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Tradition helps to ensure continuity and stability in human affairs, signifying both the handing down of cultural heritage from one generation to the next, and the particular customs, beliefs and rituals being handed down. In the social sciences, tradition has been a central concept from the very start. Yet - to update the old quip about nostalgia - tradition is not what it used to be. Twenty years ago, Eric Hobsbawm and Terence Ranger showed in "The Invention of Tradition" how new governments acquire legitimacy and status by creating 'traditional' ceremonies and identities.Their wor

Experiments in Holism : Theory and Practice in Contemporary Anthropology presents a series of essays from leading anthropologists that critically reexamine the relevance of holism as a foundational tenet of anthropology, and its theoretical and methodological potential in today's world.: Represents the first volume to consider the modern role of holism as a central anthropological concern across a wide range of anthropological traditions; Critically examines the past and present predicament of holism and its potential for the renewal of future practice

Front Matter; Contents; 1. Warfare and Society: Archaeological and Social Anthropological Perspectives; Warfare and Society. Conceptions of Warfare in Western Thought and Research; Warfare and pre-State Societies; Warfare and the State; Warfare, Rituals, and Mass Graves; Warfare, Discourse, and Identity; Warfare, Weaponry, and Material Culture; Index. - This book deals with the interrelationship between society and war seen through the analytical eyes of anthropologists and archaeologists. War is a ghastly thing, which unfortunately thrives almost everywhere in the world today. We need, therefore, to have a better understanding of what war does to people and their societies. War produces change, and archaeologists and anthropologists are analytically equipped to pinpoint its direction, patterning, scale and content. The perspective - and filter - of time provides one important tool, while context and comparison provide other tools. Looking at

While it may be overkill to say that studying war is hell, it is certainly problematic. To participants, war is chaos, death and boredom and hence incommunicable. To scholars who do not know the smell of gunpowder, war is mediated by silent artefacts and layered discourse. They must muster compassion without letting it distort analysis. And despite entrenched traditions to the contrary, war cannot be comprehended in isolation from society.

To better understand the complex relationships between war and society, the two dozen contributors to this volume employ a broad variety of archaeological and anthropological tools, drawing where appropriate on history, political science and philosophy. The chapters are grouped under several heads, each prefaced by a helpful introduction. Topics include the theoretical conceptions of war in various disciplines; war in pre-state societies, and its relation to state formation; ritual war and mass graves; ancient weaponry and material culture; and warfare, discourse and identity. The examples range from ancient Fiji to contemporary Croatia, and from Gilgamesh to The Terminator.

The conundrum of war resists solution. But with a generous mix of theoretical argument and dramatic case study, Warfare and Society has something for anyone, academic or amateur, who would wrestle with it.