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This volume of Research in Economic Anthropology, which presents ten peer-reviewed anthropological papers, celebrates the 40th anniversary of the series by taking a close look at human vulnerability: the ways in which people attempt to cope with it and barriers to successfully overcoming it.
The two leading articles both take up the issue of microfinance; Daniel Murphy examines the influences of this in the lives of pastoralists in Mongolia, and Megan Hinrichsen explores related processes among vendors in Quito, Ecuador. Next, Elena Sischarenco looks at ways of dealing with vulnerability in the northern Italian construction industry. Sarah Lyon investigates smallholders’ experiences with, and adaptations to, the coffee rust disaster in Oaxaca, Mexico, as well as the functions of fair trade organizations. Rounding out the first half of the volume is Raja Swamy’s analysis of post-tsunami reconstruction in Tamil Nadu, India.
The second half starts with Janneke Verheijen’s investigation of women’s survival strategies in rural Malawi, southeast Africa, and Lai Wo’s study of intimate relationships and transactions between Western men and Southeast Asian women in Hong Kong. Courtney Lewis explores political and economic sovereignty among the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in North Carolina, USA. Finally, the volume turns to the past with Kari Henquinet’s examination of the evolution of American faith-based overseas development aid projects in the 20th century, and with Serge Svizzero’s and Clement Tisdell’s analysis of Early Bronze Age desert kite use for trapping gazelles in parts of Southwest Asia.
Ultimately, it is hoped that this and other scholarly investigations into human vulnerability will lead to better preventive and curative measures, for an imperfect world.
Price: $145.99
Pages: 272
Publisher: Emerald Publishing Limited
Imprint: Emerald Publishing Limited
Series: Research in Economic Anthropology
Publication Date:
14 December 2018
ISBN: 9781787691766
Format: Hardcover
BISACs:
SOCIAL SCIENCE / Anthropology / General, Anthropology, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Anthropology / Cultural & Social, BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / General
Ten papers explore the essence, causes, effects, continuity, and possible mitigating factors of economic vulnerability in very different circumstances and cultures. The contributors describe the coping mechanisms of Italian entrepreneurs in the volatile construction industry, the impact of fair trade on the response of Mexican coffee growers to the coffee rust problem, shifts in Mongolian herds for cashmere production, and the use of desert kites to kill gazelles.
Donald C. Wood is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Akita University, Japan. His recent publications include Ogata-Mura: Sowing Dissent and Reclaiming Identity in a Japanese Farming Village, and he is currently conducting ethnohistorical research in northeastern Japan.
Introduction: Individual and Social Adaptations to Vulnerability
Chapter 1. "We’re Living from Loan to Loan": Pastoral Vulnerability and the Cashmere-Debt Cycle in Mongolia; Daniel J. Murphy
Chapter 2. Living Within the Narrative of Microfinance: Vulnerability, Well-Intentioned Debt, and the Individualization of Social Problems in Quito, Equador; Megan B. Hinrichsen
Chapter 3. Being an Entrepreneur and Feeling Vulnerable: Encountering Fragility in the Construction Business in the North of Italy; Elena Sischarenco
Chapter 4. Coping with Coffee Rust in Oaxaca, Mexico: Vulnerability and the Impact of Fair Trade on Smallholders' Adaptive Capacity; Sarah Lyon
Chapter 5. Fishers, Vulnerability and the Political Economy of Dispossession and Reconstruction In Post-Tsunami Tamil Nadu; Raja Swamy
Chapter 6. Managing Meagre Means and Reciprocal Reputations: Women's Everyday Survival Tactics in a Malawian Village; Janneke Verheijen
Chapter 7. Intimate Economy of Vulnerability: Transactional Relationships Between Western Expatriates and Southeast Asian Domestic Workers in Hong Kong's Wanchai; Lai Wo
Chapter 8. Economic Sovereignty in Volatile Times: Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians' Strategies Supporting Economic Stability; Courtney Lewis
Chapter 9. American World Visions of Vulnerability: The Sacred, the Secular, and Roots of Evangelical American Aid; Kari B. Henquinet
Chapter 10. Socio-Economic Development and Changing Reasons for Using Desert Kites to Kill Gazelles; Serge Svizzero and Clement A. Tisdell