What are the limits of cultural critique? What are the horizons? What are the political implications? John Pemberton explores these questions in this far-reaching ethnographic and historical interpretation of cultural discourse in Indonesia since 1965. Pemberton considers in particular how the appearance of order under Soeharto's repressive New Order regime is an effect of an enigmatic politics founded upon routine appeals to cultural values. Through a richly textured ethnographic account of events ranging from national elections to weddings, Pemberton simultaneously elucidates and disturbs the contours of the New Order cultural imaginary. He pursues the fugitive signs of circumstances that might resist the powers of New Order rule through unexpected village practices, among graveyard spirits, and within ascetic refuges. Key to this study is a reexamination of the historical conditions under which a discourse of culture emerges. Providing a close reading of a number of Central Javanese manuscripts from the late eighteenth century on, Pemberton outlines the conditions of knowledge formation in Indonesia since the beginning of Dutch colonial control. As he overturns common assumptions concerning colonial encounters, he discloses the gradual emergence in these texts of a discursive figure inscribed in contrast to the increasingly invasive presence of the Dutch: a figuration of difference that came to be called "Java.
Many ancient legends in circulation, either through verbal story-telling, ancient script or paintings, have assisted the human race in understanding the complex world we live in, even if they have been embellished over the years. They have helped us form societies and have given people reason to live, they are the blocks that when linked together can help us find the answers we as a human race have been searching for. Myths and Legends gathers together the principal mythologies, legends and folklore of ancient and modern cultures and explores the relationship that they have with their people and with the major religions of the world. Contents : Creation; male and female relationships; natural disaster; survival; death and the afterlife. Principal myths and legends of the world: Greek, Roman, Celtic; pagan; Arthurian; Greenman, Norse, Voodoo; Caribbean folk heroes; giants, dragons and unicorns; Maori gods rangi and papa (sky and earth); dream-time of the indigenous Australians; Bon of Tibet; Chinese mythology; Native American tribal stories; mythology and religion: Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Sikhism, Taoism.
In the sixteenth century the King of Spain issued his soldiers with a three-pronged mission: to find gold, spread the word of Christianity and claim new territories for Spain. The Conquistadors, as they became known, set off into the world to do just that, and nothing was to stand in their way. Some say that the discovery of the New World is the greatest event in history. Others, that it amounted to the bloodiest massacre of all time. Conquistadors follows the Spanish explorers as they unleash their terrifying religious wrath upon the Inca and Aztec empires and explains how the conquest of the New World transformed the Old World forever. Contents The World of the Conquistadors The People of the New World, Warfare: Steel versus Stone,The Conquests of Hernán Cortés, Francisco Pizarro's Expeditions to Peru, Pizarro and the Incas, El Dorado: The Golden Man, The Real Life Don Quixote, Going Native, The Unconquerable Maya, New World Meets Old
Born in Manchester in 1930, John Pemberton wrote his first poem before undertaking a grammar-school education that included inspirational teaching in poetry. He pursued literary and linguistic studies at Manchester University which led to a career in librarianship, a Masters Degree from Warwick University, and an Honorary Doctorate. Alongside much published work relating to his profession has run the continuous thread of poetry on which subject he published 'How to be a Poet' in 2007, and his writing now culminates in this substantial collection of truly original epigrams.
Twenty-eight African cultures are represented here by artifacts created to communicate with ancestors, spirits, and gods, about such issues as health, conception, and determination of guilt or innocence. Issued in conjunction with an April-July 2000 exhibit at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY, this catalog contains extensive ethnographic, descriptive, and interpretive text in connection with each of 50 pictured pieces, as well as a 13-page essay about divination in Sub-Saharan Africa (by John Pemberton III) and an introductory essay by LaGamma. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
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