Charles D. Thompson Jr.'s Books

Indigenous Diasporas and Dislocations

By: Charles D. Thompson Jr.

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Indigenous Diasporas and Dislocations

By: Charles D. Thompson Jr.

Indigenous religions are now present not only in their places of origin but globally. They are significant parts of the pluralism and diversity of the contemporary world, especially when their performance enriches and/or challenges host populations. Indigenous Diasporas and Dislocations engages with examples of communities with different experiences, expectations and evaluations of diaspora life. It contributes significantly to debates about indigenous cultures and religions, and to understandings of identity and alterity in late or post-modernity. This book promises to enrich understanding of indigenity, and of the globalized world in which indigenous people play diverse roles.

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Page Count

338

Publisher

Routledge

Published Date

ISBN 10

1351928007

ISBN 13

9781351928007

The Old German Baptist Brethren

Faith, Farming, and Change in the Virginia Blue Ridge

By: Charles D. Thompson Jr.

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The Old German Baptist Brethren

Faith, Farming, and Change in the Virginia Blue Ridge

By: Charles D. Thompson Jr.

Since arriving nearly 250 years ago in Franklin County, Virginia, German Baptists have maintained their faith and farms by relying on their tightly knit community for spiritual and economic support. Today, with their land and livelihoods threatened by the encroachment of neighboring communities, the construction of a new highway, and competition from corporate megafarms, the German Baptists find themselves forced to adjust. Charles D. Thompson Jr.'s The Old German Baptist Brethren combines oral history with ethnography and archival research--as well as his own family ties to the Franklin County community--to tell the story of the Brethren's faith on the cusp of impending change. The book traces the transformation of their operations from frontier subsistence farms to cash-based enterprises, connecting this with the wider confluence of agriculture and faith in colonial America. Using extensive interviews, Thompson looks behind the scenes at how individuals interpret their own futures in farming, their hope for their faith, and how the failure of religiously motivated agriculture figures in the larger story of the American farmer.

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Page Count

262

Publisher

University of Illinois Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0252092651

ISBN 13

9780252092657

Spirits of Just Men

Mountaineers, Liquor Bosses, and Lawmen in the Moonshine Capital of the World

By: Charles D. Thompson Jr.

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Spirits of Just Men

Mountaineers, Liquor Bosses, and Lawmen in the Moonshine Capital of the World

By: Charles D. Thompson Jr.

Spirits of Just Men tells the story of moonshine in 1930s America, as seen through the remarkable location of Franklin County, Virginia, a place that many still refer to as the "moonshine capital of the world." Charles D. Thompson Jr. chronicles the Great Moonshine Conspiracy Trial of 1935, which made national news and exposed the far-reaching and pervasive tendrils of Appalachia's local moonshine economy. Thompson, whose ancestors were involved in the area's moonshine trade and trial as well as local law enforcement, uses the event as a stepping-off point to explore Blue Ridge Mountain culture, economy, and political engagement in the 1930s. Drawing from extensive oral histories and local archival material, he illustrates how the moonshine trade was a rational and savvy choice for struggling farmers and community members during the Great Depression. Local characters come alive through this richly colorful narrative, including the stories of Miss Ora Harrison, a key witness for the defense and an Episcopalian missionary to the region, and Elder Goode Hash, an itinerant Primitive Baptist preacher and juror in a related murder trial. Considering the complex interactions of religion, economics, local history, Appalachian culture, and immigration, Thompson's sensitive analysis examines the people and processes involved in turning a basic agricultural commodity into such a sought-after and essentially American spirit.

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Page Count

307

Publisher

University of Illinois Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

025209526X

ISBN 13

9780252095269

Maya Identities and the Violence of Place

Borders Bleed

By: Charles D. Thompson,Jr

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Maya Identities and the Violence of Place

Borders Bleed

By: Charles D. Thompson,Jr

This title was first published in 2001. Exploring issues of diversity and cross-cultural interaction and understanding, Maya Identities and the Violence of Place offers new perspectives on borderlands and identities, providing an important case study of people from Latin America on the move. Examining issues of indigeneity, diaspora, flights from physical violence and economic repression, and efforts to remain indigenous among a proud but beleaguered people, this book is replete with stories of movement and change that operate as means to maintain identity. Thompson examines how the Jacalteco Maya of Latin America form their identities as indigenous people, despite a long tradition of movement across the rigid constraints of borders of geography, history, race and ethnicity. Religion, language, fiestas, and stories of leaving and return, all serve to bond people to their particularity. Examining the indigenous identity formations and religious convictions among the Maya in places where brutality has dominated the landscape and where violence is commonplace, this book avoids dwelling on centers of culture and explains instead how Maya concepts of identity arise from travel, contact with others, and change. Thompson reveals the ironies of classifying as natives', aboriginal or indigenous the many individuals and families who have become refugees, and explores how Maya have transcended the erroneous image of Guatemalan Indians ensconced within borders of particular land, and how they have overstepped popular portrayals of native peoples clinging tenaciously to their sacred soil as their sole means of surviving culturally and spiritually. Showing bleeding borders to be more than a recent occurrence, Thompson argues that there has never been a time when Maya did not have to travel in order to remain who they are. Exploring ideas of human to land connections and how religion among the indigenous makes change and movement possible, this book offers invaluable insight

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Page Count

290

Publisher

Routledge

Published Date

ISBN 10

1351740113

ISBN 13

9781351740111

Border Odyssey

Travels along the U.S./Mexico Divide

By: Charles D. Thompson, Jr.

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Border Odyssey

Travels along the U.S./Mexico Divide

By: Charles D. Thompson, Jr.

This compelling chronicle of a journey along the entire U.S.-Mexico border shifts the conversation away from danger and fear to the shared histories and aspirations that bind Mexicans and Americans despite the border walls.

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Page Count

329

Publisher

University of Texas Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1477314008

ISBN 13

9781477314005

From the Ground Up

Improving Government Performance with Independent Monitoring Organizations

By: Stephen Kosack,Courtney Tolmie,Charles C. Griffin

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From the Ground Up

Improving Government Performance with Independent Monitoring Organizations

By: Stephen Kosack,Courtney Tolmie,Charles C. Griffin

A Brookings Institution Press and Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation publication This book is based on a simple concept: no one is in a better position to hold a government accountable than those it governs. When governments fail to meet the needs of their citizens, the international community often turns to large external organizations such as the International Monetary Fund or the World Bank. These analysts and monitors may have the resources and expertise to analyze and advise on public spending and governance, but where do they go when the time comes to implement new policies? And can they really have a more nuanced understanding of the country's problems than its own citizens? Who is there to watch day and night to hold the government accountable? From the Ground Up proposes that the international community's efforts to improve public expenditure and budget execution decisions would be more effective if done in collaboration with local independent monitoring organizations. Stephen Kosack, Courtney Tolmie, and Charles Griffin track the work of sixteen independent monitoring organizations from across the developing world, demonstrating how these relatively small groups of local researchers produce both thoughtful analysis and workable solutions. They achieve these results because their vantage point allows them to more effectively discern problems with governance and to communicate with their fellow citizens about the ideals and methods of good governance. The authors also outline some disadvantages facing independent monitoring organizations, such as insufficient resources, inadequate access to data, and too little influence with high government officials. Collaboration with larger international organizations could help independent monitoring organizations overcome such obstacles, increasing their chances of improving governance—from the ground up.

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135

Publisher

Brookings Institution Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0815704364

ISBN 13

9780815704362

Lives in the Balance

Improving Accountability for Public Spending in Developing Countries

By: Charles C. Griffin,David Ferranti,Courtney Tolmie

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Lives in the Balance

Improving Accountability for Public Spending in Developing Countries

By: Charles C. Griffin,David Ferranti,Courtney Tolmie

Because of its potential impact, and, in some cases, the harm it has brought, foreign aid is under the microscope. Donor countries, who don't want simply to give money away; recipient nations, who need to make the most of what they have and get; and analysts, policymakers, and writers are all scrutinizing how much is spent and where it goes. Perhaps more important, aid is only a small part of what developing country governments spend. Their own resources finance 80 percent or more of health and education spending except in the most aid-dependent countries. Lives in the Balance investigates a vital aspect of this landscape—how best to ensure that public spending, including aid money, gets to the right destination. The development of democratic institutions and the spread of cheap communications technology in developing countries make it possible for the "demand-side"—citizens and civil society institutions—to advocate for improved transparency, stronger accountability, better priorities, reduced corruption, and more emphasis on helping the poor. Securing real reform will depend not only on knowledge of how the recipient government operates, but also how to work with partner entities—the media, the private sector, other organizations, and legislators—to raise awareness and compel change.

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Page Count

199

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield

Published Date

ISBN 10

0815701772

ISBN 13

9780815701774

Going Over Home

A Search for Rural Justice in an Unsettled Land

By: Charles Thompson, Jr.

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Going Over Home

A Search for Rural Justice in an Unsettled Land

By: Charles Thompson, Jr.

For readers of Sarah Smarsh's Heartland and J.D. Vance's Hillbilly Elegy, an intimate portrait of the joys and hardships of rural life, as one man searches for community, equality, and tradition in Appalachia.

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242

Publisher

Chelsea Green Publishing

Published Date

ISBN 10

1603589120

ISBN 13

9781603589123

Going Over Home

A Search for Rural Justice in an Unsettled Land

By: Charles Thompson, Jr.

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Going Over Home

A Search for Rural Justice in an Unsettled Land

By: Charles Thompson, Jr.

Booklist Editors’ Choice “Best Books of 2019” An intimate portrait of the joys and hardships of rural life, as one man searches for community, equality, and tradition in Appalachia Charles D. Thompson, Jr. was born in southwestern Virginia into an extended family of small farmers. Yet as he came of age he witnessed the demise of every farm in his family. Over the course of his own life of farming, rural education, organizing, and activism, the stories of his home place have been his constant inspiration, helping him identify with the losses of others and to fight against injustices. In Going Over Home, Thompson shares revelations and reflections, from cattle auctions with his grandfather to community gardens in the coal camps of eastern Kentucky, racial disparities of white and Black landownership in the South to recent work with migrant farm workers from Latin America. In this heartfelt first-person narrative, Thompson unpacks our country’s agricultural myths and addresses the history of racism and wealth inequality and how they have come to bear on our nation’s rural places and their people.

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242

Publisher

Chelsea Green Publishing

Published Date

ISBN 10

1603589139

ISBN 13

9781603589130

Book's by Charles D. Thompson Jr.

Indigenous Diasporas and Dislocations

Indigenous Diasporas and Dislocations

The Old German Baptist Brethren

The Old German Baptist Brethren

Spirits of Just Men

Spirits of Just Men

Maya Identities and the Violence of Place

Maya Identities and the Violence of Place

Border Odyssey

Border Odyssey

From the Ground Up

From the Ground Up

Lives in the Balance

Lives in the Balance

Going Over Home

Going Over Home

Going Over Home

Going Over Home

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