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In Praise of Historical Anthropology is based on a fundamental conviction: the study of society cannot be undertaken without considering the weight of history and separations between disciplines in academics need to be bridged for the benefit of knowledge. Anthropology cannot be limited to situating its object in its immediate context; rather its true subject of study is society as a historical problem. The book describes the complex attempts to transcend this separation, presenting perspectives, methodologies and direct applications for the study of power relations and systems of social classification, paying special attention to the reconstruction of colonial situations. Following the maxim expounded by John and Jean Comaroff, this book will help us understand that historical anthropology is not a matter of merging the two disciplines of anthropology and history, but rather considering societies in their historically situated dimension and applying the tools of the social and human sciences to the analysis. In this vein, the book reviews the complex attempts to bridge disciplinary separations and theoretical proposals coming from very different traditions. The text, consequently, opens up hegemonic perspectives to include 'other anthropologies.'

In Health and Ritual in Morocco, Josep Lluis Mateo Dieste analyzes the many notions of the body that appear in various Moroccan medical and religious systems. Viewing these issues from anthropological and historical perspectives to the development of Islamic medicine in Morocco, this study highlights the elements of power that define these representations and practices. Mateo Dieste shows that most of the healing rituals challenge the strict division between physical and mental afflictions. Health and Ritual in Morocco provides a valuable structure for understanding Moroccan conceptions of the person, rites of passage, gender differences, and reproductive practices. It offers insights into the weight of the notions of impurity and purification of the body in the daily life of the contemporary Moroccan population.

This book sheds light on the final process of slavery in Morocco, unraveling the contemporary roots of servility and stereotypes about blackness in the Arab world. Unlike other generalist analyses, this research focuses on the practice of servitude through a case study in the city of Tetouan. Until well into the twentieth century, bought women arrived in the city to join the domestic labor market, also becoming signs of social distinction. This historical ethnography is paradigmatic in reconstructing the relations between masters and domestics of slave origin, putting names and faces to subaltern people to rescue them from oblivion.

Regionalismos y regeneracionismos enfrentados. Entre la energía unificadora y el impulso centrífugo (1875-1914) es un libro que plantea una nueva perspectiva sobre lo que significaron el surgimiento de los particularismos, nacionalismos subestatales y todo tipo de regeneracionismos en el contexto de la crisis de fin de siglo xix y principios del xx. Todos ellos sacudieron los pilares del imaginario centralista de España y dieron paso a diferentes proyectos y procesos de reforma política influenciados por movimientos regeneracionistas foráneos como, por ejemplo, el «progresismo» estadounidense. Sin embargo, las rivalidades corporativas, regionales, culturales o religiosas, entre otras, dinamitaron su potencial reformador del régimen del 76. Todo ello, en un contexto que se extiende hasta la Primera Guerra Mundial, entendida, en palabras de Lerroux, como una «revolución».

El Primer Imperio Mexicano (1821-1823) ha sido generalmente interpretado desde la perspectiva del fracaso. El juicio vertido sobre estos años resaltaba su inestabilidad y abrupto desenlace. Con frecuencia, la experiencia monárquica ha sido vista como un paréntesis de ingrata memoria y oscuro recuerdo entre la consumación de la independencia y la llegada de la república federal. Desde su caída, se ha construido una imagen del período como la de un experimento tiránico y ajeno a la cultura política mexicana. Fue este un tiempo relegado al olvido por el resplandor de la revolución insurgente, cuyo uso político opacó —por monárquica— la primera etapa de México como Estado independiente. En esta obra se propone un acercamiento distinto, a través de la mirada de diecinueve especialistas que, a la luz de los avances historiográficos, supere estos prejuicios. El «momento Iturbide» se revela aquí como un escenario político nuevo, complejo, repleto de expectativas y abierto a distintos horizontes de futuro. Fueron años tremendamente convulsos, donde todo pareció posible y la contingencia jugó un papel destacado en el devenir de los acontecimientos. En cualquier caso, México no fue una excepción en la difícil tarea de construir un Estado-nación independiente.

¿Qué son los movimientos contrarrevolucionarios? ¿En qué ideas se sustentan? Poco se nos ha dicho del protagonismo que tuvieron en las emancipaciones iberoamericanas las opciones reaccionarias. La independencia de México nos permite examinar esa otra historia a partir de los fundamentos ideológicos de los contrainsurgentes, realistas o antiliberales. Los conservadores mexicanos estuvieron en permanente diálogo con los autores europeos, contribuyendo a la forja de una identidad contrarrevolucionaria atlántica y a un vínculo ideológico de solidaridad transnacional ligado al Trono y al Altar. La permanente renovación de la tradición fue el reto que afrontaron a la hora de mantener activa su capacidad movilizadora y de influencia.

In Health and Ritual in Morocco, Josep Lluis Mateo Dieste analyzes the many notions of the body that appear in various Moroccan medical and religious systems. Viewing these issues from anthropological and historical perspectives to the development of Islamic medicine in Morocco, this study highlights the elements of power that define these representations and practices. Mateo Dieste shows that most of the healing rituals challenge the strict division between physical and mental afflictions. Health and Ritual in Morocco provides a valuable structure for understanding Moroccan conceptions of the person, rites of passage, gender differences, and reproductive practices. It offers insights into the weight of the notions of impurity and purification of the body in the daily life of the contemporary Moroccan population.

This book sheds light on the final process of slavery in Morocco, unraveling the contemporary roots of servility and stereotypes about blackness in the Arab world. Unlike other generalist analyses, this research focuses on the practice of servitude through a case study in the city of Tetouan. Until well into the twentieth century, bought women arrived in the city to join the domestic labor market, also becoming signs of social distinction. This historical ethnography is paradigmatic in reconstructing the relations between masters and domestics of slave origin, putting names and faces to subaltern people to rescue them from oblivion.