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Risky Expertise in Chinese Financialisation: Returned Labour and the State-Finance Nexus
by Giulia Dal MasoThis book focuses on the subjectivities of stock market investors to explore tensions within the Chinese state’s engagement in contemporary financial capitalism. It adopts a genealogical method to investigate how the production of foreign-trained financial experts (haigui) and informal experts (sanhu) points to paradoxes in China’s efforts to cultivate financial expertise. Chinese financialisation relates to the state’s project of financialising human capital in reaction to a contractualised labour market and the vanishing welfare state. Through ethnographic inquiry, Dal Maso shows the Chinese stock markets are crucial to the new redistributive regime where wage labour risks losing its primacy. Here, one can observe how the relationship between money and wages in China is being reworked and witness the development of a new economic order in which the state’s legitimacy becomes increasingly dependent on its capacity to jiushi–to rescue the market in times of crisis.
Risky Play: An Ethical Challenge (Critical Cultural Studies of Childhood)
by Øyvind Kvalnes Ellen Beate Hansen SandseterThis open access book brings together current childhood research and contemporary ethical theory to draw attention to how children depend upon a scope of action for risky play for their mental and physical development. In many countries, the opportunities for children to play away from adults' close attention have decreased. At both school and home, protection and avoidance of harm take increasing priority. This book draws a distinction between do-good ethics and avoid-harm ethics to highlight ethical tensions and dilemmas encountered by professionals who work with children, and suggests better ways to balance these ethical dimensions in approaching risky play.
Risky Work Environments: Reappraising Human Work Within Fallible Systems
by Pascal BéguinRisky Work Environments provides new insights into the multiple and dynamic trajectories of both near misses and mistakes in complex work environments, based on actual case examples. It also studies the interactions between various activity systems or work practices (design, maintenance, incident investigation, regulation, operation) and their consequences for operational performance. The role of rules and regulations is explored, considering the consequences of deviations and the limitations of enforced compliance. Further, the book explains how to search for, think about and act on information about vulnerability, near misses and mistakes in a way that emphasizes accountability in ways that are not punitive but instead responsible, innovative and provide opportunities for learning. Writing from different disciplines and theoretical perspectives, the contributors analyse working in risky environments which include air traffic control, offshore mining, chemical plants, neo-natal intensive care units, ship piloting and emergency call dispatch centres. In each chapter the authors present rich empirical data and their analyses illustrate a variety of ways in which, despite imperfect systems, safety and resilience is created in human action. In the chapters where the focus is on error or mistakes, the analysis undertaken reveals the logic of actions undertaken at the time as well as their constraints. The contributors are all active researchers within their disciplines and come from Australia, Finland, France, Norway and the Netherlands. The book will be of direct interest to safety scientists, researchers and scientists, as well as human factors practitioners working in complex technological systems.
Rites of Return: Diaspora Poetics and the Politics of Memory (Gender and Culture Series)
by Marianne Hirsch Nancy K. MillerThe first decade of the twenty-first century witnessed a passionate engagement with the losses of the past. Rites of Return examines the effects of this legacy of historical injustice and documented suffering on the politics of the present. Twenty-four writers, historians, literary and cultural critics, anthropologists and sociologists, visual artists, legal scholars, and curators grapple with our contemporary ethical endeavor to redress enduring inequities and retrieve lost histories. Mapping bold and broad-based responses to past injury across Eastern Europe, Africa, Latin America, Australia, the Middle East, and the United States, Rites of Return examines new technologies of genetic and genealogical research, memoirs about lost family histories, the popularity of roots-seeking journeys, organized trauma tourism at sites of atrocity and new Museums of Conscience, and profound connections between social rites and political and legal rights of return.Contributors include: Lila Abu-Lughod, Columbia University; Nadia Abu El-Haj, Barnard College; Elazar Barkan, Columbia University; Svetlana Boym, Harvard University; Saidiya Hartman, Columbia University; Amira Hass, journalist; Jarrod Hayes, University of Michigan; Marianne Hirsch, Columbia University; Eva Hoffman, writer; Margaret Homans, Yale University; Rosanne Kennedy, Australian National University; Daniel Mendelsohn, writer; Susan Meiselas, photographer; Nancy K. Miller, CUNY Graduate Center; Alondra Nelson, Columbia University; Jay Prosser, University of Leeds; Liz Sevchenko, Coalition of Museums of Conscience; Leo Spitzer, Dartmouth College; Marita Sturken New York University; Diana Taylor, New York University; Patricia J. Williams, Columbia University
Ritual Civilization and Mythological Coding: Cultural Interpretation of Li Ji (Understanding China)
by Qicui TangThis book places Li Ji (the Book of Rites) back in the overall context of “books,” “rites” and its research history, drawing on the interrelations between myth, ritual and “materialized” symbols to do so. Further, it employs the double perspectives of “books” and “rites” to explore the sources and symbols of the capping ceremony (rites of passage), decode the prototypes of Miao and Ming Tang, and restore the discourse patterns of “people of five directions.” The book subsequently investigates the formation and function of the Yue Ling calendar and disaster ritual, so as to reveal the human cognitive encoding and metalanguage of ritual behavior involved. In the process, it demonstrates that Li Ji, its textual memories, archaeological remains and “traditional ceremony” narratives are all subject to the latent myth coding mechanism in China’s cultural system, while the “compilation” and “materialized” remains are merely forms of ritual refactoring, interpretation and exhibition, used when authority seeks the aid of ritual civilization to strengthen its legitimacy and maintain the social order.
Ritual Embodiment in Modern Western Magic: Becoming the Magician (Gnostica)
by Damon Zacharias LycourinosIn the Western world, magic has often functioned as an umbrella term for various religious beliefs and ritual practices that seek to influence events by harnessing supernatural power. The definition of these myriad occult and esoteric traditions have, however, usually come from those that are opposed to its practice; notably authorities in religious, legal and intellectual spheres. This book seeks to provide a new perspective, directly from the practitioners of modern Western magic, by exploring how a distinctive mode of embodiment and consciousness can produce a transition from an ‘ordinary’ to a ‘magical’ worldview. Starting with an introduction to the study of magic in the Western academy, the book then presents the author’s own participant observation of five ethnographic case studies of modern Western magic. The focus of these ethnographic case studies is directed towards ideas and methods the informants employ to self-legitimise and self-represent as ‘magicians’. It concludes by discussing the phenomenological implications and issues around embodiment that are inherent to the contemporary practice of magic. This is a unique insight into the lived experience of practitioners of modern magic. As such, it will be of keen interest to scholars of the Occult and New Religious Movements, as well as Religious Studies academics examining issues around the embodiment and the anthropology of religion.
Ritual and Belief in Morocco: Vol. I (Routledge Revivals)
by Edward WestermarckBetween the years of 1898 and 1926, Edward Westermarck spent a total of seven years in Morocco, visiting towns and tribes in different parts of the country, meeting local people and learning about their language and culture; his findings are noted in this two-volume set, first published in 1926. Alongside extensive reference material, including Westermarck’s system of transliteration and a comprehensive list of the tribes and districts mentioned in the text, the chapters discuss such areas as the influences on and relationship between religion and magic in Morocco, the origins of beliefs and practices, curses and witchcraft. This is the first volume of two dealing with the same subject, and will fascinate any student or researcher of anthropology with an interest in the history of ritual, culture and religion in Morocco.
Ritual as a Missing Link: Sociology, Structural Ritualization Theory, and Research
by J. David KnottnerusUp to now, ritual has been under-utilised for studying human behaviour. This book narrows the gap in our understanding of the social causes and consequences of our actions by focusing on the ritualised behaviours that define much of our daily lives. Knottnerus breaks new ground by comprehensively describing structural ritualistic theory. He shows how structural reproduction has occurred throughout the world, how rituals can be strategically used and how power can influence rituals, and how the disruption and reconstitution of ritual is of crucial importance for human beings. This book shows that ritual provides a missing link in sociology and helps us better explain the extreme complexity of human action and social reality.
Ritual in Human Evolution and Religion: Psychological and Ritual Resources
by Matt J. RossanoThis book explores the role of ritual in social life, human evolution, and religion. It explains the functions and purpose of varied rituals across the world by arguing they are mechanisms of ‘resource management’, providing a descriptive tool for understanding rituals and generating predictions about ritual survival. By showing how rituals have resulted from the need to cultivate social resources necessary to sustain cooperative groups, Rossano presents a unique examination of the function of rituals and how they cultivate, mobilize, and direct psychological resources. Rossano examines rituals from a diverse range of historical contexts, including the Greco-Romans, Soviet Russians, and those in ‘crisis cults’. The book shows how rituals address societal and community problems by cultivating three psychological resources – commitment to communal values, goodwill (both of humans and supernatural agents) and social support or social capital. Holding communities together in the face of threat, disaster, or apathy is one of ritual’s primary functions, and the author describes how our ancestors used ritual to become the highly social, inter-dependent primate that is Homo sapiens. Including examples from all over the world and providing detailed descriptions of both past and current ritual practices, this is fascinating reading for students and academics in psychology, sociology, religion, anthropology, and sociology.
Ritual, Emotion, Violence: Studies on the Micro-Sociology of Randall Collins
by Annette Lareau Elliott B. Weininger Omar LizardoMicrosociologists seek to capture social life as it is experienced, and in recent decades no one has championed the microsociological approach more fiercely than Randall Collins. The pieces in this exciting volume offer fresh and original insights into key aspects of Collins’ thought, and of microsociology more generally. The introductory essay by Elliot B. Weininger and Omar Lizardo provides a lucid overview of the key premises this perspective. Ethnographic papers by Randol Contreras, using data from New York, and Philippe Bourgois and Laurie Kain Hart, using data from Philadelphia, examine the social logic of violence in street-level narcotics markets. Both draw on heavily on Collins’ microsociological account of the features of social situations that tend to engender violence. In the second section of the book, a study by Paul DiMaggio, Clark Bernier, Charles Heckscher, and David Mimno tackles the question of whether electronically mediated interaction exhibits the ritualization which, according to Collins, is a common feature of face-to-face encounters. Their results suggest that, at least under certain circumstances, digitally mediated interaction may foster social solidarity in a manner similar to face-to-face interaction. A chapter by Simone Polillo picks up from Collins’ work in the sociology of knowledge, examining multiple ways in which social network structures can engender intellectual creativity. The third section of the book contains papers that critically but sympathetically assess key tenets of microsociology. Jonathan H. Turner argues that the radically microsociological perspective developed by Collins will better serve the social scientific project if it is embedded in a more comprehensive paradigm, one that acknowledges the macro- and meso-levels of social and cultural life. A chapter by David Gibson presents empirical analyses of decisions by state leaders concerning whether or not to use force to deal with internal or external foes, suggesting that Collins’ model of interaction ritual can only partially illuminate the dynamics of these highly consequential political moments. Work by Erika Summers-Effler and Justin Van Ness seeks to systematize and broaden the scope of Collins’ theory of interaction, by including in it encounters that depart from the ritual model in important ways. In a final, reflective chapter, Randall Collins himself highlights the promise and future of microsociology. Clearly written, these pieces offer cutting-edge thinking on some of the crucial theoretical and empirical issues in sociology today.
Ritual, Performance and the Senses (Sensory Studies)
by Michael BullRitual has long been a central concept in anthropological theories of religious transmission. Ritual, Performance and the Senses offers a new understanding of how ritual enables religious representations – ideas, beliefs, values – to be shared among participants. Focusing on the body and the experiential nature of ritual, the book brings together insights from three distinct areas of study: cognitive/neuroanthropology, performance studies and the anthropology of the senses. Eight chapters by scholars from each of these sub-disciplines investigate different aspects of embodied religious practice, ranging from philosophical discussions of belief to explorations of the biological processes taking place in the brain itself. Case studies range from miracles and visionary activity in Catholic Malta to meditative practices in theatrical performance and include three pilgrimage sites: the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, the festival of Ramlila in Ramnagar, India and the mountain shrine of the Lord of the Shiny Snow in Andean Peru.Understanding ritual allows us to understand processes at the very centre of human social life and humanity itself, making this an invaluable text for students and scholars in anthropology, cognitive science, performance studies and religious studies.
Ritual, Rapture and Rebellion: The Making of Market, Mercy and Meaning Amongst the Gitanos of El Rastro (New Anthropologies of Europe: Perspectives and Provocations #9)
by Marianne Blom BrodersenThe Gitanos of el Rastro carry an ‘ontology of simultaneity’ as self-employed traders and Pentecostal practitioners in Madrid. This makes the Spanish Romani be considered as both a part of and apart from mainstream society. This book is an anthropological account of a group of middle and upper-class Gitanos and their ways of creating a ‘society within society’ based upon distinct cultural, moral and ideological values, notions and practices. The study renders a comprehensive perspective on social processes of classification, stratification, ‘othering’ and the role of ‘strangers’ in society and how these processes unfold in the interface between social, ritual and economic life on a local to global scale.
Ritual: Psychoanalytical Studies
by Theodor Reik"In a work Freud characterized as "brilliant," the author, an acknowledged pioneer in the study of the psychology of religion, analyzes a variety of rituals—couvade, puberty rites, the prayers and religious customs of modern Jews - in order to reconstruct the nature of the original impulses from which ritual is derived. He applies psychoanalytic methods of investigation to some of the most highly valued products of civilization—a task Freud called a "scientific duty." Connecting the superstitious beliefs of prehistoric times with contemporary practices, Dr. Reik illuminates the significance of modern and ancient religion. The author's lively style, combined with his scholarly documentation, makes this a book that will appeal alike to psychiatrists, psychologists, and students of comparative religion"
Ritual: What It Is, How It Works, and Why
by Robbie Davis-Floyd Charles D. LaughlinDesigned for both academic and lay audiences, this book identifies the characteristics of ritual and, via multiple examples, details how ritual works on the human body and brain to produce its often profound effects. These include enhancing courage, effecting healing, and generating group cohesion by enacting cultural—or individual—beliefs and values. It also shows what happens when ritual fails.
Ritualisierende Agency in Todesritualen: Eine Untersuchung der Positionierung(en) von gemeinschaftsungebundenen Ritualleiter*innen in der Deutschschweiz (Veröffentlichungen der Sektion Religionssoziologie der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Soziologie)
by Lilo RutherIn diesem Open-Access-Buch werden anhand von ethnographischen Fallbeobachtungen mit16 Ritualleiter*innen folgende Fragen beantwortet Wie positionieren sich Leitende von Todesritualen, die ausserhalb einer religiösen Gemeinschaft in der Deutschschweiz stattfinden? Welches Selbstbild vertreten die Ritualleiter*innen? Welche Aufgaben verbinden sie mit ihrer Tätigkeit? Wem sprechen sie Handlungs- und Wirkmächtigkeit (Agency) zu? Welche Themen und Konzepte sind für ihr Handeln und Erleben zentral? An welche kollektiven Sinngehalte (Deutungsmuster) schließen sie dabei an? Methodisch verortet sich die Arbeit in der Rekonstruktiven Sozialforschung. Dabei orientiert sie sich an Narrationsanalyse, Grounded Theory und Qualitativer Agencyforschung. Theoretisch knüpft die Studie an Konzepte von 'Ritualisierungen' und 'Agency' an, um auf empirischer Grundlage das Konzept der 'Ritualisierenden Agency' zu entwickeln: Durch die gewählten Formen der Ritualisierung im Umgang mit der Bestattung und der Begleitung der Angehörigen erlangen die Akteur*innen eigenständige Handlungsmächtigkeit und Verantwortlichkeit. Die Analysen zeigen, wie die Akteur*innen selbst ihre Handlungsspielräume und ihre eigene Teilhabe in den Interviews und in den Bestattungsritualen zum Ausdruck bringen.
Rituals and Music in Europe: An ethnological study through data analytics (New Approaches to the Scientific Study of Religion #13)
by Daniel BurgosThis book explores modern European religious and non-religious rituals and their main features by focusing on music as a key element required for the full expression of beliefs. It specifically examines the relationship between religious, non-religious, pagan, cultural, celebratory, and traditional rituals. In doing so, this text focuses on the extent to which the rituals overlap, replace, or feed religious or pseudo-religious beliefs to create alternative beliefs (individual or collective) that systematically ignore any religion. The book further analyses the relationship between daily habits, holidays, sports, politics, culture, and other pagan rituals as forms that represent social feelings by identifying, enjoying, or impersonating emotions; and transversally, it explores how music facilitates and fosters those emotions. The volume also investigates how rituals coexist and mutually influence each other through a representation of religious and non-religious rituals, and how music plays a central role in that phenomenology. The author argues that music is a key part of various types of rituals (e.g. rites of passage), and that music supports and enriches the meaning of the ritual, to ultimately strengthen the bond of communication with the individual and the group. This monograph appeals to students and researchers working in religious studies and in music theory.
Rituals and Practices in World Religions: Cross-Cultural Scholarship to Inform Research and Clinical Contexts (Religion, Spirituality and Health: A Social Scientific Approach #5)
by David Bryce Yaden Yukun Zhao Kaiping Peng Andrew B. NewbergThis book codifies, describes, and contextualizes group rituals and individual practices from world religious traditions. At the interface of religious studies, psychology, and medicine, it elucidates the cultural richness of practices and rituals from numerous world religions. The book begins by discussing the role that religious rituals and practices may play in the well-being of humans and the multi-dimensional cultural and psychological complexity of religious rituals and practices. It then discusses rituals and practices within a number of religions, including Christian, Islamic, Jewish, Buddhist, Taoist, Sikh, Hindu, Confucian, and other traditions. There is a need for a more inclusive collection of religious rituals and practices, as some practices are making headlines in contemporary society. Mindfulness is one of the fastest-growing psychological interventions in healthcare and Yoga is now practiced by tens of millions of people in the U.S.A. These practices have been examined in thousands of academic publications spanning neuroscience, psychology, medicine, sociology, and religious studies. While Mindfulness and Yoga have recently received widespread scientific and cultural attention, many rituals and practices from world religious traditions have remained underexplored in scholarly, scientific, and clinical contexts. This book brings more diverse rituals and practices into this academic discourse while providing a reference guide for clinicians and students of the topic.
Rituals of Death: From Prehistoric Times to Now
by Stan BeckensallWe all must die, and how society deals with the disposal is fascinating in the way it reflects the beliefs of the people of the time and ways in which they honor or do not honor the dead. Having excavated prehistoric burials, the author weighs carefully the evidence of what people might have thought of the dead through the way they buried them and what was put into the graves. These excavations were done mainly with the help of young people, and the way that this has been organised in order to get the maximum information has been an essential part of the task. The author provides much detail of this that makes it more interesting and personal. Burial customs change, so the book includes a section on events such as the Black Death and cholera to show how such catastrophes change people's minds and customs. The present problem of burial has been highlighted as it was then by the horror of an invisible disease, the effects of which we have to cope with. In the past the causes of the disease, when discovered, led to Public health inquiries into the causes, and to improvements in some burial grounds. The traditional burial in “God's little Acre' around a church provides with much information about people through their headstones and other monuments – something accessible to all who visit our churches today, and examples from Northumberland give a typical range of what we find there.
Rituals of Manhood: Male Initiation In Papua New Guinea
by Gilbert H. HerdtRituals of Manhood provides some of the most dramatic and richly textured accounts of ritual passages known to anthropologists of the late twentieth century. When in an earlier time anthropologists and sociologists described collective initiation rituals, the political and gender aspects of these practices were seldom underscored. Today, the power relationships of the body and domination, and the social arena of gender politics are widely regarded as critical to the cultural meaning and interpretation.
Rival Truths: Common Sense and Social Psychological Explanations in Health and Illness (International Series in Social Psychology)
by Lindsay St ClaireIt is common sense that our survival as individuals depends on the survival of our physical bodies. However, common sense has been medicalised. Terms such as 'road rage' and 'premenstrual syndrome' sound like medical problems and suggest that it is affected individuals, rather than experiences or circumstances that require treatment.Without denying their importance, Rival Truths challenges four basic common sense views of health and illness and offers rival social psychological explanations. The primacy of biological facts is challenged by looking at the effects of social psychological influences, such as those mediated by stress. The assumption that medical practices are scientific is challenged by evidence that they also reflect and recreate social constructions. The assumption that medical advances are the most effective way to combat disease is questioned as their success may rely on changes in beliefs or behaviour, and finally, critical analyses suggest that medical treatment can sometimes be to the disadvantage of patients.Lindsay St. Claire has helped to raise awareness that health problems might be caused by social arrangements, not biological dysfunction. Thus, social psychology might suggest new ways to enhance health status which do not depend on medical breakthroughs. This book will be of interest for health psychology students, medical students and anyone involved in caring professions.
Rivalry and Group Behavior Among Consumers and Brands: Comparisons In and Out of the Sport Context
by Cody T. HavardThis interdisciplinary book extends knowledge by comparing rivalry and rival group behavior in sport within areas outside of sport, such as consumer brands, political discourse, and product/service preferences. It examines how out-group behavior differs among relevant groups. Readers are introduced to the phenomenon of rivalry, using the sport setting as an example. Then, the author offers separate quantitative and qualitative investigations to compare how rivalry and group behavior differ among sport and non-sport settings. Incorporating research from marketing, psychology, political science, and sociology, this book offers researchers in several fields a new understanding of individual and group behavior.
River Basin Development and Human Rights in Eastern Africa — A Policy Crossroads
by Claudia J. CarrThis book is open access under a CC BY-NC 2. 5 license. This book offers a devastating look at deeply flawed development processes driven by international finance, African governments and the global consulting industry. It examines major river basin development underway in the semi-arid borderlands of Ethiopia, Kenya and South Sudan and its disastrous human rights consequences for a half-million indigenous people. The volume traces the historical origins of Gibe III megadam construction along the Omo River in Ethiopia--in turn, enabling irrigation for commercial-scale agricultural development and causing radical reduction of downstream Omo and (Kenya's) Lake Turkana waters. Presenting case studies of indigenous Dasanech and northernmost Turkana livelihood systems and Gibe III linked impacts on them, the author predicts agropastoral and fishing economic collapse, region-wide hunger with exposure to disease epidemics, irreversible natural resource destruction and cross-border interethnic armed conflict spilling into South Sudan. The book identifies fundamental failings of government and development bank impact assessments, including their distortion or omission of mandated transboundary assessment, cumulative effects of the Gibe III dam and its linked Ethiopia-Kenya energy transmission 'highway' project, key hydrologic and human ecological characteristics, major earthquake threat in the dam region and widespread expropriation and political repression. Violations of internationally recognized human rights, especially by the Ethiopian government but also the Kenyan government, are extensive and on the increase--with collaboration by the development banks, in breach of their own internal operational procedures. A policy crossroads has now emerged. The author presents the alternative to the present looming catastrophe--consideration of development suspension in order to undertake genuinely independent transboundary assessment and a plan for continued development action within a human rights framework--forging a sustainable future for the indigenous peoples now directly threatened and for their respective eastern Africa states. Claudia Carr's book is a treasure of detailed information gathered over many years concerning river basin development of the Omo River in Ethiopia and its impact on the peoples of the lower Omo Basin and the Lake Turkana region in Kenya. It contains numerous maps, charts, and photographs not previously available to the public. The book is highly critical of the environmental and human rights implications of the Omo River hydropower projects on both the local ethnic communities in Ethiopia and on the downstream Turkana in Kenya. David Shinn Former Ambassador to Ethiopia and to Burkina Faso Adjust Professor of International Affairs, The George Washington University, Washington D. C.
River Basin Development and Human Rights in Eastern Africa — A Policy Crossroads
by Claudia J. CarrThis book is open access under a CC BY-NC 2. 5 license. This book offers a devastating look at deeply flawed development processes driven by international finance, African governments and the global consulting industry. It examines major river basin development underway in the semi-arid borderlands of Ethiopia, Kenya and South Sudan and its disastrous human rights consequences for a half-million indigenous people. The volume traces the historical origins of Gibe III megadam construction along the Omo River in Ethiopia--in turn, enabling irrigation for commercial-scale agricultural development and causing radical reduction of downstream Omo and (Kenya's) Lake Turkana waters. Presenting case studies of indigenous Dasanech and northernmost Turkana livelihood systems and Gibe III linked impacts on them, the author predicts agropastoral and fishing economic collapse, region-wide hunger with exposure to disease epidemics, irreversible natural resource destruction and cross-border interethnic armed conflict spilling into South Sudan. The book identifies fundamental failings of government and development bank impact assessments, including their distortion or omission of mandated transboundary assessment, cumulative effects of the Gibe III dam and its linked Ethiopia-Kenya energy transmission 'highway' project, key hydrologic and human ecological characteristics, major earthquake threat in the dam region and widespread expropriation and political repression. Violations of internationally recognized human rights, especially by the Ethiopian government but also the Kenyan government, are extensive and on the increase--with collaboration by the development banks, in breach of their own internal operational procedures. A policy crossroads has now emerged. The author presents the alternative to the present looming catastrophe--consideration of development suspension in order to undertake genuinely independent transboundary assessment and a plan for continued development action within a human rights framework--forging a sustainable future for the indigenous peoples now directly threatened and for their respective eastern Africa states. Claudia Carr's book is a treasure of detailed information gathered over many years concerning river basin development of the Omo River in Ethiopia and its impact on the peoples of the lower Omo Basin and the Lake Turkana region in Kenya. It contains numerous maps, charts, and photographs not previously available to the public. The book is highly critical of the environmental and human rights implications of the Omo River hydropower projects on both the local ethnic communities in Ethiopia and on the downstream Turkana in Kenya. David Shinn Former Ambassador to Ethiopia and to Burkina Faso Adjust Professor of International Affairs, The George Washington University, Washington D. C.
River of Dark Dreams: Slavery and Empire in the Cotton Kingdom
by Walter JohnsonRiver of Dark Dreams places the Cotton Kingdom at the center of worldwide webs of exchange and exploitation that extended across oceans and drove an insatiable hunger for new lands. This bold reaccounting dramatically alters our understanding of American slavery and its role in U. S. expansionism, global capitalism, and the upcoming Civil War.
Riverine Border Practices: People's Everyday Lives on the Thai-Lao Mekong Border
by Thanachate WisaijornThis book focuses on the ways in which unofficial modes of border crossings are practised by the Thai Ban, along the Mekong Thai-Lao border. In doing so, the book assesses how these border crossings can be theorised as a contribution to existing literature on borderland studies. With that, the book discusses the importance of the notion of the Third Space and its effects on the pluralities of border-crossings in the borderland by weaving together spatial negotiations, temporal negotiations, and negotiations of political subjectivity.To illustrate the importance and complexity of the notion of the Third Space, the borderland of Khong Chiam-Sanasomboun, an area composed of quasi-state checkpoints as well as mobile checkpoints, is used as a case study. The author employs an ethnographic approach using the four methods of participant observations, interviews, interpreting visual presentations, and essay readings to examine the everyday practices of the Thai Ban people in crossing the border between the riverine villages in the two nation-states of Thailand and Lao PDR. With this, the findings in the fieldwork reveal that people engaged in everyday border-crossings in the riverine area do not simply embrace or reject the existence of Thai-Lao territory. Most of the time, the stance of Thai Ban people is the mixture of subversion, rejection, and acceptance of the boundary resulting in the sedentary assumption in the form of Thai-Lao territory co-existing with people’s everyday mobility.