Anthropology: Asking Questions About Human Origins, Diversity, and Culture

Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication Page
Brief Contents
Contents
Letter from the Authors
About the Authors
Preface
Acknowledgments
PART I The Anthropological Perspective
	1: Anthropology: Asking Questions About Humanity
		How Did Anthropology Begin?
			The Disruptions of Industrialization
			The Theory of Evolution
			Colonial Origins of Cultural Anthropology
			Anthropology as a Global Discipline
		What Do the Four Subfields of Anthropology Have in Common?
			Culture
			Cultural Relativism
			Human Diversity
			Change
			Holism
		How Do Anthropologists Know What They Know?
			The Scientific Method in Anthropology
			When Anthropology Is Not a Science: Interpreting Other Cultures
		How Do Anthropologists Put Their Knowledge to Work in the World?
			Applied and Practicing Anthropology: \"The Fifth Subfield\"?
			Putting Anthropology to Work
		What Ethical Obligations Do Anthropologists Have?
			Do No Harm
			Take Responsibility for Your Work
			Share Your Findings
		CLASSIC CONTRIBUTIONS: E. B. Tylor and the Culture Concept
		DOING FIELDWORK: Conducting Holistic Research with Stanley Ulijaszek
		THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL LIFE: Anthropologists are Innovative
		THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL LIFE: Key Characteristics of Anthropologists in the Workplace
	2: Culture: Giving Meaning to Human Lives
		What Is Culture?
			Elements of Culture
			Defining Culture in This Book
		If Culture Is Always Changing, Why Does It Feel So Stable?
			Symbols
			Values
			Norms
			Traditions
		How Do Social Institutions Express Culture?
			Culture and Social Institutions
			American Culture Expressed Through Breakfast Cereals and Sexuality
		Can Anybody Own Culture?
		THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL LIFE: Cultural Anthropology and Human Possibilities
		CLASSIC CONTRIBUTIONS: Franz Boas and the Relativity of Culture
		ANTHROPOLOGIST AS PROBLEM SOLVER: Michael Ames and Collaborative Museum Exhibits
	3: Human Biocultural Evolution: Emergence of the Biocultural Animal
		Life Changes. But What Does It Mean To Say It Evolves?
			A Brief Primer on the Rise of Evolutionary Thinking
			Differentiating Evolution from Simple Change
			What It Means to Have Common Ancestry
			Why Evolution Is Important to Anthropology . . . and Anthropology to Evolution
		What Are the Actual Mechanisms Through Which Evolution Occurs?
			The Modern Synthesis
			Basic Sources of Biological Change: Genes, DNA, and Cells
			Genetic Mechanisms of Evolution
			Non-Genetic Mechanisms of Evolution
		How Do Biocultural Patterns Affect Evolution?
			Human Inheritance Involves Multiple Systems
			Evolutionary Processes Are Developmentally Open-Ended
			The Importance of Constructivist Evolutionary Approaches for Biocultural Anthropology
		Are Modern Humans Evolving, And Where Might We Be Headed?
			The Impact of Disease on Evolution
			Cultural Practices, Morphology, and Evolution
		Looking to the Future
			Global Population and Human Density
			Genetic Manipulation
			Adaptive Behavioral Patterns
		CLASSIC CONTRIBUTIONS: Clyde Kluckhohn and the Role of Evolution in Anthropology
		ANTHROPOLOGIST AS PROBLEM SOLVER: Clarifying the Biocultural and  Evolutionary Dimensions of Obesity
	4: Cross-Cultural Interactions: Understanding Culture and Globalization
		Are Cross-Cultural Interactions All That New?
		Is the Contemporary World Really Getting Smaller?
			Defining Globalization
			The World We Live In
		What Are The Outcomes of Global Integration?
			Colonialism and World Systems Theory
			Cultures of Migration
			Resistance at the Periphery
			Globalizing and Localizing Identities
		Doesn\'t Everyone Want to Be Developed?
			What Is Development?
			Development Anthropology
			Anthropology of Development
			Change on Their Own Terms
		If the World Is Not Becoming Homogenized, What Is Actually Happening?
			Cultural Convergence Theories
			Hybridization
		CLASSIC CONTRIBUTIONS: Eric Wolf, Culture, and the World System
		THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL LIFE: Coldplay and the Global Citizen Festival
		DOING FIELDWORK: Tracking Emergent Forms of Citizenship with Aihwa Ong
PART II Becoming Human
METHODS MEMO: How Do Anthropologists Study Human and Primate Biological Processes?
	5: Living Primates: Comparing Monkeys, Apes, and Humans
		What Does It Mean To Be a Primate, and Why Does It Matter to Anthropology?
			What It Means To Be a Primate
			The Distinctions Between Strepsirrhini and Haplorrhini
			Primatology as Anthropology
		What Are the Basic Patterns of Primate Behavioral Diversity, and Under What Conditions Did They Develop?
			Common Behavior Patterns Among Primates
			The Emergence of Primate Behavioral Diversity
		How Do Behavior Patterns Among Monkeys and Apes Compare with Humans?
			The Lives of Macaques
			The Lives of Chimpanzees and Bonobos
			So How Do They Compare to Us?
		What Does Studying Monkeys and Apes Really Illustrate About Human Distinctiveness?
			Primate Social Organization and Human Behavior
			We Have Culture. Do They Too?
		THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL LIFE: So You Want to Work with Primates?
		DOING FIELDWORK: The Ethics of Working with Great Apes
		CLASSIC CONTRIBUTIONS: Sherwood Washburn and the New (Integrative) Physical Anthropology
		METHODS MEMO: How Do Anthropologists Study Ancient Primates and Human Origins?
	6: Ancestral Humans: Understanding the Human Family Tree
		Who Are Our Earliest Possible Ancestors?
			Our Earliest Ancestors Were Hominins
			The Fossil Record of Hominins in Africa
			The Three Hominin Genera
			Who Is Our Most Direct Ancestor?
			Possible Phylogenies, with Caveats
		What Did Walking on Two Legs and Having Big Brains Mean for the Early Hominins?
			The Benefits of Upright Movement
			The Effects of Big Brains on Early Hominin Behavior
		Who Were the First Humans, and Where Did They Live?
			Introducing Homo erectus
			The Emergence of Archaic Humans
			Who Were the Neanderthals and Denisovans?
			Anatomically Modern Humans Hit the Scene
		How Do We Know If the First Humans Were Cultural Beings, and What Role Did Culture Play in Their Evolution?
			The Emerging Cultural Capacity of H. erectus
			Culture Among Archaic Humans
			Social Cooperation and Symbolic Expression
		THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL LIFE: How to Think Like a Paleoanthropologist
		ANTHROPOLOGIST AS PROBLEM SOLVER: Were We \"Born to Run\"?
		CLASSIC CONTRIBUTIONS: Davidson Black and the Brain Capacity of H. Erectus
	7: Human Biodiversity Today: Understanding Our Differences and Similarities
		In What Ways Do Contemporary Humans Vary Biologically?
			Genetic Variation Within and Between Human Populations
			Genetic Variation Is Tied to Gene Flow
			Physiological Diversity and Blood Types
			Disease Environments and Human Immunity
		Why Do Human Bodies Look So Different Across the Planet?
			Is Skin Really Colored?
			Variations in Body Shape, Stature, and Size
		Are Differences of Race Also Differences of Biology?
			The Biological Meanings (and Meaninglessness) of \"Human Races\"
			But Isn\'t There Scientific Evidence for the Existence of Races?
		What Biocultural Consequences Do Discrimination and Stress Have on Human Bodies?
			Eugenics: A Weak Theory of Genetic Inheritance
			The Embodied Consequences of Being a Racialized Minority
		THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL LIFE: Have You Ever Considered a Career in Applied Anthropometry?
		CLASSIC CONTRIBUTIONS: Ashley Montagu and \"Man\'s Most Dangerous Myth\"
		ANTHROPOLOGIST AS PROBLEM SOLVER: Jada Benn Torres and Reparational Genetics in the Caribbean
	8: The Body: Biocultural Perspectives on Health and Illness
		How Do Biological and Cultural Factors Shape Our Bodily Experiences?
			Uniting Mind and Matter: A Biocultural Perspective
			Culture and Mental Illness
		What Do We Mean by Health and Illness?
			The Individual Subjectivity of Illness
			The \"Sick Role\": The Social Expectations of Illness
		How and Why Do Doctors and Other Health Practitioners Gain Social Authority?
			The Disease–Illness Distinction: Professional and Popular Views of Sickness
			The Medicalization of the Non-Medical
		How Does Healing Happen?
			Clinical Therapeutic Processes
			Symbolic Therapeutic Processes
			Social Support
			Persuasion: The Placebo Effect
		How Can Anthropology Help Us Address Global Health Problems?
			Understanding Global Health Problems
			Anthropological Contributions to Tackling the International HIV/AIDS Crisis
		CLASSIC CONTRIBUTIONS: Arthur Kleinman and the New Medical Anthropological Methodology
		ANTHROPOLOGIST AS PROBLEM SOLVER: Nancy Scheper-Hughes on an Engaged Anthropology of Health
		THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL LIFE: Zak Kaufman, Grassroot Soccer, and the Fight to Slow the Spread of HIV/AIDS
PART III Humans and Their Material Worlds
METHODS MEMO: What Field Methods Do Archaeologists Use to Study the Human and Environmental Past?
	9: Materiality: Constructing Social Relationships and Meanings with Things
		Why Is the Ownership of Prehistoric Artifacts Such a Contentious Issue?
			Archaeological Excavation and Questions of Ownership
			Indian Reactions to Archaeological Excavations of Human Remains
			Cultural Resource Management
		How Should We Look at Objects Anthropologically?
			The Many Dimensions of Objects
			A Shiny New Bicycle in Multiple Dimensions
			Constructing the Meaning of an Archaeological Artifact
		How and Why Do the Meanings of Things Change over Time?
			The Social Life of Things
			Three Ways Objects Change over Time
			How Archaeological Specimens Change Meaning over Time
		What Role Does Material Culture Play in Constructing the Meaning of a Community\'s Past?
			Claiming the Past
			The Politics of Archaeology
		ANTHROPOLOGIST AS PROBLEM SOLVER: John Terrell, Repatriation, and the Maori Meeting House at the Field Museum
		THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL LIFE: Richard Busch, Education Collections Manager at the Denver Museum of Science and Nature.
		CLASSIC CONTRIBUTIONS: Margaret Conkey and the Gender Politics of Understanding Past Lives
		METHODS MEMO: Why Is Carbon-14 So Important to Archaeologists?
	10: Early Agriculture and the Neolithic Revolution: Modifying the Environment to Satisfy Human Demands
		How Important Was Hunting to Prehistoric Peoples?
			Taking Stock of Living Hunter-Gatherers
			\"Man the Hunter\"
			Recent Attempts to Understand Prehistoric Hunting Strategies
			Back to the Past: Understanding Prehistoric Hunter-Gatherers
		Why Did People Start Domesticating Plants and Animals?
			Why Do Archaeologists Call It the Neolithic Revolution?
			The Neolithic Revolution: The Beginnings of Food Production
			The Hilly Flanks Hypothesis
			The Pressure of Population Growth
			Other Explanations for the Beginnings of Food Production
		How Did Early Humans Raise Their Own Food?
			Domesticating Plants
			Domesticating Animals
			Tending Tree Crops: Recent Findings on Arboriculture
		What Impact Did Raising Plants and Animals Have on Other Aspects of Life?
			Transhumance: Moving Herds with the Seasons
			Sedentism and Growing Populations
		THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL LIFE: What Are the Responsibilities and Job Description of an Archaeologist?
		CLASSIC CONTRIBUTIONS: V. Gordon Childe on the Neolithic Revolution
		ANTHROPOLOGIST AS PROBLEM SOLVER: Michael Heckenberger on the Amazon as a Culturally Managed Landscape
		METHODS MEMO: How Do Archaeologists Analyze the Objects They Find?
	11: The Rise and Decline of Cities and States: Understanding Social Complexity in Prehistory
		What Does Social Complexity Mean to Archaeologists?
			Population Growth and Settlement Practices
			Trade and Contact with Peoples of Different Cultures
			Specialization and Production Models
			Does Complexity Always Imply Social Inequality?
		How Can Archaeologists Identify Social Complexity from Archaeological Sites and Artifacts?
			Identifying Social Complexity from Sites and Artifacts in Western Mexico
			Population Growth and Settlement Patterns
			Soils and Land Use
			Monuments and Buildings
			Mortuary Patterns and Skeletal Remains
			Ceramic, Stone, and Metal Objects
		How Do Archaeologists Explain Why Cities and States Fall Apart?
			Rethinking Abandonment in the U.S. Southwest
			The Transformation (Not Collapse) of the Classic Maya
		THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL LIFE: Archaeological Field Schools for Undergraduates
		CLASSIC CONTRIBUTIONS: Robert Carneiro on the Role of Warfare in the Rise of Complex Societies
		DOING FIELDWORK: Studying What Happened After the Migration from the Four Corners with Scott Van Keuren
PART IV Human Social Relations and Their Meanings
METHODS MEMO: How Do Anthropologists Study the Relationship Between Language and Culture?
	12: Linguistic Anthropology: Relating Language and Culture
		Where Does Language Come From?
			Evolutionary Perspectives on Language
			Historical Linguistics: Studying Language Origins and Change
		How Does Language Actually Work?
			Descriptive Linguistics
			Phonology: Sounds of Language
			Morphology: Grammatical Categories
			Sociolinguistics
		Does Language Shape How We Experience the World?
			The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis
			Hopi Notions of Time
			Ethnoscience and Color Terms
			Is the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis Correct?
		If Language Is Always Changing, Why Does It Seem So Stable?
			Linguistic Change, Stability, and National Policy
			Language Stability Parallels Cultural Stability
		How Does Language Relate to Social Power and Inequality?
			Language Ideology
			Gendered Language Styles
			Language and Social Status
			Language and the Legacy of Colonialism
		THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL LIFE: Career Trajectories for Undergraduates with a Linguistic Anthropology Background
		CLASSIC CONTRIBUTIONS: Edward Sapir on How Language Shapes Culture
		DOING FIELDWORK: Helping Communities Preserve Endangered Languages
		METHODS MEMO: How Do Anthropologists Use Ethnographic Methods to Study Culture and Social Relations?
	13: Economics: Working, Sharing, and Buying
		Is Money Really the Measure of All Things?
			Culture, Economics, and Value
			The Neoclassical Perspective
			The Substantivist–Formalist Debate
			The Marxist Perspective
			The Cultural Economics Perspective
		How Does Culture Shape the Value and Meaning of Money?
			The Types and Cultural Dimensions of Money
			Money and the Distribution of Power
		Why Is Gift Exchange Such an Important Part of All Societies?
			Gift Exchange and Economy: Two Classic Approaches
			Gift Exchange in Market-Based Economies
		What Is the Point of Owning Things?
			Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Property
			Appropriation and Consumption
		Does Capitalism Have Distinct Cultures?
			Culture and Social Relations on Wall Street
			Entrepreneurial Capitalism Among Malays
		CLASSIC CONTRIBUTIONS: Marshall Sahlins on Exchange in Traditional Economies
		THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL LIFE: The Economics of Anthropology
		ANTHROPOLOGIST AS PROBLEM SOLVER: Jim Yong Kim\'s Holistic, On-the-Ground Approach to Fighting Poverty
	14: Sustainability: Environment and Foodways
		Do All People See Nature in the Same Way?
			The Human–Nature Divide?
			The Cultural Landscape
		How Do People Secure an Adequate, Meaningful, and Environmentally Sustainable Food Supply?
			Modes of Subsistence
			Food, Culture, and Meaning
		How Does Non-Western Knowledge of Nature and Agriculture Relate to Science?
			Ethnoscience
			Traditional Ecological Knowledge
		How Are Industrial Agriculture and Economic Globalization Linked to Increasing Environmental and Health Problems?
			Population and Environment
			Ecological Footprint
			Industrial Foods, Sedentary Lives, and the Nutrition Transition
			Anthropology Confronts Climate Change
		Are Industrialized Western Societies the Only Ones to Conserve Nature?
			Anthropogenic Landscapes
			The Culture of Modern Nature Conservation
			Environmentalism\'s Alternative Paradigms
		CLASSIC CONTRIBUTIONS: Roy Rappaport\'s Insider and Outsider Models
		ANTHROPOLOGIST AS PROBLEM SOLVER: Migrant Farmworker Food Security in Vermont with Teresa Mares
		THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL LIFE: Careers in Sustainability
	15: Power: Politics and Social Control
		Does Every Society Have a Government?
			The Idea of \"Politics\" and the Problem of Order
			Structural-Functionalist Models of Political Stability
			Neo-Evolutionary Models of Political Organization: Bands, Tribes, Chiefdoms, and States
			Challenges to Traditional Political Anthropology
		What Is Political Power?
			Defining Political Power
			Political Power Is Action Oriented
			Political Power Is Structural
			Political Power Is Gendered
			Political Power in Non-State Societies
			The Political Power of the Contemporary Nation-State
		How Is Social Inequality Constructed and Upheld?
			Race, Biology, and the \"Natural\" Order of Things
			The Cultural Construction of Race
			Saying Race Is Culturally Constructed Is Not Enough
		Why Do Some Societies Seem More Violent Than Others?
			What Is Violence?
			Violence and Culture
			Explaining the Rise of Violence in Our Contemporary World
		How Do People Avoid Aggression, Brutality, and War?
			What Disputes Are \"About\"
			How People Manage Disputes
			Is Restoring Harmony Always the Best Way?
		THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL LIFE: An Anthropological Politician?
		ANTHROPOLOGIST AS PROBLEM SOLVER: Maxwell Owusu and Democracy in Ghana
		CLASSIC CONTRIBUTIONS: Hortense Powdermaker on Prejudice
	16: Kinship and Gender: Sex, Power, and Control of Men and Women
		What Are Families, and How Are They Structured in Different Societies?
			Families, Ideal and Real
			Nuclear and Extended Families
			Kinship Terminologies
			Cultural Patterns in Childrearing
			How Families Control Power and Wealth
		Why Do People Get Married?
			Why People Get Married
			Forms of Marriage
			Sex, Love, and the Power of Families over Young Couples
		How and Why Do Males and Females Differ?
			Toward a Biocultural Perspective on Male and Female Differences
			Beyond the Male–Female Dichotomy
			Explaining Gender/Sex Inequality
		What Does It Mean to Be Neither Male Nor Female?
			Navajo Nádleehé
			Indian Hijras
		Is Human Sexuality Just a Matter of Being Straight or Queer?
			Cultural Perspectives on Same-Sex Sexuality
			Controlling Sexuality
		THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL LIFE: Family-Centered Social Work and Anthropology
		CLASSIC CONTRIBUTIONS: Margaret Mead and the Sex/Gender Distinction
		DOING FIELDWORK: Don Kulick and “Coming Out” in the Field
	17: Religion: Ritual and Belief
		How Should We Understand Religion and Religious Beliefs?
			Understanding Religion version 1.0: Edward B. Tylor and Belief in Spirits
			Understanding Religion version 2.0: Anthony F. C. Wallace on Supernatural Beings, Powers, and Forces
			Understanding Religion version 3.0: Religion as a System of Symbols
			Understanding Religion version 4.0: Religion as a System of Social Action
			Making Sense of the Terrorist Attacks in France: Charlie Hebdo
		What Forms Does Religion take?
			Clan Spirits and Clan Identities in New Guinea
			Totemism in North America
			Shamanism and Ecstatic Religious Experiences
			Ritual Symbols That Reinforce a Hierarchical Social Order
			Polytheism and Monotheism in Ancient Societies
			World Religions and Universal Understandings of the World
			How Does Atheism Fit in the Discussion?
		How Do Rituals Work?
			Magical Thought in Non-Western Cultures
			Sympathetic Magic: The Law of Similarity and the Law of Contagion
			Magic in Western Societies
			Rites of Passage and the Ritual Process
		How Is Religion Linked to Political and Social Action?
			The Rise of Fundamentalism
			Understanding Fundamentalism
		THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL LIFE: Is Anthropology Compatible With Religious Faith?
		CLASSIC CONTRIBUTIONS: Sir James G. Frazer on Sympathetic Magic
		DOING FIELDWORK: Studying the Sikh Militants
	Epilogue: Anthropology and the Future of Human Diversity
Glossary
References
Credits
Index