Few historians and fewer lay people know that the first feudal constitution to recognize equality between the burghers and nobles was established in 1150 in Catalunya, sixty-five years before the signing of the Magna Carta in England. In the fifteenth century the Corts of Barcelona (a legislative body) established the principle of a "limited" monarchy obliged to govern according to laws, while guarding a degree of royal power. These facts lie at the foundation of a culture of nonviolent resistance to assimilation that has been used to combat state power in France and Spain ever since.
The development of the child's ability to draw is an inherently fascinating and complex subject. Many theories have been proposed to explain this development, but until now o on has undertaken a cross-cultural, controlled study of children in the act of drawing. "Playing with Form" is the first empirical study of children drawing in diverse cultures. Alexander Alland, Jr. spent eight months observing and filming children six cultures - Japan, Bali, Taiwan, Ponape, France, and the U.S. - as they drew. Attempting to determine the accuracy of current generalizations about the development of drawing skills as well as to understand the step-by step process of drawing, Alland amassed 240 drawings (100 of which are reproduced here) by children ranging from two to eight years old. The author uses this wealth of primary material to dispute much current thinking about children's drawing, particular theories about specific universal stages of development. While he does suggest some general rules which underlie the process of drawing, Alland argues that cultural differences reflect rules which are specific to the culture in which children' "play with form". An invaluable first step toward understanding the exact role culture plays in the development of style in children's drawing, "Playing with Form" will be of fundamental interest to anthropologists, developmental psychologists, art historians, and elementary school teachers. -- back cover
In Race in Mind, Alexander Alland challenges the idea that intelligence is related to race, offering critiques of the biological determinism of Carlton Coon, Arthur Jensen, Cyril Burt, Robert Ardrey, Konrad Lorenz, William Shockley, and others. Presenting evolutionary genetics in understandable and accessible language, Alland demonstrates that biologically, "race" cannot explain human variation. Written in a lively, conversational style, Alland imparts real, substantive scientific arguments and cuts through the ideological posturing and jargon that so often characterizes our discussions about race, showing us a more nuanced and scientifically valid way to understand the diversity that is the human conditio
This revised edition documents one of the longest and most successful popular protests in modern French history - the Larzac movement. Drawing on ethnographic field data from the Larzac plateau, it examines the activities of the movement since 1995.
Using ethnographic field data from the Larzac plateau in Southern France, Alexander and Sonia Alland document one of the longest and most successful popular protests in modern French history - the Larzac movement. More than a record of events, the book describes the transformation from the early 1970s of rural defiance into a symbol of left-wing action for France and the world. This revised edition examines the activities of the movement since 1995, including the demonstrations at the Seattle meeting of the World Trade Organisation, the 'great hamburger war' against McDonalds, and the broadening of the movement to embrace struggles elsewhere, such as the anti-nuclear protests in French Polynesia. Particular attention is paid to the charismatic Jose Bove, who has become the figurehead and focus of the campaign during this period. This account will be of particular interest to anthropologists and historians of contemporary France and Europe as well as students of protest and social movements, and of contemporary politics in general
Originally published in 1967. This reprints the second edition of 1973, revised and expanded. Evolution and Human Behaviour considers man's biological and cultural development within the framework of Darwinian evolution. Rejecting analogue models of biological evolution common in the social sciences, the author shows how the theory of biological evolution applies to the study of contemporary human behaviour.
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