Product Description: In the previous century a large portion of the smallest of the Slavonic nations left their German homeland and migrated to three distant continents. The Wends, or Sorbs, were seeking--what? Fortune? Religious freedom? Land for their children to farm? George R...read more

There are some seven million gypsies in Europe, an often mythologized people in the past. But now they represent a new political force, both in eastern Europe and as a new westward migration begins.The Historical Dictionary of the Gypsies (Romanies) provides a wealth of definite, factual information about this people, and their unique culture.

Traces the history and examines the culture and and traditions of the Eastern European and Russian Gypsies from their emergence during the Middle Ages until the present

Product Description: This history of the Jews of the Netherlands and the role they have played in Dutch society was originally published in Dutch and widely acclaimed for the breadth of its coverage. It covers both the internal evolution of the Jewish community and its social, cultural, and economic interaction with the wider population...read more

Product Description: They are a mythical people, almost an imagined people, writes Kurlansky. Signs of their civilization exist well before the arrival of the Romans in 218 BC. Their forbidden tongue is equally mysterious, as it is related to no other, but today the Basques are enjoying what may be the most important cultural renaissance in their long existence...read more

This collection addresses an audience of early medievalists with an interest in material culture and its use in building ethnic boundaries. The traditional concept of frontier is one of current debate by historians and archaeologists alike, but sometimeswithout reference to each other. For instance, the social and cultural construction of (political) frontiers remains outside the current focus of post-processualist archaeology, despite the significance of borders for the representation of power, one of the most popular topics with archaeologists interested in symbols and ideology. Similarly, historians of the early Middle Ages have only recently developed an interest in the political manipulation of cultural difference across state frontiers. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this new direction of research is the emphasis on political frontiers as crucial for the creation, rather than separation, of ethnic configurations. Recent work on the relation between monastic communities and political frontiers has shown the potential for a study of frontier symbolism. The idea of the present volume grew out of the realization that there was a great deal of new work being done in this direction which deserved a wider audience. This was true both of studies of late antique frontiers and of more recent research on medieval frontier societies. In addition, several authors address the issue of religious identities and their relations with ethnicity and state ideology. In that respect, the book is directed to a large audience, particularly because of its wide geographical range, from Iberia and the Balkans to Cilicia and Iran.

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Product Description: Every so often a work of history appears that radically changes our understanding of people, place and period. Chinese Christian is such a work. This book asks questions about Hong Kong that have never been asked before. It shows that the leaders of Chinese society had a far greater role in shaping early Hong Kong history than earlier historians had believed...read more

Product Description: This work records the oral history, folklore and folk-life of emigrants from the Outer Hebrides to Quebec in the 19th century. It opens with the historical background before telling oral history as remembered and experienced by the emigrants' descendants, telling of land clearing, "homesteading", farming, lumbering, bridge building and all the other tasks required to build a new community in the wilderness...read more

Product Description: Nationalism, national identity, and ethnicity are cultural issues in contemporary Western societies. Problems in the United States, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Turkey, Poland, Croatia, Ukraine, Hungary, and Bulgaria illustrate both large-scale internal variations in these phenomena and their cross-national relevance for teaching, research, and educational development on such subjects as multiculturalism, ethnic diversity, and socialization...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

Over the past several decades the Kurds have been slowly gaining international attention. This reached a climax at the time of their flight from Saddam Hussein in March 1991. This book traces the roots of Kurdish nationalism from the collapse of the Kurdish emirates in the 19th cent., through the post-1918 peace settlement, to the slow emergence of an educated non-tribal class during the 20th cent. Externally, this new class had to resist the recently established regimes in Iran, Turkey & Iraq, all of which equated modernization with state nationalism & ethnic subordination. Internally, it had to transform a society based primarily on the socio-economic ethic of tribal patronage to one based on ethnic identity. Examines prospects for the future.

A personal journey into the world of the Arab citizens living in Israel depicts the painful dilemma of a people being torn between conflicting identities as they are shunned by both Jews and Palestinians. Reprint. 15,000 first printing.

A noted historian provides a compelling, richly detailed account of the struggle of Europeans and Jews to reconstruct their lives and culture in the wake of the ravages of World War I, describing the impact of demographic and political revolution, nationalism, economic frustration, and xenophobia on efforts to create an idealistic, democratic new world. Reprint. 12,500 first printing.

Bringing together the perspectives of archaeologists, ethnohistorians, and art historians, these tightly integrated case studies highlight the significance of material objects to the study and interpretation of Native North American culture, history, and identity. The authors contend that archaeological remains and ethnographic specimens can, and indeed should, be analyzed in tandem with other souces of historical data (e.g., written texts, oral accounts) to expand our understanding of Native culture change and continuity from the pre-Columbian era through the present.The essays in this collection begin with concrete, tangible expressions of Native American culture which, in most cases, were made and used to meet basic human needs or to participate in social and religious life. Material objects invite interdis-ciplinary study because they are a rich source of information about how human societies and social identities were created, reproduced, and transformed. While this volume serves to complement and enhance our historical and cultural understanding of native peoples throughout North America, the theoretical approaches and research methodologies showcased here have implications for studies anywhere people left material traces of their activities, identities, and lives.ContentsPart I. Ethnogenesis: The Creation, Maintenance, and Transformation of Ethnic Identity1.  Ritual and Material Culture as Keys to Cultural Continuity: Native American Interaction with Europeans in Eastern Arkansas, 1541-1682, by Kathleen H. Cande2.  The Identity of Stadacona and Hochelaga: Comprehension and Conflict, by James F. Pendergast3. Echoing the Past: Reconciling Ethnohistorical and Archaeological Views of Ho-Chunk (Winnebago) Ethnogenesis, by John P. Staeck4. The Politics of Pottery: Material Culture and Political Process among Algonquians of 17th-Century Southern New England, by Eric S. Johnson5. Emblems of Ethnicity: Ribbonwork Garments from the Great Lakes Region, by Susan M. Neill  Part II. Change and Continuity in Daily Life6. François' House, a Significant Pedlars' Post on the Saskatchewan, by Alice Beck Kehoe7. Improving Our Understanding of Native American Acculturation through the Archaeological Record: An Example from the Mono Basin of Eastern California, by Brooke S. Arkush8. Cache Pits: Ethnohistory, Archaeology, and the Continuity of Tradition, by Sean B. Dunham9. Maple Sugaring in Prehistory: Tapping the Sources, by Carol I. Mason and Margaret B. Holman10. Archaeology of a Contact-Period Plateau Salishan Village at Thompson's River Post, Kamloops, British Columbia, by Catherine C. Carlson 11. Obtaining Information via Defective Documents: A Search for the Mandan in George Catlin's Paintings, by Mark S. Parker MillerPart III. Ritual, Iconography, and Ideology12. Images of Women in Native American Iconography, by Larissa A. Thomas 13. Tlingit Human Masks as Documents of Culture Change and Continuity, by Barbara Brotherton 14. One Island, Two Places: Archaeology, Memory, and Meaning in a Rhode Island Town, by Paul A. Robinson 15. Archaeology and Oral Tradition in Tandem: Interpreting Native American Ritual, Ideology, and Gender Relations in Contact-Period Southeastern New England, by Michael S. Nassaney     This title is published in conjunction with the Society for Historical ArchaeologyMichael S. Nassaney, associate professor of anthropology at Western Michigan University, is the editor or coeditor of four books, including The Archaeological Northeast.Eric S. Johnson, a preservation planner at the Massachusetts Historical Commission, has written numerous articles and monographs on New England archaeology and ethnohistory.

Looks at non-Arab and non-Muslim ethnic groups in the Middle East, describing their history, culture, and political struggles in the region. (view table of contents)

A comprehensive survey of Estonian history, placing recent events into historical perspective. The author analyzes the country's post-communist transition, its strategic geopolitical location, and the role of ethnic Estonians in shaping the history of the area.

A history of the numerous attempts of European invaders to conquer North America details the successful efforts of the Native American peoples to repel these invasions (view table of contents)

Product Description: This book weaves the tale of enterprising Portuguese immigrants into the wider story of the Old West. Its biographies range from detailed profiles of those who stood out to glimpses of obscure yet important settlers. Through the deeds of these Portuguese pioneers, Land, As Far As the Eye Can See provides a history of the opening, conquest, and development of the American West...read more

Product Description: Upon hearing rumors that the men who discovered the North Pole had fathered sons while on their expedition, S. Allen Counter arranged to visit the remote villages where Robert Peary, the credited discoverer, and Matthew Henson, the black man whose contributions to the expedition are widely ignored, stayed during their travels...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

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Product Description: The last decades of the seventeenth century were marked by persistent, bloody conflicts between the French and their Native allies on the one side and the Iroquois confederacy on the other. In the summer of 1701, 1,300 representatives of forty First Nations from the Maritimes to the Great Lakes and from James Bay to southern Illinois met with the French at Montreal...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)