Kategoria BISAC: Social Science >> Anthropology - General

This pathbreaking ethnography of population movements between rural and urban places in Peru addresses the conceptual and methodological problems of studying 'deterritorialized' populations and the implications of this for anthropology's notions of culture and identity.

Based on extensive fieldwork, this book explores the economic, social and ritual bonds which link migrants in Peru's major cities to their Andean native village. Many urban migrants establish networks based on kinship and marriage ties to exploit resources in the city as well as the village. These networks ensure they...

- How can anthropology improve our understanding of the interrelationship between nature and culture?

- What can anthropology contribute to practical debates which depend on particular definitions of nature, such as that concerning sustainable development?

Humankind has evolved over several million years by living in and utilizing 'nature' and by assimilating it into 'culture'. Indeed, the technological and cultural advancement of the species has been widely acknowledged to rest upon human domination and control of nature. Yet, by the 1960s, the idea of culture in confrontation...

Flamenco is renowned for its passion and flamboyance. Yet because it generates such visceral responses, it is often overlooked as a site for subtler discourses.

This absorbing book articulates powerful and convincing arguments on such key subjects as ethnicity, irony, authenticity, the body and resistance. Franco's 'politics of original sin' had left its mark on every aspect of Spanish life between 1936 and 1975, and flamenco music was no exception. Although widely portrayed as an apolitical, even frivolous form of entertainment, flamenco is shown here to have played a role in both...

Much of the exotic dress of the armies of Europe and elsewhere has its origins in the conditions of frontier wars fought by imperial armies. As states have expanded to control hinterlands occupied by culturally diverse peoples, the ensuing conflicts have had an impact on imperial armies and the way they have dressed. 'Hinterland warriors' have been employed by imperial governments for a multitude of reasons: they understand the tactics of enemies at the border and are skilled tacticians themselves; they possess local knowledge; they do not disrupt the labor supply; politicians do not have...

Perhaps the most vexing question facing Europe today is what to do about asylum seekers and people in search of work who arrive daily, some escaping nations where poverty and persecution are, for them, facts of life. Given its costs - both human and economic - immigration policy has understandably become a highly politicized issue. With the abolition of internal borders within the EU, new controls are needed to stop immigration and to prevent non-citizens from working illegally. New external policies are being used, such as early warning systems and visa controls, with the long-term aim of...

In the early months of 1994, it became clear that the government of Rwanda had not acted in good faith in signing peace accords with its adversary, the Rwandan Patriotic Front. Acts of government-sponsored violence grew more frequent. The author of this book, who at that point was conducting fieldwork in Rwanda, on several occasions found either himself or the Rwandans accompanying him threatened with, or sustaining, bodily harm. Finally, active hostilities between the antagonists escalated on April 7, 1994, just hours after the Rwandan President's plane was shot down. During the author's...

In a further development of the nature-nurture debate, this collection of articles questions how the human mind influences the content and organization of culture. In the study of mental activity, can the effects of evolution and history be teased apart?

Evolutionary psychologists argue that cultural transmission is constrained by our genetic inheritance. Few social and cultural anthropologists have found this argument to be relevant to their work and many would doubt its validity. This book uniquely pitches the arguments for innatism against ethnographic perspectives that call into...

In a further development of the nature-nurture debate, this collection of articles questions how the human mind influences the content and organization of culture. In the study of mental activity, can the effects of evolution and history be teased apart?

Evolutionary psychologists argue that cultural transmission is constrained by our genetic inheritance. Few social and cultural anthropologists have found this argument to be relevant to their work and many would doubt its validity. This book uniquely pitches the arguments for innatism against ethnographic perspectives that call into...

The anthropology of art is currently at a crossroads. Although well versed in the meaning of art in small-scale tribal societies, anthropologists are still wrestling with the question of how to interpret art in a complex, post-colonial environment. Alfred Gell recently confronted this problem in his posthumous book Art and Agency. The central thesis of his study was that art objects could be seen, not as bearers of meaning or aesthetic value, but as forms mediating social action. At a stroke, Gell provocatively dismissed many longstanding but tired questions of definition and issues of...

Most of us work in or for one, but there are surprisingly few sustained analyses of the problems and peculiarities of organizations. Anthropologists are increasingly turning their attention to the study of western organizations, and this timely collection addresses the pleasures and pitfalls of ethnographic research undertaken across a range of organizational contexts. From museums to laboratories, health clinics, and multinational businesses, leading anthropologists discuss their fieldwork experiences, the problems they encountered, and the solutions they came up with.

This book...

Photographs have had an integral and complex role in many anthropological contexts, from fieldwork to museum exhibitions. This book explores how approaching anthropological photographs as 'history' can offer both theoretical and empirical insights into these roles. Photographs are thought to make problematic history because of their ambiguity and 'rawness'. In short, they have too many meanings. The author refutes this prejudice by exploring, through a series of case studies, precisely the potential of this raw quality to open up new perspectives.

Taking the nature of photography as...

Photographs have had an integral and complex role in many anthropological contexts, from fieldwork to museum exhibitions. This book explores how approaching anthropological photographs as 'history' can offer both theoretical and empirical insights into these roles. Photographs are thought to make problematic history because of their ambiguity and 'rawness'. In short, they have too many meanings. The author refutes this prejudice by exploring, through a series of case studies, precisely the potential of this raw quality to open up new perspectives.

Taking the nature of photography as...

This is the first book to explore the relationship between Martin Heidegger's work and modern anthropology. Heidegger attracts much scholarly interest among social scientists, but few have explored his ideas in relation to current anthropological debates. The discipline's modernist foundations, the nature of cultural constructionism and of art n even what an anthropology of art must include n are all informed and illuminated by Heidegger's work. The author argues that many contemporary anthropologists, in their concern to return subjectivity and 'voice' to their interlocutors, neglect to...

Burial sites have long been recognized as windows onto past civilizations, yet the meanings of present day cemeteries have been virtually ignored, even though they can reveal much about ourselves. Through the process of choosing a memorial stone, inscribing it, and tending the grave garden, visitors fashion a dynamic personal landscape of memory and mourning. The contemporary cemetery is also a place where new immigrant communities can reinforce group boundaries and establish a sense of homeland. Exploring the memorial practices of people from Greek Orthodox, Muslim, Jewish, Roman Catholic...

This book examines the life and historical background of the Paez peasants of Colombia and their relationship with the land, including issues of tenure, inheritance and the allocation of resources.

Focusing mainly on Africa, collected essays on land tenure, chieftainship, clientship, race, tribalism and nationalism.