Anthropology : 1999-2000 Edition

by Angeloni, Elvio

• ISBN13: 9780070400979
• ISBN10: 0070400970
• Edition: 22nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-01-01
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Higher Education

Table of Contents

World Map	ii
To the Reader	vi
Topic Guide	4	(2)
Selected World Wide Web Sites	6	(2)
UNIT 1 Anthropological Perspectives
Overview	8	(50)
Doing Fieldwork among the Yanomamo	10	(12)
Napoleon A. Chagnon
Although an anthropologist's first experience may involve culture shock, Napoleon Chagnon reports that the long process of participant observation may transform personal hardship and frustration into confident understanding of exotic cultural patterns.
Doctor, Lawyer, Indian Chief	22	(5)
Richard Kurin
In transforming an anthropologist into one of their own, villagers of Punjab say, ``You never really know who a man is until you know who his grandfather and his ancestors were.'' In this way, Richard Kurin finds, selecting a village for fieldwork is a matter of mutual acceptance and mutual economic benefit.
The Midday Sun and Other Hazards	27	(7)
Douglas Raybeck
As much as ethnographic fieldwork is an intellectual pursuit, it is also a matter of practical strategies involving acceptance, psychological security, creature comforts, and, in some respects, sheer survival.
Eating Christmas in the Kalahari	34	(4)
Richard Borshay Lee
Anthropologist Richard Borshay Lee gives an account of the misunderstanding and confusion that often accompany the cross-cultural experience. In this case, he violated a basic principle of the Ikung Bushmen's social relations--food sharing.
Ideal Teaching: Japanese Culture & the Training of the Warrior	38	(6)
Wayne W. Van Horne
Although martial artists are trained to be highly skilled fighters who engage in one-on-one combat, the ultimate goal of the training is consisted with broader Japanese values--to create individuals who contribute to the betterment of the collective society and who have a high degree of social responsibility.
Indians and Archaeologists: Conflicting Views of Myth and Science	44	(8)
Kenneth L. Feder
The rift between myth and science seems so fundamental and so defining that there appears to be very little common ground possible on which Native Americans and archaeologists can stand together, especially when it comes to the issue of when and how the earliest people arrived in the New World.
The Challenge of Cultural Relativism	52	(6)
James Rachels
From the perspective of cultural relativism, many of our behaviors and values are situational, products of cultural circumstance. As valuable as this insight may be, says the author, it fails to take into account the fact that there are also some values that all human beings must adhere to and that are, therefore, universal.
UNIT 2 Culture and Communication
Overview	58	(20)
Language, Appearance, and Reality: Double-speak in 1984	60	(6)
William D. Lutz
When language is used to alter our perception of reality, its main function--that of communication between people and social groups--is in grave danger.
Why Don't You Say What You Mean?	66	(4)
Deborah Tannen
As fundamental elements in human communication, directness is not necessarily logical or effective, and indirectness is not necessarily manipulative or insecure. Each has its place in the broader scheme of things, depending upon the culture and the relationship between the speakers.
Teaching in the Postmodern Classroom	70	(3)
Conrad Phillip Kottak
Anthropologists do not always travel to exotic locales to find unique patterns of culturally conditioned behavior. They may even find them in their own classrooms.
Shakespeare in the Bush	73	(5)
Laura Bohannan
It is often claimed that great literature has cross-cultural significance. In this article, Laura Bohannan describes the difficulties she encountered and the lessons she learned as she attempted to relate the story of Hamlet to the Tiv of West Africa in their own language.
UNIT 3 The Organization of Society and Culture
Overview	78	(32)
Understanding Eskimo Science	80	(3)
Richard Nelson
The traditional hunters' insights into the world of nature may be different, but they are as extensive and profound as those of modern science.
New Women of the Ice Age	83	(6)
Heather Pringle
By combining research on the roles of women in hunting and gathering societies with recent archaeological evidence, on emerging picture of women of Ice Age Europe is that of priestly leaders, clever inventors, and full-fledged hunters.
Mystique of the Masai	89	(7)
Ettagale Blauer
Living in the midst of tourist traffic and straddling two nations struggling to modernize, the Masai have retained their traditional culture longer than virtually every other group of people in East Africa.
Too Many Bananas, Not Enough Pineapples, and No Watermelon at All: Three Object Lessons in Living with Reciprocity	96	(4)
David Counts
Among the lessons to be learned regarding reciprocity is that one may not demand a gift or refuse it. Yet, even without a system of record-keeping or money involved, there is a long-term balance of mutual benefit.
From Shells to Money	100	(6)
Karl F. Rambo
High in the mountains of New Guinea, the once-secluded Simbu have increasingly adopted money as a medium of exchange. Still, the economic strategy of maximizing social relationships rather than individual wealth remains intact.
Life without Chiefs	106	(4)
Marvin Harris
Modern-day egalitarian bands of hunters share their food--and their political power--as did their forebears. But when agriculture was invented, people settled down, produced surpluses, and began to accumulate private property. As control of a group's resources fell to select individuals, big men, chiefs, and--with time--presidents emerged.
UNIT 4 Other Families, Other Ways
Overview	110	(32)
When Brothers Share a Wife	112	(4)
Melvyn C. Goldstein
While the custom of fraternal polyandry relegates many Tibetan women to spinsterhood, this unusual marriage form promotes personal security and economic well-being for its participants.
Young Traders of Northern Nigeria	116	(4)
Enid Schildkrout
In Hausa society, women live in strict Muslim seclusion. Children, who are free from the rigid segregation that so restricts adults, play an active and indispensable economic role.
Death without Weeping	120	(5)
Nancy Scheper-Hughes
In the shantytowns of Brazil, the seeming indifference of mothers who allow some of their children to die is a survival strategy geared to circumstances in which only a few may live.
Why Arctic Women Choose to Give Away Their Babies	125	(3)
Joanne Furio
Marie Claire
The age-old custom of adoption among the Inuit has had many functions, from creating bonds between families that secured cooperation in times of need to ensuring that all families raised as many children as they were able, but none raised more than they could.
Our Babies, Ourselves	128	(6)
Meredith F. Small
Cross-cultural research in child development shows that parents readily accept their society's prevailing ideology on how babies should be treated, usually because it makes sense in their environmental or social circumstances.
Arranging a Marriage in India	134	(5)
Serena Nanda
Arranging a marriage in India is far too serious a business for the young and inexperienced. Instead, the parents make decisions on the basis of both families' social position, reputation, and ability to get along.
Who Needs Love! In Japan, Many Couples Don't	139	(3)
Nicholas D. Kristof
Paradoxically, Japanese families seem to survive not because husbands and wives love each other more than do American couples, but rather because they perhaps love each other less. And as love marriages increase, with the compatibility factor becoming more important in the decision to marry, the divorce rate is rising.
UNIT 5 Genger and Status
Overview	142	(22)
Society and Sex Roles	144	(5)
Ernestine Friedl
Ernestine Friedl relates the extent of male domination over women to the degree to which men control the exchange of valued goods with people outside the family. As women gain increasing access to positions of power in industrial society, they may regain the equality that seems to have been prevalent among our foraging ancestors.
Tradition or Outrage?	149	(3)
Jan Goodwin
Marie Claire
For one Iranian, the chador--the black shroud-like garment that covers a woman from head to toe--is a symbol of feminine oppression; for another, it represents the return to respect for womanhood after the Iranian revolution. Perhaps no other piece of clothing represents such drastic differences in cultural perspectives.
Revered or Raped?	152	(4)
Jan McGirk
Marie Claire
Locked into caste at birth, Hindus must obey a rigid set of rules that defines their lifestyles--what they can eat, how they dress, and what customs they practice.
The Initiation of a Maasai Warrior	156	(5)
Tepilit Ole Saitoti
In virtually every society, certain rites and ceremonies are used to signify adulthood. This article describes the Masai (Maasai) circumcision ceremony that initiates an individual into adulthood.
The Tragedy of Female Circumcision: One Woman's Story	161	(3)
Laura Ziv
Marie Claire
Each year millions of young girls are subjected to female circumcision and to its medical and psychological consequences. Meanwhile, the debate as to whether it should be seen as a cultural tradition or as a human rights issue goes on.
UNIT 6 Religion, Belief, and Ritual
Overview	164	(28)
Psychotherapy in Africa	166	(5)
Thomas Adeoye Lambo
Despite the technological advances and material benefits of modern medicine, traditional healing methods are found to cope more effectively with the psychological and social aspects of illness. When the old and the new forms of treatment are combined, the consequences are beneficial for both the individual and society.
The Mbuti Pygmies: Change and Adaptation	171	(3)
Colin M. Turnbull
Although informal in appearance, the ritual life of the Mbuti Pygmies provides individuals with deep feelings of personal security, individual responsibility, and overall social equality.
The Secrets of Haiti's Living Dead	174	(4)
Gino Del Guercio
In seeking scientific documentation of the existence of zombies, anthropologist Wade Davis found himself looking beyond the stereotypes and mysteries of voodoo and directly into a cohesive system of social control in rural Haiti.
Rituals of Death	178	(6)
Elizabeth D. Purdum
J. Anthony Paredes
In a parallel manner, capital punishment in the United States and human sacrifice among the Aztecs have a similar social function: to assure citizens that society is not out of control and that God is indeed in his heaven.
Body Ritual among the Nacirema	184	(3)
Horace Miner
The ritual beliefs and taboos of the Nacirema provide us with a test case of the objectivity of ethnographic description and show us the extremes to which human behavior can go.
Baseball Magic	187	(5)
George Gmelch
Professional baseball players, like Trobriand Islanders, often resort to magic in situations of chance and uncertainty. As irrational as it may seem, magic creates confidence, competence, and control in the practitioner.
UNIT 7 Sociocultural Change: The Impact of the West
Overview	192	(33)
Why Can't People Feed Themselves?	194	(5)
Frances Moore Lappe
Joseph Collins
When colonial governments force the conversion of subsistence farms to cash crop plantations, peasants are driven into marginal lands or into a large pool of cheap labor. In either case, the authors maintain, they are no longer able to feed themselves.
The Arrow of Disease	199	(8)
Jared Diamond
The most deadly weapon colonial Europeans carried to other continents was their germs. The most intriguing question to answer here is why the flow of disease did not move in the opposite direction.
A Pacific Haze: Alcohol and Drugs in Oceania	207	(7)
Mac Marshall
The relatively benign use of psychoactive drugs, such as betel and kava in the Pacific Islands, is deeply rooted in cultural traditions and patterns of social interaction. Today, as a result of new drugs and disruptive social and economic changes introduced from the outside, a haze hangs over Oceania.
Growing Up as a Fore	214	(5)
E. Richard Sorenson
Smithsonian
In the context of a bountiful subsistence system, Fore children were taught spontaneous expression and exploratory freedom. Hidden within this receptive character, however, was an Achilles' heel, for it permitted the willing adoption of a cash-crop economy and a consequent reformulation of the identity and practices of the Fore.
Academic Scholarship and Sikhism: Conflict or Legitimization	219	(6)
Arthur W. Helweg
When two groups interact but perceive the situation from different cultural systems, as in this case involving Western science and South Asian Sikhism, misunderstanding and tension will result.
Index	225	(3)
Article Review Form	228	(1)
Article Rating Form	229