Subject: Anthropology. Ethnography

The Wa of Myanmar and China’s Quest for Global Dominance

by Bertil Lintner  Shan State in the north-eastern corner of Myanmar has long been plagued by conflict in various forms – political insurrection, ethnic strife and drug wars. It is also part of the Golden Triangle, one of the main global centres of illicit drug production. The region is home to the Wa, a tribal […]

Everyday Justice in Myanmar: Challenges and Experiences in the Political Transition

By Helene Maria Kyed  This volume explores how ordinary people in present-day Myanmar obtain justice and resolve disputes and crimes in a time of radical transition in government, politics, society, economy, etc. Its empirical questions serve as a lens to analyze the wider dynamics of state making, the role of identity politics, and the constitution […]

Oral Literature, Gender, and Precedence in East Timor: Metaphysics in Narrative

By David Hicks Decades of war, social upheaval and political change have not lessened the enduring interest of East Timorese in their oral traditions. Although new forms of expression are emerging, the corpus of Timorese oral narrative largely retains an underlying metaphysical unity, and continues to express indigenous notions about gender and precedence. Until now, […]

The Work of Gender: Service, Performance and Fantasy in Contemporary Japan

Edited by Gitte Marianne Hansen and Fabio Gygi  Gender and sexuality in Japan has long been a field of academic study, with gender mainly being examined either as masculinities, femininities or as deviating sexualities. In recent years, however, widespread interest in manga, anime and cosplay among the world’s youth has aroused popular interest in the […]

Ancient Asia

Census of India

“The Indian Census is the largest single source of a variety of statistical information on different characteristics of the people of India. With a history of more than 130 years, this reliable, time tested exercise has been bringing out a veritable wealth of statistics every 10 years, beginning from 1872 when the first census was […]

Divinity and Diversity: A Hindu Revitalization Movement in Malaysia

Alexandra Kent 2005 A timely and relevant study in this age of concern about trans-national ’religious’ networks where powerful use of ethnographic date illuminates an original and striking thesis on the ambiguous nature of the Sai Baba movement. What makes this work outstanding is how the author places her material against the complex ethnic, political […]

Harvesting Development: The Construction of Fresh Food Markets in Papua New Guinea

**Karl Benediktsson*’ 2002 This book addresses the global–local tension evident in much work on development issues, through the example of fresh food markets in Papua New Guinea. A key feature is the author’s skilful and inventive interweaving of theoretical constructs with a detailed ethnography of marketing networks, at the rural village and the urban market-place, […]

Kinship and Food in South East Asia

Monica Janowski & Fiona Kerlogue (eds) 2011 Food has an important role in establishing and structuring social and kin relations in Southeast Asian societies. For this reason, there is growing interest within anthropology in understanding how the production, processing and consumption of food is one important basis for the construction of ties of relatedness, so-called […]

Mongols From Country to City: loating Boundaries, Pastoralism and City Life in the Mongol Lands

Ole Bruun & Li Narangoa (eds) 2011 This volume examines the process of cultural change in Mongol societies since the early 20th century by considering the interaction of the basic structural features of pastoral nomadism in Mongolia with larger economies, both communist and capitalist; the effect of deliberate cultural reconstruction (ranging from changes to the […]