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"Jones, Stephen A., author"
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In Search of the Folk Daoists of North China
The living practice of Daoist ritual is still only a small part of Daoist studies. Most of this work focuses on the southeast, with the vast area of north China often assumed to be a tabula rasa for local lay liturgical traditions. This book, based on fieldwork, challenges this assumption. With case studies on parts of Hebei, Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Gansu provinces, Stephen Jones describes ritual sequences within funerals and temple fairs, offering details on occupational hereditary lay Daoists, temple-dwelling priests, and even amateur ritual groups. Stressing performance, Jones observes the changing ritual scene in this poor countryside, both since the 1980s and through all the tribulations of twentieth-century warfare and political campaigns. The whole vocabulary of north Chinese Daoists differs significantly from that of the southeast, which has so far dominated our image. Largely unstudied by scholars of religion, folk Daoist ritual in north China has been a constant theme of music scholars within China. Stephen Jones places lay Daoists within the wider context of folk religious practices - including those of lay Buddhists, sectarians, and spirit mediums. This book opens up a new field for scholars of religion, ritual, music, and modern Chinese society.
eBook
The art of classic sci-fi movies
\"From the dawn of silent cinema to today, sci-fi movies have been a constant presence in pop culture, with mad scientists, terrifying monsters (giant and otherwise), UFOs, and invading aliens all bursting out from some of the most brilliantly designed posters ever printed, featuring art that was sometimes lurid, always eye-catching, and often simply beautiful. Acknowledging the iconic, but with plenty of room for the rare and unfamiliar, The Art of Classic Sci-Fi Movies presents a stellar selection of imagery, charting the story of the genre from its origins in foundational works like A Trip to the Moon and Metropolis, through Cold War classics like Invasion of the Body-Snatchers and Godzilla, and on to visionary films such as 2001 and Solaris--as well as less celebrated but nonetheless infamous cultural artifacts like Barbarella and Zardoz, and genuine oddities such as Murder by Television and Twonky. The most extensive book of its type ever published, it includes ample selections from American movies as well as a range of films from Japan, Italy, Spain, France, Russia, and Eastern Europe.\"--Amazon.com.
Book
Nourishing Waters, Comforting Sky
In the Nebraska Sandhills, ranchers on horseback and in pickup
trucks share the range with pronghorn antelope, burrowing owls, and
long-billed curlews. The native grasses grow greener as the cattle
grow fatter. Throughout the region, river otters and mink swim in
streams nourished by springs bubbling up from the High Plains
(Ogallala) aquifer. Over years of close observation, Stephen R.
Jones has gotten to know the Nebraska Sandhills-the
twenty-thousand-square-mile expanse of stunning prairie and
thriving wetlands. He has felt the warm breath of a white-tailed
doe guarding her spotted fawn, learned to communicate with a family
of long-eared owls, and developed an improbable hiking relationship
with a wild turkey. He has documented a breeding bird population
that is growing more diverse and witnessed the long-awaited return
of nesting trumpeter swans. These personal stories, accompanied by
words of insight from Native American leaders, Sandhills ranchers,
and grassland ecologists, help us envision a quiet relationship
with the natural world.
eBook
Power and Responsibility: Building International Order in an Era of Transnational Threats
Makes the case for forming new international partnerships and revitalizing instruments of cooperation to address global challenges that post-WWII multilateral security systems cannot. Establishes a new conceptual foundation for international security: 'responsible sovereignty, ' which entails obligations and duties and attitudinal changes toward other states as well one's own.
eBook
Gender and social protection in the developing world
Millions of pounds of international development funds are invested annually in social protection programmes to tackle poverty. Poverty is perpetuated by risk and vulnerability, much of which is gendered. Despite this, little attention has been paid to gender-sensitive policy and programme design and implementation. Gender and Social Protection in the Developing World introduces a much-needed gender lens to these debates. Drawing on empirical evidence from poor households and communities in Africa, Asia and Latin America, the book provides rich insight into the effects of a range of social protection instruments. It concludes that with relatively simple changes to design and with investment in implementation capacity, social protection can contribute to transforming gender relations at the individual, intra-household and community levels. With a foreword by Stephen Devereux.
eBook
Animism in rainforest and tundra
Amazonia and Siberia, classic regions of shamanism, have long challenged 'western' understandings of man's place in the world. By exploring the social relations between humans and non-human entities credited with human-like personhood (not only animals and plants, but also 'things' such as artifacts, trade items, or mineral resources) from a comparative perspective, this volume offers valuable insights into the constitutions of humanity and personhood characteristic of the two areas. The contributors conducted their ethnographic fieldwork among peoples undergoing transformative processes of their lived environments, such as the depletion of natural resources and migration to urban centers. They describe here fundamental relational modes that are being tested in the face of change, presenting groundbreaking research on personhood and agency in shamanic societies and contributing to our global understanding of social and cultural change and continuity.
eBook
MRI Atlas of Pituitary Pathology
MRI Atlas of Pituitary Imaging focuses on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), the imaging modality of choice for the evaluation of pituitary disorders, since it provides a detailed anatomy of the pituitary gland and surrounding structures, particularly the soft tissues.
eBook