The Essence Of Anthropology

THE ESSENCE OF ANTHROPOLOGY features an experienced and diverse author team with expertise in all subfields of anthropology. With an eye to visual and written clarity, the authors present anthropology from an integrated, holistic perspective. They use three unifying themes as a framework to tie the book together and keep students focused: systemic adaptation to emphasize that every culture, past and present, is an integrated and dynamic system of adaptation; biocultural connections that highlight the integration of human culture and biology in the steps humans take to meet the challenges of survival; and the emergence of globalization and its disparate impact on peoples and cultures around the world. Pedagogical elements support these main themes and give deeper insight into the meaning and relevance of a wide range of topics covered in the general narrative by tying examples to behavior today. Insightful questions foster critical thinking, additional Visual Counterpoints widen the book's array of compare-and-contrast examples, and a new Digging into Anthropology feature provides a hands-on approach to anthropological methods by giving active learning opportunities related to each chapter's content. In addition, the authors have broadened viewpoints to offer explanations and examples from different points of view. Important Notice: Media content referenced within the product description or the product text may not be available in the ebook version.

THE ESSENCE OF ANTHROPOLOGY, International Edition presents anthropology from an integrated, holistic perspective using three unifying themes as a framework: culture as a systemic adaptation to various internal and external factors, including the environment, biocultural connections between human culture and biology that shape the varied ways humans meet the challenges of survival, and the disparate impact of globalization on peoples and cultures around the world.

Every year, leading social anthropologists meet to debate a motion at the heart of current theoretical developments in their subject and this book includes the first six of these debates, spanning the period from 1988 to 1993. Each debate has four principal speakers: one to propose the motion, another to oppose it, and two seconders. The first debate addresses the disciplinary character of social anthropology: can it be regarded as a science, and if so, is it able to establish general propositions about human culture and social life? The second examines the concept of society, and in the third debate the spotlight is turned on the role of culture in people's perception of their environments. The fourth debate focuses on the place of language in the formation of culture. The fifth takes up the question of how we view the past in relation to the present. Finally, in the sixth debate, the concern is with the cross-cultural applicability of the concept of aesthetics. With its unique debate format, Key Debates in Anthropology addresses issues that are currently at the top of the theoretical agenda, which register the pulse of contemporary thinking in social anthropology. It will be of value to students who are not only introduced to the different sides of every argument, but are challenged to join in and to develop informed positions of their own.

During her first visit to the beautiful island of Pohnpei in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, anthropologist Martha Ward discovered people who grew quarter-ton yams in secret and ritually shared a powerful drink called kava. She managed a medical research project, ate dog, became pregnant, and responded to spells placed on her. Thirty years later she returned to Pohnpei to learn what had happened there since her first visit. Were islanders still relaxed and casual about sex? Were they still obsessed with titles and social rank? Was the island still lush and beautiful? Had the inhabitants remained healthy? This second edition of Wards best-selling account is a rare, longitudinal study that tracks people, processes, and a place through decades of change. It is also an intimate record of doing fieldwork that immerses readers in the sights, smells, tastes, sounds, and the sensory richness of Pohnpei. Ward addresses the ageless ethnographic questions about family life, politics, religion, traditional medicine, magic, and death together with contemporary concerns about postcolonial survival, the discontinuities of culture, and adaptation to the demands of a global age. Her insightful discoveries illuminate the evolution of a culture possibly distant from yet important to people living in other parts of the world.

"What is anthropology? What can it tell us about the world? Why, in short, does it matter? For well over a century, cultural anthropologists have circled the globe, from Papua New Guinea to suburban England and from China to California, uncovering surprising facts and insights about how humans organize their lives and articulate their values. In the process, anthropology has done more than any other discipline to reveal what culture means--and why it matters. By weaving together examples and theories from around the world, Matthew Engelke provides a lively, accessible, and at times irreverent introduction to anthropology, covering a wide range of classic and contemporary approaches, subjects, and practitioners. Presenting a set of memorable cases, he encourages readers to think deeply about some of the key concepts with which anthropology tries to make sense of the world--from culture and nature to authority and blood. Along the way, he shows why anthropology matters: not only because it helps us understand other cultures and points of view but also because, in the process, it reveals something about ourselves and our own cultures, too." --Cover.