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Annually on 1 January, Japan's efficient postal system circulates 2.5 billion New Year cards to arrive simultaneously in every home in the country. Based on ethnographic fieldwork around Osaka, this article investigates the continued popularity of this exchange of paper forms in an age of smartphones and fast internet connections. Extending recent anthropological scholarship about digital data, I argue that these seemingly trivial cards have transformative potential. They are active, potent participants in the cultivation, accumulation, and ongoing care of multiple networks of social, economic, and spiritual relationships. Through an analysis of the material and aesthetic qualities of the cards, I highlight how their front‐back design embodies co‐existing, but contrasting, dimensions of Japanese relations along a qualification‐quantification and personalization‐standardization axis. The cards also produce depth and scale by linking intimate, domestic concerns with larger political and economic interests, while weaving together multiple temporal dimensions. Ultimately, they exemplify how the manipulation of surfaces can have profound cosmological consequences. These cards possess a spiritual and social potency that generates an all‐encompassing, intimate closeness that yearly rejuvenates society by reconstituting individuals as part of the whole. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Bracken, Christopher. xii, 276 pp., illus., maps, bibliogr. Chicago, London: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1997. £31.95 (cloth), £13.50 (paper) The potlatch has never ceased to fascinate outsiders, who for more [...]

BOYD, ROBERT. (Stud. Anthrop. N. Am. Ind.). xii, 396 pp., illus., bibliogr. Nebraska: Univ. Press; London: Academic & Univ. Publishers Group, 1996. £47.50 This is a volume in the University [...]

A list is presented for the books and films published in the issue which includes books "Coral Whisperers: Scientists on the Brink", "The Jungle: Calais's camps & migrants", and "Organic Sovereignties: Struggles Over Farming in an Age of Free Trade".

Globally, alternative dispute resolution (ADR) advocates celebrate informality as a means to improve access to justice for poor people and to unburden courts, emphasizing the spoken dimensions of conflict resolution rather than the written product. Yet residents of El Alto, Bolivia, are preoccupied with the graphic artefacts produced by ADR programmes: conciliation accords. This article argues that Alteños pursue conciliation accords because of their isomorphism - shared physical traits - with legal documents. In mobilizing legal-like documents as avatars of coercive state authority, Alteños reveal how the urban poor marshal ambiguous bureaucratic documentary procedures to reorder untenable social relations and to give some teeth to oral arrangements amid economic insecurity and dubious judicial prospects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents bibliography of books on anthropology.

Presents bibliographic information of books on history.

Presents a list of books received by 'Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, as of June 2003. 'Personal States: Making Connections Between People and Bureaucracy in Turkey,' by C. Alexander; 'Planning the Family in Egypt: New Bodies, New Selves,' by K. A. Ali; 'Managing Motherhood, Managing Risk: Fertility and Danger in West Central Tanzania,' by D. R. Allen.

The article presents a list of books related to anthropology including "Female Circumcision: Multicultural Perspectives," edited by Rogaia Mustafa Abusharaf, "Silence: The Currency of Power," edited by Maria-Luisa Achino-Loeb and "Memory Practices in the Sciences," by Geoffrey C. Bowker.

Lists several books. "Wanderings: Sudanese Migrants and Exiles in North America," by Rogaia Mustafa Abusharaf; "Pashtun Tales From the Pakistan-Afghan Frontier," by Aisha Ahmad and Roger Boase; "On the Banks of the Ganga: When Wastewater Meets a Sacred River," by Kelly D. Alley.

Books reviewed: Anthropology and history Hare, Tom, Remembering Osiris: number, gender, and the word in ancient Egyptian representational systems Harlan, Jack R., The living fields: our agricultural heritage Inomata, Takeshi & Stephen D. Houston (eds), Royal courts of the ancient Maya. Vol. 1: theory, comparison, synthesis Lockwood, Matthew, Fertility and house– hold labour in Tanzania: demography, economy, and society in Rufiji district, c.1870–1986 Pollock, Susan, Ancient Mesopotamia: the Eden that never was (Case Stud. early soc.) Quijada, Mónica, Carmen Bernand & Arnd Schneider, Homogeneidad y nación: con un estudio de caso: Argentina, siglos XIX y XX (Coll. tierra nueva e cielo nuovo 42) Anthropology of religion Assayag, Jackie & Gilles Tarabout (eds), La possession en asie du sud: parole, corps, territorie / Possession in South Asia: speech, body, territory Klass, Morton & Maxine K. Weisgrau (eds), Across the boundaries of belief (Contemp. issues in anthr. relig.) Rakotomalala, Malanjaona, Sophie Blancy & Françoise Raison–Jourde, Madagascar: les ancêtres au quotidien: usages sociaux du religieux sur les Hautes–Terres Malgaches Development Bierschenk, Thomas, J.–P. Chaveau & J.–P. Olivier de Sardan (eds), Courtiers en développement: les villages africains en quête de projets (Collection ‘Hommes et Sociétés’) Zerner, Charles (ed.), People, plants, and justice: the politics of nature conservation General Armbrust, Walter (ed.), Mass mediations: new approaches to popular culture in the Middle East and beyond Dupont, Veronique, Emma Tarlo & Denis Vidal (eds), Delhi: urban space and human destinies King, Victor T. (ed.), Rural development and social science research: case studies from Borneo (Borneo Res. Counc. Proc. 6) Privratsky, Bruce G., Muslim Turkistan: Kazak religion and collective memory Van Beek, Martijn, Kristoffer Brix Bertelsen & Poul Pedersen (eds), Ladakh: culture, history, and development between Himalaya and Karakoram (Recent research on Ladakh 8) Winzeler, Robert L. (ed.), Indigenous architecture in Borneo: traditional patterns and new developments (Borneo Res. Counc. Proc. 5) Human evolution Agustí, Jorge, Lorenzo Rook & Peter Andrews (eds), The evolution of Neogene terrestrial ecosystems in Europe (Hominoid Evol. clim. chge Eur 1) Curtiss, Garniss, Carl Swisher & Roger Lewin, Java man: how two geologists changed the history of human evolution de Bonis, Louis, George Koufos & Peter Andrews (eds), Phylogeny of the Neogene hominoid primates of Eurasia (Hominoid Evol. clim. chge Eur. 2) Ghiglieri, Michael P., The dark side of man: tracing the origins of male violence Legal anthropology Just, Peter, Dou Donggo justice: conflict and morality in an Indonesian society Kahn, Paul W., The cultural study of law: reconstructing legal scholarship Niezen, Ronald, Defending the land: sover– eignty and forest life in James Bay Cree society (Cult. Surv. Stud. Ethn. Chge) Peterson, Nicolas & Will Sanders (eds), Citizenship and indigenous Australians: changing conceptions and possibilities (Reshaping Australian Institutions ser.) Method Guneratne, Katharine Bjork, In the circle of the dance: notes of an outsider in Nepal Mihesuh, Devon A. (ed.), Natives and academics: researching and writing about American Indians Mukherji, Partha Nath (ed.), Methodology in social research: dilemmas and perspectives: essays in honour of Ramkrishna Mukherjee Newman, Paul & Martha Ratliff (eds), Linguistic fieldwork Social anthropology Fonseca, Isabel, Bury me standing: the Gypsies and their journey Forshee, Jill, Between the folds: stories of cloth, lives, and travels from Sumba Hua, Cai (transl. Asti Hustvedt), A society without fathers or husbands: the Na of China Jackson, Peter, Michelle Lowe, Danielle Miller & Frank Mort (eds), Commercial cultures: economies, practices, spaces (Leisure, consumption and culture) McKnight, David, People, Countries, and the Rainbow Serpent: systems of classification among the Lardil of Mornington Island (Oxford studs. in anthrop. ling. 12) Palerm Viqueira, Jacinta & Tomás Martínez Saldaña (eds), Antologia sobre pequeño riego, Vol. II (Organizaciones Autogestivas) Pottier, Johan, Anthropology of food: the social dynamics of food security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A list of books about anthropology is presented including "Existentialism: An Introduction" by Kevin Aho, "Everyone Eats: Understanding Food and Culture," Second Edition, by E. N. Anderson, and "High Culture and Experience in Ancient Egypt" by John Baines.

A list of books received is presented. They include "Art as Politics: Re-Crafting Identities, Tourism and Power in Tana Toraja, Indonesia," by Kathleen M. Adams, "Sorrow and Joy Among Muslim Women: The Pukhtuns of Northern Pakistan," by Amineh Ahmed and "Powers of Blessing From the Wilderness and From Heaven: Structure and Transformation in the Religion of Toraja in the Mamasa Area of South Sulawesi," by Kees Bujis.

Presents a list of books about anthropology. "New Year Celebrations in Central China in Late Imperial Times," by Göran Aijmer; "Legal Bodies: Race, Criminality and Colonialism in South Asia," by Claire Anderson; "Cultivating Arctic Landscapes: Knowing and Managing Animals in the Circumpolar North," edited by David Anderson and Mark Nuttall.

Presents a list of books received the "Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute" as of March 2004. "The Hold Life Has: Coca and Cultural Identity in an Andean Community," end edition, by Catherine J. Allen; "Affirmative Exclusion: Cultural Pluralism and the Rule of Custom in France," by Jean-Loup Amselle; "The Neanderthal's Necklace: In Search of the First Thinkers," by Juan Luis Arsuaga; "The Ethics of Anthropology: Debates and Dilemmas," edited by Pat Caplan.

Presents a list of books related to anthropology.

Presents a list of books to be included in the publication of the 'Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute' periodical. 'Masculine Domination,' by P. Bourdieu; 'African Civilizations: An Archaeological Perspective,' second edition, by G. Connah; 'Human Societies: An Introduction,' by A. De Swaan.

Provides an index of the books received by the 'Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute,' as of March 2001.

Presents a list of books related to anthropology that were published in several journals. The books include "Political Ecology in a Yucatec Maya Community," by E. N. Anderson, "The Logic of Environmentalism: Anthropology, Ecology and Postcoloniality," by Vassos Argyrou, and "The Cradle of Humanity: Prehistoric Art and Culture," by Georges Bataille.

A list of books and films received by this publication, including "Social Anthropology and Human Origins," by Alan Barnard, "On Critique: A Sociology of Emancipation,: by Luc Boltanski and "Culture and Cognition: Evolutionary Perspectives," by Bradley Franks.