Over twenty years ago, Jim Belshaw compiled some of his newspaper columns for a book called ""Semi-Native"". As he is not a native New Mexican, Belshaw's wife, who is a native, decided he was entitled to that status. As Belshaw notes, 'Something about the place [New Mexico] gets inside of you and the next thing you know you've become a ......
You won't find molded plastic, mass-produced items in this Texas Folklore Society Publication. These are folk toys, made from natural or available materials, whatever is handy or can be scrounged. The folks who make them are amateurs of varying degrees, from the ten-year-old hammering together a skate scooter or box kite to the doting grandparent ......
This delightful book tackles the prevailing assumption that laughter and humour are inherently good. In developing a critique of humour the author proposes a social theory that places humour - in the form of ridicule - as central to social life. Billig argues that all cultures use ridicule as a disciplinary means to uphold norms of conduct and conventions of meaning. Historically, theories of humour reflect wider visions of politics, morality and aesthetics. For example, Bergson argued that humour contains an element of cruelty while Freud suggested that we deceive ourselves about the true nature of our laughter. Billig discusses these and other theories, while using the topic of humour to throw light on the perennial social problems of regulation, control and emancipation. Original and insightful, the book is of interest to readers in Sociology, Social Theory, Cultural Studies, Social Psychology and Media and Communication Studies.
This delightful book tackles the prevailing assumption that laughter and humour are inherently good. In developing a critique of humour the author proposes a social theory that places humour - in the form of ridicule - as central to social life. Billig argues that all cultures use ridicule as a disciplinary means to uphold norms of conduct and conventions of meaning. Historically, theories of humour reflect wider visions of politics, morality and aesthetics. For example, Bergson argued that humour contains an element of cruelty while Freud suggested that we deceive ourselves about the true nature of our laughter. Billig discusses these and other theories, while using the topic of humour to throw light on the perennial social problems of regulation, control and emancipation. Original and insightful, the book is of interest to readers in Sociology, Social Theory, Cultural Studies, Social Psychology and Media and Communication Studies.
The oddity of words, the parables in daily situations, and the metaphors that always seem to fit until one thread is broken bring a simplicity to human existence that stabilizes the most harried executive, educator, engineer, and everyone from A to Z. Daily groundings can offer a new light for the halogen-blinded mind leading to better thinking. ......
