Beyond Boundaries

Anthropology, it is often argued, is an art of translation. Recently, however, social theorists have raised serious doubts about the translator's enterprise. Over the last few years the human social and ecological habitat has seen spectacular developments. Modern humans inhabit a 'global village' in a very genuine sense. What lessons may be learned from these developments for anthropology? In Beyond Boundaries, ten anthropologists from different countries address the problem of social understanding and cultural translation from different theoretical as well as ethnographic perspectives. Quite appropriately, given the general theme of the volume, the contributors represent several different academic traditions and communities - Britain, Finland, France, Iceland, Israel, Japan, Norway, the former Soviet Union, and Sweden.

Gisli Palsson Professor of Social Anthropology,University of Iceland

Introduction - beyond boundaries, Mediations in the global ecumene, Doves, hawks, and anthropology - the Israeli debate on Middle Eastern settlement proposals, Foreign myths and sagas in Japan - the academics and the cartoonist, The anthropologist as shaman - interpreting recent political events in Armenia, Household words - attention, agency, and the ethnography of fishing, Acting cool and being safe - the definition of skill in a Swedish railway yard, Interpreting and explaining cultural representations, Beyond the words - the power of resonance, The art of translation in a continuous world.