Books in the Contemporary Ethnography series

In Precarious Lives, Shahram Khosravi attempts to reconcile the paradoxes of Iranians' everyday life in the first decade of the twenty-first century. On the one hand, multiple circumstances of precarity give rise to a sense of hopelessness, shared visions of a futureless tomorrow, widespread home(land)lessness, intense individualism, and a growth of incivilities. On the other, daydreaming and hope, as well as civility and solidarity in political protests, street carnivals, and social movements, continue to persist. Young Iranians describe themselves as being stuck in purposelessness and forced to endure endless waiting, and they are also aware that they are perceived as unproductive and a burden on their society. Despite the aspirations and inspiration they possess, they find themselves forced into petrifying social and spatial immobility. Uncertainty in the present, a seemingly futureless tomorrow: these are the circumstances that Khosravi explores in Precarious Lives.Creating an intricate and moving portrait of contemporary Iranian life, Khosravi weaves together individual stories, government reports, statistics, and cultural analysis of art and literature to depict how Iranians react to the experience of precarity and the possibility of hope. Drawing on extensive ethnographic engagement with youth in Tehran and Isfahan as well as with migrant workers in rural areas, Khosravi examines the complexities and contradictions of everyday life in Iran. Precarious Lives is a vital work of contemporary anthropology that serves as a testament to the shared hardship and hope of the Iranian people.

"A central concern of this book is the complex relationship between the good life, or what it means to live well, and one's sense of meaning or purpose in life. In the Japanese context, a useful starting point for exploring this issue is the concept of ikigai. This can be translated as "that which makes one's life worth living," or what makes life "livable," as it were. One might or might not "have" an ikigai--in which case the term refers to a particular motivation to live or a purpose in life. What and who one cares for is closely related to purpose in life, sometimes considered the basis of ikigai. In this sense, ikigai can refer to a more general form of well-being and pleasure in life, especially when used in relation to the elderly. This raises certain existential questions in relation to older age: does maintaining a particular purpose in life, a well-defined source of meaning, remain possible or even necessary in older age? Indeed, do even younger people have or need such a well-defined purpose? To what extent are life stories relating to meaning and purpose in one's life related to stories of expectations and values in the broader society? In short, I argue that the issues of aging and the good and meaningful life are inextricably connected"--

Recent reports on Pentecostalism in the global South give the impression of an inexorable trajectory of massive growth, but Faith in Flux examines the religion's ambivalent reception in northern Mozambique, locating vital insight in the overlooked places where this religion has failed to take root.

Fighting for Dignity explores the impact of a mass deportation campaign on African and Asian migrant workers in Tel Aviv and their Israeli-born children. In this vivid ethnography, Sarah Willen shows how undocumented migrants struggle to craft meaningful, flourishing lives despite the exclusion and vulnerability they endure.

This multi-sited ethnography provides a rich account of the costs of global neoliberal economic policy for families in the global south. With a focus on Senegalese migrants in Europe and their wives who are left behind, Hannaford illustrates how new understandings of intimacy, gender, and class are forged in a culture of migration.

The first comprehensive ethnography of the Thangmi, a marginalized community who migrate between Himalayan border zones, Rituals of Ethnicity explores Thangmi cultural worlds and regional political histories to offer a new explanation for the persistence of enduring ethnic identities despite the realities of mobile, hybrid lives.

Ann Grodzins Gold weaves together an integrated series of ethnographic sketches depicting the distinctive nature of non-urban, non-rural places; the impact locality has on belonging; the negotiations of difference required in a pluralistic society; and the ways a changing environment permeates experiences of self and place.

From the history of Porta Palazzo, Western Europe's largest open-air market, to its current growing pains, this book turns an ethnographic eye on a meeting place for trade, cultural identity, and cuisine.

"'Who is 'African' in a global ecumene? Anthropologist Copeland Carson poses this challenging question in her study of cultural dynamics in Minneapolis-Saint Paul. . . . Highly recommended."-Choice

In this ethnography of contemporary youth culture in Iran's capital, Shahram Khosravi examines the practices of everyday life through which young Tehranis demonstrate defiance against the official culture and the parental generation.

"Magliocco impressively corrals the diverse writings and experiences of U.S. neo-pagans into this highly readable and deeply researched ethnographic study. . . . Highly recommended."-Choice

Living Tangier examines African migration to Europe and European migration to Africa, focusing on the dynamics of migration in terms of race and legal standing in Tangier, a Moroccan city at the intersection of Africa and Europe. Based on extensive ethnographic work, it explores how migrants experience and affect the city.

Based on ethnographic fieldwork at two community centers in Osaka, Japan, Making Meaningful Lives provides an intimate anthropological account of the existential concerns of elderly Japanese women and men.

An inside look at the transformation of Hershey, Pennsylvania, from a model industrial community into a twenty-first century suburbia powered by a $12 billion philanthropy.

"The Taste of Blood brilliantly explores both Condomble and the representations of ethnographic research."-Folklore Forum

"A stunning presentation of narrative ethnography, achieving the remarkable feat of forcing the reader to enter into the world-and the world view-of those whom most of us would regard as terrorists."-Mark Juergensmeyer, UCSB

In this ethnographic study of the school district struggles in Central California, Clayton A. Hurd explores the core issues at stake in campaigns to reorganize districts into ethnically separated schools as well as the resistance against them mobilized by the working-class Latino community.

This book narrates the unexpected dilemmas middle-class Bolivians have faced following the coming to power of a left-wing, indigenous movement. Shakow argues that new middle classes in Bolivia, as elsewhere in the Third World, constitute a significant force that profoundly shapes politics and social life.

Based on more than a decade of ethnographic research in Genoa, Italy, Creative Urbanity argues for an understanding of contemporary urban life that refuses scholarly condemnation of urban lifestyles and consumption and casts a fresh light on an oft-neglected social group-the middle class.

In Looking West, John D. Dorst examines a largely neglected pattern of seeing that stands in contrast to the universally familiar iconography.

Death, Beauty, Struggle contains an original vision of gendered lives, poetry, devotion, and social hierarchy in Tamil Nadu.

Based on extensive fieldwork, Women of Fes shows how Moroccan women create their own forms of identity through work, family, and society. The book also examines how women's lives are positioned vis-a-vis globalization, human rights, and the construction of national identity.

"Anyone who has been to Manila, Bali, or Bangkok is aware of the plight of the locals who despise and yet want the presence of tourists. . . . Ness focuses on the Philippines . . . to examine the delicate balance between preserving one's way of life while being open to the increasing demands of tourism."-Choice

A complex portrayal of the double structuring of the perceptions people have on opposite sides of a cultural border. Like most Native Americans, the Mesquakis have survived numerous popular and academic misrepresentations of their culture.

"Beautifully crafted, powerfully illustrated with conversation, theoretically important, and almost unique as an ethnography."-Arthur Kleinman, Harvard University

Presents a study of the relationship between culture and emotional distress, an examination of the cultural forces that influence, make sense of, and heal severe pain and malaise.

Fire in My Bones contributes to our understanding of gospel-and of the nature of religious experience in general.

Building on the author's thirty-six years of experience with North Town, Texas, this second edition presents an ethnographic study of the ways the town's youth learn traditional American values through participation in sports, membership in formal and informal social groups, dating, and interactions with teachers in the classroom.