Coming Of Age In Anthropology

This is the book, and a must read, of the century. It's anthropological history in the re-making. The American Anthropological best seller, the Chief Malopa'upo Isaia, a descendant of the Tuimanu'a (king of Manu'a), the very people in Margaret Mead's book, has now raised some very serious traditional and legal issues, in relation to Margaret Mead's book, Columbia University's role, and the American Anthropological Association's 'professional' role. In his book, "Coming of age in American Anthropology", the Chief is now ordering the removal, withdrawal, and the disassociation, of every material by Margaret Mead on his cultural intellectual property. He has also outlined several legal issues which will have serious ramifications globally, on any academic who undertakes any cultural fieldwork, on someone else's cultural intellectual property. The Coming of age in American Anthropology, may well opens the floodgate to civil lawsuits from the two Samoan Governments for billions of dollars in damages to the business community, the Tourism Industry of Samoa, and from the descendants of the King of Manu'a. It is definitely the case of the century, and a must read for all students of anthropology, psychology, sociology, and law. Chief Malopa'upo Isaia is a name to watch for, as his work will without a doubt change the face of American Anthropology forever.

Millions of people around the world today spend portions of their lives in online virtual worlds. Second Life is one of the largest of these virtual worlds. The residents of Second Life create communities, buy property and build homes, go to concerts, meet in bars, attend weddings and religious services, buy and sell virtual goods and services, find friendship, fall in love--the possibilities are endless, and all encountered through a computer screen. At the time of its initial publication in 2008, Coming of Age in Second Life was the first book of anthropology to examine this thriving alternate universe. Tom Boellstorff conducted more than two years of fieldwork in Second Life, living among and observing its residents in exactly the same way anthropologists traditionally have done to learn about cultures and social groups in the so-called real world. He conducted his research as the avatar "Tom Bukowski," and applied the rigorous methods of anthropology to study many facets of this new frontier of human life, including issues of gender, race, sex, money, conflict and antisocial behavior, the construction of place and time, and the interplay of self and group. Coming of Age in Second Life shows how virtual worlds can change ideas about identity and society. Bringing anthropology into territory never before studied, this book demonstrates that in some ways humans have always been virtual, and that virtual worlds in all their rich complexity build upon a human capacity for culture that is as old as humanity itself. Now with a new preface in which the author places his book in light of the most recent transformations in online culture, Coming of Age in Second Life remains the classic ethnography of virtual worlds.

In the early twentieth century, anthropologist Margaret Mead wrote a seminal book called Coming of Age in Samoa, followed by a second ethnography called Growing Up in New Guinea. Now, anthropologist Pamela Peck borrows from these titles for her latest book, Coming of Age in Anthropology. The similarity is intentional and goes beyond a simple play on words; in less than a century, the world has transformed from a globe of villages to a global village. Whereas before we could go about our lives without much concern for people on the other side of the planet, we are now forced to recognize that the world is one interrelated and interdependent social system. It is time to "come of age" in this new global reality, and anthropology, as the study of humankind, is particularly suited to the task. With this goal in mind, Dr. Peck offers twenty commentaries, selected from the many talks she has delivered to audiences over a period spanning three decades, critically examining our economic, political and ideological institutions so that we might better decide how to have a world. The choice, she states, is clear: either we learn to grow up together, or we do not get to grow up at all.

To present these thoughtfully crafted case studies of undergraduate culture, the author did what anthropologists usually do in more distant cultures: he lived among the natives. His findings are sometimes disturbing, potentially controversial, but somehow very believable. This text presents a vivid slice of life of what the author saw and heard in the dorms of a typical state university, Rutgers, in the 1980s.

An edited collection of ethnographic research that seeks to provide visions of and for US military culture from a solid anthropological base. The volume explores several important but relatively unknown cultural variations in the defense community through a variety of lenses. A strong list of contributors highlight important issues such as: anthrax vaccines, the 'Golden Age' culture of the military, gender roles among army spouses, weight control and physical readiness, the military advisor, and the United States Naval Academy.

Stories of Culture and Place makes use of one of anthropology's most enduring elements—storytelling—to introduce students to the excitement of the discipline. The authors invite students to think of anthropology as a series of stories that emerge from cultural encounters in particular times and places. References to classic and contemporary ethnographic examples—from Coming of Age in Samoa to Coming of Age in Second Life—allow students to grasp anthropology's sometimes problematic past, while still capturing the potential of the discipline. This new edition has been significantly reorganized and includes two new chapters—one on health and one on economic change—as well as fresh ethnographic examples. The result is a more streamlined introductory text that offers thorough coverage but is still manageable to teach.