One of the most vibrant areas of inquiry in anthropology today surrounds questions of the commodification of human and natural life. In a world where cost-benefit analysis dominates economic and gover
Dr C. G. Seligmann (1873–1940) was a renowned anthropologist who was President of the Royal Anthropological Institute between 1923 and 1925. After joining the Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to the Torres Strait in Melanesia in 1898, he changed his career from medicine to anthropology and began his career as a distinguished field anthropologist. This book contains his pioneering ethnology of the indigenous Vedda people of Sri Lanka. The social, political, religious and economic life of the Veddas is systematically examined in this detailed study, first published as part of the Cambridge Archaeological and Ethnological Series in 1911. This ethnology remains the standard reference work for the social structure and material culture of the Vedda people, as they have ceased to exist as a separate community in Sri Lanka. This volume contains views on ethnicity which were acceptable at the time it was published.
Educated at Palermo, Rome and Heidelberg, the classical and economic historian Karl Julius Beloch (1845–1929) lived most of his life in Italy, becoming a professor extraordinarius of ancient history at the University of Rome in 1879. German scholars, notably Theodor Mommsen, criticised Beloch's work for his scepticism towards traditional material and his more subjective approach. In addition to important work on ancient demography, he produced this controversial yet influential opus, revised and published in four volumes between 1912 and 1927, in which he questions conventional views on Greek history. Each volume in its first part outlines historical events and in the second part goes into greater detail, emphasising Beloch's unique perspective. The first part of Volume 4 covers the origins and the nature of Hellenistic civilisation, looking at topics such as culture, science and general world view at that time.
Educated at Palermo, Rome and Heidelberg, the classical and economic historian Karl Julius Beloch (1845–1929) lived most of his life in Italy, becoming a professor extraordinarius of ancient history at the University of Rome in 1879. German scholars, notably Theodor Mommsen, criticised Beloch's work for his scepticism towards traditional material and his more subjective approach. In addition to important work on ancient demography, he produced this controversial yet influential opus, revised and published in four volumes between 1912 and 1927, in which he questions conventional views on Greek history. Each volume in its first part outlines historical events and in the second part goes into greater detail, emphasising Beloch's unique perspective. The first part of Volume 3 covers the period after Sparta's victory in the Peloponnesian War until Alexander the Great's conquest of Asia, revealing impacts on science, culture and social structures.
This ambitious book tells a richly detailed story of Houston home life and culture from the settlement of Harrisburg and Houston in the 1820s and 1830s to World War I, when rapid economic development
Night is a foundational element of human and animal life on earth, but its interaction with the social world has undergone significant transformations during the era of globalization. As the economic
Prior to the Vietnam war, American intellectual life rested comfortably on shared assumptions and often common ideals. Intellectuals largely supported the social and economic reforms of the 1930s, the
Artists are everywhere, from celebrities showing at MoMA to locals hoping for a spot on a café wall. They are photographed at gallery openings in New York and Los Angeles, hustle in fast-gentrifying c
The sixth volume of The New Cambridge Medieval History covers the fourteenth century, a period dominated by plague, other natural disasters and war which brought to an end three centuries of economic growth and cultural expansion in Christian Europe, but one which also saw important developments in government, religious and intellectual life, and new cultural and artistic patterns. Part I sets the scene by discussion of general themes in the theory and practice of government, religion, social and economic history, and culture. Part II deals with the individual histories of the states of western Europe; Part III with that of the Church at the time of the Avignon papacy and the Great Schism; and Part IV with eastern and northern Europe, Byzantium and the early Ottomans, giving particular attention to the social and economic relations with westerners and those of other civilisations in the Mediterranean.
This book is an interdisciplinary study of the fundamental normative issues underpinning immigration policy. Economists, political scientists and philosophers address issues such as the proper role of the state in supporting a particular culture, the possible destabilization of the political and social life of a country through immigration, the size and distribution of economic losses and gains, and the legitimacy of discriminating against potential immigrants in favour of members of the resident population. The need for serious philosophical consideration of this subject is beyond question. This volume should advance discussion in an area of great practical as well as philosophical importance.
Nearly a millennium before the Inca forged a pan-Andean empire in the South American Andes, Tiwanaku emerged as a major center of political, economic, and religious life on the mountainous southern shores of Lake Titicaca. Tiwanaku influenced vast regions of the Andes and became one of the most important and enduring civilizations of the pre-Columbian Americas. Yet for centuries, the nature and antiquity of Tiwanaku remained a great mystery. Only over the past couple of decades has archaeological research begun to explore in depth the fascinating character of Tiwanaku culture and the way of life of its people. Ancient Tiwanaku synthesizes a wealth of past and current research on this fascinating high-altitude civilization. In the first major synthesis on the subject in nearly fifteen years, John Wayne Janusek explores Tiwanaku civilization in its geographical and cultural setting, tracing its long rise to power, vast geopolitical influences, and violent collapse.
Classical oratory is an invaluable resource for the study of ancient Greek life and culture. The speeches offer evidence on Greek moral views, social and economic conditions, political and social ideo
This fascinating book reflects on how economics has become central to our lives, and how the 'economic rationalist' perspective has become the lens through which all matters in Australian public life are viewed. It explains how this economic worldview systematically overlooks important social issues and how it transforms Australian culture. How to Argue with an Economist invites a broad general audience into debates that were once reserved for experts. Lindy Edwards, a former economic adviser in the Prime Minister's Department, has a talent for expressing concepts simply. She distils economics' key ideas into a lively and enjoyable read, explaining how economists think and then how you can argue with them.
Schooling in the modern world has a multiple agenda: the promotion of economic progress, the transmission of culture from generation to generation, and the cultivation of children's intellectual and moral development. Originally published in 1993, this book explores the difficulties of achieving a synthesis of these objectives, in a case study of a rural African community. The analysis contrasts the indigenous perspective on child development with the formal educational model of cognitive growth. Teachers in the local primary school are shown to face the challenge of bicultural mediation, and the significance of schooling is discussed for each of the diverse individuals of the study in terms of his or her own reflections and interpretations. Two different attempts to activate a local dialogue about the school as a community resource are described and the implications for approaches to educational planning are explored.
Tázlár is a rural community on the Great Hungarian Plain. In the context of modern Hungary it is not a typical community, for its socio-economic organisation has been based in past years on a form of agricultural cooperative unusual in socialist societies. In this book, C. M. Hann traces the development of the community in the post-war period and assesses the influence of the cooperative on its social, economic and political life. This detailed study of a community sheds light on the general mechanisms of social and economic control in state-socialist societies, as well as on socialist claims to be eliminating the historical disparities between the town and the countryside. It will appeal to anthropologists as a study of a community in an area of Europe which is poorly documented in English, to sociologists, political scientists and development economists and to the general reader with an interest in Eastern Europe or in socialism.
Using primary sources, Joshua Holo uncovers the day-to-day workings of the Byzantine-Jewish economy in the middle Byzantine period. Built on a web of exchange systems both exclusive to the Jewish community and integrated in society at large, this economy forces a revision of Jewish history in the region. Paradoxically, the two distinct economic orientations, inward and outward, simultaneously advanced both the integration of the Jews into the larger Byzantine economy and their segregation as a self-contained body economic. Dr Holo finds that the Jews routinely leveraged their internal, even exclusive, systems of law and culture to break into - occasionally to dominate - Byzantine markets. In doing so, they challenge our concept of Diaspora life as a balance between the two competing impulses of integration and segregation. The success of this enterprise, furthermore, qualifies the prevailing claim of Jewish economic decline during the Commercial Revolution.
This book is an interdisciplinary study of the fundamental normative issues underpinning immigration policy. Economists, political scientists and philosophers address issues such as the proper role of the state in supporting a particular culture, the possible destabilization of the political and social life of a country through immigration, the size and distribution of economic losses and gains, and the legitimacy of discriminating against potential immigrants in favour of members of the resident population. The need for serious philosophical consideration of this subject is beyond question. This volume should advance discussion in an area of great practical as well as philosophical importance.
Brian Allan Marwick (1908–92) was a colonial administrator and anthropologist who worked extensively with the Swazi people. In this book, which was originally published in 1940, Marwick presents a detailed analysis of various aspects of Swazi culture, drawing upon his extensive experience as a government official, together with fieldwork carried out during July and August 1934. The text examines social organization, economic life, religion and magic, political organization, the legal system, and the effects of European contact. Numerous illustrative figures and an appendices section are also included. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in the Swazi and the development of ethnography and anthropology.
