A new old Damascus : authenticity and distinction in urban Syria / Christa Salamandra.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Salamandra, Christa.

Series:

Indiana series in Middle East studies.

Indiana series in Middle East studies

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Ethnology--Syria--Damascus.

Ethnology.

Social structure--Syria--Damascus.

Social structure.

Group identity--Syria--Damascus.

Group identity.

Damascus (Syria)--Social life and customs.

Damascus (Syria).

Damascus (Syria)--Religious life and customs.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (216 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Bloomington : Indiana University Press, c2004.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

""[F]illed with rare encounters with Syria's oldest, most elite families. Critics of anthropology's taste for exoticism and marginality will savor this study of upper-class Damascus, a world that is urbane and cosmopolitan, yet in many ways as remote as the settings in which the best ethnography has traditionally been done.... [Written] with a nuanced appreciation of the cultural forms in question and how Damascenes themselves think, talk about, and create them."" -- Andrew ShryockIn contemporar

Contents:

Introduction: A return to the old

"His family had a house in Malki, so we thought he was all right" : socio-spatial distinction

"That color looks great on you" : consumption, display, and gender

Old Damascus commodified

Ramadan lived and consumed

Conservation, preservation, and celebration

Conclusion: Weapons of the not-so-weak

Epilogue: Of hubble bubbles and cell phones.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [173]-187) and index.

ISBN:

1-282-07231-5

0-253-11041-6

OCLC:

191034715