We’re delighted to offer a selection of latest releases from our core subjects of Anthropology, Development Studies, Medical Anthropology, Politics, Refugee & Migration Studies and Urban Studies, along with a selection of our New in Paperback titles.
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THE MERKEL REPUBLIC
An Appraisal
Edited by Eric Langenbacher
Chancellor Angela Merkel has dominated German and European politics for almost a decade. Her stellar reputation, sound political and economic management, and popularity inside of Germany resulted in one of the most decisive electoral victories for her conservative parties in postwar Germany—the country can rightfully be deemed the Merkel Republic. Bringing together German politics experts from both sides of the Atlantic, this volume addresses the campaign, results, and consequences of the 2013 Bundestag election. Chapters delve into a diverse array of themes, including immigrant-origin and women candidates, the fate of the small parties, and the prospects for the SPD, the new coalition partner, as well as more general structural trends like the Europeanization and cosmopolitanization of German politics.
Read Introduction: Merkel’s Nachsommermӓrchen?
DEVELOPMENTALITY
An Ethnography of the World Bank-Uganda Partnership
Jon Harald Sande Lie
Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork within the World Bank and a Ugandan ministry, this book critically examines how the new aid architecture recasts aid relations as a partnership. While intended to alter an asymmetrical relationship by fostering greater recipient participation and ownership, this book demonstrates how donors still seek to retain control through other indirect and informal means. The concept of developmentality shows how the World Bank’s ability to steer a client’s behavior is disguised by the underlying ideas of partnership, ownership, and participation, which come with other instruments through which the Bank manipulates the aid recipient into aligning with its own policies and practices.
IN THE ABSENCE OF THE GIFT
New Forms of Value and Personhood in a Papua New Guinea Community
Anders Emil Rasmussen
Volume 5, Pacific Perspectives: Studies of the European Society for Oceanists
By adopting ideas like “development,” members of a Papua New Guinean community find themselves continuously negotiating what can be expected of a relative or a community member. Nearly half the people born on the remote Mbuke Islands become teachers, businessmen, or bureaucrats in urban centers, while those who stay at home ask migrant relatives “What about me?” This detailed ethnography sheds light on remittance motivations and documents how terms like “community” can be useful in places otherwise permeated by kinship. As the state withdraws, Mbuke people explore what social ends might be reached through involvement with the cash economy.
EUROPEAN PRODUCTS
Making and Unmaking Heritage in Cyprus
Gisela Welz
On the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, rural villages, traditional artefacts, even atmospheres and experiences are considered heritage. Heritage making not only protects, but also produces, things, people, and places. Since the Republic of Cyprus joined the European Union in 2004, heritage making and Europeanization are increasingly intertwined in Greek-Cypriot society. Against the backdrop of a long-term ethnographic engagement, the author argues that heritage emerges as an increasingly standardized economic resource, a “European product.” Implemented in historic preservation, rural tourism, culinary traditions, nature protection, and urban restoration projects, heritage policy has become infused with transnational market regulations and neoliberal property regimes.
THE LIVING ANCESTORS
Shamanism, Cosmos and Cultural Change among the Yanomami of the Upper Orinoco
Zeljko Jokic
This phenomenologically oriented ethnography focuses on experiential aspects of Yanomami shamanism, including shamanistic activities in the context of cultural change. The author interweaves ethnographic material with theoretical components of a holographic principle, or the idea that the “part is equal to the whole,” which is embedded in the nature of the Yanomami macrocosm, human dwelling, multiple-soul components, and shamans’ relationships with embodied spirit-helpers. This book fills an important gap in the regional study of Yanomami people, and, on a broader scale, enriches understanding of this ancient phenomenon by focusing on the consciousness involved in shamanism through firsthand experiential involvement.
WHERE ARE ALL OUR SHEEP?
Kyrgyzstan, A Global Political Arena
Boris Petric
Translated from the French by Cynthia Schoch
Volume 16, Dislocations
After the collapse of the USSR, Kyrgyzstan chose a path of economic and political liberalization. Only a few years later, however, the country ceased producing anything of worth and developed a dependence on the outside world, particularly on international aid. Its principal industry, sheep breeding, was decimated by reforms suggested by international institutions providing assistance. Virtually annihilated by privatization of the economy and deserted by Moscow, the Kyrgyz have turned this economic “opening up” into a subtle strategy to capture all manner of resources from abroad. In this study, the author describes the encounters, sometimes comical and tinged with incomprehension, between the local population and the well-meaning foreigners who came to reform them.
THE EVENT OF CHARLIE HEBDO
Imaginaries of Freedom and Control
Edited by Alessandro Zagato
Afterword by Bruce Kapferer
Volume 15, Critical Interventions: A Forum for Social Analysis
The January 2015 shooting at the headquarters of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris and the subsequent attacks that took place in the Île-de-France region were staggeringly violent events. They sparked an enormous discussion among citizens and intellectuals from around Europe and beyond. By analyzing the effects the attacks have had in various spheres of social life, including the political, ideology, collective imaginaries, the media, and education, this collection of essays aims to serve as a contribution as well as a critical response to that discussion. The volume observes that the events being attributed to Charlie Hebdo go beyond sensationalist reports of the mainstream media, transcend the spatial confines of nation states, and lend themselves to an ever-expanding number of mutating discursive formations.
Read Introduction: The Event of Charlie Hebdo – Imaginaries of Freedom and Control
ASSISTED REPRODUCTIVE TECHNOLOGIES IN THE THIRD PHASE
Global Encounters and Emerging Moral Worlds
Edited by Kate Hampshire and Bob Simpson
Volume 31, Fertility, Reproduction and Sexuality
Following the birth of the first “test-tube baby” in 1978, Assisted Reproductive Technologies became available to a small number of people in high-income countries able to afford the cost of private treatment, a period seen as the “First Phase” of ARTs. In the “Second Phase,” these treatments became increasingly available to cosmopolitan global elites. Today, this picture is changing — albeit slowly and unevenly — as ARTs are becoming more widely available. While, for many, accessing infertility treatments remains a dream, these are beginning to be viewed as a standard part of reproductive healthcare and family planning. This volume highlights this “Third Phase” — the opening up of ARTs to new constituencies in terms of ethnicity, geography, education, and class.
THE AGENDAS OF TIBETAN REFUGEES
Survival Strategies of a Government-in-Exile in a World of Transnational Organizations
Thomas Kauffmann
Volume 33, Forced Migration
Since the arrival of the first Tibetans in exile in 1959, a vast and continuous wave of international – especially Western – support has permitted these refugees to survive and even to flourish in their temporary places of residence. Today, these Tibetan refugees continue to attract assistance from Western governments, organizations and individuals, while other refugee populations are largely forgotten in the international agenda. This book shows and discusses how Tibetan refugees continue to attract resources, due, notably, to the dissemination of their political and religious agendas, as well as how a movement of Western supporters, born in very different conditions, guaranteed a unique relationship with these refugees.
NARRATING THE CITY
Histories, Space and the Everyday
Edited by Wladimir Fischer-Nebmaier, Matthew P. Berg, and Anastasia Christou
Volume 15, Space and Place
In recent decades, the insight that narration shapes our perception of reality has inspired and influenced the most innovative historical accounts. Focusing on new research, this volume explores the history of non-elite populations in cities from Caracas to Vienna, and Paris to Belgrade. Narration is central to the theme of each contribution, whether as a means of description, a methodological approach, or basic story telling. This book brings together research that both asks classical socio-historical questions and takes narration seriously, engaging with novels, films, local history accounts, petitions to municipal authorities, and interviews with alternative cinema activists.
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New in Paperback
ISRAELI IDENTITIES
Jews and Arabs Facing the Self and the Other
Yair Auron
“This is a very professional and empirical study on Israeli attitudes to both the Holocaust and the Naqba and their implications on the construction of present-day Israeli identities. The scholarship is sound and the methodology impressive.” · Ilan Pappé, author of A History of Modern Palestine. One Land, Two People.
RACE, COLOR, IDENTITY
Rethinking Discourses about ‘Jews’ in the Twenty-First Century
Edited by Efraim Sicher
Foreword by Sander L. Gilman
“An excellent text that will be a significant contribution to the study of Jews and race… The work approaches the topic from a variety of disciplines and geographic locations, and the breadth is in fact one of its greatest strengths.” · Rebecca Alpert, Temple University
THE HISTORY OF THE STASI
East Germany’s Secret Police, 1945-1990
Jens Gieseke
Translated from the German by David Burnett
“This is an excellent book, full of careful, balanced judgements and a wealth of concisely-communicated knowledge. It is also well written. Indeed, it is the best book yet published on the MfS…More than any other written on the MfS, his is a work of real scholarship which attempts a comprehensive history of the Ministry and its operations and assesses their development and significance.” · German History
BECOMING EAST GERMAN
Socialist Structures and Sensibilities after Hitler
Edited by Mary Fulbrook and Andrew I. Port
Volume 6, Spektrum: Publications of the German Studies Association
“Moving beyond debates concerning totalitarianism, the 12 authors analyze the characteristics of daily life in the GDR. As a result, the subjects of the essays are sometimes surprising–dieting habits, the battle against tuberculosis, and luxury dining, for example—which only adds to the collection’s contribution to the historiography of its subject… the authors succeed in their goal of moving beyond the gray exteriors and drab lives that are often associated with life in East Germany. This alone makes the book a valuable addition to the scholarly literature.” · Choice
UNITED GERMANY
Debating Processes and Prospects
Edited by Konrad Jarausch
“The individual essays are engaging to scholars of manifold disciplinary backgrounds, including political and intellectual history, economics, gender studies, critical theory, literary studies, and governmental policy, and because Jarausch brings these fields into dialogue within a single volume, readers from individual disciplinary backgrounds gain a more nuanced understanding of the interdisciplinary trends to have traversed German unification” · EDGE – A Graduate Journal for German and Scandinavian Studies
FRAGMENTED FATHERLAND
Immigration and Cold War Conflict in the Federal Republic of Germany, 1945-1980
Alexander Clarkson
Volume 34, Monographs in German History
“Drawing on a vast number of government records, including the national and local intelligence services as well as extensive press and secondary sources, Clarkson deftly and cogently analyzes the evolution of the FRG’s policies, from the conservative front line Cold War state of the 1950s that strongly supported anticommunist immigrants from Eastern Europe and the Balkans to a detente-seeking government in the late 1960s and 1970s that balanced the anti-colonial and anti-authoritarian movements within its borders with its core political and economic interests.” · Choice
PLACES OF PAIN
Forced Displacement, Popular Memory and Trans-local Identities in Bosnian War-torn Communities
Hariz Halilovich
Honorable Mention 2013 PROSE Awards, Archaeology and Anthropology section
Volume 10, Space and Place
“Halilovich’s book … powerfully highlights the translocal as the most critical aspect of the diasporic love, care, loyalty, and community. Furthermore, the author’s personal investment, respect, attention, and engagement with “his” people and places are truly admirable. The book should be of great interest to scholars interested in the studies of displacement, memory, and identity projects in postwar Bosnia and Herzegovina and beyond.” · American Ethnologist
BEDOUIN OF MOUNT SINAI
An Anthropological Study of their Political Economy
Emanuel Marx
“Marx’s analysis of their contacts with regional systems is fresh and original. Although a marginal people of miniscule numbers, their circumstances expose the inherent frailties of powerful states and regulated markets…the book features historical depth… at the same time, his arguments also recognize a rich legacy of sociological debate… Familiarity is not enough. Rather his book suggests that passionate study and long reflection – not to mention an intellectual gift – are further preconditions for understanding how representations arise from circumstance.” · Review of Middle East Studies
ISLAM AND ASSISTED REPRODUCTIVE TECHNOLOGIES
Sunni and Shia Perspectives
Edited by Marcia C. Inhorn and Soraya Tremayne
Volume 23, Fertility, Reproduction and Sexuality
“Readers looking for an overview of the different policies and perspectives on assisted reproductive technology (ART) will discover many interesting facets to these issues in the Middle East…Students of assisted reproductive technology in Europe and America will also find much to learn from in this book. The chapter that compares the Catholic hierarchy’s response to ART issues with those of Muslim leaders gives a fresh perspective to the longstanding debates… It is fascinating to read about another religious tradition, just as rich as Catholicism, being used creatively to respond to new situations unforeseen by earlier leaders.” · Conscience
UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL
On Peripheral Perspectives and the Production of Anthropological Knowledge
Edited by Cris Shore and Susanna Trnka
Volume 25, Methodology & History in Anthropology
“The book thus offers both unsettling and highlyvinspirational reading material, especially forvacademics emerging from the world’s metropolises. It raises issues that are frequently overlooked and which represent unavoidable starting points for those doing anthropology today in the Antipodes and elsewhere.” · Social Anthropology/Anthropologie sociale
DANCE CIRCLES
Movement, Morality and Self-fashioning in Urban Senegal
Hélène Neveu Kringelbach
WINNER OF THE 2013 AMAURY TALBOT PRIZE FOR AFRICAN ANTHROPOLOGY
2014 DE LA TORRE BUENO PRIZE SPECIAL CITATION FOR SCHOLARSHIP IN DANCE
Volume 5, Dance and Performance Studies
“Reading Hélène Neveu Kringelbach’s ethnography, Dance Circles, took me on one of the most intellectually stimulating journeys that I have ever experienced…[It] is excellent because the author destroys the enduring belief that dance is innate to Africans. Generous space is given to learning processes, questions of transmission, and performers’ reflective practice…Historians of dance will draw on innovative themes of inquiry in their field. Anthropologists will marvel at the dense ethnographic detail. This grounded ethnography indeed invites a careful reading. In other words, one does not leaf through this book, but must really read it.” · Africa
EMPIRE, GLOBAL COLONIALITY AND AFRICAN SUBJECTIVITY
Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni
“At its best, this book offers interesting intellectual fodder for reflection, particularly on the question of, as Ivan Karp once put it, does theory travel? To what extent is modernist or postmodernist thought a tool kit that can be applied to and reformulated in response to a variety of historical and cultural formations and to what extent must it be seen as a colonizing force in its own right?… The book also provides valuable insight into the historical processes by which Africans formed continental and national subjectivities, and particularly into the role of the struggles against colonial rule, as well as racism and other pathologizing discourses, as part of those processes.” · H-Diplo