they construct local identities within global fields of relations. So far, much of the analysis of the role of place in culture has been carried out at a level of theoretical debate. Siting Culture argues that it is only through rich ethnographic studies that anthropologists may explore the significance of place in the global space of relations which mould the lives of people throughout the world. By examining the concept of culture through case studies from Europe, Africa, Oceania, Latin America and the Caribbean it probes the methodological and theoretical implications of the divergent scholarly and popular concepts of culture. Siting Culture will be essential reading to the many students of culture who are looking for ways of siting culture in the diffuse and complex theoretical space of present day anthropology. eBook available with sample pages: HB:0415150019
Culture has been subject to critical debate in anthropology during the past decade and this is related to a shift in emphasis from the bounded local culture to transnational cultural flows. At the same time that cultural mobility is being emphasized, the people studied by anthropologists are recasting culture as a place of belonging as they construct local identities within global fields of relations. So far, much of the analysis of the role of place in culture has been carried out at a level of theoretical debate. Siting Culture argues that it is only through rich ethnographic studies that anthropologists may explore the significance of place in the global space of relations which mould the lives of people throughout the world. By examining the concept of culture through case studies from Europe, Africa, Oceania, Latin America and the Caribbean it probes the methodological and theoretical implications of the divergent scholarly and popular concepts of culture.
Anthropology poses an explicit challenge to standard notions of
scientific knowledge. It claims to produce genuine insights into
the workings of culture in general on the basis of individual
social experience in the field. Social Experience and
Anthropological Knowledge traces the process from the ethnographic
experience to the analytical results, showing how fieldwork enables
the ethnographer to arrive at an understanding, not only of
`culture' and `society', but also of the processes by which
cultures and societies are transformed. The contributors challenge
the distinction between subjectivity and objectivity, redefine what
we should mean by `empirical' and demonstrate the complexity of
present-day epistemological problems through concrete examples. By
demystifying subjectivity in the ethnographic process and
re-emphasizing the vital position of fieldwork, they do much to
renew confidence in the anthropological project of comprehending
the world.
The postmodernist critique of objectivism, realism and essentialism
has somewhat shattered the foundations of anthropology, seriously
questioning the legitimacy of studying others. By confronting the
critique and turning it into a vital part of the anthropological
debate, this study provides a discussion of central theoretical
problems in anthropology. It makes the case for a renewed and
invigorated scholarly anthropology with reference to recent
anthropological debates in Europe and the US, as well as to new
developments in linguistic theory and, especially, newer American
philosophy. Through discussions of the relationship between
language and the world, of "the empirical", of the nature of the
anthropological imagination, of the point of raising cultural and
theoretical awareness, this study argues that far from invalidating
the scholarly, even scientific, ambition of anthropology, the
recent insights into subjectivity, reflexivity and the writing of
culture give the discipline a new life and a new pertinence in the
world.
The postmodernist critique of Objectivism, Realism and Essentialism has somewhat shattered the foundations of anthropology, seriously questioning the legitimacy of studying others. By confronting the critique and turning it into a vital part of the anthropological debate, A Passage to Anthropology provides a rigorous discussion of central theoretical problems in anthropology that will find a readership in the social sciences and the humanities. It makes the case for a renewed and invigorated scholarly anthropology with extensive reference to recent anthropological debates in Europe and the US, as well as to new developments in linguistic theory and, especially, newer American philosophy. Although the style of the work is mainly theoretical, the author illustrates the points by referring to her own fieldwork conducted in Iceland. A Passage to Anthropology will be of interest to students in anthropology, sociology and cultural studies.
Anthropology poses an explicit challenge to standard notions of
scientific knowledge. It claims to produce genuine insights into
the workings of culture in general on the basis of individual
social experience in the field. "Social Experience and
Anthropological Knowledge" traces the process from the ethnographic
experience to the analytical results, showing how fieldwork enables
the ethnographer to arrive at an understanding, not only of
"culture" and "society", but also of the processes by which
cultures and societies are transformed. The contributors challenge
the distinction between subjectivity and objectivity, redefine what
we should mean by "empirical" and demonstrate the complexity of
present-day epistemological problems through concrete examples. By
demystifying subjectivity in the ethnographic process and
re-emphasizing the vital position of fieldwork, they do much to
renew confidence in the anthropological project of comprehending
the world.
After a decade of historical anthropology, the discipline seems to
be thoroughly historicized. This implies not only that the
historical dimension of other cultures has become an integrated
part of any anthropological inquiry, but also that the different
ways of producing history have become important considerations.
Using historical and ethnographic material, mainly from Europe,
"Other Histories" examines the nature of history and its importance
to anthropological study. The apparently Eurocentric perspective of
this book actually serves the purpose of dismantling the unity and
progress of European history. It aims to demonstrates that history
is not linear but highly complex, and often contains several
separate local histories.
In one form or another, water participates in the making and
unmaking of people’s lives, practices, and stories.
Contributors’ detailed ethnographic work analyzes the union and
mutual shaping of water and social lives. This volume discusses
current ecological disturbances and engages in a world where
unbounded relationalities and unsettled frames of orientation mark
the lives of all, anthropologists included. Water emerges as a
fluid object in more senses than one, challenging anthropologists
to foreground the mutable character of their objects of study and
to responsibly engage with the generative role of cultural
analysis.
In one form or another, water participates in the making and
unmaking of people's lives, practices, and stories. Contributors'
detailed ethnographic work analyzes the union and mutual shaping of
water and social lives. This volume discusses current ecological
disturbances and engages in a world where unbounded relationalities
and unsettled frames of orientation mark the lives of all,
anthropologists included. Water emerges as a fluid object in more
senses than one, challenging anthropologists to foreground the
mutable character of their objects of study and to responsibly
engage with the generative role of cultural analysis.
Climate change is a lived experience of changes in the environment,
often destroying conventional forms of subsistence and production,
creating new patterns of movement and connection, and transforming
people's imagined future. This book explores how people across the
world think about environmental change and how they act upon the
perception of past, present and future opportunities. Drawing on
the ethnographic fieldwork of expert authors, it sheds new light on
the human experience of and social response to climate change by
taking us from the Arctic to the Pacific, from the Southeast Indian
Coastal zone to the West-African dry-lands and deserts, as well as
to Peruvian mountain communities and cities. Divided into four
thematic parts - Water, Landscape, Technology, Time - this book
uses rich photographic material to accompany the short texts and
reflections in order to bring to life the human ingenuity and
social responsibility of people in the face of new uncertainties.
In an era of melting glaciers, drying lands, and rising seas, it
shows how it is part and parcel of human life to take
responsibility for the social community and take creative action on
the basis of a localized understanding of the environment. This
highly original contribution to the anthropological study of
climate change is a must-read for all those wanting to understand
better what climate change means on the ground and interested in a
sustainable future for the Earth.
'The greatest single impact of climate change could be on human
migration', stated the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC) in 1990. Since then there has been considerable concern
about the large-scale population movements that might take place
because of climate change. This book examines emerging patterns of
human mobility in relation to climate change, drawing on a
multidisciplinary approach including anthropology and geography. It
addresses both larger, general questions and concrete local cases,
where the link between climate change and human mobility is
manifest and demands attention - empirically, analytically and
conceptually. Among the cases explored are both historical and
contemporary instances of migration in response to climate change,
and together they illustrate the necessity of analyzing new
patterns of movement, historic cultural images and regulation
practices in the wake of new global processes.
'The greatest single impact of climate change could be on human
migration', stated the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC) in 1990. Since then there has been considerable concern
about the large-scale population movements that might take place
because of climate change. This book examines emerging patterns of
human mobility in relation to climate change, drawing on a
multidisciplinary approach including anthropology and geography. It
addresses both larger, general questions and concrete local cases,
where the link between climate change and human mobility is
manifest and demands attention - empirically, analytically and
conceptually. Among the cases explored are both historical and
contemporary instances of migration in response to climate change,
and together they illustrate the necessity of analyzing new
patterns of movement, historic cultural images and regulation
practices in the wake of new global processes.
|
You may like...
It: Chapter 1
Bill Skarsgård
Blu-ray disc
R111
Discovery Miles 1 110
|