Andrew Russell

Iain Edgar

The Anthropology of Welfare provides an overview of what anthropology has to offer welfare studies and vice-versa. Case studies from anthropologists in the field, examine different branches of welfare and community care, for example: * Maternity services * Children with learning difficulties * Children's homes * Mothers' centres * People with HIV * Mental health centres * Housing * Care and provision for the elderly. Contributors focus on comparative welfare systems - examples are taken from urban and rural areas of the UK, USA, Sweden, Germany, Portugal, and New Zealand. In each case the theoretical and methodological appropriateness of social anthropology for the study of welfare, and the insights gained by bringing anthropology and welfare together are examined. The Anthropology of Welfare will be essential reading for those studying anthropology, social work and social policy and will be of interest to teachers, practitioners and researchers in applied social welfare fields.

The Anthropology of Welfare

“Hello, my name is Danny and I don't eat much.” Well, how would you introduce yourself to someone who didn't know you were coming to live with them? My name really is Danny and this is my story of how I came to live with Marj with only a map of London Zoo to guide me and a second class train ticket. It's also the story of how I met Kyte and survived The Battle On The Hill and The Trouble Brothers and the best way to decorate your Christmas tree. Marj thought it should be called Marj The Magnificent but when you read it, you'll know why it's called Kyte, even if Marj is magnificent. I hope you like it. I know I do.

Kyte

Edward Fieldhouse

Andrew T. Russell

Beginning with a history of the party, from the days of Lloyd George through to modern times, this book examines the challenges that face the Liberal Democrats as they struggle for identity and, more importantly, votes.

The Liberal Democrats and the Electorate

Neither Left Nor Right

Tobacco has become one of the most widely used and traded commoditites on the planet. Reflecting contemporary anthropological interest in material culture studies, Anthropology of Tobacco makes the plant the centre of its own contentious, global story in which, instead of a passive commodity, tobacco becomes a powerful player in a global adventure involving people, corporations and public health. Bringing together a range of perspectives from the social and natural sciences as well as the arts and humanities, Anthropology of Tobacco weaves stories together from a range of historical, cross-cultural and literary sources and empirical research. These combine with contemporary anthropological theories of agency and cross-species relationships to offer fresh perspectives on how an apparently humble plant has progressed to world domination, and the consequences of it having done so. It also considers what needs to happen if, as some public health advocates would have it, we are seriously to imagine ‘a world without tobacco’. This book presents students, scholars and practitioners in anthropology, public health and social policy with unique and multiple perspectives on tobacco-human relations.

Ethnographic Adventures in Non-Human Worlds

Anthropology of Tobacco [Open Access]

Anthropology of Tobacco makes tobacco the centre of its own, contentious, global story in which, instead of a passive commodity, tobacco becomes a powerful player in a global adventure involving people, corporations and public health.

Anthropology of Tobacco

Elizabeth Rahman

Described as a ‘master plant’ by many indigenous groups in lowland South America, tobacco is an essential part of shamanic ritual, as well as a source of everyday health, wellbeing and community. In sharp contrast to the condemnation of the tobacco industry and its place in contemporary public health discourse, the book considers tobacco in a more nuanced light, as an agent both of enlightenment and destruction.Exploring the role of tobacco in the lives of indigenous peoples, The Master Plant offers an important and unique contribution to this field of study through its focus on lowland South America: the historical source region of this controversial plant, yet rarely discussed in recent scholarship. The ten chapters in this collection bring together ethnographic accounts, key developments in anthropological theory and emergent public health responses to indigenous tobacco use. Moving from a historical study of tobacco usage – covering the initial domestication of wild varieties and its value as a commodity in colonial times – to an examination of the transcendent properties of tobacco, and the magic, symbolism and healing properties associated with it, the authors present wide-ranging perspectives on the history and cultural significance of this important plant. The final part of the book examines the changing landscape of tobacco use in these communities today, set against the backdrop of the increasing power of the national and transnational tobacco industry.The first critical overview of tobacco and its uses across lowland South America, this book encourages new ways of thinking about the problems of commercially exploited tobacco both within and beyond this source region.

Andrew Russell

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