Synopses & Reviews
Review
' ... a study that not only is theoretically sophisticated but also constitutes a major contribution to the anthropological study of modernity in Europe ... It contributes in novel and methodologically intriguing ways to our understanding of the complex relationships among state, kinship and narrative, and it throws refreshingly critical light on received ideas about the current state of German society and culture.' Michael Hersfeld
Synopsis
This is an ethnographic investigation into the meaning of German selfhood during the Cold War. Borneman shows how ideas of kin, state, and nation were constructed through processes of mirror imaging and misrecognition. Using linguistics and narrative analysis he compares the autobiographies of two generations of Berlin's residents with the official versions prescribed by the two German states.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. [356]-371) and index.
Table of Contents
List of figures; List of tables; Acknowledgments; Introduction; 1. Naming, categorizing, periodizing; 2. Clarification of concepts; 3. Demographics of production and reproduction; 4. State strategies and kinship; 5. Victimization, political reconstruction, and kinship transformations in East Berlin: generation I; 6. Sentimentalization, fear, and alternate domestic form in East Berlin: generation II; 7. Hausfrauenehe and kinship restoration in West Berlin: generation I; 8. Politicized kinship in West Berlin: generation II; 9. Marriage, family, nation; Postscript; Notes; References; Index.