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 | | Power and Intimacy in the Christian Philippines (Cambridge Studies in Social and Cultural Anthropology) by Fenella Cannell ISBN-10: 9780521641470 ISBN-10: 0-521-64147-0 ISBN-13: 9780521641470 ISBN-13: 978-0-521-64147-0 Hardcover 1999-04-13 Cambridge University Press Find Lowest Price |
Editorials | ||
Product Description The lowland Philippines, in contrast to the apparently "exotic", "tribal" areas, has for many years been thought of as a strangely Westernized place, without a cultural life of its own. This innovative and important book shows that this perception is a myth, which reflects our own obsessions with defining culture and identity as something "unchanging." Through an absorbing account of arranged marriages, miraculous saint cults, spirit mediumship and gay beauty contests, the author describes the unexpectedness of daily life in rural Bicol and the resilience and imagination of the Filipino poor. | ||
Book Description The lowland Philippines, in contrast to the apparently 'exotic' 'tribal' areas, has for many years been thought of as a strangely westernised place, without a cultural life of its own. This innovative and important book shows that this perception is a myth, which reflects our own obsessions with defining culture and identity as something 'unchanging'. Through an absorbing account of arranged marriages, miraculous saint-cults, spirit-mediumship and gay beauty contests, the author describes the unexpectedness of daily life in rural Bicol and the resilience and imagination of the Filipino poor. | ||
Reviews | ||
interesting look at concepts of power and exchange Cannell does an absolutely amazing job portraying the everyday lives of people in the Philippines, and how quotidian acts serve as forms of resistance to various externally imposed ideas and hierarchies. especially interesting because things like Christianity was initially externally imposed from the Spanish, yet has been re-appropriated by Filipinas/os in order to serve their needs. book breakdown: 1: Marraige Stories 2: kinship and the ritualisation of marraige 3: Healing and the people who have nothing 4: Spirit Mediums and spirit-companians 5: Spirit Mediums and Seance forms 6: Coda: the birthday parties of the spirits. 7: the living and the dead 8: the funeral of the 'dead Christ' 9: Kinship, reciprocity and devotions to the saints 10: Beauty and the idea of America (beauty, mimicry and transformation) Chapter 10 is especially interesting as it deals with the bakla (male transvestites) of Bicol and how they interpret and approptiate notions of beauty and power. overall, a really ecclectic and interesting book that got me to think of power, mimicry and symbols in a new light. | ||