James Urry – författare

First Published in 1993. From the 1930s, British anthropology was dominated by social anthropologists, an achievement of the two founding fathers, Bronislaw Malinowski and A.R. Radcliffe-Brown. However, the field of ethnology had originated in Britain in the 1840s and a broadly based general anthropology was well established before the rise of social anthropology. The essays in this volume explore the development of British anthropology in the period from 1880 to 1920 and deal with such diverse issues as the establishment of new research methodologies, the development of ethnographic reporting, institutional change and the professionalization of the subject, and the connection between anthropology and imperialism. These essays reveal how the establishment of social anthropology involved a narrowing field which at first involved not just the study of custom but also included archaeology, physical anthropology and philology. The emergence of the new approaches of the 1920s and 1930s, and the triumph of social anthropology as an academic, intellectual and professional discipline in post-war Britain also led to the subsequent loss of a more holistic vision of anthropology.

On Stony Ground presents a historical ethnographic account of a generation of Mennonites from the Soviet Union who, following Russia’s revolution and civil war, immigrated to Manitoba during the 1920s. James Urry examines how they came to terms with a new land and with their new neighbours, including other Mennonites, Ukrainians, French Canadians, and Indigenous Peoples.The book discusses the impact of the Great Depression and how the immigrants struggled with their identity in Canada as Hitler and Stalin rose to power in Germany and the USSR. It reveals the immigrants’ desire to maintain their faith, language, and culture while encouraging their children to take advantage of an education conducted mainly in English. On Stony Ground explores how prosperity following the Second World War helped the immigrants to build a community in conjunction with others, including Mennonites and non-Mennonites, and to accept their new home in Canada.