<p/><br></br><p><b> About the Book </b></p></br></br>Contributions from scholars in anthropology, religion, and area studies -- stemming from research in East and Southeast Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas - collected to represent a form of historically grounded, ethnographically driven social science that seeks to understand social phenomena by dialogically engaging global and local perspectives<p/><br></br><p><b> Book Synopsis </b></p></br></br><p>In this volume, leading scholars in anthropology, religion, and area studies engage global and local perspectives dialectically to develop a historically grounded, ethnographically driven social science. <p/>The book's chapters, drawing on research in East and Southeast Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas, are also in conversation with the extensive work of editor and contributor Stanley J. Tambiah: They all investigate some aspect of what Tambiah has called "multiple orientations to the world." The implicit focus throughout is on human cultural differences and the historically constituted nature of the political potentialities (both positive and negative) that stem from these. As a whole, then, the volume promotes an approach to scholarship that actively avoids privileging any one conceptual framework or cultural form at the expense of recognizing another--a style of inquiry that the editors call "radical egalitarianism." <p/>Together, these scholars encourage a comparative examination of contemporary societies, provide insights into the historical development of social scientific and sociopolitical categories, and raise vital questions about the possibilities for achieving equality and justice in the presence of competing realities in the global world today. Michael M.J. Fischer's Afterword provides a brilliant exegesis of Tambiah's multifaceted oeuvre, outlining the primary themes that inform his scholarship and, by extension, all the chapters in this book.</p><p/><br></br><p><b> Review Quotes </b></p></br></br><br>Essays that reflect Stanley Tambiah's approach to historically grounded anthropology.-- "--The Chronicle of Higher Education"<br><br>"Strives for thick description, close reading, and comparative agility."<b>-----Jim Boon, <i>Princeton University</i></b><br><br>"The scholarship embodied in the collection is consistently high quality and the contributions combine theoretical rigor with rich empirical detail. The volume both reflects and extends Stanley J. Tambiah's contributions to anthropology."<b>-----Elizabeth Traube, <i>Wesleyan University</i></b><br><p/><br></br><p><b> About the Author </b></p></br></br><br><strong>FELICITY AULINO</strong> is a PhD candidate in Harvard University's Department of Anthropology. <p/><strong>MIRIAM GOHEEN</strong> is Professor of Anthropology-Sociology and Black Studies at Amherst College and editor of The African Studies Review. Her publications include <em>Men Own the Fields, Women Own the Crops: Gender and Power in the Cameroon Highlands</em>. <p/><strong>STANLEY J. TAMBIAH</strong> is Esther and Sidney Rabb Professor (Emeritus) of Anthropology at Harvard University. He is the author of ten books, including <em>Leveling Crowds: Ethnonationalist Conflicts and Collective Violence in South Asia</em>. <p/><strong>MICHAEL M.J. FISCHER</strong> is Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Humanities and Professor of Anthropology and Science and Technology Studies at MIT. Among his most recent books is <em>Dispersed Knowledges: Persian Poesis in the Transnational Circuitry</em>.<br>