In Culture and Dignity – Dialogues between the Middle East and
the West, renowned cultural anthropologist Laura Nader examines
the historical and ethnographic roots of the complex relationship
between the East and the West, revealing how cultural differences
can lead to violence or a more peaceful co-existence.
* Outlines an anthropology for the 21st century that focuses on
the myriad connections between peoples–especially the
critical intercultural dialogues between the cultures of the East
and the West
* Takes an historical and ethnographic approach to studying the
intermingling of Arab peoples and the West.
* Demonstrates how cultural exchange between the East and West is
a two-way process
* Presents an anthropological perspective on issues such as
religious fundamentalism, the lives of women and children, notions
of violence and order
Tabella dei contenuti
Acknowledgments x
Preface xii
1 Introduction 1
Indignities 5
Naturalizing Difference and the Great Transformation 14
Comparison, Ethnography, and History 17
2 From Rifaah al-Tahtawi to Edward Said: Lessons in Culture and
Dignity 24
Introduction 24
Rifaah al-Tahtawi and France 26
A Hundred Years Later: Edward Said 34
Concluding Comments 45
3 Ethnography as Theory: On the Roots of Controversy in
Anthropology 51
Introduction 51
Unstated Consensus 54
Defining Ethnographic Worth: 1896-2000 55
Ethnographic Audiences 64
An Outsider Looking In on Anthropology’s Ethnography
69
Concluding Comments 74
4 Orientalism, Occidentalism, and the Control of Women 80
Cultural Hierarchy and Processes of Control 83
The Specifi city of Eastern and Western Grids 85
Positional Superiority, Thought Systems, and Other Cultures
87
Ways of Seeing and Comparing – East and West 88
The Controlling Role of Ideas 96
The Use of Revolution in Gender Control 98
Multiple Systems of Female Subordination 102
Colonialism, Development, Religion, and Gender Control 107
Conclusion: The Need to Separate Identities 110
5 Corporate Fundamentalism: Constructing Childhood in the United
States and Elsewhere 120
Introduction 120
Manufacturing Culture Bit by Bit 122
Fundamentalisms: Corporate and Religious 126
Marketing and Children: The United States 131
Drugs, Commercialism, and the Biomedical Paradigm: An American
Example 137
When Corporate Profits and Education Meet: The Educational
Testing Industry 140
Fundamentalisms: Economic, Religious, Political 141
Back to Corporate Fundamentalism: Future Directions 144
6 Culture and the Seeds of Nonviolence in the Middle East
151
Introduction 151
Disharmonic Westernization and Pilgrimage 154
Between the Stereotype and Reality 157
Little Worlds in the International Grip 161
Culture and Nonviolence: Who Stands to Gain From Peace? 165
Dignity Becomes Reality 168
7 Normative Blindness and Unresolved Human Rights Issues: The
Hypocrisy of Our Age 175
Introduction 175
Early Constraints 176
Unresolved Issues 178
A Nonstate Human Rights Effort 183
Health and Human Rights 186
Human Rights and Commercialism 191
Concluding Remarks 193
8 Breaking the Silence: Politics and Professional Autonomy
197
Introduction 197
Silence and Dominant Hegemonies 198
Desensitization 204
Mistakes Repeated in the Iraq Invasion 206
9 Lessons 212
Lessons Learned 212
Strategies of Subordination – In Reverse 216
Macro-histories 221
Appendix 226
Index 230
Circa l’autore
Laura Nader is Professor of Anthropology at the University
of California at Berkeley. An influential voice in contemporary
anthropology, Laura Nader’s books include Naked Science:
Anthropological Inquiry into Boundaries, Power and Knowledge
(1996), The Life of the Law (2002), and, with Ugo Mattei,
Plunder-When the Rule of Law is Illegal (2008).
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