Ross Porter – författare

At a time when Yemen has been ravaged by a decade of war and subject to myriad political and military interventions, the essays in this collection serve as a timely reminder of the need for grounded anthropological study in even the harshest of circumstances. From tribesmen to refugees, revolutionaries to farmers, state workers to charity workers, intellectuals to the unemployed and the destitute, we learn of the everyday political languages through which people in the country live their lives. This volume is a call for an anthropology attuned not only to locally significant political concepts, but also to the ways in which people actively confront and reorient them while challenging their worlds and engaging the political imagination in a spirit of abiding critique. This concise collection is the fruit of decades of ethnographic fieldwork in Yemen and will be of interest to students and scholars seeking an intimate and nuanced account of life in the country.

At a time when Yemen has been ravaged by a decade of war and subject to myriad political and military interventions, the essays in this collection serve as a timely reminder of the need for grounded anthropological study in even the harshest of circumstances. From tribesmen to refugees, revolutionaries to farmers, state workers to charity workers, intellectuals to the unemployed and the destitute, we learn of the everyday political languages through which people in the country live their lives. This volume is a call for an anthropology attuned not only to locally significant political concepts, but also to the ways in which people actively confront and reorient them while challenging their worlds and engaging the political imagination in a spirit of abiding critique. This concise collection is the fruit of decades of ethnographic fieldwork in Yemen and will be of interest to students and scholars seeking an intimate and nuanced account of life in the country.

A guide to the all-time must-have jazz recordings by a maven of the genre.Possibly the twentieth century’s greatest musical innovation, jazz is now more popular than it has been for the past fifty years. But with the plethora of new recordings and the phenomenon in jazz of the same standards being recorded seemingly by almost every artist and band or trio, it’s very hard to know where to start or to improve a CD collection. The Essential Jazz Recordings provides a trustworthy, concise guide, heavily skewed to Porter’s personal favourites and showcasing Canadian talent where it’s merited. With background information on the music, the artist, and the recording, Porter explains the unique merits of each recording, from Louis Armstrong to Wynton Marsalis, Billie Holiday to Diana Krall. With this guide, dedicated jazz aficionados can ensure a complete collection and novices can expand their knowledge. Both will hugely enjoy the musical riches in The Essential Jazz Recordings.From the Trade Paperback edition.