Faculty Bookshelf - Anthropology
| Title & Authors | Description |
|---|---|
Sonya Atalay, Kisha Supernant, Jane Eva Baxter, and Natasha Lyons (Springer, 2020) | An archaeology of the heart provides a new space for thinking through an integrated, responsible, and grounded archaeology, where there is care for the living and the dead, acknowledges the need to build responsible relationships with communities, with the archaeological record, and emphasize the role of rigor in how work and research is conducted. The contributions bring together archaeological practitioners from across the globe in different contexts to explore how heart-centered practice can impact archaeological theory, methodology, and research throughout the discipline. |
Rituals of Care: Karmic Politics in an Aging Thailand Felicity Aulino (Cornell University Press, 2019) | End-of-life issues are increasingly central to discussions within medical anthropology, the anthropology of political action, and the study of Buddhist philosophy and practice. Felicity Aulino's Rituals of Care speaks directly to these important anthropological and existential conversations. Against the backdrop of global population aging and increased attention to care for the elderly, both personal and professional, Aulino challenges common presumptions about the universal nature of "caring." The way she examines particular sets of emotional and practical ways of being with people, and their specific historical lineages, allows Aulino to show an inseparable link between forms of social organization and forms of care. |
Jean Forward, Rachel M. Keefe, Virginia McLaurin (Sentia Publishing, 2019) | In this text, we choose to define dragons as any variation upon the great serpent mythologies. In other words, a supernaturally powerful creature of serpentine form. These great serpents predate our modern definitions of dragon and almost certainly inspired their creation. We posit that it is from these ancient serpents that the more modern, limbed and winged dragons, evolved. They are the definition against which we measure potential dragon myths. In this way, we hope to challenge the reader to redefine the term dragon for themselves, and come to understand more fully the relationship between dragon myths and human culture. There exist countless myths and variations of myths which involve dragons throughout the world. As it would not be feasible to cover all dragon myths, this text aims to focus its descriptive efforts on those myths with pervasive cultural significance like creation stories or tales that explain the world around us within specific cultural systems. We will discuss the myth itself, along with its biological background, cultural context, and historical background. Prepare yourself; here be dragons. |
Have a new addition to this list? Email mworoner [at] umass [dot] edu (Morgan Woroner) with the details!