Dept. of Publications, zephyrin, June 21, 2004 at 10:22:38 AM CEST

Handbook of Evolution

WUKETITS, FRANZ AND CHRISTOPH ANTWEILER. 2004. Handbook of Evolution. New York et al.: Wiley-VCH.

"This three-volume handbook is unique in spanning the entire field of evolution, from the origins of our universe, via the development of living systems on earth, right up to the formation of social structures and science and technology. The author team of world-renowned experts considers the subject from a variety of disciplines, with continuous cross-referencing so as to retain a logical internal structure. The uniformly structured contributions discuss not merely the general knowledge behind the evolution of life, but also the corresponding development of language, society, economies, morality and politics. The result is an overview of the history and methods used in the study of evolution, including controversial theories and discussions. A must for researchers in the natural sciences, sociology and philosophy, as well as for those interested in an interdisciplinary view of the status of evolution today." via hum-molgen.de

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Dept. of Publications, zephyrin, June 16, 2004 at 12:04:01 PM CEST

Look ahead

BECK, KURT, TILL FÖRSTER AND HANS PETER HAHN (Eds.). 2004. Blick nach vorn: Festgabe für Gerd Spittler zum 65. Geburtstag. Köln: Rüdiger Köppe. [ISBN: 3-89645-403-X]

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Dept. of Publications, zephyrin, June 16, 2004 at 9:30:20 AM CEST

Creative Commons Launch in Germany

Telepolis reports about the launch of the Creative Commons Licence (in German) in Germany. But Heise, the publisher of Telepolis doesn't just talk about CC, but acts, too: Two recent books on related topics (Mix, Burn & R.I.P. and Freie Netze - both in German) are freely available for download as .pdf-files under the Creative Commons Licence. Just to add a little spice ... have a look at a contemporary piece of interactive remix art, which in theory is endangered by the recent currents on the intellectual property issue: The Bruce Lee Flash mix generator!

Kerleone pointed me to the Telepolis-article, Bruce Lee via infocult

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Dept. of Publications, warauduati, June 5, 2004 at 10:52:24 AM CEST

"Iconic Turn. The Power of Pictures"

Christa Maar and Hubert Burda published a new book on the Iconic Turn. With its title "Iconic Turn. Die Macht der Bilder" various authors point out the different aspects on visual media in all kinds of sciences. Here a further description in German.

Das Buch "Iconic Turn", herausgegeben von Christa Maar und Hubert Burda, ist nach einer Vorlesungsreihe in München entstanden und beinhaltet gut zwei Dutzend Texte. In ihnen geht es um das Entstehen von Bildern im Kopf, Bilder in den Wissenschaften, die Unsichtbares sichtbar machen, um Kunstbilder, Filmbilder, Internetbilder. Autoren sind etwa der Videokünstler Bill Viola, der Hirnforscher Wolf Singer und der Philosoph Peter Sloterdijk.

MAAR, Christa & Hubert BURDA (Hg.),2004: Iconic Turn. Die Macht der Bilder. DuMont Verlag, Köln. 452 S., 24,90 Euro.

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Dept. of Publications, zephyrin, June 2, 2004 at 12:34:24 PM CEST

Max Weber online

Max Weber's writings are in German, of course ...

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Dept. of Publications, kerleone, May 25, 2004 at 9:10:03 AM CEST

Online: Darwin, Voyage of the Beagle

The British Library published nearly the whole work of Charles Darwin in the web. Of anthropological interest is his A NATURALIST'S VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD, as it contains a lot information about the indians of tierra del fuego. Via SWR

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Dept. of , ethwicky, May 19, 2004 at 10:16:26 AM CEST

Nouvelle publication sur les Hazaras d'Afghanistan

Alessandro Monsutti vient de publier aux Editions de l'Institut d'ethnologie de Neuchâtel "Guerres et migrations: réseaux sociaux et stratégies économiques des Hazaras d'Afghanistan". Version remaniée de la thèse qu'il obtint (summa cum laude) à l'Université de Neuchâtel en 2002, le livre est préfacé par Dale Eickelman (on peut lire la préface en format pdf). L'Afghanistan de tous les jours, les Afghans qui vivent ensemble, qui se font confiance, qui commercent, qui partent et reviennent, après quelques mois ou quelques années. Les spécialistes trouveront leur compte dans les chapitres techniques, et les personnes moins initiées liront des pages très vivantes, nourries par les notes prises à chaud dans des auberges pour voyageurs ou sur le pont d'un camion bourré de marchandises. Formé à l'Institut d'ethnologie de Neuchâtel, enseignant à l'Institut universitaire d'études du développement de Genève, Alessandro Monsutti a fait de sa thèse de doctorat un pétillant récit de voyage. Derrière le rôle économique que les migrations jouent pour les habitants du Hazarajat, région ingrate au coeur de l'Afghanistan, on goûte aux impressions et aux émotions ressenties par l'auteur pendant les nombreux mois passés sur le terrain, en Afghanistan, au Pakistan et en Iran. Dans Guerres et migrations, les Afghans et les Afghanes nous ressemblent, travaillent pour leurs familles, avec les préoccupations communes à toute l'humanité. Est-ce que l'aide humanitaire extérieure a permis au pays de survivre pendant ces deux dernières décennies? Non, répond ce livre, ou alors seulement de façon minoritaire. Ce sont les Afghans eux-mêmes qui s'adaptent en permanence

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Dept. of Publications, kerleone, May 17, 2004 at 3:55:27 PM CEST

Book Review: "Occidentalism"

"In 1978 Edward Said's landmark "Orientalism" did something that the vast majority of books, even great ones, fail to do: It literally changed the way we understand the world. By developing a system for conceiving and deconstructing the long and tangled relationship between East and West -- a relationship that Said argued was marked, throughout the colonial era, by the West's systematic portrayal of the East as culturally and racially primitive, exotic, backward and inferior -- Said virtually created an entirely new field, post-colonialism, which continues to have profound effects on academia and international politics to this day.

The new book "Occidentalism" expressly positions itself as the Western-looking counterpart to the Said classic. Its authors want us to believe that it, too, will shatter myths, define a new genre of thought and study, and change the way we understand the world." Read more at Salon.com (Requires watching a commercial for free day pass).

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Dept. of Publications, zephyrin, April 28, 2004 at 10:51:37 AM CEST

International policy analysis

The Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES), -- which, among a multitude of other activities, offers grants to social/cultural anthropologist, too -- has recently published a range of papers and books on international policy analysis. See their publications sections: English language publications, and german language publications.

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Dept. of Publications, zephyrin, April 28, 2004 at 10:41:32 AM CEST

Asia-Europe Voices

Call for Submissions -- deadline 15 May. Asia-Europe Voices, the newly-launched journal of ASEFUAN, is pleased to announce a call for sub-missions. ASEFUAN is a network of former participants of the ASEF (Asia-Europe Foundation) Sum-mer University, which is a two-week intensive scholarship programme for talented European and Asian students from the ASEM countries. The purpose of both ASEF and ASEFUAN is to promote and foster intercultural relations between Europe and Asia. Read moreAsia-Europe Voices is a multidisciplinary journal set up by a group of ASEFUAN members from both Europe and Asia. We aim to receive contributions from students and scholars from both continents. With four issues foreseen to be published annually, the journal aims to strengthen the ASEFUAN process, bringing together both students and professionals from both Europe and Asia who are interested in the processes taking place between and within the two world regions. The journal provides a good forum to share completed articles (for example a shortened thesis) as well as work in progress both for those who have not yet published, and for those more experienced. The articles are owned by the individual contributors, copyrights are thus not transferred to Asia-Europe Voices. This also implies that contributors may choose to publish the material elsewhere, in which case, a note of reference to Asia-Europe Voices is appreciated. The Editorial Board with the Journal Management Team announces the following theme for the first issue: "TRENDS IN DIALOGUES BETWEEN AND WITHIN ASIA AND EUROPE" Original essays and articles are sought, addressing issues reflecting different political, social, cultural and economical processes taking place in the recent dialogues between Europe and Asia. These proc-esses may include, but are not limited, to: EU enlargement, regionalism vs. nationalism discussion, environmentalism, steps towards common security, and post-Asian currency crisis economic processes. We welcome both academic articles (ca. 10,000-12,000 words, ca. 20-25 pages) and shorter essays (1,500-3,500 words, ca. 3-7 pages) on the topic. The shorter essays should be more free-formed than the academic articles, and they could be written based on personal experiences but with reflections on a wider context, such as cultural, political or social implications between Asia and Europe. Original view-points are appreciated. The articles should be delivered to the Editor-in-Chief in Word- or PDF-form with references to the jour-nal. Articles will be converted into PDF-form before listed on the net. We recommend that the contribu-tors use the APSR (American Political Science Review) citation technique in the articles. Please see the instructions for APSR citation technique at www.lclark.edu. The deadline for articles is May 15, 2004. Please submit the manuscripts or further inquirements to the Asia-Europe Voices e-mail address (handled by the Editor-in-Chief): asiaeuropevoices@hotmail.comSincerely yours, Johanna Lahdenperä (AU-8Editor-in-Chief) for Asia-Europe Voices

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Dept. of Publications, warauduati, April 20, 2004 at 10:48:23 AM CEST

Und ewig lockt das Weib

Today the Süddeutsche Zeitung published a book review of "Matisse und Picasso als Kulturrreisende. Primitivismus und Anthropologie um 1900" by Bärbel Küster. Unfortunately I haven't found the online-article yet, but I will add it later...

Küster investigated in her dissertation the view on painters representation of the earlier so called "primitives" - such as paintings as "La Gitane" or "L' Algérienne" by Matisse or "Deux femmes nues" by Picasso. She constitutes the thesis of the "anthropological turn" (1)Maybe someone might add something about "anthropological turn" in the theoretical debate in History of Art. My expertise ends here unfortunately! by statements of theory in art and states that painters in the early 20th century have been highly influenced by anthropological photographs, adapting the anthropological question of characteristics of human beings though presenting the "primitives" in a different way than ethnographers.

Akademie Verlag, Berlin 2003. 239 pages, 39,90.

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Dept. of Publications, zephyrin, April 20, 2004 at 8:59:21 AM CEST

Filming Castaneda

Finally Gabi Geuter, who has known the elusive legend of cultural anthropology, Carlos Castaneda in person, has published her tremendous book Filming Castaneda: The hunt for magic and reason. I know Gabi face-to-face (she was willing to be my informant on Castaneda while I wrote my Ph.D.-thesis -- a big Thanks again) and can assure you that her book is none of the New-Age-rubbish which partially sprang up around the name Castaneda. During the genesis of her book Gabi frequently sent me chapters in progress and I always was thrilled and delighted while reading them. You may know that Castaneda was reluctant to have himself photographed and even made sure that false pictures of him, showing someone other, got into circulation. When Castaneda died, AP delivered a picture of him which was reprinted in countless obituaries around the world -- until today the picture keeps popping up, even in social/cultural antropological publications. Some days later AP wrote to its customers that they should delete the picture, as it was not depicting Carlos Castaneda. But it was too late -- the old trickster's last deception? Besides the concept of 'erasing oneself' in Castaneda's books the concept of 'stalking' is described as another faculty of 'his' magical system. Gabi took those concepts a substantial step further: She stalked Castaneda by camera. Her book is both a meditation and an analysis of all this and her entanglement with Castaneda and his circle -- a hunt for magic and reason. There's a press release, too.

GEUTER, GABI. 2004. Filming Castaneda: The hunt for magic and reason. Bloomington: 1stBooks Library/Authorhouse. [ISBN: softcover: 141404612X, hardcover: 1414046138]

via e-mail

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