From Another Place
Migration and the Politics of Culture

This book explores definitions and understandings of the relations between migration and cultural processes.

Gillian Bottomley (Author)

9780521125741, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 14 January 2010

192 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.1 cm, 0.29 kg

Never before have so many people ended up in a place different from where they began, something which made the twentieth century a century of migration. Culture is central to the process of migration, yet it is rarely examined in studies of the political economy of labour migration. Originally published in 1992, From Another Place explores definitions and understandings of the relations between migration and cultural processes, calling into question the interrelation between circumstance and cultural practice. It is an insightful attempt to move away from the limitations of dichotomous explanations of migration, using the findings of sociology, political economy and literature in the discussion of cultural beliefs and practices. The book is a fascinating, empirically grounded study, useful in its discussion of the dynamics of gender and class as well as those of ethnicity and culture.

Preface and acknowledgements
Part I. Migration Studies and the Problem of Culture: 1. Migrations and cultural analyses: a point of departure
2. Comparative studies of migration, ethnicity, 'race' and culture in the USA and Britain
3. Traditions, structures and culture as process
Part II. Practising Cultures: 4. The politics and poetics of ethnicity
5. Dance, music and relations of power
6. Re-negotiating 'tradition': the case of dowry
Part III. Constructing Identities: Gender, Class and Ethnos: 7. The cultural construction of gender in modern Greece
8. Generating identities: age, social bodies and habitus
9. Intersections: gender, ethnicity, class and culture in Australia
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Biography: historical, political & military [BGH]