America Observed: On an International Anthropology of the United States

Published by Berghahn Books 2016

America Observed

On an International Anthropology of the United States

Edited by: Virginia R. Dominguez and Jasmin Habib

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781785333613

Overview
Contents

About this book

There is surprisingly little fieldwork done on the United States by anthropologists from abroad. America Observed fills that gap by bringing into greater focus empirical as well as theoretical implications of this phenomenon. Edited by Virginia Dominguez and Jasmin Habib, the essays collected here offer a critique of such an absence, exploring its likely reasons while also illustrating the advantages of studying fieldwork-based anthropological projects conducted by colleagues from outside the U.S. This volume contains an introduction written by the editors and fieldwork-based essays written by Helena Wulff, Jasmin Habib, Limor Darash, Ulf Hannerz, and Moshe Shokeid, and reflections on the broad issue written by Geoffrey White, Keiko Ikeda, and Jane Desmond. Suitable for introductory and mid-level anthropology courses, America Observed will also be useful for American Studies courses both in the U.S. and elsewhere.

Author / Editor information

Virginia R. Dominguez is Edward William and Jane Marr Gutgsell Professor of Anthropology, Jewish Studies, Global Studies, Caribbean Studies, and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in the U.S. She is a recent past president of the American Anthropological Association, recent past editor of American Ethnologist, and co-founder of the International Forum for U.S. Studies.

Jasmin Habib is Associate Professor teaching in the Department of Political Science at the University of Waterloo and the Global Governance Program at the Balsillie School of International Affairs. She is the editor-in-chief of Anthropologica (the journal of the Canadian Anthropology Society) and editor of the Cultural Spaces book series with the University of Toronto Press.

Virginia R. Dominguez is Edward William and Jane Marr Gutgsell Professor of Anthropology, Jewish Studies, Global Studies, Caribbean Studies, and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in the U.S. She is a recent past president of the American Anthropological Association, recent past editor of American Ethnologist, and co-founder of the International Forum for U.S. Studies.

Reviews

“America Observed poses and answers a critical question for anthropology today: why do so few scholars from outside the United States write ethnographies about ‘America’, and what are the consequences of this lacuna?” · Andrew P. Lyons, Wilfrid Laurier University

“This book serves to generate a much-needed discussion about the absence of international ethnographic research in the U.S. and about the nature of the discipline that discourages this kind of research. Furthermore, the ethnographies presented here teach us something substantial about ‘American’ culture and illustrate that ethnographic research undertaken by non-U.S. anthropologists can be particularly insightful.” · James Armstrong, SUNY Plattsburgh

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Introduction: Can the US Be “Othered” Usefully? On an International Anthropology of the United States Virginia R. Dominguez and Jasmin Habib Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Part I On the Outside Looking In? The US as Fieldsite
Chapter One. Manhattan as a Magnet: Place and Circulation among Young Swedes Helena Wulff Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	31
Chapter Two. Is It Un-American to Be Critical of Israel? Criticism and Fear in the US Context Jasmin Habib Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	51
Chapter Three. Biosecurity in the US “The Scientific” and “the American” in Critical Perspective Limor Samimian-Darash Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	79
Chapter Four. American Theater State: Reflections on Political Culture Ulf Hannerz Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	103
Chapter Five. Observing US Gay Organizations and Voluntary Associations: An Outsider’s Exposition Moshe Shokeid Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	120
Part II From the Inside Out? Reflections on an International Anthropology of the US
Chapter Six. Who Cares? Why It’s Odd and Why It’s Not Geoffrey White Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	143
Chapter Seven. Power and Trafficking of Scholarship in International American Studies Keiko Ikeda Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	155
Afterword: The Sounds of Silence: Commissions, Omissions, and Particularity in the Global Anthropology of the United States Jane C. Desmond Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	164
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	173

Language: English
Publisher: Berghahn Books
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 188
Keywords: Anthropology (General); Sociology; Political and Economic Anthropology

eBook

Published: December 1, 2016
ISBN: 9781785333613