Overview

In Making Things Better, A. David Napier demonstrates how anthropological description of non-Western exchange practices and beliefs can be a tonic for contemporary economic systems in which our impersonal relationship to ''things'' transforms the animate elements of social life into inanimate sets of commodities. Such a fundamental transformation, Napier suggests, makes us automatons in globally integrated social circuits that generate a cast of a winners and losers engaged in hostile competition for wealth and power. Our impersonal relations to ''things''--and to people as well--are so ingrained in our being, we take them for granted as we sleepwalk through routine life. Like the surrealist artists of the 1920s who, through their art, poetry, films, and photography, fought a valiant battle against mind-numbing conformity, Napier provides exercises and practica designed to shock the reader from their wakeful sleep. These demonstrate powerfully the positively integrative social effects of more socially entangled, non-Western orientations to ''things'' and to ''people.'' His arguments also have implications for the rights and legal status of indigenous peoples, which are drawn out in the course of the book.

Full Product Details

Author:   A. David Napier (Professor of Medical Anthropology, Professor of Medical Anthropology, University College London, UK)
Publisher:   Oxford University Press Inc
Imprint:   Oxford University Press Inc
Dimensions:   Width: 23.60cm , Height: 1.50cm , Length: 15.70cm
Weight:   0.425kg
ISBN:  

9780199969357

ISBN 10:   0199969353
Pages:   208
Publication Date:   30 January 2014
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Undergraduate ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   To order  
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Table of Contents

Preface: Thing in Themselves Introduction Preamble to the Workbook: Rights or Rites? Part 1: Things and People Exercise #1: Shaping Behavior Chapter 1: Meaning and Property Practicum #1: Securing Indigenous Rights Part II: Things and Places Exercise #2: Creating Local Value Chapter 2: A Sense of Place Practicum #2: Valuing Indigenous ''Property'' Part III: Things Across Cultures Exercise #3: Giving and Receiving Chapter 3: Exchange and Value Practicum #3: Responding to Global Forces, or, ''Kula International'' Part IV: Realizing Ritual Exercise #4: Changing Paradigms Chapter 4: Why Animism Matters Practicum #4: Assessing Cognitive Diversity Part V: Epilogue Postscript: The Value of Public Anthropology Notes Bibliography Index

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Author Information

A. David Napier is Professor of Medical Anthropology at University College London and founding Director of the University's Centre for Applied Global Citizenship.

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