By John L. Jackson, Jr. (NHC Fellow, 2005–06) The African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem are often dismissed as a fringe cult for their beliefs that African Americans are descendants of the ancient Israelites and that veganism leads to immortality. But John L. Jackson questions what “fringe” means in a world where cultural practices of every stripe circulate … Continued
Edited by Bruce Kapferer (NHC Fellow, 2004–05) and Angela Hobart In various ways, the essays presented in this volume explore the structures and aesthetic possibilities of music, dance and dramatic representation in ritual and theatrical situations in a diversity of ethnographic contexts in Europe, the Americas, Africa and Asia. Each essay enters into a discussion … Continued
By Daniel James (NHC Fellow, 1997–98) In this remarkable book historian Daniel James presents the gripping, poignant life-story of Doña María Roldán, a woman who lived and worked for six decades in the meatpacking community of Berisso, Argentina. A union activist and fervent supporter of Juan and Eva Perón, Doña María’s evocative testimony prompts James … Continued
By Joanne Rappaport (NHC Fellow, 2002–03) Although only 2 percent of Colombia’s population identifies as indigenous, that figure belies the significance of the country’s indigenous movement. More than a quarter of the Colombian national territory belongs to indigenous groups, and 80 percent of the country’s mineral resources are located in native-owned lands. In this innovative … Continued
By Paulla Ebron (NHC Fellow, 2000–01) The jali — a member of a hereditary group of Mandinka professional performers — is a charismatic but contradictory figure. He is at once the repository of his people’s history, the voice of contemporary political authority, the inspiration for African American dreams of an African homeland, and the chief entertainment for the burgeoning transnational … Continued
By Benjamin Kahan (NHC Fellow, 2016–17) Statue-fondlers, wanderlusters, sex magicians, and nymphomaniacs: the story of these forgotten sexualities—what Michel Foucault deemed “minor perverts”—has never before been told. In The Book of Minor Perverts, Benjamin Kahan sets out to chart the proliferation of sexual classification that arose with the advent of nineteenth-century sexology. The book narrates the … Continued
By Ana Mariella Bacigalupo (NHC Fellow, 2009–10) The first study of how Mapuche shamans make history, this book challenges perceptions of shamans as being outside of history and examines how shamans themselves understand notions of civilization, savagery, and historical processes.
Edited by Sandra E. Greene (NHC Fellow, 2007–08; 2014–15), Martin A. Klein, and Alice Bellagamba How do we understand Africa’s historical systems of slavery and the enduring political, economic and cultural consequences for Africa today? After abolition, did former masters maintain their privileges? Did former slaves and their descendants resist continued marginalization? How did former … Continued
By Charles Stewart (NHC Fellow, 1996–97) Charles Stewart tells the story of the inhabitants of Kóronos, on the Greek island of Naxos, who, in the 1830s, began experiencing dreams in which the Virgin Mary instructed them to search for buried Christian icons nearby and build a church to house the ones they found. Miraculously, they … Continued
By Orin Starn (NHC Fellow, 2001–02) After the Yahi were massacred in the mid-nineteenth century, Ishi survived alone for decades in the mountains of northern California, wearing skins and hunting with bow and arrow. His capture in 1911 made him a national sensation; anthropologist Alfred Kroeber declared him the world's most "uncivilized" man and made … Continued