Alcohol is not only big business, it has become an essential part of social relations in so many cultures that its global importance may be outdistancing its critics. Despite grim health warnings, its consumption is at an all-time high in many parts of the developed world. Perhaps because drinking has always played a key role in identity, its uses and meanings show no signs of abating. What does sake tell us about Japan or burgundy about France? How does the act of consuming or indeed abstaining from alcohol tie in with self-presentation, ethnicity, class and culture? How important is alcohol to feelings of belonging and notions of resistance?Answering these intriguing questions and many more, this timely book looks at alcohol consumption across cultures and what drinking means to the people who consume or, equally tellingly, refuse to consume. From Ireland to Hong Kong, Mexico to Germany, alcohol plays a key role in a wide range of functions: religious, familial, social, even political. Drinking Cultures situates its consumption within the context of these wider cultural practices and reveals how class, ethnicity and nationalism are all expressed through this very popular commodity. Drawing on original fieldwork, contributors look at the interplay of culture and power in bars and pubs, the significance of advertising symbols, the role of drink in day-to-day rituals and much more. The result is the first sustained, cross-cultural study of the profound impact alcohol has on national identity throughout the world today.

Borderlands are often seen as zones of instability, uncertainty, marginality, and danger. Yet, they increasingly attract the attention of ethnographers as a unique lens through which to view the intersections of the national, transnational, and global forces that shape the securities and insecurities of our globalizing age. The contributors to this volume examine how different kinds of (in)security manifest and interconnect at state borders, encompassing the personal and the political, the social and the economic, in ways that reinforce or undermine the identities of those whose lives these borders frame. Drawing upon case studies from the Southern Cone, the U.S.-Mexico border, and borders in Greece, Ireland, and southeast Asia, the authors show that borders raise questions of security not just for those who live and cross them, including ethnographers, but also for the sustainability of the physical environments and wildlife disturbed by the passage, movement, and containment borders generate.

This book addresses issues in cultural change in reconstructing New Europe of the European Community (EC). It offers anthropological perspectives on the transformations of European culture and community which both result from the processes of EC integration.

Borders increasingly capture the attention of policy-makers and scholars across Europe. The deepening and widening of the European Union, the spread of Euroregions, and the creation of new states in eastern Europe since the early 1990s have thrown the changing internal and external borders of the EU into sharp relief. Globalization has brought more widespread and fundamental changes, with increased cross-border flows of goods, capital, information and people.

Politicians can negotiate currency disputes, redraw national boundaries, and raise trade tariffs but what unforeseen problems may be caused by the melding of societal boundaries and the lowering of cultural tariffs? Originating from a range of nationalities and ethnic groups, the contributors to this volume focus on cultural and social processes o

In recent years, the world has witnessed enormous changes in the political borders between nation-states. These changes have highlighted the function and meaning of physical borders in the construction of nationality. While previous anthropological studies have examined the importance of cultural and symbolic boundaries between groups, this book primarily investigates how ethnicity, nationalism, and cultural identity are marked in everyday life at international borders. It is the first book to collect a wide range of anthropological views on this subject. Areas covered in this text include West Africa, the Turkish-Syrian border, India and the proposed Khalistan, the German-French border, the Portuguese-Spanish border, and Ireland. Contributors include Elizabeth Tonkin, Martin Stokes, Joyce Pettigrew, Tomke Lask, William Kavanagh, Amanda Shanks, Hastings Donnan, and Thomas M. Wilson.

This book offers fresh insights into the complex and various ways in which international frontiers influence cultural identities. Ten anthropological case studies describe specific international borders in Europe, Asia, Africa, and North America, and bring out the importance of boundary politics, and the diverse forms that it may take. As a contribution to the wider theoretical debates about nationalism, transnationalism, and globalization, it will interest students and scholars in anthropology, political science, international studies and modern history.

Where and what is Ireland?--What are the identities of the people of Ireland?--How has European Union membership shaped Irish people's lives and interests?--How global is local Ireland?This book argues that such questions can be answered only by understanding everyday aspects of Irish culture and identity. Such understanding is achieved by paying close attention to what people in Ireland themselves say about the radical changes in their lives in the context of wider global transformation. As notions of sex, religion, and politics are radically reworked in an Ireland being re-imagined in ways inconceivable just a generation ago, anthropologists have been at the forefront of recording the results. The first comprehensive book-length introduction to anthropological research on the island as a whole, The Anthropology of Ireland considers the changing place in a changing Ireland of religion, sex, sport, race, dance, young people, the Travellers, St Patrick's Day and much more.

Where and what is Ireland?--What are the identities of the people of Ireland?--How has European Union membership shaped Irish people's lives and interests?--How global is local Ireland?This book argues that such questions can be answered only by understanding everyday aspects of Irish culture and identity. Such understanding is achieved by paying close attention to what people in Ireland themselves say about the radical changes in their lives in the context of wider global transformation. As notions of sex, religion, and politics are radically reworked in an Ireland being re-imagined in ways inconceivable just a generation ago, anthropologists have been at the forefront of recording the results. The first comprehensive book-length introduction to anthropological research on the island as a whole, The Anthropology of Ireland considers the changing place in a changing Ireland of religion, sex, sport, race, dance, young people, the Travellers, St Patrick's Day and much more.

One of the problems facing Europe is that the building of institutional Europe and top-down efforts to get Europeans to imagine their common identity do not necessarily result in political and cultural unity. Anthropologists have been slow to consider the difficulties presented by the expansion of the EU model and its implications for Europe in the 21st Century. Representing a new trend in European anthropology, this book examines how people adjust to their different experiences of the new Europe. The role of culture, religion, and ideology, as well as insiders' social and professional practices, are all shown to shed light on the cultural logic sustaining the institutions and policies of the European Union.
On the one hand, the activities of the European institutions in Brussels illustrate how people of many different nationalities, languages and cultures can live and work together. On the other hand, the interests of many people at the local, regional and national levels are not the same as the Eurocrats'. Contributors explore the issues of unity and diversity in 'Europe-building' through various European institutions, images, and programmes, and their effects on a variety of definitions of identity in such locales as France, Denmark, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Belgium.
Adopting an anthropological approach, this book explores the quest to construct a sense of common identity at institutional level in the European Union (EU), and is particularly useful in identifying current research on the EU as project and object. The introductory essay by Irene Bellier and Thomas M. Wilson laments the marginalization of culture and identity in the EU and offers a useful overview ofdifferent approaches to the anthropology of Europe from American, British and French traditions. It examines the complexity of the concept of EU, which can refer to member states but also to a wider social system. Although Europe is currently in the process of defining and expanding a new public space, this project is severely hampered by the nation-state model, which dominates proceedings.
Contributions to the book are divided in two parts. The first deals primarily with the institutional
f0level in Europe. Marc Abeles's contribution adopts an unusual approach by querying whether the construction of a harmonious Europe should be regarded as an indefinite, ongoing process, rather than an end product. Although in theory the EU is a borderless, post-national or perhaps supra-national region, its political practice has been rooted in a strong sense of territorial identity. The concept of a virtual Europe could serve as the catalyst for new perspectives on regional or national traditions.
Irene Bellier explores the very interesting question of identity politics in the EU and the consequences of formal institutional recognition of many diverse interests. In the beginning, the European Common Market defended national interests and sustained sources of national identification among its civil servants. This process has been challenged by the identification of other sources of interest such as trans-national cultures or regional bodies, which also demand formal recognition of their interests. The change in the locus of representation from Parliament to specific lobby groups is impacting on the authority of individual nation-states.
Gilbert Weiss and Ruth Wodak explore theglobalization rhetoric of the EU with specific reference to unemployment policies. The central concern of this chapter is the linguistic nature of the decision-making process in the Competitiveness Advisory Group. Business-speak, location-speak and globalization rhetoric are used to construct an EU identity that differs significantly from other larger identities such as that of Japan or the USA.
Essentially the EU is a collaborative project, which requires the input of all its member states. This is a process, which is not without tension as the EU has itself impacted on the authority of nation-states. Despite its constant reference to the principle of subsidiarity, the EU has implemented certain policy-making decisions at supra-national rather than national levels and created a new set of hierarchial relations. The principle of subsidiary is the focus of Douglas Holmes' essay, which examines the surrogate discourse of power in the EU. Holmes observes the significance of subsidiarity underlying the development of an increasingly federal EU but the principle also provides the substance of a complex moral discourse designed to sustain the European project and its relations with existing diversities.
Four essays in part two of this book examine the concept of belonging and identity in the European Union. Catherine Neveu's contribution is particularly useful in its exploration of the potential contribution of anthropologists to the construction of European citizenship. Anthropologists can investigate different ways through which background models and representations regarding citizenship are invoked by European officials and lobbyists. They can investigate the negotiation process indeciding, implementing and evaluating policies and programmes. She suggests that an anthropological critique of European citizenship is increasingly necessary to address global questions of citizenship, issues of identity and the relative weight of representation and participation for the democratic process.
Thomas Wilson examines the role of anthropology in EU scholarship on culture and identity. This chapter champions an approach exploring the impact of EU institutions as experienced on a day-to day basis. Wilson is a well-established authority on Northern Ireland and sets his argument in the context of Northern Ireland's borderlands where nationalist ideologies restrict the political and economic integration of Britain and Ireland. EU actions designed to alleviate this ethno-nationalist struggle are accepted or resisted within this context.
Richard Jenkins's essay also emphasizes the benefits of an anthropological approach to everyday life in a local community. This contribution focuses on a small town in Jutland prior to the 1992 referendum on the Maastricht Treaty. Jenkins examines the complexity of the relationship between Danish identity and the EU, where a sense of Danish-ness has served both pro- and anti- EU camps. He examines the pro- and anti- positions to arrive at a complex picture of Danish-ness, which emphasizes similarity with the Nordic world and difference from Germany. It emphasizes equality of relationships within Denmark and positive feelings regarding ethnic-cultural homogeneity.
Stacia Zabusky explores institutional discourses and practices of belonging in the European State Agency. She focuses in particular on European officials such as members of the European Parliament, Commission officials and civil servants of the Council who are frequently regarded as the new 'true Europeans' by individuals within and outside core EU institutions. These officials operate as 'architects' or 'engineers' of Europe's public space and have clear conceptions of a cultural and linguistic European identity at individual and collective levels. Although national boundaries are theoretically irrelevant in the EU, its citizens continue to feel strong loyalties to their member states. For this reason, Zabusky avails of the expression 'boundaries at work' to denote the significance of borders which are theoretically irrelevant.
This book is extremely useful in its exploration of the construction of an EU in which centripedal and centrifugal forces are constantly at work. As the process of harmonization and integration gathers momentum, there is great potential for the proliferation of complementary and/or competing identities. As this volume emphasises, it is neither feasible nor desirable to attempt to camouflage our differences. Instead the acknowledgement of cultural differences is a dynamic process that can generate new insights into the evolution of EU institutions and identities.

One of the problems facing Europe is that the building of institutional Europe and top-down efforts to get Europeans to imagine their common identity do not necessarily result in political and cultural unity. Anthropologists have been slow to consider the difficulties presented by the expansion of the EU model and its implications for Europe in the 21st Century. Representing a new trend in European anthropology, this book examines how people adjust to their different experiences of the new Europe. The role of culture, religion, and ideology, as well as insiders' social and professional practices, are all shown to shed light on the cultural logic sustaining the institutions and policies of the European Union.
On the one hand, the activities of the European institutions in Brussels illustrate how people of many different nationalities, languages and cultures can live and work together. On the other hand, the interests of many people at the local, regional and national levels are not the same as the Eurocrats'. Contributors explore the issues of unity and diversity in 'Europe-building' through various European institutions, images, and programmes, and their effects on a variety of definitions of identity in such locales as France, Denmark, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Belgium.
Adopting an anthropological approach, this book explores the quest to construct a sense of common identity at institutional level in the European Union (EU), and is particularly useful in identifying current research on the EU as project and object. The introductory essay by Irene Bellier and Thomas M. Wilson laments the marginalization of culture and identity in the EU and offers a useful overview ofdifferent approaches to the anthropology of Europe from American, British and French traditions. It examines the complexity of the concept of EU, which can refer to member states but also to a wider social system. Although Europe is currently in the process of defining and expanding a new public space, this project is severely hampered by the nation-state model, which dominates proceedings.
Contributions to the book are divided in two parts. The first deals primarily with the institutional
f0level in Europe. Marc Abeles's contribution adopts an unusual approach by querying whether the construction of a harmonious Europe should be regarded as an indefinite, ongoing process, rather than an end product. Although in theory the EU is a borderless, post-national or perhaps supra-national region, its political practice has been rooted in a strong sense of territorial identity. The concept of a virtual Europe could serve as the catalyst for new perspectives on regional or national traditions.
Irene Bellier explores the very interesting question of identity politics in the EU and the consequences of formal institutional recognition of many diverse interests. In the beginning, the European Common Market defended national interests and sustained sources of national identification among its civil servants. This process has been challenged by the identification of other sources of interest such as trans-national cultures or regional bodies, which also demand formal recognition of their interests. The change in the locus of representation from Parliament to specific lobby groups is impacting on the authority of individual nation-states.
Gilbert Weiss and Ruth Wodak explore theglobalization rhetoric of the EU with specific reference to unemployment policies. The central concern of this chapter is the linguistic nature of the decision-making process in the Competitiveness Advisory Group. Business-speak, location-speak and globalization rhetoric are used to construct an EU identity that differs significantly from other larger identities such as that of Japan or the USA.
Essentially the EU is a collaborative project, which requires the input of all its member states. This is a process, which is not without tension as the EU has itself impacted on the authority of nation-states. Despite its constant reference to the principle of subsidiarity, the EU has implemented certain policy-making decisions at supra-national rather than national levels and created a new set of hierarchial relations. The principle of subsidiary is the focus of Douglas Holmes' essay, which examines the surrogate discourse of power in the EU. Holmes observes the significance of subsidiarity underlying the development of an increasingly federal EU but the principle also provides the substance of a complex moral discourse designed to sustain the European project and its relations with existing diversities.
Four essays in part two of this book examine the concept of belonging and identity in the European Union. Catherine Neveu's contribution is particularly useful in its exploration of the potential contribution of anthropologists to the construction of European citizenship. Anthropologists can investigate different ways through which background models and representations regarding citizenship are invoked by European officials and lobbyists. They can investigate the negotiation process indeciding, implementing and evaluating policies and programmes. She suggests that an anthropological critique of European citizenship is increasingly necessary to address global questions of citizenship, issues of identity and the relative weight of representation and participation for the democratic process.
Thomas Wilson examines the role of anthropology in EU scholarship on culture and identity. This chapter champions an approach exploring the impact of EU institutions as experienced on a day-to day basis. Wilson is a well-established authority on Northern Ireland and sets his argument in the context of Northern Ireland's borderlands where nationalist ideologies restrict the political and economic integration of Britain and Ireland. EU actions designed to alleviate this ethno-nationalist struggle are accepted or resisted within this context.
Richard Jenkins's essay also emphasizes the benefits of an anthropological approach to everyday life in a local community. This contribution focuses on a small town in Jutland prior to the 1992 referendum on the Maastricht Treaty. Jenkins examines the complexity of the relationship between Danish identity and the EU, where a sense of Danish-ness has served both pro- and anti- EU camps. He examines the pro- and anti- positions to arrive at a complex picture of Danish-ness, which emphasizes similarity with the Nordic world and difference from Germany. It emphasizes equality of relationships within Denmark and positive feelings regarding ethnic-cultural homogeneity.
Stacia Zabusky explores institutional discourses and practices of belonging in the European State Agency. She focuses in particular on European officials such as members ofthe European Parliament, Commission officials and civil servants of the Council who are frequently regarded as the new 'true Europeans' by individuals within and outside core EU institutions. These officials operate as 'architects' or 'engineers' of Europe's public space and have clear conceptions of a cultural and linguistic European identity at individual and collective levels. Although national boundaries are theoretically irrelevant in the EU, its citizens continue to feel strong loyalties to their member states. For this reason, Zabusky avails of the expression 'boundaries at work' to denote the significance of borders which are theoretically irrelevant.
This book is extremely useful in its exploration of the construction of an EU in which centripedal and centrifugal forces are constantly at work. As the process of harmonization and integration gathers momentum, there is great potential for the proliferation of complementary and/or competing identities. As this volume emphasises, it is neither feasible nor desirable to attempt to camouflage our differences. Instead the acknowledgement of cultural differences is a dynamic process that can generate new insights into the evolution of EU institutions and identities.

Borders are where wars start, as Primo Levi once wrote. But they are also bridges - that is, sites for ongoing cultural exchange. Anyone studying how nations and states maintain distinct identities while adapting to new ideas and experiences knows that borders provide particularly revealing windows for the analysis of 'self' and 'other'. In representing invisible demarcations between nations and peoples who may have much or very little in common, borders exert a powerful influence and define how people think as well as what they do. Without borders, whether physical or symbolic, nationalism could not exist, nor could borders exist without nationalism. Surprisingly, there have been very few systematic or concerted efforts to review the experiences of nation and state at the local level of borders. Drawing on examples from the US and Mexico, Northern Ireland, Israel and Palestine, Spain and Morocco, as well as various parts of Southeast Asia and Africa, this timely book offers a comparative perspective on culture at state boundaries. The authors examine the role of the state, ethnicity, transnationalism, border symbols, rituals and identity in an effort to understand how nationalism informs attitudes and behaviour at local, national and international levels. Soldiers, customs agents, smugglers, tourists, athletes, shoppers, and prostitutes all provide telling insights into the power relations of everyday life and what these relations say about borders. This overview of the importance of borders to the construction of identity and culture will be an essential text for students and scholars in anthropology, sociology, political science, geography, nationalism and immigration studies.

Borders are where wars start, as Primo Levi once wrote. But they are also bridges - that is, sites for ongoing cultural exchange. Anyone studying how nations and states maintain distinct identities while adapting to new ideas and experiences knows that borders provide particularly revealing windows for the analysis of 'self' and 'other'. In representing invisible demarcations between nations and peoples who may have much or very little in common, borders exert a powerful influence and define how people think as well as what they do. Without borders, whether physical or symbolic, nationalism could not exist, nor could borders exist without nationalism.
Surprisingly, there have been very few systematic or concerted efforts to review the experiences of nation and state at the local level of borders. Drawing on examples from the US and Mexico, Northern Ireland, Israel and Palestine, Spain and Morocco, as well as various parts of Southeast Asia and Africa, this timely book offers a comparative perspective on culture at state boundaries. The authors examine the role of the state, ethnicity, transnationalism, border symbols, rituals and identity in an effort to understand how nationalism informs attitudes and behaviour at local, national and international levels. Soldiers, customs agents, smugglers, tourists, athletes, shoppers, and prostitutes all provide telling insights into the power relations of everyday life and what these relations say about borders.
This overview of the importance of borders to the construction of identity and culture will be an essential text for students and scholars in anthropology, sociology, political science, geography, nationalism and immigration studies.

This two-volume encyclopedia profiles the contemporary culture and society of every country in Europe. Each country receives a chapter encompassing such topics as religion, lifestyle and leisure, standard of living, cuisine, gender roles, relationships, dress, music, visual arts, and architecture. This authoritative and comprehensive encyclopedia provides readers with richly detailed entries on the 45 nations that comprise modern Europe. Each country profile looks at elements of contemporary life related to family and work, including popular pastimes, customs, beliefs, and attitudes. Students can make cross-cultural comparisons—for instance, a student could compare social customs in Denmark with those in Norway, compare Greece’s cuisine with that of Italy, and contrast the architecture of Paris with Amsterdam and Barcelona. Culture and society are changing in each region and nation of Europe due to many political and economic forces, both inside and outside of each nation's borders. This encyclopedia considers many of the transformations connected to globalization, as well as traditions that still hold strong, to provide a complete assessment of the processes that make European societies and cultures distinctive.

International borders are among the most significant political inventions of modern times. The borders between national states are not just important to the peoples and governments who face each other across the borderline – any international border can become a regional hotspot of global concern. But aside from the significant role borders play in national and international affairs, borders are also places and spaces where people live, work, raise families, and build businesses. Written for students across disciplines, Borders, Boundaries, Frontiers introduces readers to the study of borders and border cultures. Thomas M. Wilson examines both historical foundations and current developments in the field, with an emphasis on anthropological contributions. Ultimately, Borders, Boundaries, Frontiers encourages students to explore the role anthropology plays in the understanding of contemporary borders.

This book offers fresh insights into the complex and various ways in which international frontiers influence cultural identities. Ten anthropological case studies describe specific international borders in Europe, Asia, Africa, and North America, and bring out the importance of boundary politics, and the diverse forms that it may take. As a contribution to the wider theoretical debates about nationalism, transnationalism, and globalization, it will interest students and scholars in anthropology, political science, international studies and modern history.

This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ++++ The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to ensure edition identification: ++++ Local Option In Norway: With An Account Of The Establishment And Working Of The Society For Retailing Ardent Spirits In Bergen Thomas M. Wilson

International borders are among the most significant political inventions of modern times. The borders between national states are not just important to the peoples and governments who face each other across the borderline – any international border can become a regional hotspot of global concern. But aside from the significant role borders play in national and international affairs, borders are also places and spaces where people live, work, raise families, and build businesses. Written for students across disciplines, Borders, Boundaries, Frontiers introduces readers to the study of borders and border cultures. Thomas M. Wilson examines both historical foundations and current developments in the field, with an emphasis on anthropological contributions. Ultimately, Borders, Boundaries, Frontiers encourages students to explore the role anthropology plays in the understanding of contemporary borders.

Alcohol is not only big business, it has become an essential part of social relations in so many cultures that its global importance may be outdistancing its critics. Despite grim health warnings, its consumption is at an all-time high in many parts of the developed world. Perhaps because drinking has always played a key role in identity, its uses and meanings show no signs of abating. What does sake tell us about Japan or burgundy about France? How does the act of consuming or indeed abstaining from alcohol tie in with self-presentation, ethnicity, class and culture? How important is alcohol to feelings of belonging and notions of resistance?Answering these intriguing questions and many more, this timely book looks at alcohol consumption across cultures and what drinking means to the people who consume or, equally tellingly, refuse to consume. From Ireland to Hong Kong, Mexico to Germany, alcohol plays a key role in a wide range of functions: religious, familial, social, even political. Drinking Cultures situates its consumption within the context of these wider cultural practices and reveals how class, ethnicity and nationalism are all expressed through this very popular commodity. Drawing on original fieldwork, contributors look at the interplay of culture and power in bars and pubs, the significance of advertising symbols, the role of drink in day-to-day rituals and much more. The result is the first sustained, cross-cultural study of the profound impact alcohol has on national identity throughout the world today. The book includes 2 maps, 2 tables, 2 diagrams.