Cultural Anthropology: Tribes, States, and the Global System - Softcover

Bodley, John H.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1442265418 ISBN 13: 9781442265417

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2016

Synopsis

John Bodley’s Cultural Anthropology provides students with the anthropological tools to question and understand their own culture and the world. The sixth edition of this dynamic book has been updated and revised throughout, with a shorter length and a more streamlined focus. Updates include material on China and Hindu South Asia combined into a single chapter, a new chapter assessing the imperial world and the breakdown of states, and new examples throughout.

In this introduction to the basic concepts of cultural anthropology, Bodley challenges students to consider “big questions” about the nature of cultural systems:

• What is “natural” and what is “cultural” about humans?
• What is it like to be human under different cultural conditions, and how do socio-cultural systems of different cultural scales satisfy basic human needs?
• Are race, language, and environment determinants of culture?
• What are the human costs and benefits of socioeconomic growth?
• What have been the major turning points in human history?
• What role do individuals play in shaping culture?

Employing a scale and power approach, the text examines a representative sampling of the world’s major cultural areas and dominant civilizations, from Australian Aborigines, Amazonia, and East African pastoralists to Pacific Islanders, Mesopotamia, China, Hindu India, the British Empire, and the United States; these cultures are shown in depth, as adapting, integrated systems—and as part of regional, continental, and global systems. He concludes the text with a wide-ranging assessment of human problems in the contemporary commercial world, emphasizing inequality, poverty, environmental degradation, and sustainability.

A complimentary instructor’s manual, test bank, and companion website are available to enhance teaching and learning. See “Resources” tab for additional information.

About this title

About the Author:

John H. Bodley is Regents Professor Emeritus in the Department of Anthropology at Washington State University. He is author of several books, including Victims of Progress and Anthropology and Contemporary Human Problems, both now in sixth editions, as well as The Power of Scale and The Small Nation Solution.

Review:

John Bodley’s Cultural Anthropology stands well apart from many other introductory texts. It combines sweeping perspective and grand narrative with wide-ranging cross-cultural and historical data to provide a clearly focused anthropological perspective on our modern world. Bodley does more than introduce anthropology; he shows students how to apply it. (Joshua S. Levin, College of Southern Nevada)

John Bodley's text is solid, incisive, and wise. He puts anthropology into the context of the social sciences, enabling teachers and students alike to grasp its relevance in the world to come. (Michael Blim, City University of New York)

John Bodley’s textbook, now in its sixth edition, is by far the best introductory survey of cultural anthropology ever published! It offers integrated, thorough, and balanced topical and regional coverage of the diversity and unity of humankind; scientific and humanistic aspects; materialist and mentalist approaches; enduring traditional and recent contemporary questions, problems, and issues; theories and methods; and the ethnographic and comparative dimensions of scale, power, and other attributes of tribal, state, and global systems. Bodley challenges students to think critically about their generally unexamined beliefs and practices. In an increasingly interconnected world, this is a vital read not only for every student majoring in anthropology, but ideally for any informed citizen. (Leslie Sponsel, University of Hawai`i, author of Spiritual Ecology: A Quiet Revolution)

Bodley's analysis and writing is completely accessible and empowering. This sixth edition of Cultural Anthropology is thoughtful, with examples relevant to the times, and engages the reader from the first page to the last. I especially appreciate the consistent structure of each chapter— identifying and discussing the central concepts up front rather than burying definitions and detail in an endnote; situating the learning in larger stories that illustrate the life of an anthropologist and the many reasons why an anthropology of power matters; and concluding each chapter with suggestions for how the reader can further apply the lessons in this chapter in their own life as a student and beyond. Simply put, this is an elegant and teachable text that will both inform and inspire. (Barbara Rose Johnston, Center for Political Ecology, Santa Cruz)

About this edition

• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1442265418
• ISBN 13: 9781442265417
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 6
• Number of pages: 464