Open Fire: Understanding Global Gun Cultures - Hardcover

Charles Springwood

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1845204166 ISBN 13: 9781845204167

Publisher: Berg Publishers, 2006

Synopsis

Guns are everywhere: three quarters of a billion guns - from pistols to machine guns - exist in the world today. And guns are everything: a hard-won symbol of individual freedom, an index of crime and disorder, a whole industry legitimately contributing to an economy, a popular piece of sports equipment, and an object of desire, endlessly duplicated by toys, video games and films. Open Fire presents a broad analysis of the social, cultural and political significance of firearms and the worlds they create. Illustrated with a wide range of case material - from North and South America, Europe, Asia and Africa - Open Fire explores and questions this global icon of our times. Why do guns proliferate? What does it mean to shoot or to be shot? Who owns guns and who does not? How is a firearm, a manufactured thing, very different from any other object? Is there such a thing as a gun psychology"? How are firearms regarded in places where they are largely non-existent? Is a gun a different thing when held by a white man?"

About this title

About the Author

Charles Fruehling Springwood is Associate Professor of Anthropology and Asian Studies at Illinois Wesleyan University.

Edition details

• Publisher: Berg Publishers
• Publication date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1845204166
• ISBN 13: 9781845204167
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 240