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This book reflects on how the pandemic impacted upon qualitative social research, but also how it affected the lives of the members of the Irish diaspora on the European continent. The crisis acted as a pressure cooker for those ‘living abroad,'transforming distance and migration situations to resemble times gone by, when travel was far more prohibitive and emigration felt more permanent. At the same time, ‘expat lives'were being thrown headlong into a new future, shaped more profoundly than ever by digital means. This work is a close examination of how Irish migrants in Germany construct their Irishness and, in doing so, maintain their belonging to Ireland across a geographic distance transformed by the pandemic. This work seeks to draw out the underlying patterns and meanings in the day-to-day practices of Irishness by members of Ireland's putative diaspora in Germany by interweaving a multitude of ethnographic vignettes and rich interview material with relevant and interestingtheoretical concepts. Interlocutors see Ireland as a site of personal memory – good, bad and in-between – and of meaning-making practices. Ireland is deeply personal to them; that understood, their practices of belonging to Ireland are nonetheless embroiled in the political goal of making Ireland visible abroad.

Building on the notion of everyday(ness) as a conceptual tool and a study object in urban research, this book presents 10 case-studies describing and questioning how cities and urban spaces are lived, experienced, interpreted, (self-)produced and/or appropriated. The chapter authors (Raffael Beier & Soufiane Chinig; Patrícia Pereira; Frédéric Vidal, Elisa Lopes da Silva & Alexandre Vaz; Priscilla Santos; Graça Cordeiro & Giuseppe Formato; Andrzej Bukowski & Marta Smagacz-Poziemska; Ryanne Flock; Sophie Zviadadze; Rita Cachado; and Sonja Lakić) analyse the dynamic/interchangeable relationship between material and social dimensions of urban change through thought-provoking ethnographic narratives.

This book explores the multifaceted dimensions of the Girmitya diaspora and post-memory. The intersections of dis/re-location and memory have always been a focus of scholarly interest and the volume envisages the roots of migration and culture, life stories, narratives, and personal anecdotes. It further accentuates Girmitiya struggles, politics of displacement, relationships with the homeland and host land, oral traditions, repercussions, and retention of the archival sites. The cross-examination of memories helps in building a framework to study the varied experiences of the Girmitiya community. In this volume, through a blend of historical and scholarly discourse, we embark on a journey to unearth the layers of meaning embedded within the Girmitya experience. The tales of Girmitya migration amplifies marginalized voices and illuminates the enduring resilience. By chronicling the experiences of the indentured migration, we pay homage to the pioneers, recognize the intricacy of their toils, and commemorate the continuing legacy.

This book explores the environmental and ecological wisdom inherent in some of the indigenous traditions of traditional communities from developing societies like, Argentina, Brazil, India, Mexico, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. It throws light on how these discrete and unrecognized traditions have enabled communities to live in harmony with nature for ages. Despite the best efforts of the modern states through policy-making, intensive R&D for eco-friendly technologies and products, social and environmental impact assessment studies (SEIAS), and cost benefit analysis (CBA) of projects, environmental and ecological degradation continues, mostly in developing societies, which house large number of traditional communities. This book explores their traditions consisting of world views or cosmologies, eco-savvy-customs, indigenous knowledge systems involving community-based occupations and practices, skills and crafts, and so on. This book shows that when interpreted in consonance with scientific environmentalism, these traditions reveal their inbuilt environmental wisdom, mirroring sacredness of nature that have instilled built-in conservation practices, are key to sustainability.The conception of indigenous traditions that subsume environmental and ecological sustainability as well as cultural identity is studied in the book, from the vantage of multi-disciplinary perspectives. This book reflects two streams of thought : (i) stream of social anthropology, arguing for the inbuilt strength of indigenous traditions, that necessitate empathetic understanding with their own rights for recognition and survival, and (ii) stream of indigenous knowledge systems being technically effective only necessitate validation and certification by modern scientific knowledge system for wider use. The book is of great use to policy-makers and non-government players, in addition to researchers and academicians working in the area of sustainable development and indigenous / traditional communities.

This volume elucidates international biographical and narrative perspectives on how COVID-19 influenced people's daily lives across different countries and contexts. It draws together global interdisciplinary scholarly contributions and conceptualizes the lived life as a complex, multilayered and multidimensional phenomenon that is constantly unfolding both in and across time. Significantly, this volume focuses on seldom-heard groups including persons diagnosed with HIV, COVID-19 dissenters, prisoners, essential workers, waste pickers, refugees and migrants. The chapters focus on the pandemic's multifarious impacts on people's lived realities in personal and professional domains, exploring the complexity of people's relationships with family, friends, interactions with colleagues and students and the centrality of emotions, to everyday human experiences, including grief, loss and loneliness as well as moments of joy and processes of personal renewal. This volume explores innovative questions, issues and challenges on the development and utilization of rich, biographical narrative methodologies during COVID-19, addressing important issues like power and voice, and pragmatic questions of how to do biographic research whilst socially distant. Contributions to this work illuminate the multidimensionality of human experiences, adaptability to adverse circumstances and the complexity of working through unanticipated global events whilst reimagining novel social futures.

This book explores modern European religious and non-religious rituals and their main features by focusing on music as a key element required for the full expression of beliefs. It specifically examines the relationship between religious, non-religious, pagan, cultural, celebratory, and traditional rituals. In doing so, this text focuses on the extent to which the rituals overlap, replace, or feed religious or pseudo-religious beliefs to create alternative beliefs (individual or collective) that systematically ignore any religion. The book further analyses the relationship between daily habits, holidays, sports, politics, culture, and other pagan rituals as forms that represent social feelings by identifying, enjoying, or impersonating emotions; and transversally, it explores how music facilitates and fosters those emotions. The volume also investigates how rituals coexist and mutually influence each other through a representation of religious and non-religious rituals, and how music plays a central role in that phenomenology. The author argues that music is a key part of various types of rituals (e.g. rites of passage), and that music supports and enriches the meaning of the ritual, to ultimately strengthen the bond of communication with the individual and the group. This monograph appeals to students and researchers working in religious studies and in music theory.

'The Classic Collection of Alfred C. Haddon: Illustrated'is a comprehensive anthology showcasing the influential works of Alfred C. Haddon, a prominent figure in the field of anthropology. This collection features illustrated editions of some of Haddon's most notable writings, including'History of Anthropology,''Head-hunters: Black, White, and Brown,''Magic and Fetishism,'and'Legends of the Torres Straits.'In'History of Anthropology,'Haddon provides a detailed overview of the development of anthropology as a discipline, tracing its evolution from its earliest origins to contemporary practices.'Magic and Fetishism'delves into the realm of magical beliefs and practices, exploring their role in shaping social structures, belief systems, and cultural identities.'Legends of the Torres Straits'presents a collection of traditional stories and legends from the Torres Strait Islands, offering insights into the rich oral traditions and cultural heritage of the region. Enhanced with illustrations, this edition brings Haddon's seminal works to life, providing readers with a visually captivating and intellectually stimulating exploration of anthropology, cultural diversity, and human society. Whether delving into the history of the discipline or examining specific cultural phenomena,'The Classic Collection of Alfred C. Haddon'offers a comprehensive and insightful journey through the complexities of human culture and society. Contents: Magic and Fetishism Legends of the Torres Straits History of anthropology

This innovative work tells the story of a unique partnership between a state prison administration and a team of incarcerated women, prison administrators, researchers, artists, and students known as The WoW Collective due to their joint efforts in developing a peer mentoring program called “Women's Words/Women's Worlds (WoW).” Using the example of WoW, the book provides a guide to doing community-based participatory research (CBPR) with women in prison that takes a collaborative—rather than the typically adversarial—approach to working together toward the goal of transformative social change. This book provides a ground-breaking example of how incarcerated women, prison administrators, researchers, and artists successfully worked together on a community-based project that led to meaningful results in the form of a peer mentoring program designed by women in prison for women in prison. Remaining closely attuned to the ethical dimensions of doing CBPR in a highly structured prison environment, this book provides inspiration to CBPR practitioners who seek to work within the criminal justice system to create real and meaningful change for the better. Co-authored by two criminologists, a senior prison administrator, and the unique collective known as WoW, this book provides both a clear step-by-step CBPR guide and a visionary approach to working with criminal justice practitioners.

This timely and ambitious volume - a product of close research collaboration with the United Nations Multi-Country Office for Micronesia - is conceived as a holistic “journey” across various domains of progress in a region that, despite fundamental common traits, remains vast and diverse. Pacific island countries and territories (PICTs) have (too) often been identified with elements of vulnerability, whether these be social, economic, or environmental in nature. While these factors cannot be overlooked, this volume aims to showcase not only the long-standing and emerging challenges but, perhaps more importantly, the opportunities, the resilience, the resourcefulness, and the ambition that local socioeconomic development patterns in the Pacific already encompass. Beyond PICTs themselves, we hope that the analyses collected in this book will contribute to highlighting the global significance of the human–nature nexus in the current Anthropocene. Often captured in the concept of “small islands, big oceans”, the importance of the region and its islands and peoples transcends the geographical remoteness and small size of many PICTs.

This book introduces readers to the astonishing civilisation of the Incas. Its novelty lies in its general but highly informative synthesis of their history and astronomy through the accounts of contemporary chronicles and recent archaeological findings. Richly illustrated with the author's own photographs, it will attract the attention of seasoned travellers interested in ancient civilisations and keen to discover what people were capable of achieving so long ago, but also any reader interested in the history and prehistory of South American peoples, including students or university researchers wanting to know more about the pre-Columbian civilizations of Peru. The Inca civilisation was in fact the culmination of cultural contributions from a dozen or so complex pre-Columbian civilizations, such as those of Chavín, Nazca, Wari, or Tiwanaku. Intensely spiritual, the Inca people attributed metaphysical powers to all manner of objects and places they considered sacred, but at the same time the numerous alignments in their buildings show that they result from careful observations of the Sun, the Moon, and the stars at different times of the year. Indeed, the Incas were an essentially agrarian people, so time measurement and calendar devices were essential for the purely pragmatic problem of planning agricultural tasks during the tropical year. The book sets out to describe the Incas in their historical and geographical context, avoiding specialization or excessive technicality, but retaining a certain scientific rigor, and including a detailed consideration of their interest in the sky and astronomy.

Living Mantra ist eine Anthropologie der Mantra-Erfahrung unter hinduistisch-tantrischen Praktizierenden. In alten indischen Lehren und Legenden rufen Mantras, die von Rishis (Sehern) wahrgenommen werden, Gottheiten an und haben transformative Kräfte. Mit einer Methodik, die Wissenschaft und Praxis verbindet, entdeckt Mani Rao eine fortdauernde Tradition von Visionären (Rishis/Sehern) und Offenbarungen im südindischen Bundesstaat Andhra-Telangana. Das tiefgründig recherchierte und mit faszinierenden Erzählungen gespickte Buch formuliert die Poetik der Mantra-Praxis neu, während es gleichzeitig praktische Fragen erforscht. Kann man wissen, ob eine Vision real oder eingebildet ist? Ist eine Vision visuell? Werden Gottheitsvisionen durch die Kultur vermittelt? Wenn Mantras wirksam sind, welche Rolle spielt dann die Hingabe? Sind Mantras Sprache? Living Mantra stellt nicht nur theoretische Fragen, sondern auch solche, die sich ein Praktizierender stellen würde: Wie wählt man zumBeispiel eine Gottheit aus oder was bindet einen an einen Guru? Rao betritt Neuland, indem er die Aufmerksamkeit auf die Momente lenkt, die der Systematisierung und Kanonbildung vorausgehen, und zeigt, wie autoritative Quellen entstehen.

Using the recent turn to ecology as a starting point, Hannah Richter and Elisa Randazzo bring ecological thinking into contact with Critical Indigenous Studies, in which awareness of the necessity for sustainable relations between humans and non-humans has long preceded Western Anthropocene discourse. Currently, the drastic ecological changes labelled as'the Anthropocene'not only increasingly shape the political awareness and the priorities of citizens and governments, but also inform a large body of social scientific scholarship. Indigenous scholarship and practice, in particular ecological adaptability, is intrinsically related to power structures and political struggle – hence indigenous understanding of Anthropocene discourses are intertwined with discourses of colonialism and political contestation. This book problematises the depoliticising character of Western Anthropocene discourses in relation to indigenous ecologies. The authors reveal how the anti-colonial struggles of Indigenous communities and the unequal distribution of responsibilities for and suffering from ecological change, are concealed and devalued in Western discourses of the Anthropocene.

In vielen Teilen der Welt ist die Küche ein zentraler Ort des Familien- und Gemeinschaftslebens. Gesellschaftliche und kulturelle Transformationen spiegeln sich dort in den Interaktionen von Familienmitgliedern mit ihrer humanen und nicht-humanen Umwelt wider. In ihrer Dissertation widmet sich Petra Panenka dem soziokulturellen Wandel in den Küchen der erweiterten Familien (cocinas grandes) der Nördlichen Lakandón Maya, einer indigenen Ethnie im Süden Mexikos. In dieser multi-temporalen Ethnografie verbindet sie die Stärken ethnografischer Feldforschung mit der Theoriegenerierung der Grounded Theorie-Forschung. Im Zuge der Analyse entwickelt sie das Konzept Küchenwelt. Das Konzept erfasst durch vier miteinander verwobene Kategorien, wie sich soziokultureller Wandel anhand der Dimensionen der Materialität, der räumlichen und zeitlichen Gestaltungen der Tagesabläufe, der Interaktionen und Praktiken der Familienmitglieder sowie der familialen Sub-Gemeinschaften konstituiert. Aufgrund der interdisziplinären Ausrichtung ist Küchenwelt in Diskursen über die Sozial- und Kulturanthropologie anschlussfähig.

This book provides a historical-sociological analysis of recreational scuba diving practices. Starting from a national case study, Greece, the book analyzes the gradually evolving global institutional arrangements of this version of underwater recreational activities. Based on the author's experience as a former diving instructor and on an historical and sociological research of scuba diving in Greece, the book examines the stages of institutionalization of scuba diving as a leisure practice on a global scale, from 1945 to the present day. It combines two traditions: the phenomenological approach of underwater multisensory embodied experience and tourism studies. The two main research questions that the project answers are (a) how scuba diving has historically been shaped as a leisure activity, (b) how has underwater experience been conceptually shaped as a leisure activity. This case is an excellent example for exploring the relationship between society, technology, body and modern practices of self in the late modernity world, under a phenomenological and historical perspective.

Ausgehend von Roberto Llaryoras Fallstudien und seiner Kritik an dem in den Medien und der Wissenschaft vorherrschenden, historisch und ethnographisch verkürzten Mafiabild geht das Buch folgenden Fragen nach:Erstens: Was verbirgt sich eigentlich hinter dem mafiosen Dispositiv, hinter der offenbar sehr eindeutig stadtgesellschaftlich eingebetteten Form gewaltsamer Machtausübung, was macht seine “DNA” aus? Zweitens: Welchen gesellschaftlichen Konstruktionselementen verdankt sich dieses ungewöhnlich flexible und dauerhafte Dispositiv? Drittens: Warum ist das bis in die Öffentlichkeit hinein gepflegte deutlich nostalgisch-kulturalistisch geprägte Mafiabild so resilient gegen jeden Versuch, einen sachadäquaten Zugang zu gewinnen?

This book presents the restoration of rural mobile cinema network in the Great Triangle region at the conjunction of Yunnan, Sichuan, and Tibet in China in the new century, which has added a new chapter to the long-standing complex relationship between cinema and social change. Based on five years of multi-sited fieldwork, abundant interviews and oral history narratives, this work shows the entanglement of the State, the projectionists and local film viewers in the historical and social context in a holistic analytic framework. By using the key concept of “being present” to examine the tangling relations between the actors in mobile cinema as social practice, the work argues that mobile cinema and contemporary Chinese society are mutually constructed in both textual and practical level.

This volume examines the role of culture in developing social, cultural and political discourses of HIV/AIDS from a contemporary viewpoint. In doing so, the memory of HIV/AIDS is a powerful tool to examine representations of the past and connect them with future debates. This reassessment of HIV/AIDS explores the most appropriate way to come to terms with a past that involved a negative, stigmatised and marginalised representation. Therefore, remembering plays a key role in generating collective memory, which allows for the exchange of mnemonic content between individual minds, creates discourses on memory and commemoration, and disseminates versions of the past that may affect the representation of HIV/AIDS in the future. Indeed, rewriting about the past also means assessing our responsibility towards the present and the potential of transmission to future generations, especially in times of pandemics.

This textbook analyses the work of classical and contemporary sociological theorists. The first part is dedicated to Comte, Spencer, Marx, Durkheim, Weber, Pareto, and Simmel. The second part covers the major contemporary sociological perspectives: Functionalism, Marxism, Conflict Theory, Symbolic Interactionism, Phenomenological Sociology, and Rational Choice Theory. The third part is devoted to Postmodern Theory, Feminist Theory, Postcolonial Theory, and Race Theory. The author combines academic rigour with clear and accessible language, offering students an in-depth and extensive overview of the main, recurring problems that have troubled sociological theory from its origins to the present day. The textbook uses contemporary examples, analysing how sociological theory can explain the most tragic phenomena of our time, including the war in Ukraine, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, US-China competition over Taiwan, nuclear proliferation, radicalization, neofascism, white suprematism, jihadism, and terrorism. With pedagogic features aiding learning, this book helps navigate the various approaches, methods, and research that divide sociologists into distinct schools. This textbook is therefore an invaluable tool to any sociology student looking to gain a comprehensive understanding of the foundational thinkers that have shaped the discipline.

This volume experiments with ‘worldliness'as found in theory, method, and □eldwork practice. It provides readers with ten unique case studies that grapple with worldliness as an affective, relational, sensory, and multimodal experience. Attending to globalisation's undulations and futures, the collection features research projects from around the world, as well as writing in a re□ective register about ‘global'topics – including human traf□ficking, international adoption and migration, popular pedagogies, □nancial crises, data□cation and AI, and terrorism and civil war. The book is an invitation to use ethnographic practice in a way that recognises the value of ‘present conjunctures'to interrupt and disrupt disciplinary ways of thinking. It is a provocation to collapse boundaries and scales between material and symbolic worlds, to explore connections between the human and the non-human, to work with entanglements of matter and that matter, and to feel or sense – rather than know or explain – one's way through ethnographic encounters. The volume will be of interest to upper-level students and researchers in anthropology, sociology, and cultural studies, especially those interested in global ethnography and the possibilities of qualitative research.

In Israel, wo das orthodoxe Rabbinat historisch sanktionierten Einfluss auf die rechtlichen Definitionen von Ehe und Elternschaft hat, wirft gleichgeschlechtliche Elternschaft elementare Fragen auf, wie zum Beispiel, was Zugehörigkeit zum nationalen Kollektiv schafft, wer die Autorität hat, die Normen der Reproduktion zu definieren, und wo das orthodoxe Judentum beginnt und endet. Judentum in Bewegung behandelt diese Fragen aus einer transgenerationalen Perspektive, die darauf achtet, wie religiös informierte Regeln, Normen und Praktiken der Weitergabe von materiellem Besitz, Namen und gesellschaftlicher Zugehörigkeit angewendet und verändert werden. Lustenberger präsentiert eine detaillierte ethnographische Beschreibung des dynamischen Zusammenspiels zwischen Verwandtschaft, Religion und Staat und hinterfragt damit die allgemein verbreitete Annahme, dass gleichgeschlechtliche Elternschaft in einer radikal säkularen Sphäre existiert, die im krassen Gegensatz zum orthodoxen Judentumsteht. Sie nimmt gleichgeschlechtliche Elternschaft als Prisma, durch die sich die Gesellschaft als Ganzes widerspiegelt, um zu untersuchen wie sich gesellschaftliche Strukturen verändern und welche Flexibilität und Spielraum organisierte Religionen dabei aufweisen.

Das Buch eröffnet ein neues Forschungsfeld praxeologischer Demokratieforschung. Statt von bestimmten theoretischen Konzeptionen auszugehen, was Demokratie ist oder sein soll, wird untersucht, wie Demokratie praktisch gemacht wird. Wie wird der „demos“ zum Subjekt des Regierens gemacht, als politischer Akteur mit kollektivem Willen und Handlungsmacht? Das Buch verfolgt den Ansatz, nach konkreten praktischen Formen zu suchen, in denen Repräsentationen des Willens von kollektiven Subjekten hergestellt und geltend gemacht werden. Dabei entfaltet sich ein Blick auf die Multiplizität und Dynamik der Demokratie.

In diesem Buch wird ein interdisziplinärer Ansatz für die Welt des Konsums gewählt, der verschiedene Themen abdeckt und soziologische, wirtschaftliche und marketingbezogene Aspekte einbezieht. Der Begriff'Konsum'ist vage, und selbst in den akademischen Disziplinen wird der Begriff auf unterschiedliche Weise verwendet. Die Konsumforschung fragt, wie Einkommen und Ausgaben miteinander zusammenhängen. Ganz allgemein untersucht die Konsumforschung, wie Menschen, soziale Schichten oder Gesellschaften ihre Konsumgewohnheiten realisieren. Häufig wird die Frage gestellt, wie konsistent Präferenzstrukturen aufgrund wechselnder empirischer Hintergründe von Zeit, Raum und damit verbundener Kultur sind. Welche Kontextvariablen (historischer Zeitpunkt, geographischer Rahmen, kultureller Hintergrund) spezifizieren die Praxis des Konsums und in welcher Weise haben Merkmale wie Alter, Geschlecht, Klasse, Beruf und Lebensstil eigene Auswirkungen auf die Art und Weise, wie Konsum realisiert wird?Das Buch ist für Forscher aus den Bereichen Ökonomie, Soziologie, Marketing, Ästhetik und Design, Anthropologie und Kommunikationswissenschaft von Interesse.

Pragmatic Imagination and the New Museum Anthropology shifts museum anthropology's relationship to the broader field from marginal to central by revealing the sophisticated transdisciplinary praxis (theory + practice) at the heart of current museum anthropologies. The book features international case studies that operate at the interfaces of critical museology, anthropology, material culture studies, art practice, and more. The theory of pragmatics proposes that meaning-making is collaborative and best evaluated through its impact in the world. Collectively the chapters in this volume evidence a ‘pragmatic imagination'at work as museum anthropology practitioners ingeniously combine inventiveness (the possible) and practicality (the actual) in ways that drive the field forward. Defining museum anthropology as a pragmatic practice explicitly theorizes this work in order to mark its significance; demystify its processes of knowledge production; connect it more readily to debates within and beyond anthropology; and facilitate critique.

This book provides a critical, ethnographically grounded examination of the hype surrounding the idea of impact by investigating the work of those attempting to create innovative social ventures. Through in-depth immersion in the day-to-day running of a social impact accelerator, Guillaume Dumont reveals the intricate, behind-the-scenes socialization through which entrepreneurs learn the ropes of impact entrepreneurship and sheds light on the roles of some of the key players of this unique social world. The book challenges the view that impact is a given property of a venture resulting from an intrinsic desire to change the world embodied by gifted and compassionate entrepreneurs. Instead, Dumont argues that impact emerges iteratively from a process of social engagement and negotiation among entrepreneurs, investors, corporate executives, and mentors as they collaborate in the mundane processes of its production, what he calls “Impact work.” This book, therefore, is about impact in the making. It is a story of hope and collaboration unveiling the social and cultural challenges and contradictions faced by those attempting to create alternative organizations addressing social and commercial goals.

In dieser (auto-)ethnografischen Studie geht es in erster Linie um die Frage, wie sich verschiedene Differenzen – etwa sprachliche, ethnische, kulturelle oder sozio-ökonomische Unterschiede – auf die polizeiliche Praxis auswirken und wie Polizist•innen im Rahmen der Polizei-Bürger-Interaktion üblicherweise mit den verschiedenen Fremdheitsmarkierern umgehen. In diesem Kontext ist vor allem von Interesse, welche Ansätze und Strategien die Polizeibeamt•innen verfolgen, um die auftretenden (Verständnis-)Probleme im Alltag zu lösen und was geschieht, wenn es ihnen nicht gelingt, die auftretenden Differenzen zu überwinden. Dabei ist gleichermaßen von Bedeutung, in welchen Situationen die Beteiligten konkret zu einer Kulturalisierung (oder Entkulturalisierung) der Interaktion beitragen und was sie sich hiervon in der Regel versprechen. Hierbei fokussiert die Untersuchung ebenso auf die hiermit verbundenen Grenzziehungspraktiken der beteiligten Akteur•innen – und zwar nicht nur im Hinblick auf Polizei-Bürger-Interaktion, sondern auch hinsichtlich des Binnenlebens der Polizei als Institution.

This book applies the most recent research in social psychology to decisive historical events that arguably built white supremacy as a cultural force, institutional system, and dominant social character. Simultaneously, the discussion considers the progressive counter-forces that have and continue to challenge white supremacy, and how this dialectical battle has brought the United States to the polarizations of the present day. The book builds a four-part argument. First, it considers the origins of white supremacy in the United States, and how some people uphold it today. Second, it discusses personality types that find white supremacy appealing. Third, it lays out the sociohistorical patterns that promoted white supremacy, rewarded people who practiced it, and created generations of people who find meaning and comfort in racist, misogynist, and heteronormative domination. Fourth, it discusses the social counterforces that challenge white supremacy and links these to personality types as well. Overall, the book examines how social character correlates with differing personality types, resulting in very different social movements, cultural expressions, political activities, and daily interactions.

Taking the Goki-Shichido (Five Home Provinces and Seven Circuits of Ancient Japan) as a theoretical framework, this book examines shrinking Japan from a regional variation perspective by municipality along the ancient Sannyodo, which comprises eight provinces and four prefectures today. The book identifies the principal explanatory factors based on the small area data of e-Stat through GPS statistical software tools such as G-census and EvaCva, within a historical perspective. This historical knowledge helps in understanding the significance of the regional cultural heritage that remains in each municipality today. The book pays special attention to municipal variations within the same prefecture, presenting a completely unique approach from what other researchers have pursued.This book studies two present-day prefectures along the ancient Sannyodo for detailed analyses of the impacts of regional variations of population decline in Japan. They are Hiroshima Prefecture, made up of the former Bingo and Aki provinces, and Yamaguchi Prefecture, formed by the ancient provinces of Suo and Nagato. The reasons for selecting these two prefectures of ancient Sannyodo are twofold. First, they are made up of a multiple number of the ancient provinces. Second, other prefectures that fall under the Sannyodo have been studied in the previous works of the present author by adopting the same methods of analyses. Thus, by presenting unique analyses of regional variations on small municipal levels in Hiroshima and Yamaguchi prefectures along the Sannyodo, this book offers suggestions for effective regional policy to revitalize shrinking Japan to a sustainable one.

This work is concerned with'the Great Black Man'theory of history. This theory presents history, specifically black history, as a mural of achievements by prominent black people. He devoted a significant amount of his professional life to unearthing facts about people of African ancestry, intending these findings to be a refutation of contemporary racist beliefs about the inferiority of blacks. Books such as 100 Amazing Facts about the Negro, Sex and Race, and World's Great Men of Color described remarkable black people throughout the ages and cited significant achievements of black people. However, many of the historical figures that Rogers cites as'black', including Aesop, Cleopatra and Hannibal, are not considered to be so by historians. Rogers commented on the partial black ancestry of some prominent Europeans, including Alexander Pushkin and Alexandre Dumas, père. Similarly, Rogers was among those who asserted that a direct ancestor of the British royal family, Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, had a remote ancestor who was of African origin.

'Magic, Science and Religion and Other Essays'is a collection of thought-provoking essays by Bronisław Malinowski, a pioneering figure in anthropology. Originally published in 1948, the compilation addresses the interplay between magic, science, and religion in human societies. Malinowski explores the role of magic as a practical tool, science as a systematic understanding of the world, and religion as a framework for addressing existential questions. Drawing from his extensive fieldwork, including studies among the Trobriand Islanders, Malinowski provides valuable insights into the cultural dynamics that shape these domains. The essays offer a comprehensive perspective on the complex relationships between belief systems and the social structures of different communities. This anthology remains a seminal work in anthropology, showcasing Malinowski's enduring influence on the understanding of human culture and belief systems.

Meaningful Journeys is an edited collection of autoethnographies underpinned by the conceptual, philosophical, and etymological origins of ‘journeying,'‘questing,'and traditional and modern understandings of ‘pilgrimage.'The volume contains chapters on the ways in which all these concepts intersect with identity and identity transformation. These range across narratives of sport; adventure; preferred identity; curative religion; revered location; nostalgia; grief resolution; ‘out of suitcase'travels; and pilgrimage journeys understood in more traditional senses. The collection showcases and promotes the identity transformational quest as an important conceptual nuance of narrative autoethnography. Readers will engage with the ways in which contributing authors craft their emerging selves into preferred identities, which showcase personal and relational change in action.This book is essential reading for students and practitioners of autoethnography and qualitative research internationally and others interested in identity transformation in narrative inquiry.

This book presents a comprehensive examination of how leadership and collaboration are discursively performed in professional communication, using real-world data from a UK public sector IT team. Taking an auto-ethnographic approach to workplace talk, the author examines the language involved in the performance of different team-based professional roles, examining how professional identity and relationships are indexed through casual face-to-face talk in an office environment. This investigation of how a group of people come together in an effort to achieve shared workplace goals relates to key debates in the area of professional communication, putting forward new theoretical and methodological frameworks for understanding and analysing how person-orientated aspects of professional communication shape discourses of work. This book appeals to a wide and interdisciplinary audience, including advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students, academics and researchers specialising in applied linguistics broadly, and professional communication in particular, as well as consultants and practitioners working across a wide range of professional sectors.

This volume presents cutting-edge research on India's Northeast region relating to borders, material mobilities, contested identities, and economic and political dynamics. It offers a comprehensive understanding of the developmental challenges currently faced by Northeast India, including the complexities of the labor market and the neoliberal economy. The book highlights the lived experiences of individuals in varied geographies and perspectives. It is organized into five sections, each addressing the region's old and vexed questions of'development', and its complicated relationship with indigeneity and sustainability. Contributions from scholars of various disciplines provide an all-inclusive picture of the region, ranging from a macro to a micro level. Interdisciplinary in nature, the book interests a cross-section of academics and graduate students from different disciplines, including sociology, social anthropology, economics, political science, human geography, history, public policy, and development studies.

Justizvollzugsanstalten müssen Gefangenen die Möglichkeit anbieten, sich sportlich zu betätigen. Basierend auf mehrjähriger ethnographischer Forschung in einem Gefängnis untersucht das Buch die vielschichtigen Bedeutungen, die der Sport aus Sicht der Gefangenen besitzt. Die Befunde zeigen, dass sich Sport für einen Teil der männlichen Insassen als Bewältigungsstrategie zur Linderung der hafttypischen Belastungen erweist, indem er Freiheitsmomente birgt und Möglichkeiten eröffnet, gefängnistypischen Gefühlen von Angst, Einsamkeit, Langeweile und mentaler Niedergeschlagenheit zu begegnen. Darüber hinaus stellt der Sport ein probates Mittel zur Konstruktion bzw. Verteidigung von Männlichkeit, zur Selbstaufwertung und zur Positionierung in der sozialen Hierarchie unter den Gefangenen dar. Die Befunde zeigen weiterhin, dass speziell die Teilhabe an anstaltsorganisierten Sportangeboten voraussetzungsvoll ist und das besondere Gefängnissetting viele Inhaftierte von einer Sportteilhabe abhält.

Dieses Buch gibt einen Überblick über die mexikanische Ethnopsychologie, einen originellen theoretischen und methodischen Ansatz, der darauf abzielt, die auf universellen Prinzipien, Prozessen und Konstrukten basierende psychologische Wissenschaft durch wissenschaftliche Methoden zu ergänzen, um die für bestimmte kulturelle Gruppen typischen idiosynkratischen Merkmale und Verhaltensweisen zu untersuchen. Sie schlägt ein historisch-bio-psycho-sozio-kulturelles theoretisches Modell vor, um Forschungsergebnisse zu sozialen, psychologischen, kollektiven und individuellen Phänomenen zu beschreiben.Die Psychologie steht am Scheideweg einer jahrelangen Forschung, bei der der Schwerpunkt auf der internen Validität lag und kontextuelle und kulturelle Variablen kaum beachtet wurden. Es ist von grundlegender Bedeutung, den Weg der internen Validität weiterzuverfolgen und gleichzeitig Fragen der externen Validität einzubeziehen. Die Zunahme indigener Bewegungen und Daten ermöglicht einegründliche Bewertung der Frage, inwieweit scheinbar universelle Phänomene wirklich universell sind und inwieweit sie idiosynkratische Manifestationen der Kulturen sind, in denen die Mainstream-Forschung betrieben wird.Mexikanische Ethnopsychologen verfolgen diesen Weg schon seit Jahrzehnten, seit der Pionierarbeit von Rogelio Díaz-Guerrero, aber bisher wurde nur wenig über diesen innovativen theoretischen Ansatz in englischer Sprache veröffentlicht. Ethnopsychologie - Stücke aus der mexikanischen Forschungsgalerie füllt diese Lücke, indem es der internationalen Gemeinschaft einen Überblick über die mexikanische Ethnopsychologie gibt und somit ein nützliches Instrument für Verhaltens-, Sozial- und Gesundheitswissenschaftler darstellt, die daran interessiert sind, zu verstehen, wie die Kultur sowohl kollektive als auch individuelle Verhaltensweisen prägt.

This edited volume is first of its kind to document and critically analyse the changes took place snice China's opening-up and reform and its impact on Dongbei, China's North-East region, known for its remote and vast landscape, unique and othered culture, rich resources, mighty infrastructures and industries, geopolitical significance. Through presenting up-to-date and multidimensional case studies, the book covers three major aspects of Dongbei, which put people at the heart of our scholarly focus, namely people's mediated life through traditional and new media; people's social, cultural, and living spaces; artistic and fictional representations of people's everyday life.

This book discusses the meaning of smell from a socio-cultural perspective and brings important considerations of smell and olfaction beyond anatomy and physiology in an erudite, reader-friendly style. It addresses ideas about smell and odor in culturally diverse contexts; pays attention to the subtle ways in which smell is expressed; treats smell as part of memory, prejudice, rumor, and sexuality; offers insights into the role of smell in religion, literature, film art, intangible cultural heritage, and museum practices, with particular attention to the challenges posed by historical smells; describes the legal regulation of smell and the background to scent marketing that seeks to influence consumer buying habits, adding a unique and practical dimension to the content. In addition to philosophical and medical historical aspects, the book offers insights into the evolution, diagnosis and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the human sense of smell and illustrates how our environment and societal influences shape our sensory perceptions and thus our attitudes and interpretation of the olfactory world around us. From an anthropological perspective, the book looks at olfactory heritage, cultural traditions, and the symbolism of the nose in different societies. Overall, it offers a comprehensive and thought-provoking cultural examination of the sense of smell — a sense that is often underestimated — while broadening our understanding of the world of smell and its role in our lives. “Ramšak's research provides valuable insights into the relationship between smell and culture, including its influence on identity, memory, social interactions, cultural practices, and beliefs. The book is a valuable resource for sensory anthropology, olfactory and intangible heritage.” Prof. Dr. Katja Hrobat Virloget, University of Primorska, The Faculty of Humanities, Department of Anthropology and Cultural Studies, Koper, Slovenia “The remarkable depth and breadth of the subtle connection between smell and culture is testament to Ramšak's deep engagement with the subject and her exceptional understanding of the global patterns of cultural connotations associated with smell.” Prof. Dr. Sophie Elpers, The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, Meertens Institut, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

​This work analyzes carnival in Rio de Janeiro through the irreverent view disclosed by the illustrated Brazilian magazines Fon-Fon! and Careta. For such purpose, texts and illustrations elaborated by great names in caricature and literature were used, as well as by journalists who remained anonymous due to the fact that their chronicles and articles did not carry their signatures. The way in which carnival was dealt with in said publications, was intimately related to the world view which intellectuals enjoyed, the Belle Epoque, and to the readers of these magazines: the urban middle classes and part of the elite. To understand both the view and the type of humoristic approach used, songs and the works of chronicle writers, memorialists and historians who worked on the theme were also investigated. At the end, what could be verified through the study of these publications was the importance that carnival enjoyed in the lives of those men of letters and brushes, and how relevant was the counterpart which they made possible not only to readers, but also to us, historians. Through these publications, it is possible to redeem and reconstruct part of the history of carnival as well as understand the context of the period, political problems, stylishness, innovations and changes in the lives of Rio de Janeiro (carioca) dwellers. So much attention to the theme from the illustrated press denotes the importance of carnival to the financial health of newspaper companies, since the subject and its well-humored approach pleased readers, besides showing that not only did those writers and artists write about the festivities in an irreverent manner, but they also actively participated in them as carnival merrymakers, and therefore they were, themselves, artificers of that history.

The book brings a new approach to see the art history of Hong Kong as a historical mediator and offers alternative perspective to discern the current hype of archive research and archival art practices, which informs the commitment in the constant production of socio-political meanings through arts. The book addresses the current social-political crises of Hong Kong by connecting art, memory, history, and political participation together through the site of archive and contextualises in both local and global perspectives, it also focuses on the artist archive, namely Ha Bik Chuen Archive, and archival art practices of contemporary Hong Kong, particularly in the social and political unrests, however, it ripples resonance and reflection not only in the local context but also to the region. The book is intended to the readers who are interested in both representational and interpretational nature of art and searching for alternatives means to perceive histories.

Moving beyond traditional critical ethnography, postcritical ethnographies accept as a key premise that studies which are critical of the social world must also turn critique back on the ethnographer, the study, and its process. The book includes an introduction to the evolutions of critical ethnography and postcritical ethnography and exemplar chapters from contributors who engaged in long-term ethnographic studies. Accompanying each chapter is an introductory preface and margin notes created by the editors to underscore the methodological ‘moves'made by each author. Addressing the distinct orientations critical and postcritical ethnographies take, the book illuminates how different authors think, enact, and represent their critical and postcritical/post-critical work. In this way the book is pedagogical within and across each chapter. Each contributor has produced a chapter that includes a brief summary of their respective long-term inquiry project with emphases on relation in the being, doing, and theorizing of qualitative research. Contributors discuss their navigation of commitments across the arc of their research and engage critical social theory, interrogating issues of power and ideology. Each chapter includes retrospective analytical reflections on the long-term ethnographic work contributors completed. The chapters address interpretivist commitments to emic analyses, metaphor, and representation and each contributor's personal and professional commitments to equity and justice. The chapters engage critical social theories, crip horizons, critical race theory, and queer theory, as well as critical and queer pedagogies, de/colonialism, and post-humanism. A summary chapter addresses key issues in contemporary postcritical/post-critical qualitative research. The book is designed to prepare novice qualitative researchers to craft, conduct, and represent postcritical/post-critical qualitative research. The book provides guidance for researchers who are interested in social critique, equity, and justice and who seek to avoid the failures in the last quarter of the 20th Century of critical ethnography.

Ausgehend von der theoretischen Grundannahme, dass Sprachtherapie als Bestandteil von Bildung anzusehen ist, werden Interaktionen zwischen Sprachtherapeut•innen und Kindern im vorschulischen Bereich über einen ethnographischen Zugang untersucht. Die zentrale Frage der Arbeit lautet, inwieweit Kindern in diesem frühkindlichen Bildungskontext Teilhabe ermöglicht wird. Die Autorin kommt zu dem Ergebnis, dass die Praktiken der Sprachtherapie von einer starken Machtasymmetrie gekennzeichnet sind, die die Sprachprofessionellen in Form von fortlaufenden Evaluationen und dem Einfordern von formal festgelegten monolingualen Kurzantworten aufrechterhalten. Dadurch kommt es zu Beschränkungen von mehrsprachig-kommunikativer Teilhabe und weiterer Beteiligungsmöglichkeiten der als ‚sprachbeeinträchtigt‘ adressierten Kinder.

'The Classic Collection of Bronisław Malinowski: Illustrated'showcases a compilation of influential works by the renowned anthropologist Bronisław Malinowski. This anthology includes illustrated editions of some of Malinowski's most seminal writings, such as'Argonauts of the Western Pacific,''Myth in Primitive Psychology,''Freedom & Civilization,''Magic, Science and Religion,'and other essays. In'Argonauts of the Western Pacific,'Malinowski provides a groundbreaking ethnographic study of the Trobriand Islanders, offering insights into their social organization, economic practices, and rituals surrounding the Kula exchange.'Myth in Primitive Psychology'delves into the role of myth and ritual in the psychology of indigenous peoples, exploring how these cultural expressions serve to address fundamental human needs and anxieties.'Freedom & Civilization'offers philosophical reflections on the relationship between individual freedom and societal structure, drawing on anthropological insights to illuminate the complexities of human civilization.'Magic, Science and Religion'presents a series of essays that examine the interplay between magic, science, and religion in human societies, challenging prevailing Western assumptions about these phenomena. Through vivid illustrations, this edition enhances the reader's understanding and appreciation of Malinowski's seminal contributions to anthropology and social science. Whether delving into the intricacies of Trobriand society or exploring broader themes of culture, belief, and society,'The Classic Collection of Bronisław Malinowski'offers readers a captivating journey through the work of one of the most influential anthropologists of the 20th century. Contents: Argonauts of the Western Pacific Crime and Custom in Savage Society Myth in Primitive Psychology Sex and Repression in Savage Society Freedom & Civilization Magic, Science and Religion and Other Essays Baloma; the Spirits of the Dead in the Trobriand Islands

Liminality: the state of being ‘betwixt and between'is one of anthropology's most influential concepts. This volume reconsiders Victor Turner's innovative extension of Arnold Van Gennep's concept of liminality from within the Manchester tradition of Social Anthropology established by Max Gluckman. Turner's work was grounded in ethnography and engaged with philosophical perspectives in varied socio-historical contexts, extending well-beyond the confines of the anthropology that initially inspired much of his work. Liminality has therefore become a concept with broad interdisciplinary reach. Engaging with topical issues across the globe – from neuroscience to open access publishing and refugee experiences in Europe – this volume launches Turner's fundamental work into the future.

This book investigates relations between humans, waste, pollution, and marine life. It introduces the concept of Aquabiopolitics as a means to understand how humans govern life in water in order to enrich human life on land. The study focuses on the Baltic Sea and Lake Mälaren, using Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, as the connection point. Throughout the book, the author explores how human practices over time have had devastating effects on marine life and continue to have so today. The book engages with the marine world through underwater ethnography to provide a perspective on water from below the surface. In this endeavor, it tracks marine scientists and trash scuba divers who are jointly invested in tracking human maltreatment of water and finding solutions for treating water differently in the future. It follows the scientists on expeditions at sea and to their laboratories in order to learn about their methods and relations to underwater worlds. Together with the trash scuba divers, we will dive into the dark murky waters around Stockholm—experiencing what it is like to move below water, among sharp and toxic waste, without any visibility. The work of creating a knowing and caring relationship between humans and water is of key importance to both scientists and divers. Therefore, one of the main parts of this book is to analyze how, and if, this relationship can be created: via social media, images, installations, or other means.

Dieses Buch bietet eine ausführliche und aktuelle Auseinandersetzung mit der Frage, wie der Zugang zum Forschungsfeld gelingen kann. Der Feldzugang ist eine notwendige Bedingung, um Feldforschung betreiben zu können – gelingt der Zugang zum Feld nicht, dann ist auch die geplante Forschung nicht möglich. Das Anbahnen eines Feldzugangs ist entsprechend eine besonders kritische Phase des Forschungsprozesses, die grundsätzlich die Eigenschaft hat, krisenhaft zu sein oder es zu werden. Diesen Sachverhalt stellt der Band in den Mittelpunkt und versammelt Beiträge, die das krisenhafte Potential von Feldzugängen aus drei Perspektiven diskutieren: Erstens mit Blick auf veränderte und erschwerte äußere Rahmenbedingungen qualitativer Forschung (Der Feldzugang in der Krise); zweitens aus einer wissenssoziologischen Sicht (Der Feldzugang als krisenhafter Prozess) und drittens aus der Perspektive der Forschungsfelder und -gegenstände (Der Feldzugang als Krise fürden Forschungsgegenstand?). In dieser Diskussion verfolgt der Band das Ziel, Feldzugänge sowohl unter forschungspraktischen und methodologischen Gesichtspunkten zu erörtern als auch den Feldzugang als Forschungsgegenstand zu reflektieren. Der Band gibt Anregungen für alle, die ein empirisches Forschungsprojekt durchführen wollen und für die diejenigen, die ihre eigene Forschungspraxis selbstreflexiv thematisieren. Er bietet Anschlüsse an die ethnografische Literatur, Einblicke in die Arbeit der ethnografischen Feldforschung, und er bietet wichtige Impulse für die Debatte zur Zukunft der qualitativen Sozialforschung.

In dieser Studie werden die sozialen Praktiken im Beobachtungs- und Dokumentationsverfahren des Early Excellence-Ansatzes erforscht. Dabei werden im Rahmen einer (ko-)konstruktivistisch-postmodern ausgerichtete Ethnographie sowohl Beobachtungs- und Dokumentationspraktiken der pädagogischen Fachkräfte als auch der forschenden Person untersucht. Bezugnehmend auf praxistheoretische und beobachtungstheoretische Perspektiven wird die Komplexität der Organisation des Beobachtungs- und Dokumentationsverfahrens in der Praxis von Kindertageseinrichtungen herausgearbeitet und nachgezeichnet, wie die soziale Position in der Beobachtung relational zwischen programmatischen und pädagogischen Anforderungen hergestellt wird.

„Nun das Wichtigste vom Tag“, so beginnen oft Nachrichtensendungen. Was so selbstverständlich klingt und klingen soll, ist Ergebnis eines Prozesses, der im fertigen Beitrag kaum noch zu erkennen ist. Dabei prägen Redaktionen unser Bild der Wirklichkeit, indem sie ihr Publikum mit Informationen konfrontieren, über die sich reden und streiten lässt. Wie und wann das gelingt, zeigt diese Studie anhand der ZDF-heute-Redaktion. Dort lassen sich Verfahren beobachten, durch die sich die Redaktion ihrem Verständnis der Nachricht nach und nach versichert. Die Ereignisse, organisatorischen Notwendigkeiten und antizipierten Publikumsreaktionen bilden dabei nur den Hintergrund, vor dem über Auswahl und Darstellung der Inhalte entschieden wird. Die einschlägigen Kriterien müssen immer wieder aus der Konfrontation mit Nachrichtenentwürfen entwickelt werden, um das Vertrauen in eine ‚akzeptable‘ Version zu begründen. So schaffen Redaktionen Normalität angesichts von Ereignissen, die uns sonst oftsprachlos machen. Zum Problem wird die routinierte Bearbeitung von Neuigkeit jedoch, wenn existenzielle Notlagen wie die Klimakrise durch ein Weiter-so gerade nicht zu bewältigen sind.

This open access book explores some of the struggles and challenges that researchers and practitioners face when conducting research in the Central Asian research setting. Written for scholars still in the planning stages of their research, it addresses key questions, including: How shall we problematize and reconceptualize the concept of positionality through lenses of local voices from the region? How does practitioners'and scholars'positionality contribute to their experiences of inclusion, exclusion, and access to the field? How do scholars navigate issues of personal safety and mental well-being in the more closely monitored societies of Central Asia? The book includes contributors from both Central Asia and Western countries, paying particular attention to the ways researchers'subjectivity shape how they are received in the region, which, in turn, influences how they write about and disseminate their research. In featuring an even greater variety of voices, this book fills an important gap in the literature on field research and knowledge production in and on Central Asia.

Dragons are everywhere, seemingly hidden in plain sight. These mythological reptilian monsters date far into known human history in nearly every part of the world and are still prevalent in today's media and entertainment. The wide cultural, geographical, and linguistic diffusion of dragons or dragon-like creatures shows how modern humans have influenced each other through shared tales of monsters while simultaneously hinting at a shared genesis. This book introduces dragon myths and legends from around the world by following human culture's shared evolutionary past via language, folklore, the arts, and commerce. Dragons in folklore, literature, and pop culture are analyzed from Eastern and Western perspectives, leading to a dual analysis of dragons in today's popular culture and media. While other books on the topic have focused primarily on classical sources, or on cataloging various dragon tales in general, this work identifies the subtle yet profound ways in which the dragon figure or related motifs have slyly entered into our collective psyche as participants in the modern, interconnected world.

Scene affiliations can be understood as socially produced and meaningful commonalities of action in style-specific practices. They are displayed, staged, stabilized, and disseminated in the respective style formations via material artifacts and their use, the body, and media forms of expression. Although the importance of artefacts, bodies and media for stylisation processes is continuously emphasised within youth culture and scene research, the systematic analysis of the material and medial dimensions of youth cultural action beyond the description of respective styles rarely comes into focus. Based on this observation, this volume aims to explore the question of which theoretical and methodological perspectives interdisciplinary youth culture and scene research can use to adequately understand the material and medial expressions of styles. The volume brings together contributions devoted to the significance of materiality and mediality in scenes from historical, social and cultural science, and psychological perspectives.The contentYouth culture theoretical perspectives on mediality and materiality - Formations of style via media - Formations of style via artefacts - Formations of style via bodiesThe editorsTim Böder is a research assistant at the AG Jugend- und Schulforschung at the University of Duisburg-Essen.Dr. Paul Eisewicht is a research associate at the Institute of Sociology at the Technical University of Dortmund.Prof. Dr. Günter Mey teaches developmental psychology and qualitative research at the University of Applied Sciences Magdeburg-Stendal.Prof. Dr. Nicolle Pfaff is a university lecturer at the Faculty of Education at the University of Duisburg-Essen.The translation was done with the help of artificial intelligence. A subsequent human revision was done primarily in terms of content.

This book draws on transpersonal anthropology and psychology in order to explore mild altered states of consciousness (ASCs) experienced in everyday life. While research into consciousness and particularly ASCs is growing, this book focuses on a neglected area: ‘everyday'experiences of ASCs. Opening with an up-to-date overview of the development of the study of ASCs, the author presents an in-depth empirical exploration and mapping of mild ASCs. Dr Sheppard examines original research conducted in a range of religious and secular contexts with participants who were engaged in activities including prayer, sport, nature conservation, music and musical instrument making, and TV viewing. The author takes a novel phenomenological approach to the analysis of ASCs, emphasising the subjective experience. The book explores the healing potential of such mild ASCs; the everyday fantasy reality of the interior landscape; and discusses the problem of validity, and belief in the study of ASCs. It will appeal to students and scholars of transpersonal psychology, consciousness studies, social anthropology, and the philosophy of mind.