Ancestral lines : the Maisin of Papua New Guinea and the fate of the rainforest by 
Viking Nations by
How was the North Atlantic settled? How did the distinct cultures of medieval Iceland and Greenland come to be? Viking Nations is an interdisciplinary consideration of medieval North Atlantic settlement that focuses on not only site-related identity but also the active choices made to adopt elements of identity. It utilizes comparative analysis of evidence to highlight terrestrial and marine drivers to identity development in relation to the site context. By adopting this approach it is possible to more closely examine not only the settlement of the North Atlantic but also the apparent taming of the Vikings concurrently taking place. This book illustrates the priorities expressed by medieval settling populations in relation to particular contexts. It proposes a method for planning ships' cargos which corresponds to identity development amongst the constituent Atlantic archipelagos. This work is written for an educated audience desiring to know more about the medieval North Atlantic beyond Viking stereotypes. Enough detail is included that medieval specialists will also enjoy the book.
Seven Skeletons by
An irresistible journey of discovery, science, history, and myth making, told through the lives and afterlives of seven famous human ancestors Over the last century, the search for human ancestors has spanned four continents and resulted in the discovery of hundreds of fossils. While most of these discoveries live quietly in museum collections, there are a few that have become world-renowned celebrity personas--ambassadors of science that speak to public audiences. In Seven Skeletons, historian of science Lydia Pyne explores how seven such famous fossils of our ancestors have the social cachet they enjoy today. Drawing from archives, museums, and interviews, Pyne builds a cultural history for each celebrity fossil--from its discovery to its afterlife in museum exhibits to its legacy in popular culture. These seven include the three-foot tall "hobbit" from Flores, the Neanderthal of La Chapelle, the Taung Child, the Piltdown Man hoax, Peking Man, Australopithecus sediba, and Lucy--each embraced and celebrated by generations, and vivid examples of how discoveries of how our ancestors have been received, remembered, and immortalized. With wit and insight, Pyne brings to life each fossil, and how it is described, put on display, and shared among scientific communities and the broader public. This fascinating, endlessly entertaining book puts the impact of paleoanthropology into new context, a reminder of how our past as a species continues to affect, in astounding ways, our present culture and imagination.
Social Inequalities in Health in Nonhuman Primates by
This book provides a comprehensive look at nonhuman primate social inequalities as models for health differences associated with socioeconomic status in humans. The benefit of the socially-housed monkey model is that it provides the complexity of hierarchical structure and rank affiliation, i.e. both negative and positive aspects of social status. At the same time, nonhuman primates are more amenable to controlled experiments and more invasive studies that can be used in human beings to examine the effects of low status on brain development, neuroendocrine function, immunity, and eating behavior. Because all of these biological and behavioral substrates form the underpinnings of human illness, and are likely shared among primates, the nonhuman primate model can significantly advance our understanding of the best interventions in humans.
Writing Jewish Culture by
Focusing on Eastern and Central Europe before WWII, this collection explores various genres of "ethnoliterature" across temporal, geographical, and ideological borders as sites of Jewish identity formation and dissemination. Challenging the assumption of cultural uniformity among Ashkenazi Jews, the contributors consider how ethnographic literature defines Jews and Jewishness, the political context of Jewish ethnography, and the question of audience, readers, and listeners. With contributions from leading scholars and an appendix of translated historical ethnographies, this volume presents vivid case studies across linguistic and disciplinary divides, revealing a rich textual history that throws the complexity and diversity of a people into sharp relief.
Pisskan by
Translating professional archaeological research into meaningful educational experiences for the public has taken on increased urgency in recent years. This book presents eight case studies by archaeologists who discuss innovative approaches and advances in research methodology while examining the myriad challenges associated with interpreting this work for the public. Each study focuses on a particular Native American bison kill site and shares its unique path from archaeological investigation to the creation of a public interpretive facility. Collectively they comprise a comprehensive exploration of the multifaceted linkages between archaeological research and public education, ranging in scope from the interrelationships of an interpretive facility with its surrounding communities to the nuances of explaining bone decomposition to site visitors. These examples provide valuable insights from which archaeologists and science interpreters of all disciplines can conceptualize and build their own educational programs. Book jacket.
Made in Egypt by
This ground-breaking ethnography of an export-orientated garment assembly factory in Egypt examines the dynamic relationships between its managers - emergent Mubarak-bizniz (business) elites who are caught in an intensely competitive globalized supply chain - and the local daily-life realities of their young, educated, and mixed-gender labour force. Constructions of power and resistance, as well as individual aspirations and identities, are explored through articulations of class, gender and religion in both management discourses and shop floor practices. Leila Chakravarti's compelling study also moves beyond the confines of the factory, examining the interplay with the wider world around it.
Marital Rape by
Rape in marriage is a global problem affecting millions of women - it is still legal in many countries and was only criminalized in all U.S. states in 1993. In much of the world, marital rape is too often understood as an oxymoron due to the fact that the ideology of permanent consentunderlies the legal and cultural definitions of sex in marriage. From Vietnam to Guatemala to South Africa and beyond, this volume examines how cultural, legal, public health, and human rights policies and practices impact intimate partner violence. While legal and cultural conceptions of maritalrape vary widely - from criminal assault to wifely duty - this volume offers evidence from different societies that forced sex undermines the physical and psychological well-being of the women who experience it, regardless of their cultural context. Globally, the nature of marriage is changing and so are notions of individual choice, love, intimacy, and rigid gender roles. Marital Rape documents wide ranging and fluid understandings of sex, consent, and rape in marriage; such an array of perspectives demands an international andinterdisciplinary approach to the study of sex and gender-based violence. This text brings together an international group of scholars from the fields of anthropology, sociology, criminology, law, public health, and human rights; their work points to the importance of understanding the livedexperience of sexual violence for the design of effective and culturally sensitive public policy and practice.
Lost City, Found Pyramid by
Lost City, Found Pyramid delves into the fascinating world of sensational "pseudoarchaeology," from perennial discoveries of lost pyramids or civilizations to contemporary ghost-hunting and reality TV. It examines how nonscientific pursuit of myths and legends warps both public perceptions of archaeology and of human history itself. A collection of twelve engaging and insightful essays, Lost City, Found Pyramid does far more than argue for the simple debunking of false archaeology. Rather, it brings into focus the value of understanding how and why pseudoarchaeology captures the public imagination. By comprehending pseudoarchaeology's appeal as a media product, cultural practice, and communication strategy, archaeologists can enhance and enliven how they communicate about real archaeology in the classroom and in the public arena. The first part of Lost City, Found Pyramid provides numerous case studies. Some examine the work of well-intentioned romantics who project onto actual archaeological data whimsical interpretative frameworks or quixotic "proofs" that confirm legends, such as that of the Lost White City of Honduras, or other alternative claims. Other case studies lay bare how false claims may inadvertently lead to the perpetuation of ethnic stereotypes, economic exploitation, political adventurism, and a misunderstanding of science. Offering much of interest to scholars and students of archaeology, archaeology buffs, as well as policy-makers involved in the discovery, curation, and care of archaeological sites and relics, Lost City, Found Pyramid provides an invaluable corrective and hopeful strategy for engaging the public's curiosity with the compelling world of archaeological discovery.
Interpreters of Occupation by
During the Iraq War, thousands of young Baghdadis worked as interpreters for US troops, becoming the front line of the so-called War on Terror. Deployed by the military as linguistic as well as cultural interpreters-translating the "human terrain" of Iraq-members of this network urgently honed identification strategies amid suspicion from US forces, fellow Iraqis, and, not least of all, one another. In Interpreters of Occupation, Campbell traces the experiences of twelve individuals from their young adulthood as members of the Ba'thist generation, to their work as interpreters, through their navigation of the US immigration pipeline, and finally to their resettlement in the United States. Throughout, Campbell considers how these men and women grappled with issues of belonging and betrayal, both on the battlefield in Iraq and in the US-based diaspora. A nuanced and richly detailed ethnography, Interpreters of Occupation gives voice to a generation of US allies through their diverse and vividly rendered life histories. In the face of what some considered a national betrayal in Iraq and their experiences of otherness within the United States, interpreters negotiate what it means to belong to a diasporic community in flux.
Creating Material Worlds by
Despite a growing literature on identity theory in the last two decades, much of its current use in archaeology is still driven toward locating and dating static categories such as 'Phoenician', 'Christian' or 'native'. Previous studies have highlighted the various problems and challenges presented by identity, with the overall effect of deconstructing it to insignificance. As the humanities and social sciences turn to material culture, archaeology provides a unique perspective on the interaction between people and things over the long term. This volume argues that identity is worth studying not despite its slippery nature, but because of it. Identity can be seen as an emergent property of living in a material world, an ongoing process of becoming which archaeologists are particularly well suited to study. The geographic and temporal scale of the papers included is purposefully broad to demonstrate the variety of ways in which archaeology is redefining identity. Research areas span from the Great Lakes to the Mediterranean, with case studies from the Mesolithic to the contemporary world by emerging voices in the field. The volume contains a critical review of theories of identity by the editors, as well as a response and afterword by A. Bernard Knapp.
Heaven, Hell, and Everything in Between by
Examining the vivid, often apocalyptic church murals of Peru from the early colonial period through the nineteenth century, Heaven, Hell, and Everything in Between explores the sociopolitical situation represented by the artists who generated these murals for rural parishes. Arguing that the murals were embedded in complex networks of trade, commerce, and the exchange of ideas between the Andes and Europe, Ananda Cohen Suarez also considers the ways in which artists and viewers worked through difficult questions of envisioning sacredness. This study brings to light the fact that, unlike the murals of New Spain, the murals of the Andes possess few direct visual connections to a pre-Columbian painting tradition; the Incas' preference for abstracted motifs created a problem for visually translating Catholic doctrine to indigenous congregations, as the Spaniards were unable to read Inca visual culture. Nevertheless, as Cohen Suarez demonstrates, colonial murals of the Andes can be seen as a reformulation of a long-standing artistic practice of adorning architectural spaces with images that command power and contemplation. Drawing on extensive secondary and archival sources, including account books from the churches, as well as on colonial Spanish texts, Cohen Suarez urges us to see the murals not merely as decoration or as tools of missionaries but as visual archives of the complex negotiations among empire, communities, and individuals.
Why Forage? by
Foraging persists as a viable economic strategy both in remote regions and within the bounds of developed nation-states. Given the economic alternatives available, why do some groups choose to maintain their hunting and gathering lifeways? Through a series of detailed case studies, the contributors to this volume examine the decisions made by modern-day foragers to sustain a predominantly hunting and gathering way of life. What becomes clear is that hunter-gatherers continue to forage because the economic benefits of doing so are high relative to the local alternatives and, perhaps more importantly, because the social costs of not foraging are prohibitive; in other words, hunter-gatherers value the social networks built through foraging and sharing more than the potential marginal gains of a new mode of subsistence. Why Forage? shows that hunting and gathering continues to be a viable and vibrant way of life even in the twenty-first century.
Anthropology and Climate Change by
The first edition of Anthropology and Climate Change (2009) pioneered the study of climate change through the lens of anthropology, covering the relation between human cultures and the environment from prehistoric times to the present. This second, thoroughly revised edition brings the material on this rapidly changing field completely up to date, with major scholars from around the world mapping out trajectories of research and issuing specific calls for action. The new edition -introduces five new "foundational” chapters, which lay out what anthropologists have learned about climate change over the last decade, new theoretical and practical perspectives, insights gleaned from sociology, and international efforts to study and curb climate change; -presents a series of case studies--both new cases and old cases viewed with fresh eyes--with the specific purpose of assessing what has been learned over time; -provides a close look at how climate change is affecting livelihoods, especially in the context of economic globalization and the migration of youth outmigration from rural to urban areas; -expands coverage to England, the Amazon, the Marshall Islands, Tanzania, and Ethiopia; * re-examines the conclusions and recommendations of the first volume, refining our knowledge of what we do and do not know about climate change and what we can do to adapt.
Ephemeral Bounty by
The Colorado Wickiup Project is documenting ephemeral wooden features such as wickiups; tree-platforms, and horse corrals that remain scattered throughout the mesas, canyons, and mountains of the state. Many date from after the arrival of European newcomers who brought with them a bounty of new things-horses, metal knives and axes, guns, and brightly colored glass beads-which were readily adopted by the Utes. The Project is unique in using the techniques of metal detection, historic trade ware analysis, and tree-ring dating of metal ax-cut wickiup poles to distinguish the Ute sites from historic Euro-American ones. Through this analysis, researchers have demonstrated that not all Utes left Colorado for the reservations in Utah during the "final removal" in 1881, as has been generally believed. A significant number remained on their homelands well into the early decades of the twentieth century, building brush shelters and living much as they had for generations, but with new tools and weapons. Ephemeral Bounty presents the results of this archaeological research and its important findings on the protohistoric and historic Ute Indians of Colorado. Book jacket.
Chol (Mayan) Folktales by
Chol (Mayan) Folktales deftly combines high-quality and thoughtfully edited transcriptions of oral storytelling with translation and narrative analysis, documenting and analyzing a trove of Chol folklore. The work provides a look into the folktale culture of the contemporary Maya presented with a rare and innovative theoretical framework. The rich Chol oral narrative tradition is represented by eleven stories, each printed in the original language of the storytellers with parallel English translations and accompanied by a brief introduction that provides the relevant cultural and mythological background. Included with eight of the stories is a link to an audio clip of the tale told aloud in the Chol language. In addition, Chol (Mayan) Folktales introduces a model for the analysis of narratives that can be used to demonstrate the existence of a tradition of storytelling applicable to other Maya lore, including Classic period hieroglyphic texts. Creating a nuanced sense of the Mayan oral tradition and revealing a highly structured literary style, this collection provides insight into contemporary Maya culture as well as a greater understanding of Classic period society. It will be of interest to students and scholars of folklore and literature and to anthropologists and linguists.
The Value of Comparison by
In The Value of Comparison Peter van der Veer makes a compelling case for using comparative approaches in the study of society and for the need to resist the simplified civilization narratives popular in public discourse and some social theory. He takes the quantitative social sciences and the broad social theories they rely on to task for their inability to question Western cultural presuppositions, demonstrating that anthropology's comparative approach provides a better means to understand societies. This capacity stems from anthropology's engagement with diversity, its fragmentary approach to studying social life, and its ability to translate difference between cultures. Through essays on topics as varied as iconoclasm, urban poverty, Muslim immigration, and social exclusion van der Veer highlights the ways that studying the particular and the unique allows for gaining a deeper knowledge of the whole without resorting to simple generalizations that elide and marginalize difference.
Spirits and Trance in Brazil by
Bettina E. Schmidt explores experiences usually labelled as spirit possession, a highly contested and challenged term, using extensive ethnographic research conducted in São Paulo, the largest city in Brazil and home to a range of religions which practice spirit possession. The book is enriched by excerpts from interviews with people about their experiences. It focuses on spirit possession in Afro-Brazilian religions and spiritism, as well as discussing the notion of exorcism in Charismatic Christian communities. Spirits and Trance in Brazil: An Anthropology of Religious Experience is divided into three sections which present the three main areas in the study of spirit possession. The first section looks at the social dimension of spirit possession, in particular gender roles associated with spirit possession in Brazil and racial stratification of the communities. It shows how gender roles and racial composition have adapted alongside changes in society in the last 100 years. The second section focuses on the way people interpret their practice. It shows that the interpretations of this practice depend on the human relationship to the possessing entities. The third section explores a relatively new field of research, the Western discourse of mind/body dualism and the wide field of cognition and embodiment. All sections together confirm the significance of discussing spirit possession within a wider framework that embraces physical elements as well as cultural and social ones. Bringing together sociological, anthropological, phenomenological and religious studies approaches, this book offers a new perspective on the study of spirit possession.
The Missing Lemur Link by
Lemurs share a common distant ancestor with humans. Following their own evolutionary pathway, lemurs provide the ideal model to shed light on the behavioural traits of primates including conflict management, communication strategies and society building and how these aspects of social living relate to those found in the anthropoid primates. Adopting a comparative approach throughout, lemur behaviour is cross-examined with that of monkeys, apes and humans. This book reviews and expands upon the newest fields of research in lemur behavioural biology, including recent analytical approaches that have so far been limited to studies of haplorrhine primates. Different methodological approaches are harmonised in this volume to break conceptual walls between both primate taxa and different disciplines. Through a focus on the methodologies behind lemur behaviour and social interactions, future primate researchers will be encouraged to produce directly comparable results.
Mining and Materiality by
In this book Anne Teather develops a new approach to understanding the Neolithic flint mines of southern Britain. These mines include some of the earliest - and also some of the largest - monumental constructions that transformed the landscape of Britain during the period of social change that accompanied the transition from foraging to farming 6000 years ago. Yet the sophisticated architecture of these mines and the unique deposits that they contained have received relatively little attention from archaeologists. This book draws together the results of an extensive analysis of archival records and material to illustrate how these mines and the activities that took place in them can be seen as integral to Neolithic life. Previous studies of the flint mines have focused on the functional demands of flint extraction and the ways in which the raw flint material was distributed and processed into tools such as axes. Yet there is compelling evidence that the voids - shafts and galleries created through the process of flint extraction - were not merely the abandoned features of flint exploitation but instead should be seen as dynamic and monumental architectural spaces where creative and meaningful social actions took place. This interpretation is evidenced through the recognition of repeated motifs of chalk art inscribed on the walls of the mines and in the deliberate placement and deposition of artefacts. These artefacts include both naturalistic and abstract forms made of chalk, items that have not previously been recognised as a cohesive class of material. The book draws together for the first time a comprehensive typology, chronology and classification system for prehistoric chalk artefacts. The concept of artefact is broadened to include natural materials whose selection and placement in specific archaeological contexts is pivotal in understanding depositional complexity and the symbolic meaning conveyed by elements of the natural world.
The Indigenous Peoples of Trinidad and Tobago from the First Settlers until Today by
This study relates the vicissitudes of the Amerindian peoples who lived or still inhabit the islands of Trinidad and Tobago, from the earliest occupants, ca. 8000 BC, until present. Using archaeological, ethnohistorical and linguistic data, it discusses the social, political, economic, and religious development of indigenous society through the ages. The Amerindian struggle with European colonization is chronicled in detail, following centuries of independent existence during pre-Columbian times, as well as the survival of the current people of indigenous ancestry in the twin-island republic."This book fills a long-standing gap in the history of Trinidad & Tobago, and the southern Caribbean more generally. It provides a clearly written, authoritative account and analysis of the Amerindians (First Peoples) who lived (and still live) in the two islands, from the very earliest human settlement there up to the present. Based on up-to-the-minute scholarship in several disciplines - archaeology, ethnography, history, linguistics - Boomert dispels many myths and misconceptions about these peoples and carefully traces the complex history of their settlement, in successive waves of migration, in both islands; their interactions with Europeans arriving from 1498; and their "decline" in the post-contact period."Dr. Bridget Brereton, Emerita Professor in History, The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad, Republic of Trinidad and Tobago."This book is a welcome addition to the literature we are now seeking to inform our work here at the Santa Rosa First Peoples Community, as it brings to light important aspects of our buried history. Of particular interest is the information on the involvement of the Dutch in the struggles of the First Peoples, and the connection with Hierreyma, our great Nepuyo Chieftain. It is an inspiration to those of us who are currently engaged in efforts to secure the rightful place of the First Peoples of this land - Kairi."Ricardo Bharath Hernandez, Chief Santa Rosa First Peoples Community, Arima, Trinidad, Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.
Thunder Shaman by
As a "wild," drumming thunder shaman, a warrior mounted on her spirit horse, Francisca Kolipi's spirit traveled to other historical times and places, gaining the power and knowledge to conduct spiritual warfare against her community's enemies, including forestry companies and settlers. As a "civilized" shaman, Francisca narrated the Mapuche people's attachment to their local sacred landscapes, which are themselves imbued with shamanic power, and constructed nonlinear histories of intra- and interethnic relations that created a moral order in which Mapuche become history's spiritual victors. Thunder Shaman represents an extraordinary collaboration between Francisca Kolipi and anthropologist Ana Mariella Bacigalupo, who became Kolipi's "granddaughter," trusted helper, and agent in a mission of historical (re)construction and myth-making. The book describes Francisca's life, death, and expected rebirth, and shows how she remade history through multitemporal dreams, visions, and spirit possession, drawing on ancestral beings and forest spirits as historical agents to obliterate state ideologies and the colonialist usurpation of indigenous lands. Both an academic text and a powerful ritual object intended to be an agent in shamanic history, Thunder Shaman functions simultaneously as a shamanic "bible," embodying Francisca's power, will, and spirit long after her death in 1996, and an insightful study of shamanic historical consciousness, in which biography, spirituality, politics, ecology, and the past, present, and future are inextricably linked. It demonstrates how shamans are constituted by historical-political and ecological events, while they also actively create history itself through shamanic imaginaries and narrative forms.
The heart of Helambu : ethnography and entanglement in Nepal by 
Rights after Wrongs by
The international legal framework of human rights presents itself as universal. But rights do not exist as a mere framework; they are enacted, practiced, and debated in local contexts. Rights After Wrongs ethnographically explores the chasm between the ideals and the practice of human rights. Specifically, it shows where the sweeping colonial logics of Western law meets the lived experiences, accumulated histories, and humanitarian debts present in post-colonial Zimbabwe. Through a comprehensive survey of human rights scholarship, Shannon Morreira explores the ways in which the global framework of human rights is locally interpreted, constituted, and contested in Harare, Zimbabwe, and Musina and Cape Town, South Africa. Presenting the stories of those who lived through the violent struggles of the past decades, Morreira shows how supposedly universal ideals become localized in the context of post-colonial Southern Africa. Rights After Wrongs uncovers the disconnect between the ways human rights appear on paper and the ways in which it is possible for people to use and understand them in everyday life.
African Indigenous Knowledge and the Sciences by
This book is an intellectual journey into epistemology, pedagogy, physics, architecture, medicine and metallurgy. The focus is on various dimensions of African Indigenous Knowledge (AIK) with an emphasis on the sciences, an area that has been neglected in AIK discourse. The authors provide diverse views and perspectives on African indigenous scientific and technological knowledge that can benefit a wide spectrum of academics, scholars, students, development agents, and policy makers, in both governmental and non-governmental organizations, and enable critical and alternative analyses and possibilities for understanding science and technology in an African historical and contemporary context.
A Jewish Guide in the Holy Land by
For many Evangelical Christians, a trip to the Holy Land is an integral part of practicing their faith. Arriving in groups, most of these pilgrims are guided by Jewish Israeli tour guides. For more than three decades, Jackie Feldman--born into an Orthodox Jewish family in New York, now an Israeli citizen, scholar, and licensed guide--has been leading tours, interpreting Biblical landscapes, and fielding questions about religion and current politics. In this book, he draws on pilgrimage and tourism studies, his own experiences, and interviews with other guides, Palestinian drivers and travel agents, and Christian pastors to examine the complex interactions through which guides and tourists "co-produce" the Bible Land. He uncovers the implicit politics of travel brochures and religious souvenirs. Feldman asks what it means when Jewish-Israeli guides get caught up in their own performances or participate in Christian rituals, and reflects on how his interactions with Christian tourists have changed his understanding of himself and his views of religion.
Being and Becoming by
This book illuminates the complex and constantly shifting social and cultural dynamics that shape people's identity. Specifically, the volume focuses on the intersections of gender with, culture and identity, and at different historical epochs; on the way men and women define themselves and are defined by diverse peoples and cultures across time and space in sub-Saharan Africa.
The Lively Science by
Take human social sciences out of the lab and into the world Frustrated that "the numbers" dont solve the problem? Wondering why policies and programs dont work on the ground? Shaking your head at who they told you to call and the help you didnt get? People, organizations, countries--they rely on information about real human social lives. Usually they dont have it. Theres no excuse for this. A different kind of human social science was proposed in the 19th century. It requires research to begin and end in the real worlds of the humans that it claims to be about. The Lively Science, written as a conversation with a general reader, revisits the historical roots, blends in new intellectual tools, and argues that its time to get on with a more productive human social science that changes objects into subjects and learns who they are and what theyre trying to do before conclusions are drawn and action is taken.
Making a Good Life by
Making a Good Life takes a timely look at the ideas and values that inform how people think about reproduction and assisted reproductive technologies. In an era of heightened scrutiny about parenting and reproduction, fears about environmental degradation, and the rise of the biotechnology industry, Katharine Dow delves into the reproductive ethics of those who do not have a personal stake in assisted reproductive technologies, but who are building lives inspired and influenced by environmentalism and concerns about the natural world's future. Moving away from experiences of infertility treatments tied to the clinic and laboratory, Dow instead explores reproduction and assisted reproductive technologies as topics of public concern and debate, and she examines how people living in a coastal village in rural Scotland make ethical decisions and judgments about these matters. In particular, Dow engages with people's ideas about nature and naturalness, and how these relate to views about parenting and building stable environments for future generations. Taking into account the ways daily responsibilities and commitments are balanced with moral values, Dow suggests there is still much to uncover about reproductive ethics. Analyzing how ideas about reproduction intersect with wider ethical struggles, Making a Good Life offers a new approach to researching, thinking, and writing about nature, ethics, and reproduction.
The Motives of Self-Sacrifice in Korean American Culture, Family, and Marriage by
The concept of self-sacrifice is highly important to Korean Americans. With hierarchy of age, social status, and gender-defined roles taking primacy over equality and justice, self-sacrifice becomes instrumental in maintaining family and social relationships. Unfortunately, in family relationships, sacrifice has more to do with submission and endurance than it does with sacrificial service that is redemptive and mutually beneficial. When self-sacrifice carries hidden motives--coercive responsibility, obligation, shame, guilt, or one's reputation--that self-sacrifice is not self-giving, neither serving nor being of mutual benefit. In this context, it is important to explore the attitudes and motives of self-sacrifice in Korean American families. In unlocking and exploring the dynamics of the theology and practice of self-sacrifice for Korean Americans, this book explores cultural virtues, marital relationships, gender inequality, domestic violence, and their theological implications. The author introduces a new approach and model with a proposal for a healthier and a more judicious understanding of self-sacrifice for Korean American family relationships. The element of equal regard as pertaining to self-sacrifice offers Korean Americans a refreshing hope in the perspective of familial relationships and a liberating casting-off of culturally and religiously imposed burdens. The Korean American family ought to be grounded on a love ethic of equal regard and place its value on mutuality, self-sacrifice, and individual fulfillment. When this is done, sacrificial love can be understood as justly appropriated for both husbands and wives, males and females, and parents and children. Thus, Christian teaching and theology may deliver a more transparent message of true agape and its liberating effects for the marginalized, especially women and children.
People of the Saltwater by
In People of the Saltwater, Charles R. Menzies explores the history of an ancient Tsimshian community, focusing on the people and their enduring place in the modern world. The Gitxaała Nation has called the rugged north coast of British Columbia home for millennia, proudly maintaining its territory and traditional way of life. People of the Saltwater first outlines the social and political relations that constitute Gitxaała society. Although these traditionalist relations have undergone change, they have endured through colonialism and the emergence of the industrial capitalist economy. It is of fundamental importance to this society to link its past to its present in all spheres of life, from its understanding of its hereditary leaders to the continuance of its ancient ceremonies. Menzies then turns to a discussion of an economy based on natural-resource extraction by examining fisheries and their central importance to the Gitxaałas' cultural roots. Not only do these fisheries support the Gitxaała Nation economically, they also serve as a source of distinct cultural identity. Menzies's firsthand account describes the group's place within cultural anthropology and the importance of its lifeways, traditions, and histories in nontraditional society today.
Qualitative Data Analysis with ATLAS. ti by
Are you struggling to get to grips with qualitative data analysis? Do you need help getting started using ATLAS.ti? Do you find software manuals difficult to relate to? Written by a leading expert on ATLAS.ti, this book will guide you step-by-step through using the software to support your research project. In this updated second edition, you will find clear, practical advice on preparing your data, setting up a new project in ATLAS.ti, developing a coding system, asking questions, finding answers and preparing your results. The new edition features: methodological as well as technical advice numerous practical exercises and examples screenshots showing you each stage of analysis in version 7 of ATLAS.ti increased coverage of transcription new sections on analysing video and multimedia data a companion website with online tutorials and data sets. Susanne Friese teaches qualitative methods at the University of Hanover and at various PhD schools, provides training and consultancy for ATLAS.ti at the intersection between developers and users.
California Through Native Eyes by
Most California histories begin with the arrival of the Spanish missionaries in the late eighteenth century and conveniently skip to the Gold Rush of 1849. Noticeably absent from these stories are the perspectives and experiences of the people who lived on the land long before European settlers arrived. Historian William Bauer seeks to correct that oversight through an innovative approach that tells California history strictly through Native perspectives. Using oral histories of Concow, Pomo, and Paiute workers, taken as part of a New Deal federal works project, Bauer reveals how Native peoples have experienced and interpreted the history of the land we now call California. Combining these oral histories with creation myths and other oral traditions, he demonstrates the importance of sacred landscapes and animals and other nonhuman actors to the formation of place and identity. He also examines tribal stories of ancestors who prophesied the coming of white settlers and uses their recollections of the California Indian Wars to push back against popular narratives that seek to downplay Native resistance. The result both challenges the "California story" and enriches it with new voices and important points of view, serving as a model for understanding Native historical perspectives in other regions.
Doing Anthropological Research by
Doing Anthropological Research provides a practical toolkit for carrying out research. It works through the process chapter by chapter, from the planning and proposal stage to methodologies, secondary research, ethnographic fieldwork, ethical concerns, and writing strategies. Case study examples are provided throughout to illustrate the particular issues and dilemmas that may be encountered. This handy guide will be invaluable to upper-level undergraduate and postgraduate students who are studying or intending to use anthropological methods in their research.
Archaeologists and the Dead by
This volume addresses the relationship between archaeologists and the dead, through the many dimensions of their relationships: in the field (through practical and legal issues); in the lab (through their analysis and interpretation); and in their written, visual and exhibitionary practice -disseminated to a variety of academic and public audiences. Written from a variety of perspectives, its authors address the experience, effect, ethical considerations, and cultural politics of working with mortuary archaeology. Whilst some papers reflect institutional or organisational approaches, others are more personal in their view: creating exciting andfrank insights into contemporary issues which have hitherto often remained "unspoken" amongst the discipline. Reframing funerary archaeologists as "death-workers" of a kind, the contributors reflect on their own experience to provide both guidance and inspiration to future practitioners, arguingstrongly that we have a central role to play in engaging the public with themes of mortality and commemoration, through the lens of the past. Spurred by the recent debates in the UK, papers from Scandinavia, Austria, Italy, the US, and the mid-Atlantic, frame these issues within a much widerinternational context which highlights the importance of cultural and historical context in which this work takes place.
Native American Landscapes by
"This manuscript is an edited collection of essays focusing on archaic and prehistoric North America. Cheryl Claassen argues that specifically focusing on an engendered landscape study allows the contributors to raise issues of women's mobility, fertility, retreat locations, pilgrimages, and an overall exploration of the customarily different tasks undertaken by native men and women. The collection explores a range of sites throughout North America, including locations such as the Mojave Desert, the Mississippi River Valley, the Cumberland Plateau, and the Northwest coast, among others."--Provided by publisher.
Making the Modern Primitive by
Making the Modern Primitive provides an anthropological analysis of the encounter between local residents and tourists in the Trobriand Islands, a place renowned in anthropology and represented in various media as "culturally authentic." In such a place, how are ideas about authenticity implicated in creating and representing the self and cultural Others in the context of cultural tourism? Michelle MacCarthy addresses this question by examining four arenas of interaction between Trobriand Islanders and tourists: formal performances, informal village visits, souvenir shopping, and tourist photography. Drawing on both symbolic/interpretive approaches and concepts drawn from economic anthropology, she examines the relationship of tourism to the commoditization of culture, the ways in which local residents actively represent and enact "Trobriandness," and the ways tourists interpret and narrate their experience. MacCarthy offers an anthropological critique of concepts of authenticity, tradition, and cultural commodification, based on long-term fieldwork among Trobriand Islanders and tourists. These notions, which have particular meanings as analytical concepts in anthropology, are also used and strategically deployed in the discourses of both Trobriand Islanders and tourists. Ideas about primitivity and cultural essentialism, while critiqued by anthropologists, are nonetheless used by both parties in tourism interactions to conceptualize and contextualize difference. Mac- Carthy demonstrates how such tropes are employed in ways that fit with prevailing metanarratives that each side holds about the other, and how these tropes are reproduced both in individual narratives of both tourists' and Trobrianders' experiences and in their interpretations (often misconstrued) of the lives of cultural Others with whom they interact. She examines the social dimensions of crosscultural exchange in these four arenas (performance, village life, souvenirs, photography) to argue that cultural commodities are conceived of as singularities, a special category whose commodity status is downplayed in order to generate an increased sense of authenticity and to perpetuate the myth of a "primitive" economy and way of life more generally. In touristic encounters, experience itself is a sort of commodity, but relationships (real or imagined) are central to investing these experiences with meaning and value. This analysis contributes new understandings of the role and significance of authenticity in the anthropology of tourism, and its relationship to exchange; that is, how meaning and value are ascribed to the cultural products produced and consumed in the cultural tourism encounter with reference to ideas about what is and isn't authentic.
Southeast Inka Frontiers by
"An important contribution to the study of ancient empires and processes of imperial expansion through an in-depth study of the southeastern Inka frontier in current-day Bolivia."--Elizabeth N. Arkush, author of Hillforts of the Ancient Andes: Colla Warfare, Society, and Landscape "A fascinating case study of interactions on an imperial frontier in a region that is unfamiliar to many archaeologists. The attention to the role of the peoples on the other side of the frontier is particularly welcome."--Peter S. Wells, author of How Ancient Europeans Saw the World: Vision, Patterns, and the Shaping of the Mind in Prehistoric Times Imperial frontiers are a fascinating stage for studying the interactions of people, institutions, and their environments. In this volume, Sonia Alconini examines a part of present-day Bolivia that was once a territory at the edge of the Inka empire. Along this frontier, the Inka, one of the New World's most powerful polities, came into repeated conflict with tropical lowland groups like the Gauraní-speaking Chiriguano. In response, the Inkas constructed a militarized frontier, which has for the most part been oversimplified in ethnohistorical accounts that frequently portray the Inka as a civilized empire resisting invasion by "savage and barbarian" groups. Using extensive field research, Alconini explores the modes of direct contact between the Inkas and eastern tropical lowland populations, a situation often overlooked in studies of the area. Combining regional- and household-level perspectives, she studies the empire's impact on local settlements as well as on domestic economy, production, cultural materials, and labor organization. She recognizes the frontier as a nexus between Inka, local, and lowland populations, describing the broader multifaceted socioeconomic processes occurring across the territory. This unprecedented study shows how the Inka empire exercised control over vast expanses of land in a location hundreds of miles away from the capital city of Cusco and how people on the frontier navigated the cultural and environmental divide that separated the Andes and the Amazon.
Beyond war : archaeological approaches to violence by 
Indigenous Bodies, Maya Minds by
Indigenous Bodies, Maya Minds examines tension and conflict over ethnic and religious identity in the K'iche' Maya community of San Andrés Xecul in the Guatemalan Highlands and considers how religious and ethnic attachments are sustained and transformed through the transnational experiences of locals who have migrated to the United States. Author C. James MacKenzie explores the relationship among four coexisting religious communities within Highland Maya villages in contemporary Guatemala--costumbre, traditionalist religion with a shamanic substrate; "Enthusiastic Christianity," versions of Charismaticism and Pentecostalism; an "inculturated" and Mayanized version of Catholicism; and a purified and antisyncretic Maya Spirituality--with attention to the modern and nonmodern worldviews that sustain them. He introduces a sophisticated set of theories to interpret both traditional religion and its relationship to other contemporary religious options, analyzing the relation among these various worldviews in terms of the indigenization of modernity and the various ways modernity can be apprehended as an intellectual project or an embodied experience. Indigenous Bodies, Maya Minds investigates the way an increasingly plural religious landscape intersects with ethnic and other identities. It will be of interest to Mesoamerican and Mayan ethnographers, as well as students and scholars of cultural anthropology, indigenous cultures, globalization, and religion.
Indigenous Passages to Cuba, 1515-1900 by
"Portrays the vitality and dynamism of indigenous actors in what is arguably one of the most foundational and central zones in the making of modern world history: the Caribbean."--Maximilian C. Forte, author of Ruins of Absence, Presence of Caribs "Brings together historical analysis and the compelling stories of individuals and families that labored in the island economies of the Caribbean."--Cynthia Radding, coeditor of Borderlands in World History, 1700-1914 During the colonial period, thousands of North American native peoples traveled to Cuba independently as traders, diplomats, missionary candidates, immigrants, or refugees; others were forcibly transported as captives, slaves, indentured laborers, or prisoners of war. Over the half millennium after Spanish contact, Cuba also served as the principal destination and residence of peoples as diverse as the Yucatec Mayas of Mexico; the Calusa, Timucua, Creek, and Seminole peoples of Florida; and the Apache and Puebloan cultures of the northern provinces of New Spain. Many settled in pueblos or villages in Cuba that endured and evolved into the nineteenth century as urban centers, later populated by indigenous and immigrant Amerindian descendants and even their mestizo, or mixed-blood, progeny. In this first comprehensive history of the Amerindian diaspora in Cuba, Jason Yaremko presents the dynamics of indigenous movements and migrations from several regions of North America from the sixteenth through nineteenth centuries. In addition to detailing the various motives influencing aboriginal migratory processes, Yaremko uses these case studies to argue that Amerindians--whether voluntary or involuntary migrants--become diasporic through common experiences of dispossession, displacement, and alienation within Cuban colonial society. Yet, far from being merely passive victims acted upon, he argues that indigenous peoples were cognizant agents still capable of exercising power and influence to act in the interests of their communities. His narrative of their multifaceted and dynamic experiences of survival, adaptation, resistance, and negotiation within Cuban colonial society adds deeply to the history of transculturation in Cuba, and to our understanding of indigenous peoples, migration, and diaspora in the wider Caribbean world.
Malaysia's Original People by
The Malay-language term used for indigenous minority peoples of Peninsular Malaysia, "Orang Asli", covers at least 19 culturally and linguistically distinct subgroups. Until about 1960 most Orang Asli lived in small camps and villages in the coastal and interior forests, or in isolated rural areas, and made their living by various combinations of hunting, gathering, fishing, agriculture, and trading forest products. By the end of the century, logging, economic development projects such as oil palm plantations, and resettlement programmes have displaced many Orang Asli communities and disrupted long-established social and cultural practices. The chapters in the present volume provide a comprehensive survey of current understandings of Malaysia's Orang Asli communities, covering their origins and history, cultural similarities and differences, and they ways they are responding to the challenges posed by a rapidly changing world. The authors, a distinguished group of Malaysian (including Orang Asli) and international scholars with expertise in anthropology, archaeology, biology, education, therapy, geography and law, also show the importance of Orang Asli studies for the anthropological understanding of small-scale indigenous societies in general.
Tell Me Why My Children Died by
Tell Me Why My Children Died tells the gripping story of indigenous leaders' efforts to identify a strange disease that killed thirty-two children and six young adults in a Venezuelan rain forest between 2007 and 2008. In this pathbreaking book, Charles L. Briggs and Clara Mantini-Briggs relay the nightmarish and difficult experiences of doctors, patients, parents, local leaders, healers, and epidemiologists; detail how journalists first created a smoke screen, then projected the epidemic worldwide; discuss the Ch#65533;vez government's hesitant and sometimes ambivalent reactions; and narrate the eventual diagnosis of bat-transmitted rabies. The book provides a new framework for analyzing how the uneven distribution of rights to produce and circulate knowledge about health are wedded at the hip with health inequities. By recounting residents' quest to learn why their children died and documenting their creative approaches to democratizing health, the authors open up new ways to address some of global health's most intractable problems.
First Blood by
What woman forgets the moment of discovering her first period? The shock? Fear? Panic? Loathing? Embarrassment? Pride? Happiness? This book examines the ways in which women from countries as diverse as India and Sri Lanka, England, the Philippines, Greece, Italy, Uganda, Indonesia, Fiji, Chile, Ukraine, Korea, Singapore and Hong Kong, recall this moment of menarche and what it meant to them, their families, and their societies. What is the mystique of women's first blood? Who created the meanings associated with menarche (me-NAR-kee'), and why? Have meanings changed significantly over time and if they have, how? And for what reasons? The book answers these questions and investigates beliefs and traditions surrounding menarche, including the concepts of uncleanness, of ceremony, of secrecy and lore still existing in many parts of the world. The influence of science and technology in the development of the sanitary hygiene industry is traced, together with the role of the pharmaceutical industry in making menstruation an optional event.
The Open Cut by
The rapid expansion of the mineral and metal mining sector in the past decade was accompanied by an increase in social conflicts. What is the impact of large-scale mining operations? What are the strategies used by transnational corporations to gain access to underground resources and legitimize their activities? And how do local and indigenous communities confronted with mining react to, negotiate with, and resist these activities? This book covers 13 case studies of copper, gold, uranium and other mining operations, situated in Latin America, Africa, Asia, Australia and Switzerland. With an extensive introduction to the subject and a systematic comparison across mining operations in different phases of development and social contexts, the included information will serve as a primer and reference book for activists, students and researchers alike. (Series: Action Anthropology/Aktionsethnologie, Vol. 2) [Subject: Sociology, Cultural Studies, Mining, Environmental Studies]