Product Description
Based on the author's extensive fieldwork, this classic ethnography, now in its fifth edition, focuses on the Yanomamo. These truly remarkable South American people are one of the few primitive sovereign tribal societies left on earth. This new edition includes events and changes that have occurred since 1992, including a recent trip by the author to the Brazilian Yanomamo in 1995. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (16)

Just what I was expecting and more!!
This seller has done a great job!I appreciated the quick response when I had questions.Thank you so much!!!

The Fierce Nabas
Who says we can't learn anything from primitive peoples?Napolean Chagnon writes a book about the "fierce people," an Amazonian tribe that values violent passion above all, and low and behold -- the Nabas (Norte Americanos) all divide up into tribes and start shooting arrows (or is that errors?) at one another.Chagnon and his fellow "anthros" start wars to film people fight, engage in germ warfare, and don't care about the people they live among.The missionaries give shotguns away that are used for murder, practice cultural imperialism, and work for the CIA.(I believe Hugo Chavez himself pointed that out!)Some guy named Tierney is a dishonest scholar.(Apparently they got that one right, anyway!)

So pick your team, and grab a club.

Meanwhile, if you want a good book about a primitive tribe, both this and Spirit of the Rainforest make great reads, even though they come from opposing factions.Their portrayal of the Yanomamo is generally consistent and fascinating, in a sometimes horrifying way.Chagnon's is more detailed, a bit more objective (though he is certainly not afraid of voicing his opinions, and the personal style and details make the book so much more interesting than just an academic abstract on an Indian tribe).

I appreciated the detail Chagnon offers: the kinds of plants used for arrows, the size of villages, family relations -- though he offered a bit more of that than I wanted -- diet, dance, death, even a bit about "pets."

Spirit of the Rainforest is an even better read, and tells you a lot about the Yanomamo as well.My recommendation: read both.Chagnon didn't always stay in the same village, either.

Sometimes Chagnon touches on what for many may be the most interesting question.To what extent does the violent lifestyle of the Yanomamo reflect that of our own "common ancestors?"Is this what it was like for Cain and Abel?

I've been reading a very interesting, but more difficult book lately called Prehistory of the Americas, which helps answer some of these questions for me.It seems that the earliest tribes were, like the Yanomamo, small kinship groups -- even smaller, wandering bands, mostly living on big game. (mammoths, etc).Graves seem to suggest at times more equality between the sexes, and perhaps less violence, though I'm still a little unsure about that.

What is shocking is that settled peoples in the Americas seem to become, if anything, less attractive.Their diet goes south (food does not seem to be the problem for the Yanomamo), and then hierarchy develops, slavery, and human sacrifice, which seems to get worse as time goes by.Nor is Sumer much better.All of which is to say, I am coming in the process to appreciate our great prophets more -- Confucius, Lao Zi, Epictetus, Buddha, Isaiah, and Jesus -- and what they've done for the human race.Sometimes Chagnon, while recognizing how nasty life has been for the Yanomamo, seems to acquiesce in the nastiness, to display a kind of "zookeeper" mentality towards primitive tribes.He seems a bit conflicted over the issue.

My own feeling is that these two tribes of nabas, anthros and missionaries, can learn a lot from one another. Understanding a people should not, after all, conflict with helping them.Maybe the naba tribes should get together and have a feast.

Hmm
It had some highlighting in it which I didn't expect but at least I have the book for class now!

Great for my anthro. class
Great book for an introduction to the yanomamo. It was interesting and great for my anthropology class. Very helpul to understand the different culture.

Yanomami speak out against Chagnon's work
Although an interesting read, it would be so because it is filled with false information. Davi Kopenawa Yanomami claims not only did Chagnon misrepresent the Yanomamo, but also offered them gifts to fight among themselves so he could take pictures and record the sounds of the fight. In a 2001 interview with Janet Chernela he says the following: "To repeat, Chagnon is not a good friend of our relatives. He lived there, but he acted against other relatives. He had a lot of pans. I remember the pans....When he arrived at the village, and called everyone together, he said 'Whoever is the most courageous will earn more pans. If youkill ten more people I will pay more. If you kill only two, I will pay less.'... This isn't good. This kills. Children cried; fathers, mothers, cried. Only Chagnon was happy. Because in his book, he says we are fierce. We are garbage. The book says this; I saw it. I have the book. He earned a name there, WATUPARI. It means king vulture- that eats decaying meat. ... He ordered the Yanomami to fight. He never spoke about what he was doing.
The purpose of an ethnography is to document, not to fill in gaps to make something more interesting to read. ... Read more

Product Description

Social and Cultural Anthropology: The Key Concepts is an easy to use A-Z guide to the central disciplines students will encounter in this field. Fully updated, the second edition includes new entries on:

• aesthetics
• egalitarianism
• the everyday
• landscape
• power
• the state.

With full cross-referencing and revised further reading highlighting the latest writings in Social and Cultural Anthropology, this is the ideal resource for anyone studying or teaching this subject.

Product Description
A new Cultural Anthropology Telecourse titled, Cultural Anthropology: Our Diverse World, will be available fall 2007. This new Telecourse provides online and print companion study guide options that include study aids, interactive exercises, video, and more. ... Read more

Product Description
The "Handbook of Methods in Cultural Anthropology" establishes a benchmark for synthesizing anthropological research practices over the past 100 years. Avoiding the divisive debates over science and humanism, the authors contributing to this important volume draw upon both traditions to define and describe anthropological fieldwork in practice. Authored by 27 of the leaders in the discipline, these chapters provide the reader with comprehensive, contemporary descriptions of the methods that anthropologists use, the logic behind them, and the complex problems that field research with humans entails. In addition to traditional participant observation and related strategies, the "Handbook" examines historical methods, surveys, linguistic methods, comparative research, social intervention, and visual anthropology as ways in which anthropologists seek to understand the world. Related questions of research strategies and designs, ethics, epistemology, and presentation of anthropological results round out the volume. This is an essential reference tool for all academic, professional and graduate-level anthropologists, and will also be of inestimable value to other social researchers who use field methods in their work. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

This book is HUGE
A HUGE book, but everyone should have this on their shelf. You will need this book to refrence throughout most of your anthropology life. It was required as an undergrad, after I finished the class I sold it....BIG MISTAKE! It was required for my MA/PhD, and I used it many times outside of class. ... Read more

Product Description
A Companion to the Anthropology of India offers a broad overview of the rapidly evolving scholarship on Indian society from the earliest area studies to views of India’s globalization in the twenty-first century.

• Provides readers with an important new introduction to the anthropology of India
• Explores the larger global issues that have transformed India since the end of colonization, including demographic, economic, social, cultural, political, and religious issues
• Contributions by leading experts present up-to-date, comprehensive coverage of key topics such as population and life expectancy, civil society, social-moral relationships, caste and communalism, youth and consumerism, the new urban middle class, environment and health, tourism, public and religious cultures, politics and law
• Represents an authoritative guide for professional social and cultural anthropologists, and South Asian specialists, and an accessible reference work for students engaged in the analysis of India’s modern transformation

Product Description
This introduction to the field of cultural anthropology from a Christian perspective exposes students to the excitement and significance of human history and culture. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

surprised
Although the book arrived timely, I feel it was misrepresented. The description said it was 'very good' with regard to its condition. Unfortunately it has magic marker throughout the entire book. Usually 'very good' is meant as one step below 'new'. This was not the case. I order from Amazon often and I was surprised at the low quality. Acceptable would have been a better description.

Classic Book on Christian Anthropology
If you are new to Christian Anthropology, you may not have heard of Paul Heibert.If you are well read, you will know that Hiebert is one of the giants in this field.While this book was written in 1983, it is still being used extensively.Hiebert has written many books and if you read them, you will see that he often repeats himself by dealing with the same or similar topics in different books.This book is a very thorough presentation of Christian views towards Cultural Anthropology.

The book is highly recommended for missionaries or anyone who is studying other cultures. ... Read more

Product Description
Environmental Anthropology: A Reader is a collection of historically significant readings, dating from early in the twentieth century up to the present, on the cross-cultural study of relations between people and their environment.

• Provides the historical perspective that is typically missing from recent work in environmental anthropology
• Includes an extensive intellectual history and commentary by the volume’s editors
• Offers a unique perspective on current interest in cross-cultural environmental relations
• Divided into five thematic sections: (1) the nature/culture divide; (2) relationship between environment and social organization; (3) methodological debates and innovations; (4) politics and practice; and (5) epistemological issues of environmental anthropology
• Organized into a series of paired papers, which ‘speak’ to each other, designed to encourage readers to make connections that they might not customarily make

Customer Reviews (1)

Culture and the Environment - A Relationship
This book was a part of my Environmental ANthropology Undergraduate course. Out of the three main books we used, this one stands as my favorite. It provides a wonderful variety of case studies and various points of view from all over the world. I highly recommend this book both for course work and for your own everyday knowledge. ... Read more

Product Description
Evolutionism and Cultural Anthropology traces the interaction of evolutionary thought and anthropological theory from Herbert Spencer to the twenty-first century. It is a focused examination of how the idea of evolution has continued to provide anthropology with a master principle around which a vast body of data can be organized and synthesized. Erudite and readable, and quoting extensively from early theorists (such as Edward Tylor, Louis Henry Morgan, John McLennan, Henry Maine, and James Frazer) so that the reader might judge them on the basis of their own words, Evolutionism and Cultural Anthropology is useful reading for courses in anthropological theory and the history of anthropology. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (1)

A wonderful and innovative collection
This is a wonderful and innovative collection. The various authors look at different ways that people talk about aliens and extraterrestrials and use these case studies to examine some important issues about contemporary culture, like (1) ideas about what it means to be "human," (2) notions of "visitors" and "encounters," and (3) ideas of "here" and "elsewhere." It's read to teach with (students love talking about UFOs!) and also good as a source of ideas of all kinds. There's a whole emerging literature in anthropology and other disciplines tackling these kinds of topics, and much of it is quite exciting and provocative - certainly true for this volume! ... Read more

Product Description
We, The Alien is a genuine attempt by the author to do something different with the presentation of cultural anthropology. It is devoted to the idea that cultural anthropology an important topic for all individuals to explore because it provides a means for people to gain new insights about themselves and to stretch their imaginations. The book’s approachable, humanistic discussions offer different points of view. Readers can examine their own and other cultures from the outside looking in. The goal of the book is to promote ethnographic insight. The author, a widely respected senior anthropologist whose earlier books established the standards of relevance, readability, and professional concern, introduces all the primary subfields of anthropology as well as areas of specialization with a quiet tone of authority that is both personal and inspiring. (Not-for-sale instructor resource material available to college and university faculty only; contact the publisher directly.) ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Mediocre Text
I read this textbook as part of a university core class.The book is fairly well organized, and as a previous reviewer states it is refreshingly free of the "history of anthropology" approach most texts take.However, the material is heavily laced with Bohannan's opinions.While everyone has opinions, in the sciences (or science-like endeavors) one expects to hear at least lip service given to counterpoints.The text shows no balance at all...it is almost propaganda in support of one person's view of anthropology.The readability suffers from a self-conscious politically correct writing style.
I would retitle this book as "A Heavy Handed Anti-Ethnocentric/Gendercentric Primer."That seems to be more the point than cultural anthropology is.
The book is physically poorly printed.The print runs into the binding so much that you must break the binding to be able to read the last few characters.The pages are so busy with rather pointless illustrations as to be distracting.The illustrations are often more confusing than helpful.

a fresh perspective
I teach cultural anthropology to undergraduates.I have seen a lot of textbooks on this subject.Bohannan's text is different from all the others.In my opinion, the difference lies in the intent behind the writing.All the other authors intend to tell students about what anthropologists do and what anthropologists have learned.Bohannan intends to present questions and observations for students to ponder.The others present findings.His book presents the possibility for insight and personal growth - something everyone needs, regardless of whether they want to "be" an anthropologist.I would recommend this book not only to students of anthropology, but also to anyone who wants to explore what it means and can mean to be human.

Cultural Anthro. textbook, good scope, well written.
This book was the main text for a cultural anthro correspondence course I took through the University of California, Berkeley in 1997-1998.

The book is about 350 pages, 8x11 format, black and white, no color. I would rate the typography and lay-out as average to somewhat below average. Graphics are simple block diagrams. Text is dense but easy on the eyes. The book is organized around the following broad topics: people, kinship, power, meaning, context, and has 15 chapters.

I enjoyed reading the book. Bohannan has a conversational, clear writing style that keeps the book from being dry and scholastic. The scope of the book is excellent. He covers a wide variety of topics very thoroughly, The book is punctuated with side-bars titled "We the Alien". They contain examples of parts of our own culture that illustrate the topics in the book--and do it in avery surprising way.

His goal in writing the book is to use other cultures to make us much more aware of our own. He accomplishes this very well. Lots of thought-provoking material. ... Read more

Product Description
Annual Editions is a series of over 65 volumes, each designed to provide convenient, inexpensive access to a wide range of current articles from some of the most respected magazines, newspapers, and journals published today. Annual Editions are updated on a regular basis through a continuous monitoring of over 300 periodical sources. The articles selected are authored by prominent scholars, researchers, and commentators writing for a general audience. The Annual Editions volumes have a number of common organizational features designed to make them particularly useful in the classroom: a general introduction; an annotated table of contents; a topic guide; an annotated listing of selected World Wide Web sites; and a brief overview for each section. Each volume also offers an online Instructor's Resource Guide with testing materials. Using Annual Editions in the Classroom is offered as a practical guide for instructors.Visit www.mhcls.com for more details. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Annual Editions Review
The product was exactly as advertised. The only complaint I have is that it took too long to receive. The product didn't arrive at my mailbox until 3 weeks later. It should not take that long to ship a book.

Good Book
The articles complied for this book are eye opening and very interesting. It makes reading fun and the class go by past.

Fast Shipping
Very Fast shipping. Book was packaged well and was in better condition than I anticipated. Overall, it was wonderful ordering from you.

Shipped fast!!!
The shipment was fast. It did not even take more than a week. The product came in fairly new, no damages or anything. The seller's desciption was pretty accurate and seller shipped it fast. Definitely recommended!!! ... Read more

Product Description

Cultural Anthropology: Global forces, local lives  is an accessible ethnographically rich cultural anthropology textbook which gives a coherent  and refreshingly new vision of the discipline and its subject matter—human diversity. The fifteen chapters and three extended case studies present all of the necessary areas of cultural anthropology, organizing them in conceptually and thematically meaningful and original ways. 

A full one-third of its content is dedicated to important global and historical cultural phenomena such as colonialism, nationalism, ethnicity and ethnic conflict, economic development, environmental issues, cultural revival, fundamentalism, and popular culture.  The more conventional topics of anthropology (language, economics, kinship, politics, religion, race) are integrated into this broader discussion to reflect the changing content of contemporary courses.

This well written and well organised text has been trialled both in the classroom and online. The author has extensive teaching experience and is especially good at presenting material clearly matching his exposition to the pace of students' understanding.

Specially designed in colour to be useful to today's students, Cultural Anthropology: Global forces, local lives:

• supports study with chapter case studies on subjects as diverse as "Doing Anthropology at Microsoft" to "Banning Religious Symbols in France"
• explains difficult key terms with marginal glosses and links related topics with marginal cross-references
• assists revision with boxed chapter summaries, an extensive bibliography and index
• illustrates concepts and commentary with a vivid range of photographs drawn from the most contemporary anthropological sources
• provides a support website which includes study guides, powerpoint presentations, chapter supplements, multiple-choice, essay, and assignment questions, a model course mapped to the textbook, a flashcard glossary of terms, links to useful maps

Product Description
How do people learn and experience their culture? How do people make a living? What does it mean to be in a family? How do we make sense of peoples’ beliefs and ritual practices? In exploring questions such as these, this cultural anthropology reader focuses on contemporary global concerns and includes a significant number of articles by authors from outside the United States.

A dynamic development in the fourth edition is the inclusion of“Anthropology and Public Debate” sections, in which opposing anthropological arguments on current hot topics are featured. In addition, “Doing Fieldwork” essays consider the nature and dilemmas of fieldwork, the changing status of the field, the nature of anthropological learning in the field, and ethical issues and dilemmas. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Talking to People Review
Although the book was in very good condition it took almost 4 weeks for the book to arrive. I am not sure whether this has to do with the seller or the post-office, however other books ordered at the same time through other sellers arrived weeks earlier. ... Read more

Product Description
Linguistic Anthropology: A Reader is a comprehensive collection of the best work that has been published in this exciting and growing area of anthropology, and is organized to provide a guide to key issues in the study of language as a cultural resource and speaking as a cultural practice.

• Revised and updated, this second edition contains eight new articles on key subjects, including speech communities, the power and performance of language, and narratives
• Selections are both historically oriented and thematically coherent, and are accessibly grouped according to four major themes: speech community and communicative competence; the performance of language; language socialization and literacy practices; and the power of language
• An extensive introduction provides an original perspective on the development of the field and highlights its most compelling issues
• Each section includes a brief introductory statement, sets of guiding questions, and list of recommended readings on the main topics

Customer Reviews (2)

Language is Power
I just finished reading Alesandro Duranti's 1997 book for my linguistic anthropology core class. I wanted to take the opportunity here to comment on this book. A. Duranti goes through all of the major theoretical underpinnings and morphological manifestations that the discipline has endured since its inception from the likes of Boas and Sapir in the early 20th century. It has changed and gone through many necessary changes during its lifetime. In order to truly place our finger on the intentions of the "other," we must strive to open a dialogue with the "other" through the practice of speaking, analysis of discourse, and make assumptions based on interpretations to better understand the cultural baggage each one of us carries. This is healthy and natural, and summarizes what it means to be human. Linguistic anthropology taps into human psychology, and the social enterprise in many ways that I have never been able to imagine. A. Duranti eloquently explains linguistic anthropology's rightful place as a science and a discipline worthy of perpetuation in posterity. I sincerely hope others read it in order to assist in this perpetuation of what it means to be human through the practice of speaking.

Liked its approach
Reading this book I felt Duranti to be less of a linguist and more of an anthropologist--which I found to be a useful approach, giving quite a different perspective on the field than, for example, William Foley's book of similar title. Especially interesting were the sections on fieldworkmethodology and ethics, a topic which I haven't seen covered in other bookson linguistic anthropology. However, some of the linguistic stuff couldhave been explained in more detail, and Duranti doesn't include as much onrecent perspectives as some others. ... Read more

Product Description
This text introduces basic concepts of cultural anthropology by comparing cultures of increasing scale and focusing on specific universal issues. The author challenges students to consider the "big" questions about the nature of cultural systems: How do cultures of different scale meet the challenge of maximizing human security in a dynamic, often threatening world? What is it like to be human under different cultural conditions? What human inequalities are natural and which are cultural? What are the human costs of socioeconomic growth?..

"Understanding how tribes, states, and global systems work and how they differ might help citizens design a more secure and equitable world," argues Bodley; it is this advocacy position that informs the text.. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

OK
A lot of interesting information but mostly written in the least interesting way possible.The author obviously thinks very highly of himself, though. ... Read more

Product Description
Lewellen gives us the first analytic overview of an important new subject area in a field that has long been identified with the study of relatively bounded communities. "Globalization" refers to the increasing flows of trade, finance, culture, ideas, and people brought about by the sophisticated technology of communications and travel and by the worldwide spread of neoliberal capitalism. Unlike dependency theory and world systems analysis, which tended to assume a bird's-eye perspective, globalization offers a down-and-dirty, ground-up approach in which ethnographic research is not marginal but essential. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Good, but requires student pre-existing knowledge
I purchased this book to use for a lower level undergraduate course on Globalization and Culture.I thought it would make a good text around which to structure other readings on globalization pertaining to specific indigenous cultures of North and South America.While the chapter headings appear to fit, the level of theoretical knowledge required for the average undergraduate student to use such a text fits for those who have already had a course in theory (leading to a firm foundational understanding of gender and development, identity, and postmodern theory).A lesson learned for adopting a text "sight unseen" (other than an Amazon.com 'Look Inside' preview).As such, this text is more suited to majors in their final semester and graduate level.Bodley's 'Anthropology and Contemporary Human Problems' is probably a more apt fit for undergraduates.

straightforward and in centered on current issues
I'm not sure why anyone would rate this book poorly, or say that it is too complicated a read.I am an anthropologist who has read many texts on globalization and this book is as straightforward and contemporaneous as it gets.Lewellen has created a great synthesis of the field of global research with historical foundations that are clear. If you want to get grounded in the subject of globalization, and the problems and issues that researchers face, start here. Yes, it is not a fun read, but the field is in need of a text like this to be able to explain in undergraduate terminolgy, the intricacies of global economic processes.

Not my idea of a good time
I found Lewellen to be very wordy and dry.I read the book for Contemporary Anthropological Theory at my university and had to write a 15 page paper on it.I had to read the book twice in order to absorb any of it.I have taken four years of anthropology classes and still find the book to be way above my head.This is not a book to read for pleasure.If not in the garbage, it belongs in the classroom with extreme outlining of it, for Lewellen tends to be jumpy and almost scattered.I would not recommend this book to anyone.

great review and overview
This is an excellent introduction, summary and critique of globalization for anthropologists/social scientists/individuals interested in such topics.You'll find the text readable and accessable. The examples are good and the timely as well.If you want one good resource on the topic of globalization, this is it. ... Read more

Product Description
Feminist Anthropology surveys the history of feminist anthropology and offers students and scholars a fascinating collection of both classic and contemporary articles, grouped to highlight key themes from the past and present.

• Offers vibrant examples of feminist ethnographic work rather than synthetic overviews of the field.
  
• Each section is framed by a theoretical and bibliographic essay.
  
• Includes a thoughtful introduction to the volume that provides context and discusses the intellectual “foremothers” of the field, including Margaret Mead, Ruth Landes, Phyllis Kaberry, and Zora Neale Hurston.

Customer Reviews (1)

Satisfied
Some highlighting but thats what I;m using the book for too so it was not a problem. ... Read more

Product Description
"A thoroughgoing introduction for the intelligent reader-written in a highly accessible style, with plenty of excellent examples and clear, sound argumentation. Hendry has done an outstanding job of laying out her vision of the important theoretical positions in cultural and social anthropology, while also telling us about their weaknesses. Her book is not merely a copy of earlier efforts of a similar sort but represents some careful, productive, and highly intelligent rethinking of the priorities."

--Michael Herzfeld, Harvard University

Other People's Worlds offers the perfect introduction to cultural and social anthropology for anyone approaching the subject for the first time. Hendry introduces classic theoretical ideas of the key founders of cultural and social anthropology, placing them in their historical and geographical context. Carefully structured so that one chapter builds on the next, Other People's Worlds covers the core topics in an even-handed and illuminating manner, introducing the reader to divergent views on all the most basic subjects-food, hygiene, gift-exchange, rites of passage, symbolism, religion, politics, and the environment-and raising awareness of the emotional value people place on those views. Covering a wide array of countries, it brings the subject of cultural and social anthropology right into the neighborhood of the reader, wherever they are in the world.

Combining an abundance of references and further readings for the serious student with an immensely readable and engaging writing style, Other People's Worlds offers a compelling introduction to an enigmatic and exciting subject, drawing out its relevance and value for the complex multicultural world in which we live.

... Read more