Suchergebnisse

The book under review is an important collection of essays on anthropological traditions in Europe. The subject of "European Anthropologies" has been on the agenda at least since the special issue of Ethnos on "The Shaping of National Anthropologies" (1982) and Ulf Hannerz and Tomas Gerholm's introductory article. It but gained new urgency since the Fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the rise of neoliberalism and global capitalism. Long in the making, but well worth the wait, the book is based on conferences held in Paris (2007) and Madrid (2008), aimed at reviewing "Anthropology in Europe" - defined as both "sociocultural anthropology and ethnology." Under the broad rubric of "facing the challenges of European convergence in higher education and research," the book brings together eleven chapters on anthropology and ethnology in Portugal, Germany, Russia, Italy, France, Finland, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Croatia, and Greece.

This paper deals with the transdisciplinary research area of border studies,
in the context of ethnological and anthropological research in Southeast
Europe. Border studies have expanded in the last three decades due to
paradigmatic and sociopolitical shifts, with visible transfer of focus
towards the issues of ?diffusion? of border practices and discourses
sometimes termed as b/ordering. Europe and the Balkans experienced
contradictory processes of parallel relaxation and abolishing of certain
borders, while others are being tightened and established, which is also
interpreted anthropologically. Once thought of as specific, Balkans
(re)bordering of the 1990s found its b/ordering descendants in the last 20
years throughout Europe and the general rise of border thinking. Besides the
traditional approach focusing on liminal and borderlands communities,
anthropology in Southeast Europe has also started to investigate not only
local communities, but also so-called mobile communities. Anthropology also
possesses methodological capacity to discern b/ordering practices and
discourses stemming from spatial borders which are not solely induced by the
nation-state, and to grasp not only spatial, but also temporal aspects of
b/ordering. By combining the ethnographic method, local focus and by
primarily researching permanent or contemporary communities defined by the
borders and b/ordering, ethnology and anthropology in this part of Europe
can substantially contribute to the border studies.

"The book offers a critical overview of Croatian ethnology written by the most prominent Croatian ethnologist/ anthropologist in the second half of the 20th century - Dunja Rihtman-Augustin (recently deceased). She was the first Croatian ethnologist to break with the long established tradition of diffusionist (culture area) studies of her contemporaries and start to anthropologize Croatian ethnology. This book, compiled and completed by Jasna Capo Zmegac, highlights some crucial remarks with regard to the relationship between ethnology and politics. They are formulated as a series of research questions and problems, including: the role of folk culture as mythomoteur, cannonization of the folk culture, nationalization of the peasants in the 19th century and the role of ethnology. This vividly written text offers an exceptional insight into Croatian ethnological developments in the past century, as well as into crucial ruptures in Croatian society which have had important repercussions on ethnological discipline."--Provided by publisher

Resources and Population: A Study of the Gurungs of Nepal. Alan MacFarlane.Spirit Possession in the Nepal Himalayas. John T. Hitchcock and Rex L. Jones, eds.The Gurungs of Nepal: Conflict and Change in a Village Society. Donald A. Messerschmidt.

Indian Life on the Northwest Coast of North America: As Seen by the Early Explorers and Fur Traders during the Last Decades of the Eighteenth Century. Erna GuntherThe Northwest Coast: Or, Three Years' Residence in Washington Territory. James G. Swan. Introduction by Norman H. Clark