Cambridge Studies in Cultural Systems – serie
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7 produkter
7 produkter
The Untouchable as Himself
Ideology, Identity and Pragmatism among the Lucknow Chamars
Häftad, Engelska, 2009
452 kr
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The world of the Indian Untouchable is often invisible behind that of the dominant Hindu caste, but it is of no less significance for the understanding of contemporary Indian society. The Untouchables, like the caste Hindu, have been substantially affected by the political, economic and social changes that are occurring in independent India. While India has legally abolished untouchability, the society scarcely has and the Untouchables continue to face social resistance and deprivation. However, the changing social circumstances have given rise to a new awareness and increased expectations among the Untouchables and, although their social achievements may have been limited, they are engaged in a process of questioning and reformulating old definitions of self and society. This book is a study of the new frame of mind of the Untouchable. The work presents a complete discussion of the value structure and meaning of Untouchable ideology. It is a subtle combination of sensitive ethnographic data, taken from a field study of the Chamars of Lucknow, with an analysis of Untouchable accounts of their perceptions and experiences expressed in their own terms and a penetrating interpretation of wider cultural concepts.
334 kr
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Based on intensive ethnographic fieldwork, this book describes and interprets trance behaviour among the Malagasy speakers of Mayotte, a small island in the Comoro Archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of East Africa. Professor Lambek describes how the people of Mayotte (most often women) enter into trances, during which they believe their bodies are inhabited by spirits. He then analyses the conventions for behaviour in trance and the process by which the individuals come to terms with the spirits in their midst. The book presents thorough case studies of spirit possession over time, providing one of the most detailed accounts of possession phenomena available for a single society. The author argues that trance can best be understood as a social activity within a defined system of cultural meaning rather than as a psychological problem, a simple deception or a means of manipulating others. This book should be of particular interest to those concerned with the study of ritual, symbols and non-Western religious systems.
452 kr
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Anthropological enquiry is best done by attending equally to both social and cultural material. This is the view propounded here by Marvin Davis, who uses such an holistic approach to develop an original perspective on hierarchy and politics in rural Bengal. In the first part of the book, Professor Davis describes the indigenous theory of rank held by Hindus in rural West Bengal and shows that the premise of inequality is a central organising principle of their entire society and cosmos. In the second part, he shows that the Bengali preoccupation with rank generates frequent political rivalries at each level of rural social organisation. His book will interest all anthropologists and other social scientists concerned with the social and political organization of rural India. In addition, his explication of the links between ideology and social structure, often viewed in isolation from each other, makes the book an important contribution to anthropological theory and method.
320 kr
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The Sherpas of the Himalayas practice Tibetan Buddhism, a variety of Mahayana Buddhism. This is a general interpretation of Sherpa culture through examining the relationship between the Sherpas' Buddhism and other aspects of their society, and a theoretical contribution to the study of ritual and religious symbolism. In analysing the symbols of Sherpa rituals, professor Ortner leads us toward the discovery of conflict, contradiction, and stress in the wider social and cultural world. Following a general ethnographic sketch, each chapter opens with a brief description of a ritual. The ritual is then dissected, and its symbolic elements are used as guides in the exploration of problematic structures, relationships, and ideas of the culture. The author uses these rituals to illuminate the interconnections between religious ideology, social structure and experience. Professor Ortner analysis of the rituals reveals both the Buddhist pull toward exaggerating the isolation of individuals, and the secular pull that attempts to overcome isolation and to reproduce the conditions for social community.
The Anthropological Romance of Bali 1597-1972
Dynamic Perspectives in Marriage and Caste, Politics and Religion
Häftad, Engelska, 1977
452 kr
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For centuries Bali has generated provocative - and often conflicting - images in the minds of ethnographers and travellers alike. Professor Boon places our current understanding of Bali within the context of historical views of Balinese life and religion, beginning with the initial Dutch contacts after 1597. He approaches Balinese culture as a 'social romance' of flexible values and actions keyed to native ideals of an enduring hierarchy. In this way, he explains the changing perspectives of Bali throughout the colonial era; the relationship between marriage and caste; the enthusiasm of various outsiders for Balinese arts and lifestyle; and recent political developments, including communist factions and parties modelled on the idea of an ancestral caste. Based on field work in Indonesia as well as historical research, this book is the first thorough study of Balinese social and cultural dynamics. Professor Boon consolidates approaches from structuralism, comparative literature, interaction theory and the analysis of social organisation and social change in order to demonstrate the complex principles that make this island of enduring interest to students of other societies.
452 kr
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Among the Bedouins of North Arabia, accounts of intertribal conflicts were the focus of ceremonial oral performances. In this study, Michael Meeker examines the relationship between these oral performances of the Bedouins and their way of life and poses questions about these performances which raise important issues in the fields of Orientalism and anthropology. This book, first published in 1979, challenges the tendency of historians to neglect the relationship between conditions in the literate urban centers and those in the hinterlands. As he discusses the intersection of art and life among the Bedouins, Meeker is able to show how the place of pastoral nomadism in Near-Eastern history has a bearing on many of the problems that have concerned Orientalists.
358 kr
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Michelle Rosaldo presents an ethnographic interpretation of the life of the Ilongots, a group of some 3,500 hunters and horticulturists in Northern Luzon, Philippines. Her study focuces on headhunting, a practice that remained active among the Ilongots until at least 1972. Indigenous notions of 'knowledge' and 'passion' are crucial to the Ilongots' perceptions of their own social practices of headhunting, oratory, marriage, and the organization of subsistence labour. In explaining the significance of these key ideas, Professor Rosaldo examines what she considers to be the most important dimensions of Ilongot social relationships: the contrasts between men and women and between accomplished married men and bachelor youths. By defining 'knowledge' and 'passion' in the context of their social and affective significance, the author demonstrates the place of headhunting in historical and political processes, and shows the relation between headhunting and indigenous concepts of curing, reproduction, and health. Theoretically oriented toward interpretive of symbolic ethnography, this book clarifies some of the ways in which the study of a language - both vocabulary and patterns of usage - is a study of a culture; the process of translation is presented as a method of cultural interpretation. Professor Rosaldo argues that an appreciation of the Ilongots' specific notions of 'the self' and the emotional concepts associated with headhunting can illuminate central aspects of the group's social life.