Anthropology, Archaeology and Religion (44)

How Divine Images Became Art: Essays on the Rediscovery, Study and Collecting of Medieval Icons in the Belle Époque - cover image
  • Anthropology, Archaeology and Religion
  • Visual Arts

How Divine Images Became Art: Essays on the Rediscovery, Study and Collecting of Medieval Icons in the Belle Époque

  • Oleg Tarasov
  • Stella Rock
How Divine Images Became Art tells the story of the parallel ‘discovery’ of Russian medieval art and of the Italian ‘primitives’ at the beginning of the twentieth century. While these two developments are well-known, they are usually studied in isolation. Tarasov’s study has the great merit of showing the connection between the art world in Russia and the West, and its impact in the cultural history of the continent in the pre-war period.
The Kingdom and the Qur’an: Translating the Holy Book of Islam in Saudi Arabia - cover image
  • Anthropology, Archaeology and Religion
  • History
  • Linguistics

The Kingdom and the Qur’an: Translating the Holy Book of Islam in Saudi Arabia

  • Mykhaylo Yakubovych
This book presents a detailed analysis of the translation of the Qur’an in Saudi Arabia, the most important global actor in the promotion, production and dissemination of Qur’an translations. Mykhaylo Yakubovych provides a comprehensive historical overview of the debates surrounding the translatability of the Qur'an, as well as exploring the impact of the burgeoning translation and dissemination of the holy book upon Wahhabi and Salafi interpretations of Islam. Backed by meticulous research and drawing on a wealth of sources, this work illuminates an essential facet of global Islamic culture and scholarly discourse.
The Standard Language Ideology of the Hebrew and Arabic Grammarians of the ʿAbbasid Period - cover image
  • Anthropology, Archaeology and Religion
  • Cambridge Semitic Languages and Cultures
  • Linguistics

The Standard Language Ideology of the Hebrew and Arabic Grammarians of the ʿAbbasid Period

  • Benjamin Paul Kantor
In the present book we survey six specific characteristics of a ‘standard language ideology’ that appear in both the writings of the Hebrew grammarians who wrote in Judeo-Arabic and the Arabic grammarians during the ʿAbbasid period. Such striking lines of linguistic-ideological similarity suggest that it may not have been only grammatical concepts or literary genres that the medieval Hebrew grammarians inherited from the Arabic grammatical tradition, but a way of thinking about language as well.
Shépa: The Tibetan Oral Tradition in Choné - cover image
  • Anthropology, Archaeology and Religion
  • Asian Studies
  • Folklore and Ethnology
  • Linguistics
  • Literature

Shépa: The Tibetan Oral Tradition in Choné

  • Bendi Tso
  • Marnyi Gyatso
  • Naljor Tsering
  • Mark Turin
  • Members of the Choné Tibetan Community
This book contains a unique collection of Tibetan oral narrations and songs known as Shépa, as these have been performed, recorded and shared between generations of Choné Tibetans from Amdo living in the eastern Tibetan Plateau. Presented in trilingual format — in Tibetan, Chinese and English — the book reflects a sustained collaboration with and between members of the local community, including narrators, monks, and scholars, calling attention to the diversity inherent in all oral traditions, and the mutability of Shépa in particular.
Folktales of Mayotte, an African Island - cover image
  • African Studies
  • Anthropology, Archaeology and Religion
  • Folklore and Ethnology
  • Literature
  • Other languages

Folktales of Mayotte, an African Island

  • Lee Haring
The book uncovers the versatility and literary skills of oral narrators in a small African island. Relying on the researches of three French ethnographers who interviewed storytellers in the 1970s-80s, Lee Haring shows a once-colonised people using verbal art to preserve ancient values in the postcolonial world, when the island of Mayotte was transforming itself from a neglected colony to an overseas department of France.
Play in a Covid Frame: Everyday Pandemic Creativity in a Time of Isolation - cover image
  • Anthropology, Archaeology and Religion
  • Economics, Politics and Sociology
  • Education

Play in a Covid Frame: Everyday Pandemic Creativity in a Time of Isolation

  • Anna Beresin
  • Julia Bishop
During the international coronavirus lockdowns of 2020–2021, millions of children, youth, and adults found their usual play areas out of bounds and their friends out of reach. How did the pandemic restrict everyday play and how did the pandemic offer new spaces and new content? This unique collection of essays documents the ways in which communities around the world harnessed play within the limiting frame of Covid-19.
Anthropology of Transformation: From Europe to Asia and Back - cover image
  • Anthropology, Archaeology and Religion
  • Economics, Politics and Sociology

Anthropology of Transformation: From Europe to Asia and Back

  • Juraj Buzalka
  • Agnieszka Pasieka
This collection of essays is the result of the joint efforts of colleagues and students of the leading social anthropology and post-socialism theorist, Professor Chris Hann. With the thirtieth anniversary of the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 2019 as their catalyst, the authors reflect upon Chris Hann’s lifelong fieldwork in the discipline, spanning regions as diverse as East Central Europe, Turkey, and the Chinese north-west.
The Official Indonesian Qurʾān Translation: The History and Politics of Al-Qur’an dan Terjemahnya - cover image
  • Anthropology, Archaeology and Religion

The Official Indonesian Qurʾān Translation: The History and Politics of Al-Qur’an dan Terjemahnya

  • Fadhli Lukman
This book studies the political and institutional project of Al-Qur’an dan Terjemahnya, the official translation of the Qurʾān into Indonesian by the Indonesian government. It investigates how the translation was produced and presented, and how it is read, as well as considering the implications of the state’s involvement in such a work.
The Classical Parthenon: Recovering the Strangeness of the Ancient World - cover image
  • Anthropology, Archaeology and Religion
  • History

The Classical Parthenon: Recovering the Strangeness of the Ancient World

  • William St Clair
Complementing Who Saved the Parthenon? this companion volume sets aside more recent narratives surrounding the Athenian Acropolis, supposedly ‘the very symbol of democracy itself’, instead asking if we can truly access an ancient past imputed with modern meaning. And, if so, how?
Who Saved the Parthenon?: A New History of the Acropolis Before, During and After the Greek Revolution - cover image
  • Anthropology, Archaeology and Religion
  • History
  • History: International Relations

Who Saved the Parthenon?: A New History of the Acropolis Before, During and After the Greek Revolution

  • William St Clair
In this magisterial book, William St Clair unfolds the history of the Parthenon throughout the modern era to the present day, with special emphasis on the period before, during, and after the Greek War of Independence of 1821–32.
Human Cultures through the Scientific Lens: Essays in Evolutionary Cognitive Anthropology - cover image
  • Anthropology, Archaeology and Religion
  • Economics, Politics and Sociology

Human Cultures through the Scientific Lens: Essays in Evolutionary Cognitive Anthropology

  • Pascal Boyer
This volume brings together a collection of seven articles previously published by the author, with a new introduction reframing the articles in the context of past and present questions in anthropology, psychology and human evolution. It promotes the perspective of ‘integrated’ social science, in which social science questions are addressed in a deliberately eclectic manner, combining results and models from evolutionary biology, experimental psychology, economics, anthropology and history.
Right Research: Modelling Sustainable Research Practices in the Anthropocene - cover image
  • Anthropology, Archaeology and Religion
  • Environmental Studies

Right Research: Modelling Sustainable Research Practices in the Anthropocene

  • Chelsea Miya
  • Oliver Rossier
  • Geoffrey Rockwell
The essays in this volume critically examine scholarly research practices in the age of the Anthropocene, and ask what accountability educators and researchers have in ‘righting’ their relationship to the environment.
Sailing from Polis to Empire: Ships in the Eastern Mediterranean during the Hellenistic Period - cover image
  • Anthropology, Archaeology and Religion
  • Classics
  • European Studies
  • History

Sailing from Polis to Empire: Ships in the Eastern Mediterranean during the Hellenistic Period

  • Emmanuel Nantet
What can the architecture of ancient ships tell us about their capacity to carry cargo or to navigate certain trade routes? How do such insights inform our knowledge of the ancient economies that depended on maritime trade across the Mediterranean? These and similar questions lie behind Sailing from Polis to Empire, a fascinating insight into the practicalities of trading by boat in the ancient world. Allying modern scientific knowledge with Hellenistic sources, this interdisciplinary collection brings together experts in various fields of ship archaeology to shed new light on the role played by ships and sailing in the exchange networks of the Mediterranean.
Living Earth Community: Multiple Ways of Being and Knowing - cover image
  • Anthropology, Archaeology and Religion
  • Economics, Politics and Sociology
  • Environmental Studies

Living Earth Community: Multiple Ways of Being and Knowing

  • Sam Mickey
  • Mary Evelyn Tucker
  • John Grim
Living Earth Community: Multiple Ways of Being and Knowing is a celebration of the diversity of ways in which humans can relate to the world around them, and an invitation to its readers to partake in planetary coexistence. Innovative, informative, and highly accessible, this interdisciplinary anthology of essays brings together scholars, writers and educators across the sciences and humanities, in a collaborative effort to illuminate the different ways of being in the world and the different kinds of knowledge they entail – from the ecological knowledge of Indigenous communities, to the scientific knowledge of a biologist and the embodied knowledge communicated through storytelling.
Gallucci's Commentary on Dürer’s 'Four Books on Human Proportion': Renaissance Proportion Theory - cover image
  • Anthropology, Archaeology and Religion
  • Visual Arts

Gallucci's Commentary on Dürer’s 'Four Books on Human Proportion': Renaissance Proportion Theory

  • James Hutson
This translation is the first to make these original contributions by Gallucci accessible to an English-speaking audience. Gallucci’s contributions illuminate the significance of symmetry and proportion in the contemporary education of the early modern era, informing our understanding of the intellectual history of this period, and the development of art theory and criticism. This is a valuable resource to early modern scholars and students alike, especially those specialising in history of art, philosophy, history of science, and poetry.
Lifestyle in Siberia and the Russian North - cover image
  • Anthropology, Archaeology and Religion
  • Economics, Politics and Sociology

Lifestyle in Siberia and the Russian North

  • Joachim Otto Habeck
Lifestyle in Siberia and the Russian North breaks new ground by exploring the concept of lifestyle from a distinctly anthropological perspective. Showcasing the collective work of ten experienced scholars in the field, the book goes beyond concepts of tradition that have often been the focus of previous research, to explain how political, economic and technological changes in Russia have created a wide range of new possibilities and constraints in the pursuit of different ways of life.
The Politics of Language Contact in the Himalaya - cover image
  • Anthropology, Archaeology and Religion
  • Linguistics

The Politics of Language Contact in the Himalaya

  • Selma K. Sonntag
  • Mark Turin
This highly original and timely collection brings together case studies from salient areas of the Himalayan region to explore the politics of language contact. Promoting a linguistically and historically grounded perspective, The Politics of Language Contact in the Himalaya offers nuanced insights into language and its relation to power in this geopolitically complex region.
Annunciations: Sacred Music for the Twenty-First Century - cover image
  • Anthropology, Archaeology and Religion
  • Performing Arts

Annunciations: Sacred Music for the Twenty-First Century

  • George Corbett
Through the theme of ‘annunciations’, this volume interrogates how, when, why, through and to whom God communicates in the Old and New Testaments. In doing so, it tackles the intimate relationship between Scriptural reflection and musical practice in the past, its present condition, and what the future might hold.
Women and Migration: Responses in Art and History - cover image
  • Anthropology, Archaeology and Religion
  • Biography
  • Economics, Politics and Sociology
  • Visual Arts
  • Women and Gender Studies

Women and Migration: Responses in Art and History

  • Deborah Willis
  • Ellyn Toscano
  • Kalia Brooks Nelson
The essays in this book chart how women’s profound and turbulent experiences of migration have been articulated in writing, photography, art and film. As a whole, the volume gives an impression of a wide range of migratory events from women’s perspectives, covering the Caribbean Diaspora, refugees and slavery through the various lenses of politics and war, love and family.
Life Histories of Etnos Theory in Russia and Beyond - cover image
  • Anthropology, Archaeology and Religion
  • European Studies
  • European Studies: Eastern European Studies

Life Histories of Etnos Theory in Russia and Beyond

  • David G. Anderson
  • Dmitry V Arzyutov
  • Sergei S. Alymov
Life Histories of Etnos Theory in Russia and Beyond makes a powerful argument for reconsidering the importance of etnos in our understanding of ethnicity and national identity across Eurasia. The collection brings to life a rich archive of previously unpublished letters, fieldnotes, and photographic collections of the theory’s early proponents.
Tales of Darkness and Light: Soso Tham's The Old Days of the Khasis - cover image
  • Anthropology, Archaeology and Religion
  • Asian Studies
  • Literature
  • Other languages

Tales of Darkness and Light: Soso Tham's The Old Days of the Khasis

  • Soso Tham
  • Janet Hujon
Poet of landscape, myth and memory, Soso Tham paid rich and poignant tribute to his tribe in his masterpiece The Old Days of the Khasis. Janet Hujon’s vibrant new translation presents the English reader with Tham’s long poem, which keeps a rich cultural tradition of the Khasi people alive through its retelling of old narratives and acts as a cultural signpost for their literary identity.
Mobilities, Boundaries, and Travelling Ideas: Rethinking Translocality Beyond Central Asia and the Caucasus - cover image
  • Anthropology, Archaeology and Religion
  • Economics, Politics and Sociology
  • History
  • History: International Relations

Mobilities, Boundaries, and Travelling Ideas: Rethinking Translocality Beyond Central Asia and the Caucasus

  • Manja Stephan-Emmrich
  • Philipp Schröder
This collection brings together a variety of anthropological, historical and sociological case studies from Central Asia and the Caucasus to examine the concept of translocality. The chapters scrutinize the capacity of translocality to describe, in new ways, the multiple mobilities, exchange practices and globalizing processes that link places, people and institutions in Central Asia and the Caucasus with others in Russia, China and the United Arab Emirates.
Remote Capture: Digitising Documentary Heritage in Challenging Locations - cover image
  • Anthropology, Archaeology and Religion
  • Digital Humanities
  • Material Culture

Remote Capture: Digitising Documentary Heritage in Challenging Locations

  • Patrick Sutherland
  • Adam Farquhar
  • Jody Butterworth
  • Andrew Pearson
This is a must-read how-to guide if you are planning to embark on a scholarly digitisation project. Tailored to the specifications of the British Library’s EAP (Endangered Archives Programme) projects, it is full of sound, practical advice about planning and carrying out a successful digitisation project in potentially challenging conditions.
Modernism and the Spiritual in Russian Art: New Perspectives - cover image
  • Anthropology, Archaeology and Religion
  • European Studies
  • European Studies: Eastern European Studies
  • Visual Arts

Modernism and the Spiritual in Russian Art: New Perspectives

  • Louise Hardiman
  • Nicola Kozicharow
This diverse collection of essays introduces new and stimulating approaches to the ongoing debate as to how Russian artistic modernism engaged with questions of spirituality in the late nineteenth to mid-twentieth centuries. Ten chapters from emerging and established voices offer new perspectives on Kandinsky and other familiar names, such as Kazimir Malevich, Mikhail Larionov, and Natalia Goncharova, and introduce less well-known figures, such as the Georgian artists Ucha Japaridze and Lado Gudiashvili, and the craftswoman and art promoter Aleksandra Pogosskaia.
Long Narrative Songs from the Mongghul of Northeast Tibet: Texts in Mongghul, Chinese, and English - cover image
  • Anthropology, Archaeology and Religion
  • Asian Studies
  • Folklore and Ethnology
  • Literature
  • Other languages

Long Narrative Songs from the Mongghul of Northeast Tibet: Texts in Mongghul, Chinese, and English

  • Li Dechun
  • Gerald Roche
Containing ballads of martial heroism, tales of tragic lovers and visions of the nature of the world, Long Narrative Songs from the Mongghul of Northeast Tibet: Texts in Mongghul, Chinese, and English is a rich repository of songs collected amongst the Mongghul of the Seven Valleys, on the northeast Tibetan Plateau in western China.
Warlike and Peaceful Societies: The Interaction of Genes and Culture - cover image
  • Anthropology, Archaeology and Religion
  • Economics, Politics and Sociology
  • History
  • History: International Relations

Warlike and Peaceful Societies: The Interaction of Genes and Culture

  • Agner Fog
Are humans violent or peaceful by nature? We are both. In this ambitious and wide-ranging book, Agner Fog presents a ground-breaking new argument that explains the existence of differently organised societies using evolutionary theory. It combines natural sciences and social sciences in a way that is rarely seen.
Searching for Sharing: Heritage and Multimedia in Africa - cover image
  • African Studies
  • Anthropology, Archaeology and Religion
  • Digital Humanities
  • Material Culture

Searching for Sharing: Heritage and Multimedia in Africa

  • Daniela Merolla
  • Mark Turin
In a world where new technologies are being developed at a dizzying pace, how can we best approach oral genres that represent heritage? Taking an innovative and interdisciplinary approach, this volume explores the idea of sharing as a model to construct and disseminate the knowledge of literary heritage with the people who are represented by and in it.
Behaviour, Development and Evolution - cover image
  • Anthropology, Archaeology and Religion
  • Science
  • Science: Applied Science

Behaviour, Development and Evolution

  • Patrick Bateson
The role of parents in shaping the characters of their children, the causes of violence and crime, and the roots of personal unhappiness are central to humanity. Like so many fundamental questions about human existence, these issues all relate to behavioural development. In this lucid and accessible book, eminent biologist Professor Sir Patrick Bateson suggests that the nature/nurture dichotomy we often use to think about questions of development in both humans and animals is misleading. Instead, he argues that we should pay attention to whole systems, rather than to simple causes, when trying to understand the complexity of development.
Tellings and Texts: Music, Literature and Performance in North India - cover image
  • Anthropology, Archaeology and Religion
  • Asian Studies
  • Folklore and Ethnology
  • Other languages
  • Performing Arts

Tellings and Texts: Music, Literature and Performance in North India

  • Francesca Orsini
  • Katherine Butler Schofield
Examining materials from early modern and contemporary North India and Pakistan, Tellings and Texts brings together seventeen first-rate papers on the relations between written and oral texts, their performance, and the musical traditions these performances have entailed. The contributions from some of the best scholars in the field cover a wide range of literary genres and social and cultural contexts across the region.
From Dust to Digital: Ten Years of the Endangered Archives Programme - cover image
  • Anthropology, Archaeology and Religion
  • Digital Humanities
  • Material Culture

From Dust to Digital: Ten Years of the Endangered Archives Programme

  • Maja Kominko
Much of world’s documentary heritage rests in vulnerable, little-known and often inaccessible archives. Many of these archives preserve information that may cast new light on historical phenomena and lead to their reinterpretation. But such rich collections are often at risk of being lost before the history they capture is recorded. This volume celebrates the tenth anniversary of the Endangered Archives Programme at the British Library, established to document and publish online formerly inaccessible and neglected archives from across the globe.
Measuring the Master Race: Physical Anthropology in Norway 1890-1945 - cover image
  • Anthropology, Archaeology and Religion
  • European Studies
  • European Studies: Eastern European Studies
  • History
  • Science
  • Science: History of Science

Measuring the Master Race: Physical Anthropology in Norway 1890-1945

  • Jon Røyne Kyllingstad
This book investigates the role played by Scandinavian scholars in inventing this so-called superior race, and discusses how this concept put its stamp on Norwegian physical anthropology, prehistory, national identity, and on the Norwegian eugenics movement. It also explores the decline and scientific disputation of these ideas in the 1930s as they came to be associated with the ‘genetic cleansing’ of Nazi Germany. This is the first comprehensive study on Norwegian physical anthropology, and its findings shed new light on current political and scientific debates about race across the globe.
God's Babies: Natalism and Bible Interpretation in Modern America - cover image
  • American and Latin American Studies
  • Anthropology, Archaeology and Religion
  • History

God's Babies: Natalism and Bible Interpretation in Modern America

  • John McKeown
The human population's annual total consumption is not sustainable by one planet. Many observers assume that Christianity is inevitably part of this problem because it promotes "family values" and statistically, in America and elsewhere, has a higher birthrate than nonreligious people. Challenging the assumption that religion normally promotes fecundity, the book finds surprising exceptions among early Christians (with a special focus on Saint Augustine) since they advocated spiritual fecundity in preference to biological fecundity. Finally the book uses a hermeneutic lens derived from Genesis 1, and prioritising the modern problem of biodiversity, to provide ecological interpretations of the Bible's "fruitful" verses.
Stories from Quechan Oral Literature - cover image
  • American and Latin American Studies
  • Anthropology, Archaeology and Religion
  • Folklore and Ethnology
  • Literature
  • Other languages

Stories from Quechan Oral Literature

  • A.M. Halpern
  • Amy Miller
This book makes a long-awaited contribution to the oral literature and mythology of the American Southwest, and its format and organization are of special interest. Narratives are presented in the original language and in the storytellers’ own words. Facing-page English translation provides a key to the original Quechan for the benefit of language learners. In presenting not just stories but story complexes, this volume captures the art of storytelling and illuminates the complexity and interconnectedness of an important body of oral literature.
Cultural Heritage Ethics: Between Theory and Practice - cover image
  • Anthropology, Archaeology and Religion
  • Philosophy
  • Visual Arts

Cultural Heritage Ethics: Between Theory and Practice

  • Sandis Constantine
Cultural Heritage Ethics provides cutting-edge arguments built on case studies of cultural heritage and its management in a range of geographical and cultural contexts. Moreover, the volume feels the pulse of the debate on heritage ethics by discussing timely issues such as access, acquisition, archaeological practice, curatorship, education, ethnology, historiography, integrity, legislation, memory, museum management, ownership, preservation, protection, public trust, restitution, human rights, stewardship, and tourism.
Beyond Holy Russia: The Life and Times of Stephen Graham - cover image
  • Anthropology, Archaeology and Religion
  • European Studies
  • European Studies: Eastern European Studies
  • History
  • History: International Relations
  • Literature

Beyond Holy Russia: The Life and Times of Stephen Graham

  • Michael Hughes
This biography examines the long life of the traveller and author Stephen Graham. Graham walked across much of the Tsarist Empire in the years before 1917, and his writings about his adventures helped to shape attitudes towards Russia in Britain and the US. In later years he travelled widely in Europe and America, meeting some of the best known writers of his day. Tracing Graham’s career as a world traveller, this book explores Graham’s heterodox and convoluted spiritual quest, while also providing a rich portrait of English, Russian and American literary life in the first half of the twentieth century.
Xiipúktan (First of All): Three Views of the Origins of the Quechan People - cover image
  • American and Latin American Studies
  • Anthropology, Archaeology and Religion
  • Other languages

Xiipúktan (First of All): Three Views of the Origins of the Quechan People

  • George Bryant
  • Amy Miller
Creation myths form the backdrop against which much of the Quechan tribe’s oral literature may be understood. At one time there were almost as many versions of the Quechan creation story as there were Quechan families. Now few people remember them. This volume, presented in the Quechan language with facing-column translation, provides three views of the origins of the Quechan people. This collection is for the Quechan people and will also interest linguists, anthropologists, oral literature specialists, and anyone curious about Native American culture.
How to Read a Folktale: The 'Ibonia' Epic from Madagascar - cover image
  • African Studies
  • Anthropology, Archaeology and Religion
  • Folklore and Ethnology
  • Literature
  • Other languages

How to Read a Folktale: The 'Ibonia' Epic from Madagascar

  • Lee Haring
This book offers an English translation of Ibonia, a spellbinding tale of old Madagascar. Recorded when the Malagasy people were first experiencing European contact, Ibonia proclaims the power of the ancestors against the foreigner. Its fairytale elements link it with European folktales, but the story is nonetheless very much a product of Madagascar. Inflating the folktale form to epic proportions, it combines African-style praise poetry with Indonesian-style riddles and poems. Through Ibonia, Lee Haring expertly helps readers to understand the very nature of folktales, connecting this exotic narrative with fundamental questions not only of anthropology but also of literary criticism.
Feeding the City: Work and Food Culture of the Mumbai Dabbawalas - cover image
  • Anthropology, Archaeology and Religion
  • Economics, Politics and Sociology

Feeding the City: Work and Food Culture of the Mumbai Dabbawalas

  • Sara Roncaglia
  • Angela Arnone
Every day in Mumbai 5,000 dabbawalas distribute 200,000 home-cooked lunchboxes across the city. Giving employment and status to thousands of largely illiterate villagers, this co-operative provides one of the most efficient delivery networks in the world. This book is an ethnographic study of the fascinating inner workings of Mumbai’s dabbawalas. Sara Roncaglia explains how they cater to the dietary requirements of a diverse and increasingly global city, where food preparation and consumption is pervaded with religious and cultural significance. Developing the idea of ‘gastrosemantics’, Roncaglia’s study helps us to rethink our relationship to food at a local and global level.
Storytelling in Northern Zambia: Theory, Method, Practice and Other Necessary Fictions - cover image
  • African Studies
  • Anthropology, Archaeology and Religion
  • Folklore and Ethnology
  • Literature
  • Other languages

Storytelling in Northern Zambia: Theory, Method, Practice and Other Necessary Fictions

  • Robert Cancel
A collection and analysis of the oral narrative traditions of northern Zambia, this innovative book integrates audio and video recordings into the text. Robert Cancel’s critical interpretation, meanwhile, makes his work a much-needed addition to the slender corpus of African folklore studies dealing with storytelling performance. Cancel threads his way between the complex demands of African fieldwork studies, folklore theory, narrative modes, reflexive description and documentation, and brings to the reader a vivid, varied and instructive array of performances. His study tells us not only about storytelling but sheds light on the study of oral literatures throughout Africa and beyond.
Oral Literature in the Digital Age: Archiving Orality and Connecting with Communities - cover image
  • African Studies
  • Anthropology, Archaeology and Religion
  • Digital Humanities
  • Folklore and Ethnology
  • Literature
  • Other languages

Oral Literature in the Digital Age: Archiving Orality and Connecting with Communities

  • Mark Turin
  • Claire Wheeler
  • Eleanor Wilkinson
Thanks to ever-greater digital connectivity, interest in oral traditions has grown beyond that of researcher and research subject to include a widening pool of global users. This book explores the political repercussions of studying marginalised languages; the role of online tools in ensuring responsible access to sensitive cultural materials; and ways of ensuring that when digital documents are created, they are not fossilized as a consequence of being archived. This book is an essential guide and handbook for ethnographers, field linguists, community activists, curators, archivists, librarians, and all who connect with indigenous communities to document and preserve oral traditions.
Oral Literature in Africa - cover image
  • African Studies
  • Anthropology, Archaeology and Religion
  • Folklore and Ethnology
  • Literature
  • Other languages

Oral Literature in Africa

  • Ruth Finnegan
Ruth Finnegan’s Oral Literature in Africa was first published in 1970, and since then has been widely praised as one of the most important books in its field. Based on years of fieldwork, the study traces the history of storytelling across the continent of Africa. This revised edition makes Finnegan’s ground-breaking research available to the next generation of scholars. It includes a new introduction, additional images and an updated bibliography, as well as its original chapters on poetry, prose, ‘drum language’ and drama, and an overview of the social, linguistic and historical background of oral literature in Africa.
Frontier Encounters: Knowledge and Practice at the Russian, Chinese and Mongolian Border - cover image
  • Anthropology, Archaeology and Religion
  • Asian Studies
  • Economics, Politics and Sociology
  • Folklore and Ethnology
  • History
  • History: International Relations

Frontier Encounters: Knowledge and Practice at the Russian, Chinese and Mongolian Border

  • Franck Billé
  • Grégory Delaplace
  • Caroline Humphrey
China, Russia and Mongolia share thousands of miles of border, but their traditions, languages and worldviews are remarkably different. Presenting varied perspectives on how the borders between these unique countries are enacted, produced and crossed, this book illuminates global uncertainties: China’s search for energy resources and the employment of its huge population, Russia’s fear of Chinese migration, and the precarious economic independence of Mongolia as its neighbours negotiate to extract its plentiful resources. Bringing together anthropologists, sociologists and economists, this timely collection of essays offers new perspectives on an area that is currently of enormous economic, strategic and geo-political relevance.
Why Do We Quote? The Culture and History of Quotation - cover image
  • Anthropology, Archaeology and Religion
  • Linguistics

Why Do We Quote? The Culture and History of Quotation

  • Ruth Finnegan
This book combines a down-to-earth account of contemporary quoting with an examination of its comparative and historical background. Drawing from anthropology, cultural history, folklore, cultural studies, sociolinguistics, literary studies and the ethnography of speaking, Ruth Finnegan’s fascinating study sets our present conventions in cross-cultural and historical perspective. She traces the curious history of quotation marks, examines the long tradition of quotation collections, and explores the uses of quotation in literary, visual and oral traditions. By tracking the changing definitions and control of quoting over the millennia, Finnegan sheds new light on ideas such as ‘imitation’, ‘allusion’, ‘authorship’, ‘originality’ and ‘plagiarism’.
The Sword of Judith: Judith Studies Across the Disciplines - cover image
  • Anthropology, Archaeology and Religion
  • Literature
  • Literature: Comparative Literature
  • Performing Arts
  • Visual Arts
  • Women and Gender Studies

The Sword of Judith: Judith Studies Across the Disciplines

  • Kevin R. Brine
  • Elena Ciletti
  • Henrike Lähnemann
The Book of Judith has fascinated artists and authors for centuries, and is becoming a major field of research in its own right. This book is the first multidisciplinary collection to discuss representations of Judith through the centuries. Bringing together scholars from around the world, it transforms our understanding of Judith’s enduring story across a wide range of disciplines. The book includes sections on Judith in Christian, Jewish and secular textual traditions, and representations of Judith in art, music and theatre. It also includes new archival source studies, and translations of unpublished manuscripts and texts previously unavailable in English.