Warriors of the Plains explores the art of North American Plains Indian warriors - weapons, amulets, clothing and ceremonial objects - with particular emphasis on their ritual use and symbolic meanings. Unlike most books on Plains Indians, which have a purely historical focus, this title examines continuity and change between historic warrior societies and contemporary Native American military associations. Originally set up as clubs to organise war raids and to police seasonal cycles of nomadic hunting, warrior societies today maintain much of the Plains Indians' ethos, vigorously reinforcing their cultural, national and ethnic identity. With a new approach to the subject the author reveals how specific items and symbols - objects of "ritual and honour" - such as the American flag, eagle feathers and medicine bundles have been used over the last 200 years, as well as exploring the introduction of new elements in modern ceremonial practices such as powwow dance competitions and war veterans' celebrations. Lavishly illustrated with objects from the British Museum's important collections, as well as archival material, this book features previously unpublished material. Max Carocci has been conducting research on Plains Indians since 1989. Since 2006 he has been researching and collecting in this area for the British Museum and is the curator of the touring exhibition "Warriors of the Plains: 200 years of Native North American honour and ritual". He lectures on Indigenous American Arts at Birkbeck College, University of London and is editor of the Anthropological Index Online run by the Royal Anthropological Institute.

Winner of the 2014 Central Eurasian Studies Society Book Award in the Social Sciences.Under Solomon's Throne provides a rare ground-level analysis of post-Soviet Central Asia's social and political paradoxes by focusing on an urban ethnic community: the Uzbeks in Osh, Kyrgyzstan, who have maintained visions of societal renewal throughout economic upheaval, political discrimination, and massive violence.Morgan Liu illuminates many of the challenges facing Central Asia today by unpacking the predicament of Osh, a city whose experience captures key political and cultural issues of the region as a whole. Situated on the border of Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan—newly independent republics that have followed increasingly divergent paths to reform their states and economies—the city is subject to a Kyrgyz government, but the majority of its population are ethnic Uzbeks. Conflict between the two groups led to riots in 1990, and again in 2010, when thousands, mostly ethnic Uzbeks, were killed and nearly half a million more fled across the border into Uzbekistan. While these tragic outbreaks of violence highlight communal tensions amid long-term uncertainty, a close examination of community life in the two decades between reveals the way Osh Uzbeks have created a sense of stability and belonging for themselves while occupying a postcolonial no-man's-land, tied to two nation-states but not fully accepted by either one.The first ethnographic monograph based on extensive local-language fieldwork in a Central Asian city, this study examines the culturally specific ways that Osh Uzbeks are making sense of their post-Soviet dilemmas. These practices reveal deep connections with Soviet and Islamic sensibilities and with everyday acts of dwelling in urban neighborhoods. Osh Uzbeks engage the spaces of their city to shape their orientations relative to the wider world, postsocialist transformations, Islamic piety, moral personhood, and effective leadership. Living in the shadow of Solomon's Throne, the city's central mountain, they envision and attempt to build a just social order.

This books discusses one of the most frequently discussed subjects in history education during the last two decades, namely how secondary school pupils use the World Wide Web for their learning activities. Based on two case studies in two Dutch schools, the book shows some ways in which the use of the Web has changed history education in at least three respects: first, the findings of the two case studies show that the Web has a huge potential to turn the history class - previously described as boring and too abstract - into a livelier and more attractive environment, where concepts, events, phenomena and processes of the past almost always have textual and/or [audio]visual representations; second, strong indications were observed showing that the Web fosters historical understanding, not only by triggering thinking processes that take pupils beyond the shown contents, but also by prompting them to evaluate sources and sample relevant fragments for their assignments; third, the Web has brought into history education sources that were previously excluded, including those described as unconventional. This book shows, among other things, that convergence is underway on both the user side - since pupils use both conventional and unconventional online sources - and the content-production side, where heritage institutions are increasingly getting involved in unconventional platforms like Wikipedia. The latter emerged from the two case studies as the most popular source of historical information, while the websites of heritage institutions tended to appear at the bottom of the list of references. Unlike personal sites, which also scored better, heritage sites face some obstacles, including the still dominant desire to preserve institutions' identity and uniqueness, conservatism - which often prevents the redefinition of collection management tasks -, and the tax-payers' dilemma. For that reason, collections are not hyperlinked and, therefore, remain invisible and not easy to find online.

Thirty years ago, Ronald Reagan rode a wave of patriotism to the White House by calling for a return to what he considered to be traditional American values--personal liberty, free markets, and limited government. After the cultural struggles and generational clashes of the 1960s and 70s, it appeared that many Americans were eager to abide by Reagan's set of core American principles. Yet, despite Reagan's continuing popularity, modern America remains widely perceived as a nation weakened by its divisions. While debates over cultural values have been common throughout the country's history, they seem particularly vitriolic today. Some argue that these differences have resulted in a perpetually gridlocked government caught between left and right, red states and blue. Since the American Founding, commonly shared cultural values have been considered to be the glue that would bind the nation's citizens together. However, how do we identify, define and interpret the foundations of American culture in a profoundly divided, pluralistic country?In American Culture in Peril, Charles W. Dunn assembles top scholars and public intellectuals to examine Reagan's impact on American culture in the twenty-first century. The contributors assess topics vital to our conversations about American culture and society, including changing views of the family, the impact of popular culture, and the evolving relationship between religion, communities, and the state. Others investigate modern liberalism and the possibilities of reclaiming a renewed conservatism today. American Culture in Peril illuminates Reagan's powerful legacy and investigates whether his traditional view of American culture can successfully compete in postmodern America.ContributorsHadley ArkesPaul A. CantorAllan CarlsonJean Bethke ElshtainCharles R. KeslerWilfred M. McClayKen Myers

By presenting rigorous situated histories of changing training regimen in different cultures, this collection of papers collectively challenge orthodox notions of the perfect body and its pursuit. The introductory essay by the editor compares and contrasts the different methods and ideals. Ancient regimen and techniques may seem remote, yet many attempt to resolve issues that are common to us all. Some are directed at the immortality or longevity of the physical body, and include performance-enhancing nutrition and drug taking; others train the spirit and souls for the afterlife. Many emphasise the interconnectedness of the human body with its environment. The papers set their topic in its broad socio-political and cultural context, facilitating a dialogue with other contributors who considered many similar questions for the 20th and 21st centuries. Histories of sports, body cultivation and sports medicines in non-European cultures are only just now beginning to emerge. With the Olympics approaching in London, it is timely to explore the diverse traditions of perfecting body and soul, as a fascinating historical project in itself, but also to provide a rich context for envisioning a more widely beneficial approach to sports, medicine and immortality for all.

Here is the firsthand account of a member of one of the United States Army’s three-man Tactical Psychological Operations Teams, groups of men tasked with winning the hearts and minds of Iraq’s civilian population through leaflets, loudspeakers, conversation, and bribery. Transcribed from and inspired by Russell Snyder’s personal wartime journal, it is a story of introspection, relating how the feelings of eagerness and uncertainty in a young man unfamiliar with war were replaced with the dread knowledge that, buried within his soul, beneath a façade of goodwill and morality, lurked the capacity to kill his fellow men.There are scenes of battle retold within the pages of Hearts and Mines, descriptions of the feelings of seeing once-familiar human bodies destroyed beyond recognition. Some days are described as being full of hope and appreciation for the beauty of the world, others with despair for the omnipresent cruelty and destruction which has a habit of consuming men when they feel unaccountable for their actions. It captures the sensory experience of living in a singular environment full of strange plants and animals, friends true and false, and determined enemies, encapsulating the existential fear of mortar and rocket attacks, as well as the ridiculousness of military bureaucracy, such as was demonstrated by a sergeant major’s decision to punish graffiti artists by removing the doors of all the camp’s toilets.

How did governments in the past act to stop the spread of venereal disease? Did legislation reflect medical opinion, and how did it treat the interests represented by women's or homosexual organisations? How can similarities and differences in national legislation be explained? In this book celebrated historian Ida Blom analyses the political culture of five welfare states -- the three social-democratic states of Scandinavia, the conservative German state, and the liberal British state -- with a view to understanding how relations between the individual citizen and the state vary. Pointing to important differences between the Scandinavian countries, the book charts the interaction of medicine and sexual morality, indicating the influence -- or lack of influence -- of medical opinion, and the impact of debates about gender, sexuality, and religion on policies intended to combat venereal disease. Ida Blom identifies the far-reaching consequences of these policies, be they fresh solutions or repeats of past political decisions, and establishes their effectiveness in hindering the spread of disease.

The first African American fraternities and sororities were established at the turn of the twentieth century to encourage leadership, racial pride, and academic excellence among black college students confronting the legacy of slavery and the indignities of Jim Crow segregation. With a strong presence that endures on today's campuses, African American fraternities and sororities claim legendary artists, politicians, theologians, inventors, intellectuals, educators, civil rights leaders, and athletes in their ranks.In this second edition of African American Fraternities and Sororities: The Legacy and the Vision, editors Tamara L. Brown, Gregory S. Parks, and Clarenda M. Phillips have added new chapters that address issues such as the role of Christian values in black Greek-letter organizations and the persistence of hazing. Offering an overview of the historical, cultural, political, and social circumstances that have shaped these groups, African American Fraternities and Sororities explores the profound contributions that black Greek-letter organizations and their members have made to America.New in the second edition:• Examination of the relationship between Christian values and organizational identity• Investigation of hazing rituals• Survey of academic performance in black Greek-letter organizations• Discourse on notions of masculinity in black Greek-letter organizations• Accounts of the professional lives of black Greek luminaries

From the eighteenth century to the eve of the Civil War, Georgia's racial order shifted from the somewhat fluid conception of race prevalent in the colonial era to the harsher understanding of racial difference prevalent in the antebellum era. In Cultivating Race: The Expansion of Slavery in Georgia, 1750--1860, Watson W. Jennison explores the centrality of race in the development of Georgia, arguing that long-term structural and demographic changes account for this transformation. Jennison traces the rise of rice cultivation and the plantation complex in low country Georgia in the mid-eighteenth century and charts the spread of slavery into the up country in the decades that followed. Cultivating Race examines the "cultivation" of race on two levels: race as a concept and reality that was created, and race as a distinct social order that emerged because of the specifics of crop cultivation. Using a variety of primary documents including newspapers, diaries, correspondence, and plantation records, Jennison offers an in-depth examination of the evolution of racism and racial ideology in the lower South.

In the Sex and Race series, first published in the 1940s, historian Joel Augustus Rogers questioned the concept of race, the origins of racial differentiation, and the root of the "color problem." Rogers surmised that a large percentage of ethnic differences are the result of sociological factors and in these volumes he gathered what he called "the bran of history"—the uncollected, unexamined history of black people—in the hope that these neglected parts of history would become part of the mainstream body of Western history. Drawing on a vast amount of research, Rogers was attempting to point out the absurdity of racial divisions. Indeed his belief in one race—humanity—precluded the idea of several different ethnic races. The series marshals the data he had collected as evidence to prove his underlying humanistic thesis: that people were one large family without racial boundaries. Self-trained and self-published, Rogers and his work were immensely popular and influential during his day, even cited by Malcolm X. The books are presented here in their original editions.

The Vietnam War has been analyzed, dissected, and debated from multiple perspectives for decades, but domestic considerations -- such as partisan politics and election-year maneuvering -- are often overlooked as determining factors in the evolution and outcome of America's longest war.In Vietnam's Second Front: Domestic Politics, the Republican Party, and the War, Andrew L. Johns assesses the influence of the Republican Party -- its congressional leadership, politicians, grassroots organizations, and the Nixon administration -- on the escalation, prosecution, and resolution of the Vietnam War. This groundbreaking work also sheds new light on the relationship between Congress and the imperial presidency as they struggled for control over U.S. foreign policy.Beginning his analysis in 1961 and continuing through the Paris Peace Accords of 1973, Johns argues that the Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon administrations failed to achieve victory on both fronts of the Vietnam War -- military and political -- because of their preoccupation with domestic politics. Johns details the machinations and political dexterity required of all three presidents and of members of Congress to maneuver between the countervailing forces of escalation and negotiation, offering a provocative account of the ramifications of their decisions. With clear, incisive prose and extensive archival research, Johns's analysis covers the broad range of the Republican Party's impact on the Vietnam War, offers a compelling reassessment of responsibility for the conflict, and challenges assumptions about the roles of Congress and the president in U.S. foreign relations.

On December 4, 1906, on Cornell University's campus, seven black men founded one of the greatest and most enduring organizations in American history. Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. has brought together and shaped such esteemed men as Martin Luther King Jr. , Cornel West, Thurgood Marshall, Wes Moore, W. E. B. DuBois, Roland Martin, and Paul Robeson. "Born in the shadow of slavery and on the lap of disenfranchisement," Alpha Phi Alpha -- like other black Greek-letter organizations -- was founded to instill a spirit of high academic achievement and intellectualism, foster meaningful and lifelong ties, and racially uplift those brothers who would be initiated into its ranks.In Alpha Phi Alpha, Gregory S. Parks, Stefan M. Bradley, and other contributing authors analyze the fraternity and its members' fidelity to the founding precepts set forth in 1906. They discuss the identity established by the fraternity at its inception, the challenges of protecting the image and brand, and how the organization can identify and train future Alpha men to uphold the standards of an outstanding African American fraternity. Drawing on organizational identity theory and a diverse array of methodologies, the authors raise and answer questions that are relevant not only to Alpha Phi Alpha but to all black Greek-letter organizations.

Egypt, Carthage and other African civilisations are well documented but the land and people between them are less well known yet also worthy of consideration. This collection of extracts from classical authors on subjects relating to ancient Libya presents more than fifty writers from Homer to the end of the Roman Empire and provides an eclectic mixture of descriptions of Libya, its people, flora, fauna, climate, geography and episodes in its history as presented by politicians, poets, philosophers, priests, historians and soldiers, both native and foreign.Newly translated and illustrated with a variety of photographs, maps, line drawings and specially commissioned illustrations, with a comprehensive glossary and suggestions for further reading and research, the book is suitable for both the general reader and the specialist. Readers are invited to dip in and enjoy whatever may take their fancy… voyages of exploration, the many uses of silphium, romantic poetry, the horrors of war, the dangers posed by snakes and scorpions, the exploits of kings and emperors, strange native customs, farming the desert and many other topics in both the texts and the illustrations which inform and amuse. Snakes, Sands and Silphium is an excellent introduction to ancient North African, complements any travel guide, and provides context for the archaeologist and historian.

Queen bee. Worker bees. Busy as a bee. These phrases have shaped perceptions of women for centuries, but how did these stereotypes begin? Who are the women who keep bees and what can we learn from them? Beeconomy examines the fascinating evolution of the relationship between women and bees around the world. From Africa to Australia to Asia, women have participated in the pragmatic aspects of honey hunting and in the more advanced skills associated with beekeeping as hive technology has advanced through the centuries.Synthesizing the various aspects of hive-related products, such as beewax and cosmetics, as well as the more specialized skills of queen production and knowledge-based economies of research and science, noted bee expert Tammy Horn documents how and why women should consider being beekeepers. The women profiled in the book suggest ways of managing careers, gender discrimination, motherhood, marriage, and single-parenting -- all while enjoying the community created by women who work with honey bees. Horn finds in beekeeping an opportunity for a new sustainable economy, one that takes into consideration environment, children, and family needs.Beeconomy not only explores globalization, food history, gender studies, and politics; it is a collective call to action.

The history of man is to a large extent the history of organisations. For as long as there are written records to study, people have co-operated to make use of scant resources in a more effective way. Hierarchical organisations have been conspicuous throughout history, from churches and states to firms and trade unions. But there are other forms of organisation as well: market relations, shaped by the balance between supply and demand, and horizontal network relations based on trust and friendship. This book is a tribute to late Professor Jan Glete, focusing on the dynamic interaction of organisations, norm systems and institutional changes. The texts cover a time span from the first cultures up until present day, and include European as well as Japanese and South American history. But the book also highlights the need to organise historical knowledge through the critical use of theory. As is shown in the intriguing and challenging articles, the organisational perspective may be just as fruitful for the study of medieval iron works as in analysing modern marketing campaigns.

Since 2005, Dutch artist Ida van der Lee's Allerzielen Alom (or All Souls' All Around) project, as well as its various offshoots, have flowered throughout the Netherlands. In doing so they have brought a diverse public of various ages and religious as well as non-religious backgrounds together at the end of October or the beginning of November at hospitably decorated cemeteries and crematoria. Here, after dusk, these visitors were given various chances to commemorate their dearly departed using everyday objects to perform small ritual acts. Afterwards, strong feelings of togetherness were expressed, both with the other visitors as well as the deceased. Judging by the standards of the secularisation hypothesis, the success of this project would seem highly unlikely. The expressed feelings of being together with the dead in such public spaces by congregations ranging into the thousands goes against its claims regarding the growing individualisation, privatisation and disenchantment of our Western world. What then, is behind the success of this phenomenon? This book takes a grassroots approach to answering that and related questions. By combining concepts from the field of rituals studies with those from the field of material culture studies, it will focus on the roll of simple objects in the development as well as the success of Allerzielen Alom and its various offshoots. To achieve this, five different Allerzielen Alom or related celebrations were visited and their organisers interviewed. On the basis of that material, an interesting image is formed of the fundamental importance of material culture in the development of a new emerging ritual tradition.