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

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kapferer, Bruce, author.

Series:

Smithsonian series in ethnographic inquiry.

Smithsonian series in ethnographic inquiry

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Nationalism--Case studies.

Nationalism.

State, The--Case studies.

State, The.

Ethnic relations--Case studies.

Ethnic relations.

Political culture--Sri Lanka.

Political culture.

Political culture--Australia.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (444 pages)

Edition:

Second edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Berghahn Books, [2012]

Summary:

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.

Contents:

Legends of People, Myths of State

Contents

Preface to the New and Revised Edition

Preface to the Papeback Reissue

Introduction

Chapter 1. Cultures of Nationalism

Part I. Evil and the State

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 2. People against the State

Chapter 5. When the World Crumbles and the Heavens Fall in

Chapter 6. But the Band Played "Waltzing Matilda

Chapter 7. Ethnicity and Intolerance

Chapter 8. Nationalism, Tradition, and Political Culture

Notes

References

Appendices: Legends of People, Myths of State and the Current Context

Appendix 1. In the Wake of Legends

Appendix 2. Violence, Evil, and the State in Sri Lanka

Appendix 3. Empty Spaces and the Multiple Modernities of Nationalism

Appendix 4. The Social Genesis of Anzac Nationalism

Appendix 5. The Australian Society of the State

Index.

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

Previous edition: Washington DC, Smithsonian Institution Press, 1988.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

Print version: Kapferer, Bruce Legends of People, Myths of State

ISBN:

0-85745-517-6

OCLC:

871775415