Social and cultural anthropology Books

Explore the controversial theories of Dr. Alexander Winchell regarding "preadamites" in this thought-provoking work by Jabez Thomas Sunderland. This book delves into Winchell's ideas about human origins and the implications they held within the context...

"Cartas peruanas escritas en francés" by Mme de Grafigny, originally published in 1747, offers a captivating glimpse into 18th-century Peruvian society through the eyes of Zilia, an Inca princess. Kidnapped and brought to France, Zilia...

This volume, "Contributions to North American Ethnology. Vol. I-VII, IX Volume (1893)", is a valuable resource for understanding the ethnology of North America. Authored by John Wesley Powell, a prominent figure in the field, the book delves into the...

The invention of Mauveine by Perkin in 1856 led to a revolution in the world of textiledyeing. In the second half of the 19th century, natural dyes were quickly replaced by newly developed synthetic dyes which resulted in a bright palette of colours. The...

A unique cross-cultural resource with practical insights and theoretical reflections of great value for academics, scholars, educators and practitioners in the fields of theatre studies, dramaturgy, cross-cultural performance studies, contemporary...

This absorbing book is ballet's 'biography' -- a revealing examination of a closed world, its competition and camaraderie, sexual politics, intimacies, pressures and, not least of all, its magic.

The future of American banking is in doubt and the industry and the federal insurance fund that helps support it are in turmoil. The ingredients of the turmoil have been simmering in public view since at least the early 1980s when commercial bank loans...

<p><strong><em>Early British Trackways</em> marks the beginning of Alfred Watkins' groundbreaking exploration into the theory of ley lines, the ancient pathways linking prehistoric monuments and sacred landmarks across the British...

<p><strong>Discover the original theory of ley lines, the ancient straight trackways proposed by Alfred Watkins to connect prehistoric sites, ancient monuments, and sacred landscapes across Britain.</strong></p><p>Offering a...

<p><strong><em>The Ley Line Legacy</em> brings together Alfred Watkins' two groundbreaking works, <em>Early British Trackways</em> and <em>The Old Straight Track</em>, in a single volume charting the...

This book explores the intersection between faith, religion and performing arts in culture-based youth groups. Culture-specific churches provide a safe if "imagined community" in which young people can express these emerging identities, which...

This book deals with the two key concepts of indigeneity and nation of the indigenous people from across the world. It looks at issues and ideas of indigeneity, nationhood, nationality, State, identity, selfhood, constitutionalism, and citizenship in...

What happens when blunt meets gezelligheid?Armed with good intentions and a broken bike, Dimitrios and Eleni - a Greek couple new to the Netherlands - join countless internationals stumbling through kringverjaardags, King's Day chaos, and the...

Suomen Kielen Heimolaiset (The Relatives of the Finnish Language) is a historical linguistic study by József Szinnyei, originally published in 1883. Written in Finnish, the book explores the related languages and cultures connected to the Finnish...

"A Record of Study in Aboriginal American Languages," by Daniel Garrison Brinton, offers a comprehensive overview of the linguistic landscape of indigenous languages in the Americas. Published in 1898, this work reflects late 19th-century perspectives on...

Introduction à l'étude des idées morales dans l'Égypte antique, written by Jules Baillet and first published in 1912, offers a detailed exploration of moral concepts in ancient Egypt. This study delves into the ethical values,...

Vogul népköltési gyüjtemény. Saját gyüjtése és Reguly Antal hagyományai alapján közzéteszi Munkácsi Bernát Volume 2 is a collection of Vogul (Mansi) folklore assembled by...

"The Banks of the Nile" offers a fascinating glimpse into early 20th-century Egypt through the eyes of John A. Todd. More than a mere travelogue, this work provides rich descriptions of the landscapes, people, and cultural practices along the Nile River...

This volume from the prestigious Todd Lecture Series, published by the Royal Irish Academy, presents a collection of scholarly lectures focused on various aspects of Irish history, language, and culture. Featuring contributions from leading experts, the...

"Indians Names of Places in Rhode-Island" explores the etymology and historical significance of Native American place names within the state. Usher Parsons delves into the linguistic roots and cultural context behind these names, offering insights into...

M. Alexander Castrén's Ethnologische Vorlesungen über die Altaischen Völker, complete with Samoyedic fairytales and Tatar heroic sagas, presents a fascinating glimpse into the ethnological studies of the mid-19th century. Authored by Matthias...

This reader is the first comprehensive look at representations of race, gender, disability, body size, age, and sexuality in US entertainment media. The "bible" of media representation, it weaves contemporary media examples together with quantitative...

This book reports on one of the largest co-ordinated efforts to survey the theatrical audience experience: the City Study of the Project on European Theatre Systems, which conducted over 7000 surveys and dozens of interviews and focus groups with...

More than 750,000 Russian Jews arrived in Israel between 1988 and 1996. However, this Great Immigration, as it has been called, has gone largely unnoticed in Israeli public life. Information about this significant event has been sketchy and largely...

On the fringe of western Europe, yet fully integrated into the capitalist market, the rural economy of the west of Ireland seems to provide a fascinating object of analysis to the student of European folk cultures. This book concentrates on a particular...

The position of Russia has always been difficult. In spite of the Revolution in 1917, the legal, economic, social and political inequalities between men and women have remained severe. For more than seventy years the official propaganda of the Soviet...

At the core of the author's concern stands the question of cultural transmutation in an era riddled with media channels and all-embracing messages. Fragments of the Israeli experience are pieced together in this provocative essay to provide a...

London continues to fascinate a vast audience across the world, and an extensive, diverse literature now exists describing and analyzing this metropolis. The central question - what is London? - has produced many answers but none of them, the author...

Although the post-colonial situation has attracted considerable interest over recent years, one important colonial power - Portugal - has not been given any attention. This book is the first to explore notions of ethnicity, "race", culture, and nation in...

The line between what is regarded by people as "traditional" and "modern" is constantly being altered by new configurations of power. These essays examine the ways in which such changes are both communicated and created through cultural performances in...

This book focuses on the popular fiction of Weimar Germany and explores the relationship between women, the texts they read, and the society in which they lived. A complex picture emerges that shows women talking center stage, not only in the fiction but...

Most studies of modern religious change have viewed it as a process of secularization in which the advance of science and technology discredits religious beliefs and destroys religious institutions. Yet religion has stubbornly failed to expire in the...

What is Europe? Who is European? What do Europe and European identity mean in the twenty-first century? This collection of sixteen essays seeks to answer these questions by focusing on Europe as it is seen through its own eyes and through the eyes of...

Details the textual and performative history of the South Asian festival of Indra and its role in the development of classical Hinduism.The Festival of Indra details the textual and performative history of an important South Asian festival and its role...

The Time of Anthropology provides a series of compelling anthropological case studies that explore the different temporalities at play in the scientific discourses, governmental techniques and policy practices through which modern life is shaped...

An examination of private narratives of loss in wartime and publicly legitimized forms of grieving. Drawing on sources such as diaries, poetry and weblogs and using gender as an analytic category, the book looks at men's and women's experiences of war...

What is the place of pluralism in the context of a dominant religion? How does the perception of religion as "tradition" and "culture" affect pluralism? Why do minorities' demands for recognition often transform into exclusion? Through her ethnography of...

The Taihang Mountains lay on the border between Shansi and Hopei in China and originally published in 1972, this edited anthology collates family histories as told by the people who lived there. This title will be of interest to students of Asian studies...

The great critic Peter Viereck, in a volume that both reproduces an earlier effort and presents an entirely new work on the intersection of history and literature, offers a biting critique of the American desire for normalcy that leads to a culture of...

Humor, wit, and laughter surround each person. From everyday quips to the carefully contrived comedy of literature, newspapers, and television we experience humor in many forms, yet the impetus for our laughter is far from innocuous

This book focuses on the emotional hazards of conducting fieldwork about or within contexts of violence and provides a forum for field-based researchers to tell their stories.

Based on extensive original fieldwork, this book examines the complex and diverse livelihoods of Zimbabwe's Tonga people as they have developed over time, including in the wake of the country's post- 2000 political and economic crises.Despite being...