Identity and Networks: Fashioning Gender and Ethnicity across Cultures

Contrary to the negative assessments of the social order that have become prevalent in the media since 9/11, this wide-ranging collection of essays, mostly by social anthropologists, focuses instead on the enormous social creativity being invested as collective identities are reconfigured. Using fieldwork findings drawn from Africa, Asia, and Europe, special emphasis is placed on the reformulation of ethnic and gender relationships and identities in the cultural, social, political, and religious realms of public life. Under what circumstances does trust arise, paving the way for friendship, collegiality, knowledge creation, national unity, or emergence of leadership? How is social life constructed as a collective endeavour? Does the means towards sociability become its end? And what can be said about the agency and collegiality of women? The inspiration for examining these conundrums is the work and persona of Shirley Ardener, to whom the volume is dedicated. Contributors: Jonathan Benthall, Deborah Fahy Bryceson, Gina Buijs, Sandra Burman, Hilary Callan, Gaynor Cohen, Janette Davies, Tamara Dragadze, Ronnie Frankenberg, Peter Geschiere, Kirsten Hastrup, Paula Heinonen, Maria Jaschok, Grazyna Kubica, Rhian Loudon, Sharon Macdonald, Zdzislaw Mach, Fiona Moore, Judith Okely, Lidia D. Sciama, Shui Jingjun, Cecillie Swaisland, Jacqueline Waldren, Jonathan Webber.

Table of Contents:
Preface Introduction: The Artistry of Social Life Deborah Fahy Bryceson PART I: FASHIONING IDENTITIES Chapter 1. Changing Cultures, Changing Rooms: Fashioning Identities and Anthropological Research Sharon Macdonald Chapter 2. Identity at Play: Individuals, Characters, and Theatres of Action Kirsten Hastrup Chapter 3. Constructing Identities in a Post-Communist Society: Ethnic, National, and European Zdzisław Mach Chapter 4. Making Sense of the Past: Reflections on Jewish Historical Consciousness Jonathan Webber Chapter 5. A Sense of People and Place: The Chapel and Language in Sustaining Welsh Identity Gaynor Cohen Chapter 6. Towards an Ethnography of Colleagueship Hilary Callan PART II: GENDER AGENCY AND NETWORKS Chapter 7. Thinking the Unheard, Writing the Unwritten: Reflecting on Marginality, Ethnography, and Texts Maria Jaschok in dialogue with Shui Jingjun Chapter 8. The Women’s Movement: The Formative Years, 1850–1930 Cecillie Swaisland Chapter 9. A Good Lady, Androgynous Angel, and Intrepid Woman: Maria Czaplicka in Feminist Profile Grażyna Kubica Chapter 10. ‘Ritual Sisters’ or Female Rulers? Gender and Chiefship Revisited in Southern Africa Gina Buijs Chapter 11. Revolting, Revolutionary, and Rebellious Women: Symbolic Disruption of Traditional Femininity and the Liberation of Femineity and Other Muted Identities Rhian Loudon and Ronnie Frankenberg Chapter 12. What Women Really Want: Gender, Ethnicity, and Job Expectations on an Automobile Factory Assembly Line Fiona Moore Chapter 13. Can You Call This Fieldwork? September in Venice Lidia D. Sciama Chapter 14. Gendered Lessons in Ivory Towers Judith Okely AFTERWORDS: IN CELEBRATION OF SHIRLEY ARDENER Gendering Oxford: Shirley Ardener and Cross-Cultural Research Janette Davies and Jacqueline Waldren Shirley Ardener’s Habitus Jonathan Benthall Circumstance, Personality, and Anthropology Tamara Dragadze Shirley in My Mind Grażyna Kubica Titi ikoli in the Academy Sharon Macdonald Going the Extra Mile Sandra Burman Her Powers of Persuasion Fiona Moore Shirley Ardener: Mentor and Friend Paula Heinonen The African Connection in Oxford Gina Buijs Shirley’s African Roots Cecillie Swaisland Returning to ‘The Mountain’ Peter Geschiere Shirley’s Magic Jonathan Webber List of Published Works by Shirley Ardener Notes on the Contributors Index