New Books in Anthropology

Joanna Allan, an expert on women's resistance in oppressive regimes, discusses her book on Western Sahara and Equatorial Guinea. She explores the unique roles of women in these diverse resistance movements amid authoritarian rule. Allan highlights how gender intersects with colonial histories and the importance of acknowledging women's contributions to civil rights. She also sheds light on the concept of 'genderwashing' where regimes manipulate equality narratives, while underlying tensions from external economic interests complicate genuine progress for women's rights.

Jack Crangle, an author delving deep into national identity and immigration in twentieth-century Northern Ireland, discusses the complexities of belonging in a divided society. He highlights the experiences of diverse immigrant groups, including Italians, Indians, and Vietnamese, amidst the backdrop of the Troubles. Crangle questions if migrants could remain neutral in such a politicized environment and explores how these identities evolved over generations. His insights challenge traditional narratives and emphasize the need for a broader understanding of multiculturalism in contemporary contexts.

Tone Bleie, an anthropologist renowned for her work on Scandinavian missionaries' impact in Eastern India, shares insights from her latest book. She explores the intricate ties between Scandinavian missionaries and the Santal people, revealing layers of imperialism and local history. The discussion dives into the book's title, 'A New Testament,' linking colonial legacies and Christian beliefs. Bleie also reflects on her 15-year journey studying these dynamics, shedding light on the transformative role of Protestant mission stations in shaping social movements and ethics.

In this discussion, Dr. Ernesto Castañeda, an expert on immigration and director of the Immigration Lab, joins co-author Carina Cione to dissect myths surrounding immigration. They highlight how personal stories can foster empathy and challenge misconceptions in media and politics. The conversation covers border safety, the real contributions of immigrants to the economy, and the importance of reframing narratives around refugees. They emphasize understanding migrants as victims of systemic issues and advocate for humane immigration policies.

A perpetual tension exists between history and change, which is an issue long explored by historians and social scientists. Reckoning with Change in Yucatán: Histories of Care and Threat on a Former Hacienda (Routledge, 2023) engages with how best to look upon and respond to change, arguing that this debate is an important arena for negotiating local belonging and a force of transformation in its own right. For residents of Chunchucmil, a historic rural community in Yucatán, Mexico, history is anything but straightforward. Living in what is both a defunct 19th-century hacienda estate and a vibrant Catholic pilgrimage site, Chunchucmileños reckon past, present, and future in radically different ways. For example, while some use the aging estate buildings to weave a history of economic decline and push for revitalization by hotel developers, others highlight the growing fame of the Virgin of the Rosary in the attached church and vow to defend the site from developer interference. By exploring how past and future are channeled through changing built environments, landscapes, sacred relics, and legal documents, this ethnographic study details how the politics of change provide Chunchucmileños with a common language for debating commitments to place and each another in the present. Against Western notions of ‘History’ as a relatively coherent account of change, Jason Ramsey suggests we reframe it as an ongoing performance that is always fractured, democratic, and morally tinged.Jason Ramsey is a faculty member in the Department of Anthropology at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Canada. Based on fieldwork in Yucatan among former plantation laborers, he publishes on topics such as semiotics, ruination, value, and the anthropology of history.Yadong Li is a PhD student in anthropology at Tulane University. His research interests lie at the intersection of the anthropology of state, the anthropology of time, hope studies, and post-structuralist philosophy. More details about his scholarship and research interests can be found here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/anthropology

Neil Van Leeuwen, an author and researcher, delves into the intriguing realm of belief, imagination, and group identity. He argues that religious beliefs function similarly to imaginative play, creating a layered cognitive experience. Van Leeuwen discusses how communal identities are shaped through these beliefs and contrasts emotional engagement with factual foundations. He also highlights the interplay of prayer and action, the dynamics of faith versus doubt, and the complexities of childhood belief systems, ultimately revealing that belief often transcends empirical evidence.

Handcrafted Careers: Working the Artisan Economy of Craft Beer (U California Press, 2024) unpacks the problems and privileges of pursuing a career of passion by exploring work inside craft breweries.As workers attempt new modes of employment in the era of the Great Resignation, they face a labor landscape that is increasingly uncertain and stubbornly unequal. With Handcrafted Careers, sociologist Eli Revelle Yano Wilson dives headfirst into the everyday lives of workers in the craft beer industry to address key questions facing American workers today: about what makes a good career, who gets to have one, and how careers progress without established models.Wilson argues that what ends up contributing to divergent career paths in craft beer is a complex interplay of social connections, personal tastes, and cultural ideas, as well as exclusionary industry structures. The culture of work in craft beer is based around “bearded white guy” ideals that are gendered and racialized in ways that limit the advancement of women and people of color. A fresh perspective on niche industries, Handcrafted Careers offers sharp insights into how people navigate worlds of work that promote ideas of authenticity and passion-filled careers even amid instability.Michael O. Johnston, Ph.D. is a Assistant Professor of Sociology at William Penn University. He is the author of The Social Construction of a Cultural Spectacle: Floatzilla (Lexington Books, 2023) and Community Media Representations of Place and Identity at Tug Fest: Reconstructing the Mississippi River (Lexington Books, 2022). His general area of study is at the intersection of built-environment, experience, identity, and place. He is currently conducting research on how architectural designers, builders, and community planners negotiate a sense of identity and place for residents of newly constructed neighborhoods. To learn more about Michael O. Johnston you can go to his website, Google Scholar, Twitter @ProfessorJohnst, or by email at johnstonmo@wmpenn.edu. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/anthropology

In this engaging discussion, Gil Hizi, a postdoctoral fellow at Goethe University, Xinyan Peng from Sun Yat-sen University, and Mieke Matthyssen of the University of Ghent explore self-development in China. Hizi defines 'xinshang' (appreciation) and its role in personal growth. Peng highlights 'duanlian' (exercise) as a tool for societal transformation, while Matthyssen examines 'tangping' (lying flat), a rebellion against oppressive work culture. Together, they delve into the intertwining of ethics, politics, and cultural dynamics in contemporary Chinese society.

Ehaab D. Abdou's book Education, Civics, and Citizenship in Egypt: Towards More Inclusive Curricular Representations and Teaching (Palgrave Macmillan, 2023) explores how to render curricular representations more inclusive and how individuals' interactions with competing historical narratives and discourses shape their civic attitudes and intergroup dynamics. Based on ethnographic research in the Egyptian context, it offers insights for curriculum developers, teacher educators, and teachers interested in the development of critical citizens who are able to engage with multiple narratives and perspectives. Drawing on theorizations of historical consciousness, critical pedagogy, and critical discourse analysis, it demonstrates the need for more nuanced and holistic analytical frameworks and pedagogical tools. Further, it offers insights towards building such analytical and pedagogical approaches to help gain a deeper understanding of connections between students' historical consciousness tendencies and their civic engagement as citizens. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/anthropology

China today positions itself as a model of state-led environmentalism. On the country’s arid rangelands, grassland conservation policies have targeted pastoralists and their animals, blamed for causing desertification. State environmentalism - in the form of grazing bans, enclosure, and resettlement - has transformed the lives of many ethnic minority herders in China’s western borderlands. However, this book shows how such policies have been contested and negotiated on the ground, in the context of the state’s intensifying nation-building project.Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in Alasha, in the far west of China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Thomas White describes how ethnic Mongols have foregrounded the local breed of Bactrian camel, mobilizing ideas of heritage and resource conservation to defend pastoralism. In exploring how the greening of the Chinese state affects the entangled lives of humans and animals at the margins of the nation-state, this study is both a political biography of the Bactrian camel and an innovative work of political ecology addressing critical questions of rural livelihoods, conservation, and state power.Thomas White is lecturer in China and Sustainable Development at the Lau China Institute, King’s College London. His research interests include China’s borderlands, political ecology, infrastructure, and Sino-Mongolian relations. China's Camel Country: Livestock and Nation-Building at a Pastoral Frontier (U Washington Press, 2024) is his first monograph.Yadong Li is a PhD student in anthropology at Tulane University. His research interests lie at the intersection of the anthropology of state, the anthropology of time, hope studies, and post-structuralist philosophy. More details about his scholarship and research interests can be found here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/anthropology