Yaacob Dweck
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691145082
- eISBN:
- 9781400840007
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691145082.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
This chapter argues that Modena's criticism of the Zohar's origins had little to do with its theological contents. It emerged as a reaction to the elevated status of the work among his Jewish ...
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This chapter argues that Modena's criticism of the Zohar's origins had little to do with its theological contents. It emerged as a reaction to the elevated status of the work among his Jewish contemporaries and immediate predecessors; Jews had begun to treat the Zohar as a source of legal authority rather than a collection of stories and biblical glosses. Modena's critique constituted a denunciation of these larger trends in contemporary Jewish life rather than a rejection of the Zohar as a work of exegesis. As such, Ari Nohem offers a case study of how an early modern intellectual worked to prove that a text was pseudepigraphic. It also presents a wealth of information on attitudes toward the Zohar among Jews in Italy, Poland, and elsewhere. Ultimately, Modena rejected the status ascribed to the Zohar in contemporary Jewish life, denied the work's ostensible antiquity, and reflected on the deleterious impact of its packaging as a printed book.Less
This chapter argues that Modena's criticism of the Zohar's origins had little to do with its theological contents. It emerged as a reaction to the elevated status of the work among his Jewish contemporaries and immediate predecessors; Jews had begun to treat the Zohar as a source of legal authority rather than a collection of stories and biblical glosses. Modena's critique constituted a denunciation of these larger trends in contemporary Jewish life rather than a rejection of the Zohar as a work of exegesis. As such, Ari Nohem offers a case study of how an early modern intellectual worked to prove that a text was pseudepigraphic. It also presents a wealth of information on attitudes toward the Zohar among Jews in Italy, Poland, and elsewhere. Ultimately, Modena rejected the status ascribed to the Zohar in contemporary Jewish life, denied the work's ostensible antiquity, and reflected on the deleterious impact of its packaging as a printed book.
MAGALI TERCERO
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197264461
- eISBN:
- 9780191734625
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197264461.003.0008
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Latin American Studies
This chapter presents powerful images and accounts that chronicle contemporary urban life in Mexico. The images discussed were captured by the photographer Maya Goded. These photographs and ...
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This chapter presents powerful images and accounts that chronicle contemporary urban life in Mexico. The images discussed were captured by the photographer Maya Goded. These photographs and narratives chronicle the desolation of death, the world of the child and the bleak world of prostitution. In addition to these, the woman’s prison, the attractions of lucha libre (masked wrestling), the national lottery and games of chance, and the mass rallies of the Zapatistas, are painted vibrantly through chronicles and accounts. In these chronicles and photographs, the theme of poverty and the failure of the government to address the needs of the marginalized people form the unifying voice of these accounts. Prostitution, wrestling and the lottery became means for the people to escape poverty and the humdrum of everyday lives marked with difficulties. And the mistreatment of children, the trafficking of the rights of women in prisons and the lack of systematic identification of the victims of death reflect the failure of the government to produce laws and services that protect its people. However, despite the bleakness of the photographs and the chronicles presented herein, they nevertheless reflect the resilience of the Mexicans in surviving the challenges of life despite the feeling of being marginalized.Less
This chapter presents powerful images and accounts that chronicle contemporary urban life in Mexico. The images discussed were captured by the photographer Maya Goded. These photographs and narratives chronicle the desolation of death, the world of the child and the bleak world of prostitution. In addition to these, the woman’s prison, the attractions of lucha libre (masked wrestling), the national lottery and games of chance, and the mass rallies of the Zapatistas, are painted vibrantly through chronicles and accounts. In these chronicles and photographs, the theme of poverty and the failure of the government to address the needs of the marginalized people form the unifying voice of these accounts. Prostitution, wrestling and the lottery became means for the people to escape poverty and the humdrum of everyday lives marked with difficulties. And the mistreatment of children, the trafficking of the rights of women in prisons and the lack of systematic identification of the victims of death reflect the failure of the government to produce laws and services that protect its people. However, despite the bleakness of the photographs and the chronicles presented herein, they nevertheless reflect the resilience of the Mexicans in surviving the challenges of life despite the feeling of being marginalized.
Robert Manne
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780195326222
- eISBN:
- 9780199944064
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195326222.003.0005
- Subject:
- Sociology, Culture
In this response to Jeffrey Alexander's chapter, “The Social Construction of Moral Universals,” this chapter offers a somewhat skeptical critique after outlining a political reading of what he has to ...
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In this response to Jeffrey Alexander's chapter, “The Social Construction of Moral Universals,” this chapter offers a somewhat skeptical critique after outlining a political reading of what he has to say. It agrees a great deal with Alexander's account, accepting the basic periodization that the Jewish killings by the Nazis only became the Holocaust sometime in the 1960s. Despite such agreements, the chapter concentrates on some basic misgivings about the case presented by Alexander. Alexander believes no historical event is self-interpreting. There are some difficulties with this kind of popular-cultural explanation of the emergence of the Holocaust as the central moral-political myth of the modern Western world. The chapter argues that the most fundamental misgiving about Alexander's argument is his reading of the place of the Holocaust in contemporary political life.Less
In this response to Jeffrey Alexander's chapter, “The Social Construction of Moral Universals,” this chapter offers a somewhat skeptical critique after outlining a political reading of what he has to say. It agrees a great deal with Alexander's account, accepting the basic periodization that the Jewish killings by the Nazis only became the Holocaust sometime in the 1960s. Despite such agreements, the chapter concentrates on some basic misgivings about the case presented by Alexander. Alexander believes no historical event is self-interpreting. There are some difficulties with this kind of popular-cultural explanation of the emergence of the Holocaust as the central moral-political myth of the modern Western world. The chapter argues that the most fundamental misgiving about Alexander's argument is his reading of the place of the Holocaust in contemporary political life.
Edward William Lane
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9789774245251
- eISBN:
- 9781617970160
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- American University in Cairo Press
- DOI:
- 10.5743/cairo/9789774245251.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Middle Eastern Studies
This text here contains a hitherto unpublished work by the great nineteenth-century British traveler Edward William Lane (1801–76), a name known to almost everyone in all the many fields of Middle ...
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This text here contains a hitherto unpublished work by the great nineteenth-century British traveler Edward William Lane (1801–76), a name known to almost everyone in all the many fields of Middle East studies. Lane was the author of a number of highly influential works: An Account of the Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians (1836), his translation of The Thousand and One Nights (1839–41), selections from the Kur-an (1843), and the Arabic–English Lexicon (1863–93). Yet one of his greatest works was never published: after years of labor and despite an enthusiastic reception by the publishing firm of John Murray in 1831, publication of his first book, this book, was delayed and eventually dropped, mainly for financial reasons. The manuscript was sold to the British Library by Lane's widow in 1891, and has only now been salvaged for publication by Dr. Jason Thompson, nearly 170 years after its completion. This enormously important book takes the form of a journey through Egypt from north to south, with descriptions of all the ancient monuments and contemporary life that Lane explored along the way.Less
This text here contains a hitherto unpublished work by the great nineteenth-century British traveler Edward William Lane (1801–76), a name known to almost everyone in all the many fields of Middle East studies. Lane was the author of a number of highly influential works: An Account of the Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians (1836), his translation of The Thousand and One Nights (1839–41), selections from the Kur-an (1843), and the Arabic–English Lexicon (1863–93). Yet one of his greatest works was never published: after years of labor and despite an enthusiastic reception by the publishing firm of John Murray in 1831, publication of his first book, this book, was delayed and eventually dropped, mainly for financial reasons. The manuscript was sold to the British Library by Lane's widow in 1891, and has only now been salvaged for publication by Dr. Jason Thompson, nearly 170 years after its completion. This enormously important book takes the form of a journey through Egypt from north to south, with descriptions of all the ancient monuments and contemporary life that Lane explored along the way.
Penne L. Restad
- Published in print:
- 1997
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195109801
- eISBN:
- 9780199854073
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195109801.003.0008
- Subject:
- History, Cultural History
Christmas, if seen in terms of a celebration propagated by the Europeans on American soil as a hand-me-down tradition, went through a massive change and adaptation as Americans looked towards the ...
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Christmas, if seen in terms of a celebration propagated by the Europeans on American soil as a hand-me-down tradition, went through a massive change and adaptation as Americans looked towards the reinvention of the holiday as their own. This chapter tackles the adaptation and changes Americans inculcated in their version of Christmas in terms of the customs and rituals of the past that were mixed with the modernization, mechanization, and urbanization of the land and society via the transformation of commerce and industry. This created a holiday meaning that now can be said to fit the call of the present times. Through the celebration of Christmas, Americans have found a way to retreat from the usual routines of contemporary life.Less
Christmas, if seen in terms of a celebration propagated by the Europeans on American soil as a hand-me-down tradition, went through a massive change and adaptation as Americans looked towards the reinvention of the holiday as their own. This chapter tackles the adaptation and changes Americans inculcated in their version of Christmas in terms of the customs and rituals of the past that were mixed with the modernization, mechanization, and urbanization of the land and society via the transformation of commerce and industry. This created a holiday meaning that now can be said to fit the call of the present times. Through the celebration of Christmas, Americans have found a way to retreat from the usual routines of contemporary life.
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- March 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226887517
- eISBN:
- 9780226887531
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226887531.003.0005
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Anthropology, Theory and Practice
What might refunctioned ethnography, an ethnography appropriate for thinking through present situations, be? This entire book is an effort to describe, and hence loosely define, at least one ...
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What might refunctioned ethnography, an ethnography appropriate for thinking through present situations, be? This entire book is an effort to describe, and hence loosely define, at least one ethnography for present situations. This chapter sets the stage, providing some access to the thicket of the author's conversations with his anthropologist friends. Any number of paths are conceivable, but it takes the troublingly self-contradictory notion of “culture.” On the one hand, contemporary conditions would seem to be deeply hostile to general conceptions of culture. On the other, some idea of “culture” seems necessary if we are to make any sense out of life, even contemporary life.Less
What might refunctioned ethnography, an ethnography appropriate for thinking through present situations, be? This entire book is an effort to describe, and hence loosely define, at least one ethnography for present situations. This chapter sets the stage, providing some access to the thicket of the author's conversations with his anthropologist friends. Any number of paths are conceivable, but it takes the troublingly self-contradictory notion of “culture.” On the one hand, contemporary conditions would seem to be deeply hostile to general conceptions of culture. On the other, some idea of “culture” seems necessary if we are to make any sense out of life, even contemporary life.
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748617272
- eISBN:
- 9780748652358
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748617272.003.0006
- Subject:
- Philosophy, General
This chapter describes the nature of some of the modifications contemporary friendship demands, given the differentiation and fragmentation of contemporary life by comparison with the life of ...
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This chapter describes the nature of some of the modifications contemporary friendship demands, given the differentiation and fragmentation of contemporary life by comparison with the life of Aristotelian friends. It re-examines psychoanalytic perspectives on the formation of identity and the constitution of the self, focusing on the role of language, discourse, and imagination in these processes. The chapter suggests that friendship emerges as a creative and uncertain synthesis of the play of forces which create identity and difference between friends, and that creativity is illustrated by the use of an analogy between narrative discourse and friendship.Less
This chapter describes the nature of some of the modifications contemporary friendship demands, given the differentiation and fragmentation of contemporary life by comparison with the life of Aristotelian friends. It re-examines psychoanalytic perspectives on the formation of identity and the constitution of the self, focusing on the role of language, discourse, and imagination in these processes. The chapter suggests that friendship emerges as a creative and uncertain synthesis of the play of forces which create identity and difference between friends, and that creativity is illustrated by the use of an analogy between narrative discourse and friendship.
Sara Crangle
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748640850
- eISBN:
- 9780748651955
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748640850.003.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, 20th-century Literature and Modernism
This introductory chapter discusses the most popular desires of Victorian fiction, which are love and social mobility, first studying Thomas Hardy's The Hand of Ethelberta and The Well-Beloved. It ...
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This introductory chapter discusses the most popular desires of Victorian fiction, which are love and social mobility, first studying Thomas Hardy's The Hand of Ethelberta and The Well-Beloved. It determines that Hardy's protagonists are not satiated by ambition or sexual love, and that the self is torn apart due to an obsessive focus on a single desire. From here, the discussion moves on to examine the rethinking of desire and Emmanuel Levinas's work, explaining how Hardy's writing presents a good representation of the modernist desire-driven shift in focus from self to other. It also considers the relationship between everyday longing, the self and contemporary life.Less
This introductory chapter discusses the most popular desires of Victorian fiction, which are love and social mobility, first studying Thomas Hardy's The Hand of Ethelberta and The Well-Beloved. It determines that Hardy's protagonists are not satiated by ambition or sexual love, and that the self is torn apart due to an obsessive focus on a single desire. From here, the discussion moves on to examine the rethinking of desire and Emmanuel Levinas's work, explaining how Hardy's writing presents a good representation of the modernist desire-driven shift in focus from self to other. It also considers the relationship between everyday longing, the self and contemporary life.
Miriam Feldmann Kaye
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- February 2021
- ISBN:
- 9781906764685
- eISBN:
- 9781800343337
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3828/liverpool/9781906764685.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
This chapter provides a compelling theology for the postmodern, relativist age. It confronts the crisis of Jewish theology that is premised on a growing ambivalence towards the idea of absolute truth ...
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This chapter provides a compelling theology for the postmodern, relativist age. It confronts the crisis of Jewish theology that is premised on a growing ambivalence towards the idea of absolute truth and perpetuated by postmodern cultural and philosophical critiques. It also analyses the central principle of postmodernism, such as culture and its linguistic parameters that determine what is true and that therefore there can no longer be any objective truth. The chapter examines how particular religious culture demonstrate its greater 'truthfulness' and outlines multiple aspects of contemporary Jewish life that are plagued with questions. It investigates the use of the term 'theological', which refer to discussions and explanations dealing with conceptions of God.Less
This chapter provides a compelling theology for the postmodern, relativist age. It confronts the crisis of Jewish theology that is premised on a growing ambivalence towards the idea of absolute truth and perpetuated by postmodern cultural and philosophical critiques. It also analyses the central principle of postmodernism, such as culture and its linguistic parameters that determine what is true and that therefore there can no longer be any objective truth. The chapter examines how particular religious culture demonstrate its greater 'truthfulness' and outlines multiple aspects of contemporary Jewish life that are plagued with questions. It investigates the use of the term 'theological', which refer to discussions and explanations dealing with conceptions of God.
Thomas S.J. Michel (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- March 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780823228119
- eISBN:
- 9780823236985
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fso/9780823228119.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
The largest religous order in the Roman Catholic Church, the Society of Jesus, has been at the forefront of the Church's efforts at dialogue across religions. Understanding and improving relations ...
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The largest religous order in the Roman Catholic Church, the Society of Jesus, has been at the forefront of the Church's efforts at dialogue across religions. Understanding and improving relations between the Church and the Jewish people has been a major focus of the Holy See and the Society of Jesus for many years. This book, the fruit of a major conference on the history, nature, and dynamics of relations between Jesuits and contemporary Jewish life, brings together a selection of chapters by Jesuit scholars and pastoral leaders, a Jewish studies scholar, and a rabbi. Drawing on a variety of approaches in historical and constructive theology, literary criticism, and spirituality, the chapters explore historical, philosophical, theological, cultural, and institutional themes—from Ignatian perspectives on Halakhic spirituality and the role played in Jesuit history by Jews forced to convert to Christianity to Jesuit perspectives on Hannah Arendt, Abraham Joshua Heschel, and Harold Bloom.Less
The largest religous order in the Roman Catholic Church, the Society of Jesus, has been at the forefront of the Church's efforts at dialogue across religions. Understanding and improving relations between the Church and the Jewish people has been a major focus of the Holy See and the Society of Jesus for many years. This book, the fruit of a major conference on the history, nature, and dynamics of relations between Jesuits and contemporary Jewish life, brings together a selection of chapters by Jesuit scholars and pastoral leaders, a Jewish studies scholar, and a rabbi. Drawing on a variety of approaches in historical and constructive theology, literary criticism, and spirituality, the chapters explore historical, philosophical, theological, cultural, and institutional themes—from Ignatian perspectives on Halakhic spirituality and the role played in Jesuit history by Jews forced to convert to Christianity to Jesuit perspectives on Hannah Arendt, Abraham Joshua Heschel, and Harold Bloom.
Mark Ramey and Mark Ramey
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- February 2021
- ISBN:
- 9781906733551
- eISBN:
- 9781800342040
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3828/liverpool/9781906733551.003.0004
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This chapter explores the critical reactions to Fight Club (1999). Fight Club has a complex, postmodern approach to genre and narrative; it is a generic hybrid that resists categorisation and a ...
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This chapter explores the critical reactions to Fight Club (1999). Fight Club has a complex, postmodern approach to genre and narrative; it is a generic hybrid that resists categorisation and a narrative that avoids precise resolution. Critical responses were wide ranging but the most vociferous and aggressive were from renowned critics like Roger Ebert and Alexander Walker who found the film repellent and nihilistic. Many critics linked the film to an infantile reading of Nietzsche, which further raised the spectre of the Nazis and helped endorse the view that Fight Club was politically dangerous and morally repugnant. However, critical opinion was split, with some reviewers seeing Fight Club as a brilliantly effective critique and biting satire of contemporary life. The film also created censorship issues for the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) who insisted on minor cuts to two scenes of fighting. The chapter then considers the cultural contexts of Fight Club. In 1999, the fear of the ‘Millennium Bug’ was indicative of a general anxiety over many aspects of Western culture. These were focused on notions of gender and in particular male anxiety of emasculation and feminisation, as well as generational mistrust and unease.Less
This chapter explores the critical reactions to Fight Club (1999). Fight Club has a complex, postmodern approach to genre and narrative; it is a generic hybrid that resists categorisation and a narrative that avoids precise resolution. Critical responses were wide ranging but the most vociferous and aggressive were from renowned critics like Roger Ebert and Alexander Walker who found the film repellent and nihilistic. Many critics linked the film to an infantile reading of Nietzsche, which further raised the spectre of the Nazis and helped endorse the view that Fight Club was politically dangerous and morally repugnant. However, critical opinion was split, with some reviewers seeing Fight Club as a brilliantly effective critique and biting satire of contemporary life. The film also created censorship issues for the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) who insisted on minor cuts to two scenes of fighting. The chapter then considers the cultural contexts of Fight Club. In 1999, the fear of the ‘Millennium Bug’ was indicative of a general anxiety over many aspects of Western culture. These were focused on notions of gender and in particular male anxiety of emasculation and feminisation, as well as generational mistrust and unease.
Menachem Kellner
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- February 2021
- ISBN:
- 9781904113294
- eISBN:
- 9781800340381
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3828/liverpool/9781904113294.003.0009
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
This afterword looks at the contemporary resistance to the Maimonidean reform. Anyone familiar with contemporary Jewish life, especially within Orthodoxy, will see immediately that the Maimonidean ...
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This afterword looks at the contemporary resistance to the Maimonidean reform. Anyone familiar with contemporary Jewish life, especially within Orthodoxy, will see immediately that the Maimonidean reform described in this book has failed to take hold. In addition to the seven specific issues addressed here — the nature of halakhah; distinctions between holy and profane and ritually pure and ritually impure; the character of the Hebrew language; the notion of kavod/shekhinah/created light; the distinction between Jew and non-Jew; and the existence of angels as popularly understood — Maimonides also sought to reform the curriculum of Jewish learning. In each of these areas, he sought to transform the Judaism of his day, and in each of these areas, Judaism continued to develop as if Maimonides had never existed and never written. However, in contrast to the items in this list, there are areas in which Maimonides' influence has been decisive. He succeeded in convincing almost all Jews that the God of Judaism is entirely incorporeal. He also convinced subsequent generations of Jews that the Jewish religion has a firm dogmatic base.Less
This afterword looks at the contemporary resistance to the Maimonidean reform. Anyone familiar with contemporary Jewish life, especially within Orthodoxy, will see immediately that the Maimonidean reform described in this book has failed to take hold. In addition to the seven specific issues addressed here — the nature of halakhah; distinctions between holy and profane and ritually pure and ritually impure; the character of the Hebrew language; the notion of kavod/shekhinah/created light; the distinction between Jew and non-Jew; and the existence of angels as popularly understood — Maimonides also sought to reform the curriculum of Jewish learning. In each of these areas, he sought to transform the Judaism of his day, and in each of these areas, Judaism continued to develop as if Maimonides had never existed and never written. However, in contrast to the items in this list, there are areas in which Maimonides' influence has been decisive. He succeeded in convincing almost all Jews that the God of Judaism is entirely incorporeal. He also convinced subsequent generations of Jews that the Jewish religion has a firm dogmatic base.
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- March 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226887517
- eISBN:
- 9780226887531
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226887531.003.0002
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Anthropology, Theory and Practice
This chapter begins with a brief discussion of the challenges faced by cultural anthropology today. It describes how cultural anthropology went through a period of rupture in the 1980s, a substantial ...
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This chapter begins with a brief discussion of the challenges faced by cultural anthropology today. It describes how cultural anthropology went through a period of rupture in the 1980s, a substantial break with the discipline's traditions. Just exactly what changed for cultural anthropologists in the 1980s remains unclear, but the university practices that constitute cultural anthropology carried on both much as before, but also differently—and what was the same, or thought to be different, remains contested long after the fact. This book proceeds on the assumption that the rupture of the 1980s was not enough to constitute an ethnography fully prepared to inquire into many of the cultural questions which seem so unavoidable today, that is, questions raised by “cultures” of contemporary life in developed places.Less
This chapter begins with a brief discussion of the challenges faced by cultural anthropology today. It describes how cultural anthropology went through a period of rupture in the 1980s, a substantial break with the discipline's traditions. Just exactly what changed for cultural anthropologists in the 1980s remains unclear, but the university practices that constitute cultural anthropology carried on both much as before, but also differently—and what was the same, or thought to be different, remains contested long after the fact. This book proceeds on the assumption that the rupture of the 1980s was not enough to constitute an ethnography fully prepared to inquire into many of the cultural questions which seem so unavoidable today, that is, questions raised by “cultures” of contemporary life in developed places.
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- March 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226775340
- eISBN:
- 9780226775364
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226775364.003.0001
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Social and Cultural Anthropology
Anthropologists are always “between” things—between “being there,” as the late Clifford Geertz put it and “being-here,” between two or more languages, between two or more cultural traditions, between ...
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Anthropologists are always “between” things—between “being there,” as the late Clifford Geertz put it and “being-here,” between two or more languages, between two or more cultural traditions, between two or more apprehensions of reality. Anthropologists are the sojourners of “the between.” They go there and absorb a different language, culture, and way of being and return here, where they can never fully resume the lives they had previously led. This book attempts to write about how living anthropology can transform its practitioners, changing their conception of who they are, what they know, and how they apprehend the world. It is the story of the author's life in anthropology, of his attempt to understand the social and cultural complexities of contemporary life, of his struggle to write about life in the world. This book suggests that acknowledging the power of the anthropological between is an insightful way to make better sense of the quandaries of human being.Less
Anthropologists are always “between” things—between “being there,” as the late Clifford Geertz put it and “being-here,” between two or more languages, between two or more cultural traditions, between two or more apprehensions of reality. Anthropologists are the sojourners of “the between.” They go there and absorb a different language, culture, and way of being and return here, where they can never fully resume the lives they had previously led. This book attempts to write about how living anthropology can transform its practitioners, changing their conception of who they are, what they know, and how they apprehend the world. It is the story of the author's life in anthropology, of his attempt to understand the social and cultural complexities of contemporary life, of his struggle to write about life in the world. This book suggests that acknowledging the power of the anthropological between is an insightful way to make better sense of the quandaries of human being.
David Byrne
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9781847424518
- eISBN:
- 9781447301486
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781847424518.003.0003
- Subject:
- Sociology, Social Research and Statistics
This chapter deals with the development of knowledge which is to be applied in order both to understand what works and to show what has worked — with the improvement of practice and policy and with ...
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This chapter deals with the development of knowledge which is to be applied in order both to understand what works and to show what has worked — with the improvement of practice and policy and with claims for competence in the development of solutions to the problems of contemporary life — the policy domain, and in the implementation and execution of those policies, the practice domain. It refutes the arguments presented in particular by the Cochrane Collaboration for health, but also with some qualifications endorsed by the Campbell Collaboration in relation to general policy, that is meaningful to construct a hierarchy of modes of production of evidence with the meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials occupying the highest position in that hierarchy. It then considers the issue of variables versus cases by taking forward the complex realist methodological arguments developed in Chapter One.Less
This chapter deals with the development of knowledge which is to be applied in order both to understand what works and to show what has worked — with the improvement of practice and policy and with claims for competence in the development of solutions to the problems of contemporary life — the policy domain, and in the implementation and execution of those policies, the practice domain. It refutes the arguments presented in particular by the Cochrane Collaboration for health, but also with some qualifications endorsed by the Campbell Collaboration in relation to general policy, that is meaningful to construct a hierarchy of modes of production of evidence with the meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials occupying the highest position in that hierarchy. It then considers the issue of variables versus cases by taking forward the complex realist methodological arguments developed in Chapter One.
Susan M. Dennison and Kirsten L. Besemer
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- November 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780198810087
- eISBN:
- 9780191847257
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198810087.003.0006
- Subject:
- Law, Criminal Law and Criminology
This chapter explores the concept of social exclusion and the ways that it can be used to frame discussions about the consequences of parental imprisonment for children. It reviews emerging findings ...
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This chapter explores the concept of social exclusion and the ways that it can be used to frame discussions about the consequences of parental imprisonment for children. It reviews emerging findings that show that parental imprisonment may have fundamental impacts on intergenerational social exclusion. Next, the chapter draws on narratives of children with imprisoned fathers and their caregivers to illustrate how paternal imprisonment interrupts customary practices — living patterns and roles that a father might be expected to fulfil in contemporary family life. This chapter thus extends the discussion beyond the typical focus on economic and health indicators of social exclusion to consider children’s exclusion from daily social activities, proposing that these are essential for children’s identity formation and sense of inclusion and belonging. It argues that such direct experiences of social exclusion are fundamentally harmful to children’s long-term wellbeing and may mediate the lifelong disadvantage known to affect prisoners’ children.Less
This chapter explores the concept of social exclusion and the ways that it can be used to frame discussions about the consequences of parental imprisonment for children. It reviews emerging findings that show that parental imprisonment may have fundamental impacts on intergenerational social exclusion. Next, the chapter draws on narratives of children with imprisoned fathers and their caregivers to illustrate how paternal imprisonment interrupts customary practices — living patterns and roles that a father might be expected to fulfil in contemporary family life. This chapter thus extends the discussion beyond the typical focus on economic and health indicators of social exclusion to consider children’s exclusion from daily social activities, proposing that these are essential for children’s identity formation and sense of inclusion and belonging. It argues that such direct experiences of social exclusion are fundamentally harmful to children’s long-term wellbeing and may mediate the lifelong disadvantage known to affect prisoners’ children.
A. David Napier
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- April 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199969357
- eISBN:
- 9780199346097
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199969357.003.0015
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This Epilogue concludes the book with some reflections on the difficulties presented for a contemporary reader in taking seriously the arguments and recommendations made in this text. This final ...
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This Epilogue concludes the book with some reflections on the difficulties presented for a contemporary reader in taking seriously the arguments and recommendations made in this text. This final section does not provide ready answers but it describes some personal struggles with the tasks described in the book. This is done in order to show how looking for what cannon be known fully is often arduous yet also very fulfilling.Less
This Epilogue concludes the book with some reflections on the difficulties presented for a contemporary reader in taking seriously the arguments and recommendations made in this text. This final section does not provide ready answers but it describes some personal struggles with the tasks described in the book. This is done in order to show how looking for what cannon be known fully is often arduous yet also very fulfilling.