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Introduction / Lidia Dina Sciama -- The Origins of Comic Performance in Adult-Child Interaction / Ian Wilkie and Matthew Saxton -- Learning from the Ludic : Anthropological Fieldwork / Judith Okely -- Humour as a Form of Cognition / Elisabeth Hsu -- Comic Strips and the Making of American Identity / Ian Rakoff -- Jokes without Frontiers, War without Tears : Humour, Stress and Power in an Anglo-German Bank Branch / Fiona Moore -- Laughing at the Future : Cross-Cultural Science Fiction Films / Dolores Martinez -- Male Dames and Female Boys : Cross Dressing in the English Pantomime / Shirley Ardener -- The Function of Satire in Italian Popular Song / Glauco Sanga -- Laughing at the Past among Venetian Islanders : Carlo Goldoni's Scuffles in Chioggia / Lidia Dina Sciama

Contrary to the negative assessments of the social order that have become prevalent in the media since 9/11, this wide-ranging collection of essays, mostly by social anthropologists, focuses instead on the enormous social creativity being invested as collective identities are reconfigured. Using fieldwork findings drawn from Africa, Asia, and Europe, special emphasis is placed on the reformulation of ethnic and gender relationships and identities in the cultural, social, political, and religious realms of public life. Under what circumstances does trust arise, paving the way for friendship, collegiality, knowledge creation, national unity, or emergence of leadership? How is social life constructed as a collective endeavour? Does the means towards sociability become its end? And what can be said about the agency and collegiality of women? The inspiration for examining these conundrums is the work and persona of Shirley Ardener, to whom the volume is dedicated. Contributors: Jonathan Benthall, Deborah Fahy Bryceson, Gina Buijs, Sandra Burman, Hilary Callan, Gaynor Cohen, Janette Davies, Tamara Dragadze, Ronnie Frankenberg, Peter Geschiere, Kirsten Hastrup, Paula Heinonen, Maria Jaschok, Grazyna Kubica, Rhian Loudon, Sharon Macdonald, Zdzislaw Mach, Fiona Moore, Judith Okely, Lidia D. Sciama, Shui Jingjun, Cecillie Swaisland, Jacqueline Waldren, Jonathan Webber