The Making and Unmaking of Differences

Anthropological, Sociological and Philosophical Perspectives

Richard Rottenburg, Burkhard Schnepel, Shingo Shimada, Richard Rottenburg, Burkhard Schnepel, Shingo Shimada

• Publisher: transcript Verlag
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN: 9783899424263
• eBook ISBN: 9783839404263
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Social Philosophy
• Index: Social Sciences

This book is about the making and unmaking of socio-cultural differences, seen from anthropological, sociological and philosophical perspectives. Some contributions are of a theoretical nature, such as when the »problem of translation«, »the enigma of alienity« or »queer theory« are addressed; other contributors throw light on contemporary issues like the integration of Muslims in Norway, identity-forming processes in »Creole« societies or »neo-traditionalist movements« and »identity« in Africa. Moreover, the book deals with »strangers« looked at from an »anthropology of the night«. Special emphasis is placed on how globalization and the rapid spread of ever new technologies of information have generated ever new patterns of inclusion and exclusion, and how these can be theorized.

Table of contents

• Cover The Making and Unmaking of Differences
• CONTENT
• Untrivializing Difference. A Personal Introduction
• Diversity Versus Difference: Neo-liberalism in the Minority-Debate
• Social Constructivism and the Enigma of Strangeness
• Witchcraft, Evidence and the Localisation of the Roman Catholic Church in Western Uganda
• Critical Note. Is African Philosophy Different?
• Philosophy, Queer Theories, and the Overcoming of Identity
• Cultural Differences and the Problem of Translation
• Coming Back to One's Own: What Happens to Tradition in Neo-Traditionalist Movements?
• How different? Re-Examining the Process of Creolization
• Strangers in the Night: The Making and Unmaking of Differences from the Perspective of an Anthropology of the Night
• On the Authors