calling in the soul: gender and the cycle of life in a hmong villagfe
341987
I like reading the book.  This book contain all basic information about the Hmong culture. I highly recommended all Hmong and nonHmong who are interesting about Hmong culture to read this book. The author Patricia Symonds have come to understand and experience the Hmong Culture well.
4911668
In Our Elders Lived It, anthropologist Deborah Jackson gives a vivid account of the complex issues experienced by a contemporary urban American Indian community.  Historical depth adds an important dimension to the analysis, and a semiotic notion of the self allows for a more nuanced approach to ethnic identity than is usually offered.  I highly recommend this book!!
313544
Mary takes the reader with her through the forty days that she spent in the monastery witn the monks, nuns and Thay. The book is full of trees, vegetables, cookies, meals, cats, rifles... I could see how the dharma teachings are being applied to the interaction with nice people and with not so nice people. The book is full of the teachings of Thich Nhat Han and other traditions like the Tao Te King or the Tibetan Book of the Death. I enjoyed the book and want to go to a retreat to Plum Village or to Deer Park.
2600615
Ameno, fcil de leer, muy descriptivo de la vida de los colonizadores ingleses de Nueva Zelanda, as como de la vida, religin e integracin de los mayoras
4627099
from publisher:

Addresses the interplay of diverse spiritual, religious, and cultural traditions across the Caribbean.

Dealing with the ongoing interaction of rich and diverse cultural traditions from Cuba and Jamaica to Guyana and Surinam, Nation Dance addresses some of the major contemporary issues in the study of Caribbean religion and identity. The book's three sections move from a focus on spirituality and healing, to theology in social and political context, and on to questions of identity and diaspora.

The book begins with the voices of female practitioners and then offers a broad, interdisciplinary examination of Caribbean religion and culture. Afro-Caribbean religions, Hinduism, Judaism, Islam, and Christianity are all addressed, with specific reflections on Santera, Palo Monte, Vodou, Winti, Obeah, Kali Mai, Orisha work, Spiritual Baptist faith, Spiritualism, Rastafari, Confucianism, Congregationalism, Pentecostalism, Catholicism, and liberation theology. Some essays are based on fieldwork, archival research, and textual or linguistic analysis, while others are concerned with methodological or theoretical issues. Contributors include practitioners and scholars, some very established in the field, others with fresh, new approaches; all of them come from the region or have done extensive fieldwork or research there. In these essays the poetic vitality of the practitioner's voice meets the attentive commitment of the postcolonial scholar in a dance of "nations" across the waters.
4625010
Anne Fadiman's "The Spirit Catches You..." expertly details the story of the Hmong people in the United States.  Through the  lives of one family we learn the history of the Hmong,  about Laos and Vietnam, and we experience a different worldview.  We also learn about the limits of our medical and social service institutions.
4580155
Vertically Coastal is the distilled evidence of the experience of a woman and a poet who seeks and finds her locus of identity in two distinct places, one in the southeastern city of Charleston, South Carolina, and the other in the northern seaboard state of Massachusetts. While the title literally refers to her longitudinal passages up and down the coast, it points metaphorically to a journey through life, observing and experiencing it through the lens of two disparate social, political, cultural, topographical, and climactic locations. This collection of poems is also about the viewing of these places through the lens of being a poet and a woman, a modern-day Southerner, and in some poems, a Jew.

When I think of the words "vertically coastal," I envision someone standing on a beach--a vertical element in a horizontal setting--yearning upward from the ground and shifting sands and tidal surf towards an elevated perspective from which to better see and more clearly comprehend. This position of being and perceiving permeates Jerri Chaplin's poetry. Sensitive, observant of physical, emotional, and spiritual states, and clear-sighted, her words alternately sing, shout, and whisper with joy, frustration, love, and other deeply human responses to the world in which we live.

With a lengthy and informative introduction by editor Dan Valenti, who offers guidance in the reading and understanding of poetry, the book is a beautiful volume that cannot help but enlighten every reader on his or her path through life's ups, downs, and sideways maneuvers.
888553
The author, a sociolinguist, maintains that the importance of having successful conversations in all areas of our lives requires that we be aware of fundamental differences in the way in which men and women converse and relate. She admits that there is a certain amount of stereotyping in her arguments because numerous individuals, whether it be due to factors of class, ethnicity, intellect, age, economic standing, social position, psychological health, etc, do not conform to her gender-specific conversational models.

There is little doubt that communication styles are culturally learned, first within families and then from peer groups. She notes that children invariably play in same-sex groups and at a very early age begin to exhibit distinctly different communication styles along gender lines, which are reinforced and refined through adulthood.

The author's model for female conversation focuses on their desire to connect to other women in a mutually supportive manner essentially as equals, sharing intimate concerns, secrets, gossip, and the like. On the other hand, men eschew such closeness and seek to maintain their independence and status in a hierarchical world. Friendships for men are largely based on shared activities and oftentimes playful aggressiveness. For women, seeking help is a request for understanding and support, whereas for men, requesting or seeking help is played out on a scale of dominance and competence. To help is to give advice and enhance superiority, while the requestor's status falls. Women can see long-winded advice as non-supportive, while men typically don't see as helping lengthy discussions of feelings about troubles.

The author explores the issue of who talks more, women or men. Location is key. Women greatly prefer small, private settings where rapport can be established. It's hardly surprising that women are frequently the primary conversationalists in families, the ultimate private setting. However, men endeavor to enhance status outside the home, in public settings including the workplace, where impersonal information is the currency used. For women, the lack of intimacy in the public realm inhibits their preferred conversational mode. Conversely, men view the home as a place where status does not need to be constantly established and is a haven from unnecessary talking.

It is interesting that either men or women are often not viewed favorably when they dare to adopt the conversational style of the opposite gender. The female boss is probably the outstanding example. Men resent an aggressive female, when they are not in a position of being able to compete for dominance. On the other hand, many men dislike consensus-building approaches that require a lot of talk, especially of a personal nature.

Any model of complex human behavior will fall short, as the use of language most assuredly is. However, there usually is some truth in stereotypes and that is case with the author's gender-based conversational models. Undoubtedly men and women that rigidly conform to these models would have trouble communicating, as the book repeatedly captures. However, most people are more flexible; they subtly negotiate and adapt their interactions beyond these stereotypical models. The book is interesting and could be a wakeup call for those who are misreading their partners.
354284
The second edition of Tsultrim Allione's Women of Wisdom features, at the request of her many readers, a much expanded spiritual autobiography, enriched by photographs not included in the first edition.  This and the Introduction comprise over a third of the book, and are in a sense a resonating complement and counterpart to the biographies of female Tibetan teachers and adepts which Tsultrim Allione sought out and translated.  In keeping with the Buddha's dictim that we should endorse only those things we have actually experienced as true, Allione's life has been a journey to spiritual truth underwritten and ratified by her faithfulness to her own experience-- her need to bear and rear children, to embrace but also to leave marriages, to stay true to the essence of the Tibetan teachers and teachings she sought out from her teens-- and from all of that, to create Tara Mandala, a retreat center whose wellsprings include North
American First Peoples' teachings, families, feminine spiritualities, healing of earth and of bodies, and deep dedication to preserving and transmitting several Tibetan lineages.
  One of the threads woven into the tapestry of Allione's life is her pursuit of the life and teachings of Machig Lapdron, the 12th century teacher who first formalized the Chod ceremony for feeding rather than murdering demons.  Allione's forthcoming book, Feeding Your Demons, as well as her oral teachings in the already available CD series, Cutting Through Fear, develop the ways in which this approach to personal and collective darkness contrasts with the more dualistic western myth of the hero who slays the dragon. But Allione has discovered another body of Machig's work: extensive, subtle and practical teachings on the Prajnaparamita Sutra and on the nature of mind, and in the years to come we are sure to see more teaching on this topic from this gifted scholar-practitioner.
  In 2007, Allione was recognized in Tibet as an emanation of Machig Lapdron.  So, Women of Wisdom contains a book within a book of books, and tracings of a particular life within a much larger lifestream-- teachings brought forward for our times that encourage us to not be afraid! to dive directly into those things we fear most!  and to join with each other in the quest to discover our own truths, and express them by art and ritual and service and fully experiencing the life of the body.  This is a book to take to bed with you, to let seep into your dreams.  Read it, and take heart.
3275384
In this updated version, Meszaros lucidly rescues Sartre's existentialist anthropology from the philosophical hermeneutic watershed of anachronistic individualism, of which many have accused of being confined. The author critically examines evidence for a complementarity between Sartre's phenomonological ontology with Marxist historical-materialism, while paying particular attention to how Sartre's work is largely contributive to the Marxist-Humanist attention to forms of social consciousness. What is stressed is that although Sartre rejects the 'dialectics of nature', this is not a total rejection of the dialectical method, since Sartre's attention to issues of morality are squarely placed in a historically-specific social context, specifically with respect to the parameters and social practices of capitalism, whereby, in similar fashion to Marx's concern with the dialectical contradictions between authentic human development and alienation, 'nothingness', or 'free will', is limited by the extent to which the actually existing physical world forces mankind to be subservient to constrained subjectivities, of which meaningful sense of self and dignity are lost in translation.
4400685
I had the privilege of reading a pre-publication manuscript of this book.  I cannot recommend it highly enough.  Kao Kalia Yang tells the story of her family--which in Hmong culture extends far beyond one's parents and siblings.  From the jungles of Laos, where her family lived before she was born, across the treacherous Mekong River, into Thailand's Ban Vinai refugee camp, and ultimately here to the United States, Yang tells us of the alliance her Hmong people made with the US, the dangers they experienced as a result of America's withdrawal from Southeast Asia, their harrowing flight from the only country they had ever known, and the indignities suffered and hopes and dreams shared while living an uncertain life in a refugee camp.  At the center of this unforgettable tale is Yang's grandmother, who struggles to keep her family together in the camp, but must ultimately surrender to the inevitability of their parting.  Through Yang and her family we are connected to the challenges, pains, joys, and triumphs of the refugee/immigrant experience and the love and dedication of a family unlike any we have met before, yet as familiar and comfortable as any we are likely to know.  We are drawn into Yang's seductive prose, the poignancy of her family's and her own circumstances, and the hope that their suffering, including that of her grandmother, who ultimately comes to America, will somehow be redeemed in this new country that in many ways necessitated their flight from Laos.  This irresistable and moving debut--and its author--deserve a wide and appreciative audience.
396650
Longitudinal studies have long been the bedrock of the human development research world.  In her new book, Barbara Rogoff has developed a creative and interesting variation of this approach in which the key players are the researcher and her subject and the time frame is 35 years. In very clear language, easily accessible to non-social scientists, Dr. Rogoff describes the interesting and important role played by a Mayan sacred midwife in her Guatemalan community, as well as the cultural changes that occur in this community over the course of decades. The influence of culture - in some instances centuries old - on human development is fascinating, as is the equally powerful transformation of cultural practice as the community increases its collective engagement with the modern world. A most enjoyable narrative illustrated with numerous photographs.

Michael F, EdD
1530746
In the books choice title, Bickerton describes himself as a trailblazing linguist who finds clues to common humanity in the worlds lowliest languages. The title does a fine job at demonstrating the authors motive. First, Bickerton differentiates himself as a trailblazing linguist as opposed to a desk-dwelling academic one. He offers numerous examples of this distinction as he delights the reader with stories of adventure and rebellion. If theres a shortcut and a dangerous field experiment, the reader is soon following Bickerton as he pursues it.  Second, the common humanity in the title hints toward the journey of developing his linguistic theory, the language bioprogram hypothesis.  The first half of the book lays the groundwork for his eventual revelation for Creole acquisition.  In short, he proposes that Creole languages are created by the children of native Pidgin speakers during the natural language acquisition process. He argues that all Creoles have syntactic similarities and this provides evidence to Noam Chomskys innate claim that humans are born with a Language Acquisition Device.  We observe Bickerton make several attempts to prove this theory by enlisting the same academic institutions he mocks throughout the book.  Lastly, Bickerton uses the term, lowliest languages to ironically refer to the languages of innocent citizens belonging to various underdeveloped communities; he  satirically overgeneralizes the people whove endured prejudice born of colonialism and slavery for the purpose of highlighting its wrongful lowly stature. Bickerton shows great admiration for Pidgin and Creole speakers and exhibits a sincere fascination for their innate ability to invent new forms of communicating.
4659823
Collecting a series of essays on gender and nationalism as presented in the golden age of Korean melodrama, this book offers unique insights into this formative period of South Korean film.  The contributors are experts in their subjects.  Though at times critical, they are never belittling.  The tone overall is one of respect and love for the genre, despite its flaws.  The authors offer useful observations about the nature of gender as presented in these early works.  South Korean melodramas during the 1950s and 1960s were targeted at a predominately middle-aged, married female audience, as noted in an essay by film scholar Soyoung Kim: 'The melodramatic genre was considered an outlet for women to release their han (pent-up grief) over their experiences relating to repressive neo-Confucian patriarchy.' (p. 190)  Kim's essay focuses on the intense emotive quality of Kim Ki-young's The Housemaid, which was designed specifically to appeal to these viewers.  It is interesting to note that these same themes continue to appeal to modern audiences--Im Sang-soo's remake of The Housemaid was well-received at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival.  The insights offered in this book remain relevant.

D. Bannon is a professional translator.  He has subtitled many popular Korean dramas, most recently Dong Yi,&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/The-Great-Queen-Seondeok-Vol-1/dp/B002PFER0C/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">The Great Queen Seondeok Vol. 1</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Time-Between-Dog-and-Wolf/dp/B001PL5T0O/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Time Between Dog and Wolf</a>.  He discusses subtitle translation in&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/The-Elements-of-Subtitles-Revised-and-Expanded-Edition-A-Practical-Guide-to-the-Art-of-Dialogue-Character-Context-Tone-and-Style-in-Subtitling/dp/0557355591/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">The Elements of Subtitles, Revised and Expanded Edition: A Practical Guide to the Art of Dialogue, Character, Context, Tone and Style in Subtitling</a>
4390143
I bought this to read with my son, who had this as assigned summer reading. It is an engaging story about Hmong history from Southeast Asia to the US. The central character is a Hmong girl with a severe seizure disorder (the title is a literal translation of the Hmong name for a seizure disorder). As the story develops, the importance of cross-cultural understanding in health care, social work and law enforcement becomes very clear.
4745672
Based on both personal experience and empirical data, this book is a very insightful critique of persisting sexism in the United States of America. Would that a book like this could be written for every country in the world, with the observable symptoms of sexist propensities described in terms of various local cultures; because patriarchy is a pervasive cultural pathology with a common root cause, which is the human propensity for domination by those who are stronger and submission by those who are weaker. This pathology is most universally manifested as male domination and female subordination but extends to all dimensions of human/human and human/nature relations.

Jensen gets off to a good start by recognizing, in the preface, that we are sexual body-persons. Indeed, we are more than sex objects, but sex (and, inseparably, gender) is constitutive of the personal subject at a level that goes much deeper than other bodily traits such as skin pigment and eye color. But the fact that we are bodies constitutes us as rational animals (Homo sapiens) as much as having a personal conscience and (for those who are religious) having a soul; we are spirited bodies. This fundamental anthropology is followed by an introduction on cultural conditioning that leads directly to the core issues of social/ecological justice and how they are rooted in patriarchy.

The influence of religious traditions is mentioned a few times, but is not the main focus of the book. Surely, an analysis of how secular patriarchy and religious patriarchy reinforce each other would take another book, but it is hard to envision the end of secular patriarchy without the end of religious patriarchy. A recent book by Adrian Thatcher, Redeeming Gender, deals with the religious side of the coin. It analyses both ancient ("women are defective males") and modern ("complementarianism") gender ideologies that contaminate ancient sacred texts, and continue to contaminate contemporary religious doctrines, with the patriarchal mindset, leading to every conceivable rationalization for excluding women from roles of religious authority. Complementarianism is a modern term, but is rooted in the caves of prehistory.

The book announces the end of patriarchy and offers radical feminism as a better option, for men as well as for women. Indeed, the patriarchal era is passing away, but the resilience of the domination/subordination paradigm should not be underestimated, as the rarity of feminine presence in institutions of governance worldwide confirms. When it comes to choosing between brute force and solidarity, patriarchy still seems to be an attractive proposition when it promises "bread and circus," for many women as well as for many men. Radical feminism, for both men and women, must be inculcated deep down in the structure of the personal subject, where conscience abides. This is absolutely critical for fostering integral human development and an integral ecology.
1259639
Anne Fadiman does an excellent job of bringing to life the history, culture and belief systems of the Hmong.  I live in Merced and know many of the people who comprise the human component of the narrative.  Ms. Fadamin's writing flows more like a novel than the tremendous ethnography piece that it is. Her descriptive powers and ability to write good prose give us a novel that roars along like a dime store thriller.  It is a book of tremendous substance and educational value.  The book's high points are the revelations about the Hmong culture.  Western medicine is the vehicle or counterpoint that Ms. Fadiman uses to weave her tale.  We all know Western medicine, and this isn't the important part of the story.  People make the difference.  This is an intensely personal book.  It gives you a looking glass  into the soul of the Hmong family and community members, the medical prationers, and the author herself.  The latter is by no means a criticsm, because the author's deep sense of comittment to the subject and the people in the book is one of its finest features.  This is also a book that reflects a great deal of hard work.  Anne Fadiman is certainly not lazy.  She didn't take any short cuts, and because of that we have the best historical and cultural monograph ever written about the Hmong.  The fact that it is a "page turner" and flows like a river is an added benefit.