Alan Macfarlane

Our journey encompasses religion, ritual, martial arts, manners, eating, drinking, hot baths, geishas, family, home, singing, wrestling, dancing, performing, clans, education, aspiration, sexes, generations, race, crime, gangs, terror, war, kindness, cruelty, money, art, imperialism, emperor, countryside, city, politics, government, law and a language that varies according to whom you are speaking. Clear-sighted, persistent, affectionate, unsentimental and honest - Alan Macfarlane shows us Japan as it has never been seen before.

Japan Through the Looking Glass

This book aims to solve the problem of how parts of mankind escaped from an apparently inevitable trap of war, famine, and disease in the last 300 years. Through a detailed comparative analysis of English and Japanese history it explores such matters as the destruction of war, decline of famine, importance of certain drinks (especially tea), the use of human excrement, and the effects of housing, clothing, and bathing on human health. It also shows how the English and Japanese controlled fertility through marriage and sexual patterns, biological and contraceptive factors, abortion, and infanticide.

The Savage Wars of Peace

The Origins of English Individualism is about the nature of English society during the five centuries leading up to the Industrial Revolution, and the crucial differences between England and other European nations. Drawing upon detailed studies of English parishes and a growing number of other intensive local studies, as well as diaries, legal treatises and contemporary foreign sources, the author examines the framework of change in England. He suggests that there has been a basic misrepresentation of English history and that this has considerable implications both for our understanding of modern British and American society, and for current theories concerning the preconditions of industrialization.

The Family Property and Social Transition

The Origins of English Individualism

The Culture of Capitalism explores original perspectives on capitalist society. Argues that capitalism is more than an economic system, but is a culture that affects social, material, and even spiritual bases of existence Draws on research generated by detailed historical community studies as well as literature on non-western societies Explores the nature of evil, attitudes toward love and family, population change, violence, and more Questions the origin and cause of capitalist ideology

The Culture of Capitalism

Jean La Fontaine

Frank Kermode

Jack Goody

Creative Lives and Works: Raymond Firth, Audrey Richards, Lucy Mair, Meyer Fortes and Edmund Leach is a collection of interviews conducted by one of England’s leading social anthropologists and historians, Professor Alan Macfarlane. Filmed over a period of 40 years, the five conversations in this volume, are part of a larger set of interviews that cut across various disciplines, from the social sciences, the sciences to the performing and visual arts. The current volume on five of England’s foremost social anthropologists is the second in the series of several such books. These conversations and talks are interlaced with rich ethnography and interpretations of distant civilizations and the very real practices that enable these tribal societies and cultures to thrive. There are several teaching moments in these engaging conversations which are further enriched by detailed personal experiences that each of the five shares. Sir Raymond Firth gives us an insight into his Polynesian experience, while Audrey Richards and Lucy Mair recall their days in the African hinterland. Meyer Fortes’s account of his tribal study, yet again in the African subcontinent, is mesmeric, while Sir Edmund Leach’s Southeast Asian encounters are just as enthralling. Immensely riveting as conversations, this collection gives one a flavour of how tribal societies live and work. The book will be of enormous value not just to those interested in learning about tribal societies and cultures, and those interested in History, Culture Studies, but also to those curious to gather knowledge about other cultures. Please note: This title is co-published with Social Science Press, New Delhi. Taylor & Francis does not sell or distribute the Hardback in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

Raymond Firth, Audrey Richards, Lucy Mair, Meyer Fortes and Edmund Leach

Creative Lives and Works

Creative Lives and Works: Antony Hewish, Martin Rees and Neil Turok is a collection of interviews conducted by one of England’s leading social anthropologists and historians, Professor Alan Macfarlane. Filmed over a period of 40 years, the three conversations in this volume, are part of a larger set of interviews that cut across various disciplines, from the social sciences, the sciences and to even the performing and visual arts. The current volume on three of England’s foremost astrophysicists-cosmologists is the fourth in the series of several such books. Antony Hewish, who won the Nobel Prize in 1974, in the foreword to Questions of Truth writes, ‘The ghostly presence of virtual particles defies rational common sense and is non-intuitive for those unacquainted with physics.... But when the most elementary physical things behave in this way, we should be prepared to accept that the deepest aspects of our existence go beyond our common-sense understanding’. Sir Martin Rees eloquently puts forward the problems and challenges of the 21st century, in relation to science, ethics and politics. Like Hewish and Rees, Neil Turok also piques the layman’s interest in the mysteries of the cosmic world. Immensely riveting as conversations, this collection takes one into the world of boundless discoveries hidden among the blue skies. The book will be of enormous value not just to those interested in Astronomy and Cosmology as well as the History of Science, but also to those with an inquisitive mind. Please note: This title is co-published with Social Science Press, New Delhi. Taylor & Francis does not sell or distribute the Hardback in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

Antony Hewish, Martin Rees and Neil Turok

Eric Hobsbawm

History, Culture and Ethnography: Jack Goody, Clifford Geertz and Philippe Descola is a collection of interviews that is being published as a book for the first time. These interviews have been conducted by one of England’s leading social anthropologists and historians, Professor Alan Macfarlane. Filmed over a period of several years, the three conversations in this volume are part of the series Creative Lives and Works. These transcriptions form a part of a larger set of interviews that cut across various disciplines, from the social sciences and the sciences to the performing and visual arts. The current volume is on three of the world’s most eminent social and cultural anthropologists. These conversations focus primarily on fieldwork experience in Ghana, Indonesia and Amazonia and how new dimensions and interpretations were added to the discipline of sociology and social anthropology. While Jack Goody and Clifford Geertz gave a new turn and depth to the disciple through their experiences in West Africa and Indonesia, Philippe Descola, who belongs to the succeeding generation of anthropologists, added human-nature interactions into the mix. This book talks about both overcoming and understanding the importance of taking into account linguistic, historical, economic and cultural elements in the study of these societies through engaging conversations and occasional anecdotes. Immensely riveting as conversations, this collection gives one a flavour of the many different societies and cultures in far-flung reaches of the world encompassing several continents, often with no knowledge of each other’s existence, and a taste of how expansive the discipline of sociology and social anthropology are. The book will be of enormous value not just to those interested in the fields of Sociology, Social Anthropology and Ethnography, but also those with an interest in History, Philosophy, Comparative Religion and Cultural Studies. Please note: This title is co-published with Social Science Press, New Delhi. Taylor & Francis does not sell or distribute the Hardback in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

Jack Goody, Clifford James Geertz and Phillippe Descola

History, Culture and Ethnography

Historical Ethnography and Peasant Societies: McKim Marriott, James Scott and Maurice Bloch is a collection of interviews that is being published as a book for the first time. These interviews have been conducted by a leading British social anthropologist and historian, Professor Alan Macfarlane. Filmed over a period of several years, the three conversations in this volume are a part of the series Creative Lives and Works. These transcriptions cut across various disciplines, from the social sciences and the sciences to the performing and visual arts. The current volume is on three of the world’s most eminent sociologists and anthropologists – McKim Marriott, James Scott and Maurice Bloch. These interviews extend the disciplines of sociology and anthropology, moving on from when fieldwork was somewhat limited to the concentration of a civilization or community’s past, and how it fits within the historical context of the discipline. Since then, it has expanded to one where peasant cultures and communities have become the focal point of study. McKim Marriott, James Scott and Maurice Bloch talk about both overcoming and understanding the importance of fieldwork—considering linguistic, historical, economic and cultural elements in the study of these societies through their engaging conversations and occasional anecdotes. Immensely riveting as conversations, this collection gives a flavour of the many different societies and cultures in far-flung reaches of the world encompassing several continents, often with no knowledge of each other’s existence, and of how expansive the disciple of sociology and social anthropology is. The book will be of enormous value not just to those interested in the subject of Sociology, Social Anthropology and Ethnography, but also to those with an avid interest in History, Culture Studies as well as those with a general interest in learning about other societies. Print edition not for sale in South Asia (India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Bhutan).

McKim Marriott, James Scott and Maurice Bloch

Historical Ethnography and Peasant Societies

Christina Larner

The Politics of Popular Belief

Witchcraft and Religion

Montesquieu is widely regarded as one of the founders of many of the social sciences. His broad erudition and deep concentration led to his great work The Spirit of the Laws, published in 1748. Before that, he had written other notable works including the Persian Letters, published in 1721. By considering his life and his work in relation to each other, and all his works alongside each other, we can see inside the mind of one of the greatest of modern thinkers. He was the first great global thinker who could base his work on sources from around the world. Alan Macfarlane, F.B.A., is an Emeritus Professor of Anthropology at Cambridge University and a Life Fellow of King's College. His website is alanmacfarlane.com.

Montesquieu and the Making of the Modern World

Ralph Josselin, vicar of Earls Colne in Essex from 1641 to his death in 1683, kept for almost forty years a remarkably detailed account of his life--his mental and emotional world as well as his activities. Few diaries from this period afford such a rounded picture of a family from so many aspects. Alan Macfarlane, a historian and lecturer in social anthropology at Cambridge University, explores through the diary Josselin's life as a farmer, businessman, Puritan clergyman, neighbor, husband, and father, providing a unique view of seventeenth-century life from the inside.

An Essay in Historical Anthropology

The Family Life of Ralph Josselin, a Seventeenth-century Clergyman

An exploration into every aspect of Japanese society, from the most public to the most intimate.

Of Poverty and Wealth: Eric Hobsbawm, Barry Supple and Gareth Stedman Jones is a collection of interviews that is being published as a book for the first time. These interviews have been conducted by one of England’s leading social anthropologists and historians, Professor Alan Macfarlane. Filmed over a period of several years, the three conversations in this volume are part of the series Creative Lives and Works. These transcriptions form a part of a larger set of interviews that cut across various disciplines, from the social sciences and the sciences to the performing and visual arts. The current volume is on three pre-eminent economic historians. There are many factors that lead to the rise and fall of power, in which wealth, trade and commerce, play a vital role. In this collection, Eric Hobsbawm takes us through the fundamental and broader concepts of economic history, while Barry Supple and Gareth Stedman Jones bring in the more focussed and often less discussed aspects of this branch of history. Through these engaging conversations one gets a better understanding of poverty and wealth in the context of history. The book will be of enormous value not just to those interested in the subject of Economics History and Comparative Studies but also to the uninitiated because of the lucidity which conversations bring to even otherwise opaque discussions. Please note: This title is co-published with Social Science Press, New Delhi. Taylor & Francis does not sell or distribute the Hardback in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

Eric Hobsbawm, Barry Supple and Gareth Stedman Jones

Of Poverty and Wealth

Kirsten Hastrup

Peter Loizos

David MacDougall

Terence Wright

André Singer

Christopher Pinney

Felicia Hughes-Freeland

James C. Faris

Keyan G. Tomaselli

Timothy Asch

Marcus Banks

Granada Centre for Visual Anthropology

Dai Vaughan

Wilton Martinez

Kathleen Kuehnast

Richard Chalfen

Homer Williams

Gary Seaman

This work examines the reasons why anthropologists have not used the camera as a research instrument or film as a means of communicating ethnographic knowledge. It suggests that images and words in this discipline operate on different logical levels; that they are hierarchically related; that whereas writings may encompass the images produced by film, the inverse of this cannot be true. The author argues for this position further by suggesting that the visual is to the written mode as "thin description" (giving a record of the form of behaviour) is to "thick description" (giving an account of meaning).

Film As Ethnography

The traditions and creativity of Cambridge University have survived 800 years. In celebration, this first-ever combined historical and anthropological account explores the culture, the customs, the colleges and the politics of the revered institution. Having taught there for nearly forty years, the author sets forth a personal but also dispassionate attempt to understand how this ancient university developed and changed and how it continues to influence those who pass through it. This book delves into the history and architecture as well as the charm and the ghosts of Cambridge; it is for anyone who studies, teaches, visits, or is intrigued by this great intellectual centre.

Reflections on Cambridge

Life at a British boarding school 1955-60

Sedbergh Schooldays

J. A. Sharpe

This is a classic regional and comparative study of early modern witchcraft. The history of witchcraft continues to attract attention with its emotive and contentious debates. The methodology and conclusions of this book have impacted not only on witchcraft studies but the entire approach to social and cultural history with its quantitative and anthropological approach. The book provides an important case study on Essex as well as drawing comparisons with other regions of early modern England. The second edition of this classic work adds a new historiographical introduction, placing the book in context today.

A Regional and Comparative Study

Witchcraft in Tudor and Stuart England

Alan Macfarlane è professore emerito Antropologia al King's College di Cambridge, dopo avere insegnato per 34 anni al Dipartimento di Antropologia sociale della Cambridge University. Ha lavorato come storico e antropologo in Inghilterra, Nepal, Cina e Giappone e si è specializzato nello studio comparativo sulla natura e le origini del mondo moderno. È autore di 16 libri, in parte scientifici in parte divulgativi, fra cui il fortunato Letters to Lily on how the world works (Profile, 2001). Negli ultimi anni si è interessato in maniera crescente agli aspetti visuali e tecnologici della comunicazione, partecipando a grandi progetti di divulgazione culturale basati sulla digitalizzazione degli archivi.

Enigmatico Giappone

Iris Macfarlane

Apart from water, tea is more widely consumed than any other food or drink. Tens of billions of cups are drunk every day. How and why has tea conquered the world? Tea was the first global product. It altered life-styles, religions, etiquette and aesthetics. It raised nations and shattered empires. Economies were changed out of all recognition. Diseases were thwarted by the magical drink and cities founded on it. The industrial revolution was fuelled by tea, sealing the fate of the modern world. Green Gold is a remarkable detective story of how an East Himalayan camellia bush became the world's favourite drink. Discover how the tea plant came to be transplanted onto every continent and relive the stories of the men and women whose lives were transformed out of all recognition through contact with the deceptively innocuous green leaf.

Alan Macfarlane

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