Legends People Myths State 1e Pb

Anthropologists are often accused of writing only about marginal, "tribal," or exotic peoples. Bruce Kapferer writes about his own people, Australians, famous for their often aggressively democratic egalitarianism. He then contrasts Australia with its opposite, the hierarchical caste-society of Sri Lanka. This is a book about equality and inequality, about the symbols and the ideologies of nation and state, and about violence committed in the name of religions of peace, Buddhism and Hinduism. Kapferer illuminates the modern world - and its horrors. Review by Peter Worsley