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Showing 101 - 120 of 19211 items
By Ami Ayalon. 2016
In a brief historic moment, printing presses, publishing ventures, a periodical press, circulation networks, and a mass readership came into…
being all at once in the Middle East, where none had previously existed, with ramifications in every sphere of the community's life. Among other outcomes, this significant change facilitated the cultural and literary movement known as the Arab 'nahda' ('awakening'). Ayalon's book offers both students and scholars a critical inquiry into the formative phase of that shift in Arab societies. This comprehensive analysis explores the advent of printing and publishing; the formation of mass readership; and the creation of distribution channels, the vital and often overlooked nexus linking the former two processes. It considers questions of cultural and religious tradition, social norms and relations, and concepts of education, offering a unique presentation of the emerging print culture in the Middle East.Foppish, impulsive, and philandering: William Jackson was every Georgian parent’s worst nightmare. Gentlemen were expected to be honorable and virtuous,…
but William was the opposite, much to the dismay of his father, a well-to-do representative of the East India Company in Madras. In The Profligate Son, historian Nicola Phillips meticulously reconstructs William’s life from a recently discovered family archive, describing how his youthful misbehavior reduced his family to ruin. At first, William seemed destined for a life of great fortune, but before long, he was indulging regularly in pornography and brothels and using his father’s abundant credit to swindle tradesmen. Eventually, William found himself in debtor’s prison and then on a long, typhus-ridden voyage to an Australian penal colony. He spent the rest of his days there, dying a pauper at the age of thirty-seven. A masterpiece of literary nonfiction as dramatic as any Dickens novel, The Profligate Son transports readers from the steamy streets of India, to London’s elegant squares and seedy brothels, to the sunbaked shores of Australia, tracing the arc of a life long buried in history.By Kay S. Hymowitz. 2011
By Konstantinos Retsikas, Magnus Marsden. 2012
This collection of arresting and innovative chapters applies the techniques of anthropology in analyzing the role played by Islam in…
the social lives of the world s Muslims The volume begins with an introduction that sets out a powerful case for a fresh approach to this kind of research exhorting anthropologists to pause and reflect on when Islam is and is not a central feature of their informants life-worlds and identities The chapters that follow are written by scholars with long-term specialist research experience in Muslim societies ranging from Kenya to Pakistan and from Yemen to China thus they explore and compare Islam s social significance in a variety of settings that are not confined to the Middle East or South Asia alone The authors assess how helpful current anthropological research is in shedding light on Islam s relationship to contemporary societies Collectively the contributors deploy both theoretical and ethnographic analysis of key developments in the anthropology of Islam over the last 30 years even as they extrapolate their findings to address wider debates over the anthropology of world religions more generally Crucially they also tackle the thorny question of how in the current political context anthropologists might continue conducting sensitive and nuanced work with Muslim communities Finally an afterword by a scholar of Christianity explores the conceptual parallels between the book s key themes and the anthropology of world religions in a broader context This volume has key contemporary relevance for example its conclusions on the fluidity of people s relations with Islam will provide an important counterpoint to many commonly held assumptions about the incontestability of Islam in the public sphereBy James David Fahn. 2005
The future of Earth's environment will be decided in Asia, home to 60 percent of the world's population and some…
of the world's fastest-growing economies. As an award-winning investigative journalist based in Bankok, James Fahn spent a decade grappling with the challenges facing the region's mega-cities, tropical forests, coastlines, and societies dashing toward modernity. In A Land on Fire, he shares his findings - the profound implications for global issues such as climate change, the loss of biodiversity, and the greening of world trade. He explores Southeast Asia's environmental battles through the eyes of the people fighting them, and recounts his many adventures while covering them. Whether chasing down log smugglers along the Thai-Burmese border, exposing the dumping of toxic mercury into the Gulf of Thailand by multinational oil corporations, or covering the controversy surrounding the filming of the movie The Beach, Fahn provides unique insight into the relationship between sustainable development and democracy, the crippling impact of corruption, and the environmental challenges facing us all.By Peniel E. Joseph. 2010
The Civil Rights Movement is now remembered as a long-lost era, which came to an end along with the idealism…
of the 1960s. In Dark Days, Bright Nights, acclaimed scholar Peniel E. Joseph puts this pat assessment to the test, showing the 60s-particularly the tumultuous period after the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act-to be the catalyst of a movement that culminated in the inauguration of Barack Obama.Joseph argues that the 1965 Voting Rights Act burst a dam holding back radical democratic impulses. This political explosion initially took the form of the Black Power Movement, conventionally adjudged a failure. Joseph resurrects the movement to elucidate its unfairly forgotten achievements.Told through the lives of activists, intellectuals, and artists, including Malcolm X, Huey P. Newton, Amiri Baraka, Tupac Shakur, and Barack Obama, Dark Days, Bright Nights will make coherent a fraught half-century of struggle, reassessing its impact on American democracy and the larger world.By Edwin Ardener Dagger. 2018
Edwin Ardener+ was one of the most important social anthropologists in Britain of his time, working on social, economic, demographic…
and political problems and particularly influential in his sustained effort to bring together social anthropology and linguistics in a highly original attempt to reconcile scientific and humanistic approaches to the study of society. This volume offers the best of Ardener's papers and forms a theoretically and conceptually coherent body of work by this innovative and profound thinker, which will continue to excite and stimulate new generations of students and researchers as it did in the past.By Jopi Nyman, Eleftheria Arapoglou, Yiorgos Kalogeras. 2016
This volume examines the role and representation of 'race' and ethnicity in the media with particular emphasis on the United…
States. It highlights contemporary work that focuses on changing meanings of racial and ethnic identity as they are represented in the media; television and film, digital and print media are under examination. Through fourteen innovative and interdisciplinary case studies written by a team of internationally based contributors, the volume identifies ways in which ethnic, racial, and national identities have been produced, reproduced, stereotyped, and contested. It showcases new emerging theoretical approaches in the field, and pays particular attention to the role of race, ethnicity, and national identity, along with communal and transnational allegiances, in the making of identities in the media. The topics of the chapters range from immigrant newspapers and gangster cinema to ethnic stand-up comedy and the use of 'race' in advertising.By Jai B. P. Sinha. 2014
This volume situates Indians in the contemporary world and profiles the major facets of their thought and behaviour; then goes…
back to trace their roots to ancient thought to see how the past predisposes and the present guides Indians in their everyday life. The volume begins with a conceptual framework showing how the Indian worldview has encompassed and enveloped a variety of ideas and influences from divergent sources. As a result, Indians are both collectivists and individualists, hierarchically oriented while respecting merit and quality, religious as well as secular and sexually indulgent, spiritual as well as materialists, excessively dependent but remarkably entrepreneurial, non-violent in principle but violent in practice and comfortable in shifting between analytical, synthetic as well as intuitive approaches to reality. Such a coexistence of opposites often causes inaction, hesitation and perfunctory action, but also equips Indians to be innovative by continuously aligning their thought and behaviour to the demands of a milieu. The milieu has an inner layer consisting of desh (place), kaal (time) and paatra (person), which are embedded in the larger societal contexts of castes and classes, poverty, corruption, fragmenting politics, conflicts and violence and unfolding global opportunities and challenges. Cultural heritage permeates in all these. Indians function in this tiered, multifactorial, dynamic space. This volume draws evidence from ancient texts and the latest national and international research, many of which were conducted by the author and his associates. It does not, however, hesitate to indulge in anecdotal evidence, cases and speculative ideas in order to complete the picture. The author takes an in-depth view of the Indian mindset without getting the reader lost in either the intricacies of ancient philosophical abyss or the trivialities of present-day non-events.By Heidi Härkönen. 2016
This book is an ethnographic analysis of gender, kinship, and love in contemporary Cuba. The focus is on the lives…
of low-income Havana residents over the life cycle from birth to death. The book documents how kinship and love relations are created, reproduced, and negotiated at different life stages through gendered dialectics of care, important to both individuals' relationships and state politics. In the process, through a variety of practices and meanings, ranging from rituals to understandings of sexual desire, gender becomes affirmed as the central social difference characterizing Cuban society. The book argues that Cubans live their lives embedded in social networks of care that are both emotionally and pragmatically central to individual existence. At the same time, the island's contemporary political and economic changes carry gendered consequences to everyday relationships, with the potential to introduce unexpected changes to the life cycle. iv>By Melinda Papp. 2016
This book presents a case study of shichigosan, an extremely popular childhood family ritual in contemporary Japan. It is an…
interesting example of a custom with very ancient roots (going back to the tenth century), that has undergone several transformations during the course of its history, adapting to changing socio-economic and cultural circumstances. Within the study, the ritual unfolds as a shared platform where basic social values, views on children and family life, and individual perceptions emerge, are expressed and moulded at the same time. This book offers a multidisciplinary approach to the study of a ritual practice in the intensely urbanized context of present-day Japan.By Nicole Blum. 2011
A growing body of research has given critical attention to diverse theories and practices of environmental education, and its potential…
contribution to addressing pressing global issues such as sustainable development and climate change. While much of this work has focused on perspectives and practices in Europe and North America, this book explores environmental learning within formal education, in programmes by non-governmental organisations, and in public education spaces in Monteverde, Costa Rica. The discussion also highlights the need for more research to understand the broader social and economic interactions between such efforts and the communities in which they are located.By Ulrich J. Frey, Kai P. Willführ, Charlotte Störmer. 2009
Converging evidence from disciplines including sociobiology, evolutionary psychology and human biology forces us to adopt a new idea of what…
it means to be a human. As cherished concepts such as free will, naïve realism, humans as creation's crowning glory fall and our moral roots in ape group dynamics become clearer, we have to take leave of many concepts that have been central to defining our humanness. What emerges is a new human, the homo novus, a human being without illusions. Leading authors from many different fields explore these issues by addressing a range of illusions and providing evidence for the need, despite considerable reluctance, to relinquish some of our most cherished ideas about ourselves.By Susan Dewey, Tiantian Zheng. 2008
This volume is the result of the many years the authors have spent conducting ethnographic field research with sex workers,…
conversing with other researchers, and, perhaps most importantly, developing a deep sense of empathy for the sex worker participants in the research as well as the colleagues who carry out this work with the goal of advancing social justice. They have a combined total of twenty-five years' experience carrying out research with sex workers, and this extensive period of time has given them ample opportunity to reflect upon the topic of ethics. Sex work, defined as the exchange of sexual or sexualized intimacy for money or something of value, encompasses a wide range of legal and illegal behaviors that present researchers with key ethical challenges explored in the volume. These ethical challenges include: · Research methodology · Distinguishing research from activism · Navigating the politically and ideologically charged environments in which researchers must remain constantly attuned to the legal and public policy implications of their work · Possibilities for participatory sex work research processes · Strategies for incorporating participants in a variety of collaborative ways Sex work presents a unique set of challenges that are not always well understood by those working outside of anthropology and disciplines closely related to it. This book serves an important function by honestly and openly reviewing strategies for overcoming these ethical challenges with the end goal of producing path-breaking research that actively incorporates the perspectives of research participants on their own terms. Ever attuned to the reality that research on sex work remains a deeply political act, Ethical Research with Sex Workers: Anthropological Approaches aspires to begin a dialogue about the meanings and practices ascribed to ethics in a fraught environment. Drawing upon a review of published scholarly and activist work on the subject, as well as on interviews with researchers, social service providers, and sex workers themselves, this volume is an unprecedented contribution to the literature that will engage researchers across a variety of disciplines, such as academics and researchers in anthropology, sociology, criminal justice, and public health, as well as activists and policymakers.By Gabriele Marranci. 2009
Scholars from various disciplines worked together to present the first interdisciplinary book to address the issue of Islam, secularism and…
globalization. The book has a clear structure which represents its interdisciplinary approach: the first section addresses the philosophical and historical discussion about Islam and secularism; the second section discusses the topic from an ethnographical and social anthropological viewpoint; and the final section addresses Islam, secularism and globalization from a political viewpoint. This unique collection not only offers innovative research and new material, it also provides empirical examples and theoretical debates, and could therefore also be used as a textbook for courses on Islam, globalization, anthropology, politics, sociology and law.By William T. Hoston. 2016
This book is a study of black masculinity in the twenty-first century. Through a series of critical and interdisciplinary essays,…
this work examines the image of the black male in American society as a Toby Waller stereotype. Toby Waller is the fictional, yet symbolic character from Alex Haley's highly acclaimed book and mini-series, Roots. It is a richly detailed, fictional story about slavery and one enslaved African man's struggle to regain freedom. The parallel of the life of enslaved Toby Waller is similar to present day black males. Both are individuals who are often stripped of their cultural identity and exist within an institutional and systemic framework that devalues black male life. This dichotomy is the historical platform to discuss how those in the annals of white America demarcate which embodiment merits inclusion into societal acceptance.By Amanda Spink. 2009
Information behavior has emerged as an important aspect of human life, however our knowledge and understanding of it is incomplete…
and underdeveloped scientifically. Research on the topic is largely contemporary in focus and has generally not incorporated results from other disciplines. In this monograph Spink provides a new understanding of information behavior by incorporating related findings, theories and models from social sciences, psychology and cognition. In her presentation, she argues that information behavior is an important instinctive sociocognitive ability that can only be fully understood with a highly interdisciplinary approach. The leitmotivs of her examination are three important research questions: First, what is the evolutionary, biological and developmental nature of information behavior? Second, what is the role of instinct versus environment in shaping information behavior? And, third, how have information behavior capabilities evolved and developed over time? Written for researchers in information science as well as social and cognitive sciences, Spink's controversial text lays the foundation for a new interdisciplinary theoretical perspective on information behavior that will not only provide a more holistic framework for this field but will also impact those sciences, and thus also open up many new research directions.By Augustine Agwuele. 2016
Thisbook offers an interpretation of Yoruba people's affective responses to anadult Yoruba male with a 'deviant' hairstyle. The work, which…
views hairstylesas a form of symbolic communicative signal that encodes messages that areperceived and interpreted within a culture, provides an ontological andepistemological interpretation of Yoruba beliefs regarding dreadlocks withreal-life illustrations of their treatment of an adult male with what they termirun were (insane person's hairdo). Based on experiential observationsas well as socio-cultural and linguistic analyses, the book explores thedynamism of Yoruba worldview regarding head-hair within contemporary beliefsystems and discusses some of the factors that assure its continuity. Itconcludes with a cross-cultural comparison of the perceptions of dreadlocks,especially between Nigerian Yoruba people and African American Yorubapractitioners.By Nicholas Rzhevsky. 1998
Russia's size, the diversity of its peoples and its unique geographical position straddling East and West have created a culture…
that is both inward and outward looking. Its history reflects the tension between very different approaches to what culture can and should be, and this tension shapes the vibrancy of its arts today. The highly successful first edition of Rzhevsky's Companion has been updated to include post-Soviet trends and new developments in the twenty-first century. It brings together leading authorities writing on Russian cultural identity, its Western and Asian connections, popular culture and the unique Russian contributions to the arts. Each of the eleven chapters has been revised or entirely rewritten to take account of current cultural conditions and the further reading brought up to date. The book reveals, for students, academic researchers and all those interested in Russia, the dilemmas, strengths and complexities of the Russian cultural experience.By George Washington Cable, Michael Kreyling. 1988