Perilous states : conversations on culture, politics, and nation /

Until recently, sociologists studied society, anthropologists worked on industrial culture, political scientists on the state, and critics devoted themselves to literature. Theoretical challenges and disciplinary changes have led to the blurring of the boundaries between these topics, which also intersect with the transdisciplinary concepts of nationalism, ethnicity, and diaspora. Marcus is an anthropologist who has done much to make disciplinary boundaries permeable to the circulation of new concepts. In this innovative collection, he gathers contributions from other anthropologists and specialists in sociology, Russian studies, comparative literature, and multiculturalism, to produce a volume whose hallmark is the interpenetration of analytic commentary with extended interviews on topics loosely linked to nationalism, ethnicity, and culture. Because of the large space devoted to interviews, the venture has an air of scholarly journalism, intriguing yet incomplete. A uniformity verging on the doctrinaire pervades the attitudes of the interviewers, with the exception of Balzer and Holmes. The volume will probably be assigned reading for undergraduate courses in several disciplines. Undergraduates and above. K. T"ol"olyan; Wesleyan University

The first in an annual series that aims to examine the fin-de-siecle challenges facing institutions and people, this book probes thoughtfully into questions of nationalism through dialogues between American scholars and residents of other countries. Interviewing six Russian writers, Bruce Grant finds deep pessimism about the survival of local culture and the prospects for democracy. Sam Beck weaves interview and narrative to portray a Romanian sociologist exploring his Romanian gypsy origins and leading an unusual attempt at ethnic solidarity. Some of the most interesting entries show the scholar's design: in a conversation with Polish philosopher Leszek Koczanowicz, Michael M.J. Fischer creates a ``dialogic collage'' to show the conflicts and complexities of Polish nationalism; traversing the touchy questions of culture and nation in South Africa, David Coplan juxtaposes the voices of ``white Zulu'' musician Johnny Clegg, Zulu professor of music Bongani Mthethwa, mixed-race professor of Afrikaans Hein Willemse and African National Congress official Barbara Masakela. Marcus co-edited Writing Culture . Illustrations not seen by PW. (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved