Author: Sada Mire
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429769245
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 327
Book Description
This book uniquely explores the impact of indigenous ideology and thought on everyday life in Northeast Africa. Furthermore, in highlighting the diversity in pre-Christian, pre-Islamic regional beliefs and practices that extend beyond the simplistic political arguments of the current dominant narratives, the study shows that for millennia complex indigenous institutions have bound people together beyond the labels of Christianity and Islam; they have sustained peace through cultural exchange and tolerance (if not always complete acceptance). Through recent archaeological and ethnographic research, the concepts, landscapes, materials and rituals believed to be associated with the indigenous and shared culture of the Sky-God belief are examined. The author makes sense, for the first time, of the relationship between the notion of sacred fertility and a number of regional archaeological features and on-going ancient practices including FGM, spirit possessions, and other physically invasive practices and the ritual hunt. The book explores one of the most important pilgrimage centres in Somaliland and Somalia, the sacred landscape of Saint Aw-Barkhadle, founded ca. 12th century AD. It is believed to be the burial place of the rulers of the first Muslim Ifat and Awdal dynasties in this region, and potentially the lost first capital of Awdal kingdom before Harar. This ritual centre is seen as a ‘microcosm’ of the ancient Horn of Africa with its exceptional multi-religious heritage, through which the author lays out a locally appropriate archaeological interpretational framework, the "Ritual Set," also applied here to the Ethiopian sites of Tiya, Sheikh Hussein Bale, Aksum and Lalibela, setting these places against a wider historical background of indigenous Sky-God belief. This archaeological study of sacred landscapes, stelae traditions, ancient Christian and medieval Muslim centres of Northeast Africa is the first to put forward a theoretical and analytical framework for the interpretation of the shared regional heritage and the indigenous archaeology of the region. It will be invaluable to archaeologists, anthropologists, historians and policymakers interested in Africa and beyond.
Divine Fertility
Author: Sada Mire
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429769245
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 327
Book Description
This book uniquely explores the impact of indigenous ideology and thought on everyday life in Northeast Africa. Furthermore, in highlighting the diversity in pre-Christian, pre-Islamic regional beliefs and practices that extend beyond the simplistic political arguments of the current dominant narratives, the study shows that for millennia complex indigenous institutions have bound people together beyond the labels of Christianity and Islam; they have sustained peace through cultural exchange and tolerance (if not always complete acceptance). Through recent archaeological and ethnographic research, the concepts, landscapes, materials and rituals believed to be associated with the indigenous and shared culture of the Sky-God belief are examined. The author makes sense, for the first time, of the relationship between the notion of sacred fertility and a number of regional archaeological features and on-going ancient practices including FGM, spirit possessions, and other physically invasive practices and the ritual hunt. The book explores one of the most important pilgrimage centres in Somaliland and Somalia, the sacred landscape of Saint Aw-Barkhadle, founded ca. 12th century AD. It is believed to be the burial place of the rulers of the first Muslim Ifat and Awdal dynasties in this region, and potentially the lost first capital of Awdal kingdom before Harar. This ritual centre is seen as a ‘microcosm’ of the ancient Horn of Africa with its exceptional multi-religious heritage, through which the author lays out a locally appropriate archaeological interpretational framework, the "Ritual Set," also applied here to the Ethiopian sites of Tiya, Sheikh Hussein Bale, Aksum and Lalibela, setting these places against a wider historical background of indigenous Sky-God belief. This archaeological study of sacred landscapes, stelae traditions, ancient Christian and medieval Muslim centres of Northeast Africa is the first to put forward a theoretical and analytical framework for the interpretation of the shared regional heritage and the indigenous archaeology of the region. It will be invaluable to archaeologists, anthropologists, historians and policymakers interested in Africa and beyond.
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429769245
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 327
Book Description
This book uniquely explores the impact of indigenous ideology and thought on everyday life in Northeast Africa. Furthermore, in highlighting the diversity in pre-Christian, pre-Islamic regional beliefs and practices that extend beyond the simplistic political arguments of the current dominant narratives, the study shows that for millennia complex indigenous institutions have bound people together beyond the labels of Christianity and Islam; they have sustained peace through cultural exchange and tolerance (if not always complete acceptance). Through recent archaeological and ethnographic research, the concepts, landscapes, materials and rituals believed to be associated with the indigenous and shared culture of the Sky-God belief are examined. The author makes sense, for the first time, of the relationship between the notion of sacred fertility and a number of regional archaeological features and on-going ancient practices including FGM, spirit possessions, and other physically invasive practices and the ritual hunt. The book explores one of the most important pilgrimage centres in Somaliland and Somalia, the sacred landscape of Saint Aw-Barkhadle, founded ca. 12th century AD. It is believed to be the burial place of the rulers of the first Muslim Ifat and Awdal dynasties in this region, and potentially the lost first capital of Awdal kingdom before Harar. This ritual centre is seen as a ‘microcosm’ of the ancient Horn of Africa with its exceptional multi-religious heritage, through which the author lays out a locally appropriate archaeological interpretational framework, the "Ritual Set," also applied here to the Ethiopian sites of Tiya, Sheikh Hussein Bale, Aksum and Lalibela, setting these places against a wider historical background of indigenous Sky-God belief. This archaeological study of sacred landscapes, stelae traditions, ancient Christian and medieval Muslim centres of Northeast Africa is the first to put forward a theoretical and analytical framework for the interpretation of the shared regional heritage and the indigenous archaeology of the region. It will be invaluable to archaeologists, anthropologists, historians and policymakers interested in Africa and beyond.
Property in Social Continuity
Author: Franz von Benda-Beckmann
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004287175
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 473
Book Description
This book deals with the property and inheritance system of the matrilineal Minangkabau of West Sumatra in the context of legal pluralism. The author proposes a new anthropological approach to law, property and inheritance. After the description of the Minangkabau socio-political organization and the development of legal and administrative pluralism, three chapters are devoted to property and inheritance proper. First the ideal legal systems are described. Then he illustrates how the Minangkabau actually handle their property and inheritance affairs, and how the various regulating mechanisms have changed through history. Finally the different agents creating and changing legal conceptions are treated in historical perspective. In his conclusions the author shows how the traditional system of common holding and distributing of property by matrilineal descent groups is slowly being undermined through an increasing monetarization and consequent individualization of property relationships which finds its expression in the form of new legislation. This development is reflected in the conceptual system where the formerly predominant diachronic dimension of property relationships is slowly abolished and where property rights are increasingly reified.
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004287175
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 473
Book Description
This book deals with the property and inheritance system of the matrilineal Minangkabau of West Sumatra in the context of legal pluralism. The author proposes a new anthropological approach to law, property and inheritance. After the description of the Minangkabau socio-political organization and the development of legal and administrative pluralism, three chapters are devoted to property and inheritance proper. First the ideal legal systems are described. Then he illustrates how the Minangkabau actually handle their property and inheritance affairs, and how the various regulating mechanisms have changed through history. Finally the different agents creating and changing legal conceptions are treated in historical perspective. In his conclusions the author shows how the traditional system of common holding and distributing of property by matrilineal descent groups is slowly being undermined through an increasing monetarization and consequent individualization of property relationships which finds its expression in the form of new legislation. This development is reflected in the conceptual system where the formerly predominant diachronic dimension of property relationships is slowly abolished and where property rights are increasingly reified.
Living Kinship in the Pacific
Author: Christina Toren
Publisher: Berghahn Books
ISBN: 1782385789
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 274
Book Description
Unaisi Nabobo-Baba observed that for the various peoples of the Pacific, kinship is generally understood as “knowledge that counts.” It is with this observation that this volume begins, and it continues with a straightforward objective to provide case studies of Pacific kinship. In doing so, contributors share an understanding of kinship as a lived and living dimension of contemporary human lives, in an area where deep historical links provide for close and useful comparison. The ethnographic focus is on transformation and continuity over time in Fiji, Tonga, and Samoa with the addition of three instructive cases from Tokelau, Papua New Guinea, and Taiwan. The book ends with an account of how kinship is constituted in day-to-day ritual and ritualized behavior.
Publisher: Berghahn Books
ISBN: 1782385789
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 274
Book Description
Unaisi Nabobo-Baba observed that for the various peoples of the Pacific, kinship is generally understood as “knowledge that counts.” It is with this observation that this volume begins, and it continues with a straightforward objective to provide case studies of Pacific kinship. In doing so, contributors share an understanding of kinship as a lived and living dimension of contemporary human lives, in an area where deep historical links provide for close and useful comparison. The ethnographic focus is on transformation and continuity over time in Fiji, Tonga, and Samoa with the addition of three instructive cases from Tokelau, Papua New Guinea, and Taiwan. The book ends with an account of how kinship is constituted in day-to-day ritual and ritualized behavior.
Kinship and Cohort in an Aging Society
Author: Merril Silverstein
Publisher: JHU Press
ISBN: 1421408945
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 368
Book Description
According to family sociologist Vern Bengtson, generations within families are important sources of influence, change, and development. Kinship and Cohort in an Aging Society brings together scholars whose common link is their intellectual intersection with the work of Vern Bengtson, an esteemed family sociologist whose accomplishments include foundational theoretical contributions to the study of families and intergenerational relations as well as the development of the widely used Longitudinal Study of Generations data set. The study began in 1971 and is the basis for Bengtson’s highly influential concept and measurement model, the intergenerational solidarity-conflict paradigm. This book serves as an excellent compendium of original research that examines how Bengtson’s solidarity model, a theory that informs nearly all intergenerational and gerontology sociology work performed today, continues to be relevant to scholars and practitioners. Written by internationally recognized scholars, the book’s fifteen chapters are mapped to five major thematic areas to which Bengtson’s research contributed: family connections; grandparents in a changing demographic landscape; generations and cohorts (micro-macro dialectics); religion and families in the context of continuity, change, and conflict; and global cross-national and cross-ethnic concerns. Key strengths of the book include the diversity of foci and data sources and the strong attention given to global and international issues. Kinship and Cohort in an Aging Society will appeal to scholars working in sociology, psychology, gerontology, family studies, and social work.
Publisher: JHU Press
ISBN: 1421408945
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 368
Book Description
According to family sociologist Vern Bengtson, generations within families are important sources of influence, change, and development. Kinship and Cohort in an Aging Society brings together scholars whose common link is their intellectual intersection with the work of Vern Bengtson, an esteemed family sociologist whose accomplishments include foundational theoretical contributions to the study of families and intergenerational relations as well as the development of the widely used Longitudinal Study of Generations data set. The study began in 1971 and is the basis for Bengtson’s highly influential concept and measurement model, the intergenerational solidarity-conflict paradigm. This book serves as an excellent compendium of original research that examines how Bengtson’s solidarity model, a theory that informs nearly all intergenerational and gerontology sociology work performed today, continues to be relevant to scholars and practitioners. Written by internationally recognized scholars, the book’s fifteen chapters are mapped to five major thematic areas to which Bengtson’s research contributed: family connections; grandparents in a changing demographic landscape; generations and cohorts (micro-macro dialectics); religion and families in the context of continuity, change, and conflict; and global cross-national and cross-ethnic concerns. Key strengths of the book include the diversity of foci and data sources and the strong attention given to global and international issues. Kinship and Cohort in an Aging Society will appeal to scholars working in sociology, psychology, gerontology, family studies, and social work.
Kinship and Culture
Author: Francis L. K. Hsu
Publisher: Transaction Publishers
ISBN: 0202367037
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 521
Book Description
At one time Francis L.K. Hsu put forth a hypothesis on kinship that proposed a functional relationship between particular kinship systems and behavior patterns in particular cultural contexts. The controversy provoked among cultural anthropologists by this hypothesis is reflected in this book, which points the way toward more fruitful investigations of kinship in cultural and psychological anthropology. Hsu's hypothesis offers an alternative to the study of kinship as a mathematical game and to the treatment of fragmentary aspects of child-rearing practices as major causal factors in culture. Considering the kinship system as the psychological factory of culture, Hsu's aim is to discover the crucial forces in each system that shape the interpersonal orientation of the individual, which forms the individual's basis for adequate functioning as a member of his society and which, in turn, provides his culture with a basis for continuity and change. His central hypothesis is that the attributes of the dominant dyads in a given kinship system (such as father-son or mother-daughter) tend to determine the attitudes and action patterns that the individual in such a system develops toward other relationships in that system as well as toward his relationships outside of it. The topics are varied, ranging from the link between dyadic dominance and household maintenance, to role dilemmas and father-son dominance, to sex-role identity and dominant kinship relationships. The editor has contributed an introduction, an original essay on kinship and patterns of social cohesion, and a summary chapter to bring coherence to the diversity of opinion stated. This new presentation of Hsu's hypothesis, together with its discussion by eminent anthropologists and its recommendations for future research in the area, is an important addition to the literature on kinship. Francis L.K. Hsu (1909-1999) was professor emeritus of anthropology at the University of San Francisco and before that chairman of the department of anthropology, Northwestern University. Concentrating mainly in two related areas, psychological anthropology and the comparative study of large civilizations, Hsu did fieldwork in China, Japan, India, and the United States. He was also president of the American Anthropological Association.
Publisher: Transaction Publishers
ISBN: 0202367037
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 521
Book Description
At one time Francis L.K. Hsu put forth a hypothesis on kinship that proposed a functional relationship between particular kinship systems and behavior patterns in particular cultural contexts. The controversy provoked among cultural anthropologists by this hypothesis is reflected in this book, which points the way toward more fruitful investigations of kinship in cultural and psychological anthropology. Hsu's hypothesis offers an alternative to the study of kinship as a mathematical game and to the treatment of fragmentary aspects of child-rearing practices as major causal factors in culture. Considering the kinship system as the psychological factory of culture, Hsu's aim is to discover the crucial forces in each system that shape the interpersonal orientation of the individual, which forms the individual's basis for adequate functioning as a member of his society and which, in turn, provides his culture with a basis for continuity and change. His central hypothesis is that the attributes of the dominant dyads in a given kinship system (such as father-son or mother-daughter) tend to determine the attitudes and action patterns that the individual in such a system develops toward other relationships in that system as well as toward his relationships outside of it. The topics are varied, ranging from the link between dyadic dominance and household maintenance, to role dilemmas and father-son dominance, to sex-role identity and dominant kinship relationships. The editor has contributed an introduction, an original essay on kinship and patterns of social cohesion, and a summary chapter to bring coherence to the diversity of opinion stated. This new presentation of Hsu's hypothesis, together with its discussion by eminent anthropologists and its recommendations for future research in the area, is an important addition to the literature on kinship. Francis L.K. Hsu (1909-1999) was professor emeritus of anthropology at the University of San Francisco and before that chairman of the department of anthropology, Northwestern University. Concentrating mainly in two related areas, psychological anthropology and the comparative study of large civilizations, Hsu did fieldwork in China, Japan, India, and the United States. He was also president of the American Anthropological Association.
Negotiating Risk
Author: Alison Shaw
Publisher: Berghahn Books
ISBN: 9781845455484
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 298
Book Description
Drawing on fieldwork with British Pakistani clients of a UK genetics service, this book explores the personal and social implications of a 'genetic diagnosis'. Through case material and comparative discussion, the book identifies practical ethical dilemmas raised by new genetic knowledge and shows how, while being shaped by culture, these issues also cross-cut differences of culture, religion and ethnicity. The book also demonstrates how identifying a population-level elevated 'risk' of genetic disorders in an ethnic minority population can reinforce existing social divisions and cultural stereotypes. The book addresses questions about the relationship between genetic risk and clinical practice that will be relevant to health workers and policy makers.
Publisher: Berghahn Books
ISBN: 9781845455484
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 298
Book Description
Drawing on fieldwork with British Pakistani clients of a UK genetics service, this book explores the personal and social implications of a 'genetic diagnosis'. Through case material and comparative discussion, the book identifies practical ethical dilemmas raised by new genetic knowledge and shows how, while being shaped by culture, these issues also cross-cut differences of culture, religion and ethnicity. The book also demonstrates how identifying a population-level elevated 'risk' of genetic disorders in an ethnic minority population can reinforce existing social divisions and cultural stereotypes. The book addresses questions about the relationship between genetic risk and clinical practice that will be relevant to health workers and policy makers.
Early Human Kinship
Author: Nicholas J. Allen
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1444338781
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 338
Book Description
Early Human Kinship brings together original studies from leading figures in the biological sciences, social anthropology, archaeology, and linguistics to provide a major breakthrough in the debate over human evolution and the nature of society. A major new collaboration between specialists across the range of the human sciences including evolutionary biology and psychology; social/cultural anthropology; archaeology and linguistics Provides a ground-breaking set of original studies offering a new perspective on early human history Debates fundamental questions about early human society: Was there a connection between the beginnings of language and the beginnings of organized 'kinship and marriage'? How far did evolutionary selection favor gender and generation as principles for regulating social relations? Sponsored by the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland in conjunction with the British Academy
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1444338781
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 338
Book Description
Early Human Kinship brings together original studies from leading figures in the biological sciences, social anthropology, archaeology, and linguistics to provide a major breakthrough in the debate over human evolution and the nature of society. A major new collaboration between specialists across the range of the human sciences including evolutionary biology and psychology; social/cultural anthropology; archaeology and linguistics Provides a ground-breaking set of original studies offering a new perspective on early human history Debates fundamental questions about early human society: Was there a connection between the beginnings of language and the beginnings of organized 'kinship and marriage'? How far did evolutionary selection favor gender and generation as principles for regulating social relations? Sponsored by the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland in conjunction with the British Academy
Caste and Kinship in Kangra
Author: Jonathan P. Parry
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136545921
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 384
Book Description
This study is a major addition to understanding the problems of social inequality and the nature of caste and kinship. A full account is given of the social structure of the region, emphasizing the continuity of principles, which govern relations between castes and relationships within castes. The ethnographic data bear in particular on: the nature of untouchability; models of caste ranking; the way in which 'traditional' family structures adapt to a diversification of the economy and the debate about the 'instability' of regimes of generalized exchange. Originally published in 1979.
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136545921
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 384
Book Description
This study is a major addition to understanding the problems of social inequality and the nature of caste and kinship. A full account is given of the social structure of the region, emphasizing the continuity of principles, which govern relations between castes and relationships within castes. The ethnographic data bear in particular on: the nature of untouchability; models of caste ranking; the way in which 'traditional' family structures adapt to a diversification of the economy and the debate about the 'instability' of regimes of generalized exchange. Originally published in 1979.
Producing Culture and Capital
Author: Sylvia Yanagisako
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691214220
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 241
Book Description
Producing Culture and Capital is a major theoretical contribution to the anthropological literature on capitalism, as well as a rich case study of kinship and gender relations in northern Italy. Drawing on ethnographic and archival research on thirty-eight firms in northern Italy's silk industry, Sylvia Yanagisako illuminates the cultural processes through which sentiments, desires, and commitments motivate and shape capitalist family firms. She shows how flexible specialization is produced through the cultural dynamics of capital accumulation, management succession, firm expansion and diversification, and the reproduction and division of firms. In doing so, Yanagisako addresses two gaps in Marx's and Weber's theories of capitalism: the absence of an adequate cultural theory of capitalist motivation and the absence of attention to kinship and gender. By demonstrating that kinship and gender are crucial in structuring capitalist action, this study reveals these two gaps to be different facets of the same omission. A process-oriented approach to class formation and class subjectivity enables the author to incorporate the material and ideological struggles within families into an analysis of class-making and self-making. Yanagisako concludes that both "provincial" and "global" capitalist orientations and strategies operate in an industry that has always been integrated into regional and international relations of production and distribution. Her approach to culture and capitalism as mutually constituted processes offers an alternative to both universal models of capitalism as a mode of production and essentialist models of distinctive "cultures of capitalism."
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691214220
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 241
Book Description
Producing Culture and Capital is a major theoretical contribution to the anthropological literature on capitalism, as well as a rich case study of kinship and gender relations in northern Italy. Drawing on ethnographic and archival research on thirty-eight firms in northern Italy's silk industry, Sylvia Yanagisako illuminates the cultural processes through which sentiments, desires, and commitments motivate and shape capitalist family firms. She shows how flexible specialization is produced through the cultural dynamics of capital accumulation, management succession, firm expansion and diversification, and the reproduction and division of firms. In doing so, Yanagisako addresses two gaps in Marx's and Weber's theories of capitalism: the absence of an adequate cultural theory of capitalist motivation and the absence of attention to kinship and gender. By demonstrating that kinship and gender are crucial in structuring capitalist action, this study reveals these two gaps to be different facets of the same omission. A process-oriented approach to class formation and class subjectivity enables the author to incorporate the material and ideological struggles within families into an analysis of class-making and self-making. Yanagisako concludes that both "provincial" and "global" capitalist orientations and strategies operate in an industry that has always been integrated into regional and international relations of production and distribution. Her approach to culture and capitalism as mutually constituted processes offers an alternative to both universal models of capitalism as a mode of production and essentialist models of distinctive "cultures of capitalism."
Kinship to Kingship
Author: Christine Ward Gailey
Publisher: University of Texas Press
ISBN: 0292733917
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 345
Book Description
Have women always been subordinated? If not, why and how did women’s subordination develop? Kinship to Kingship was the first book to examine in detail how and why gender relations become skewed when classes and the state emerge in a society. Using a Marxist-feminist approach, Christine Ward Gailey analyzes women’s status in one society over three hundred years, from a period when kinship relations organized property, work, distribution, consumption, and reproduction to a class-based state society. Although this study focuses on one group of islands, Tonga, in the South Pacific, the author discusses processes that can be seen through the neocolonial world. This ethnohistorical study argues that evolution from a kin-based society to one organized along class lines necessarily entails the subordination of women. And the opposite is also held to be true: state and class formation cannot be understood without analyzing gender and the status of women. Of interest to students of anthropology, political science, sociology, and women’s studies, this work is a major contribution to social history.
Publisher: University of Texas Press
ISBN: 0292733917
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 345
Book Description
Have women always been subordinated? If not, why and how did women’s subordination develop? Kinship to Kingship was the first book to examine in detail how and why gender relations become skewed when classes and the state emerge in a society. Using a Marxist-feminist approach, Christine Ward Gailey analyzes women’s status in one society over three hundred years, from a period when kinship relations organized property, work, distribution, consumption, and reproduction to a class-based state society. Although this study focuses on one group of islands, Tonga, in the South Pacific, the author discusses processes that can be seen through the neocolonial world. This ethnohistorical study argues that evolution from a kin-based society to one organized along class lines necessarily entails the subordination of women. And the opposite is also held to be true: state and class formation cannot be understood without analyzing gender and the status of women. Of interest to students of anthropology, political science, sociology, and women’s studies, this work is a major contribution to social history.