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Cooking, Cuisine and Class
The preparation, serving and eating of food are common features of all human societies, and have been the focus of study for numerous anthropologists - from Sir James Frazer onwards - from a variety of theoretical and empirical perspectives. It is in the context of this previous anthropological work that Jack Goody sets his own observations on cooking in West Africa. He criticises those approaches which overlook the comparative historical dimension of culinary, and other, cultural differences that emerge in class societies, both of which elements he particularly emphasises in this book. The central question that Professor Goody addresses here is why a differentiated 'haute cuisine' has not emerged in Africa, as it has in other parts of the world. His account of cooking in West Africa is followed by a survey of the culinary practices of the major Eurasian societies throughout history - ranging from Ancient Egypt, Imperial Rome and medieval China to early modern Europe - in which he relates the differences in food preparation and consumption emerging in these societies to differences in their socio-economic structures, specifically in modes of production and communication. He concludes with an examination of the world-wide rise of 'industrial food' and its impact on Third World societies, showing that the ability of the latter to resist cultural domination in food, as in other things, is related to the nature of their pre-existing socio-economic structures. The arguments presented here will interest all social scientists and historians concerned with cultural history and social theory. -
Global "Body Shopping"
How can America's information technology (IT) industry predict serious labor shortages while at the same time laying off tens of thousands of employees annually? The answer is the industry's flexible labor management system - a flexibility widely regarded as the modus operandi of global capitalism today. "Global "Body Shopping"" explores how flexibility and uncertainty in the IT labor market are constructed and sustained through concrete human actions. Drawing on in-depth field research in southern India and in Australia, and folding an ethnography into a political economy examination, Xiang Biao offers a richly detailed analysis of the India-based global labor management practice known as "body shopping."In this practice, a group of consultants - body shops - in different countries works together to recruit IT workers. Body shops then farm out workers to clients as project-based labor; and upon a project's completion they either place the workers with a different client or "bench" them to await the next placement. Thus, labor is managed globally to serve volatile capital movement. Underpinning this practice are unequal socioeconomic relations on multiple levels. While wealth in the New Economy is created in an increasingly abstract manner, everyday realities - stock markets in New York, benched IT workers in Sydney, dowries in Hyderabad, and women and children in Indian villages - sustain this flexibility. -
银翅
庄孔韶教授《银翅》一书,是林耀华先生著名人类学小说《金翼》的学术性续本。1986—1989年间,庄孔韶数次回访“金翼”黄村及相关市县镇村,累计十四个月的人类学田野工作,完成了这部混合多种写作手法的学术作品。《银翅》展示了上个世纪20至80年代末中国闽东乡镇社会文化变迁的绚丽画面,其中,基层军政结构、古今关联、理念先在和文化的直觉论是本书特别倚重的创新理论。《银翅》这一携带着完整传承与应变信息,以及重拟“察机”之家族过程的中国样本,应该得到特别的关注,并引发人们的思考和寻味。 起初他(庄孔韶)透过我的《金翼》首次认识了福建乡镇社会的过去;如今我则从他的学术性续本《银翅》很快发现了我家乡变迁中一脉相承的历史关联性。 ——著名人类学家林耀华 1995年1月27日 这是一部观察入微、文笔细腻、叙事长远的反思性民族志 (reflexive ethnography)。 除引用闽东农村第一手社会史数据外,庄教授更系统回顾了当代西方人类学重要理论发展,将台湾学界对中国农村现代化所提出的见解与假设一起、揉合于一堂。对有意了解当代中国现代化过程中,何以会出现如此坎坷多难困境的研究者来说,应可在本书寻得满意的答案。 ——著名人类学家 学者黄树民 2014年8月15 日 庄孔韶教授是新中国成立之后,中国第一位人类学(民族学)博士,是中国人类学研究的翘楚学者。《银翅》是庄孔韶先生最重要的学术著作,也是人类学、社会学和文化学研究者的案头必备著作。《银翅》虽然是学术著作,但本书采用了上世纪40年代以来,人类学风俗志的小说写法,写出了福建古田作为中国地方文化缩影的变迁,采用史诗式的视角,可以看到土地改革的激烈斗争,基层军队和政治的权力博弈,三年自然灾害带来的饥馑和灾难,“文化大革命”阶级斗争的戏剧性表现,改革开放带来的令人瞠目结舌的财富激增,福建重男轻女思想在地方家庭中令人扼腕的广泛影响,民间宗教信仰视角下的“灵异”……深受儒家传统浸淫的农业传统文化中,仍然可以生长出顽强务实的商业精神,颠覆了中国数千年来对儒家“重农抑商”的思维定势理解,与马克斯•韦伯的新教伦理形成了东方式的呼应。这是一本百科全书式的中国历史风俗地方志,不但适合学者研究之用,也适合一般爱好者阅读。 本书将于2017年由美国权威学术出版社引进英文版。 -
论个体主义
现代意识形态以全体社会从属于代表道义、独立和主权的个人为表征。这种意识形态将西方社会与其他社会区分开来,后者坚持以全体社会为价值主体,并倡导个人从属于社会。西方人为何如此不同于其他国家的公民?在本书中,作者从基督教最初发源的年代开始,探讨了西方个体主义的成因,内容涉及起源、宗教及政治等。 -
猴、猩猩的故事
本书是来自托马斯·亨利·赫胥黎推广达尔文的《进化论》以来,描述得最清晰、最具感染力和可读性的科学研究报告。 在暴力与和平之间,我们的近亲——灵长目动物,组成了稳定的社会关系。这一群体中的成员既是朋友,同时又是敌人,它们互相争夺食物和配偶,但又互相依赖,特别是对于安慰性的身体上的接触有着强烈要求。这些动物有时候必须面对这样的事实:如果这次打赢了的话,它就会失去一个朋友。应付这个两难问题的答案是减少竞争或者事后去修复关系。我们把第一种解决办法称为“容忍”,第二种办法称为“和解”。 灵长目动物就是用这两种方法作为一种高效的冷却系统来维持其整个社会结构,以防止社会机器的过热、爆发或者崩溃。它们就像是人类的家庭一样,虽然战斗无时无刻不在发生,但主旋律却是和平相处。 -
猴、猿、人
毫无疑问,人类是600余种灵长类中的一种。解剖学者说猿猴的手掌、指纹、大脑等身体结构与人类似。行为生态学者说猿猴的行为和复杂社会关系与人类似。人类学者说猿猴的工具使用技能和文化传播可能接近于人类的雏形阶段。心理学者说猿猴是地球上最聪明的动物。保护生物学学者说有猿猴生活的森林一定是最健康的森林,保护猿猴就是保护森林生态。医学工作者说猿猴的免疫系统接近于人,是克服人类疾病的最佳模型动物。分子生物学者说黑猩猩属与人类基因相似度高达98.7%,是与人类最近缘的物种。可以说,猿猴是一面多棱镜,从方方面面映射出人性起源的背景。 本书是目前国内第一本综合介绍灵长类知识的书籍。书中全面讨论了人与猿猴的异同,尝试从灵长类进化的新视角探索人性起源,解释人类的共通性及其生物学本质,并为读者提供理解自身的新思维。第一章介绍了人类的生物属性,第二章进一步详细介绍了近代灵长类学的诞生与发展过程;从第三章到第十章,分章节介绍了灵长类的起源与分类、生态、行为、社会、文化、智能、疾病与遗传、生命伦理与保护等各方面知识。第十一章总结了人类与猿猴的区别,以及解答如何界定人类等长期未解的自身谜团。 本书图文并茂,内容丰富,知识性和可读性强,通俗易懂,适合于大学师生,尤其适合于校外对野生动物、人类起源感兴趣的读者群,诱发人们对人类自身和野生动物的探索兴趣。