Core Concepts in Cultural Anthropology

 (7 customer reviews)

This small book is intended to be a rapid and concise introduction to basic ideas that form the central concepts of cultural anthropology. The format of the book is to have a short chapter on each of the major aspects of anthropology such as: culture, religion, politics, economics, kinship, marriage, and capitalism.

Each subject is given a few pages of discussion (around ten) and then a bibliography for further reading. In these few pages, the reader will grasp the central ideas that represent the current thinking in the field.

It has been successfully used as a textbook by making this the cental theme of the class, but then supplementing the study with a significant amount of outside reading. This is the third edition of this book. it has several sections expanded to reflect greater depth in areas like neoliberalism, transnational citizenship, human rights, and so on.

The authors of this book emphasize that it should be used in conjunction with collections of ethnographies and other volumes. With that in mind, this is an exceptionally clear, useful, and well-considered book about cultural anthropology. The authors have done an outstanding job of making complex theories and ideas accessible in a short amount of space.

I recommend this book for anyone seeking to learn the overall outlines or remind themselves of the major ideas in cultural anthropology. I am VERY glad I bought it!

The book is much smaller that I was expecting. It came with some markings and a curled cover, but the material is great.