War and Games
War and Games

Author: Tim Cornell

Publisher: Boydell Press

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 350

ISBN-13: 9780851158709

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These comparative studies focus on the relationship between war and games in an effort to achieve an understanding of the phenomenon of war, in order ultimately to avoid it. Out of the ten studies on war and games in this volume, the first five are historical, the next two are by anthropologists, and the last three concern modern war games. The purpose of this comparative study is to focus on the relationship between war and games by highlighting their differences and similarities in an effort better to understand the phenomenon of war. Americans and Europeans contribute studies on war and games in ancient Greece, the lack ofmilitary games in Byzantium, jousts in the middle ages, 'flower wars' and the Aztec and Maya ball game, games in pre-industrial societies and their relation to war, and aspects of computer and video games. Contributors T.B.ALLEN, T.J. CORNELL, M. HERMAN, BRUCE M. KNAUFT, C.M.MAZZUCCHI, P.A.G. SABIN, A.A. SHELTON, DAVID TURTON, T. ZOTZ.

Peace and War
Peace and War

Author: Mary LeCron Foster

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2020-03-02

Total Pages: 332

ISBN-13: 1000678547

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Is war necessary? In Peace and War prominent anthropologists and other social scientists explore the cultural and social factors leading to war. They analyze the covert causes of war from a cross-cultural perspective: ideologies that dispose people to war; underlying patterns of social relationships that help institutionalize war; and the cultural systems of military establishments. Overt causes of war—environmental factors like the control of scarce resources, advantageous territories, and technologies, or promoting the welfare of people “like” oneself—are also considered. The authors examine anthropologists’ role in policy formation—how their theories on the nature of culture and society help those who deal with global problems on a day-to-day basis. They argue that both covert and overt mechanisms are pushing the world closer to a devastating war and offer strategies to weaken the effects of these mechanisms. This anthropological and historical analysis of the causes of war is a valuable resource for those studying war and those trying to understand the place of social science in framing pacific options.

War in Human Civilization
War in Human Civilization

Author: Azar Gat

Publisher: OUP Oxford

Published: 2008-03-26

Total Pages: 839

ISBN-13: 0191622818

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Why do people go to war? Is it rooted in human nature or is it a late cultural invention? How does war relate to the other fundamental developments in the history of human civilization? And what of war today - is it a declining phenomenon or simply changing its shape? In this truly global study of war and civilization, Azar Gat sets out to find definitive answers to these questions in an attempt to unravel the 'riddle of war' throughout human history, from the early hunter-gatherers right through to the unconventional terrorism of the twenty-first century. In the process, the book generates an astonishing wealth of original and fascinating insights on all major aspects of humankind's remarkable journey through the ages, engaging a wide range of disciplines, from anthropology and evolutionary psychology to sociology and political science. Written with remarkable verve and clarity and wholly free from jargon, it will be of interest to anyone who has ever pondered the puzzle of war.

Warless Societies and the Origin of War
Warless Societies and the Origin of War

Author: Raymond Case Kelly

Publisher: University of Michigan Press

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 210

ISBN-13: 9780472067381

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A concise study using archeological and ethnographic evidence to refute current theories about the origin of war

Michal's Moral Dilemma
Michal's Moral Dilemma

Author: Jonathan Y. Rowe

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2011-06-21

Total Pages: 270

ISBN-13: 0567365719

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Michal's Moral Dilemma proposes that attention should be paid to the moral goods that feature in the text, before arguing that the family, a central feature of Old Testament morality, should be understood as a set of practices rather than an institution. Jonathan Rowe discusses the use of "models" of social action to comprehend the social world of the Bible, and suggests a modified version of Bakhtin's theory of heteroglossic voices can help readers appreciate how authors present a moral vision by approving some characters' actions whilst undermining others. The discussion of Michal's moral dilemma adduces anthropological theories and ethnographic data concerning violence, lying, and the relationship between fathers and daughters. Given that the conflicts of moral goods are "resolved" by characters choosing to act in a certain way, Rowe enquires after the author's assessment of each character's moral choices, arguing that Michal's loyalty to David and deception of Saul was counter-cultural. By approving of her choice the author affirms the importance of loyalty to the Davidic dynasty.

The Golden Yoke
The Golden Yoke

Author: Rebecca Redwood French

Publisher: Cornell University Press

Published: 2019-06-07

Total Pages: 432

ISBN-13: 1501735349

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The Golden Yoke is a remarkable achievement. It is the first elaboration of the legal, cultural, and ideological dimensions of precommunist Tibetan jurisprudence, a unique legal system that maintains its secularism within a thoroughly Buddhist setting. Layer by layer, Rebecca Redwood French reconstructs the daily operation of law in Tibet before the Chinese invasion in 1959. In the Tibetans' own words, French identifies their courts, symbols, and personnel and traces the procedures for petitioning and filing documents. There are stories here from judges, legal conciliators, and lay people about murder, property disputes, and divorce. French shows that Tibetan law is deeply embedded in its Buddhist culture and that the system evolved not from the rules and judgments but from what people actually do and say. In what amounts to a fully developed cosmology, she describes the cultural foundation that informs the system: myths, notions of time and conflux, inner morality, language patterns, rituals, use of space, symbols, and concepts. Based on extensive readings of Tibetan legal documents and codes, interviews with Tibetan scholars, and the reminiscences of Tibetans at home and in exile, this generously illustrated, elegantly written work is a model of outstanding research. French combines the talents of a legal anthropologist with those of a former law practitioner to develop a new field of study that has implications for other judicial systems, including our own.

The New American Cultural Sociology
The New American Cultural Sociology

Author: Philip Smith

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 1998-06-28

Total Pages: 306

ISBN-13: 9780521586344

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American Cultural Sociology presents a serious challenge to British Cultural Studies and European grand theory alike. This exciting volume brings together sixteen seminal papers by leading figures in what is emerging as an important intellectual tradition. It places them in the context of related work in Sociology and other disciplines, exploring the connections between cultural sociology and different approaches, such as comparative and historical research, postmodernism, and symbolic interactionism. The book is divided into three sections: Culture as Text and Code, The Production and Reception of Culture, and Culture in Action. Each section contains edited contributions, both theoretical and empirical, addressing the key debates in cultural sociology, including the autonomy of culture, power and culture, structure and agency and how to conceptualise meaning.

Exchanging the Past
Exchanging the Past

Author: Bruce M. Knauft

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2002-08

Total Pages: 340

ISBN-13: 9780226446349

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Twenty years ago, the Gebusi of the lowland Papua New Guinea rainforest had one of the highest homicide rates in the world. Bruce M. Knauft found then that the killings stemmed from violent scapegoating of suspected sorcerers. But by the time he returned in 1998, homicide rates had plummeted, and Gebusi had largely disavowed vengeance against sorcerers in favor of modern schools, discos, markets, and Christianity. In this book, Knauft explores the Gebusi's encounter with modern institutions and highlights what their experience tells us more generally about the interaction between local peoples and global forces. As desire for material goods grew among Gebusi, Knauft shows that they became more accepting of and subordinated by Christian churches, community schools,and government officials in their attempt to benefit from them—a process Knauft terms "recessive agency." But the Gebusi also respond actively to modernity, creating new forms of feasting, performance, and music that meld traditional practices with Western ones, all of which Knauft documents in this fascinating study.

Dispute Processes
Dispute Processes

Author: Michael Palmer

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2020-07-09

Total Pages: 433

ISBN-13: 1107070546

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This new edition considers a wide range of materials dealing with dispute processes and current debates on civil justice.