Charles Stafford
Biographic Data
| ID | 3621781 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Charles Stafford |
| GIVEN NAMES | Charles |
| FAMILY NAME | Stafford |
| SIGNATURE | STAFFORD C |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-7190-1696 |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 24 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 141 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 22 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 2 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1992 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
Irritation, Cooperation, and Human Relationships
Irritation, defined here as the conscious experience of feeling annoyed, plays a significant role in human relationships of many kinds. Indeed, it seems that some of our most important relationships persist for decades in a state of chronic everyday irritation. In this article, we examine this striking yet understudied phenomenon, drawing on cross-cultural evidence, including a set of interviews from China, Finland, and the United States about ir…
Part Four. Punishment and Personal Dignity
Ordinary Ethics in China
What is Going to Happen Next?
By contrast with the enterprising hopefulness of the former, and the daydreaming hopelessness of the latter, there is also, perhaps, the possibility of indifference. Of course, Chinese cosmology is a very particular type of cultural-historical artefact, as is the more general ‘numerical orientation’—in many respects very highly elaborated—within Chinese culture and thought. By contrast, learning the patterns of the universe seems a trickier busin…
Questions of Anthropology
Being careful what you wish for
This article takes ethnographic material from rural China and Taiwan and relates it to recent theories and findings in the psychology and economics of happiness. In brief, psychologists suggest that humans are not on the whole very good at "affective forecasting," that is, at predicting their own emotions; this is consequential when, for example, they pursue money in order to be happy-not realizing that having more money will probably not, in fac…
Misfortune and What Can Be Done About It
Drawing primarily on ethnographic material from Taiwan, this article focuses on misfortune and, more especially, on the ques- tion of whether people are felt to deserve what happens to them-be it bad or good. I examine the cases of several people who have suffered misfortune in life, exploring ways in which they might actively try to make good things happen as a way of convincing others, and indeed themselves, that they are, after all, good. In c…
Introduction
Some qualitative mathematics in China
In this article, inspired by Lévi-Strauss's comments on 'qualitative mathematics', I outline some features of Chinese cultural practices related to number and quantification. More specifically, I note that Chinese numerological practices are embedded in a more generally 'structuralist' and mathematical way of conceiving experience; that taken together they comprise a loose, and even 'creative' (rather than precise/rationalistic) type of life-acco…
Numbers and the Natural History of Imagining the Self in Taiwan and China
In the Chinese cultural tradition, numbers may be seen as meaningful, creative, even poetic things, and they figure prominently in accounts of the self. Rather than 'reducing people to numbers', quantification is used - by at least some people some of the time - as a mode of differentiating themselves from others, a means of narrating unique life experiences. This paper explores the role of numbers in accounts of the self, drawing primarily on a …
Linguistic and cultural variables in the psychology of numeracy
Although anthropologists pride themselves on paying attention to the small details of everyday life, experimental psychologists arguably have an even smaller scale of research – examining variables such as infant staring time and the speed at which words are pronounced. This paper considers the impact of these different approaches to scale and selectivity in research objects, focusing in particular on studies of Pirahã and Chinese numerical cogni…
Living with Separation in China
Langage et apprentissage des nombres en Chine et à Taïwan
Cet article décrit le développement des savoirs relatifs aux nombres en Chine et à Taïwan. Les enfants des communautés rurales y sont rapidement immergés dans une « culture numérique » comparativement complexe. Cette complexité même soulève des questions fondamentales sur les significations (extrêmement variables) attachées aux nombres - tant en Chine qu'ailleurs - et sur le processus par lequel les enfants commencent à acquérir les différents ty…
Separation and Reunion in Modern China
In this original and readable book, Charles Stafford describes the Chinese fascination with separation and reunion. Drawing on his field studies in Taiwan and mainland China, he gives a vivid account of raucous festivals of reunion, elaborate rituals for the sending-off of gods (and daughters), poetic moments of leave-takings between friends, and bitter political rhetoric about Chinese national unity. The idioms and practices of separation and re…
The Temple of Memories
Lukang
Lukang: Commerce and Community in a Chinese City. DONALD R. DEGLOPPER. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1995. xiii + 293 pp., glossary, plates, notes, bibliography, indexes
The Roads of Chinese Childhood
Gifts, Favors and Banquets
The Roads of Chinese Childhood
Children in the Taiwanese fishing community of Angang have their attention drawn, consciously and unconsciously, to various forms of identification through their participation in schooling, family life and popular religion. They read texts about 'virtuous mothers', share 'meaningful foods' with other villagers, visit the altars of 'divining children' and participate in 'dangerous' god-strengthening rituals. In particular they learn about the fami…
Chinese Families in the Post-Mao Era
Statecraft and Political Economy on the Taiwan Frontier 1600-1800
The Discourse of Race in Modern China
The Imperial Metaphor
History, Identification and Belief The Annual Apocalypse Offical and Local Cults Local Festivals and Their Cults The Incense Burner - Communication and Deference Taoism and its Clients Ang Gong, or the Truth of Puppets
Good Sons and Virtuous Mothers
The relationship between Chinese families and the state is examined through village religion and national education in Taiwan. People in the village of Beicun approach deities through spirit mediums as a way of ensuring the protection of their children from harm. Children are thus represented as of great value to families, who depend upon their biological, economic and ntual productivity. National education also accepts and promotes the filial du…
The Discourse of Race in Modern China
Introduction
Numbers and the Natural History of Imagining the Self in Taiwan and China
In the Chinese cultural tradition, numbers may be seen as meaningful, creative, even poetic things, and they figure prominently in accounts of the self. Rather than 'reducing people to numbers', quantification is used - by at least some people some of the time - as a mode of differentiating themselves from others, a means of narrating unique life experiences. This paper explores the role of numbers in accounts of the self, drawing primarily on a …
Linguistic and cultural variables in the psychology of numeracy
Although anthropologists pride themselves on paying attention to the small details of everyday life, experimental psychologists arguably have an even smaller scale of research – examining variables such as infant staring time and the speed at which words are pronounced. This paper considers the impact of these different approaches to scale and selectivity in research objects, focusing in particular on studies of Pirahã and Chinese numerical cogni…
Being careful what you wish for
This article takes ethnographic material from rural China and Taiwan and relates it to recent theories and findings in the psychology and economics of happiness. In brief, psychologists suggest that humans are not on the whole very good at "affective forecasting," that is, at predicting their own emotions; this is consequential when, for example, they pursue money in order to be happy-not realizing that having more money will probably not, in fac…
Good Sons and Virtuous Mothers
The relationship between Chinese families and the state is examined through village religion and national education in Taiwan. People in the village of Beicun approach deities through spirit mediums as a way of ensuring the protection of their children from harm. Children are thus represented as of great value to families, who depend upon their biological, economic and ntual productivity. National education also accepts and promotes the filial du…
Statecraft and Political Economy on the Taiwan Frontier 1600-1800
Langage et apprentissage des nombres en Chine et à Taïwan
Cet article décrit le développement des savoirs relatifs aux nombres en Chine et à Taïwan. Les enfants des communautés rurales y sont rapidement immergés dans une « culture numérique » comparativement complexe. Cette complexité même soulève des questions fondamentales sur les significations (extrêmement variables) attachées aux nombres - tant en Chine qu'ailleurs - et sur le processus par lequel les enfants commencent à acquérir les différents ty…
The Temple of Memories
Gifts, Favors and Banquets
Some qualitative mathematics in China
In this article, inspired by Lévi-Strauss's comments on 'qualitative mathematics', I outline some features of Chinese cultural practices related to number and quantification. More specifically, I note that Chinese numerological practices are embedded in a more generally 'structuralist' and mathematical way of conceiving experience; that taken together they comprise a loose, and even 'creative' (rather than precise/rationalistic) type of life-acco…
Questions of Anthropology
Lukang
Lukang: Commerce and Community in a Chinese City. DONALD R. DEGLOPPER. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1995. xiii + 293 pp., glossary, plates, notes, bibliography, indexes
Chinese Families in the Post-Mao Era
The Imperial Metaphor
History, Identification and Belief The Annual Apocalypse Offical and Local Cults Local Festivals and Their Cults The Incense Burner - Communication and Deference Taoism and its Clients Ang Gong, or the Truth of Puppets
Good Sons and Virtuous Mothers
The relationship between Chinese families and the state is examined through village religion and national education in Taiwan. People in the village of Beicun approach deities through spirit mediums as a way of ensuring the protection of their children from harm. Children are thus represented as of great value to families, who depend upon their biological, economic and ntual productivity. National education also accepts and promotes the filial du…
The Discourse of Race in Modern China
Statecraft and Political Economy on the Taiwan Frontier 1600-1800
The Roads of Chinese Childhood
Children in the Taiwanese fishing community of Angang have their attention drawn, consciously and unconsciously, to various forms of identification through their participation in schooling, family life and popular religion. They read texts about 'virtuous mothers', share 'meaningful foods' with other villagers, visit the altars of 'divining children' and participate in 'dangerous' god-strengthening rituals. In particular they learn about the fami…
Chinese Families in the Post-Mao Era
Gifts, Favors and Banquets
Lukang
Lukang: Commerce and Community in a Chinese City. DONALD R. DEGLOPPER. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1995. xiii + 293 pp., glossary, plates, notes, bibliography, indexes
The Roads of Chinese Childhood
The Temple of Memories
Separation and Reunion in Modern China
In this original and readable book, Charles Stafford describes the Chinese fascination with separation and reunion. Drawing on his field studies in Taiwan and mainland China, he gives a vivid account of raucous festivals of reunion, elaborate rituals for the sending-off of gods (and daughters), poetic moments of leave-takings between friends, and bitter political rhetoric about Chinese national unity. The idioms and practices of separation and re…
Living with Separation in China
Langage et apprentissage des nombres en Chine et à Taïwan
Cet article décrit le développement des savoirs relatifs aux nombres en Chine et à Taïwan. Les enfants des communautés rurales y sont rapidement immergés dans une « culture numérique » comparativement complexe. Cette complexité même soulève des questions fondamentales sur les significations (extrêmement variables) attachées aux nombres - tant en Chine qu'ailleurs - et sur le processus par lequel les enfants commencent à acquérir les différents ty…
Linguistic and cultural variables in the psychology of numeracy
Although anthropologists pride themselves on paying attention to the small details of everyday life, experimental psychologists arguably have an even smaller scale of research – examining variables such as infant staring time and the speed at which words are pronounced. This paper considers the impact of these different approaches to scale and selectivity in research objects, focusing in particular on studies of Pirahã and Chinese numerical cogni…
Numbers and the Natural History of Imagining the Self in Taiwan and China
In the Chinese cultural tradition, numbers may be seen as meaningful, creative, even poetic things, and they figure prominently in accounts of the self. Rather than 'reducing people to numbers', quantification is used - by at least some people some of the time - as a mode of differentiating themselves from others, a means of narrating unique life experiences. This paper explores the role of numbers in accounts of the self, drawing primarily on a …
Introduction
Some qualitative mathematics in China
In this article, inspired by Lévi-Strauss's comments on 'qualitative mathematics', I outline some features of Chinese cultural practices related to number and quantification. More specifically, I note that Chinese numerological practices are embedded in a more generally 'structuralist' and mathematical way of conceiving experience; that taken together they comprise a loose, and even 'creative' (rather than precise/rationalistic) type of life-acco…
Misfortune and What Can Be Done About It
Drawing primarily on ethnographic material from Taiwan, this article focuses on misfortune and, more especially, on the ques- tion of whether people are felt to deserve what happens to them-be it bad or good. I examine the cases of several people who have suffered misfortune in life, exploring ways in which they might actively try to make good things happen as a way of convincing others, and indeed themselves, that they are, after all, good. In c…
Being careful what you wish for
This article takes ethnographic material from rural China and Taiwan and relates it to recent theories and findings in the psychology and economics of happiness. In brief, psychologists suggest that humans are not on the whole very good at "affective forecasting," that is, at predicting their own emotions; this is consequential when, for example, they pursue money in order to be happy-not realizing that having more money will probably not, in fac…
Ordinary Ethics in China
What is Going to Happen Next?
By contrast with the enterprising hopefulness of the former, and the daydreaming hopelessness of the latter, there is also, perhaps, the possibility of indifference. Of course, Chinese cosmology is a very particular type of cultural-historical artefact, as is the more general ‘numerical orientation’—in many respects very highly elaborated—within Chinese culture and thought. By contrast, learning the patterns of the universe seems a trickier busin…
Questions of Anthropology
Part Four. Punishment and Personal Dignity
Irritation, Cooperation, and Human Relationships
Irritation, defined here as the conscious experience of feeling annoyed, plays a significant role in human relationships of many kinds. Indeed, it seems that some of our most important relationships persist for decades in a state of chronic everyday irritation. In this article, we examine this striking yet understudied phenomenon, drawing on cross-cultural evidence, including a set of interviews from China, Finland, and the United States about ir…
Sociology (14 works) · China (12 works) · Political science (11 works) · History (10 works) · History (9 works) · Law (9 works) · Philosophy (9 works) · Chinese history and philosophy (7 works) · Art (6 works) · Philosophy (6 works)