Anthropology

Robert L. Welsch is retired from Franklin Pierce University, where he taught from 2008-2019. Previously, he taught at Dartmouth College, from 1994-2008.Luis A. Vivanco is Professor of Anthropology and Chair of the Anthropology Department at the University of Vermont.Agustin Fuentes is Professor of Anthropology at Princeton University.

• ContentsLetter from the AuthorsAbout the AuthorsPrefaceAcknowledgmentsPART I. THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE 1. AnthropologyAsking Questions About HumanityHow Did Anthropology Begin?The Disruptions of IndustrializationThe Theory of EvolutionColonial Origins of Cultural AnthropologyAnthropology as a Global DisciplineWhat Do the Four Subfields of Anthropology Have in Common?CultureCultural RelativismHuman DiversityChangeHolismHow Do Anthropologists Know What They Know?The Scientific Method in AnthropologyWhen Anthropology Is Not a Science: Interpreting Other CulturesHow Do Anthropologists Put Their Knowledge to Work in the World?Applied and Practicing AnthropologyPutting Anthropology to WorkWhat Ethical Obligations Do Anthropologists Have?Do No HarmTake Responsibility for Your WorkShare Your FindingsA WORLD IN MOTION: George A. Dorsey and the Anthropology of Immigration in the Early Twentieth CenturyCLASSIC CONTRIBUTIONS: E. B. Tylor and the Culture ConceptDOING FIELDWORK: Conducting Holistic Research with Stanley UlijaszekTHE ANTHROPOLOGICAL LIFE: Anthropologists Are InnovatorsTHE ANTHROPOLOGICAL LIFE: Key Characteristics of Anthropologists in the Workplace2. CultureGiving Meaning to Human LivesWhat Is Culture?Elements of CultureDefining Culture in This BookIf Culture Is Always Changing, Why Does It Feel So Stable?SymbolsValuesNormsTraditionsHow Do Social Institutions Express Culture?Culture and Social InstitutionsAmerican Culture Expressed Through Breakfast Cereals and SexualityCan Anybody Own Culture?THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL LIFE: Cultural Anthropology and Human PossibilitiesCLASSIC CONTRIBUTIONS: Franz Boas and the Relativity of CultureANTHROPOLOGIST AS PROBLEM SOLVER: Michael Ames and Collaborative Museum Exhibits3. Human Biocultural EvolutionEmergence of the Biocultural AnimalLife Changes. But What Does It Mean to Say It Evolves?A Brief Primer on the Rise of Evolutionary ThinkingDifferentiating Evolution From Simple ChangeWhat It Means to Have Common AncestryWhy Evolution Is Important to Anthropology . . . and Anthropology to EvolutionWhat Are the Actual Mechanisms Through Which Evolution Occurs?The Modern SynthesisBasic Sources of Biological Change: Genes, DNA, and CellsGenetic Mechanisms of EvolutionNon-Genetic Mechanisms of EvolutionHow Do Biocultural Patterns Affect Evolution?Human Inheritance Involves Multiple SystemsEvolutionary Processes Are Developmentally Open-EndedThe Importance of Constructivist Evolutionary Approaches for Biocultural AnthropologyAre Modern Humans Evolving, and Where Might We Be Headed?The Impact of Disease on EvolutionCultural Practices, Morphology, and EvolutionLooking to the FutureGlobal Population and Human DensityGenetic ManipulationClimate Change and Adaptive Behavioral PatternsCLASSIC CONTRIBUTIONS: Clyde Kluckhohn and the Role of Evolution in AnthropologyTHE ANTHROPOLOGICAL LIFE: The Biocultural Awesomeness of AweANTHROPOLOGIST AS PROBLEM SOLVER: Clarifying the Biocultural and Evolutionary Dimensions of Obesity4. Cross-Cultural InteractionsUnderstanding Culture and GlobalizationAre Cross-Cultural Interactions All That New?Is the Contemporary World Really Getting Smaller?Defining GlobalizationThe World We Live InWhat Are the Outcomes of Global Integration?Colonialism and World Systems TheoryCultures of MigrationResistance at the PeripheryGlobalizing and Localizing IdentitiesDoesn't Everyone Want to Be Developed?What Is Development?Development AnthropologyAnthropology of DevelopmentChange on Their Own TermsIf the World Is Not Becoming Homogenized, What Is Actually Happening?Cultural Convergence TheoriesHybridizationCLASSIC CONTRIBUTIONS: Eric Wolf, Culture, and the World SystemTHE ANTHROPOLOGICAL LIFE: Coldplay and the Global Citizen FestivalA WORLD IN MOTION: Instant Ramen Noodles Take Over the WorldDOING FIELDWORK: Tracking Emergent Forms of Citizenship with Aihwa OngPART II. BECOMING HUMAN METHODS MEMO: How Do Anthropologists Study Human and Primate Biological Processes?5. Living PrimatesComparing Monkeys, Apes, and HumansWhat Does It Mean to Be a Primate, and Why Does It Matter to Anthropology?What It Means to Be a PrimateThe Distinctions Between Strepsirrhini and HaplorrhiniPrimatology as AnthropologyWhat Are the Basic Patterns of Primate Behavioral Diversity, and Under What Conditions Did They Develop?Common Behavior Patterns Among PrimatesThe Emergence of Primate Behavioral DiversityHow Do Behavior Patterns Among Monkeys and Apes Compare with Humans?The Lives of MacaquesThe Lives of Chimpanzees and BonobosSo How Do They Compare With Us?What Does Studying Monkeys and Apes Really Illustrate About Human Distinctiveness?Primate Social Organization and Human BehaviorWe Have Culture. Do They Too?THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL LIFE: So You Want to Work With Primates?DOING FIELDWORK: The Ethics of Working with Great ApesCLASSIC CONTRIBUTIONS: Sherwood Washburn and the New (Integrative) Physical AnthropologyMETHODS MEMO: How Do Anthropologists Study Ancient Primates and Human Origins?6. Ancestral HumansUnderstanding the Human Family TreeWho Are Our Earliest Possible Ancestors?Our Earliest Ancestors Were HomininsThe Fossil Record of Hominins inThe Three Hominin GeneraWho Is Our Most Direct Ancestor?What Did Walking on Two Legs and Having Big Brains Mean for the Early Hominins?The Benefits of Upright MovementThe Effects of Big Brains on Early Hominin BehaviorWho Were the First Humans, and Where Did They Live?Introducing Homo erectusThe Emergence of Archaic HumansWho Were the Neanderthals and Denisovans?Contemporary Humans Hit the SceneHow 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. erectusCulture Among Archaic HumansSocial Cooperation and Symbolic ExpressionTHE ANTHROPOLOGICAL LIFE: How to Think Like a PaleoanthropologistANTHROPOLOGIST AS PROBLEM SOLVER: Were We "Born to Run"?CLASSIC CONTRIBUTIONS: Sarah Blaffer Hrdy, Helpless Babies, and the Evolution of Human CooperationA WORLD IN MOTION: Rethinking the Peopling of the Americas7. Human Biodiversity TodayUnderstanding Our Differences and SimilaritiesIn What Ways Do Contemporary Humans Vary Biologically?Genetic Variation Within and Between Human PopulationsGenetic Variation Is Tied to Gene FlowPhysiological Diversity and Blood TypesDisease Environments and Human ImmunityWhy Do Human Bodies Look So Different Across the Planet?Is Skin Really Colored?Variations in Body Shape, Stature, and SizeAre 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 Social Phenomena Like Discrimination, Rapid Change, Nurturing, and So Forth Have on Human Bodies?Eugenics: A Weak Theory of Genetic InheritanceThe Embodied Consequences of Being a Racialized MinorityHow Do Humans Thrive?CLASSIC CONTRIBUTIONS: Ashley Montagu and "Man's Most Dangerous Myth"ANTHROPOLOGIST AS PROBLEM SOLVER: Jada Benn Torres and Reparational Genetics in the CaribbeanTHE ANTHROPOLOGICAL LIFE: It Does, in Fact, "Take a Village:" A Biocultural Perspective8. The BodyBiocultural Perspectives on Health and IllnessHow Do Biological and Cultural Factors Shape Our Bodily Experiences?Uniting Mind and Matter: A Biocultural PerspectiveCulture and Mental IllnessWhat Do We Mean by Health and Illness?The Individual Subjectivity of IllnessThe "Sick Role": The Social Expectations of IllnessHow and Why Do Doctors and Other Health Practitioners Gain Social Authority?The Disease-Illness Distinction: Professional and Popular Views of SicknessThe Medicalization of the Non-MedicalHow Does Healing Happen?Clinical Therapeutic ProcessesSymbolic Therapeutic ProcessesSocial SupportPersuasion: The Placebo EffectHow Can Anthropology Help Us Address Global Health Problems?Understanding Global Health ProblemsAnthropological Contributions to Tackling the International HIV/AIDS CrisisANTHROPOLOGIST AS PROBLEM SOLVER: Heidi Larson, Vaccine AnthropologistA WORLD IN MOTION: Medical Tourism and YemenCLASSIC CONTRIBUTIONS: Paul Farmer and the Effort to Situate Global Health Problems in an Anthropology of SufferingPART III. HUMANS AND THEIR MATERIAL WORLDS METHODS MEMO: What Field Methods Do Archaeologists Use to Study the Human and Environmental Past?9. MaterialityConstructing Social Relationships and MeaningsWith ThingsWhy Is the Ownership of Prehistoric Artifacts and Objects From Other Cultures Such a Contentious Issue?Archaeological Excavation and Questions of OwnershipThe Road to NAGPRACultural Resource ManagementHow Should We Look at Objects Anthropologically?The Many Dimensions of ObjectsA Shiny New Bicycle in Multiple DimensionsConstructing the Meaning of an Archaeological ArtifactHow and Why Do the Meanings of Things Change Over Time?The Social Life of ThingsThree Ways Objects Change Over TimeHow Archaeological Specimens Change Meaning Over TimeWhat Role Does Material Culture Play in Constructing the Meaning of a Community>'s Past?Claiming the PastThe Politics of ArchaeologyTHE ANTHROPOLOGICAL LIFE: Working as an Ethnographic Collections Manager at the Field MuseumA WORLD IN MOTION: The Movement of Art In and Out of AfricaCLASSIC CONTRIBUTIONS: Margaret Conkey and the Gender Politics of Understanding Past LivesMETHODS MEMO: Why Is Carbon-14 So Important to Archaeologists?10. Early Agriculture and the Neolithic RevolutionModifying the Environment to Satisfy Human DemandsHow Important Was Hunting to Prehistoric Peoples?Taking Stock of Living Hunter-Gatherers's Holistic, On-the-Ground Approach to Fighting Poverty14. SustainabilityEnvironment and FoodwaysDo All People See Nature in the Same Way?The Human-Nature Divide?The Cultural LandscapeHow Do People Secure an Adequate, Meaningful, and Environmentally Sustainable Food Supply?Modes of SubsistenceFood, Culture, and MeaningHow Does Non-Western Knowledge of Nature and Agriculture Relate to Science?EthnoscienceTraditional Ecological KnowledgeHow Are Industrial Agriculture, Economic Globalization, and Climate Change Linked to Increasing Environmental and Health Problems?Population and EnvironmentEcological FootprintIndustrial Foods, Sedentary Lives, and the Nutrition TransitionClimate Change and CultureAre Industrialized Western Societies the Only Ones to Conserve Nature?Anthropogenic LandscapesThe Culture of Modern Nature ConservationEnvironmentalism>'s Alternative ParadigmsCLASSIC CONTRIBUTIONS: Roy Rappaport's Insider and Outsider ModelsANTHROPOLOGIST AS PROBLEM SOLVER: Urban Black Food Justice with Ashanté ReeseA WORLD IN MOTION: Migrant Caravans, Global Warming, and Ecological RefugeesTHE ANTHROPOLOGICAL LIFE: Careers in Sustainability15. PowerPolitics and Social ControlDoes Every Society Have a Government?The Idea of

Anthropology takes a dynamic approach to exploring the four fields and the connections between them. Each chapter begins with a particular problem or story that draws the reader in and illustrates why concepts of that chapter are important. The content is then organized around a series of questions so that students participate in the investigation of ideas.