Power And Its Disguises - Second Edition: Anthropological Perspectives on Politics, 2nd Edition (Anthropology, Culture and Society)

In This Fully Updated Edition Of Power And Its Disguises, John Gledhill Explores Both The Complexities Of Local Situations And The Power Relations That Shape The Global Order. He Shows How Historically Informed Anthropological Perspectives Can Contribute To Debates About Democratisation By Incorporating A View From Below And Revealing Forces That Shape Power Relations Behind The Formal Facade Of State Institutions. Examples Are Drawn From Brazil, Cameroon, Democratic Republic Of Congo, Guatemala, Indonesia, India, Mexico, Peru, Sierra Leone, South Africa And Sri Lanka, Amongst Others. 1. Locating The Political: A Political Anthropology For Today -- 2. The Origins And Limits Of Coercive Power: The Anthropology Of Stateless Societies -- 3. From Hierarchy To Surveillance: The Politics Of Agrarian Civilizations And The Rise Of The Western National State -- 4. The Political Anthropology Of Colonialism: A Study Of Domination And Resistance -- 5. Post-colonial States: Legacies Of History And Pressures Of Modernity -- 6. From Macro-structure To Micro-process: Anthropological Analysis Of Political Practice -- 7. Political Process And 'global Disorder': Perspectives On Contemporary Conflict And Violence -- 8. Society Against The Modern State? The Politics Of Social Movements -- 9. Anthropology And Politics: Commitment, Responsibility And The Academy. John Gledhill. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 243-258) And Index. Completely revised and expanded, this new edition of Power and Its Disguises explores both the complexities of local situations and the power relations that shape the global order. The book begins by analyzing the politics of societies without indigenous states and non-Western agrarian civilizations in order to confront the politics of domination and resistance within the colonial contexts that gave birth to the discipline.The author then examines the contemporary politics of Africa, Asia and Latin America, showing that historically informed anthropological perspectives can contribute to debates about democratization by incorporating a "view from below" and revealing forces that shape power relations behind the formal facade of state institutions.The book shows how the study of microdynamics of power in everyday life coupled with sensitivity to the interactions between the local and global offers critical insights into such issues as state terror and ethnic violence, the emancipatory potential of social movements and the politics of rights, gender and culture. 'Gledhill manages to cover a lot of ground in drawing out the thematic and theoretical focuses of political anthropology, brilliantly giving them life through a wide variety of empirical examples. ... The book will serve as a very good introduction to political anthropology for any student of power and politics.' Journal of Peace ResearchIn this fully updated edition of Power and Its Disguises, John Gledhill explores both the complexities of local situations and the power relations that shape the global order. He shows how historically informed anthropological perspectives can contribute to debates about democratisation by incorporating a 'view from below' and revealing forces that shape power relations behind the formal facade of state institutions. Examples are drawn from Brazil, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Guatemala, Indonesia, India, Mexico, Peru, Sierra Leone, South Africa and Sri Lanka, amongst others This book explores both the complexities of local situations and the power relations that shape the global order. He shows how historically informed anthropological perspectives can contribute to debates about democratisation by incorporating a 'view from below' and revealing forces that shape power relations behind the formal facade of state institutions.

Examples are drawn from Brazil, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Guatemala, Indonesia, India, Mexico, Peru, Sierra Leone, South Africa and Sri Lanka, amongst others. Half a century ago, the subject matter and relevance of political anthropology still seemed relatively easy to define.