Legends of people, myths of state : violence, intolerance, and political culture in Sri Lanka and Australia

Bibliographic Information

Legends of people, myths of state : violence, intolerance, and political culture in Sri Lanka and Australia

Bruce Kapferer

Berghahn Books, 2012

Rev. and updated ed

Available at  / 3 libraries

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Note

Previous ed. by Smithonian Institution Press in series: Smithonian series in ethnographic inquiry

Includes bibilographical references and index

Description and Table of Contents

Description

The civil war in Sri Lanka and the part that nationalism seemed to play in it inspired the writing of this book some twenty-three years ago. The argument was developed through a comparative analysis of nationalism in Sri Lanka with the author's native Australia. At the time this constituted an innovative approach to comparison in anthropology, as well as to nationalism and its possibilities. It was not based on differences but on the way in which perspectives from within the two nationalisms, when seen side-by-side, could present an understanding of their implication in producing the violence of war, racism, and social exclusion. The book has lost none of its importance and urgency as proven by the chapters in the Appendix, written by top scholars working in Sri Lanka and in Australia. These contributions bring together new material and critically explore the book's themes and their continued relevance to the various trajectories in nationalist processes since the first publication of the book.

Table of Contents

Preface to the New and Revised Edition Preface to the Paperback Reissue Introduction Chapter 1. Cultures of Nationalism: Political Cosmology and the Passions Part I: Evil and the State: Sinhalese Naitonalism, Violence, and the Power of Hierarchy Chapter 2. Ethnic Violence and the Force of History in Legend Chapter 3. Evil, Power, and the State Chapter 4. Ideological Practice, Ethnic Nationalism, and the Passions Part II: People Against the State: Australian Nationalism and Egalitarian Individualism Chapter 5. When the World Crumbles and the Heavens Fall In: War, Death, and the Creation of Nation Chapter 6. But the Band Played "Waltzing Maltilda": National Ceremonial and the Anatomy of Egalitarianism Chapter 7. Ethnicity and Intolerance: Egalitarian Nationalism and Its Political Practice Chapter 8. Nationalism, Tradition, and Political Culture Notes References

by "Nielsen BookData"

Details

  • NCID
    BB07944990
  • ISBN
    • 9780857454362
  • Country Code
    us
  • Title Language Code
    eng
  • Text Language Code
    eng
  • Place of Publication
    New York
  • Pages/Volumes
    xli, 401 p.
  • Size
    23 cm
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