David Levine
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520220584
- eISBN:
- 9780520923676
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520220584.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
Looking at a neglected period in the social history of modernization, this book investigates the centuries that followed the year 1000, when a new kind of society emerged in Europe. New commercial ...
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Looking at a neglected period in the social history of modernization, this book investigates the centuries that followed the year 1000, when a new kind of society emerged in Europe. New commercial routines, new forms of agriculture, new methods of information technology, and increased population densities all played a role in the prolonged transition away from antiquity and toward modernity. The book highlights both “top-down” and “bottom-up” changes that characterized the social experience of early modernization. In the former category are the Gregorian Reformation, the imposition of feudalism, and the development of centralizing state formations. Of equal importance to this book's portrait of the emerging social order are the bottom-up demographic relations that structured everyday life, because the making of the modern world, in the book's view, also began in the decisions made by countless men and women regarding their families and circumstances. The book ends its story with the cataclysm unleashed by the Black Death in 1348, which brought three centuries of growth to a grim end.Less
Looking at a neglected period in the social history of modernization, this book investigates the centuries that followed the year 1000, when a new kind of society emerged in Europe. New commercial routines, new forms of agriculture, new methods of information technology, and increased population densities all played a role in the prolonged transition away from antiquity and toward modernity. The book highlights both “top-down” and “bottom-up” changes that characterized the social experience of early modernization. In the former category are the Gregorian Reformation, the imposition of feudalism, and the development of centralizing state formations. Of equal importance to this book's portrait of the emerging social order are the bottom-up demographic relations that structured everyday life, because the making of the modern world, in the book's view, also began in the decisions made by countless men and women regarding their families and circumstances. The book ends its story with the cataclysm unleashed by the Black Death in 1348, which brought three centuries of growth to a grim end.
Leslie Dossey
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520254398
- eISBN:
- 9780520947771
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520254398.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, African History: BCE to 500CE
This history foregrounds the most marginal sector of the Roman population—the provincial peasantry—to paint a picture of peasant society. Making use of detailed archaeological and textual evidence, ...
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This history foregrounds the most marginal sector of the Roman population—the provincial peasantry—to paint a picture of peasant society. Making use of detailed archaeological and textual evidence, the book examines the peasantry in relation to the upper classes in Christian North Africa, tracing that region's social and cultural history from Punic times to the eve of the Islamic conquest. The author demonstrates that during the period when Christianity was spreading to both city and countryside in North Africa, a convergence of economic interests narrowed the gap between the rustici and the urbani, creating a consumer revolution of sorts among the peasants. The book's postcolonial perspective points to the empowerment of North African peasants and gives voice to lower social classes across the Roman world.Less
This history foregrounds the most marginal sector of the Roman population—the provincial peasantry—to paint a picture of peasant society. Making use of detailed archaeological and textual evidence, the book examines the peasantry in relation to the upper classes in Christian North Africa, tracing that region's social and cultural history from Punic times to the eve of the Islamic conquest. The author demonstrates that during the period when Christianity was spreading to both city and countryside in North Africa, a convergence of economic interests narrowed the gap between the rustici and the urbani, creating a consumer revolution of sorts among the peasants. The book's postcolonial perspective points to the empowerment of North African peasants and gives voice to lower social classes across the Roman world.
Richard E. Payne
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780520286191
- eISBN:
- 9780520961531
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520286191.003.0004
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Ancient Religions
In northern Mesopotamia, the construction of shrines of martyrs on the tells of cities that were centers of imperial authority introduced a new technology with which ecclesiastical leaders could ...
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In northern Mesopotamia, the construction of shrines of martyrs on the tells of cities that were centers of imperial authority introduced a new technology with which ecclesiastical leaders could redefine relations between Christian and Zoroastrian elites. This chapter draws upon two hagiographical works that recount the histories of these martyrs, the History of Karka d-Beit Slok and Its Martyrs and the History of Mar Qardagh. These texts explicitly segment the Christian communities that gathered at the sites into aristocrats and commoners, with ecclesiastical leaders belonging to the ranks of the former almost without exception. The contemporaneous hagiographers of these works both sought to demonstrate, in Iranian terms, that Christians could be no less noble than their Zoroastrian counterparts, while rooting their claims to aristocracy in cities that were also the loci of episcopal authority. Their works thus offer an opportunity to explore some fundamental questions of Sasanian social history that have remained unanswered such as: How did provincial elites earn recognition as nobles from their Iranian peers? How did Christian and Zoroastrian elites find bases for collaboration within imperial institutions?Less
In northern Mesopotamia, the construction of shrines of martyrs on the tells of cities that were centers of imperial authority introduced a new technology with which ecclesiastical leaders could redefine relations between Christian and Zoroastrian elites. This chapter draws upon two hagiographical works that recount the histories of these martyrs, the History of Karka d-Beit Slok and Its Martyrs and the History of Mar Qardagh. These texts explicitly segment the Christian communities that gathered at the sites into aristocrats and commoners, with ecclesiastical leaders belonging to the ranks of the former almost without exception. The contemporaneous hagiographers of these works both sought to demonstrate, in Iranian terms, that Christians could be no less noble than their Zoroastrian counterparts, while rooting their claims to aristocracy in cities that were also the loci of episcopal authority. Their works thus offer an opportunity to explore some fundamental questions of Sasanian social history that have remained unanswered such as: How did provincial elites earn recognition as nobles from their Iranian peers? How did Christian and Zoroastrian elites find bases for collaboration within imperial institutions?
Robert Hefner
- Published in print:
- 1990
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520069336
- eISBN:
- 9780520913769
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520069336.001.0001
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Asian Cultural Anthropology
A rich and sensitive portrait of a changing peasantry, this study is also a general inquiry into the nature of status, class, and community in the developing world, presenting an analysis designed to ...
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A rich and sensitive portrait of a changing peasantry, this study is also a general inquiry into the nature of status, class, and community in the developing world, presenting an analysis designed to bridge the gap between village studies and social history. It describes the forces that have shaped upland politics and society from pre-colonial times to the Green Revolution today.Less
A rich and sensitive portrait of a changing peasantry, this study is also a general inquiry into the nature of status, class, and community in the developing world, presenting an analysis designed to bridge the gap between village studies and social history. It describes the forces that have shaped upland politics and society from pre-colonial times to the Green Revolution today.
Janet Finn
- Published in print:
- 1998
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520211360
- eISBN:
- 9780520920071
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520211360.001.0001
- Subject:
- Anthropology, American and Canadian Cultural Anthropology
This tale of two cities—Butte, Montana, USA; and Chuquicamata, Chile—traces the relationship of capitalism and community across cultural, national, and geographic boundaries. Combining social history ...
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This tale of two cities—Butte, Montana, USA; and Chuquicamata, Chile—traces the relationship of capitalism and community across cultural, national, and geographic boundaries. Combining social history with ethnography, the book shows how the development of copper mining set in motion parallel processes involving distinctive constructions of community, class, and gender in the two widely separated but intimately related sites. While the rich veins of copper in the Rockies and the Andes flowed for the giant Anaconda Company, the miners and their families in both places struggled to make a life as well as a living for themselves. Miner's consumption, a popular name for silicosis, provides a powerful metaphor for the danger, wasting, and loss that penetrated mining life. The book explores themes of privation and privilege, trust and betrayal, and offers a new model for community studies that links local culture and global capitalism.Less
This tale of two cities—Butte, Montana, USA; and Chuquicamata, Chile—traces the relationship of capitalism and community across cultural, national, and geographic boundaries. Combining social history with ethnography, the book shows how the development of copper mining set in motion parallel processes involving distinctive constructions of community, class, and gender in the two widely separated but intimately related sites. While the rich veins of copper in the Rockies and the Andes flowed for the giant Anaconda Company, the miners and their families in both places struggled to make a life as well as a living for themselves. Miner's consumption, a popular name for silicosis, provides a powerful metaphor for the danger, wasting, and loss that penetrated mining life. The book explores themes of privation and privilege, trust and betrayal, and offers a new model for community studies that links local culture and global capitalism.
Mattison Mines
- Published in print:
- 1994
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520084780
- eISBN:
- 9780520914599
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520084780.003.0004
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Asian Cultural Anthropology
This chapter explores the social history of George Town and the role which civic individuality has played in its construction, explaining that the town was organized as it is because leaders have ...
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This chapter explores the social history of George Town and the role which civic individuality has played in its construction, explaining that the town was organized as it is because leaders have made it that way, and because ordinary townspeople have been motivated by self-interest to assist in that construction. It discusses the role of religion in the organization of Black Town society, and argues that recognizing the essential role individuality plays as a cause of organization, and as an integral feature greatly affects how Indian society is conceptualized.Less
This chapter explores the social history of George Town and the role which civic individuality has played in its construction, explaining that the town was organized as it is because leaders have made it that way, and because ordinary townspeople have been motivated by self-interest to assist in that construction. It discusses the role of religion in the organization of Black Town society, and argues that recognizing the essential role individuality plays as a cause of organization, and as an integral feature greatly affects how Indian society is conceptualized.
Joseph McDermott
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520231269
- eISBN:
- 9780520927797
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520231269.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
This chapter examines the history of imprint in China. It questions the univocal account of printing during the Song dynasty and attempts to determine when the imprint eventually replaced the ...
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This chapter examines the history of imprint in China. It questions the univocal account of printing during the Song dynasty and attempts to determine when the imprint eventually replaced the handwritten copy as the principal medium for the Chinese book. The chapter highlights the profound impact on the social, political, and intellectual history of China. It evaluates how the literate elite's world of learning evolved and what role it played in the making of Chinese culture from the eleventh to the seventeenth century.Less
This chapter examines the history of imprint in China. It questions the univocal account of printing during the Song dynasty and attempts to determine when the imprint eventually replaced the handwritten copy as the principal medium for the Chinese book. The chapter highlights the profound impact on the social, political, and intellectual history of China. It evaluates how the literate elite's world of learning evolved and what role it played in the making of Chinese culture from the eleventh to the seventeenth century.
Akihito Suzuki
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520245808
- eISBN:
- 9780520932210
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520245808.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History
This introductory chapter first sets out the purpose of the book, which is to examine the social history of madness from the perspective of the family. It shows that a set of behaviors which can be ...
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This introductory chapter first sets out the purpose of the book, which is to examine the social history of madness from the perspective of the family. It shows that a set of behaviors which can be called “domestic psychiatry” existed, and even flourished, during the Victorian period. The rise of psychiatry affected, but did not destroy, this well-established set of behaviors toward lunatics in their own families. The chapter explains the author's rationale for investigating madness at home in early nineteenth-century England. It adopts a comprehensive framework of tension and symbiosis among the three species of agencies, namely, the doctor, the family, and the forces outside the doctor–family relationship. Employing this framework, the chapter examines domestic care and control of lunatics as complex interactions among them. An overview of the subsequent chapters is also presented.Less
This introductory chapter first sets out the purpose of the book, which is to examine the social history of madness from the perspective of the family. It shows that a set of behaviors which can be called “domestic psychiatry” existed, and even flourished, during the Victorian period. The rise of psychiatry affected, but did not destroy, this well-established set of behaviors toward lunatics in their own families. The chapter explains the author's rationale for investigating madness at home in early nineteenth-century England. It adopts a comprehensive framework of tension and symbiosis among the three species of agencies, namely, the doctor, the family, and the forces outside the doctor–family relationship. Employing this framework, the chapter examines domestic care and control of lunatics as complex interactions among them. An overview of the subsequent chapters is also presented.
Jonathan Boyarin
- Published in print:
- 1993
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520079557
- eISBN:
- 9780520913431
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520079557.003.0005
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Anthropology, Global
Reading has not been among the rubrics of standard ethnographic research and writing. Why this should have been so is a question that should be asked, not that reading is a topic of ethnography. The ...
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Reading has not been among the rubrics of standard ethnographic research and writing. Why this should have been so is a question that should be asked, not that reading is a topic of ethnography. The first part of this chapter aims to show that answers may be found if people begin to think about the ways in which literacy has been approached in anthropology. The second part explores how ethnographic work with written texts may help us to subvert the dictates of literacy to the extent that we concentrate on reading.Less
Reading has not been among the rubrics of standard ethnographic research and writing. Why this should have been so is a question that should be asked, not that reading is a topic of ethnography. The first part of this chapter aims to show that answers may be found if people begin to think about the ways in which literacy has been approached in anthropology. The second part explores how ethnographic work with written texts may help us to subvert the dictates of literacy to the extent that we concentrate on reading.
Joel Blecher
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780520295933
- eISBN:
- 9780520968677
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520295933.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
While scholars have long studied how Muslims authenticated and transmitted Muhammad’s sayings and practices (hadith), the story of how Muslims interpreted and reinterpreted hadith across a millennium ...
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While scholars have long studied how Muslims authenticated and transmitted Muhammad’s sayings and practices (hadith), the story of how Muslims interpreted and reinterpreted hadith across a millennium or more has yet to be told. Said the Prophet of God takes up this charge, illuminating the rich social and intellectual stakes of hadith commentary in the times and places it came to life: classical Andalusia, medieval Egypt, and modern India. The book closes with an epilogue on how commentary has been taken up by contemporary Islamist groups such as ISIS. Weaving together tales of high court rivalries, colonial politics, and contemporary field notes with explorations of the fine-grained debates among hadith commentators, Said the Prophet of God offers an interdisciplinary audience new avenues for understanding traditions of interpretation at the intersection of social and intellectual history across long periods of time.Less
While scholars have long studied how Muslims authenticated and transmitted Muhammad’s sayings and practices (hadith), the story of how Muslims interpreted and reinterpreted hadith across a millennium or more has yet to be told. Said the Prophet of God takes up this charge, illuminating the rich social and intellectual stakes of hadith commentary in the times and places it came to life: classical Andalusia, medieval Egypt, and modern India. The book closes with an epilogue on how commentary has been taken up by contemporary Islamist groups such as ISIS. Weaving together tales of high court rivalries, colonial politics, and contemporary field notes with explorations of the fine-grained debates among hadith commentators, Said the Prophet of God offers an interdisciplinary audience new avenues for understanding traditions of interpretation at the intersection of social and intellectual history across long periods of time.
Joan Dayan
- Published in print:
- 1996
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520089006
- eISBN:
- 9780520920965
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520089006.003.0002
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Social and Cultural Anthropology
This chapter analyzes the novels of Marie Chauvet to understand the social history of Haiti. Images of women, scenes of affectionate appropriation, and charades of love permeate the text of Chauvet's ...
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This chapter analyzes the novels of Marie Chauvet to understand the social history of Haiti. Images of women, scenes of affectionate appropriation, and charades of love permeate the text of Chauvet's works. She wrote in order to refuse clarity, to attack assumptions of Haitian nationalism and historical identity, to knock down heroes, and to confront the embarrassing claims of color that plague Haitian society. The chapter also explores the ethnographic precision of Haitian novelists and explains that vodou, while often denounced as superstition, is anchored to the intelligible plot of Haitian nationalist thought.Less
This chapter analyzes the novels of Marie Chauvet to understand the social history of Haiti. Images of women, scenes of affectionate appropriation, and charades of love permeate the text of Chauvet's works. She wrote in order to refuse clarity, to attack assumptions of Haitian nationalism and historical identity, to knock down heroes, and to confront the embarrassing claims of color that plague Haitian society. The chapter also explores the ethnographic precision of Haitian novelists and explains that vodou, while often denounced as superstition, is anchored to the intelligible plot of Haitian nationalist thought.
Robert Wiebe
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520230576
- eISBN:
- 9780520936034
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520230576.003.0010
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
This chapter focuses on the issues of democracy, nationalism, and socialism, which are Atlantic-wide and not strictly national. The discussion compares these three concepts within the context of the ...
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This chapter focuses on the issues of democracy, nationalism, and socialism, which are Atlantic-wide and not strictly national. The discussion compares these three concepts within the context of the United States and as part of a larger social history of the Atlantic world. The author views nationalism, socialism, and democracy as different ways to organize the solidarities of a society. These are made important by huge social and demographic transformations, including migrations and population increase.Less
This chapter focuses on the issues of democracy, nationalism, and socialism, which are Atlantic-wide and not strictly national. The discussion compares these three concepts within the context of the United States and as part of a larger social history of the Atlantic world. The author views nationalism, socialism, and democracy as different ways to organize the solidarities of a society. These are made important by huge social and demographic transformations, including migrations and population increase.
Charlotte Greenhalgh
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780520298781
- eISBN:
- 9780520970809
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520298781.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History
Existing scholarship on the history of old age displays several puzzling contradictions. Its chronological definitions of old age, which usually begin at around sixty, encompass people of enormous ...
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Existing scholarship on the history of old age displays several puzzling contradictions. Its chronological definitions of old age, which usually begin at around sixty, encompass people of enormous diversity in health, wealth, and even age. Meanwhile, older people themselves reject such definitions. Instead, elderly Britons have typically looked to their own lives in order to understand what it has meant to grow old. In the twentieth century, experiences of old age were shaped by the increasingly humane treatment of older Britons. Yet the British state simultaneously tolerated persistent poverty among the aged. This book addresses these tensions by uniting the public and private histories of aging and by putting the particular challenges of researching old age at the heart of its account.Less
Existing scholarship on the history of old age displays several puzzling contradictions. Its chronological definitions of old age, which usually begin at around sixty, encompass people of enormous diversity in health, wealth, and even age. Meanwhile, older people themselves reject such definitions. Instead, elderly Britons have typically looked to their own lives in order to understand what it has meant to grow old. In the twentieth century, experiences of old age were shaped by the increasingly humane treatment of older Britons. Yet the British state simultaneously tolerated persistent poverty among the aged. This book addresses these tensions by uniting the public and private histories of aging and by putting the particular challenges of researching old age at the heart of its account.
Neil J. Smelser and John S. Reed
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780520273566
- eISBN:
- 9780520954144
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520273566.003.0010
- Subject:
- Sociology, Social Research and Statistics
This chapter is the first of two on the “bigger picture” of the general relations between social-science knowledge and the larger society. It deals with the sources of societal demands for such ...
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This chapter is the first of two on the “bigger picture” of the general relations between social-science knowledge and the larger society. It deals with the sources of societal demands for such knowledge. A number of longer-term cultural changes—including religious, philosophical, and scientific changes—that made it possible for social objectification and institutionalized inquiry to become established. It also deals with the many “revolutions” over the past 250 years that increased social complexity and social instability, along with demands for understanding these phenomena. These kinds of change have continued to produce increasing numbers of “social problems” demanding societal attention and understanding. The authors introduce an account of the dynamics by which social problems are produced, recognized, and attacked, an account that differs from received positivistic approaches. Finally, they explore the implications of the proposition that social-science knowledge is forever “chasing” and trying to “catch up with” social problems, and how this process shapes the development of that knowledge.Less
This chapter is the first of two on the “bigger picture” of the general relations between social-science knowledge and the larger society. It deals with the sources of societal demands for such knowledge. A number of longer-term cultural changes—including religious, philosophical, and scientific changes—that made it possible for social objectification and institutionalized inquiry to become established. It also deals with the many “revolutions” over the past 250 years that increased social complexity and social instability, along with demands for understanding these phenomena. These kinds of change have continued to produce increasing numbers of “social problems” demanding societal attention and understanding. The authors introduce an account of the dynamics by which social problems are produced, recognized, and attacked, an account that differs from received positivistic approaches. Finally, they explore the implications of the proposition that social-science knowledge is forever “chasing” and trying to “catch up with” social problems, and how this process shapes the development of that knowledge.
Ruth A. Solie
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520238459
- eISBN:
- 9780520930063
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520238459.003.0005
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
Musicologists have contributed a considerable amount of extremely important information about the emergence and development of the various forms of public concert life during the first decades of the ...
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Musicologists have contributed a considerable amount of extremely important information about the emergence and development of the various forms of public concert life during the first decades of the nineteenth century to the larger historical effort. The music of Franz Schubert, one of the glories of the canonic repertory, led another life within this bourgeois domestic culture, whose outlines can be retrieved by a fuller social history. The standard musicological account of Schubert focuses on his place within the pantheon of canonic composers. Music history shares with the histories of the other arts a heritage of concentration on the “great names” of its tradition. The development of the “culture of domesticity” is a development particularly significant for the lives of women. The Beethoven/Schubert dualism, along with the gendered language of masculine and feminine that so often accompanied or illustrated it in the nineteenth century, can be read as a symptom of the cultural struggle between romanticism and Biedermeier.Less
Musicologists have contributed a considerable amount of extremely important information about the emergence and development of the various forms of public concert life during the first decades of the nineteenth century to the larger historical effort. The music of Franz Schubert, one of the glories of the canonic repertory, led another life within this bourgeois domestic culture, whose outlines can be retrieved by a fuller social history. The standard musicological account of Schubert focuses on his place within the pantheon of canonic composers. Music history shares with the histories of the other arts a heritage of concentration on the “great names” of its tradition. The development of the “culture of domesticity” is a development particularly significant for the lives of women. The Beethoven/Schubert dualism, along with the gendered language of masculine and feminine that so often accompanied or illustrated it in the nineteenth century, can be read as a symptom of the cultural struggle between romanticism and Biedermeier.
Cynthia Brokaw (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520231269
- eISBN:
- 9780520927797
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520231269.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
Despite the importance of books and the written word in Chinese society, the history of the book in China is a topic that has been little explored. This book of essays—written by historians, art ...
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Despite the importance of books and the written word in Chinese society, the history of the book in China is a topic that has been little explored. This book of essays—written by historians, art historians, and literary scholars—introduces the major issues in the social and cultural history of the book in late imperial China. Informed by insights from the rich literature on the history of the Western book, these essays investigate the relationship between the manuscript and print culture; the emergence of urban and rural publishing centers; the expanding audience for books; the development of niche markets and specialized publishing of fiction, drama, non-Han texts, and genealogies; and more.Less
Despite the importance of books and the written word in Chinese society, the history of the book in China is a topic that has been little explored. This book of essays—written by historians, art historians, and literary scholars—introduces the major issues in the social and cultural history of the book in late imperial China. Informed by insights from the rich literature on the history of the Western book, these essays investigate the relationship between the manuscript and print culture; the emergence of urban and rural publishing centers; the expanding audience for books; the development of niche markets and specialized publishing of fiction, drama, non-Han texts, and genealogies; and more.
W. Anthony Sheppard
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520223028
- eISBN:
- 9780520924741
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520223028.003.0013
- Subject:
- Music, Performing Practice/Studies
Harry Partch and Leonard Bernstein are divergent in several dimensions, including their marketability. Yet through a juxtaposition of works by these apparent musical antipodes, it is possible to ...
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Harry Partch and Leonard Bernstein are divergent in several dimensions, including their marketability. Yet through a juxtaposition of works by these apparent musical antipodes, it is possible to illumine the pervasiveness of certain basic issues in American music theater and to suggest how both Partch's Revelation in the Courthouse Park and Bernstein's Mass reflect several developments in the social history of the 1960s. This chapter considers three primary topics raised by these two works and concentrates on cultural contextualization rather than on detailed comparison. First, they are concerned with ritual and religious expression—with a critique of established American social and religious rituals and with the creation of a new work of ritualistic or didactic status. Second, this critique and transformation is achieved musically through the use, or perhaps abuse, of American popular music and through radical musical juxtaposition. Finally, Partch and Bernstein employ ritual expression and popular music references for the purposes of parody and social criticism, focusing on the relationship of the individual to society. Created at opposite ends of a turbulent decade, but yoked together by violence, Revelation and Mass arrive at somewhat different conclusions.Less
Harry Partch and Leonard Bernstein are divergent in several dimensions, including their marketability. Yet through a juxtaposition of works by these apparent musical antipodes, it is possible to illumine the pervasiveness of certain basic issues in American music theater and to suggest how both Partch's Revelation in the Courthouse Park and Bernstein's Mass reflect several developments in the social history of the 1960s. This chapter considers three primary topics raised by these two works and concentrates on cultural contextualization rather than on detailed comparison. First, they are concerned with ritual and religious expression—with a critique of established American social and religious rituals and with the creation of a new work of ritualistic or didactic status. Second, this critique and transformation is achieved musically through the use, or perhaps abuse, of American popular music and through radical musical juxtaposition. Finally, Partch and Bernstein employ ritual expression and popular music references for the purposes of parody and social criticism, focusing on the relationship of the individual to society. Created at opposite ends of a turbulent decade, but yoked together by violence, Revelation and Mass arrive at somewhat different conclusions.
Mark Slobin (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520227170
- eISBN:
- 9780520935655
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520227170.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, History, American
Klezmer, the Yiddish word for a folk instrumental musician, has come to mean a person, a style, and a scene. This musical subculture came to the United States with the late-nineteenth-century Jewish ...
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Klezmer, the Yiddish word for a folk instrumental musician, has come to mean a person, a style, and a scene. This musical subculture came to the United States with the late-nineteenth-century Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe. Although it had declined in popularity by the middle of the twentieth century, this lively music is now enjoying recognition among music fans of all stripes. Today, klezmer flourishes in the United States and abroad in world music and accompanies Jewish celebrations. The chapters this volume investigate American klezmer: its roots, its evolution, and its spirited revitalization. Contributors to the book include every kind of authority on the subject—from academics to leading musicians—and they offer a wide range of perspectives on the musical, social, and cultural history of klezmer in American life. The first half of this volume concentrates on the early history of klezmer, using folkloric sources, records of early musicians unions, and interviews with the last of the immigrant musicians. The second part of the book examines the klezmer “revival” that began in the 1970s. Several of these chapters were written by the leaders of this movement, or draw on interviews with them, and give firsthand accounts of how klezmer is transmitted and how its practitioners maintain a balance between preservation and innovation.Less
Klezmer, the Yiddish word for a folk instrumental musician, has come to mean a person, a style, and a scene. This musical subculture came to the United States with the late-nineteenth-century Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe. Although it had declined in popularity by the middle of the twentieth century, this lively music is now enjoying recognition among music fans of all stripes. Today, klezmer flourishes in the United States and abroad in world music and accompanies Jewish celebrations. The chapters this volume investigate American klezmer: its roots, its evolution, and its spirited revitalization. Contributors to the book include every kind of authority on the subject—from academics to leading musicians—and they offer a wide range of perspectives on the musical, social, and cultural history of klezmer in American life. The first half of this volume concentrates on the early history of klezmer, using folkloric sources, records of early musicians unions, and interviews with the last of the immigrant musicians. The second part of the book examines the klezmer “revival” that began in the 1970s. Several of these chapters were written by the leaders of this movement, or draw on interviews with them, and give firsthand accounts of how klezmer is transmitted and how its practitioners maintain a balance between preservation and innovation.
Paul S. Ropp
- Published in print:
- 1990
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520064409
- eISBN:
- 9780520908932
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520064409.003.0011
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Asian Cultural Anthropology
This chapter investigates modern Chinese social history in a comparative light. It suggests some hypotheses about what changed and what did not change in the past 500 years of Chinese history. It ...
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This chapter investigates modern Chinese social history in a comparative light. It suggests some hypotheses about what changed and what did not change in the past 500 years of Chinese history. It presents some thoughts about how this process of change is comparable to the Western experience and how it is unique. It mentions some preconditions and shows why the sixteenth century constitutes a useful point of departure for surveying the emergence of modern Chinese society. One key factor that promoted merchant self-government was the inadequacy or temporary withdrawal of an effective regular bureaucratic administration. The rise of capitalism and of the state may be useful in interpreting modern Chinese social history. In Europe, the rise of capitalism and the modern state were very nearly synchronic, whereas in China the expansion of the state lagged by perhaps as much as three centuries behind the appearance of capitalism.Less
This chapter investigates modern Chinese social history in a comparative light. It suggests some hypotheses about what changed and what did not change in the past 500 years of Chinese history. It presents some thoughts about how this process of change is comparable to the Western experience and how it is unique. It mentions some preconditions and shows why the sixteenth century constitutes a useful point of departure for surveying the emergence of modern Chinese society. One key factor that promoted merchant self-government was the inadequacy or temporary withdrawal of an effective regular bureaucratic administration. The rise of capitalism and of the state may be useful in interpreting modern Chinese social history. In Europe, the rise of capitalism and the modern state were very nearly synchronic, whereas in China the expansion of the state lagged by perhaps as much as three centuries behind the appearance of capitalism.
Gregor Benton and Hong Liu
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780520298415
- eISBN:
- 9780520970540
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520298415.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
This chapter is mainly concerned with scholarship over the past eighty years or so in both China and overseas on the qiaopi phenomenon. It first discusses the reasons for the large quantities of ...
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This chapter is mainly concerned with scholarship over the past eighty years or so in both China and overseas on the qiaopi phenomenon. It first discusses the reasons for the large quantities of letters Chinese emigrants wrote home and the replies (known as huipi) they received from their families. It then analyzes scholarship on qiaopi up to 2013, when qiaopi were included in the UNESCO Memory of the World Register. During this period, studies on qiaopi were mainly undertaken in the context of local histories of South China (Fujian and Guangdong). In the late twentieth and the early twenty-first centuries, qiaopi studies gradually emerged as a special branch of research. This chapter pays special attention to qiaopi studies after 2013, when interest in qiaopi, both as an object of collection and a subject of research, reached new heights. While the focus of Chinese-language studies has been primarily on the role remittances play in the Chinese economy and in the economic and social development of the migrant-sending areas (the qiaoxiang), this book looks at qiaopi not only as an economic and financial phenomenon but also as a means of sustaining emotional and spiritual ties in families, clans, and local communities.Less
This chapter is mainly concerned with scholarship over the past eighty years or so in both China and overseas on the qiaopi phenomenon. It first discusses the reasons for the large quantities of letters Chinese emigrants wrote home and the replies (known as huipi) they received from their families. It then analyzes scholarship on qiaopi up to 2013, when qiaopi were included in the UNESCO Memory of the World Register. During this period, studies on qiaopi were mainly undertaken in the context of local histories of South China (Fujian and Guangdong). In the late twentieth and the early twenty-first centuries, qiaopi studies gradually emerged as a special branch of research. This chapter pays special attention to qiaopi studies after 2013, when interest in qiaopi, both as an object of collection and a subject of research, reached new heights. While the focus of Chinese-language studies has been primarily on the role remittances play in the Chinese economy and in the economic and social development of the migrant-sending areas (the qiaoxiang), this book looks at qiaopi not only as an economic and financial phenomenon but also as a means of sustaining emotional and spiritual ties in families, clans, and local communities.
