Tradition and Modernity in the Mediterranean: The Wedding as Symbolic Struggle

by Vassos Argyrou

Overview

The subject of Vassos Argyrou's study is modernization, as reflected in the changing nature of wedding celebrations in Cyprus over two generations. He argues that modernization is not a secular, progressive process that remodels the life of a society, ironing out local differences. Rather, it is an idiom—a legitimizing discourse—in which Cypriots represent, and contest, relationships among social classes, old and young, men and women, city folk and villagers. At the same time, by involving modernization, they are submitting to foreign standards, and accepting the symbolic domination of Europe.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521560955
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	06/13/1996
Series:	Cambridge Studies in Social and Cultural Anthropology , #101
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	6.26(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.75(d)

Table of Contents

Introduction; l. The island of Aphrodite; 2. Nationalism and the poverty of imagination; 3. The weddings of the l930s; 4. The meaning of change; 5. Distinction and symbolic class struggle; 6. Anthropology and the specter of 'monoculture'; 7. The dialectics of symbolic domination.

Editorial Reviews

"I have used this book in the classroom and received extremely positive feedback from students, who appreciate Argyrou's lucid expositions of theory and rich ethnographic descriptions. I recommend it highly." David Sutton, H-Net Reviews

"The book will engage you....It is a book that should provoke some welcomed debate and a fresh perspective on otherwise tired issues. I have used this book in the classroom and received extremely positive feedback from students, who appreciate Argyrou's lucid expositions of theory and rich ethnographic descriptions. I recommend it highly." David Sutton, H-Net Reviews

From the Publisher