Investing in the Environment

As consumers, are we changing the world with our buying power? This question, which has garnered much attention in recent years, is merely the tip of the iceberg of issues discussed in Ethical Consumption: Social Value and Economic Practice, which is now available in paperback. Following, editors James Carrier and Peter Luetchford explain the purpose behind their volume and delve deeper into the mentality behind “ethical consumption.”

 

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This volume arose from our common interest in the ways that ethical consumption is understood, both those seeking to analyse it and by those seeking to pursue it.

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War Magic & Warrior Religion: Sorcery, Cognition & Embodiment

This post is the transcript of an electronic interview between D. S. Farrer and Berghahn blog editor Lorna Field.

D. S. Farrer is the co-author of the article Chants of Re-enchantment: Chamorro Spiritual Resistance to Colonial Domination and special issue editor of Social Analysis Volume 58, Issue 1: War Magic and Warrior Religion: Sorcery, Cognition, and Embodiment. 

 

 

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World Food Day #WFD2014

World Food Day is a day of action against hunger. On October 16th people around the world come together to declare their commitment to eradicate hunger by starting a conversation, learning and educating about food, farming, and hunger. This World Food Day celebrates family farmers for growing our food and caring for the earth. #Toast a Farmer!

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Berghahn is delighted to present some of its relevant titles:

 

FOOD IN ZONES OF CONFLICT
Cross-Disciplinary Perspectives
Edited by Paul Collinson and Helen Macbeth
Foreword by Hugo Slim

Volume 8, Anthropology of Food & Nutrition

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Religion, TV Drama, and Life in Africa

 

Television dramas set in Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, offer viewers interesting commentaries on life in the African city, according to Katrien Pype. The connection between real-life and filmic melodrama, conversion narratives, Christian songs and testimonies are described in her book, The Making of the Pentecostal Melodrama: Religion, Media and Gender in Kinshasa, now available in paperback. Following, the author gives a synopsis of two popular TV shows in Kinshasa, Kalaonga and The Heritage of Death. These descriptions are followed by clips from each serial.

 

 

 

Kalaonga

(produced between March 2004 and November 2005)

 

The serial opens in the Dark World. Baaba, the Devil, accompanied by two demons, is listening to his daughter, the siren Kalaonga.

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Reinventing Holiday

In advance of the approaching holiday, on Monday, October 6th, the Seattle City Council unanimously voted to redesignate the federal Columbus Day holiday as Indigenous Peoples’ Day to reflect that Native Americans were living on the continent before Christopher Columbus’s 15th Century arrival. Reinventing the holiday to a more politically correct and inclusive would celebrate the contributions and culture of the people on the other side of the New World discovery story.

Minneapolis voted in April to replace Columbus Day, while several states, including Alaska, Hawaii and Oregon do not acknowledge the holiday which became a U.S. federal holiday in 1937.

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Berghahn recognizes the significance of indigenous cultures and is happy to present some of its relevant titles:

 

INDIGENOUS PEOPLES AND DEMOGRAPHY
The Complex Relation between Identity and Statistics
Edited by Per Axelsson and Peter Sköld

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Hot Off the Presses – New Journal Releases for September

Anthropology in Action
Volume 21, Number 2
This issue includes articles that provide examples of anthropological research applied to, or with resonance for policy and practice issues.

Girlhood Studies
Volume 7, Number 2
This issue is broadly based on the theme of a girl’s education.

Journal of Romance Studies
Volume 14, Issue 2
This special issue is titled “Oceans: Concepts and Cultures,” and the emphasis is on the ocean as a site of mobility, contact and transformation, as well as a location.

Theoria
Volume 61, Number 140
The articles in this special edition contribute a rich range of arguments that can help clarify and develop what an egalitarian liberalism in South Africa would look like.

 

Hearing History of the 19th and 20th Centuries

In a newly published collection, editor Daniel Morat and his contributors approach historical analysis in an uncommon way — by using their sense of hearing. The authors examine the way modern history sounds in Sounds of Modern History: Auditory Cultures in 19th- and 20th-Century Europe. Following, the editor gives a brief introduction and shares an excerpt from his chapter. The excerpt is accompanied by a recording from 1914 Germany.

 

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When Europe went to war in the summer of 1914, scenes of vociferous war enthusiasm have been reported from many European cities. Historiographic research of the last twenty years has shown that these scenes were not representative of the general mood in the warring nations. Still, they have long dominated our perception of the outbreak of World War I.

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Mark Tully on India and Hinduism: From the Political to the Personal?

J7.1-3-COVER-SB1.qxdThis post is the transcript of an electronic interview between Journeys contributor, Nivedita Misra, and Berghahn blog editor Lorna Field. Nivedita Misra is the author of Mark Tully on India and Hinduism: From the Political to the Personal which was published in Volume 15, Number 1 of Journeys: The International Journal of Travel & Travel Writing.

  

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Media Studies

The media allows access to incredible amounts of information and continues to become very integral to the lives of many people. Legislatures, media executives, local officials, general population, historians and sociologists have all debated the controversial question of what rode and influence does mass media play in history and society. While opinions vary as to the extent and type of influence the mass media wields, all sides agree that mass media is a permanent part and a significant force in modern culture.

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Berghahn is delighted to present some of its relevant titles from the Media Studies list:

 

MEDIA AND REVOLT
Strategies and Performances from the 1960s to the Present
Edited by Kathrin Fahlenbrach, Erling Sivertsen & Rolf Werenskjold

Volume 11, Protest, Culture & Society

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