All around the globe, people perform acts of philanthropy. This book presents philanthropy as a universal societal system that deserves a distinctive academic discipline: the science of philanthropology.
Pilgrimage in the Age of Globalisation
This collection of studies explores sacred and secular pilgrimage in the age of globalisation. It shows how pilgrimage unifies physical and metaphysical mobility into a holistic project of self-realisation and inner transformation through motion.
Place, Culture and Community
Hear the voices of the Ottawa Valley. This book reveals a vibrant heritage of fiddling, step dancing, and storytelling forged in hardship, as told by the lumbermen, priests, and families who lived its triumphant history.
Politics of Female Genital Cutting (FGC), Human Rights and the Sierra Leone State
This ethnographic study explores Female Genital Cutting (FGC) within Sierra Leone’s powerful Bondo society. It examines the complex politics and culture sustaining the practice against international condemnation, offering a nuanced view beyond blunt criticism.
Postcolonial Identities
One man’s story of exile and renewal. Traumatised by the genocides of Burundi and Rwanda, artist Jean Hakizimana journeyed to Ireland. There, he rediscovered the healing power of painting, his story reflecting the multicultural experience of the “new” Irish.
This book covers the author’s field experiences as an ethnographer in Central America and an applied anthropologist in the US. It highlights the importance of incorporating ethnography into work tasks across a range of social fields and diverse socio-cultural groups.
Psychoanalytic and Anthropological Considerations of Gilgamesh
A 5000-year-old quest for immortality, the Gilgamesh Epic reflects our timeless struggle with mortality. This psychoanalytic exploration reveals the myth’s enduring relevance, dissecting its themes of power, sexuality, and the human condition for a modern audience.
Restoring Our Humanity
This book discusses paths to restoring our humanity in today’s techno-scientific culture. It shows how talking, observing, doing, and making reconnect us with reality and our critical self-awareness, and provides six maxims on how to ‘be’ human.
Reveries of Home
Reveries of Home considers understandings of home in a globalized world. A series of case-studies reveals how home-making is an ongoing work, cementing the close connections that remain between home and identity, even in a world of movement.
Rites of Spontaneity
Musicians in a pub play traditional Irish tunes. This is a “session”—not just a musical environment, but a complex social interaction. This book explores the session as a cultural phenomenon, tracing its journey from local arenas into the global marketplace.
Running with the Fairies
In the first scholarly account of the Fairy Faith in over a hundred years, a PhD anthropologist interviews educated people in Ireland who have had direct spiritual experiences with fairies, recognizing the reality of nature spirit beings in a Western context.
Shifting Borders
More than a metaphor, creolisation is a powerful tool for understanding the dynamics of intercultural encounter and conflict. This book investigates creole patterns in literature, arts, and politics, addressing problems of citizenship and difficult cohabitations.
Shifting Positionalities
Shifting Positionalities examines the surveillance of sexual, racial, and ethnic identities in the post-9/11 era. It reveals how individuals and communities utilize techniques of actively resisting the policing of their daily lives across borders.
Snakes, People, and Spirits, Volume One
This analysis of ophidian symbolism in Eastern Africa connects the topic to ancient civilizations. It shows that the meanings attributed to snakes were multifaceted and paradoxical, and that the widely acknowledged assimilation of snakes to death and Evil is unrepresentative.
Snakes, People, and Spirits, Volume Two
This study explores the multifaceted ophidian symbolism of Eastern Africa and its mysterious “snake priests,” whose curse was like a serpent’s bite. It shows the widely held assimilation of snakes to death and Evil is unrepresentative, both historically and culturally.
In a world of unprecedented crises, a shift in thinking is needed. Diverse scholars explore what the Anthropology of Consciousness can contribute, reframing it as an “anthropology of conscience.”
This book marks a new direction in Eurasian archaeology, focusing on how people lived in their local environments. It re-images Eurasia as a complex landscape of shifting social boundaries, questioning rigid stereotypes and offering novel interpretations of the past.
In an age of relativism and uncertainty, how can sociology move forward? This book charts a new path by critically re-examining Durkheim and Giddens. It outlines new approaches to social processes, time, and predicting the future, transforming contemporary sociological thought.
Survivors of Suicide
Surviving after suicide means being stigmatized. This stigma darkens the lives of the bereaved, creating a whirlwind of anger, shame, and guilt. This book finds answers to the challenges survivors face in reconstructing their daily lives and how they cope with them.
The Anonymous Society
An anthropological look inside 12-Step groups. This in-depth study explores how ritual, therapy, and anonymity combat addiction, revealing the vital role these associations play in contemporary society.