In a move still unusual in anthropology; Mines examines relations of power by providing perspectives from a variety of people who are differently; and differentially; empowered.... These points are made with an extraordinary richness of ethnographic detail." ―Sara DickeyWith the publication of books of this quality the anthropological turn to practice theory announced in 1968 by Sherry Ortner comes to maturity. Intelligent; clear; humane and often gripping; this book will be of interest to readers who care about place and politics in the United States as well as those interested in South Asia." ― Anthony Carter; Deparment of Anthropology; University of RochesterThe importance of temple ritual in constituting political dominance in South India has been well documented. In this vivid and compelling study of caste and ritual in rural Tamilnadu; Diane P. Mines focuses not only on the temples of the socially powerful; but even more so on the powerful temples of the socially weak. Drawing on phenomenological and existential anthropology; she argues that the village is a heterogeneous reality made and remade by its residents through their own activity. Exploring the intersection of politics; ritual; caste; and other forms of social inequality; this ethnography presents a new view of the village and argues for its reemergence as a unit of analysis.
#147382 in Books Jean Amery 2009-03-23 2009-03-23Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.25 x .40 x 6.12l; .46 #File Name: 0253211735128 pagesAt the Mind s Limits Contemplations by a Survivor on Auschwitz and Its Realities
Review
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful. All kinds of torture are totally unacceptableBy Luc REYNAERTIn these extremely painful reflections on his fate during the Third Reich; Jean Améry paints a very disturbing picture of man; civilization andsociety. His text is a forceful plea for a total condemnation of all kinds of torture and its devastating effects.Torture; human beings; the worldFaced with unlimited evil power in the hands of a torturer man becomes pure flesh. A tortured man broken by violence; who cannot expect any help and who has lost all rights of self-defense; is nothing more than a body.From the first lash he receives; man is deprived of what is called his `confidence in the world'. This confidence constitutes the certainty that the other will spare him according to social contracts; that he will respect his physical existence. Torture as a physical rape becomes an act of existential annihilation; since there is no hope to be helped. A tortured person becomes a stranger in the world.SocietyWhat overwhelmed Jean Améry really was the society of man. For him; it is the society of men and it alone which robbed him of his confidence in the world.A specific society was the Third Reich: Germany killed Jews and political opponents; because it believed that this was the only way to realize itself. Torture was its essence. But; for Jean Améry; one should not forget that the Greek civilization was built on slavery and that an Athenian army butchered the population of the island of Melos as the SS did in Ukraine.For Jean Améry; every society thinks only about its own safety and has nothing to do with damaged lives; it only looks forward and; in the best case; it tries to prevent that the same things will happen again.The spirit; religion; the intellectualsJean Améry came to understand that the whole question of the activity of the pure spirit doesn't arise when a human being is dying from hunger or exhaustion. He didn't only loose his mind in a concentration camp; but he simply stopped to be a human being. In there; rational and analytical thinking led simply and directly to self-destruction.As for religion; at no time did he discover the slightest reason to believe; even when he was waiting all the time to be executed. He didn't believe in the God of Israel.As for the skeptical and humanist intellectuals; they were the object of scorn both from the Christians and the Marxists; with leniency by the first; with resentment and frustration by the latter.What he became and what he expectsJean Améry had no illusions. At Auschwitz; the victims did very understandably in no way become more human; more altruistic or morally more mature. One doesn't contemplate a spectacle of sadistic criminal human beasts without losing one's respect for all concepts of man's innate dignity.What he expects is an act of salvation: Germany should really and openly reject everything it perpetrated in these days of deep self-degradation during the twelve years of the Third Reich. But; here too he has no illusion: Hitler's Reich will be seen as a historical accident.These extremely painful texts illustrate the collapse of the concept of human dignity; of man's spiritual strength and positive rationality and; ultimately; of man's civilization.Essential reading for all those interested in human nature.9 of 9 people found the following review helpful. One to return toBy JBEver since writing a term paper on Amery's "At the Mind's Limits"; I have continuously come back to this work. There is a lifetime's worth of contemplation to survey here; not that this is an autobiography or even a complete memoir; but the years of his life on which he writes and the experiences dissected provoke a lifetime's worth of questions; mostly unanswered.I think of this work as a distinct and great existential accomplishment. It provokes the reader to empathize while simultaneously making him question or even feel guilty for such empathy. How can an intellect; in the modern west at least; empathize with one who has experienced dehumanization to such an unimaginable degree? The short answer is that to try to do so is impossible and even probably detestable; morally speaking.But isn't the motivation of Amery's expression the prevention of such dehumanization in future? And isn't such prevention dependent on empathetic attempts at least (among other things)?These are unanswerable contradictions for the reader. But the introspective applications make this a necessary book to read over and over again.7 of 7 people found the following review helpful. Jean Amery; the thinker; makes one thinkBy Vic SOf all the Holocaust books; this book stands above the rest; with the content focused not on the gory details of Nazi atrocities (which are by themselves worth reading if you want to validate the experiences of those who suffered); but rather on the psychological implications of being a victim. Only books by Primo Levi contain this degree of depth of thought and introspection.
