“As disasters are increasing in number and intensity, so too will be the need for reconstruction…”
So reads a line from the blurb of Making Things Happen, Jane Murphy Thomas’ account of post-earthquake reconstruction in Pakistan. And, sadly, how prescient it was, for her book was published just weeks before the same nation experienced a new disaster, the terrible flooding that left more than 10% of it underwater.
Here we have gathered our most recent volumes on the subject of disaster in its many awful forms (earthquakes, typhoons, tsunamis, nuclear accidents, chemical spills, and more), and on our approaches to risk management, and the many challenges of post-disaster reconstruction.
September 6th marks National Read a Book Day in the United States with International Literacy Day following closely on September 8th. To celebrate, we want to share what the Berghahn staff is currently reading and a scholarly reading from Berghahn Books we recommend for you.
JANE MURPHY THOMAS is an independent consultant, practitioner, project manager and social anthropologist in projects for UN agencies, NGOs, governments, donor agencies, and consulting firms, specializing in anthropological approaches and community participation in conflict and disaster-prone locations. Her book, Making Things Happen: Community Participation and Disaster Reconstruction in Pakistan was published in July in hardback and Open Access ebook editions. Following the interview are photographs, some never before published, illustrating steps in the reconstruction process.
In the 1993, May 15 was declared as International Day of Families by the United Nations to provide awareness of family related issues and to increase the knowledge of the social, economic and demographic processes affecting families. This year’s theme is Demographic Trends and Families.
In recognition of the day, Berghahn is pleased to highlight family related books and journal articles.
Celebrated April 22nd, Earth Day marks the anniversary of what many consider the birth of the modern environmental movement in 1970. Earth Day 1970 capitalized on the emerging consciousness, channeling the energy of the anti-war protest movement and putting environmental concerns front and center. For this year’s theme and more information visit www.earthday.org.
In joining the celebration, Berghahn Books is pleased to offer a selection of our Open Access titles on Environmental Studies. Berghahn Journals is also offering full access to Nature and Culture and the back issues of our two open access journals, Environment and Society & Regions and Cohesion, until May 6, 2024. See below for details.
Storytelling is always an entertaining and lively theme, but it’s surprisingly elusive to come to grips with conceptually. This is especially the case when pairing storytelling with other great warhorses of social theory like art, materiality, and memory, which often require fine-grained interdisciplinary detail to bring them fully to light. Factor in the study of China from ancient times to the present day – with an expansive focus that includes not only the Han ethnic majority, but also China’s ethnic minorities, the strange, and the Other – and you have the makings of a rather epic volume on one of the oldest and richest civilizations in the world. Crafting Chinese Memories sets out to do all of this through original essays on Chinese art, film, historiography, literature, socialism, imagination, fantasy, race, colonialism, statelessness, personal memoirs, elite inner circles, legends, ethnography, mimesis, and gestures to what counts as ‘memorable’. Wearing multiple disciplinary hats at once, each of the volume’s contributors explores personal, social, and cultural memories in and of China. Their contributions reveal the myriad mise-en-abyme (or ‘stories within a story’) that unfold through the memory works of artists, filmmakers, novelists, life writers, civil servants, and indigenous storytellers. Readers are invited to treat themselves to this enthralling panorama of memory-making that unfolds within and beyond China’s borders.
International Dance Day (April 29) was introduced in 1982 by the International Dance Council (CID, Conseil International de la Danse), a UNESCO partner NGO. The main purpose of this day is to celebrate dance, revel in the universality of this art form, cross all political, cultural and ethnic barriers, and bring people together with a common language – dance. For more information please visit the official site.
The United Nations’ International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples is observed on August 9 each year to honor the estimated 370 million indigenous people around the world. The day was established to recognize the first meeting of the United Nations Working Group on Indigenous Populations held in Geneva in 1982.
This year’s theme is indigenous languages. While indigenous people speak the majority of the world’s estimated 7,000 languages, the UN estimates that every two weeks an indigenous language disappears, threatening the survival of the respective cultures and knowledge systems. This day’s goal is to “draw attention to the critical loss of indigenous language and the urgent need to preserve, revitalize, and promote them at both national and international levels.”
For more information, please visit UN.org or keep reading to view our featured titles.
In recognition, Berghahn Journals is offering full access to Sibirica until August 16. To access, use promo code IDP19. View redemption instructions.
We’re delighted to offer a selection of latest releases from our core subjects of Anthropology, Cultural Studies, History, and Theory & Methodology in Anthropology, along with our new in paperback titles and new Berghahn Journal issues published in May.
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