By Steven C. Caton (NHC Fellow, 1992–93) Combining ethnography, film criticism, and his extensive knowledge of the Middle East, Steven C. Caton presents an innovative and fascinating examination of the classic film, Lawrence of Arabia. Caton is interested in why this epic film has been so compelling for so many people for more than three decades. … Continued
By Todd Ramón Ochoa (NHC Fellow, 2017–18) A Party for Lazarus is the story of a Cuban family, six generations removed from slavery, struggling to honor its ancestors amid changing fortunes and a crumbling state. This intimate intergenerational account centers on an annual feast celebrating ancestors and orisás—the life-changing spirits at the heart of Black Atlantic … Continued
By Sherry B. Ortner (NHC Fellow, 1999–00) Pioneering anthropologist Sherry B. Ortner is renowned for her work on the Sherpas of Nepal. Now she turns her attention homeward to examine how social class is lived in the United States and, specifically, within her own peer group. In New Jersey Dreaming, Ortner returns to her Newark roots … 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 Catherine M. Cole (NHC Fellow, 2006–07) South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commissions helped to end apartheid by providing a forum that exposed the nation's gross human rights abuses, provided amnesty and reparations to selected individuals, and eventually promoted national unity and healing. The success or failure of these commissions has been widely debated, but … Continued
By Dhan Gopal MukerjiEdited by Akhil Gupta (NHC Fellow, 2000–01), Gordon H. Chang, and Purnima Mankekar A person of rare talent and broad appeal, Dhan Gopal Mukerji (1890-1936) holds the distinction of being the first South Asian immigrant to have a successful career in the United States as a man of letters. As the author … Continued
By Sandya Hewamanne (NHC Fellow, 2011–12) Sandya Hewamanne's Stitching Identities in a Free Trade Zone analyzed how female factory workers in Sri Lanka's free trade zones challenged conventional notions about marginalized women at the bottom of the global economy. In Restitching Identities in Rural Sri Lanka Hewamanne now follows many of these same women to explore the ways in … Continued
Edited by Ákos Östör (NHC Fellow, 1980–81), Lina Fruzzetti, and Steve Barnett Using rich ethnographic detail, this work looks at the extent to which new models of kinship, caste and marriage translate into regional and Indian Models. The contributors, all distinguished scholars of South Asia, tackle different geographical areas and such diverse topics as hierarchy, … Continued
By Ann Grodzins Gold (NHC Fellow, 2014–15) Jahazpur is a small market town or qasba with a diverse population of more than 20,000 people located in Bhilwara District in the North Indian state of Rajasthan. With roots deep in history and legend, Shiptown (a literal translation of landlocked Jahazpur's name) today is a subdistrict headquarters … Continued
By Margery Wolf (NHC Fellow, 1994–95) Via time travel, Charlotte Makee, a 21st century anthropologist, meets an elderly Coast Miwok curer named Sekiak in the hills near Olompali in Marin County, California. Charlotte wishes to learn about Coast Miwok life before their society was disrupted and then destroyed by Catholic priests, Spanish soldiers, settlers, and … Continued