Browse our February and March 2020 releases in Anthropology, Archaeology/Heritage Studies, History, Memory Studies, and Mobility Studies and see what’s new in paperback.
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Anthropology
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AFTER THE PINK TIDE
Corporate State Formation and New Egalitarianisms in Latin America
Edited by Marina Gold and Alessandro Zagato
Afterword by Bruce Kapferer
Vol. 1, EGALITARIANISM
The left-wing Pink Tide movement that swept across Latin America seems now to be overturned, as a new wave of free-market thinkers emerge across the continent. This book analyses the emergence of corporate power within Latin America and the response of egalitarian movements across the continent trying to break open the constraints of the state. Through an ethnographically grounded and localized anthropological perspective, this book argues that at a time when the regular structures of political participation have been ruptured, the Latin American context reveals multiple expressions of egalitarian movements that strive (and sometimes momentarily manage) to break through the state’s apparatus.
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CREDIT AND DEBT IN AN UNEQUAL SOCIETY
Establishing a Consumer Credit Market in South Africa
Jürgen Schraten
Vol. 7, THE HUMAN ECONOMY
South Africa was one of the first countries in the Global South that established a financialized consumer credit market. This market consolidates rather than alleviates the extreme social inequality within a country. This book investigates the political reasons for adopting an allegedly self-regulating market despite its disastrous effects and identifies the colonialist ideas of property rights as a mainstay of the existing social order. The book addresses sociologists, political scientists, anthropologists and legal scholars interested in the interaction of economy and law in contemporary market societies.
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THE ROMA AND THEIR STRUGGLE FOR IDENTITY IN CONTEMPORARY EUROPE
Edited by Huub van Baar and Angéla Kóczé
Foreword by Malachi H. Hacohen
Vol. 3, ROMANI STUDIES
Thirty years after the collapse of Communism, and at a time of increasing anti-migrant and anti-Roma sentiment, this book analyses how Roma identity is expressed in contemporary Europe. From backgrounds ranging from political theory, postcolonial, cultural and gender studies to art history, feminist critique and anthropology, the contributors reflect on the extent to which a politics of identity regarding historically disadvantaged, racialized minorities such as the Roma can still be legitimately articulated.
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See Also: Romani Studies with Sam Beck
ON THE NERVOUS EDGE OF AN IMPOSSIBLE PARADISE
Affect, Tourism, Belize
Kenneth Little
Vol. 45, NEW DIRECTIONS IN ANTHROPOLOGY
There are beastly forces in Belize. Forces that are actively involved in making paradise impossible. On the Nervous Edge of an Impossible Paradise is a collection of seven stories about local lives in the fictional village of Wallaceville. They turn rogue in the face of runaway forces that take the form and figure of a Belize beast-time, which can appear as a comic mishap, social ruin, tragic excess, or wild guesses. Inciting the affective politics of life in the region, this fable of emergence evokes the unnerving uncertainties of life in the tourist state of Belize.
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IF EVERYONE RETURNED, THE ISLAND WOULD SINK
Urbanisation and Migration in Vanuatu
Kirstie Petrou
Vol. 7, PACIFIC PERSPECTIVES: STUDIES OF THE EUROPEAN SOCIETY FOR OCEANISTS
Focusing on the small island of Paama, Vanuatu, and the capital, Port Vila, this book presents a rare and recent study of the ongoing significance of urbanisation and internal migration in the Global South. Based on longitudinal research undertaken in rural ‘home’ places, urban suburbs and informal settlements over thirty years, this book reveals the deep ambivalence of the outcome of migration, and argues that continuity in the fundamental organising principles of cultural life – in this case centred on kinship and an ‘island home’ – is significantly more important for urban and rural lives than the transformative impacts of migration and urbanisation.
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MEDIA PRACTICES AND CHANGING AFRICAN SOCIALITIES
Non-media-centric Perspectives
Edited by Jo Helle-Valle and Ardis Storm-Mathisen
Afterword by Thomas Hylland Eriksen
Vol. 9, ANTHROPOLOGY OF MEDIA
Deriving from innovative new work by six researchers, this book questions what the new media’s role is in contemporary Africa. The chapters are diverse – covering different areas of sociality in different countries – but they unite in their methodological and analytical foundation. The focus is on media-related practices, which require engagement with different perspectives and concerns while situating these in a wider analytical context. The contributions to this collection provide fresh ethnographic descriptions of how new media practices can affect socialities in significant but unpredictable ways.
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NAVIGATING MISCARRIAGE
Social, Medical and Conceptual Perspectives
Edited by Susie Kilshaw and Katie Borg
Vol. 45, FERTILITY, REPRODUCTION AND SEXUALITY: SOCIAL AND CULTURAL PERSPECTIVES
Miscarriage is a significant women’s health issue. Research has consistently shown that one in four pregnancies end in miscarriage. This collected volume explores miscarriage in diverse historical and cultural settings with contributions from anthropologists, historians and medical professionals. Contributors use rich ethnographic and historical material to discuss how pregnancy loss is managed and negotiated in a range of societies. The book considers meanings attached to miscarriage and how religious, cultural, medical and legal forces impact the way miscarriage is experienced and perceived.
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SPACE, PLACE AND IDENTITY
Wodaabe of Niger in the 21st Century
Florian Köhler
Vol. 21, INTEGRATION AND CONFLICT STUDIES
Known as highly mobile cattle nomads, the Wodaabe in Niger are today increasingly engaged in a transformation process towards a more diversified livelihood based primarily on agro-pastoralism and urban work migration. This book examines recent transformations in spatial patterns, notably in the context of urban migration and in processes of sedentarization in rural proto-villages. The book analyses the consequences that the recent change entails for social group formation and collective identification, and how this impacts integration into wider society amid the structures of the modern nation state.
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THE CHILDREN OF GREGORIA
Dogme Ethnography of a Mexican Family
Regnar Kristensen and Claudia Adeath Villamil
Vol. 8, ETHNOGRAPHY, THEORY, EXPERIMENT
The Children of Gregoria portrays a struggling Mexico, told through the story of the Rosales family. The people entrenched in the violent communities that the Rosales belong to have been discussed, condemned, analyzed, joked about and cheered, but rarely have they been seriously listened to. This book highlights their voices and allows them to tell their own stories in an accessible, literary manner without prejudice, persecution or judgment.
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See also: On Dogme Ethnography
Archaeology / Heritage Studies
CULTURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
A Collaborative Primer for Archaeologists
Edited by Thomas F. King
Stressing the interdisciplinary, public-policy oriented character of Cultural Resource Management (CRM), which is not merely “applied archaeology,” this short, relatively uncomplicated introduction is aimed at emerging archaeologists. Drawing on fifty-plus years’ experience, and augmented by the advice of fourteen collaborators, Cultural Resource Management explains what “CRM archaeologists” do, and explores the public policy, ethical, and pragmatic implications of doing it for a living.
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See also: Meet the Editor: Thomas F. King
History
NOT EVEN PAST
How the United States Ends Wars
Edited by David Fitzgerald, David Ryan, and John M. Thompson
Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan: Taken together, these conflicts are the key to understanding more than a half century of American military history. In addition, they have shaped, in profound ways, the culture and politics of the United States—as well as the nations in which they have been fought. This volume brings together international experts on American history and foreign affairs to assess the cumulative impact of the United States’ often halting and conflicted attempts to end wars. It offers essential perspectives on the Cold War and post-9/11 eras and explores the troubling implications of the American tendency to fight wars without end.
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BEYOND POSTHUMANISM
The German Humanist Tradition and the Future of the Humanities
Alexander Mathäs
Vol. 22, SPEKTRUM: PUBLICATIONS OF THE GERMAN STUDIES ASSOCIATION
Kant, Goethe, Schiller and other eighteenth-century German intellectuals loom large in the history of the humanities—both in terms of their individual achievements and their collective embodiment of the values that inform modern humanistic inquiry. Taking full account of the manifold challenges that the humanities face today, this volume recasts the question of their viability by tracing their long-disputed premises in German literature and philosophy. Through insightful analyses of key texts, Alexander Mathäs mounts a broad defense of the humanistic tradition, emphasizing its pursuit of a universal ethics and ability to render human experiences comprehensible through literary imagination.
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COLONIAL SEEDS IN AFRICAN SOIL
A Critical History of Forest Conservation in Sierra Leone
Paul Munro
Vol. 18, ENVIRONMENT IN HISTORY: INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVES
“Empire forestry”—the broadly shared forest management practice that emerged in the West in the nineteenth century—may have originated in Europe, but it would eventually reshape the landscapes of colonies around the world. Melding the approaches of environmental history and political ecology, Colonial Seeds in African Soil unravels the complex ways this dynamic played out in twentieth-century colonial Sierra Leone. While giving careful attention to topics such as forest reservation and exploitation, the volume moves beyond conservation practices and discourses, attending to the overlapping social, economic, and political contexts that have shaped approaches to forest management over time.
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RETHINKING THE AGE OF EMANCIPATION
Comparative and Transnational Perspectives on Gender, Family, and Religion in Italy and Germany, 1800–1918
Edited by Martin Baumeister, Philipp Lenhard, and Ruth Nattermann
Since the end of the nineteenth century, traditional historiography has emphasized the similarities between Italy and Germany as “late nations”, including the parallel roles of “great men” such as Bismarck and Cavour. Rethinking the Age of Emancipation aims at a critical reassessment of the development of these two “late” nations from a new and transnational perspective. Essays by an international and interdisciplinary group of scholars examine the discursive relationships among nationalism, war, and emancipation as well as the ambiguous roles of historical protagonists with competing national, political, and religious loyalties.
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EMPTY SIGNS, HISTORICAL IMAGINARIES
The Entangled Nationalization of Names and Naming in a Late Habsburg Borderland
Ágoston Berecz
Vol. 27, AUSTRIAN AND HABSBURG STUDIES
Set in a multiethnic region of the nineteenth-century Habsburg Empire, this thoroughly interdisciplinary study maps out how the competing Romanian, Hungarian and German nationalization projects dealt with proper names. With particular attention to their function as symbols of national histories, Berecz makes a case for names as ideal guides for understanding historical imaginaries and how they operate socially. In tracing the changing fortunes of nationalization movements and the ways in which their efforts were received by mass constituencies, he provides an innovative and compelling account of the historical utilization, manipulation, and contestation of names.
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POSTWAR SOLDIERS
Historical Controversies and West German Democratization, 1945–1955
Jörg Echternkamp
Translated from the German by Noah Harley
Vol. 39, MAKING SENSE OF HISTORY
Review for the German Edition: “Jörg Echternkamp’s convincing study fulfills its promise of methodologically complex differentiation… This differentiated view of the historical “gaps” and ambiguities offers ways to understand the German victims of the war as well as the (German) perpetrators…To this end, Echternkamp’s interpretation of the history of war and the military produces an important contribution.” • H-Soz-Kult
Contemporary historians have transformed our understanding of the German military in World War II, debunking the “clean Wehrmacht” myth that held most soldiers innocent of wartime atrocities. Considerably less attention has been paid to those soldiers at the end of hostilities. In Postwar Soldiers, Jörg Echternkamp analyzes three themes in the early history of West Germany: interpretations of the war during its conclusion and the occupation period; military veteran communities’ self-perceptions; and the public rehabilitation of the image of the German soldier. As Echternkamp shows, public controversies around these topics helped to drive the social processes that legitimized the democratic postwar order.
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FRIENDSHIP WITHOUT BORDERS
Women’s Stories of Power, Politics, and Everyday Life across East and West Germany
Phil Leask
Across half a century, from the division of Germany through the end of the Cold War, a cohort of thirty women from the small German town of Schönebeck in what used to be the GDR circulated among themselves a remarkable collective archive of their lives: a Rundbrief, or bulletin, containing hundreds of letters and photographs. This book draws on that unprecedented resource, complemented by a set of interviews, to paint a rich portrait of “ordinary” life in postwar Germany. It shows how these women—whether reflecting on their experiences as Nazi-era schoolchildren or witnessing reunification—were united by their complex interactions with official power and their commitment to sustaining a shared German identity as they made the most of their everyday lives in both the GDR and the Federal Republic.
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Memory Studies
VELVET RETRO
Postsocialist Nostalgia and the Politics of Heroism in Czech Popular Culture
Veronika Pehe
Vol. 2, WORLDS OF MEMORY
Scholars of state socialism have frequently invoked “nostalgia” to identify an uncritical longing for the utopian ambitions and lived experience of the former Eastern Bloc. However, this concept seems insufficient to describe memory cultures in the Czech Republic and other contexts in which a “retro” fascination with the past has proven compatible with a steadfast critique of the state socialist era. This innovative study locates a distinctively retro aesthetic in Czech literature, film, and other cultural forms, enriching our understanding of not only the nation’s memory culture, but also the ways in which popular culture can structure collective memory.
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Mobility Studies
A U-TURN TO THE FUTURE
Sustainable Urban Mobility since 1850
Edited by Martin Emanuel, Frank Schipper, and Ruth Oldenziel
Vol. 4, EXPLORATIONS IN MOBILITY
From local bike-sharing initiatives to overhauls of transport infrastructure, mobility is one of the most important areas in which modern cities are trying to realize a more sustainable future. Yet even as politicians and planners look ahead, there remain critical insights to be gleaned from the history of urban mobility and the unsustainable practices that still impact our everyday lives. United by their pursuit of a “usable past,” the studies in this interdisciplinary collection consider the ecological, social, and economic aspects of urban mobility, showing how historical inquiry can make both conceptual and practical contributions to the projects of sustainability and urban renewal.
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New in Paperback
BURGUNDY
The Global Story of Terroir
Marion Demossier
Vol. 43, NEW DIRECTIONS IN ANTHROPOLOGY
“Apart from those interested in the academic aspects of food and wine, this book would be beneficial to non-academics looking to learn more about the complexities of the wine world. Overall, through her rich account and transnational approach including over two decades of fieldwork, Demossier’s landmark work Burgundy further legitimizes wine as a topic of academic interest and is sure to captivate oenophiles and food scholars alike.” • Graduate Association of Food Studies
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SHADOWLANDS
Memory and History in Post-Soviet Estonia
Meike Wulf
“…a fascinating ride through Estonian post-war intellectual and cultural history, told through the personal narratives of historians of different age cohorts.” • Slavic Review
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VIKTOR FRANKL’S SEARCH FOR MEANING
An Emblematic 20th-Century Life
Timothy Pytell
Vol. 23, MAKING SENSE OF HISTORY
“As an introduction to Frankl’s ideas and their relationship to broader mid-twentieth-century intellectual currents, Pytell’s biography is an important contribution to the literature on Frankl and the contorted circumstances of his life.” • American Historical Review
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See also: Viktor Frankl: 75 years after the liberation of Auschwitz
ESCAPE FROM HELL
The True Story of the Auschwitz Protocol
Alfred Wetzler
Translated by Ewald Osers
Edited by Peter Varnai
Foreword by Sir Martin Gilbert
Introduction by Robert Rozett
“…a compelling read; a real thriller. It provides very vivid descriptions of daily life in the camp and recounts in details the miraculous escape and the escapees’ subsequent struggle to convince the unbelieving world of the happenings in Auschwitz-Birkenau.” • British Czech and Slovak Review
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OWNERSHIP AND NURTURE
Studies in Native Amazonian Property Relations
Edited by Marc Brightman, Carlos Fausto, and Vanessa Grotti
Foreword by James Leach
“It is rare that a book comes along that manages to sum up an entire field while pointing provocatively in new directions. Ownership and Nurture is such a volume, and the feat is all the more impressive since it is an edited collection. The introduction alone is worth the price of purchase, but the nine case studies that follow are delightful in their engrossing details, theoretical sophistication, and broad coverage of indigenous Amazonia’s diversity.” • Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute (JRAI)
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Read Chapter 2: First Contacts, Slavery and Kinship in Northeastern Amazonia
UNDERSTANDING CONFLICTS ABOUT WILDLIFE
A Biosocial Approach
Edited by Catherine M. Hill, Amanda D. Webber and Nancy E. C. Priston
Vol. 8, STUDIES OF THE BIOSOCIAL SOCIETY
“All the chapters in this book have much to offer… I found this book to be inspiring and informative and a very welcome addition to the fascinating, complex and diverse ways people interact with wildlife.” • The Primate Eye
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RECLAIMING THE FOREST
The Ewenki Reindeer Herders of Aoluguya
Edited by Åshild Kolås and Yuanyuan Xie
Foreword by F. Georg Heyne
“This edited volume is the first book-length, English-language publication devoted to [the Ewenki] and makes a very welcome addition to the growing ethnographic literature on northern Asia’s indigenous peoples… The book strikes an elegant balance between history, contemporary social commentary, and original narratives by members of the Ewenki community… This valuable contribution is ideal for acquainting the broader world with one of China’s least-known minority groups, for anthropologists and social historians as well as readers hoping to learn something new about Asia’s modern pastoral peoples. Highly recommended.” • Choice
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LIFE AS A HUNT
Thresholds of Identities and Illusions on an African Landscape
Stuart A. Marks
“Few academic books display such depth as does this one, but then few anthropologists devote over five decades to the same communities and issues. Anthropologist Marks first worked among Zambia’s Valley Bisa people in 1966, returning frequently for further research. The result is a masterwork of description, interpretation, and self-reflection.” • Choice
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ENGAGING WITH STRANGERS
Love and Violence in the Rural Solomon Islands
Debra McDougall
Vol. 6, ASAO STUDIES IN PACIFIC ANTHROPOLOGY
“…a remarkable contribution to Solomon Islands studies. The book is significant for furthering our understanding on issues of ethnicity, hospitality, land tenure, conflict and conflict management… I find the personal experiences of the author throughout the book captivating, and helpfully illustrative when discussing complex themes. The accessibility of McDougall’s prose makes for an easy read, especially for non-native speakers of English. A book of this quality is a valuable addition to the historical and anthropological narrative of a country so small yet so complex in its socio-cultural, political and economic composition.” • The Journal of Pacific History
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ECOLOGICAL MIGRANTS
The Relocation of China’s Ewenki Reindeer Herders
Yuanyuan Xie
Foreword by Ping Hao
“This landmark study of a community of sedentarized Ewenki reindeer herders living in Inner Mongolia… is at once deeply sympathetic and penetratingly astute from a scholarly point of view. Rich in detail about the group’s tumultuous historical experiences over the past century, the narrative weaves together multiple threads from traditional Ewenki forest culture with the challenges posed by adaptation to settled life. This book will doubtless capture the interest of both anthropologists and social historians, as the need to scientifically evaluate the effects of analogous ecological migrations in other areas of the globe becomes more urgent…Highly recommended.” • Choice
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TO THE BOMB AND BACK
Finnish War Children Tell Their World War II Stories
Edited by Sue Saffle
Foreword by Kai Rosnell
“…a fine collection… The book is affecting, to be read a little at a time. You won’t forget it afterwards.” · Finnish American Cultural Activities
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STREET VENDING IN THE NEOLIBERAL CITY
A Global Perspective on the Practices and Policies of a Marginalized Economy
Edited by Kristina Graaff and Noa Ha
“The relevance and uniqueness of Graff and Ha’s edited volume makes it a must read for anyone interested in the complex intersections of social dimensions and phenomena in the study of cities from a global perspective.” • Urbanities. Journal of Urban Ethnography
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