"The main thrust of this book is to deliver a major critique of materialist and rationalist explanations of social and cultural forms, but the in the process Sahlins has given us a much stronger statement of the centrality of symbols in human affairs than have many of our 'practicing' symbolic anthropologists. He demonstrates that symbols enter all phases of social life: those which we tend to regard as strictly pragmatic, or based on concerns with material need or advantage, as well as those which we tend to view as purely symbolic, such as ideology, ritual, myth, moral codes, and the like. . . ."—Robert McKinley, Reviews in Anthropology
After World War II Germans not only had to rebuild, they had to redefine their national political identity as well. This book traces how state symbols such as national colors, anthems, holidays, capital cities, and postage stamps were used to legitimize the two Germanies from 1949 to 1959. Although the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic (GDR) developed distinct post-war identities, the one cannot be understood apart from the other, for they were in direct competition to define the same state symbols. The study of symbols offers valuable insights into the realms of identity formation and of politics, that is, how symbols can promote political integration. By examining the creation of state symbols and the processes by which they were established in the public realm, Feinstein evaluates the extent to which German political culture overcame the Nazi past to legitimize both a republican and a socialist system. This book is especially relevant to scholars who want to understand the common ground upon which the citizens of today’s unified Germany can construct a shared identity.
This book presents 18 highly influential essays on Chinese literature and semiotics by Professor Zhao Yiheng, including his analysis and discussions of the development of Chinese literature and its characteristics from traditional to modern times. It is divided into three parts: traditional Chinese literature, contemporary Chinese literature, and semiotics. In the first part, Professor Zhao summarizes the core elements of narrative cultural relations, ethical dilemmas, and narrative features. He also provides a comprehensive description of the formal structures in Chinese traditional literature. Taking the traditional Chinese play White Rabbit as a case, he discusses the connections between the narrative structure and the characteristics of Chinese novels and stratification of Chinese culture.
Rape has never had a universally accepted definition, and the uproar over "legitimate rape" during the 2012 U.S. elections confirms that it remains a word in flux. Redefining Rape tells the story of the forces that have shaped the meaning of sexual violence in the United States, through the experiences of accusers, assailants, and advocates for change. In this ambitious new history, Estelle Freedman demonstrates that our definition of rape has depended heavily on dynamics of political power and social privilege. The long-dominant view of rape in America envisioned a brutal attack on a chaste white woman by a male stranger, usually an African American. From the early nineteenth century, advocates for women's rights and racial justice challenged this narrow definition and the sexual and political power of white men that it sustained. Between the 1870s and the 1930s, at the height of racial segregation and lynching, and amid the campaign for woman suffrage, women's rights supporters and African American activists tried to expand understandings of rape in order to gain legal protection from coercive sexual relations, assaults by white men on black women, street harassment, and the sexual abuse of children. By redefining rape, they sought to redraw the very boundaries of citizenship. Freedman narrates the victories, defeats, and limitations of these and other reform efforts. The modern civil rights and feminist movements, she points out, continue to grapple with both the insights and the dilemmas of these first campaigns to redefine rape in American law and culture.
This new handbook builds on The Handbook of Community Movements and Local Organizations published in 2007, and is the only resource defining the field of study related to small nonprofit organizations and to studying communities from the standpoint of associations that make up communities. It explores the history and conceptualizations of community, theoretical concepts in community organizations, social movements ranging from health to crime, and community practice methods. Further it provides authoritative statements of major theory areas, gives examples of different sub areas of the field, provides guidance to people working as practitioners in the field, and nicely coincides with the increasing interest in clinical sociology. This handbook is of great interest to academics, students and practitioners with an interdisciplinary resource to understand and collaborate in work with contemporary communities.
There is a rich body of literature on the experience of Japanese immigrants in the United States, and there are also numerous accounts of the cultural dislocation felt by American expats in Japan. But what happens when Japanese Americans, born and raised in the United States, are the ones living abroad in Japan? Redefining Japaneseness chronicles how Japanese American migrants to Japan navigate and complicate the categories of Japanese and “foreigner.” Drawing from extensive interviews and fieldwork in the Tokyo area, Jane H. Yamashiro tracks the multiple ways these migrants strategically negotiate and interpret their daily interactions. Following a diverse group of subjects—some of only Japanese ancestry and others of mixed heritage, some fluent in Japanese and others struggling with the language, some from Hawaii and others from the US continent—her study reveals wide variations in how Japanese Americans perceive both Japaneseness and Americanness. Making an important contribution to both Asian American studies and scholarship on transnational migration, Redefining Japaneseness critically interrogates the common assumption that people of Japanese ancestry identify as members of a global diaspora. Furthermore, through its close examination of subjects who migrate from one highly-industrialized nation to another, it dramatically expands our picture of the migrant experience.
The first in a three volume set of Mazrui's most important essays, this volume redefines the meaning of Africanity across geographical space, time and cultures. The resulting definition forces us to reject neo-imperialist paradigms and ontologies of what it means to be African. By encouraging us to think about Africanity as an idea rather than as point of origin, the ideas contained in these essays force us to reposition ourselves in the debate of our place in global cultures and civilisations, and prepare us to take an active role in social and political affairs.
Men are usually the heroes of Western stories, but women also played a crucial role in developing the American frontier, and their stories have rarely been told. This anthology of biographical essays on women promises new insight into gender in the 19C American West. The women featured include Asian Americans, African-Americans and Native American women, as well as their white counterparts. The original essays offer observations about gender and sexual violence, the subordinate status of women of color, their perseverance and influence in changing that status, a look at the gendered religious legacy that shaped Western Catholicism, and women in the urban and rural, industrial and agricultural West.
Representing a significant survey and evaluation of major media literacy projects in the U.S. and selected countries throughout the world, this book covers all aspects of critical viewing skills. It provides comprehensive, theoretical and historical background about the field, the criteria for its evaluation, and various structured programs including the CVS projects and programs sponsored by school districts, individuals, non-governmental national organizations, and private companies. The book can serve as a guide for curriculum planners as well as teachers in the classroom and adult workshops -- and also parents and individual adult viewers -- in applying the best match of theories, practices, readings, and specific exercises to monitor and enhance television's role.
