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"The practice of making votive offerings into fire dates from the earliest periods of human history, and is found in many different religious cultures. Throughout the tantric world, this kind of ritual offering practice is known as the homa. With roots in Vedic and Zoroastrian rituals, the tantric homa developed in early medieval India. Since that time it has been transmitted to Central and East Asia by tantric Buddhist practitioners. Today, Hindu forms are also being practiced outside of India as well. Despite this historical and cultural range, the homa retains an identifiable unity of symbolism and ritual form. The essays collected in Homa Variations provide detailed studies of a variety of homa forms, providing an understanding of the history of the homa from its inception up to its use in the present. At the same time, the authors cover a wide range of religious cultures, from India and Nepal to Tibet, China, and Japan. The theoretical focus of the collection is the study of ritual change over long periods of time, and across the boundaries of religious cultures. The identifiable unity of the homa allows for an almost unique opportunity to examine ritual change from such a broad perspective"-- "Throughout human history, and in many religious cultures, offerings are made into fire--known in the tantric world as homa. This collection provides detailed studies of the homa from its inception up to the present, allowing for the study of ritual change over long periods of time, and across religious cultures"--

Homa (Rite) --- RELIGION / Comparative Religion. --- SOCIAL SCIENCE / Anthropology / Cultural.

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"Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.Have you ever thought seriously about your refrigerator? The box humming in the background actually displays who you are and the society in which you live. This book examines the past, present, and future of the electric household refrigerator with an eye towards preventing its users from ever taking it for granted again. No mere container for cold Cokes and celery stalks, the refrigerator is actually more like a mirror-and what it reflects is chilling indeed.Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in the The Atlantic"--

Food --- LITERARY CRITICISM / Semiotics & Theory. --- PHILOSOPHY / Aesthetics. --- Refrigeration and refrigerating machinery --- SOCIAL SCIENCE / Anthropology / Cultural. --- Cooling

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In Gesture and Power Yolanda Covington-Ward examines the everyday embodied practices and performances of the BisiKongo people of the lower Congo to show how their gestures, dances, and spirituality are critical in mobilizing social and political action. Conceiving of the body as the center of analysis, a catalyst for social action, and as a conduit for the social construction of reality, Covington-Ward focuses on specific flashpoints in the last ninety years of Congo's troubled history, when embodied performance was used to stake political claims, foster dissent, and enforce power. In the 1920s Simon Kimbangu started a Christian prophetic movement based on spirit-induced trembling, which swept through the lower Congo, subverting Belgian colonial authority. Following independence, dictator Mobutu Sese Seko required citizens to dance and sing nationalist songs daily as a means of maintaining political control. More recently, embodied performance has again stoked reform, as nationalist groups such as Bundu dia Kongo advocate for a return to pre-colonial religious practices and non-Western gestures such as traditional greetings. In exploring these embodied expressions of Congolese agency, Covington-Ward provides a framework for understanding how embodied practices transmit social values, identities, and cultural history throughout Africa and the diaspora. This title was made Open Access by libraries from around the world through Knowledge Unlatched.

Social Science / Anthropology / Cultural & Social --- Social sciences --- Behavioral sciences --- Human sciences --- Sciences, Social --- Social science --- Social studies --- Civilization

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Es ist bunt, es ist voll, es ist laut - das Vergnügen hat einen Ort gefunden, an dem es sich manifestiert: den Jahrmarkt und dessen modernen Verwandten, den Themenpark. Dieser Band bearbeitet umfassend die Kultur dieses öffentlichen und zugleich nicht-alltäglichen Raumes - und beantwortet die Frage, was die Faszination solcher Orte ausmacht. Die Beiträge untersuchen die Geschichte des Salzburger Dult, der Luxemburger Schueberfouer, des Hamburger Hugo Haase Parks oder des Wiener Praters, zeichnen die Geschichte des Karussells, des Jahrmarktkinos, der Geisterbahn, der Achterbahn oder der fast vergessenen Jahrmarktsorgel nach. Sie arbeiten eine Sozialgeschichte der Schaustellerei heraus, analysieren die Motivationen, Jahrmärkte und Vergnügungsparks zu besuchen und dort an bestimmten Orten zu verweilen, und zeigen, wie das Phänomen in der Literatur, im Film und in der bildenden Kunst aufgegriffen und thematisiert wird. Enthält Interviews mit Frank Lanfer und Werner Stengel. »Als wesentlicher Teil unserer Kultur sind Jahrmärkte und deren moderne Verwandte, die Themenparks, Forschungsfelder, die theoretischer und vor allem empirischer Bearbeitung bedürfen. Der vorliegende Band macht einen Anfang und begeht dabei einen Fehler nicht: Er nimmt dem Thema mit Verwissenschaftlichung und Theoretisierung nicht sein faszinierendes Schillern. Das Buch dreht sich nicht nur um Vergnügungswelten; beim Lesen zeigt sich auch, dass der Band mit Spaß, ja vielleicht Vergnügen erarbeitet wurde.« Yvonne Niekrenz, www.socialnet.de, 02.06.2010 »Der Band [...] eröffnet dem Leser ein breites Spektrum an unterschiedlich bearbeiteten Themen, wirft dabei gleichzeitig weiterführende Fragen auf.« Thomas Schindler, Zeitschrift für Volkskunde, 107/1 (2011)

Schausteller; Volksfest; Karussell; Achterbahn; Vergnügungspark; Kulturgeschichte; Kulturanthropologie; Kulturwissenschaft; Cultural History; Cultural Anthropology; Cultural Studies --- Cultural Anthropology. --- Cultural Studies.

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"Both a vital theoretical work and a fine illustration of the principles and practice of sensory ethnography, this much anticipated translation is destined to figure as a major catalyst in the expanding field of sensory studies. Drawing on his own fieldwork in Brazil and Japan and a wide range of philosophical, literary and cinematic sources, the author outlines his vision for a 'modal anthropology'. François Laplantine challenges the primacy accorded to 'sign' and 'structure' in conventional social science research, and redirects attention to the tonalities and rhythmic intensities of different ways of living. Arguing that meaning, sensation and sociality cannot be considered separately, he calls for a "politics of the sensible" and a complete reorientation of our habitual ways of understanding reality.The book also features an introduction to the sensory and social thought of François Laplantine and the Sensory Studies series by series editor David Howes"-- "Both a groundbreaking theoretical work and an excellent illustration of the principles and practice of sensory ethnography, this much anticipated translation is destined to figure as a major catalyst in the emergent field of sensory studies. Drawing on a wide range of scholarly sources, as well as film, literature, and his own field experience in Brazil and Japan, the author outlines his vision for a 'modal anthropology'. François Laplantine questions the primacy of 'sign' and 'structure' in conventional social science research, and focusses attention on the tonalities and rhythmic intensities of our consciousness of the world. Arguing that meaning, sensation and sociality cannot be considered separately, he calls for a 'politics of the sensible' keyed to the life experience of the individual human subject"--

Ethnology --- Culture --- SOCIAL SCIENCE / Anthropology / Cultural. --- PHILOSOPHY / General. --- SOCIAL SCIENCE / Sociology / General. --- Sinne. --- Gesellschaft. --- Philosophy. --- Semiotic models. --- Anthropology. --- Human beings --- Primitive societies --- Social sciences