Children in the Taiwanese fishing community of Angang have their attention drawn, consciously and unconsciously, to various forms of identification through their participation in schooling, family life and popular religion. They read texts about 'virtuous mothers', share 'meaningful foods' with other villagers, visit the altars of 'divining children' and participate in 'dangerous' god-strengthening rituals. In particular they learn about the family-based cycle of reciprocity, and the tension between this and commitment to the nation. Charles Stafford's study of childhood in this community...
Children in the Taiwanese fishing community of Angang have their attention drawn, consciously and unconsciously, to various forms of identification th...
Children in the Taiwanese fishing community of Angang have their attention drawn, consciously and unconsciously, to various forms of identification through their participation in schooling, family life and popular religion. They read texts about virtuous mothers, share meaningful foods with other villagers, visit the altars of divining children and participate in dangerous god-strengthening rituals. In particular they learn about the family-based cycle of reciprocity, and the tension between this and commitment to the nation. Charles Stafford's study of childhood in this community (with...
Children in the Taiwanese fishing community of Angang have their attention drawn, consciously and unconsciously, to various forms of identification th...
In this distinctive book, Charles Stafford describes the Chinese fascination with separation and reunion. Drawing on his field studies in Taiwan and mainland China, he gives a vivid account of festivals of reunion, rituals for the sending-off of gods, silent leave-takings, poetic words of parting, and bitter political rhetoric. Stafford examines how these idioms and practices help people situate themselves in historical communities, and how they are deployed in official Chinese rhetoric concerning Taiwan. The discussion of these everyday rituals offers rich insights into Chinese and Taiwanese...
In this distinctive book, Charles Stafford describes the Chinese fascination with separation and reunion. Drawing on his field studies in Taiwan and m...
Anthropology today seems to shy away from the big, comparative questions that ordinary people in many societies find compelling. Questions of Anthropology brings these issues back to the centre of anthropological concerns. Individual essays explore birth, death and sexuality, puzzles about the relationship between science and religion, questions about the nature of ritual, work, political leadership and genocide, and our personal fears and desires, from the quest to control the future and to find one's "true" identity to the fear of being alone. Each essay starts with a question...
Anthropology today seems to shy away from the big, comparative questions that ordinary people in many societies find compelling. Questions of An...
Drawing on a wide range of anthropological case studies, this book focuses on ordinary ethics in contemporary China. The book examines the kinds of moral and ethical issues that emerge (sometimes almost unnoticed) in the flow of everyday life in Chinese communities.
How are schoolchildren judged to be good or bad by their teachers and their peers - and how should a 'bad' student be dealt with? What exactly do children owe their parents, and how should this debt be repaid? Is it morally acceptable to be jealous if one's neighbours suddenly become rich? Should the wrongs of the past be...
Drawing on a wide range of anthropological case studies, this book focuses on ordinary ethics in contemporary China. The book examines the kinds of mo...
