Sondra L. Hausner's Books

The Spirits of Crossbones Graveyard

Time, Ritual, and Sexual Commerce in London

By: Sondra L. Hausner

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The Spirits of Crossbones Graveyard

Time, Ritual, and Sexual Commerce in London

By: Sondra L. Hausner

Every month, a ragtag group of Londoners gather in the site known as Crossbones Graveyard to commemorate the souls of medieval prostitutes believed to be buried there—the "Winchester Geese," women who were under the protection of the Church but denied Christian burial. In the Borough of Southwark, not far from Shakespeare's Globe, is a pilgrimage site for self-identified misfits, nonconformists, and contemporary sex workers who leave memorials to the outcast dead. Ceremonies combining raucous humor and eclectic spirituality are led by a local playwright, John Constable, also known as John Crow. His interpretation of the history of the site has struck a chord with many who feel alienated in present-day London. Sondra L. Hausner offers a nuanced ethnography of Crossbones that tacks between past and present to look at the historical practices of sex work, the relation of the Church to these professions, and their representation in the present. She draws on anthropological approaches to ritual and time to understand the forms of spiritual healing conveyed by the Crossbones rites. She shows that ritual is a way of creating the present by mobilizing the stories of the past for contemporary purposes.

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Page Count

250

Publisher

Indiana University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0253021472

ISBN 13

9780253021472

A Genealogy of Method

Anthropology’s Ancestors and the Meaning of Culture

By: Sondra L. Hausner

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A Genealogy of Method

Anthropology’s Ancestors and the Meaning of Culture

By: Sondra L. Hausner

What does it mean to study culture – and what does culture finally mean? Whether we compare cultures or delve deeply into the dynamics of a single social order, anthropology’s task is to confront the interplay of the human condition and the cultural form. Tracing the genealogy of our touchstone method, ethnography, and investigating its relation to alternative disciplines that try to get at the heart of the human experience – philology, history, and social relations – this volume considers whether contemporary anthropology might, at last, be able to define culture, after more than a century of investigation.

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