Documenting socialism

More than 30 years after the collapse of the German Democratic Republic, its cinema continues to attract scholarly attention. Documenting Socialism brings a fresh introduction to the field of documentary cinema and the complexities of diversity under socialism in the GDR.

Willing seduction

Josef von Sternberg’s 1930 film The Blue Angel (Der blaue Engel) is among the best known films of the Weimar Republic (1919-1933). A significant landmark as one of Germany’s first major sound films, it is known primarily for launching Marlene Dietrich into Hollywood stardom and for initiating t...

Atlantic automobilism

Offers a study of the persitence of the car through a transatlantic perspective Delves into the motives behind early car users Explores the psychological and social reasoning behind our attachment to the vehicle, utilising material such as poems, popular music and films

The land is dying

Explores conflicts and concerns about personhoood, gender relations, memory and sociality that take shape under the shadow of the HIV/AIDS epidemic but that have deeper historical roots relating to Christianity, neo-traditionalism, and growing economic inequality. Links study of ritual a...

Whatever happened to asylum in britain?

Refugees and asylum-seekers are high up on many people's political agenda. Even so, there is a remarkable lack of information. Who are these asylum-seekers? Aren't they almost all "bogus"? How do western immigration authorities decide whether or not they are genuine? Is the UN convention on Ref...

Breaking rocks

This book presents an ethnography of spectacle and deceit. It provides a vivid description of life and meaning in one of the fastest growing mega cities in Africa/the global south. It makes a series of innovative connections between power, economics and culture.

Power and society in the gdr, 1961-1979

Detailed examination of the social history of the GDR in the 1960s and 1970s Portrays a society beyond the Berlin Wall, Soviet tanks and state security police Describes increasing accommodation to dominant norms and conceptions of socialist "normality"

The early morning phonecall

Offers valuable insights into remittance dynamics in conflict-affected settings, a rarely studied area A perspective on everyday life in the Somali regions and the diaspora Features a transnational view encompassing three contrasting locations A multi-method, interdisciplinary ap...

Waterworlds

The book sees the making and unmaking of people’s lives through the shared lens of water, yielding great comparative potential across different regions and approaches. Through the notion of waterworlds, the book addresses human and non-human actors as mutually constitutive. The book ...

Music and international history in the twentieth century

Brings together scholars from fields of musicology and international history. Investigates significance of music to foreign relations. Asks how we can understand music as an instrument of power and influence. Examines how cultural encounters fostered by music change ideas about i...

The ways of friendship

Reassess the view that friendship is best understood within wider ideologies of kinship. Contributors engage in productive theoretical conversation with recent anthropological work on relatedness, personhood and individualism. Illustrates that the power of friendship in many cultures...

Sociality

Develops new innovative theory of human sociality and re-sets framework of debate Introduces new possibilities for conceptualising other forms of sociality, such animals or materials Presents cases from Asia, Africa, the Americas and Europe to explore the new directions of human soc...

Rivers, memory, and nation-building

Written by a UNESCO-published author A clear and concise comparitive study of the Volga and Mississipi rivers The author expertly details the cultural and historical significance of the two rivers in shaping Russian and American communities Provides significant insights into how...

The forest people without a forest

Examines how the Baka, who live in Eastern Cameroon, assert forms of belonging in order to participate in development interventions. Investigates how community life is shaped and reshaped through these interventions.

Moral power

Neither power nor morality but both. Moral power is what Sukuma farmers in Tanzania in times of crisis attribute to an unknown figure they call their witch. A universal process is involved, as much bodily as social, which obstructs the patient’s recovery. Healers turn the table on the witch thr...

The german-american encounter

While Germans, the largest immigration group in the United States, contributed to the shaping of American society and left their mark on many areas from religion and education to food, farming, political and intellectual life, Americans have been instrumental in shaping German democracy after W...

Trust us

Scandinavia. Populism. Nationalism. Identity.

Contemporary pagan and native faith movements in europe

The first book to focus on modern Pagan and Native Faith movements throughout Europe, from the Irish Republic to Siberia, and from Scandinavia to Iberia. The first work of any kind to address the twin themes of neo-colonialism and neo-nationalism within these movements. Through detai...

The future of memory

Presents a survey of theories and case studies Addresses the ‘big issues’ of memory studies, including witnessing, trauma and memorials Analyses several diverse but interconnected phenomena such as the Rwanda and 9/11 memorials

Theater and political process

The Argonauts in the Pacific, famous through Malinowski's work, have not been exempt from general historical developments in the world around them. By focusing on two plays performed by the Tokelau Te Ata, a theater group, the author reveals the self-perceptions of the Tokelau and highlights th...

Indoctrinability, ideology and warfare

Violent ethno-nationalist conflicts continue to mar the history of the twentieth century; yet no satisfactory answer to the question of why humans are susceptible to indoctrination by ideologies that lead to inter-group hostility has so far been found. In this volume an international team of le...

The gate to perfection

A timely book: as Israelis and Arabs are moving towards a settlement, this study offers a valuable historical dimension, from the Jewish point of view, to the main issue involved, i.e., the idea of peace. The authors maintain that peace has always played an important role in Jewish thought, tha...

Narrating the future in siberia

The first full-length ethnographic study among the adolescence of Siberian indigenous people Important contribution to the study of childhood and adolescence Welcome contribution to the anthropology of Siberia Highly innovative study of the contemporary situation of Eveny society...

Adoption, emotion, and identity

Exploring adoption in the Pacific, this book goes beyond the commonplace structural-functional analysis of adoption as a positive “transaction in parenthood.” It examines the effects it has on adoptees inner sense of self, their conflicted emotional lives, and familial relationships that are af...

Television broadcasting in contemporary france and britain

The importance of contemporary television broadcasting for the shaping and development of national cultures and identities is increasingly evident. Television as the privileged medium for the dissemination of information and for mass entertainment has irreversibly altered the manner in which na...

Madness, bureaucracy and gender in mumbai, india

Regional mental hospitals in India are perceived as colonial artefacts in need of reformation. In the last two decades, there has been discussion around the maltreatment of patients, corruption and poor quality of mental health treatment in these institutions. This ethnography scrutinizes burea...

Regime changes

During the 1930s and 1940s, and again in the 1970s and 1980s, most European nations, indeed most industrial nations, undertook major changes in macroeconomic policy orientation and financial regulation. The contributors to this volume, historians, political scientists, and economists, identify ...

Swedish ventures in cameroon, 1883-1923

The 1880s were a critical time in Cameroon. A German warship arrived in the Douala estuary and proclaimed Cameroon a protectorate. At that time, two Swedes, Knutson and Waldau, were living on the upper slopes of the Cameroon Mountain. Very little is known about their activities. One, Knutson, w...

Cinema at the edges

The book considers the works of three popular Spanish film directors, Julio Medem, Juan José Bigas Luna, and José Luis Guerín. They are studied in relation to their engagement with alternative national and cinematic subjectivities. New readings engage with current debates in visual...

The holy roman empire, reconsidered

Major revision of the history of the Holy Roman Empire Studies in Early Modern European political communication Studies in Early Modern European symbolic systems Political cultures of Early Modern Germany

Ways of knowing

Occupation in the east

A nuanced, eye-opening portrait of the lives of thousands of Germans, for whom Warsaw and Minsk became home, following their occupation by the Third Reich. Describes their unity in their self-conception as a “master race.” Examines how they engaged in acts of shocking brutality again...

Journey through america

Amerikafahrt by Wolfgang Koeppen is a masterpiece of observation, analysis, and writing, based on his 1958 trip to the United States. A major twentieth-century German writer, Koeppen presents a vivid and fascinating portrait of the US in the late 1950s: its major cities, its literary culture, i...

Experiencing archaeology

This unique workbook provides the opportunity for students to complete a variety of labs using items found on hand. It is perfectly suited for teaching beyond the traditional classroom, in remote learning environments and with large class sizes. From creating complex stratigraphy with piles o...

Ambassadors of realpolitik

Reveals the pragmatic side of Swedish foreign policy in the 1970s. Contributes to the history of multilateral summitry in general and the CSCE in particular. Draws upon a wealth of previously unresearched archival material from five countries. Demonstrates the obstacles met by Eu...

Common destiny

Although the Socialist or Social Democractic parties played a key role in West European politics during the quarter century after the Second World War, they have been studied far less than their political rivals, the Christian Democrats. The story of West European Social Democracy after 1945 be...

The golden chain

Offers historical perspectives on the role of families in the processes of a liberal and democratic civil society Discusses the question of the boundaries of the private and public domains Analyses the interventions of state institutions

The paradox of difference

Sociocultural environments prompt us to notice and mark certain differences over others. This book investigates five paradoxes in the discourses and practices around such differences: the paradox of mixing, standardization, narrative, proximity, and tolerance. Drawing on the notion of unit thin...

Leaving footprints in the taiga

Examines the strategies that Orochen reindeer herders of southeastern Siberia have developed to navigate recent environmental and social changes in post-Soviet Siberia. Describes strategies that play a central role in Orochen cosmology.

Performing place, practising memories

First published ethnography from this region of tropical Northern Australia in which is located the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area The only study focusing on relationships between indigenous Australians and the wave of "counter-culture" people who moved into rural communities during the...

When women held the dragon's tongue

Challenges the dominant culturalist approach associated with Clifford Geertz and Marshall Sahlins Bridges the current gap between approaches to studies of peasant society and popular culture Presents a critical rethinking of the philosophical anthropologies found in specific historie...

Between yesterday and tomorrow

A clearly argued text on the intellectual history of post-1945 Germany Examines political and intellectual discourses from a wide array of political perspectives Uses Germany as a case study to investigate post-war debates around the issue of integration

Echoes of narcissus

In Greek mythology the beautiful Narcissus glimpsed his own reflection in the waters of a spring and fell in love. But his was an impossible passion and, filled with despair, he pined away. Over the years the myth has inspired painters, writers, and film directors, as well as philosophers and p...

Pierre fatumbi verger

This is the definitive book on the artistic and scientific work of Pierre Fatumbi Verger's, and on his life journey. Verger's life is extraordinary, and his work (as a photographer around the world and insider ethnographer, but also as a botanist and historian) is exceptional. His empathy an...