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ATDrake · 09-01-2017, 11:43 AM

Tradition and Agency: Tracing cultural continuity and invention edited by Ton Otto (faculty profile), a Professor in the School of Culture and Society at Aarhus University, & Poul Pedersen (faculty profile), an associate professor at the same, is a collection of anthropology essays studying cultures around the world, covering both traditions maintained throughout the generations as well as nearly-forgotten ones revived in modern times and/or invented to fill a cultural need, with case studies as diverse as Papua New Guinean artifacts to cheesemaking in France, free for a limited time courtesy of Aarhus University Press in Denmark.

This is their featured English-language Free Book of the Month selection for September, returning after the summer hiatus.

Currently free through September directly @ the university's dedicated promo page (DRM-free PDF available worldwide in return for your valid email address, approx 24 mb), and you can read more about the book on its regular catalogue page

Description
Tradition helps ensure continuity and stability in human affairs, signifying both the handing down of cultural heritage from one generation to the next, and the particular customs, beliefs and rituals being handed down. In the social sciences, tradition has been a central concept from the very start.

Yet - to update the old quip about nostalgia - tradition is not what it used to be. Twenty years ago, Eric Hobsbawm and Terence Ranger helped revolutionize the understanding of tradition in anthropology, history and sociology, stimulating an enormous amount of research on invented and imagined traditions.

However, most of this research has focussed on the cultural dynamics of specific local innovations and reactions to global developments.

The present anthology seeks to highlight instead just how widespread the invention and revival of traditions is. The individual chapters feature a fascinating series of case studies from Africa, Asia, the Pacific, Australia, and Europe, while the editors provide an overview of how the various discussions address the larger questions of cultural continuity, agency and the use of cultural resources.

09-01-2017, 11:43 AM	#1
ATDrake Wizzard Posts: 11,517 Karma: 33048258 Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Roundworld Device: Kindle 2 International, Sony PRS-T1, BlackBerry PlayBook, Acer Iconia	Free (DRM-free) Tradition & Agency: Tracing cultural continuity [Anthropology Essays] Tradition and Agency: Tracing cultural continuity and invention edited by Ton Otto (faculty profile), a Professor in the School of Culture and Society at Aarhus University, & Poul Pedersen (faculty profile), an associate professor at the same, is a collection of anthropology essays studying cultures around the world, covering both traditions maintained throughout the generations as well as nearly-forgotten ones revived in modern times and/or invented to fill a cultural need, with case studies as diverse as Papua New Guinean artifacts to cheesemaking in France, free for a limited time courtesy of Aarhus University Press in Denmark. This is their featured English-language Free Book of the Month selection for September, returning after the summer hiatus. Currently free through September directly @ the university's dedicated promo page (DRM-free PDF available worldwide in return for your valid email address, approx 24 mb), and you can read more about the book on its regular catalogue page Description Tradition helps ensure continuity and stability in human affairs, signifying both the handing down of cultural heritage from one generation to the next, and the particular customs, beliefs and rituals being handed down. In the social sciences, tradition has been a central concept from the very start. Yet - to update the old quip about nostalgia - tradition is not what it used to be. Twenty years ago, Eric Hobsbawm and Terence Ranger helped revolutionize the understanding of tradition in anthropology, history and sociology, stimulating an enormous amount of research on invented and imagined traditions. However, most of this research has focussed on the cultural dynamics of specific local innovations and reactions to global developments. The present anthology seeks to highlight instead just how widespread the invention and revival of traditions is. The individual chapters feature a fascinating series of case studies from Africa, Asia, the Pacific, Australia, and Europe, while the editors provide an overview of how the various discussions address the larger questions of cultural continuity, agency and the use of cultural resources.