Charlene Makley's The Battle for Fortune sets a new standard for ethnographic studies of Tibetan communities in China. The book, which derives from research in the Rebgong region of Qinghai Province, is written at three levels. First are descriptions of material markers and symbolic enactments of identity in everyday life. A second level comprises analyses of micropolitics and debates over how to forge a meaningful future. The third level consists of applications of theorized constructs drawn from sociocultural and linguistic anthropology. Makley stresses this last level in her goals for the book, that is, to contribute to a dialogic model of social relations and demonstrate how interpretive practices shape experiences of materiality, embodied personhood, and power under state-led development. The book's five chapters illustrate Rebgong villagers’ encounters with state agents and their efforts to secure state favor, which Makley sums up with the metaphor of a battle for “fortune,” referencing...

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