Readings for a History of Anthropological Theory, Sixth Edition

by Paul A. Erickson (Editor), Liam Murphy (Editor)

Overview

Readings for a History of Anthropological Theory curates and collects many of the most important publications of anthropological thought spanning the last hundred years, building a strong foundation in both classical and contemporary theory. The sixth edition includes seventeen new readings, with a sharpened focus on public anthropology, gender and sexuality, race and ethnicity, linguistic anthropology, archaeology, and the Anthropocene. Each piece of writing is accompanied by a short introduction, key terms, study questions, and further readings that elucidate the original text.

On its own or together with A History of Anthropological Theory, sixth edition, this anthology offers an unrivalled introduction to the theory of anthropology that reflects not only its history but also the changing nature of the discipline today.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781487526320
Publisher:	University of Toronto Press
Publication date:	11/08/2021
Edition description:	sixth edition
Pages:	585
Product dimensions:	8.00(w) x 10.00(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Paul A. Erickson is a past professor in the Department of Anthropology at Saint Mary’s University.
Liam D. Murphy is a professor in the Department of Anthropology at California State University, Sacramento.

Table of Contents

Preface
Introduction

Part One
The Early History of Anthropological Theory 
Overview
1. Bourgeois and Proletarians
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
2. The Science of Culture
Edward Burnett Tylor
3. Ethnical Periods
Lewis Henry Morgan
4. General Summary and Conclusion [The Descent of Man]
Charles Darwin
5. Introduction [The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life]
Émile Durkheim
6. Conclusion [The Gift: The Form and Reason for Exchange in Archaic Societies]
Marcel Mauss
7. The Sociology of Charismatic Authority
Max Weber
8. Nature of the Linguistic Sign and Synchronic and Diachronic Law
Ferdinand de Saussure

Part Two
The Earlier Twentieth Century
Overview
9. The Methods of Ethnology
Franz Boas
10. Conclusion [Primitive Society]
Robert Lowie
11. What Anthropology Is About
Alfred Louis Kroeber
12. Introduction [Coming of Age in Samoa]
Margaret Mead
13. The Individual and the Pattern of Culture
Ruth Benedict
14. The Unconscious Patterning of Behavior in Society
Edward Sapir
15. Introduction and Part One: Folk Tales, John and the Frog, Witness of the Johnstown Flood in Heaven [Mules and Men]
Zora Neale Hurston
16. Social Structure
Alfred Reginald Radcliffe-Brown
17. The Subject, Method, and Scope of This Inquiry [Argonauts of the Western Pacific]
Bronislaw Malinowski
18. Model Systems
Edmund Leach
19. Rituals of Rebellion in South-East Africa
Max Gluckman

Part Three
The Later Twentieth Century
Overview
20. Structuralism and Ecology
Claude Lévi-Strauss
21. Introduction [Purity and Danger: An Analysis of Concepts of Pollution and Taboo]
Mary Douglas
22. Introduction [Islands of History]
Marshall Sahlins
23. Componential Analysis and the Study of Meaning
Ward H. Goodenough
24. Energy and Tools
Leslie White
25. Archaeology as Anthropology
Lewis Binford
26. The Epistemology of Cultural Materialism
Marvin Harris
27. The New Physical Anthropology
Sherwood Washburn
28. Symbols in Ndembu Ritual
Victor Turner
29. Thick Description: Toward an Interpretive Theory of Culture
Clifford Geertz
30. Woman the Gatherer: Male Bias in Anthropology
Sally Slocum
31. The Female World of Cards and Holidays: Women, Families, and the Work of Kinship
Micaela di Leonardo
32. Introduction [Anthropology & the Colonial Encounter]
Talal Asad
33. Knowing the Oriental
Edward W. Said
34. Introduction [Europe and the People Without History]
Eric R. Wolf
35. Introduction: Toward Ethnographies of Communication
Dell Hymes
36. The Subject and Power
Michel Foucault
37. Structures, Habitus, and Practices
Pierre Bourdieu
38. Partial Truths
James Clifford
39. A Crisis of Representation in the Human Sciences
George E. Marcus and Michael M.J. Fischer
40. A Critical-Interpretive Approach in Medical Anthropology: Rituals and Routines of Discipline and Descent
Margaret Lock and Nancy Scheper-Hughes

Part Four
The Early Twenty-First Century
Overview
41. Disjuncture and Difference in the Global Cultural Economy
Arjun Appadurai
42. "We’re Here and We’re Queer!": An Introduction to Studies in Queer Anthropology
Michelle Walks
43. David Maybury-Lewis and Cultural Survival: Providing a Model for Public Anthropology, Advocacy, and Collaboration
Louise Lamphere
44. Introduction [Other People’s Anthropologies]
Aleksandar Bošković and Thomas Hylland Eriksen
45. An Indigenous Feminist’s Take on the Ontological Turn: "Ontology" Is Just Another Word for Colonialism
Zoe Todd
46. From Kinship to Link-up: Cell Phones and Social Networking in Jamaica
Heather Horst and Daniel Miller
47. Introduction: Contemporary Theoretical Debate in Archaeology [Archaeological Theory Today]
Ian Hodder
48. Introduction [Is Science Racist?: Debating Race]
Jonathan Marks
49. Earth Stalked by Man
Anna Tsing

Conclusion
Sources
Index of Key Words

What People are Saying About This

Jennifer Wies

"The sixth edition of this book does an excellent job in describing the sociopolitical context of theory development. With its chronological approach and readings that can be taught within a standard term, this reader is easier to negotiate than other theory texts."

Lana Williams

"The pedagogical features are why I use this book. The strengths of this volume lie in its readability, highlighted terms and glossary, discussion questions, and voices of sexuality and gender. I absolutely love the chronological approach as well as the overviews and introductions for each work."

Carla Guerrón Montero

"Readings for a History of Anthropological Theory provides students with a vast array of classic and contemporary readings. In combination with A History of Anthropological Theory, this anthology allows readers to engage in complex discussions about the main paradigmatic shifts of the discipline as well as its contributions, limitations, and futures."

Editorial Reviews

" Readings for a History of Anthropological Theory provides students with a vast array of classic and contemporary readings. In combination with A History of Anthropological Theory, this anthology allows readers to engage in complex discussions about the main paradigmatic shifts of the discipline as well as its contributions, limitations, and futures."

—Carla Guerrón Montero, University of Delaware

"The pedagogical features are why I use this book. The strengths of this volume lie in its readability, highlighted terms and glossary, discussion questions, and voices of sexuality and gender. I absolutely love the chronological approach as well as the overviews and introductions for each work."

—Lana Williams, University of Central Florida

"The sixth edition of this book does an excellent job in describing the sociopolitical context of theory development. With its chronological approach and readings that can be taught within a standard term, this reader is easier to negotiate than other theory texts."

—Jennifer Wies, Eastern Kentucky University

From the Publisher