Waiting for Macedonia gives insight into one of the most moving moments in post-war European history: the hope for a new Europe in the years following the collapse of communism. In this ethnography, Thiessen explores the different ways in which identity has been negotiated in Macedonia since the disintegration of Yugoslavia. In contrast to more familiar approaches to the Balkans--which emphasize tradition, rural life, and women in the contexts of kinship and marriage--Thiessen here investigates the everyday habits of a group of young professional women in Skopje. Using research data...

Roma--or Gypsies as some people still call them--constitute Europe's largest, poorest, and most enigmatic minority. In spite of their centuries-long coexistence with mainstream Europeans, our picture of this people remains rooted in stereotypes and myths that have little in common with contemporary social reality. Full-fledged citizens of the European Union, and ostensibly protected by the world's most progressive human rights legislation, many Roma live under conditions that challenge our notions of Europe, modernity, and pluralism.

This book is about a Romani settlement in eastern...

Winner of the Society for Medical Anthropology's 2009 New Millennium Award

Imagine yourself in advanced age, forced to depend on others for all your basic needs. What would you want to retain of your personal life?

This question is at the heart of a set of case studies that examine the lives of nursing home residents who were diagnosed with senile dementia. Based on two years of intensive comparative ethnographic study in a nursing home in a Northeastern American city, The Person in Dementia dramatically contrasts the outcomes of two approaches to dementia care...