Reproductive disruptions

Nominated for the 2007 Book Prize by the Council on Anthropology and Reproduction (AAA) Reproductive disruptions, such as infertility, pregnancy loss, adoption, and childhood disability, are among the most distressing experiences in people’s lives. Based on research by leading medical anthrop...

'brothers' or others?

Muslim Arab Sudanese in Cairo have played a fundamental role in Egyptian history and society during many centuries of close relations between Egypt and Sudan. Although the government and official press describes them as "brothers" in a united Nile Valley, recent political developments in Egypt ...

Intellectuals and (counter-) politics

Starts from the position that we need to ask what kind of work academics/intellectuals should be doing; and how this might affect the design of the research projects. This is not at all common in books of a similar kind. Vital theoretical issues are addressed at length and in a highly pr...

Anthropology and nostalgia

Gathers important anthropological insight into nostalgia as a social practice. Addresses nostalgic expression in a wide range of cultural settings. Reflexively points out the influence of nostalgia in anthropological writing. Based on thorough ethnographic studies, in combination...

Coming home to germany?

The end of World War II led to one of the most significant forced population transfers in history: the expulsion of over 12 million ethnic Germans from Central and Eastern Europe between 1945 and 1950 and the subsequent emigration of another four million in the second half of the twentieth cent...

Kristeva in focus

Accessible and up to date review of Julia Kristeva's theories Clear application of Kristeva's theories to film analysis An insightful analysis of some of the major themes in film narratives: horror, strangers and love

Anxious histories

This book explores Holocaust pedagogy in Jewish schools in Melbourne and New York. Demonstrates that an anxious thread runs throughout these narratives, as the pedagogy negotiates feelings of simultaneous belonging and not-belonging in the West and in Zionism. Opens up once again for...

Settling for less

The resettlement of the Negev Bedouin (Israel) has been wrought with controversy since its inception in the 1960s. Presenting evidence from a two-decade period, the author addresses how the changes that took place over the past sixty to seventy years have served the needs and interests of the S...

Carnage and care on the eastern front

First-hand account of the plight of Jewish civilians and also the-stab-in-the-back legend by the home front. Addition of photographs by the author, Bernhard Bardach First-ever detailed  eye-witness account of the 1916 Brusilov Offensive Detailed day-by-day account of the entire w...

Communist parties revisited

Drawing from perspectives from within the everyday life of basic organizations and the practices of the party apparatuses, Communist Parties Revisited sheds light on the inner workings the Eastern Bloc, and the effects of state socialist policy on a micro historical level.

Mythology, spirituality, and history

The Arakmbut are an indigenous people who live in the Madre de Dios region of thesoutheastern Peruvian rain forest. Since their first encounters with missionaries in the 1950s,they have shown resilience and a determination to affirm their identity in the face of many difficulties. During the la...

Montesquieu

Montesquieu's Spirit of the Laws (1748) is one of the outstanding works of modern social thought. Durkheim's Latin thesis (1892) is not only one of the outstanding interpretations of that work, but also a seminal statement of his own ideas on society and on sociological method. It was the compa...

Holistic anthropology

Given the broad reach of anthropology as the science of humankind, there are times when the subject fragments into specialisms and times when there is rapprochement. Rather than just seeing them as reactions to each other, it is perhaps better to say that both tendencies co-exist and that it is...

A policy travelogue

It is the first full-length ethnographic study of policy movement that combines both horizontal (across states) and vertical (within states) movement. It complements the focus on key players (e.g., the United States) by focusing on players not considered central (e.g., Aotearoa/New Zeala...

Sex and the empire that is no more

J. Lorand Matory researches the trans-Atlantic comings and goings of Yoruba religion, as well as ethnic diversity in Black North America. With the support of the National Science Foundation, the Social Science Research Council, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Spencer Foundation, ...

The age of capitalism and bureaucracy

In this new edition of Wolfgang Mommsen’s illuminating study, Max Weber is presented in terms of the major questions that preoccupied him as one of the towering social scientists of his time, with insights that are persistently relevant as we deal with the structures and dynamics of modern indu...

The european puzzle

The twin concepts of “Culture” and “Identity” are inescapable in any discussion of European Integration and yet over the last ten years their meaning has become increasingly contested. By combining an anthropological and political perspective, the authors challenge the traditional boundaries wi...

Turning the tune

Argues traditional Irish music represents an increasingly important identity marker both in Ireland and abroad. Focuses on a small village in County Clare, a pilgrimage site for those interested in experiencing traditional music. Explores the commercialization of music and culture,  ...

The body of the queen

How many “bodies” does a queen have? What is the significance of multiple “bodies”? How has the gendered body been constructed and perceived within the context of the European courts during the course of the past five centuries? These are some of the questions addressed in this anthology, a con...

Dreams of germany

Diversity of disciplines and  author team (senior and junior; gender; national perspective). Range of iconic case studies: Bruckner and Wagner through to the Beatles and Kraftwerk. Represents the cream of upcoming scholars alongside more established scholarly voices. Revisits and...

Gendering post-1945 german history

Tailoring truth

The author provides an innovative, multi-faceted study on the nature of memory and collective consciousness. Offers a historical account of Germany, in addition to an understanding of the contemporary state. Details the efforts of the GDR in constructing a collective memory through i...

Negotiating the secular and the religious in the german empire

Negotiating the Secular and the Religious in the German Empire sheds light on the multitude of worldviews, belief systems, and rituals that defined the borders between the secular and the religious in the German imperial era.

Andrzej wajda

The work of Andrzej Wajda, one of the world’s most important filmmakers, shows remarkable cohesion in spite of the wide ranging scope of his films, as this study of his complete output of feature films shows. Not only do his films address crucial historical, social and political issues; the com...

Cold war cultures

Provides an innovative approach to the concept of Cold War Cultures Focuses on both Eastern and Western European Cultures

Between left and right

Germany remains a leader in Europe, as demonstrated by its influential role in the on-going policy challenges in response to the post 2008 financial and economic crises. Rarely does the composition of a national government matter as much as Germany’s did following the 2009 Bundestag election. T...

Museum websites and social media

This book provides a holistic approach where theory and practice are seen as essential to understand the broad range of online activities museums are engaged in. Includes a comprehensive historical overview of the development of online museum activities. A novel theoretical framework...

The making of anthropology in east and southeast asia

CHOICE OUTSTANDING BOOK OF THE YEAR 2005 Despite the growth of interest in the history of anthropology as a over the last two decades, surprisingly little has been published in English on the development of anthropology in East and Southeast Asia and its relationship to the rest of the academ...

Traumatic pasts in asia

Traumatic Pasts in Asia extends Euro-American paradigms of traumatic experience to new sites of world-historical suffering and, in the process, explores how these new terrains of investigation inform and enrich earlier understandings.

Popular historiographies in the 19th and 20th centuries

Opens up new field of study (popular histories) which promises to contribute in major way to investigation of broader historical cultures Intertextuality and interdisciplinarity point the way for future research in the area Explores popular histories in different media and popular hi...

Cinema and the environment in eastern europe

Cinema and the Environment in Eastern Europe traces from the 1970s through the post 1989 period how documentaries and filmmakers began to articulate alternative, aesthetically and ideologically provocative visions of the relationship between human and natural worlds.

Stories from an ancient land

The Wa people have a rich civilization of their own and a deep history in the mountains of Southeast Asia. This book introduces aspects of Wa culture, including their approach to the world’s troubles, and the lessons others might learn from it.

Theorising media and practice

Although practice theory has been a mainstay of social theory for nearly three decades, so far it has had very limited impact on media studies. This book draws on the work of practice theorists such as Wittgenstein, Foucault, Bourdieu, Barth and Schatzki and rethinks the study of media from the...

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...

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

World heritage craze in china

There is a World Heritage Craze in China. China claims to have the longest continuous civilization in the world and is seeking the recognition from UNESCO. With a sociological lens, this book offers comprehensive insights into World Heritage, as well as China’s deep social, cultural, and politi...

Spirits and letters

Studies of religion have a tendency to conceptualise ‘the Spirit’ and ‘the Letter’ as mutually exclusive and intrinsically antagonistic. However, the history of religions abounds in cases where charismatic leaders deliberately refer to and make use of writings. This book challenges prevailing s...

Evil eye in christian orthodox society

Evil eye is a phenomenon observed globally and has to do with the misfortune and calamities that we can cause to someone else out of jealousy of their possessions. The book engages with evil eye beliefs in Corfu and investigates the Christian Orthodox influences on the phenomenon and how it aff...

The devil's riches

Interdisciplinary Accessible Focuses on the modern period (1400-present) Oriented around religion, economics, and health as three ways that humans have sought to understand greed

Being bedouin around petra

Takes an ethnographic approach to understanding everyday life of the Bedouin as heritage in contemporary Jordan. Exemplifies the materiality of heritage proclamations and religious transformations. Demonstrates the complex entanglements of Islamic revival, tourism, heritage managemen...

Ethnographic practice in the present

In its assessment of the current "state of play" of ethnographic practice in social anthropology, this volume explores the challenges that changing social forms and changing understandings of "the field" pose to contemporary ethnographic methods. These challenges include the implications of the...

The plans that failed

Based on the literature of the GDR and supplemented with a number of so far unpublished documents The most comprehensive account of the GDR economy available in English An English translation of a bestselling German study 

Lobbying hitler

Lobbying in the Third Reich. Office and Bureaucratic Management in Nazi Germany. A comparison of successful liberal and failed (suicidal) conservative business leaders’ experiences in Nazi Germany. A comparison of how skeptical businessmen came to support the Nazi regime.

Images of power

In Latin America, where even today writing has remained a restricted form of expression, the task of generating consent and imposing the emergent nation-state as the exclusive form of the political, was largely conferred to the image. Furthermore, at the moment of its historical demise, the new...

Shakespeare and the modern novel

As the Shakespearean novel and long prose narrative form undergo a renaissance today, distinguished Shakespeare critics demonstrate that the diversity and flexibility of interactions between Shakespeare and the modern novel are very much alive.

Experiencing archaeology

This laboratory-style manual compiles a wide variety of uniquely designed, hands-on classroom activities to acquaint advanced high school and introductory college students to the field of archaeology. Ranging in length from five to thirty minutes, activities created by archaeologists are design...

Aging in today's world

Never before in human existence have the aged been so numerous — and for the most part — healthy. In this important new book, two professionals, an anthropologist and a physician, wrestle with the complex subject of aging. Is it inevitable? Is it a burden or gift? What is successful aging? Why ...

Narratives in motion

The articulation between historical events and journalistic narratives. The focus on a peripheral case (Portugal), traditionally disregarded in the studies of modernism and modernization. The focus on newspaper readership and public participation of public events. The relation be...

Making peace with the earth

The current world situation is fraught with potential future conflicts and calls for global responses. The point needs to be made yet again that sustainable development concerns us all and is a vital prerequisite for effectively combating poverty, since it is the poorest individuals that are mo...

Nationalism and internationalism intertwined

Understanding the dynamics between nationalisms and internationalisms allows evaluating ongoing processes and intervening in current debates. Nationalism and Internationalism Intertwined, uses a multidisciplinary approach to a long term and macro-level history of international projects since th...

Human adaptation at grasshopper pueblo, arizona

A detailed study of the bone chemistry of individuals buried at the 14th century Grasshopper Pueblo site is presented in this volume. This is a data-rich study which provides much information for social and economic reconstructions of prehistoric Pueblo adaptation to their environment.

The anthropology of moralities

The authors observe, describe and assess values cross-culturally A valuable guide for students of anthropology, sociology and cultural studies Proposes methodological approaches to the study of moralities

Risky futures

Examining the intersections between environmental conditions and geopolitical tensions, this book brings together a unique combination of authors who are local practitioners and international researchers, and considers the situations of environmental calamity and socio-economic risks faced by s...

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

Aspirations of young adults in urban asia

Comparing first-person ethnographic accounts of young people living, working, and creating relationships in cities across Asia, this volume explores their contemporary lives, pressures, ideals, and aspirations.

A walk to the river in amazonia

Our lives are mostly composed of ordinary reality — the flow of moment-to-moment existence — and yet it has been largely overlooked as a subject in itself for anthropological study. In this work, the author achieves an understanding of this part of reality for the Mehinaku Indians, an Amazonian...

Raising citizens in the 'century of the child'

Brings a transatlantic perspective to the history of child-rearing and education Applies T.H. Marshall’s concept of citizenship to the history of child-rearing and education Takes a long-term view in exploring the complex relationship between the family, experts, and the state from t...

Order and disorder

Disorder and instability are matters of continuing public concern. Terrorism, as a threat to global order, has been added to preoccupations with political unrest, deviance and crime. Such considerations have prompted the return to the classic anthropological issues of order and disorder. Examin...

Making ubumwe

Approaches post-genocide governance, citizenship and nation building through a unique lens – the local uses of the concept of ubumwe or unity. Outlines the productive ambiguity at the root of this concept by tracing its deployments in diverse arenas from rhetoric, office work, street tal...

Breast feeding and sexuality

Whereas in western countries breastfeeding is an uncontroversial, purely personal issue, in most parts of the world mother and baby form part of a network of interpersonal relations with its own rules and expectations. In this study, the author examines the cultural and social context of breast...

Indigenous resurgence

Indigenous peoples around the world are standing up and speaking out against global capitalism to protect the land, water, and air. By placing Indigenous politics, histories, and ontologies at the center of our social movements for environmental justice, Indigenous Resurgence positions environm...

Dynamics of identification and conflict

Dealing with the dynamics of identification and conflict, this book uses theoretical orientations ranging from political ecology to rational choice theory, interpretive approaches, Marxism and multiscalar analysis. Case studies set in Africa, Europe and Central Asia are grouped in three section...

Balkan departures

In writings about travel, the Balkans appear most often as a place travelled to. Western accounts of the Balkans revel in the different and the exotic, the violent and the primitive − traits that serve (according to many commentators) as a foil to self-congratulatory definitions of the West as ...

New austrian film

First English language study on New Austrian Film 1990s to the present A collection of critical essays on New Austrian  filmmakers and films by international cinema and culture scholars Introduces and examines New Austrian Film in cinematic, cultural, theoretical and film historical ...

Children of palestine

Palestinian children and young people living both within and outside of refugee camps in the Middle East are the focus of this book. For more than half a century these children and their caregivers have lived a temporary existence in the dramatic and politically volatile landscape that is the M...

French women in politics: writing power

Although more women in France have entered political life than ever before, the fact remains that there are fewer women representatives in the French parliament than there were after the Second World War. In a new and original approach, the author presents an overview and analysis of the emergi...

In the absence of the gift

Rethinks remittance motivations among work migrants by focusing on notions of sharing. An elaborate focus on practices of sharing and demand sharing in a Melanesian context. Focuses on those ‘development projects’ people initiate and conduct themselves in a country otherwise often su...

Marginal at the center

A self-proclaimed guerrilla fighter for ideas, Baruch Kimmerling was an outspoken critic, a prolific writer, and a “public” sociologist. While he lived at the center of the Israeli society in which he was involved as both a scientist and a concerned citizen, he nevertheless felt marginal becaus...

Silence, screen, and spectacle

Takes on an innovative focus on “spectacular memory,” asking how spectacle functions in processes of memory, countermemory, and silencing. Breaks new ground in the discussion of absence, both in terms of the ‘absent,’ missing dialogues, texts, monuments and communities, as well as the “d...

Migration, development, and transnationalization

The girl in the text

How are girls represented in written and graphic texts, and how do these representations inform our understanding of girlhood? In this volume, contributors examine the girl in the text in order to explore a range of perspectives on girlhood across borders and in relation to their positionality.

Love, loyalty and deceit

How much do we really know about our parents’ lives? What secrets lie in plain sight? This is the true story of hidden love within a small circle of some of the most acclaimed anthropologists of the 20th century.

'for their own good'

The first broad, comparative study of civilian evacuations in Germany and France during World War II. Shows how policies in each country were shaped by events in the other. A truly cross-national comparison in a field dominated by accounts of one country or the other Unique in th...

All tomorrow's cultures

The first edition of All Tomorrow’s Cultures explored the legacy of futures-thinking in anthropology and marked the beginning of a resurgence of interest in anthropological futures.  The new edition has been updated to reflect some of the outpouring of work since then, particularly in science a...

Managing northern europe's forests

First and only comprehensive collection of forest histories from the North of Europe Thorough and critical examination of a region where a number of distinguished and influential ideas of global resource management originated from (scientific forestry, sustainability, close-to-nature-for...

Unsafe motherhood

Follows the global policies that have been implemented in Sololá, Guatemala in order to decrease high rates of maternal mortality among indigenous Mayan women. Examines the diverse meanings and understandings of motherhood, pregnancy, birth and birth-related death among the biomedical pe...

Working the fabric

The first in-depth anthropological study of the Harris Tweed industry, complementing and updating existing historical and ethnographic research.  Offers an intimate account of industry workers’ lived experiences, but it also draws on these insights to advance wider debates in anthropolog...

Consuming the inedible

Everyday, millions of people eat earth, clay, nasal mucus, and similar substances. Yet food practices like these are strikingly understudied in a sustained, interdisciplinary manner. This book aims to correct this neglect. Contributors, utilizing anthropological, nutritional, biochemical, psych...

Germany and the middle east

  Traces 130 years of German–Middle Eastern relations from Kaiser Wilhelm II to Angela Merkel. Connects German foreign policy with Middle Eastern history in one accessible overview. Based on rich archival and diplomatic primary sources. Clear, concise, and ideal for teaching or...

At home on the waves

This collection explores the variety of ways in which people have long made themselves at home at sea, bringing together both ethnographic and archaeological research – much of it with an explicit Ingoldian approach – on a wide range of geographical areas and historical periods.

Field manual for the archaeology of ritual, religion, and magic

By bringing together in one place specific objects, materials, and features indicating ritual, religious, or magical belief used by people around the world and through time, this tool will assist archaeologists in identifying evidence of belief-related behaviors and broadening their understandi...

Jewish explorations of sexuality

Every religious community has been affected by the "sexual revolution". The conflict between contemporary attitudes and traditional practices has led to major divisions and controversies, particularly when focused on issues such as homosexuality. This is the first attempt to take abroad look at...

Contemplating historical consciousness

 This proposed volume draws on three decades of applied research into historical consciousness—comparative, national, and focused—to tease out what has been learned from the field.  It asks leading scholars from around the world to reflect on their research and their practice—as historia...

The practice of war

The fact is that war comes in many guises and its effects continue to be felt long after peace is proclaimed. This challenges the anthropologists who write of war as participant observers. Participant observation inevitably deals with the here and now, with the highly specific. It is only over ...

Culture and international history

Women and socialism - socialism and women

Until recently, histories of women tended to be segregated from the larger historical context. This pioneering volume places the role of women within the history of the interwar years, whenboth the women's and socialist movements became prominent, and raises the key question of how power was di...

People, money and power in the economic crisis

Based on empirical research. Combines empirical research with an analysis of wider processes of social, economic and political change. Comes out of an innovative network of scholars associated with the Human Economy Programme.

Back to the postindustrial future

First ethnography solely focused on the future One of the first ethnographies solely focused on a postindustrial city Theoretical contribution to anthropology of time (presentism) First English language ethnography of a shrinking city

The americanization of europe

Recent tensions between the U.S. and Europe seem to have opened up an insuperable rift, while Americanization, deplored by some, welcomed by others, seems to progress unabated. This volume explores, for the first time and in a comparative manner, the role American culture and anti-Americanism p...

Trapped in the gap

A forensic analysis of the dilemmas of well intentioned white development workers in Australia. Explores what happens when well-meaning people, supported by the state, find themselves trapped by endless ambiguities and contradictions — a microcosm of the broader dilemmas of postcolonial ...

Designing worlds

Designing Worlds responds to the growing literature on global design history and national identity in design, and furthers the debate on this central issue. Designing Worlds contributes an original and innovative reassessment of the role of national histories within a global context. ...

Difficult folk?

Transcultural montage

Asserts that the destabilisation of commonsense perception is the very precondition for transcending social and cultural categories Contributors explore the use of montage as a heuristic tool for comparative analysis in anthropological, film and exhibition making

The shaping of environmental policy in france

Drawing on an extensive range of political, legal and sociological materials, the author presents and evaluates environmental policy-making in France at a time when environmental problems are growing in complexity and gravity.

Stories make the world

Examines the ideas and principles that guide the art of documentary storytelling. About the world as well as about nonfiction film. It explores subjects ranging from cosmology to architecture, environmental history to struggles for human rights. Looks at the process of transforming v...

It happens among people

Written by eleven leading anthropologists from around the world, this volume extends the insights of Fredrik Barth, one of the most important anthropologists of the twentieth century, to push even further at the frontiers of anthropology.

Thinking europe

This title assesses the idea of Europe through its intellectual history. Exploring the concept of integration and the relationship between this and arguments for division and borders it reveals their interplay in the composition of the contemporary European identity.

Configuring contagion

Expanding our understanding of contagion further than typical notions of infection and pandemics, this book widens the field to include biosocial epidemics. The chapters propose varied and detailed answers to questions about the epidemic and contagious potential of specific infections and non-i...

The nuclear crisis

Provides a comprehensive survey of the “Euromissiles” crisis of 1983 as experienced by its various protagonists. Analyzes NATO’s diplomatic and military maneuvering. Traces the political, cultural, and moral discourses that surrounded the missiles’ deployment in East and West Germany.