Rent 9780070400979 | Anthropology : 1999-2000 Edition

Table of Contents

World Map

To the Reader

Topic Guide

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Selected World Wide Web Sites

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UNIT 1 Anthropological Perspectives

Overview

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Doing Fieldwork among the Yanomamo

(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

(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

(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

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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

(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

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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

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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

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Language, Appearance, and Reality: Double-speak in 1984

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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?

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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

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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

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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

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Understanding Eskimo Science

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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When Brothers Share a Wife

112

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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Society and Sex Roles

144

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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Why Can't People Feed Themselves?

194

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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Article Review Form

228

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Article Rating Form

229