Democracy in Translation Contributor(s): Schaffer, Frederic Charles (Author) |
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ISBN: 0801433983 ISBN-13: 9780801433986 Publisher: Cornell University Press OUR PRICE: $56.38 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: June 1998 |
Additional Information |
BISAC Categories: - Political Science | Political Process - Campaigns & Elections - History | Africa - General - Political Science | International Relations - General |
Dewey: 320.5 |
LCCN: 97-49950 |
Lexile Measure: 1380 |
Series: The Wilder House Politics, History and Culture |
Physical Information: 0.79" H x 6.36" W x 9.25" (0.90 lbs) 192 pages |
Themes: - Cultural Region - African |
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
Publisher Description: Frederic C. Schaffer challenges the assumption often made by American scholars that democracy has been achieved in foreign countries when criteria such as free elections are met. Elections, he argues, often have cultural underpinnings that are invisible to outsiders. To examine grassroots understandings of democratic institutions and political concepts, Schaffer conducted fieldwork in Senegal, a mostly Islamic and agrarian country with a long history of electoral politics. Schaffer discovered that ideas of demokaraasi held by Wolof-speakers often reflect concerns about collective security. Many Senegalese see voting as less a matter of choosing leaders than of reinforcing community ties that may be called upon in times of crisis.By looking carefully at language, Schaffer demonstrates that institutional arrangements do not necessarily carry the same meaning in different cultural contexts. Democracy in Translation asks how social scientists should investigate the functioning of democratic institutions in cultures dissimilar from their own, and raises larger issues about the nature of democracy, the universality of democratic ideals, and the practice of cross-cultural research. |
Contributor Bio(s): Schaffer, Frederic C.: - Frederic Charles Schaffer is Lecturer on Social Studies at Harvard University and Research Associate at the Center for International Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has worked as an election specialist in Iraq and Haiti. He is the author of Democracy in Translation: Understanding Politics in an Unfamiliar Culture, also from Cornell. |