Search

From the mid-1500s to December 1999, Macao was the longest-standing site of economic, religious and political contact between the Chinese and European worlds. Yet this surprising capacity for survival has resulted, ironically, form the very weakness of the Portuguese presence. In particular, since the foundation of Hong Kong (in 1840), Macao had depended on a creative use of its marginality - as a centre for gambling, for the coolie trade, the opium trade, the semi-clandestine gold trade and so on. As a rear window on China, Macao provides us with fascinating examples of marginality that allow us to study the limits of the systems that characterize the Chinese world.

What do we mean when we refer to world? How does the world relate to the human person? Are the two interdependent and, if so, in what way? What does world mean for an ethnographer or an anthropologist? Much has been said of worlds and worldviews, but do we really know what we mean by these words? Asking these questions and many more, this book explores the conditions of possibility of the ethnographic gesture, and how these shed light on the relationship between humans and the world in the midst of which they find themselves. As Pina-Cabral shows, recent decades have seen important shifts in the way we relate human thought to human embodiment—the relation between how we think and what we are. The book proposes a novel approach to the human condition: an anthropological outlook that is centered around the notions of personhood and sociality. Through a rich confrontation with ethnographic and historical material, this work contributes to the ongoing task of overcoming the theoretical constraints that have hindered anthropological thinking over the past century.

This award-winning social history of death and funeral rites during the early decades of Brazil's independence from Portugal focuses on the Cemiterada movement in Salvador, capital of the province of Bahia. The book opens with a lively account of the popu

Altering economic conditions and widespread male emigration have led to a questioning of the values of peasant society in Portugal. This perceptive study of a society in transition looks at the issues of gender roles (reflected in the book's title), the notions of community and egalitarianism, religion, and burial and death rites. The author argues that, while the peasant worldview is changing, many of the old values are being preserved.

O que é a antropologia em Portugal hoje? Melhor do que tentar defini-la, é identificar quais os contextos que a situam. Este livro é um esforço por superar a descrição etnográfica sem nunca a perder de vista. Como compreender a história da disciplina? Quais as implicações do trabalho de campo quando feito tão perto de casa? A antropologia portuguesa é mediterrânica? Qual a relevância comparativa do material que os antropólogos recolhem? Como ultrapassar a erosão teórica das categorias comparativas no estudo da família? Quais os parâmetros que situam a vida familiar no Sul da Europa? Muito se tem escrito sobre a família rural, mas a antropologia não deve parar às portas da cidade. Como exemplo, o autor penetra num campo até agora largamente deixado ao abandono: as práticas familiares da burguesia.

Entertaining Lisbon explores Portuguese entertainment as a form of negotiation between local, national, and transnational influences on identity. Connecting gender, class, ethnicity, and technology with theatrical repertoires, street sounds, and domestic music making, author João Silva investigates popular entertainment in Portugal and its connections with modern life and the rise of nationalism. An essential contribution to the literature on Portuguese music written in the English language, Entertaining Lisbon is a critical study for scholars and students of musicology interested in Portugal, and popular and theatrical musics, as well as historical ethnomusicologists, cultural historians, and urban planning researchers interested in the development of material culture.