Edited by Brad Weiss (NHC Fellow, 2003–04) The cumulative implications for Africans of the neoliberal processes (market speculation, shifts in sites of production, new modes of consumption, redefinition of the relation between states and their citizenry) cannot be reduced to single parameters. Three themes are central: the neoliberal production of personhood, the crises of youth … Continued
By Bruce Grant (NHC Fellow, 2000–01) The Caucasus region of Eurasia, wedged in between the Black and Caspian Seas, encompasses the modern territories of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia, as well as the troubled republic of Chechnya in southern Russia. A site of invasion, conquest, and resistance since the onset of historical record, it has earned … Continued
By Ákos Östör (NHC Fellow, 1980–81) Is the concept of time among the Salteaux, Balinese, Nuer, or Pitanjare similar or different? What about ancient India and China or medieval Europe or industrialized America? This elegantly structured book is an exploration of the theoretical, methodological, and interpretative questions of what is involved when we talk about … Continued
Edited by Luise White (NHC Fellow, 1993–94; 2016–17), Stephen Miescher, and David William Cohen Until the advent of African independence, Africans were not considered fitting subjects for historical research and their words, voices, and experiences were largely absent from the continent's history. In thirteen lively and provocative essays focusing on all areas of Sub-Saharan Africa, … Continued
Edited by Shepard Krech, III (Trustee; NHC Fellow, 1993–94; 2000–01), John Robert McNeill, and Carolyn Merchant In order to address today's global environmental challenges, it is important to understand them within the context of humankind's influences on its environment throughout the ages. The Encyclopedia of World Environmental History provides much needed explanation of urgent social and environmental … Continued
By Michael G. Peletz (NHC Fellow, 1999–00) How do Islamic courts work? What sorts of cultural understandings inform judicial process and litigants’ strategies? How do women’s claims fare? Do these courts promote social tolerance? And how do states use them to consolidate power, build nations, and shape a modern citizenry? These are among the questions … Continued
Edited by James L. Peacock (NHC Fellow, 2003–04), Niklaus Steiner, Lothar Hönnighausen, and Marc Frey In an age of rapid globalization, regionalism might seem a notion better suited to the nineteenth century than the early twenty-first. Yet, regionalism has actually flourished in the last half-century. An increasing number of conflicts are based on territorial identities, … Continued
By Ajantha Subramanian (NHC Fellow, 2011–12) Just as Americans least disadvantaged by racism are most likely to endorse their country as post‐racial, Indians who have benefited from their upper-caste affiliation rush to declare their country post‐caste. In The Caste of Merit, Ajantha Subramanian challenges this comfortable assumption by illuminating the controversial relationships among technical education, caste formation, and … Continued
By Steven C. Caton (NHC Fellow, 1992–93) In 1979, Steven C. Caton went to a remote area of Yemen to do fieldwork on the famous oral poetry of its tribes. The recent hostage crisis in Iran made life perilous for a young American in the Middle East; worse, he was soon embroiled in a dangerous … Continued
By Joan Vincent (NHC Fellow, 1986–87) In considering how anthropologists have chosen to look at and write about politics, Joan Vincent contends that the anthropological study of politics is itself a historical process. Intended not only as a representation but also as a reinterpretation, her study arises from questioning accepted views and unexamined assumptions. This wide-ranging, … Continued