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Social scientists did not predict the collapse of the socialist system in 1989-91 and their attempts to explain postsocialism have not been comprehensive. Economic disintegration and political instability have been documented, but the deeper causes have often gone unnoticed. Consequently the solutions proffered, such as the promotion of non-governmental organisations as the foundations of 'civil society', have so far brought little success. Postsocialism presents, for the first time, the anthropological responses to these problems which are all grounded in intensive fieldwork. The authors demonstrate that even when local conditions are specific, the view 'from below' illuminates macro trends. A wide range of topics are discussed, including: *the role of social and cultural capital in determining the 'winners' of rural decollectivization *the devaluation of blue collar labour *the position of Gypsies *the viability of 'multicultural' models in situations of religious differences and ethnic violence *new patterns of consumption in China *the revival of rituals and the healing of socialist 'trauma'. _
The culture of the People's Republic of China offers a unique blend of the popular, the political and the avant-garde. In no other country in the world are cultural products subjected to such strict censorship and at the same time consumed by such large numbers of people. This volume presents essays by scholars at the cutting edge of Chinese cultural studies, dealing with subjects ranging from advertising to poetry, from rock music to revolutionary museums, providing an authoritative and multi-faceted analysis of some of the world's most complex cultural phenomena.
Against the historical backdrop of successive socialist and post-socialist claims to have completely remade society, the contributors to this volume explore the complex and often paradoxical continuities between diverse post-socialist presents and their corresponding socialist and pre-socialist pasts. The chapters focus on ways in which: pre-socialist economic, political, and cultural forms in fact endured an era of socialism and have found new life in the post-socialist present, notwithstanding revolutionary socialist claims; continuities with a pre-socialist past have been produced within the historical imaginary of post-socialism; and socialist economic, political, and cultural forms have...
A substantial book on the social practices and cultural attitudes of people producing, reading, watching and listening to different kinds of media in Japan, China, Taiwan, Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore and India.
In this work, the author focuses on pington, a storytelling art using the Suzhou dialect, to explore the role of the cultural market in mediating between the state and artists in the PRC era.
London and the Southeast of England is home to an alternative community of people called 'boaters': individuals and families who live on narrowboats, cruisers and barges, along a network of canals and rivers. Many of these people move from place to place every two weeks due to mooring rules and form itinerant communities in the heart of some of the UK’s most built-up and expensive urban spaces. Boaters of London is an ethnography that delves into the process of becoming a boater, adopting an alternative lifestyle on the water and the political impact that this travelling population has on the state.
This book examines Australia’s sporting relationships with the Asian region during the interwar period. Until now, Australia’s sporting relationships with the Asian region have been neglected by scholars of Australian and Asian sports history, and the broader field of Australia’s Asian context. Concentrating on the period of the 1920s and 1930s – when sporting relationships between Australia and a number of Asian nations emerged in a variety of sports – this book demonstrates the depth of these previously under-examined connections. The book challenges, and complicates, the broader historiography of Australia’s Asian context – a historiography that has been strongly influenced ...
What is it like to be a young Muslim man in post-7/7 Britain, and what impact do wider political factors have on the multifaceted identities of young Muslim men? Drawn from the author’s ethnographic research of British-born Muslim men in the English town of Luton, Being Young, Male and Muslim in Luton explores the everyday lives of the young men and, in particular, how their identity as Muslims has shaped the way they interact with each other, the local community and the wider world. Through a study of religious values, the pressures of masculinity, the complexities of family and social life, and attitudes towards work and leisure, Ashraf Hoque argues that young Muslims in Luton are subver...
Soccer is a vital part of the Middle East’s cultural and political fabric, most recently demonstrated by the way the recent successes of the Iraqi national team suggested possibilities of unity and solidarity. This edited collection explores the multifaceted connections between soccer and society in the Middle East. It examines the broader social significance of soccer and its importance to individual lives, how the game acts as a source of both conflict and unity and how it relates to religious belief. The chapters in this volume include an analysis of the role of ‘African’ identity in the Egyptian and Moroccan bids to host the 2010 World Cup, the relationship between FIFA and Palesti...
The book focuses on the distinctive contribution that Joseph Maguire has made to process sociology and the study of sport. Maguire’s work over the past three decades highlights how process sociology has a unique perspective on the relationship between sport, culture and society, and to the body, globalisation and civilisational analysis. Reflecting on this body of work and the use of process sociology, Maguire captures the research dynamic of ‘walking the line' between involvement and detachment, theory and observation, and engagement and critique. The book is structured around four broad sections: Theory, Sport and Society; The Meaning of Sport, Body and Society; Case Studies in Sport a...