Book Description
If you want to know what anthropology is, look at what anthropologists do. This Very Short Introduction to Social and Cultural Anthropology combines an accessible account of some of the disciplines guiding principles and methodology with abundant examples and illustrations of anthropologists at work. Peter Just and John Monaghan begin by discussing anthropologys most important contributions to modern thought: its investigation of culture as a distinctively human characteristic, its doctrine of cultural relativism, and its methodology of fieldwork and ethnography.They then examine specific ways in which social and cultural anthropology have advanced our understanding of human society and culture, drawing on examples from their own fieldwork.The book ends with an assessment of anthropologys present position, and a look forward to its likely future. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

using this for undergrads
After disheartening forays into text books and frustration at readers that are either too thematic or otherwise not quite right for a quick orientation in the discipline, I decided to check this out.This is about as perfect a scene-setter as I could ask for for either an intro course or any course that is likely to attract students who do not have an anthropological background.It's pocket-sized, it's affordable, it's readable, and it's SMART.It coverstheoretical debates in a straight-forward and understandable way that shows why anyone should care about evolution vs. diffusion (to name one example).This little book as does about a good a job as any at showing how (and why) anthropologists and others use the word "post-modernity" (pg 69). The field examples are well chosen and engaging. The chapters are of a length and written in a style students are likely to read.Even better, the authors give enough tantalizing detail that I suspect it will inspire students to read MORE.

A very good Introduction
The first time I laid my hands on this little pocket size book I could not put it away until I drained out all its information. This book really gave a very concise idea about anthropology and its subfields. The authors provided valuable first hand examples about their experiences as anthropologists and ethnographers. This book is perfect for those who would like to get a brief understanding of what anthropology is about and also good for experts because the authors managed to incorporate some of the most relevant anthropologists.

A Very Smart Introduction
I wanted my 100th review for Amazon to be for something I could wholeheartedly recommend, and this is it.

The authors manage, within severe space restrictions, to convey the essential features of their discipline, an outline of its history and development, and an indication of the philosophical and moral issues that it raises.

Monaghan's work with the Mixtec of Central America and Just's work with the Dou Donggo of Indonesia are used as sources for the anecdotal details that are used throughout the book to illustrate aspects of anthropology.This is very much a description of anthropology as a practical endeavor, a hands-on discipline whose theories are firmly grounded in the everyday lives of human beings.

Broader theoretical contexts, such as are found in Marxism or Structuralism, are touched on but no more.Those are the things you go on to read about after your appetite has been whetted by an excellent introduction such as this.

Not Mired In Postmodern Rhetoric
This is the first Anthropology introduction I have read that doesn't get bogged down in postmodern academic speak.It was very clear and interesting, with good examples.

This was the first VSI I read and it made me fall in love with the series.

Get a first impression of the field
This is a great little book to get a first impression of anthropology. The two authors present different historical developments and schools of thought. I had not know anything about this academic field before, but this book made me want to read more. Especially helpful with that were the examples that pertained to the authors' own fieldwork in Mexico and Indonesia. Reading about bee larvas and onion soup just makes the ideas presented more "real". ... Read more

Book Description
In Anthropology and Social Theory the award-winning anthropologist Sherry B. Ortner draws on her longstanding interest in theories of cultural practice to rethink key concepts of culture, agency, and subjectivity for the social sciences of the twenty-first century. The seven theoretical and interpretive essays in this volume each advocate reconfiguring, rather than abandoning, the concept of culture. Similarly, they all suggest that a theory which depends on the interested action of social beings—specifically practice theory, associated especially with the work of Pierre Bourdieu—requires a more developed notion of human agency and a richer conception of human subjectivity. Ortner shows how social theory must both build upon and move beyond classic practice theory in order to understand the contemporary world.

Some of the essays reflect explicitly on theoretical concerns: the relationship between agency and power, the problematic quality of ethnographic studies of resistance, and the possibility of producing an anthropology of subjectivity. Others are ethnographic studies that apply Ortner’s theoretical framework. In these, she investigates aspects of social class, looking at the relationship between race and middle-class identity in the United States, the often invisible nature of class as a cultural identity and as an analytical category in social inquiry, and the role that public culture and media play in the creation of the class anxieties of Generation X. Written with Ortner’s characteristic lucidity, these essays constitute a major statement about the future of social theory from one of the leading anthropologists of our time.

... Read more

Book 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 UniversityOther 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.Joy Hendry is Professor of Social Anthropology at Oxford Brookes University. She is the author of many books, including Wrapping Culture: Politeness, Presentation and Power in Japan and Other Societies. ... Read more

Book Description
The Encyclopedia of Social and Cultural Anthropology provides a unique guide to the ideas, arguments and history of the discipline which discusses human social and cultural life in all its diversity and difference.
Theory, ethnography and history are combined in over 230 substantial entries on topics as wide ranging as race, postmodernism, witchcraft and essentialism, magic and methodology.

Areas covered

* History of anthropological research, colonialism, orientalism and occidentalism, theories of culture and society
* Kinship, gender and family, marriage, the body
* Ritual and religion, language and linguistics, poetics, literacy, aesthetics, film, museums
* Relations with other disciplines (e.g. archaeology, sociology)

Structure and key features

Comprehensive coverage - over 230 substantial entries provide detailed information on every major idea, individual and sub-discipline of social and cultural anthropology. The entries give insights into anthropological thinking and definitions of specific terms.
International and up-to-date - over 100 international contributors, all experts in their fields, write clearly yet provocatively. They provide a variety of perspectives on crucial debates in anthropology today.
Covers key terms, ideas and people - the Encyclopedia eliminates the need to refer to other books for specific definitions or biographies. It contains a glossary with short explanations of more than 600 key terms and ideas. A biographical appendix details the lives and work of over 250 important figures in the history of anthropology.

Unique interdisciplinary approach - this is the only encyclopedia of social and cultural anthropology to cover fully the many important areas of overlap between anthropology and related disciplines, from history and literary studies to social psychology. Such topics include semantics, evolutionary theory and the influence of social theorists such as Marx, Durkheim and Weber.No other encyclopedia takes such a broad approach.
Highly accessible and easy to use - alphabetically organized and with extensive cross-referencing and indexing leading readers to specific definitions and explanations. Fully annotated primary and secondary bibliographies focus on established classics as well as recent works and provide further reading signposts to aid research. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Encyclopedia of Social and Cultural Anthropology
I am studying anthropological courses in the university and bought the encyclopedia to help and guide me through the new terms I encountered. For these purposes I found this book extremely unhelpful. This is definitely not a book for students, those who start studying anthropology, but rather for those who already know a lot about the science.

For example, here is the definition of essentialism:

"Essentialism commonly appears as both a violation of anthropological relativism and one of the besetting conceptual sins of anthropology. Exemplified by such totalizing ideologies as nationalims and biological determinism, it is also frequently conflated with reification, objectivism and literalism". Etc.

For me in order to understand this definition, I need to read 3-4 page articles in the same encyclopedia about: relativism, biological determinism, objectivism, literalism. And even after that I don't think I will be able to understand what the authors wanted to say by this definition. And its the same almost about every other term or concept I was looking up.

Of course, if you are familiar with all these terms - it is easy, but then do you really need this encyclopedia.

A frustrating experience for me. This publication is collecting dust on a shelf now, and I turned to more popular publications, like "What is anthropology" (terms are explained in a much more accessible language), "Understanding social and cultural anthropology", etc. And... never underestimate wikipedia, the best for me as a student.

Would strongly not recommmend this book for students and whoever is starting to learn anthropology. Will advise it to my anthropology university professor with 20 years teaching experience, he may find it interesting.

Max

A loyal friend
This book is invaluable. Whatever be your interest in anthropology, this will serve as a comprehensive guide and jumping off point for all areas of the discipline.It is easy to follow, well-written and full of references for further reading.Although it is not suitable for in-depth study (as the title suggests, it is an encyclopedia), it is a fantastic aid for clarifying and summarizing a broad spectrum of topics. For students and the novice, this book is a gem, just don't rely on it to get you through your exams. ... Read more

Book Description
This unprecedented collection of articles is an introduction to the study of cultural variations in childhood across the world and to the theoretical frameworks for investigating and interpreting them.

Book 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.

Book Description
A Reader in the Anthropology of Religion is a collection of some of the most significant classic and contemporary writings in the field. Updated in its second edition, this volume examines numerous aspects of religion in a diversity of cultures and expands upon the idea of what we mean by ‘religion’, linking it to some of the broader questions of culture and politics.

• Collects classic and contemporary articles from the major thinkers in both North American and British anthropology


• Emphasizes the ongoing conversation among anthropologists with respect to central questions of religious behavior


• Presents comprehensive coverage of theory and religious practice, through time and ethnographic regions, integrated by editorial commentary


• Includes additional classic pieces by Pouillon, Burridge, and Meyerhoff, as well as more contemporary work by Harding, De Boeck, and Palmié


• Includes indexed bibliography arranged according to both ethnographic region and religious topics and practices

Customer Reviews (1)

The best anthology on the market, at least for the price
As an anthropologist who teaches a course on the anthropology of religion, I looked at all the available anthologies, as well as textbooks.This is by far the best anthology, especially for the price. Some are up to $100, which is an awful lot to ask an undergrad to spend.Even compared to those, which can be large and dense, this one stands out for a particular reason.

Most of its competitors present their offerings in a kind of mechanical and sequential way: "here is a section on myth, here is a section on ritual, etc."After using Lambek's text for the second time, I really began to appreciate how his book has a trajectory.It is really "up to something."Unlike the others, he is subtly developing a perspective, and the selections contribute almost universally to that perspective.I think even the students began to realize what he was trying to accomplish and approved of it.
The book is not perfect.It is heavy on ritual and short on some other topics.It does little or nothing with specialists, and nothing at all with altered states of consciousness/hallucinogens.Some of the selections are probably too hard for undergrads, and the piece by Wittgenstein, while he is important, does not convey enough of his thinking to be particularly helpful.
I understand a new edition is forthcoming.I know that I will be using it and encourage others to do so as well. ... Read more

Book Description
This new text for courses in Medical Anthropology, one of the hottest areas in the discipline as a whole, looks at CULTURAL definitions of health to look at health itself--which means that it is not so much about healing/medicine as it is about the entire social/cultural construct of health. The text attempts to bridge the gap between physical and cultural approaches to medical anthropology. ... Read more

Book Description
Landscape has long had a submerged presence within anthropology, both as a framing device which informs the way the anthropologist brings his or her study into "view", and as the meaning imputed by local people to their cultural and physical surroundings.A principal aim of this volume follows from these interconnected ways of considering landscape: the conventional, Western notion of "landscape" may be used as a productive point of departure from which to explore analogous ideas; local ideas can in turn reflexively be used to interrogate the Western construct.The Introduction argues that landscape should be conceptualized as a cultural process: a process located between place and space, foreground actuality and background potentiality, image and representation.In the chapters that follow, nine noted anthropologists and an art historian exemplify this approach, drawing on a diverse set of case studies.These range from an analysis of Indian calendar art to an account of Israeli nature tourism, and from the creation of a metropolitan "gaze" in nineteenth-century Paris to the soundscapes particular to the Papua New Guinean rainforests.The anthropological perspectives developed here are of cross-disciplinary relevance; geographers, art historians, and archaeologists will be no less interested than anthropologists in this re-envisaging of the notion of landscape. ... Read more

Book 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

Book Description
This anthology provides a single-volume overview of the essential theoretical debates in the anthropology of art. Drawing together significant work in the field from the second half of the twentieth century, it enables readers to appreciate the art of different cultures at different times.

• Advances a cross-cultural concept of art that moves beyond traditional distinctions between Western and non-Western art.
  
• Provides the basis for the appreciation of art of different cultures and times.
  
• Enhances readers’ appreciation of the aesthetics of art and of the important role it plays in human society.

Book Description

Book Description
This concise introduction to biological (physical) anthropology discusses the core areas of the discipline within a unique framework modeled on the scientific method. Each chapter poses questions that get at the heart of the field, answers them, and then reexamines them in the same way that scientists generate and test hypotheses. ... Read more

Book Description
Rather than present Cultural Anthropology as an encyclopedic array of somewhat unrelated facts, this highly successful text focuses on the relationships between these discrete facts, consistently explaining them within the broader context--as individual pieces that combine to make up a whole of the human puzzle.When combined with the text's understandable writing style, free built-in study guide, and excellent illustrations, this helps make Crapo one of the most approachable, student-friendly books available for the Cultural Anthropology course. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

As a high school text
I am using this book as the core text for a high school anthro class in a well to do public school.The content is excellent, though students sometimes have problems sustaining their concentration when assigned to read lengthy sections.I do like all of the hot social issues that this text allows me to discuss with students.Crapo would do well to trim/edit this text down by about 1/3 to really create an excellent school text. ... Read more

Book Description
Comprehensive, readable and written for the student, Haviland/Prins/Walwrath/McBride's market-leading text, CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY, is a highly relevant, high-quality teaching tool. The narrative voice of the text has been thoroughly internationalized and the "we:they" Western voice has been replaced with an inclusive one that will resonate with both Western and non-Western students and professors. In addition, gender, ethnicity, and stratification concepts and terminologies have been completely overhauled in accordance with contemporary thinking and the narrative streamlined using more fully developed, balanced, and global examples. In CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY, the authors present students with examples of "local responses" to challenging globalization issues, designed to provide students with a "cross-cultural survival guide"for living in the diverse, multicultural world of the 21st century. This edition is a truly exciting and unique examination into the field of cultural anthropology, its insights, its relevance, and the continuing role of cultural survival issues. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (14)

Great read
Even though I needed this book for a class it was very interesting. Glad that my instructor chose it.It does not focus on one group of people, it shares information about a large number of various cultures across the world.

Curtral Anthropology in a Detailed Sense
I wouldn't have normally purchased this book if it wasn't for a course requirement. From chapter one all the way to the end, the authors take the reader or student through a detailed interface of what life is like experienced in other cultures. It touches upon the four different career interests in cultural anthropology as well. A time consuming read, but loaded with useful information for in and out of the class room.

Terrible Book!!!
I tried to read and like this book; I really did. But after about 1/3 I refused to go on. Nothing truly worthy while is in this book, the writers do nothing but praise anthropology without telling you more about it, and all information is from a naturalistic, relativism, and liberal stand point. Anthropology hinges on the stance taken, and I think these writers would discover much by opening their minds.

anthro text
for a text book, this book is ok. It's a bit dry.. and for some unknown reason the words.. "that being said" are in the front of a lot of sentences.. The cd has links to a lot of web sites and what not, I thought it would be more "live" action but it's mostly websites.. book is understandable and basicaly an easy read. There is a very lefty spin on the book. The portrayal of industrialization as evil..and all these "traditional cultures" as the only "good" way to live despite their wars and what not, that's seen as "ok" or conflict resolution, apparently if you go to war nude, it's better than if you're wearing army fatigues..

Poor Excuse for Required Reading
Just as with Haviland, et al - Anthropology: The Human Challenge (with CD-ROM and InfoTrac®), there is to much opinion and to little good science.
Certainly a lot of information, but when flavored with such a bias against "Western Civilization" it is 528 pages to be avoided not required reading in an introductory Cultural Antro. course.I hate to use monikers, but this is liberal junk, not a good introduction to the subject of Cultural Antrhopology.One should introduce a science and its methodology to students, not ones personal opinions and possible agendas. ... Read more

Book Description
The Anthropology of Development and Globalization is a collection of readings that provides an unprecedented overview of this field that ranges from the field’s classical origins to today’s debates about the “magic” of the free market.

Book Description
This collection of readings exposes students to the breadth of theoretical viewpoints and issues in the field of medical anthropology. The text provides specific examples and case studies of research as it is applied in a range of health settings — from clinical encounters to preventive services to international health. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Fantastic book on an interesting subject.
This book has to be one of the best primary source collections for the field of Medical Anthropology.Illustrates many of the themes running through the heart of the field fabulously, although it could have been organized better.Highly recommended. ... Read more