Chechens Culture and Society [Hardcover]

Chechens: Culture and Society is an ethnography that elaborates the lived experiences of Chechens, focusing primarily on relationships and socio-cultural norms within the context of the current conflict in the Chechen Republic.1. Introduction 2. Living in Tales 3. Cultural Symbolisms 4. Men and Women 5. In the Looking Glass, and Looking Out 6. Chechens as Refugees 7. Development: What Way Forward? 8. Additional Literature and Discussion

This is a heroic attempt to capture the life and soul of a nation in an ethnographic study of Chechens whom the author knew and at times lived with in Ingushetia and Turkey over a period of ten years in total. She provides a detailed look at their norms, culture, values and roles both as they were ideally portrayed by the Chechens and as she saw them expressed and played out. We can thank Katherine Layton for giving us an account that is far more detailed and interesting than most of what we have been reading about this cultural/national group mostly unknown and often mis-portrayed to the American reader.

- Vandra L. Masemann, University of Toronto, Canada

Katherine S. Layton's research targets the nexus of politics and culture, the concept of development , and the paradoxes of culture and rights. A former human rights professional, Layton has nearly twenty years of fieldwork experience with refugees in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, the North Caucasus, and Turkey. Currently, she teaches courses in Political Science and Qualitative Methods at Tallahassee Community College, USA.