| Description |
1 online resource : 5 illustrations |
| Contents |
Frontmatter -- Contents -- Introduction: Exploring Small Countries -- Part I. Nationhoods: Mirrors and Magnifying Glasses -- Chapter 1. "100% Pure New Zealand": National Branding and the Paradoxes of Scale -- Chapter 2. After 22 July 2011: Norwegians Together -- Chapter 3. The Scandinavian Cluster: Small Countries with Big Egos -- Part II. Aspiring for Success -- Chapter 4. Red Dot on the Map: Singapore, Size, and the Problems of Success -- Chapter 5. "Wi Likkle but Wi Tallawah": Soft Power and Smallness in Jamaica -- Chapter 6. On Chutzpah Countries and "Shitty Little Countries" -- Part III. Being and Becoming Small -- Chapter 7. Portugal and the Dynamics of Smallness -- Chapter 8. Two Countries in the Alps: Austrian and Swiss Presentations of Self for Internal and Global Consumption -- Chapter 9. Serbia and the Surplus of History: Being Small, Large, and Small Again -- Part IV. Struggling with Scales -- Chapter 10. Blood and Other Precious Resources: Vulnerability and Social Cohesion on the Maldives -- Chapter 11. Belize: A Country but Not a Nation -- Chapter 12. A War and After: Sierra Leone Reconnects, Within Itself and with the World -- Part V. Grandeur, Irony, and Small Worlds -- Chapter 13. An Emirate Goes Global: Th e Cultural Making of Abu Dhabi -- Chapter 14. Smiles and Smallness: Jokes in Yemen and Palestine -- Chapter 15. Greater Than Its Size: Ireland in Literature and Life -- Chapter 16. Swedish Encounters: End Notes of a Native Son -- List of Contributors -- Index -- Acknowledgments |
| Summary |
What is a small country? Is a country small because of the size of its territory or its population? Can smallness be relative, based on the subjective perception of a country's inhabitants or in comparison with one's neighbors? How does smallness, however it is defined, shape a country and its relations with other countries? Answers to these questions, among others, can be found in Small Countries, the first and only anthropological study of smallness as a defining variable. In terms of population size, some two thirds of the countries of the world can now be considered small countries, and they can be found in all world regions except North America and East Asia. They exhibit great diversity with regard to culture, history, and institutional arrangements, so there can be no model of any "typical" small country. Yet the essays collected by Ulf Hannerz and Andre Gingrich identify a range of family resemblances in such areas as internal connectivity and sensibilities of identity. Contributors describe a number of similar problems with which small countries must cope, on domestic levels as well as in their transnational and global encounters. For some small countries, challenges such as media organization and branding have a negative impact on real or perceived vulnerability, while for others, the same challenges facilitate success stories.Comparative case studies cover a diverse set of regions, including the Caribbean, Middle East, Africa, and Europe, and employ diverse anthropological approaches. Tacit assumptions about scale, identities, and networks in everyday social life are best revealed through close, interpretive effort. At times a sense of shared belonging comes to the fore with particular events, such as a national crisis or an unexpected success in international sports, offering scope for situational analyses. In showing how small countries confront globalization, Small Countries reveals how the sense of scale intensifies when the world as a whole shrinks. Contributors: Regina F. Bendix, Aleksandar Bošković, Virginia R. Dominguez, Thomas Hylland Eriksen, Andre Gingrich, Beng-Lan Goh, Ulf Hannerz, Sulayman N. Khalaf, Eva-Maria Knoll, Jacqueline Knörr, Orvar Löfgren, João de Pina-Cabral, Don Robotham, Cris Shore, Richard Wilk, Helena Wulff |
| Analysis |
Anthropology |
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Folklore |
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Linguistics |
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Political Science |
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Public Policy |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index |
| Notes |
In English |
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Online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed June 01., 2017) |
| Subject |
Group identity -- Case studies
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National characteristics -- Case studies
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Social change -- Case studies
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States, Small -- Case studies
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POLITICAL SCIENCE -- General.
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POLITICAL SCIENCE -- International Relations -- General.
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Group identity
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National characteristics
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Social change
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States, Small
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| Genre/Form |
Case studies
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| Form |
Electronic book
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| Author |
Gingrich, Andre
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Hannerz, Ulf
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| ISBN |
9780812293791 |
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0812293797 |
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