perspectives: an open introduction to cultural anthropology, 2nd edition

Chin, Elizabeth. Anthropology is by definition the study of different races, ethnicities, identities, cultures, and backgrounds and the concept of cultural relativism (defined in the text as the idea that we should seek to understand another persons beliefs and behaviors from the perspective of their own culture and not our own) is the cornerstone of our field. read more. As an open and dissected text, the modularity is great. At Christmas he may even bring a small gift or give an extra tip. The system produced status and prestige among participants: by giving away more goods than another person, a chief could build his reputation and gain new respect within the community. [82]. The text does a nice job overall of using both "classic" anthropological ideas and examples/case studies as well as very recent examples. I would highly recommend Perspectives: An Open Invitation to Cultural Anthropology for any introductory course on any college campus. And although Islamic State is a very important example for political anthropology, the extent of that treatment is a bit out of proportion in comparison to other chapters' case studies. Each chapter is enjoyable and easy to read. In order to do so, they make contracts with fishermen to always buy all of the lobster they have to sell no matter how glutted the market might be. But if the editors intend for the text to be read as a whole, the reader is confronted with much repetition. However, the PDF version was lacking a Table of Content, and an effective index and or global glossary. [79], The most prevalent form of labor around the world is the unpaid work that is conducted within the household, the family, and the neighborhood or wider community. In the process, I make myself easily identifiable within the larger fan community. There is a logic presentation of each chapter with a general introduction to the subject followed by the intricacies, both conceptual and ethnographic of the theme. , Paperback We start with Laura Naders observation that cultural differences need not be seen as a problem. ISBN-13: 978-1-931303-67-5: Barcode: She might then take it to her neighbor, who works informally as a tailor, for alternations. Smith argues that the 419 scams mimic long-standing cultural practices around kinship and patronage relations. Media Anthropology: Meaning, Embodiment, Infrastructure, and Activism, 18. We hope you will use this textbook with your students, either as a stand-alone text or in conjunction with other textual and digital materials. The editors did a great job in keeping the writing consistent across the board. All chapters begin with clearly stated learning objectives. While salaula trading has relatively low barriers to entry (one simply has to purchase a bale of clothing from a wholesale importer in order to get started), in this informal market scale is important: salaula moves best when traders have a lot of it on offer. Schuller argues that the world system continually applied pressure to Haiti, draining its resources and forcing it into the debt bondage that kept it from developing. The one topic missing in my view is social class and All basic cultural anthropology texts strive to be comprehensive. The textbook landing page is well organized with a list of chapter titles and authors clearly presented. Students that are asked to read several of the chapters in Part One may struggle to understand the concept of "culture," given multiple definitions encountered. Perspectives: An Open Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, 2nd Edition by Nina Brown, Thomas McIlwraith, Laura Tubelle de Gonzlez is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted. The range of topics within cultural anthropology is immense and it would be nearly impossible to produce a textbook that covers EVERYTHING. Stuart Williams, cover design The answers to these questions lie in peoples ideologies and identities as members of a social group; each culture is different and each consumes in its own way. General purpose money: a medium of exchange that can be used in all economic transactions. Christmas shopping is arduouswe probably all know someone who heads to the stores at midnight on Black Friday to get a jumpstart on their consumption. Through immersive fieldwork, living and working with the people one is studying, cultural anthropologists suspend their own sense of what is "normal" in order to understand other people's perspectives. Balanced reciprocity generally occurs at a social level more distant than the family, but it usually occurs among people who know each other. We all must make our living in the world, whether we do so through foraging, farming, or factory work. Perspectives: An Open Introduction to Cultural Anthropology (Second Edition) by Nina Brown, Thomas McIlwraith, Laura Tubelle de Gonzlez. Some parts of the first three introductory chapters (anthropology, culture, research methods) struck me as a bit too elementary, but all of the topical chapters were clearly written. Part 1 introduces the different sub-fields of anthropology, concepts integral to anthropological inquiry of human behavior and anthropological fieldwork methods. Of course in future iterations the authors can easily update these links. Ithaca HOURS circulate in denominations of two, one, one-half, one-fourth, one-eighth, and one-tenth HOURS ($20, $10, $5, $2.50, $1.25, and $1, respectively). For example: Ch. Education and Information Technologies. There is some evidence of different writing approaches between the chapters and authors. I realize this is a book about cultural anthropology specifically but would like to see a little more about the other subfields at least in the Introduction. In my view cultural anthropology meshes closely with what broadly counts as a "liberal" perspective, and it certainly does so in my case. This is a useful tool for those with a verbal/linguistic style of learning and I have found for newcomers to a particular subject. Once known as peasants, these people pose an interesting conundrum to economic anthropologists because they live their lives both inside and outside of global capitalism and state societies. Introductory courses like cultural anthropology are taught as a survey course, covering a lot of material at a basic level. Art history is the study of aesthetic objects and visual expression in historical and stylistic context. Brandon Lundy, Kennesaw State University [12] Consequently, the informal economy is of great interest to economic anthropologists. read more. The only comment I usually get from students is that the textbook chapters are long, but this comment is also made about my shorter readings that I assign in complement to the longer textbook chapters. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2013. Money is not only the measure of value but also the purpose of much of our activity, and money shapes economic relations by creating inequalities and obliterating qualitative differences. This means that a new-born human can be categorized as having normal genitalia, be categorized as a girl or a boy, but have a complex chromosome or hormone make-up that is not apparent to the parents or medical staff. Perspectives includes chapters on contemporary topics such as Globalization, Media Anthropology, Public Anthropology, and Environmental Anthropology and the Anthropocene. [53] A quick perusal of the Internet reveals numerous tutorials and blogs devoted to black Barbie hairstyling, demonstrating that the young New Haven girls are not the only ones working to transform these store-bought commodities in socially meaningful ways.[54]. Dr. Marion is Associate Professor of Anthropology and Director of the VIS (vision.image.sense) Lab at the University of Arkansas, and a Past-president of the Society for Humanistic Anthropology and the Society for Visual Anthropology. In fact, I am using in my class! Edition: 2nd Edition ed. Evaluate the ways in which anthropology can be used to address current social, political, and economic issues. The incorporation of links to videos and other readings is very useful. The content is accurate from classic definitions of culture to cutting-edge discussions on anthropocene. We know that there is some overlap in the chapters. While the text provides a basic foundation for learning, it is placed on the instructor to create activities and classroom discussions of the content, but do note that each chapter provides further discussion questions/review questions near to the end of each chapter. Moreover it increases the usefulness of the text for me because it can easily be incorporated into course management systems like Canvas (or others) which is a great feature for anyone who teaches online. Anthropologists understand consumption more specifically as the forms of behavior that connect our economic activity with the cultural symbols that give our lives meaning. The very limited inclusion of established Latina/o anthropologist suggests that the contributors may not have been aware of their substantial contributions. This can be seen in the discussion on syncretism in the chapter, Globalization. The authors&#x27 . Accessibility is one of the most attractive features of Perspectives. Part 2 also elaborates on themes in Part 1 in a clear fashion with a focus on introduction to and case studies from the growing sub-fields in cultural anthropology, such as media anthropology, public anthropology and environmental anthropology. The dealers goal is to ensure a large, steady supply of lobsters for as low a price as possible. As an aside, the Text Boxes are more reader-friendly and break up the main body of the text to keep it from being to monotonous. Perspectives An Open Invitation To Cultural Anthropology (2nd Edition) Authors: Nina Brown, Thomas McIlwraith . Cornell University Press , 2019. [15] In Zambia the secondhand clothes are imported in bulk by 40 wholesale firms that, in turn, sell the clothes to salaula traders. We start with Laura Nader's observation that cultural differences need not be seenas a problem. Anthropologists by definition attempt to be unbiased in their presentations. [5] These beliefs and the behaviors they inspire reinforce key elements of the domestic mode of production: collective ownership, low levels of social domination, and sharing. I found no grammatical errors. Part 2 of the book essentially explores the new arenas of cultural representation and change that represent newer sub-disciplines within cultural anthropology or that point to new avenues of anthropological inquiry in a global world. [66] Structural violence is a form of violence in which a social structure or institution harms people by preventing them from meeting their basic needs. Economic anthropologists are also interested in why objects become status symbols and how these come to be experienced as an aspect of the self. Key concepts are in bold. Home Read Sign in CONTENTS PERSPECTIVES: AN OPEN INTRODUCTION TO CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY, 2ND EDITION Search in book Figure 1: Statue of Zhang Qian in Chenggu, China. She sold it to a gold and silver broker for currency and it was transformed into an anonymous commodity. Introductory courses like cultural anthropology are taught as a survey course, covering a lot of material at a basic level. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1982. Economic anthropology is always in dialogue (whether implicitly or explicitly) with the discipline of economics. In fact, secondhand clothing with folds and wrinkles from the bale is often the most desirable because it is easily identifiable as genuine salaula.[16]. The anthropologist Stuart Piddocke found that the potlatch primarily served a livelihood function by ensuring the redistribution of goods between groups with surpluses and those with deficits.[34]. The conditions of everyday life in Haiti, which only worsened after the 2010 earthquake, are a good example of how structural violence limits individual opportunities. I did not notice any significant interface or navigation issues. Osburg, John. I also think that the additional interactive content, links to maps, videos etc., not only enhances the experience of this text but helps to provide clarification and concrete examples of material discussed in each chapter. Laura Tubelle de Gonzlez, San Diego Miramar College. Rather than dismantling race and class boundaries, the ethnic dolls create segregated toy shelves that in fact mirror the segregation that young black children experience in their schools and neighborhoods. [10] In order to certify their coffee, small farmers must belong to democratically run producers associations in which participation is open to all eligible growers, regardless of ethnicity, gender, religion, or political affiliation. Reviewed by David Beriss, Associate Professor of Anthropology, University of New Orleans on 5/21/18, All basic cultural anthropology texts strive to be comprehensive. of this text. Within The Chicago Manual of Style (CMS), in social science books, the endnotes are used to present an idea/observation that would distract the reader if included in the text; or the place where the author wishes to guide the reader to other important works. (That section on plasticity has multiple sentence structure issues.) , ISBN-13 Welcome to the second edition of Perspectives and Open Access Anthropology!We are delighted to bring to you this novel textbook, a collection of chapters on the essential topics in cultural anthropology. Learn more about how Pressbooks supports open publishing practices. While some of the chapters could have use a little more modularity, the majority of the chapter are modular, well structure and clear. This single item of clothing that has traveled the globe and moved in and out of formal and informal markets highlights how diverse our economic lives really are, a theme that we will return to at the end of this chapter. I appreciate that the introductory chapter brings forward many of the original thinkers and practitioners of Anthropology right in the very beginning. I think the accuracy is high due to the great diversity of authors that write each individual chapter in the text. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2013. This book brings Nader, Nelson, Borofsky, and many others together to demonstrate that our anthropological understandings can help all of us to improve the lives of people the world over. In contrast, reciprocity involves the exchange of goods and services and is rooted in a mutual sense of obligation and identity. Additionally, songs, customs, and cultural influences also traveled along the Kula route. Production involves transforming nature and raw materials into the material goods that are useful and/or necessary for humans. I found a copy of this text at http://perspectives.americananthro.org. Smith, Daniel. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.NonCommercial You may not use the material for commercial purposes. In this family production system, the men generally clear the fields and the whole family works together to plant the seeds. Chapters are numbered once downloaded, and page numbers and/or subheadings would allow parts of chapters to be assigned for reading. Sorry, there was a problem loading this page. Alternatively, if an instructor wished to provide an overview of the fast-growing specializations within cultural anthropology, such as anthropology of performance, media anthropology, environmental anthropology and public anthropology, they could include Part 2 of the book. Building on this anthropological idea of economic diversity, some scholars argue that in order to address the economic inequalities surrounding us we should collectively work to construct a community economy, or a space for economic decision-making that recognizes and negotiates our interdependence with other humans, other species, and our environment. For example, all humans, like all organisms, must eat. The format of each chapter is the same, with learning objectives, the text, highlighted terms and concepts, questions for study, a glossary, a an author bio, bibliography (often very helpful! There are between 20 and 25 million small farmers growing coffee in more than 50 countries around the world. The one thing that struck me as less than ideal was the degree of overlap between the first three chapters. Philip Stein, Pierce College I would like to have seen additional direct quotes of the movers and shakers that students might know of. The discipline/topical terms are all clearly identified (bolded) and defined, followed by a chapter glossary at the end of each chapter. Well placed images further expand on concepts discussed. Besky, Sarah. This is a bit dangerous in my view given that many students in introductory courses may be skeptical of anthropology's validity. Main concepts are illustrated through case studies describing the work of practicing anthropologists. Markets are social institutions with prices or exchange equivalencies. Political Anthropology: A Cross-Cultural Comparison, 16. Mcllwraith received a Master's degree from the Department of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia in 1995. A popular narrative holds that if you work hard enough you can pull yourself up by your bootstraps in this country of immigrants and economic opportunity. These resources are pooled within family groups and distributed within wider kin networks when necessary. There are also some concepts that are not accurately defined. Robert Borofsky advocates for anthropologys ability to empower people and facilitate good. I also like that the examples in the text are not just from places that people would call "exotic," as this would just deepen the erroneous understanding that most people have about anthropology already. Reviewed by Toni Tileva, Professorial Lecturer, American University on 4/26/21, updated 4/30/21, The chapters are written in a sophisticated way and cover a wide variety of topics. [2] Because culture is invented, it takes different forms in different places and changes over time in those places. Perspectives: an Open Introduction to Cultural Anthropology Second Edition; Divesting from Ethnomusicology; The Role of Cultural Anthropology in the Education of Social Service Personnel; Applications of and Approaches To; Careers in Biological Anthropology; The Anthropology of Religion, Ritual, and Sacrifice Further, SACCers have an interest in progressive social values and believe in the power of education in anthropology to improve the living conditions and situations of people abroad and at home. In his 1967 speech A Christmas Sermon on Peace, the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. reminded us that all life is interrelated: We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied into a single garment of destiny. When anthropological research is presented in an accessible and easily understood form, it can effectively encourage meaningful public conversations about questions such as how to best disperse relief aid after natural disasters. I found very few mischaracterizations of ideas or situations. Some examples of this literature include Deborah Gewertz and Frederick Errington. This textbook is free of all such problematic and exotifying images of "other" cultures, which really helps students see the universality of the discussions on spiritual well-being, non-industrial food production, non-Christian beliefs and gendered subjectivities, to name a few. Secondly, the anthology contains only two contributions from established anthropologists: Laura Nader (Ch. It is clear through stories and scholar highlights in each chapter that those interviewed, writing, and editing the chapters of the textbook care about giving up to date information to our students. Borofsky calls on anthropologists to engage with a widerpublic to bring our incredible stories and important insights to helping resolve the most critical issueswe face in the world today. [61] In India, tea plantation owners are attempting to reinvent their product for 21st century markets through the use of fair-trade certification (discussed earlier in this chapter) and Geographical Indication Status (GI). Terms are explained well in the text and also defined in a glossary at the end of each chapter. I adopted this textbook on the Blackboard Learning Management System and then again on Canvas. Thinking about your own daily economic activities, how is your lifestyle dependent on people in other places? The fishermen generally sell their lobsters to wholesalers and have very little idea where the lobsters go, how many hands they pass through on their way to the consumer, how prices are set, or why they vary over the course of the year. Would an alternative like the Ithaca HOURS system be beneficial to your community? [81] Recognizing our mutual connections and the surplus possibilities in our own community is an important first step toward building an alternative economy, one that privileges community spheres rather than market spheres and supports equality over inequality. The chapters meet the learning objectives outlined. (December 20, 2019) Language: English 510 pages ISBN-10: 1931303673 ISBN-13: 978-1931303675 We are delighted to bring to you this novel textbook, a collection of chapters on the . Many economic anthropologists today study global flows through the lens of a concrete substance that makes a circuit through various locales, exploring the social lives of agrifood commodities such as mutton, coffee, sushi, and sugar. When asking why people choose to buy a new shirt rather than shoes, anthropologists, and increasingly economists, look beyond the motives of Homo economicus to determine how social, cultural, political, and institutional forces shape humans everyday decisions.[3]. Typically, an inherent bias in textbook discussions on non-American and non-Western cultural ways, be it in the domain of marriage, subsistence, religious expression or other is that they insensitively include National Geographic style glossy, colored images of non-white faces and bodies. Anthropologists understand market exchange to be a form of trade that today most commonly involves general purpose money, bargaining, and supply and demand price mechanisms.

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