Synopses & Reviews
Comprehensive, readable and written for the student, Haviland/Prins/Walwrath'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.
Review
"The greatest strength of CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY: THE HUMAN CHALLENGE is its success in addressing complex concepts in a manner that is memorable and easy to comprehend. Another strength is in the choice of examples; most all of them engage the reader and elicit furthering investigation. Finally, the book's photographs and other images provide a visual element that reinforces significant issues in anthropology."
Review
"The writing style?is extremely student friendly and accessible. It is actually enjoyable to read, which is rather rare for textbooks. It is completely attuned to the needs of an undergraduate student population."
Review
The authors do a good job of providing "interesting specific examples and ethnographic accounts to give the chapter context and help illustrate sometimes abstract information?"
Review
"The information provides a good introduction to the field, providing a rich balance between theory and example and application."
Review
"The quality of Haviland is outstanding with regard to the introduction of key concepts and the discussion of those concepts."
Review
"With regard to the comparison with the present text I am using, I'm beginning to think that the Haviland text is written in a more interesting and engaging style!"
Review
'\"Clearly written and conceptualized.\"'
Synopsis
Explore the most fascinating, creative, dangerous, and complex species alive today: you and your neighbors in the global village. With compelling photos, engaging examples, and select studies by anthropologists in far-flung places, the authors of CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY: The Human Challenge provide a holistic view of anthropology to help you make sense of today's world. With this text you will discover the different ways humans face the challenge of existence, the connection between biology and culture in the shaping of human beliefs and behavior, and the impact of globalization on peoples and cultures around the world.
Synopsis
Haviland et al's streamlined market leading text presents cultural anthropology in vivid, accessible terms that shows students how the field is relevant to understanding the complex world around them. The authors present the fundamental concepts from a holistic perspective using three unifying themes to frame the text: 1) the varied ways humans face the challenges of existence, 2) the connections between culture and biology in shaping human behavior, and 3) the impact of globalization on peoples and cultures around the world. They also integrate coverage of race, class, gender, and ethnicity throughout the text, and in this edition, a new chapter "From Fieldwork to Interpretation," covers theory and methods more explicitly to help instructors meet general education requirements. The text's superlative writing, strong pedagogical program, rich art program, and robust collection of supplements provide exceptional teaching and learning experiences for instructors and students alike.
About the Author
Dr. William A. Haviland is Professor Emeritus at the University of Vermont, where he founded the Department of Anthropology and taught for thirty-two years. He holds a PhD in anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania. He has carried out original research in archaeology in Guatemala and Vermont; ethnography in Maine and Vermont; and physical anthropology in Guatemala. This work has been the basis of numerous publications in various national and international books and journals, as well as in media intended for the general public. His books include The Original Vermonters, co-authored with Marjorie Power, and a technical monograph on ancient Maya settlement. He also served as consultant for the award-winning telecourse, Faces of Culture, and is co-editor of the series Tikal Reports, published by the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. Besides his teaching and writing, Dr. Haviland has lectured to numerous professional as well as non-professional audiences in Canada, Mexico, Lesotho, South Africa, and Spain, as well as in the United States. A staunch supporter of indigenous rights, he served as expert witness for the Missisquoi Abenakis of Vermont in an important court case over aboriginal fishing rights. Awards received by Dr. Haviland include being named University Scholar by the Graduate School of the University of Vermont in 1990; a Certificate of Appreciation from the Sovereign Republic of the Abenaki Nation of Missisquoi, St. Francis/Sokoki Band in 1996; and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Center for Research on Vermont in 2006. Now retired from teaching, he continues his research, writing, and lecturing from the coast of Maine. His most recent book is At the Place of the Lobsters and Crabs (20090.Dr. Harald E.L. Prins is a University Distinguished Professor of Anthropology at Kansas State University. Born in the Netherlands, he studied at universities in Europe and the United States. He has done extensive fieldwork among indigenous peoples in South and North America, published many dozens of articles in seven languages, authored The Mi?kmaq: Resistance, Accommodation, and Cultural Survival (1996), co-authored Indians in Eden (2009), and co-edited American Beginnings (1994) and other books. Also trained in film, he has made award-winning documentaries and served as president of the Society for Visual Anthropology and visual anthropology editor of the American Anthropologist. Dr. Prins has won his university?s most prestigious undergraduate teaching awards, held the Coffman Chair for University Distinguished Teaching Scholars (2004?2005), and was selected as Professor of the Year for the State of Kansas by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching in 2008. Active in human rights, he served as expert witness in Native rights cases in the U.S. Senate and various Canadian courts, and was instrumental in the successful federal recognition and land claims of the Aroostook Band of Micmacs (1991). Dr. Prins was appointed Research Associate at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution (2008?2011), and served as guest professor at Lund University in Sweden (2010).Dr. Dana Walrath is Assistant Professor of Family Medicine at the University of Vermont and a Women?s Studies-affiliated faculty member. She earned her PhD in anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania and is a medical and biological anthropologist with principal interests in biocultural aspects of reproduction, the cultural context founded and directed an innovative educational program at the University of Vermont?s College of Medicine that brings anthropological theory and practice to first-year medical students. Before joining the faculty at the University of Vermont in 2000, she taught at the University of Pennsylvania and Temple University. Her research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, Health Resources and Services Administration, the Centers for Disease Control, and the Templeton Foundation. Dr. Walrath?s publications have appeared in Current Anthropology, American Anthropologist, and American Journal of Physical Anthropology. An active member of the Council on the Anthropology of Reproduction, she has also served on a national committee to develop women?s health-care learning objectives for medical education and works locally to improve health care for refugees and immigrants.Bunny McBride, who holds a Master?s Degree from Columbia University, is an award-winning author specializing in cultural anthropology, indigenous peoples, international tourism, and nature conservation issues. Published in dozens of national and international print media, she has reported from Africa, Europe, China, and the Indian Ocean. Highly rated as a teacher, she served as visiting anthropology faculty at Principia College, the Salt Institute for Documentary Field Studies, and since 1996 as adjunct lecturer of anthropology at Kansas State University. McBride?s many publications include Women of the Dawn (1999), Molly Spotted Elk: A Penobscot in Paris (1995), and Indians in Eden: Wabanakis and Rusticators on Maine?s Mount Desert Island, 1850s?1920s (co-authored, 2009). The Maine State legislature awarded her a special commendation for significant contributions to Native women?s history (1999). A community activist and researcher for the Aroostook Band of Micmacs (1981?1991), McBride assisted this Maine Indian community in its successful efforts to reclaim lands, gain tribal status, and revitalize cultural traditions. She has curated various museum exhibits based on her research, most recently Journeys West: The David and Peggy Rockefeller American Indian Art Collection for the Abbe Museum in Bar Harbor, Maine. Currently she is working on a new book co-authored with Harald Prins (From Indian Island to Omaha Beach: The Story of Charles Shay, Penobscot Indian War Hero, 2010) and a series of museum exhibitions based on a two-volume study co-authored with Harald Prins for the National Park Service (Asticou?s Island Domain, 2007). McBride also serves as oral history advisor for the Kansas Humanities Council and as board member and vice president of the Women?s World Summit Foundation, based in Geneva, Switzerland.
Table of Contents
Part I: ANTHROPOLOGY: THE CHALLENGE OF KNOWING HUMANITY. 1. The Essence of Anthropology. 2. The Characteristics of Culture. 3. The Beginnings of Human Culture. Part II: CULTURE AND SURVIVAL: THE CHALLENGE OF COMMUNICATING, RAISING CHILDREN, AND STAYING ALIVE. 4. Language and Communication. 5. Social Identity, Personality, and Gender. 6. Patterns of Subsistence. 7. Economic Systems. Part III: FORMATION OF GROUPS: THE CHALLENGE OF COOPERATION. 8. Sex and Marriage. 9. Family and Household. 10. Kinship and Descent. 11. Grouping by Gender, Age, Common Interest and Class. Part IV: SEARCH FOR ORDER: THE CHALLENGE OF DISORDER. 12. Politics, Power, and Violence. 13. Spirituality, Religion, and the Supernatural 14. The Arts. Part V: CHANGE AND FUTURE: THE CHALLENGE OF GLOBALIZATION. 15. Processes of Change. 16. Global Challenges, Local Responses, and the Role of Anthropology.