Books about Ethnological from Amazon.com

The expeditions of Magellan, Columbus, and Lewis and Clark have been well documented and are instantly familiar to anyone with even a passing interest in world history But the average person is likely unaware of the U.S. Exploring Expedition or its mercurial leader, Charles Wilkes. This despite the numerous accomplishments and lasting legacy of the massive four-year project that involved six ships and hundreds of men. The "Ex. Ex.," as it came to be known, is credited with the discovery of Antarctica, the first accurate charting of what is now Oregon and Washington, the retrieval of thousands of new species of life, and the foundation of the Smithsonian Institution. Yet when Wilkes returned, instead of being hailed as a great man of science or a national hero, he was shunned by the President, ignored by the press, and was the subject of so much ill will on the part of his men that he was ultimately put on trial for a variety of offenses. In the portrayal presented in Nathaniel Philbrick's Sea of Glory, Wilkes is a passionate man, brash and enthusiastic, driven by seemingly impossible goals, many of which he actually accomplished. But he's also a petty, mean-spirited loner, egotistical enough to unilaterally give himself a promotion in the middle of the expedition. Without Wilkes' singularity of purpose, it's hard to imagine the mission being as successful as it was, but it's also hard to conceive a personality more poorly suited to leadership than the near-universally-despised Wilkes. Philbrick also skillfully reveals the insecurity behind the tyranny in excerpts from letters to Wilkes' wife, Jane. The accounts of the expedition's adventures are at various times exhilarating and tragic as the crew scales the volcanoes of Hawaii, becomes involved in a bloody war with Fijian natives, and struggles merely to stay alive while at the same time not killing Wilkes. Philbrick's compelling narrative and meticulous research provide a vivid picture of the triumphs and hardships of the exploration age. --John Moe.
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This is a collection of essays written by scholars and professionals on the field of Dance and African American Studies covering four major areas of the disciplines. It provides historical, philosophical and aesthetic information on the subject matter drawing from the African continent and the African Diaspora..
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Destination Culture takes the reader on an eye-opening journey from ethnological artifacts to kitsch. Posing the question, "What does it mean to show?" Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett explores the agency of display in a variety of settings: museums, festivals, world's fairs, historical re-creations, memorials, and tourist attractions. She talks about how objects--and people--are made to "perform" their meaning for us by the very fact of being collected and exhibited, and about how specific techniques of display, not just the things shown, convey powerful messages.
Her engaging analysis shows how museums compete with tourism in the production of "heritage." To make themselves profitable, museums are marketing themselves as tourist attractions. To make locations into destinations, tourism is staging the world as a museum of itself. Both promise to deliver heritage. Although heritage is marketed as something old, she argues that heritage is actually a new mode of cultural production that gives a second life to dying ways of life, economies, and places. The book concludes with a lively commentary on the "good taste/bad taste" debate in the ephemeral "museum of the life world," where everyone is a curator of sorts and the process of converting life into heritage begins..
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In this innovative synthesis of film history and cultural analysis, Marsha Kinder examines the films of such key directors as Buñuel, Saura, Erice, and Almodóvar, as well as works from the popular cinema and television, exploring how they manifest political and cultural tensions related to the production of Spanish national identity within a changing global context.
Concentrated on the decades from the 1950s to the 1990s, Kinder's work is broadly historical but essentially conceptual, moving backward and forward in time, drawing examples from earlier films and from works of art and literature, and providing close readings of a wide range of texts. Her questioning and internationalizing of the "national cinema" concept and her application of contemporary critical theory--especially insights from feminism, Marxism, psychoanalysis, cultural studies, and discourse theory--distinguish Blood Cinema from previous film histories. The author also makes use of a variety of sources within Spain such as the commentaries on Spanish character and culture by Unamunov and others, the contemporary debate over the restructuring of Spanish television.
Kinder's book moves Spanish cinema into the mainstream of film studies by demonstrating that a knowledge of its history alters and enriches our understanding of world cinema.
The interactive CD-ROM is available from CINE-DISCS, 2021 Holly Hill Terrace, Los Angeles, CA 90068, (213) 876-7678..
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The finest museum of archaeology and anthropology in the Western hemisphere, the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City owns the world's most impressive collection of pre-Columbian Mexican art, including sculpture, painting, pottery, and other works. Since it was founded in 1964, it has displayed and studied the fascinating art, artifacts, and cultures of the pre-Columbian Mexican world and its descendants, the indigenous peoples of Mexico.

Published to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the museum, this beautiful and comprehensive survey explores both its collections and its role as a national institution. The book includes 450 illustrations, many of them newly photographed masterpieces by the Mexica (Aztecs), Mayas, and other important pre-Columbian cultures, as well as sections on the archaeology and the contemporary ethnography of Mexico. Also featured are writings by foremost Mexican art historians and anthropologists. This noteworthy book serves as both an introduction to, and a complete documentation of, one of the world's great museums. AUTHOR BIO: Felipe Solís is the director of the National Museum of Anthropology, Mexico City..
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This book concerns an indigenous group of Tzotzil-speaking Indians living in the mountain highlands in the state of Chiapas in southern Mexico. It has been recognized as one of the most skillful handlings of Indian themes in Mexican literature..
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