Simon J Bronner's Books

Crossing the Line

Violence, Play, and Drama in Naval Equator Traditions

By: Simon J. Bronner

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Crossing the Line

Violence, Play, and Drama in Naval Equator Traditions

By: Simon J. Bronner

For centuries, new sailors from European and North American countries have been subjected to an elaborate hazing at sea called “crossing the line.” Typically initiated upon a crossing of the equator, the beatings, dunkings, sexual play, and drinking displays that constitute crossing the line have in recent decades been banned by some fleets— but they have also been the subject of staunch defenses and fond reminiscences. Crossing the Line studies the purpose and the changing meaning of the ceremony, substantially revising long-held assumptions.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

Publisher

Amsterdam University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

9053569146

ISBN 13

9789053569146

Explaining Traditions

Folk Behavior in Modern Culture

By: Simon Bronner

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Explaining Traditions

Folk Behavior in Modern Culture

By: Simon Bronner

Why do humans hold onto traditions? Many pundits predicted that modernization and the rise of a mass culture would displace traditions, especially in America, but cultural practices still bear out the importance of rituals and customs in the development of identity, heritage, and community. In Explaining Traditions: Folk Behavior in Modern Culture, Simon J. Bronner discusses the underlying reasons for the continuing significance of traditions, delving into their social and psychological roles in everyday life, from old-time crafts to folk creativity on the Internet. Challenging prevailing notions of tradition as a relic of the past, Explaining Traditions provides deep insight into the nuances and purposes of living traditions in relation to modernity. Bronner’s work forces readers to examine their own traditions and imparts a better understanding of raging controversies over the sustainability of traditions in the modern world.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

546

Publisher

University Press of Kentucky

Published Date

ISBN 10

0813134072

ISBN 13

9780813134079

Campus Traditions

Folklore from the Old-Time College to the Modern Mega-University

By: Simon J. Bronner

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Campus Traditions

Folklore from the Old-Time College to the Modern Mega-University

By: Simon J. Bronner

From their beginnings, campuses emerged as hotbeds of traditions and folklore. American college students inhabit a culture with its own slang, stories, humor, beliefs, rituals, and pranks. Simon J. Bronner takes a long, engaging look at American campus life and how it is shaped by students and at the same time shapes the values of all who pass through it. The archetypes of absent-minded profs, fumbling jocks, and curve-setting dweebs are the stuff of legend and humor, along with the all-nighters, tailgating parties, and initiations that mark campus tradition—and student identities. Undergraduates in their hallowed halls embrace distinctive traditions because the experience of higher education precariously spans childhood and adulthood, parental and societal authority, home and corporation, play and work. Bronner traces historical changes in these traditions. The predominant context has shifted from what he calls the “old-time college,” small in size and strong in its sense of community, to mass society’s “mega-university,” a behemoth that extends beyond any campus to multiple branches and offshoots throughout a state, region, and sometimes the globe. One might assume that the mega-university has dissolved collegiate traditions and displaced the old-time college, but Bronner finds the opposite. Student needs for social belonging in large universities and a fear of losing personal control have given rise to distinctive forms of lore and a striving for retaining the pastoral “campus feel” of the old-time college. The folkloric material students spout, and sprout, in response to these needs is varied but it is tied together by its invocation of tradition and social purpose. Beneath the veil of play, students work through tough issues of their age and environment. They use their lore to suggest ramifications, if not resolution, of these issues for themselves and for their institutions. In the process, campus traditions are keys to the development of American culture.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

497

Publisher

Univ. Press of Mississippi

Published Date

ISBN 10

1628467789

ISBN 13

9781628467789

The Practice of Folklore

Essays toward a Theory of Tradition

By: Simon J. Bronner

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

The Practice of Folklore

Essays toward a Theory of Tradition

By: Simon J. Bronner

Winner of the 2020 Chicago Folklore Prize CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title for 2020 Despite predictions that commercial mass culture would displace customs of the past, traditions firmly abound, often characterized as folklore. In The Practice of Folklore: Essays toward a Theory of Tradition, author Simon J. Bronner works with theories of cultural practice to explain the social and psychological need for tradition in everyday life. Bronner proposes a distinctive “praxic” perspective that will answer the pressing philosophical as well as psychological question of why people enjoy repeating themselves. The significance of the keyword practice, he asserts, is the embodiment of a tension between repetition and variation in human behavior. Thinking with practice, particularly in a digital world, forces redefinitions of folklore and a reorientation toward interpreting everyday life. More than performance or enactment in social theory, practice connects localized culture with the vernacular idea that “this is the way we do things around here.” Practice refers to the way those things are analyzed as part of, rather than apart from, theory, thus inviting the study of studying. “The way we do things” invokes the social basis of “doing” in practice as cultural and instrumental. Building on previous studies of tradition in relation to creativity, Bronner presents an overview of practice theory and the ways it might be used in folklore and folklife studies. Demonstrating the application of this theory in folkloristic studies, Bronner offers four provocative case studies of psychocultural meanings that arise from traditional frames of action and address issues of our times: referring to the boogieman; connecting “wild child” beliefs to school shootings; deciphering the offensive chants of sports fans; and explicating male bravado in bawdy singing. Turning his analysis to the analysts of tradition, Bronner uses practice theory to evaluate the agenda of folklorists in shaping perceptions of tradition-centered “folk societies” such as the Amish. He further unpacks the culturally based rationale of public folklore programming. He interprets the evolving idea of folk museums in a digital world and assesses how the folklorists' terms and actions affect how people think about tradition.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

397

Publisher

Univ. Press of Mississippi

Published Date

ISBN 10

1496822641

ISBN 13

9781496822642

Popularizing Pennsylvania

Henry W. Shoemaker and the Progressive Uses of Folklore and History

By: Simon J. Bronner

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Popularizing Pennsylvania

Henry W. Shoemaker and the Progressive Uses of Folklore and History

By: Simon J. Bronner

Today his memory lives on in the legends he helped promote, such as that of the Indian princess "Nita-nee," for whom Central Pennsylvania's Nittany Mountain is supposedly named, and his instrumental role in creating Pennsylvania's noted system of parks and forests and the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

306

Publisher

Penn State Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0271042214

ISBN 13

9780271042213

Killing Tradition

Inside Hunting and Animal Rights Controversies

By: Simon Bronner

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Killing Tradition

Inside Hunting and Animal Rights Controversies

By: Simon Bronner

Across the country and around the world, people avidly engage in the cultural practice of hunting. Children are taken on rite-of-passage hunting trips, where relationships are cemented and legacies are passed on from one generation to another. Meals are prepared from hunted game, often consisting of regionally specific dishes that reflect a community’s heritage and character. Deer antlers and bear skins are hung on living room walls, decorations and relics of a hunter’s most impressive kills. Only 5 percent of Americans are hunters, but that group has a substantial presence in the cultural consciousness. Hunting has spurred controversy in recent years, inciting protest from animal rights activists and lobbying from anti-cruelty demonstrators who denounce the custom. But hunters have responded to such criticisms and the resulting legislative censures with a significant argument in their defense—the claim that their practices are inextricably connected to a cultural tradition. Further, they counter that they, as representatives of the rural lifestyle, pioneer heritage, and traditional American values, are the ones being victimized. Simon J. Bronner investigates this debate in Killing Tradition: Inside Hunting and Animal Rights Controversies. Through extensive research and fieldwork, Bronner takes on the many questions raised by this problematic subject: Does hunting promote violence toward humans as well as animals? Is it an outdated activity, unnecessary in modern times? Is the heritage of hunting worth preserving? Killing Tradition looks at three case studies that are at the heart of today’s hunting debate. Bronner first examines the allegedly barbaric rituals that take place at deer camps every late November in rural America. He then analyzes the annual Labor Day pigeon shoot of Hegins, Pennsylvania, which brings animal rights protests to a fever pitch. Noting that these aren’t simply American concerns (and that the animal rights movement in America is linked to British animal welfare protests), Bronner examines the rancor surrounding the passage of Great Britain’s Hunting Act of 2004—the most comprehensive and divisive anti-hunting legislation ever enacted. The practice of hunting is sure to remain controversial, as it continues to be touted and defended by its supporters and condemned and opposed by its detractors. With Killing Tradition, Bronner reflects on the social, psychological, and anthropological issues of the debate, reevaluating notions of violence, cruelty, abuse, and tradition as they have been constructed and contested in the twenty-first century.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

322

Publisher

University Press of Kentucky

Published Date

ISBN 10

081312641X

ISBN 13

9780813126418

Grasping Things

Folk Material Culture and Mass Society in America

By: Simon J. Bronner

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Grasping Things

Folk Material Culture and Mass Society in America

By: Simon J. Bronner

America stocks its shelves with mass-produced goods but fills its imagination with handmade folk objects. In Pennsylvania, the "back to the city" housing movement causes a conflict of cultures. In Indiana, an old tradition of butchering turtles for church picnics evokes both pride and loathing among residents. In New York, folk-art exhibits raise choruses of adoration and protest. These are a few of the examples Simon Bronner uses to illustrate the ways Americans physically and mentally grasp things. Bronner moves beyond the usual discussions of form and variety in America's folk material culture to explain historical influences on, and the social consequences of, channeling folk culture into a mass society.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

272

Publisher

University Press of Kentucky

Published Date

ISBN 10

0813148561

ISBN 13

9780813148564

The Practice of Folklore

Essays toward a Theory of Tradition

By: Simon J. Bronner

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

The Practice of Folklore

Essays toward a Theory of Tradition

By: Simon J. Bronner

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

370

Publisher

Univ. Press of Mississippi

Published Date

ISBN 10

1496822668

ISBN 13

9781496822666

Greater Harrisburg's Jewish Community

By: Simon J. Bronner

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Greater Harrisburg's Jewish Community

By: Simon J. Bronner

The Jewish community of Greater Harrisburg became established after 1825, mostly by German immigrants who took up peddling and clothing trades. They were attracted inland from East Coast cities to Harrisburg, the growing upriver hub of trade that became Pennsylvanias state capital in 1812. The community grew to 600 residents by the end of the 19th century and drew attention for a level of civic engagement well beyond that of comparably sized settlements. Immigration from eastern Europe in the early 20th century contributed to a tenfold increase of the Jewish population and a changing ethnic and commercial profile. In the years that followed, the community added an impressive range of institutions and continued to have a reputation for activism. Emerging as the hub of Jewish life in central Pennsylvania, the community produced internationally renowned figures in Jewish affairs, business, and arts.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

132

Publisher

Arcadia Publishing

Published Date

ISBN 10

1439623821

ISBN 13

9781439623824

Folklore: The Basics

By: Simon J. Bronner

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Folklore: The Basics

By: Simon J. Bronner

Folklore: The Basics is an engaging guide to the practice and interpretation of folklore. Taking examples from around the world, it explores the role of folklore in expressing fundamental human needs, desires, and anxieties that often are often not revealed through other means. Providing a clear framework for approaching the study of folklore, it introduces the reader to methodologies for identifying, documenting, interpreting and applying key information about folklore and its relevance to modern life. From the Brothers Grimm to Internet Memes, it addresses such topics as: What is folklore? How do we study it? Why does folklore matter? How does folklore relate to elite culture? Is folklore changing in a digital age? With case studies, suggestions for reading and a glossary of key terminology, Folklore: The Basics supports readers in becoming familiar with folkloric traditions and interpret cultural expression. It is an essential read for anyone approaching the study of folklore for the first time.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

278

Publisher

Routledge

Published Date

ISBN 10

1317420977

ISBN 13

9781317420972

The Oxford Handbook of American Folklore and Folklife Studies

By: Simon J. Bronner

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

The Oxford Handbook of American Folklore and Folklife Studies

By: Simon J. Bronner

The Oxford Handbook of American Folklore and Folklife Studies surveys the materials, approaches, concepts, and applications of the field to provide a sweeping guide to American folklore and folklife, culture, history, and society. Forty-three comprehensive and diverse chapters delve into significant themes and methods of folklore and folklife study; established expressions and activities; spheres and locations of folkloric action; and shared cultures and common identities. Beyond the longstanding arenas of academic focus developed throughout the 350-year legacy of folklore and folklife study, contributors at the forefront of the field also explore exciting new areas of attention that have emerged in the twenty-first century such as the Internet, bodylore, folklore of organizations and networks, sexual orientation, neurodiverse identities, and disability groups. Encompassing a wide range of cultural traditions in the United States, from bits of slang in private conversations to massive public demonstrations, ancient beliefs to contemporary viral memes, and a simple handshake greeting to group festivals, these chapters consider the meanings in oral, social, and material genres of dance, ritual, drama, play, speech, song, and story while drawing attention to tradition-centered communities such as the Amish and Hasidim, occupational groups and their workaday worlds, and children and other age groups. Weaving together such varied and manifest traditions, this handbook pays significant attention to the cultural diversity and changing national boundaries that have always been distinctive in the American experience, reflecting on the relative youth of the nation; global connections of customs brought by immigrants; mobility of residents and their relation to an indigenous, urbanized, and racialized population; and a varied landscape and settlement pattern. Edited by leading folklore scholar Simon J. Bronner, this handbook celebrates the extraordinary richness of the American social and cultural fabric, offering a valuable resource not only for scholars and students of American studies, but also for the global study of tradition, folk arts, and cultural practice.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

1033

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0190840641

ISBN 13

9780190840648

Encyclopedia of American Folklife

By: Simon J Bronner

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Encyclopedia of American Folklife

By: Simon J Bronner

American folklife is steeped in world cultures, or invented as new culture, always evolving, yet often practiced as it was created many years or even centuries ago. This fascinating encyclopedia explores the rich and varied cultural traditions of folklife in America - from barn raisings to the Internet, tattoos, and Zydeco - through expressions that include ritual, custom, crafts, architecture, food, clothing, and art. Featuring more than 350 A-Z entries, "Encyclopedia of American Folklife" is wide-ranging and inclusive. Entries cover major cities and urban centers; new and established immigrant groups as well as native Americans; American territories, such as Guam and Samoa; major issues, such as education and intellectual property; and expressions of material culture, such as homes, dress, food, and crafts. This encyclopedia covers notable folklife areas as well as general regional categories. It addresses religious groups (reflecting diversity within groups such as the Amish and the Jews), age groups (both old age and youth gangs), and contemporary folk groups (skateboarders and psychobillies) - placing all of them in the vivid tapestry of folklife in America. In addition, this resource offers useful insights on folklife concepts through entries such as "community and group" and "tradition and culture." The set also features complete indexes in each volume, as well as a bibliography for further research.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

1469

Publisher

Routledge

Published Date

ISBN 10

1317471954

ISBN 13

9781317471950

Americanness

Inquiries into the Thought and Culture of the United States

By: Simon J. Bronner

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Americanness

Inquiries into the Thought and Culture of the United States

By: Simon J. Bronner

Americanness: Inquiries into the Thought and Culture of the United States analyzes several core themes that connect Americans because of, and despite, their pronounced diversity. The book investigates shared ideas and ideals, such as individualism, mobility, materialism, and future-orientation, that drive an overarching American worldview. Simon J. Bronner begins with ideas of space and time as they formed and changed through the history of the United States, before moving to the emergence of modern American culture. He examines reasons America is characterized as having a "victory culture" that extends to the American legal, military, and business complexes. This victory culture is further analyzed by looking at the country’s relationship with the game of football—a sport that thrives in America but has not caught on in other countries. Finally, the volume probes American consumerism driven by a desire for individual prosperity in a supposedly egalitarian society. Using interdisciplinary approaches drawn from psychology, sociology, ethnology, and history, Bronner seeks explanations for people invoking, and evoking, ideas that they perceive as American. This book would be an invaluable addition to courses on American history, sociology, cultural studies, and American studies.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

209

Publisher

Routledge

Published Date

ISBN 10

0429841302

ISBN 13

9780429841309

Jewish Cultural Studies

By: Simon J. Bronner

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Jewish Cultural Studies

By: Simon J. Bronner

Defines the distinctive field of Jewish cultural studies and its basis in folkloristic, psychological, and ethnological approaches. Jewish Cultural Studiescharts the contours and boundaries of Jewish cultural studies and the issues of Jewish culture that make it so intriguing—and necessary—not only for Jews but also for students of identity, ethnicity, and diversity generally. In addition to framing the distinguishing features of Jewish culture and the ways it has been studied, and often misrepresented and maligned, Simon J. Bronner presents several case studies using ethnography, folkloristic interpretation, and rhetorical analysis. Bronner, building on many years of global cultural exploration, locates patterns, processes, frames, and themes of events and actions identified as Jewish to discern what makes them appear Jewish and why. Jewish Cultural Studiesis divided into three parts. Part 1 deals with the conceptualization of how Jews in complex, heterogenous societies identify themselves as a cultural group to non-Jews and vice versa—such as how the Jewish home is socially and materially constructed. Part 2 delves into ritualization as a strategic Jewish practice for perpetuating peoplehood and the values that it suggests—for example, the rising popularity of naming ceremonies for newborn girls, simhat bat or zeved habat, in the twenty-first century. Part 3 explores narration, including the global transformation of Jewish joking in online settings and the role of Jews in American political culture. Bronner reflects that a reason to separate Jewish cultural studies from the fields of Jewish studies and cultural studies is the distinctiveness of Jewish culture among other ethnic experiences. As a diasporic group with religious ties and varying local customs, Jews present difficulties of categorization. He encourages a multiperspectival approach that considers the Jewish double consciousness as being aware of both insider and outsider perspectives, participation in ancient tradition and recent modernization, and the great variety and stigmatization of Jewish experience and cultural expression. Students and scholars in Jewish studies, cultural studies, ethnic-religious studies, folklore, sociology, psychology, and ethnology are the intended audience for this book.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

480

Publisher

Wayne State University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0814338763

ISBN 13

9780814338766

Americanness

Inquiries into the Thought and Culture of the United States

By: Simon J. Bronner

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Americanness

Inquiries into the Thought and Culture of the United States

By: Simon J. Bronner

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

209

Publisher

Routledge

Published Date

ISBN 10

0429841302

ISBN 13

9780429841309

Explaining Traditions

Folk Behavior in Modern Culture

By: Simon Bronner

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Explaining Traditions

Folk Behavior in Modern Culture

By: Simon Bronner

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

546

Publisher

University Press of Kentucky

Published Date

ISBN 10

0813134072

ISBN 13

9780813134079

Greater Harrisburg's Jewish Community

By: Simon J. Bronner

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Greater Harrisburg's Jewish Community

By: Simon J. Bronner

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

132

Publisher

Arcadia Publishing

Published Date

ISBN 10

1439623821

ISBN 13

9781439623824

Folk Nation

Folklore in the Creation of American Tradition

By: Simon J. Bronner

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Folk Nation

Folklore in the Creation of American Tradition

By: Simon J. Bronner

This lively reader traces the search for American tradition and national identity through folklore and folklife from the 19th century to the present. Through an engaging set of essays, Folk Nation shows how American thinkers and leaders have used folklore to express the meaning of their country. Simon Bronner has carefully selected statements by public intellectuals and popular writers as well as by scholars, all chosen for their readability and significance as provocative texts during their time. The common thread running throughout is the value of folklore in expressing or denying an American national tradition. This text raises timely issues about the character of American culture and the direction of American society. The essays show the development of views of American nationalism, multiculturalism, and commercialism. Provocative topics include debates over the relationship between popular culture and folk culture, the uniqueness of an American literature and arts based on folk sources, the fabrication of folk heroes such as Pecos Bill and Paul Bunyan as propaganda for patriotism and nationalism, the romanticizations of vernacular culture by popularizers such as Walt Disney and Ben Botkin, the use of folklore for ethnocentric purposes, and the political deployment of folklore by conservatives as emblems of 'traditional values' and civil virtues and by liberals as emblems of multiculturalism and tolerance of alternative lifestyles. The book also traces the controversy over who conveyed the myth of 'America.' Was it the nation's poets and artists, its academics, its politicians and leaders, its communities and local educational institutions, its theme parks and festivals, its movie moguls and entertainers? Folk Nation shows how the process of defining the American mystique through folklore was at the core of debates among writers and thinkers about the value of Davey Crockett, John Henry, quilts, cowboys, and immigrants as symbols of America.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

302

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Published Date

ISBN 10

0742580237

ISBN 13

9780742580237

Killing Tradition

Inside Hunting and Animal Rights Controversies

By: Simon J. Bronner

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Killing Tradition

Inside Hunting and Animal Rights Controversies

By: Simon J. Bronner

Across the country and around the world, people avidly engage in the cultural practice of hunting. Children are taken on rite-of-passage hunting trips, where relationships are cemented and legacies are passed on from one generation to another. Meals are prepared from hunted game, often consisting of regionally specific dishes that reflect a community's heritage and character. Deer antlers and bear skins are hung on living room walls, decorations and relics of a hunter's most impressive kills. Only 5 percent of Americans are hunters, but that group has a substantial presence in the cultural consciousness. Hunting has spurred controversy in recent years, inciting protest from animal rights activists and lobbying from anti-cruelty demonstrators who denounce the custom. But hunters have responded to such criticisms and the resulting legislative censures with a significant argument in their defense -- the claim that their practices are inextricably connected to a cultural tradition. Further, they counter that they, as representatives of the rural lifestyle, pioneer heritage, and traditional American values, are the ones being victimized. Simon J. Bronner investigates this debate in Killing Tradition: Inside Hunting and Animal Rights Controversies. Through extensive research and fieldwork, Bronner takes on the many questions raised by this problematic subject: Does hunting promote violence toward humans as well as animals? Is it an outdated activity, unnecessary in modern times? Is the heritage of hunting worth preserving? Killing Tradition looks at three case studies that are at the heart of today's hunting debate. Bronner first examines the allegedly barbaric rituals that take place at deer camps every late November in rural America. He then analyzes the annual Labor Day pigeon shoot of Hegins, Pennsylvania, which brings animal rights protests to a fever pitch. Noting that these aren't simply American concerns (and that the animal rights movement in America is linked to British animal welfare protests), Bronner examines the rancor surrounding the passage of Great Britain's Hunting Act of 2004 -- the most comprehensive and divisive anti-hunting legislation ever enacted. The practice of hunting is sure to remain controversial, as it continues to be touted and defended by its supporters and condemned and opposed by its detractors. With Killing Tradition, Bronner reflects on the social, psychological, and anthropological issues of the debate, reevaluating notions of violence, cruelty, abuse, and tradition as they have been constructed and contested in the twenty-first century.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

320

Publisher

University Press of Kentucky

Published Date

ISBN 10

0813138604

ISBN 13

9780813138602

Folk Nation

Folklore in the Creation of American Tradition

By: Simon J. Bronner

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Folk Nation

Folklore in the Creation of American Tradition

By: Simon J. Bronner

This lively reader traces the search for American tradition and national identity through folklore and folklife from the 19th century to the present. Through an engaging set of essays, Folk Nation shows how American thinkers and leaders have used folklore-ranging from Paul Bunyan and Davey Crockett to quilts, cowboys, and immigrants-to express the meaning and mystique of their country. Simon Bronner has carefully selected statements by public intellectuals and popular writers as well as by scholars, all chosen for their readability and significance as provocative texts during their time. The common thread running throughout is the value of folklore in expressing or denying an American national tradition.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

310

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield

Published Date

ISBN 10

0842028927

ISBN 13

9780842028929

Grasping Things

Folk Material Culture and Mass Society in America

By: Simon J. Bronner

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Grasping Things

Folk Material Culture and Mass Society in America

By: Simon J. Bronner

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

369

Publisher

University Press of Kentucky

Published Date

ISBN 10

0813182743

ISBN 13

9780813182742

Popularizing Pennsylvania

Henry W. Shoemaker and the Progressive Uses of Folklore and History

By: Simon J. Bronner

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Popularizing Pennsylvania

Henry W. Shoemaker and the Progressive Uses of Folklore and History

By: Simon J. Bronner

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

306

Publisher

Penn State Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0271042214

ISBN 13

9780271042213

Framing Jewish Culture

Boundaries and Representations

By: Simon J. Bronner

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Framing Jewish Culture

Boundaries and Representations

By: Simon J. Bronner

Modernity offers people choices about who they want to be and how they want to appear to others. The way in which Jews choose to frame their identity establishes the dynamic of their social relations with other Jews and non-Jews - a dynamic complicated by how non-Jews position the boundaries around what and who they define as Jewish. This book uncovers these processes, historically, as well as in contemporary behavior, and finds explanations for the various manifestations, in feeling and action, of 'being Jewish.' Boundaries and borders raise fundamental questions about the difference between Jews and non-Jews. At root, the question is how 'Jewish' is understood in social situations where people recognize or construct boundaries between their own identity and those of others. The question is important because this is by definition the point at which the lines of demarcation between Jews and non-Jews, and between different groupings of Jews, are negotiated. Collectively, the contributors to the book expand our understanding of the social dynamics of framing Jewish identity. The book opens with an introduction that locates the issues raised by the contributors in terms of the scholarly traditions from which they have evolved. Part I presents four essays dealing with the construction and maintenance of boundaries - two by scholars showing how boundaries come to be etched on an ethnic landscape and two by activists who question and adjust distinctions among neighbors. Part II focuses on expressive means of conveying identity and memory, while, in Part III, the discussion turns to museum exhibitions and festive performances as locations for the negotiation of identity in the public sphere. A lively discussion forum concludes the book with a consideration of the paradoxes of Jewish heritage revival in Poland, and the perception of that revival by Jews and non-Jews. *** ..".these essays help us understand the social dynamics of Jewish identity and how identity is constructed in modern life." -- AJL Reviews, February/March 2015 (Series: Jewish Cultural Studies - Vol. 4) [Subject: Jewish Studies, Cultural Studies]

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

437

Publisher

Liverpool University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

180085742X

ISBN 13

9781800857421

The Carver's Art

Crafting Meaning from Wood

By: Simon J. Bronner

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

The Carver's Art

Crafting Meaning from Wood

By: Simon J. Bronner

Chains carved from a single block of wood, cages whittled with wooden balls rattling inside—all "made with just a pocketknife"—are among our most enduring folk designs. Who makes them and why? what is their history? what do they mean for their makers, for their viewers, for our society? Simon J. Bronner portrays four wood carvers in southern Indiana, men who had been transplanted from the rural landscapes of their youth to industrial towns. After retiring, they took up a skill they remembered from childhood. Bronner discusses how creativity helped these men adjust to change and how viewers' responses to carving reflect their own backgrounds. By recording the narratives of these men's lives, the stories and anecdotes that laced their conversation, Bronner finds new insight into the functions and symbolism of traditional craft. Including anew illustrated afterword in which the author discusses recent developments in the carver's art, this new edition will appeal to carvers, scholars, and anyone interested in traditional woodworking.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

310

Publisher

University Press of Kentucky

Published Date

ISBN 10

081318729X

ISBN 13

9780813187297

The Oxford Handbook of American Folklore and Folklife Studies

By: Simon J. Bronner

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

The Oxford Handbook of American Folklore and Folklife Studies

By: Simon J. Bronner

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

1033

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0190840641

ISBN 13

9780190840648

Jewellery in the Age of Modernism 1918-1940

Adornment and Beyond

By: Simon Bliss

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Jewellery in the Age of Modernism 1918-1940

Adornment and Beyond

By: Simon Bliss

Why has jewellery and body adornment often been marginalized in studies of modernist art and design? This study explores the relationship between jewellery, modernism and modernity from the 'jazz age' to the second world war in order to challenge the view that these portable art forms have only a minor role to play in histories of modernism. From the masterworks of the Parisian jewellery houses to the film and photography of Man Ray, this study seeks to present jewellery in a new light, where issues of representation and display are considered to be as important in the creation of a modern 'jewellery culture' as the objects themselves. Drawing on material from museums, archives, contemporary journals, memoirs, literary and theoretical texts, this study shows how the emergence of modern jewellery began to seriously question conventional notions of body adornment.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

318

Publisher

Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published Date

ISBN 10

1501326805

ISBN 13

9781501326806

Young People and the Shaping of Public Space in Melbourne, 1870-1914

By: Simon Sleight

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Young People and the Shaping of Public Space in Melbourne, 1870-1914

By: Simon Sleight

Baby booms have a long history. In 1870, colonial Melbourne was ’perspiring juvenile humanity’ with an astonishing 42 per cent of the city’s inhabitants aged 14 and under - a demographic anomaly resulting from the gold rushes of the 1850s. Within this context, Simon Sleight enters the heated debate concerning the future prospects of ’Young Australia’ and the place of the colonial child within the incipient Australian nation. Looking beyond those institutional sites so often assessed by historians of childhood, he ranges across the outdoor city to chart the relationship between a discourse about youth, youthful experience and the shaping of new urban spaces. Play, street work, consumerism, courtship, gang-related activities and public parades are examined using a plethora of historical sources to reveal a hitherto hidden layer of city life. Capturing the voices of young people as well as those of their parents, Sleight alerts us to the ways in which young people shaped the emergent metropolis by appropriating space and attempting to impress upon the city their own desires. Here a dynamic youth culture flourished well before the discovery of the ’teenager’ in the mid-twentieth century; here young people and the city grew up together.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

297

Publisher

Routledge

Published Date

ISBN 10

113479004X

ISBN 13

9781134790043

Old-Time Music Makers of New York State

By: Simon J. Bronner

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Old-Time Music Makers of New York State

By: Simon J. Bronner

Ask an old-timer what life was like in rural upstate New York during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and you will hear about the dances and bees that brought villagers and farmers together. You will hear of favorite fiddlers who held center stage with dance tunes taken from early British and American sources. You will hear of old-time music and its significance to a people making the transition from a rural, agricultural life to an urban, industrial one. Old-Time Music Makers of New York State is the first book published on this rich legacy of traditional Anglo-American music and dance. It traces the development of old-time music beginning with its movement into New York State from New England in the early nineteenth century and to its combination with commercial country music in the twentieth century. Exploring the regional character of the music and its meaning co the people who enjoy it, Bronner introduces memorable figures from the major periods in the development of old-time music, and he places their stories, their lives, and their music in the context of the region's cultural and historical changes. This is much more than a regional study, however. Bronner brings to the fore issues of national scope and interest. He discusses the relationship of old-time music to the commercial country music with which it has been closely aligned, and he challenges the prevailing wisdom that the origins of country music are in the South. Musician, fan, folklorist, and historian alike will benefit from and enjoy this book. The many musical transcriptions, annotations, photographs, and appendixes provide a valuable reference to be used again and again.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

278

Publisher

Syracuse University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0815602162

ISBN 13

9780815602163

Book's by Simon J Bronner

Username

Password

Password again

Birthday

Email