Ancestors and Relatives

Genealogy, Identity, and Community

Nonfiction, Reference & Language, Reference, Genealogy, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Sociology
Cover of the book Ancestors and Relatives by Eviatar Zerubavel, Oxford University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Eviatar Zerubavel ISBN: 9780199912315
Publisher: Oxford University Press Publication: November 4, 2011
Imprint: Oxford University Press Language: English
Author: Eviatar Zerubavel
ISBN: 9780199912315
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Publication: November 4, 2011
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Language: English

Genealogy has long been one of humanity's greatest obsessions. But with the rise of genetics, and increasing media attention to it through programs like Who Do You Think You Are? and Faces of America, we are now told that genetic markers can definitively tell us who we are and where we came from. The problem, writes Eviatar Zerubavel, is that biology does not provide us with the full picture. After all, he asks, why do we consider Barack Obama black even though his mother was white? Why did the Nazis believe that unions of Germans and Jews would produce Jews rather than Germans? In this provocative book, he offers a fresh understanding of relatedness, showing that its social logic sometimes overrides the biological reality it supposedly reflects. In fact, rather than just biological facts, social traditions of remembering and classifying shape the way we trace our ancestors, identify our relatives, and delineate families, ethnic groups, nations, and species. Furthermore, genealogies are more than mere records of history. Drawing on a wide range of evidence, Zerubavel introduces such concepts as braiding, clipping, pasting, lumping, splitting, stretching, and pruning to shed light on how we manipulate genealogies to accommodate personal and collective agendas of inclusion and exclusion. Rather than simply find out who our ancestors were and identify our relatives, we actually construct the genealogical narratives that make them our ancestors and relatives. An eye-opening re-examination of our very notion of relatedness, Ancestors and Relatives offers a new way of understanding family, ethnicity, nationhood, race, and humanity.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Genealogy has long been one of humanity's greatest obsessions. But with the rise of genetics, and increasing media attention to it through programs like Who Do You Think You Are? and Faces of America, we are now told that genetic markers can definitively tell us who we are and where we came from. The problem, writes Eviatar Zerubavel, is that biology does not provide us with the full picture. After all, he asks, why do we consider Barack Obama black even though his mother was white? Why did the Nazis believe that unions of Germans and Jews would produce Jews rather than Germans? In this provocative book, he offers a fresh understanding of relatedness, showing that its social logic sometimes overrides the biological reality it supposedly reflects. In fact, rather than just biological facts, social traditions of remembering and classifying shape the way we trace our ancestors, identify our relatives, and delineate families, ethnic groups, nations, and species. Furthermore, genealogies are more than mere records of history. Drawing on a wide range of evidence, Zerubavel introduces such concepts as braiding, clipping, pasting, lumping, splitting, stretching, and pruning to shed light on how we manipulate genealogies to accommodate personal and collective agendas of inclusion and exclusion. Rather than simply find out who our ancestors were and identify our relatives, we actually construct the genealogical narratives that make them our ancestors and relatives. An eye-opening re-examination of our very notion of relatedness, Ancestors and Relatives offers a new way of understanding family, ethnicity, nationhood, race, and humanity.

More books from Oxford University Press

Cover of the book The Oxford Handbook of Applied Linguistics by Eviatar Zerubavel
Cover of the book Creating the Twentieth Century : Technical Innovations of 1867-1914 and Their Lasting Impact by Eviatar Zerubavel
Cover of the book Fly Until You Die by Eviatar Zerubavel
Cover of the book Corruption by Eviatar Zerubavel
Cover of the book The Oxford Book of Children's Verse in America by Eviatar Zerubavel
Cover of the book Rebel Daughters by Eviatar Zerubavel
Cover of the book In the Shade of the Golden Palace by Eviatar Zerubavel
Cover of the book Tools for Critical Thinking in Biology by Eviatar Zerubavel
Cover of the book Policing the Roman Empire by Eviatar Zerubavel
Cover of the book Collaborative Intervention in Early Childhood by Eviatar Zerubavel
Cover of the book Women's Human Rights by Eviatar Zerubavel
Cover of the book The New Middle East: What Everyone Needs to Know® by Eviatar Zerubavel
Cover of the book The Code of Putinism by Eviatar Zerubavel
Cover of the book The Butler Did It and Other Plays - With Audio Level 1 Oxford Bookworms Library by Eviatar Zerubavel
Cover of the book Social Work Treatment by Eviatar Zerubavel
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy