case study in cultural anthropology

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Submission guidelines, ( con traducción al español ).

Cultural Anthropology  publishes ethnographic writing informed by a wide array of theoretical perspectives, innovative in form and content, and focused on both traditional and emerging topics. It also welcomes essays concerned with ethnographic methods and research design in historical perspective, and with ways cultural analysis can address broader public audiences and interests.

Research Articles

A research article submitted to  Cultural Anthropology  should:

• Be more than a solid ethnographic case study; we are looking for works that draw on original field research, or historical evidence considered anthropologically, to make explicit contributions to contemporary conversations and theoretical developments in cultural anthropology.
• Consider the extent to which citations engage with a demographically diverse set of authors, both as appropriate to the case study, and as generative of fresh theoretical insights that are productive of a more ethical, decolonized, and counterhegemonic discipline. Many fields of classic and contemporary cultural anthropology (e.g, the study of kinship, household, ritual, environments, and colonialism) have rich and complex genealogies that have not been adequately recognized in Anglophone scholarship. Works published in Cultural Anthropology should make an effort to engage with the diverse canon that has constituted these fields. Citing and engaging the work of scholars from the country and region   where the research was conducted, as well as other scholars who have worked in that region (including non-English language publications), are also relevant criteria of evaluation.
• Engage and cite research beyond the author’s core networks. We especially welcome works that take alternative analyses seriously into account.
• Build arguments with claims that are proportionate to the data presented.
• Speak relevantly and reflexively to issues of research ethics, design, and methodology.
• Include an informative title and abstract that are concise and clear, which introduce the theoretical and empirical dimensions of the article and which are written with minimal jargon for a broad anthropological audience.

Cultural Anthropology welcomes multimedia content as part of regular article submissions. In addition to images, submissions may include video and/or audio clips that are integral to the text’s argumentation.

Cultural Anthropology  does not publish special issues or book reviews.

Submitting a Research Article

The journal’s  online submission system  is  the only acceptable means of submitting a manuscript for review . Manuscripts sent directly to the editors will not be considered. If you encounter any technical difficulties, please contact  [email protected]  for assistance.

The target length of your initial submission should be  9,000 words, including notes and references . Manuscripts over 9,500 words will be returned for further editing. All submissions must include an abstract of no more than 150 words, as well as 5–7 keywords. Manuscripts submitted to  Cultural Anthropology  should not be under simultaneous consideration by any other journal or have been published elsewhere.

When submitting a revised manuscript, please log in to your account at journal.culanth.org , where you will see your original submission. In the Review tab, you will see a box labeled Revisions; click on Upload File. Please also upload a cover letter of no more than two pages in which you explain your revision strategy and outline the major changes you have made to the text. The cover letter may be shared with reviewers, so it should not contain any identifying information. If your title or abstract changes during revisions, please click on the Publication tab to update them. Our editorial office will be automatically notified when you upload revised files, but please reach out to [email protected] if you have any questions.

Short-Form Essays

Colloquy is a section of Cultural Anthropology that features guest-edited collections of 3–5 short-form essays (roughly 2,000 words each) that are engaged in debate, development, and productive conversation with one another over a shared theme or concept. Colloquy contributions should be theoretically ambitious and informed by field research, but they need not be ethnographic essays. We welcome efforts to expand the conceptual and methodological horizons of anthropological practice.

Submitting a Colloquy Collection

If you are interested in proposing a Colloquy collection, please send a paragraph outlining how you propose to approach your theme to [email protected]. You should include a list of 3–5 confirmed or interested participants, including names, affiliations, essay titles, and a paragraph-long abstract for each participant’s essay.

If your proposal is accepted, you will be asked to gather, edit, and introduce the collection, for a total word count of no more than 12,000 words (including endnotes and excluding references, although these should be kept to a minimum), to submit for review as a single document through the journal’s online submission system . The collection will be sent out for peer review, so author names should appear only in the cover letter.

Article Processing and Submission Charges

Cultural Anthropology  does not use article processing charges (APCs) to support the cost of publication. Members of the Society for Cultural Anthropology (SCA) support the journal through their membership dues. Authors who are members of the American Anthropological Association (AAA), but not of the SCA, must join the SCA before their manuscripts will be reviewed.

Authors who are not members of the AAA may pay a submission fee of $25 in lieu of becoming a member of the AAA and SCA. Authors can pay the fee with a credit card (MasterCard, Visa, or American Express) using the AAA’s  secure payment system ; select the option “Manuscript Processing Fee - SCA Nonmember.” The editorial office will be notified once the charge has been paid and will proceed with the review of your manuscript.

Submission charges only apply to initial submissions; no charge applies to resubmitted manuscripts. In the case of coauthored manuscripts, as long as at least one of the authors is a current SCA member, no submission fee will apply. Moreover, if payment of the submission fee would represent a significant financial hardship for the author, a request for a waiver with a brief explanation may be sent to  [email protected] .

Cultural Anthropology  follows the  Chicago Manual of Style  (17th ed., 2017) for most matters of style, including hyphenation, capitalization, punctuation, abbreviations, and grammar, and  Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary  (11th ed., 2003) for spelling. Manuscripts must be double-spaced and in a 12-point font, preferably Times New Roman; this applies to block quotes and excerpts, notes, and references. Margins throughout the manuscript should be set at 1 inch.

Citations and reference lists should use  Chicago ’s  author-date format . Sources appearing in the references list must be cited in text and vice versa. In text, references are cited in parentheses, with last name(s), year of publication, and page numbers for direct quotations. The references list should be ordered alphabetically by author’s last name. If possible, please provide digital object identifier (DOIs) for all journal articles.

Cultural Anthropology  takes plagiarism very seriously, and asks authors to be sure that they have properly acknowledged the scholarly work of others. Failure to do so can be considered grounds for the rejection of a submitted article.

Images should not be embedded in your manuscript, but uploaded separately.  In the manuscript, please indicate where you would like each image to appear by adding in-text callouts between paragraphs: for example, “<IMAGE 1 HERE>.” Then, once you have uploaded the manuscript to OJS, you should upload the images and a Word document with captions for each image as supplementary files.

Our Review Process

All manuscripts are given an initial review by the editorial collective within 7–10 days of their submission. At that point, the editors will either inform the author that the article has been declined or will initiate the journal’s double-blind peer review process. Each article sent out for review is sent to two or three reviewers, who are selected by the journal’s  editorial board  and are asked to disclose any conflicts of interest before accepting the assignment. A decision about whether to accept, reject, or invite revisions to the article is generally made within three months of sending it out for review.

Authors should prepare their manuscripts in order to facilitate anonymous review. Any identifying references to the author should be removed prior to submission.

Our Production Process

Once an article has been accepted and scheduled for publication, it will be copyedited for clarity and consistency with  Cultural Anthropology ’s house style. Authors will have the opportunity to review the copyedited manuscript and to make additional changes, in consultation with the managing editor. Once an article has been typeset, only very small corrections will be permitted. Authors are expected to respond promptly to all inquiries from the editorial office in order to avoid delays in the production schedule.

As of 2023, Cultural Anthropology will be published under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license , meaning all CA authors will retain their copyright and the published version of the article is freely available to download, save, reproduce, and transmit for noncommercial, scholarly, and educational purposes under the Creative Commons BY-NC 4.0 license.

Cultural Anthropology  requires authors to provide the journal with their  ORCID  identifier early in the production process.

Amendments and Retractions

If an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in their article after it has been published, it is the author’s obligation to notify the editorial collective and to cooperate fully if an amendment or retraction is judged to be in order. In the event that an allegation of research misconduct relating to a published article is brought to the editorial collective, the journal will follow the guidelines of the  Committee on Publication Ethics  in responding to the allegation.

Directrices para la Presentación de Originales a Cultural Anthropology

Cultural Anthropology publica textos etnográficos inspirados en un amplio abanico de perspectivas teóricas, innovadores en forma y contenido, y centrados en temas tanto tradicionales como emergentes. De igual modo damos la bienvenida a contribuciones que pongan el acento en los métodos etnográficos y el diseño de la investigación desde una perspectiva histórica, a la par que propuestas de análisis cultural que busquen la interpelación e interés de públicos y audiencias más amplias.

Artículos de Investigación

Un artículo de investigación enviado a Cultural Anthropology debe:

• Ser algo más que un sólido estudio de caso etnográfico. Buscamos trabajos basados en investigaciones de campo originales, o en análisis de materiales históricos desde una perspectiva antropológica, que contribuyan explícitamente a los debates y desarrollos teóricos de la antropología cultural contemporánea.
• Hacerse cargo de que toda cita académica pone en juego un conjunto de autores y autoras demográficamente diverso, tanto en lo que respecta al estudio de caso en cuestión, como en su apuesta por una visión teórica disciplinar más ética, descolonizada y contrahegemónica. Muchos campos de la antropología cultural clásica y contemporánea (por ejemplo, el estudio del parentesco, el hogar, el ritual, el paisaje o el colonialismo) tienen genealogías ricas y complejas no siempre reconocidas adecuadamente en la tradición anglófona. Los trabajos publicados en Cultural Anthropology deberían hacer un esfuerzo por comprometerse con la diversidad canónica que ha constituido estos campos. Por ello, citar y dialogar con el trabajo de la academia del país y la región donde se ha realizado la investigación, así como de otras personas que han trabajado en esa misma región –incluidas las publicaciones en lengua no inglesa–, son criterios relevantes de evaluación.
• Establecer un diálogo y citar investigaciones cuyas contribuciones orbiten más allá de las redes académicas de les autores. Nos interesan especialmente aquellos trabajos que se toman con seriedad análisis y propuestas alternativas.
• Desarrollar una propuesta argumentativa cuyas afirmaciones guarden proporción con los datos presentados.
• Interpelar reflexivamente la propia ética, diseño y metodología de la investigación.
• Incluir un título y un resumen informativos que sean concisos y claros, que presenten las dimensiones teóricas y empíricas del artículo y estén escritos con un mínimo de jerga para un público antropológico amplio. Deberán incluirse copias en castellano y en inglés tanto del título como del resumen.

Cultural Anthropology acepta contenidos multimedia como parte de los trabajos propuestos. Además de imágenes, estos pueden incluir vídeos y/o clips de audio que formen parte de la argumentación del texto. Cultural Anthropology no publica números especiales ni reseñas de libros.

Envío de un Artículo de Investigación

El sistema de envío en línea de la revista es el único medio aceptable para enviar un manuscrito para su revisión. Los manuscritos enviados directamente al colectivo editorial no serán considerados. Si tiene algún problema técnico, póngase en contacto con [email protected] para obtener ayuda. Los originales enviados tendrán una extensión inicial de 9.000 palabras, incluidas las notas y bibliografía. Los manuscritos de más de 9.500 palabras se devolverán para su revisión. Todos los envíos deben incluir un resumen de no más de 150 palabras, así como de 5 a 7 palabras clave. Los manuscritos enviados a Cultural Anthropology no deben de estar siendo considerados para su publicación por ninguna otra revista, ni haber sido publicados en otro lugar. Para enviar una nueva versión de su manuscrito que responda a las recomendaciones de la revisión por pares debe acceder a su cuenta en journal.culanth.org, donde podrá ver también su envío original. En la pestaña Review (Revisión) verá una casilla denominada Revisions (Revisiones); podrá subir la nueva versión del texto haciendo clic en Upload File (Subir Fichero). Debe subir también una carta de presentación de no más de dos páginas en la que explique su estrategia de revisión y describa los principales cambios que ha realizado en el texto. La carta de presentación puede ser compartida con les revisores, por lo que no debe contener ninguna información que pueda servir para identificarle como autor o autora. Si el título o el resumen cambian durante las revisiones, haga clic en la pestaña Publication (Publicación) para actualizarlos. Nuestra oficina editorial recibirá una notificación automática cuando suba los archivos revisados, pero le rogamos que se ponga en contacto con [email protected] si tiene alguna duda.

Gastos de Procesamiento y Envío de Artículos

Cultural Anthropology no realiza cargos por el procesamiento de artículos (APCs) para financiar el costo de la publicación. Los socios y socias de la Society for Cultural Anthropology (SCA) subvencionan la revista a través de sus cuotas. Los autores y autoras que sean socias de la Asociación Americana de Antropología (AAA), pero no de la SCA, deben unirse a la SCA antes de que sus manuscritos sean revisados. Les autores que no sean socias de la AAA pueden pagar una cuota de envío de 25 dólares en lugar de asociarse a la AAA y la SCA. La cuota se puede pagar con una tarjeta de crédito (MasterCard, Visa o American Express) utilizando el sistema de pago seguro de la AAA, para lo cual debe seleccionar la opción "Manuscript Processing Fee - SCA Nonmember" (Tasa de Procesamiento de Manuscritos-SCA No socias). La oficina editorial será notificada una vez que se haya pagado el cargo y procederá a la revisión de su manuscrito. Los cargos por envío sólo se aplican a los envíos iniciales; no se aplica ningún cargo a los manuscritos reenviados. En el caso de manuscritos en coautoría, siempre que al menos uno de les autores sea socia de la SCA no se aplicará ninguna tasa de envío. Además, si el pago de la tasa de envío representara una dificultad financiera importante para un autor o autora, puede enviarse una solicitud de exención con una breve explicación a [email protected].

Cultural Anthropology se adhiere al Manual de Estilo de Chicago (17ª ed., 2017) para la mayoría de las cuestiones de estilo, incluyendo guiones, puntuación y abreviaturas. Los manuscritos deben ir a doble espacio y con un tipo de letra de 12 puntos, preferiblemente Times New Roman; esto se aplica a las citas en bloque y a los extractos, notas y referencias. Los márgenes de todo el manuscrito deben ser de 1 pulgada (2.54 centímetros). Cultural Anthropology recomienda el uso de lenguaje inclusivo y no sexista en los textos que se presenten para publicación. Conscientes de que no todos los textos se muestran igualmente viables para su adaptación, confiamos en el cuidado del contenido más allá de soluciones morfológicas. Valgan como ejemplo estas mismas directrices, donde hemos optado por usar distintos pronombres y formas del sujeto (a veces “autores y autoras”, a veces “les autores”) buscando tanto la inclusividad como la accesibilidad, y ofreciendo una alternativa morfológica para personas con dificultades lecto-escritoras.

Bibliografía

Las citas y bibliografías deben utilizar el formato autor-fecha de Chicago. Las fuentes que aparecen en la bibliografía deben citarse en el texto y viceversa. En el texto, las referencias se citan entre paréntesis, con los apellidos, el año de publicación y los números de página de las citas directas. La bibliografía debe estar ordenada alfabéticamente por el apellido del autor o autora. Si es posible, facilite el identificador de objeto digital (DOI) de todos los artículos de revistas citados. Debido al esfuerzo editorial que conlleva la apuesta por la publicación de textos en castellano en Cultural Anthropology sólo podemos comprometernos a publicar aquellos textos cuyas autoras o autores se hagan cargo del cumplimiento estricto de las normas de estilo y formato de la revista. No hacerlo será considerado motivo de rechazo del trabajo. Cultural Anthropology se toma muy en serio el plagio y pide a les autores que se aseguren de haber reconocido adecuadamente el trabajo académico de otras personas. No hacerlo puede ser considerado motivo de rechazo de un trabajo.

Las imágenes no deben estar integradas en el manuscrito, sino que deben enviarse por separado. En el manuscrito, indique dónde desea que aparezca cada imagen añadiendo llamadas en el texto entre los párrafos: por ejemplo, "<IMÁGEN 1 AQUÍ>". Después, una vez que haya subido el manuscrito a OJS, deberá subir las imágenes y un documento de Word con los pies de foto de cada imagen como archivos complementarios.

Nuestro Proceso de Revisión

Todos los manuscritos son sometidos a una revisión inicial por parte del colectivo editorial en un plazo de 7 a 10 días desde su recepción. En ese momento, les editores informarán al autor o autora si el artículo es rechazado o iniciarán el proceso de revisión por el sistema de pares ciegos. Los artículos se enviarán a dos o tres revisores, que son seleccionados por el consejo editorial de la revista y a quienes se les solicita que declaren cualquier conflicto de intereses antes de aceptar el encargo. La decisión de aceptar, rechazar o invitar a revisar el artículo se toma generalmente en los tres meses siguientes al envío de la revisión. Les autores deben preparar sus manuscritos para facilitar la revisión anónima. Cualquier referencia que les identifique debe ser eliminada antes de su envío.

Nuestro Proceso de Producción

Una vez que un artículo ha sido aceptado y programado para su publicación será revisado para cerciorarse de que se adhiere a las normas de estilo y formato de Cultural Anthropology . De no ser así, en consulta con el colectivo editorial los autores y autoras tendrán la oportunidad de revisar el manuscrito y hacer los cambios de estilo y formato necesarios para adecuarse a las normas de la revista. Una vez que el artículo haya sido maquetado, sólo se permitirán correcciones mínimas. Se espera que les autores respondan con prontitud a todas las consultas de la redacción para evitar retrasos en el calendario de producción.

A partir de 2023, Cultural Anthropology se publicará bajo una licencia CC BY-NC 4.0 , lo que significa que todas las y los autores de CA conservarán sus derechos de autor y que la versión publicada del artículo se podrá descargar, guardar, reproducir y transmitir libremente para fines no comerciales, académicos y educativos bajo la licencia Creative Commons BY-NC 4.0.

Enmiendas y Retractaciones

Si une autor o autora descubre un error o inexactitud importante en su artículo tras su publicación, es su obligación notificarlo al colectivo editorial y cooperar plenamente si llegara a ser necesario enmendarlo o retractarlo. En caso de que el colectivo editorial reciba una acusación de mala conducta durante la realización de una investigación relacionada con un artículo publicado en la revista, el colectivo seguirá las directrices del Comité sobre la Ética de Publicar (Committee on Publication Ethics, COPE) para responder a la acusación.

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• Introduction

Definition and scope

Distinction between physical anthropology and cultural anthropology.

• Evolutionism
• Marxism and the collectors
• Boas and the culture history school
• Mauss and the “sociological” school
• The “grand diffusionists”
• Functionalism and structuralism
• Cultural psychology
• Neo-Marxism and neo-evolutionism
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• Non-Western cultural anthropologists
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cultural anthropology

Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.

• Discover Anthropology - Social and Cultural Anthropology
• Table Of Contents

cultural anthropology , a major division of anthropology that deals with the study of culture in all of its aspects and that uses the methods, concepts, and data of archaeology , ethnography and ethnology, folklore, and linguistics in its descriptions and analyses of the diverse peoples of the world.

Etymologically, anthropology is the science of humans. In fact, however, it is only one of the sciences of humans, bringing together those disciplines the common aims of which are to describe human beings and explain them on the basis of the biological and cultural characteristics of the populations among which they are distributed and to emphasize, through time, the differences and variations of these populations. The concept of race, on the one hand, and that of culture , on the other, have received special attention; and although their meaning is still subject to debate, these terms are doubtless the most common of those in the anthropologist’s vocabulary.

Anthropology, which is concerned with the study of human differences, was born after the Age of Discovery had opened up societies that had remained outside the technological civilization of the modern West. In fact, the field of research was at first restricted to those societies that had been given one unsatisfactory label after another: “savage,” “primitive,” “tribal,” “traditional,” or even “preliterate,” “prehistorical,” and so on. What such societies had in common, above all, was being the most “different” or the most foreign to the anthropologist; and in the early phases of anthropology, the anthropologists were always European or North American. The distance between the researcher and the object of his study has been a characteristic of anthropological research; it has been said of the anthropologist that he was the “astronomer of the sciences of man.”

Anthropologists today study more than just primitive societies. Their research extends not only to village communities within modern societies but also to cities, even to industrial enterprises. Nevertheless, anthropology’s first field of research, and the one that perhaps remains the most important, shaped its specific point of view with regard to the other sciences of man and defined its theme. If, in particular, it is concerned with generalizing about patterns of human behaviour seen in all their dimensions and with achieving a total description of social and cultural phenomena, this is because anthropology has observed small-scale societies, which are simpler or at least more homogeneous than modern societies and which change at a slower pace. Thus they are easier to see whole.

What has just been said refers especially to the branch of anthropology concerned with the cultural characteristics of man. Anthropology has, in fact, gradually divided itself into two major spheres: the study of man’s biological characteristics and the study of his cultural characteristics. The reasons for this split are manifold, one being the rejection of the initial mistakes regarding correlations between race and culture. More generally speaking, the vast field of 19th-century anthropology was subdivided into a series of increasingly specialized disciplines, using their own methods and techniques, that were given different labels according to national traditions.

Thus two large disciplines—physical anthropology and cultural anthropology—and such related disciplines as prehistory and linguistics now cover the program that originally was set up for a single study of anthropology. The two fields are largely autonomous , having their own relations with disciplines outside anthropology; and it is unlikely that any researchers today work simultaneously in the fields of physical and cultural anthropology. The generalist has become rare. On the other hand, the fields have not been cut off from one another. Specialists in the two fields still cooperate in specific genetic or demographic problems and other matters.

Prehistoric archaeology and linguistics also have notable links with cultural anthropology. In posing the problem of the evolution of mankind in an inductive way, archaeology contributed to the creation of the first concepts of anthropology, and archaeology is still indispensable in uncovering the past of societies under observation. In many areas, when it is a question of interpreting the use of rudimentary tools or of certain elementary religious phenomena, prehistory and cultural anthropology are mutually helpful. “Primitive” societies that have not yet reached the metal age are still in existence.

Relations between linguistics and cultural anthropology are numerous. On a purely practical level the cultural anthropologist has to serve a linguistic apprenticeship. He cannot do without a knowledge of the language of the people he is studying, and often he has had to make the first survey of it. One of his essential tasks, moreover, has been to collect the various forms of oral expression, including myths , folk tales, proverbs, and so forth. On the theoretical level, cultural anthropology has often used concepts developed in the field of linguistics: in studying society as a system of communication, in defining the notion of structure, and in analyzing the way in which man organizes and classifies his whole experience of the world.

Cultural anthropology maintains relations with a great number of other sciences. It has been said of sociology , for instance, that it was almost the twin sister of anthropology. The two are presumably differentiated by their field of study (modern societies versus traditional societies). But the contrast is forced. These two social sciences often meet. Thus, the study of colonial societies borrows as much from sociology as from cultural anthropology. And it has already been remarked how cultural anthropology intervenes more and more frequently in urban and industrial fields classically the domain of sociology.

There have also been fruitful exchanges with other disciplines quite distinct from cultural anthropology. In political science the discussion of the concept of the state and of its origin has been nourished by cultural anthropology. Economists, too, have depended on cultural anthropology to see concepts in a more comparative light and even to challenge the very notion of an “economic man” (suspiciously similar to the 19th-century capitalist revered by the classical economists). Cultural anthropology has brought to psychology new bases on which to reflect on concepts of personality and the formation of personality. It has permitted psychology to develop a system of cross-cultural psychiatry, or so-called ethnopsychiatry . Conversely, the psychological sciences, particularly psychoanalysis, have offered cultural anthropology new hypotheses for an interpretation of the concept of culture.

The link with history has long been a vital one because cultural anthropology was originally based on an evolutionist point of view and because it has striven to reconstruct the cultural history of societies about which, for lack of written documents, no historical record could be determined. Cultural anthropology has more recently suggested to historians new techniques of research based on the analysis and criticism of oral tradition . And so “ ethnohistory ” is beginning to emerge. Finally, cultural anthropology has close links with human geography . Both of them place great importance on man either as he uses space or acts to transform the natural environment . It is not without significance that some early anthropologists were originally geographers.

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Culture sketches : case studies in anthropology

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Uploaded by station15.cebu on December 14, 2021

An Introduction to Cultural Anthropology

Studying people and cultures around the world

 Kryssia Campos/Getty Images

• Archaeology
• Ph.D., Sociocultural Anthropology, the University of Texas at Austin
• M.A., Social Sciences, University of Chicago
• B.A., Sociology and Anthropology, Carleton College

Cultural anthropology, also known as sociocultural anthropology , is the study of cultures around the world. It is one of four subfields of the academic discipline of anthropology . While anthropology is the study of human diversity, cultural anthropology focuses on cultural systems, beliefs, practices, and expressions.

Did You Know?

Cultural anthropology is one of the four subfields of anthropology. The other subfields are archaeology, physical (or biological) anthropology, and linguistic anthropology.

Areas of Study and Research Questions

Cultural anthropologists use anthropological theories and methods to study culture. They study a wide variety of topics, including identity, religion, kinship, art, race, gender, class, immigration, diaspora, sexuality, globalization, social movements, and many more. Regardless of their specific topic of study, however, cultural anthropologists focus on patterns and systems of belief, social organization, and cultural practice.

Some of the research questions considered by cultural anthropologists include:

• How do different cultures understand universal aspects of the human experience, and how are these understandings expressed?
• How do understandings of gender, race, sexuality, and disability vary across cultural groups?
• What cultural phenomena emerge when different groups come into contact, such as through migration and globalization?
• How do systems of kinship and family vary among different cultures?
• How do various groups distinguish between taboo practices and mainstream norms?
• How do different cultures use ritual to mark transitions and life stages?

History and Key Figures

Cultural anthropology’s roots date back to the 1800s, when early scholars like Lewis Henry Morgan and Edward Tylor became interested in the comparative study of cultural systems. This generation drew on the theories of Charles Darwin , attempting to apply his concept of evolution to human culture. They were later dismissed as so-called “armchair anthropologists,” since they based their ideas on data collected by others and did not personally engage first-hand with the groups they claimed to study.

These ideas were later refuted by Franz Boas, who is widely hailed as the father of anthropology in the U.S. Boas strongly denounced the armchair anthropologists’ belief in cultural evolution, arguing instead that all cultures had to be considered on their own terms and not as part of a progress model. An expert in the indigenous cultures of the Pacific Northwest, where he participated in expeditions, he taught what would become the first generation of American anthropologists as a professor at Columbia University. His students included Margaret Mead , Alfred Kroeber, Zora Neale Hurston , and Ruth Benedict.

Boas’ influence continues in cultural anthropology’s focus on race and, more broadly, identity as forces that are social constructed and not biologically based. Boas fought staunchly against the ideas of scientific racism that were popular in his day, such as phrenology and eugenics. Instead, he attributed differences between racial and ethnic groups to social factors.

After Boas, anthropology departments became the norm in U.S. colleges and universities, and cultural anthropology was a central aspect of study. Students of Boas went on to establish anthropology departments across the country, including Melville Herskovits, who launched the program at Northwestern University, and Alfred Kroeber, the first professor of anthropology at the University of California at Berkeley. Margaret Mead went on to become internationally famous, both as an anthropologist and scholar. The field grew in popularity in the U.S. and elsewhere, giving way to new generations of highly influential anthropologists like Claude Lévi-Strauss and Clifford Geertz.

Together, these early leaders in cultural anthropology helped solidify a discipline focused explicitly on the comparative study of world cultures. Their work was animated by a commitment to true understanding of different systems of beliefs, practice, and social organization. As a field of scholarship, anthropology was committed to the concept of cultural relativism , which held that all cultures were fundamentally equal and simply needed to be analyzed according to their own norms and values.

The main professional organization for cultural anthropologists in North America is the Society for Cultural Anthropology , which publishes the journal Cultural Anthropology .

Ethnographic research, also known as ethnography , is the primary method used by cultural anthropologists. The hallmark component of ethnography is participant observation, an approach often attributed to Bronislaw Malinowski. Malinowski was one of the most influential early anthropologists, and he pre-dated Boas and the early American anthropologists of the 20th century.

For Malinowski, the anthropologist’s task is to focus on the details of everyday life. This necessitated living within the community being studied—known as the fieldsite—and fully immersing oneself in the local context, culture, and practices. According to Malinowski, the anthropologist gains data by both participating and observing, hence the term participant observation. Malinowski formulated this methodology during his early research in the Trobriand Islands and continued to develop and implement it throughout his career. The methods were subsequently adopted by Boas and, later, Boas’ students. This methodology became one of the defining characteristics of contemporary cultural anthropology.

Contemporary Issues in Cultural Anthropology

While the traditional image of cultural anthropologists involves researchers studying remote communities in faraway lands, the reality is far more varied. Cultural anthropologists in the twenty-first century conduct research in all types of settings, and can potentially work anywhere that humans live. Some even specialize in digital (or online) worlds, adapting ethnographic methods for today’s virtual domains. Anthropologists conduct fieldwork all around the world, some even in their home countries.

Many cultural anthropologists remain committed to the discipline’s history of examining power, inequality, and social organization. Contemporary research topics include the influence of historical patterns of migration and colonialism on cultural expression (e.g. art or music) and the role of art in challenging the status quo and effecting social change.

Where Do Cultural Anthropologists Work?

Cultural anthropologists are trained to examine patterns in daily life, which is a useful skill in a wide range of professions. Accordingly, cultural anthropologists work in a variety of fields. Some are researchers and professors in universities, whether in anthropology departments or other disciplines like ethnic studies, women’s studies, disability studies, or social work. Others work in technology companies, where there is an increasing demand for experts in the field of user experience research.

Additional common possibilities for anthropologists include nonprofits, market research, consulting, or government jobs. With broad training in qualitative methods and data analysis, cultural anthropologists bring a unique and diverse skill set to a variety of fields.

• McGranahan, Carol. "On Training Anthropologists Rather Than Professors" Dialogs, Cultural Anthropology website, 2018.
• " Social and Cultural Anthropology " Discover Anthropology UK, The Royal Anthropological Institute, 2018 .
• " What is Anthropology? " American Anthropological Association , 2018.
• An Introduction to Medical Anthropology
• An Introduction to Visual Anthropology
• Anthropology vs. Sociology: What's the Difference?
• Franz Boas, Father of American Anthropology
• What Is Ethnomusicology? Definition, History, and Methods
• Anthropology Defined
• Biography of Claude Lévi-Strauss, Anthropologist and Social Scientist
• Career Options for Archaeology Degrees
• Is Anthropology a Science?
• Ethnoarchaeology: Blending Cultural Anthropology and Archaeology
• Processual Archaeology
• Definition of Cultural Materialism
• Cultural Ecology
• What Is Structural Violence?
• Introduction to the Lapita Cultural Complex
• The Culture-Historical Approach: Social Evolution and Archaeology

Perspectives: An Open Invitation to Cultural Anthropology - Second Edition

(17 reviews)

Nina Brown, Community College of Baltimore County

Thomas Mcllwraith, University of Guelph

Laura Tubelle de González, San Diego Miramar College

Copyright Year: 2020

Last Update: 2023

Publisher: American Anthropological Association

Language: English

Formats Available

Conditions of use.

Learn more about reviews.

Reviewed by Lawrence Ramirez, Adjunct Instructor, California State University, Dominguez Hills on 12/19/22

This textbook gives a solid overview of key concepts, disciplinary concerns, and methodological approaches for an introductory course in cultural anthropology. Within each chapter, the authors offer a basic primer for the selected topic as... read more

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

This textbook gives a solid overview of key concepts, disciplinary concerns, and methodological approaches for an introductory course in cultural anthropology. Within each chapter, the authors offer a basic primer for the selected topic as approached through anthropological disciplinary perspectives, dipping into theoretical engagement at a level appropriate for an introductory class. The glossaries at the end of each chapter, taken together, provide a strong listing of key disciplinary terminology. Likewise, chapter bibliographies can lead interested students into a deeper understanding of the discipline. Thus, this textbook is a good starting point for students to learn about cultural anthropology.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The information provided is accurate, specifically for an introductory textbook. There might be issues of being a bit out of date in some areas, or using older disciplinary terms, such as “informant,” or failing to address in greater detail contested concepts within the discipline. Although these critiques would be valid, they do not point to anything truly problematic for a beginner’s overview. Likewise, there are drifts in nuanced concepts from chapter to chapter, because of the different authors involved, but these drifting definitions, for example in discussing the concept of culture, are not significant impediments for introductory students learning the concepts. Overall, the information is clear, accurate, and consistent.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

Overall, this textbook grounds itself in the ethnographic experiences of the writers to illustrate a concept or concern. This is an effective method by which ideas are exemplified and contributes to the textbook’s longevity. Certainly, some examples could be updated, but they still work as intended. A more complicated concern relates to privileging “canonical” anthropologists and their studies, crowding out work by more recent researchers, specifically BIPOC and decolonial scholars. This is a valid concern, but the use of the “canon” fits the needs of many introductory courses. Instructors simply need to be aware of this issue and introduce alternative approaches within their lectures. As decolonial and alternative paradigms come into greater prominence in the discipline, this may become a more pressing issue.

Clarity rating: 5

Clarity is the strong point of this textbook. It is written in clear language, with a robust glossary included in each chapter. Concepts are explored with rich ethnographic experiences. Subchapters break down complicated ideas and theoretical paradigms. In short, the textbook is written with a beginning student reader as the intended audience and is designed to render the materials in as accessible a manner as possible. Overall, the writers succeed in this task.

Consistency rating: 5

In terms of design and layout, the textbook is very consistent. Given the number of contributors, the textbook is amazingly consistent in the degree of information conveyed in each chapter. Because each author draws upon their own ethnographic experiences, the wide array of fieldsites can feel a bit overwhelming, chapter from chapter, but, as illustrations for the specific concepts under discussion, they serve an important role. Overall, the consistency is excellent.

Modularity rating: 5

Although the chapters can vary in length, the modularity of this textbook is good. The strength comes from the consistent layout that each chapter utilizes. Additionally, the chapters can “stand alone” or be remixed to suit course design. For example, I have used the chapter on environmental anthropology as a short primer reading in upper division courses. In identity-focused courses, the chapters can be rearranged to flow from performance to gender to race/ethnicity to religion to political power in a smooth reconfiguration of the materials. This works well specifically because the modularity facilitates the remixing of information to fit pedagogical needs.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

This textbook is structured into two parts. In Part 1, the chapters deal with the standard materials of an introductory cultural anthropology course, like methodology, language, subsistence, race/ethnicity, religion, and kinship. In Part 2, the chapters contain more specialized topics, like environmental anthropology, medicine and wellness, and public anthropology. Thus, the basics that constitute an introduction to the discipline are all covered in Part 1, but the materials of Part 2 are available to remix the course to suit pedagogical focus. This results in a very flexible and adaptable textbook.

Interface rating: 5

The interface is good. The ability to easily use a text reader, either online or by downloading the text, makes this a very accessible textbook. Likewise, the links that I have used have reliably connected to the intended materials. However, it is likely that link maintenance needs to be regularly and comprehensively reviewed. Overall, the ability to easily access this textbook online has never been a problem for me or my students.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

The textbook is well written, well edited, and free from grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

The text draws upon many examples grounded in real world experiences and diverse situations from a variety of backgrounds. Examples like social dancing, sexist discourse in politics, and holiday gift giving situate the course concepts in a manner to which a diverse readership can easily relate. They help students think about complex issues, like global commodity chains, hegemonic bio-medical models of health, and performative configurations of subjectivity, through everyday experiences of these issues. Therefore, the textbook does an excellent job of illustrating the relevance of anthropological concepts through examples from a variety of backgrounds and positionalities.

This textbook provides a strong foundation for an introductory course in cultural anthropology. For an instructor who likes tailoring courses to their pedagogical focus, this book is easily remixable. For instructors who like supplementing with additional readings, the bibliographies in each chapter offer excellent suggestions. Finally, the support materials available, like the slides and text bank, can be a great assistance to novice instructors, as well as being viable timesavers for more experienced instructors. I have used this textbook a few times and have been greatly satisfied with it.

Reviewed by Jennifer Bauder, Adjunct Instructor, Massachusetts Bay Community College on 12/8/22

I was impressed by the degree to which this textbook covered both topics/areas of interest/ideas that have historically been considered essential to cultural anthropology (language, subsistence, political anthropology, marriage and family,... read more

I was impressed by the degree to which this textbook covered both topics/areas of interest/ideas that have historically been considered essential to cultural anthropology (language, subsistence, political anthropology, marriage and family, economics, sex and gender, etc) AND those that have gained attention and traction more recently (globalization, environmental anthropology, media, etc). Not only does this text do a good job of covering the historical and current breadth of the field but there is significant depth to each of these areas.

In a field as broad and varied as anthropology, I have no doubt that professionals reviewing this text may quibble with some of the choices made by authors- arguing perhaps that a definition left out a relevant feature or that a classification scheme would be best presented another way, etc. That said, the text does well presenting material in a way in which I think most anthropologists would broadly consent is accurate and holistic. Debates within the field are presented as such. It is acknowledged where there is difficulty in arriving at definitions that are fully agreed upon- for example, in Chapter 2: Culture Concept, the authors explictly write that there is no one agreed upon definition of culture and discuss how anthropologists have come to understand culture over the course of the discipline's history as well as discuss how this may articulate with the broader public's understanding of culture. By centering the very difficulty in definition the authors created a useful framing which accurately reflects the development of thought.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

As discussed above, I was impressed by this book's coverage of more recent topics/areas of interest to cultural anthropology as well as coverage of those that have been more well established. Topics like environmental anthropology and anthropology and the media are essential to understanding the ways the field continues to develop apace with broader social and environmental changes in our world. These topics are especially relevant to introductory classes so students can see anthropology as a vibrant and dynamic field with opportunities for growth and not a hide-bound dusty discipline that only looks backward to long established arenas. I particularly appreciated the section in Chapter 1 which asked three current anthropologists to discuss what drew them to the field and to describe their work. This worked well to highlight diversity in the work of contemporary anthropology and allows students to hear from anthropologists directly in their own voices. The structure of this section would allow for easy future updates to highlight other anthropologists if desired.

This book seemed very appropriate to an introductory level class in terms of clarity. Authors did not avoid use of relevant vocabulary and discipline specific terminology but these were always well defined or explained in context. Formatting helped significantly in this regard- key terms were highlighted in various ways including being pulled out into individual text boxes or placed in bold within the text. Students should have no trouble identifying key terms and phrases within the chapter and are additionally aided by a separate glossary section at the end of each chapter. Adding to clarity- I felt the choices of images and graphics was well curated for each chapter to highlight particular ideas, people, etc. Placement of these as well as captions made their connection to the text easy to discern.

There is good structural consistency to this volume of the type you would expect from any quality textbook- a section at the beginning of each chapter to list learning objections, a section at the end for discussion questions and a glossary, etc. There is a fair degree of redundancy to presentation of certain terminology and historical context of the field. This is not necessarily a negative- students may not be asked to read/engage with the entirety of the text so the repetition may serve to introduce them to relevant ideas, vocabulary, etc in one area of the book without requiring them to read others. And if a student is reading chapters that have a redundancy in presentation this can serve to reinforce those ideas, vocabulary, etc as important. In those cases it is important that there is a consistency to the presentation of materials and I do see that in this text. Content is not repeated verbatim but there is coherence to the presentation of terminology and ideas.

Modularity rating: 4

Chapters vary to some degree in their modularity- some have larger blocks of text than others. But, this is to be expected as different topics within chapters lend themselves to parsing in different ways. All chapters worked to have some level of modularity and headings and subheadings were easy to identify and would allow for instructor to make clear which sections within a chapter they wish students to focus on.

I found individual chapters well organized. I could easily follow each chapter through the material. In terms of overall book organization I struggled to fully understand the division of the book into two main parts. The preface indicated that Part 1 contained more fundamental topics that would be found in most other textbooks on the subject while Part 2 contained in-depth discussions of more specialized topics. I did not necessarily find this division useful in understanding how chapters were ordered or in thinking about how I would use different chapters in a class.

I did not encounter any negative issues with the interface. I had no issues navigating the text, viewing images or connecting to embedded links.

Well written with no noted grammatical issues.

As this is a book designed to instruct in areas of culture I felt the authors were all acutely aware of being relativistic, inclusive and presenting examples in a way which is illustrative and instructive without being sensationalistic.

I appreciated the thought and time that had clearly gone into the production of this text. I was impressed by the quality in terms of breadth and depth.

Reviewed by Miriam Kilimo, Visiting Assistant Professor, James Madison University on 11/27/22

Overall, the textbook covers the main topics that are in many other introductory cultural anthropology texts. The 2nd edition of the book is organized into two main parts. The first part provides an overview of the main topics, whereas the second... read more

Overall, the textbook covers the main topics that are in many other introductory cultural anthropology texts. The 2nd edition of the book is organized into two main parts. The first part provides an overview of the main topics, whereas the second part provides information about more specific subfields in cultural anthropology such as health, media, and performance. The textbook encourages instructors to ‘build their own book’ by adapting chapters as needed. A key difference between this textbook and other textbooks is that the chapters are written by different authors. The use of multiple authors helps to provide different perspectives on anthropology. However, it also leads to a bit of repetition, as definitions and materials that have been covered in previous chapters can be repeated in other chapters.

The content is accurate and error-free. I did not identify instances of bias.

This book functions as a good textbook that provides a lot of background for the main topics in an introductory cultural anthropology class. Since the textbook is written by multiple authors, I’m not sure to what extent updates can be easily made, save for including new chapters in the text. Additionally, while the textbook provides good background information, I found that some chapters did not always provide enough context about the racist and colonial roots of anthropology. This information is mostly only included in one chapter that describes the History of Anthropological ideas. I would have appreciated it if this information was included in the chapters, for example, describing how the colonial roots of political anthropology. However, the fact that the chapters are written by multiple authors means that there may be competing priorities.

The text is written in an accessible way. The authors describe any concepts they introduce. Each chapter also includes a glossary that provides definitions of key terms used in the chapter.

Consistency rating: 4

The text is consistent in framework and terminology. The main difference is that because it is written by multiple authors, some concepts are repeated with authors providing their own definitions.

Each chapter has various subsections. Several of the chapters open with a vignette about the author’s experience, which they revisit at various points in the chapter. Therefore, it’s not very easy to simply use one section of a chapter in case it refers to an example that was discussed earlier in the text.

The topics are organized well. The textbook has two parts: the first part includes main topics in cultural anthropology that are in common anthropology textbooks. The second part includes more specific topics and begins with a chapter that provides an overview of various specializations in anthropology.

The text can be downloaded as a PDF. The PDF includes a navigation pane that one can use to link to various chapters. The subsections are not available on the navigation pane, so one needs to go through a chapter to identify the main subsections.

I did not observe any glaring grammatical errors.

I did not observe any cultural insensitivity. The book draws from examples across the world, focusing on examples of different races, ethnicities, and backgrounds.

I found the textbook useful as an open-access resource that provides background for introductory classes in cultural anthropology. Given that the textbook provides lots of information on general and specific topics, the editors encourage instructors to adapt the book according to their needs, such as only using various chapters or sections. I assigned chapters of the textbook alongside other film and ethnographic essays. The chapters were intended to provide a background for key concepts in anthropology. One downside is that because the textbook is written by multiple authors, there is no “central thesis” about cultural anthropology that brings all the chapters together. The emphasis is on the diversity of voices provided by the perspectives of different anthropologists. I also found that some chapters did not always provide critiques of various aspects of anthropology, for example, a perspective that describes the colonial roots of political anthropology. The textbook also comes with three other resources that I found incredibly useful: an instructor’s guide, a test bank, and slide decks. These three resources are very useful during lecture prep, and one can easily look at additional texts when sourcing for information that may not be included in the chapters. The instructor’s guide also includes discussion questions, homework assignments, and suggestions for films based on the topics in the textbook.

Reviewed by Sanaa Riaz, Associate Professor, Metropolitan State University of Denver on 9/7/22

This book provides a clear introduction to the field of anthropology and the essential aspects of culture that inform anthropological inquiry. Each chapter ends with some discussion questions and a list of important key terms/glossary. It has... read more

This book provides a clear introduction to the field of anthropology and the essential aspects of culture that inform anthropological inquiry. Each chapter ends with some discussion questions and a list of important key terms/glossary. It has long been debated whether non-Anthropology students taking an introductory class in cultural anthropology need to learn about the history of theoretical paradigms in the field. This book is divided into two parts. Part 1 introduces the different sub-fields of anthropology, concepts integral to anthropological inquiry of human behavior and anthropological fieldwork methods. It covers these topics to move on to a chapter exclusively dedicated to the conceptualization of culture, which includes a brief discussion of the important figures and schools of thought in anthropology. The rest of the chapters in Part 1 are focused on what we conventionally expect an introductory text in cultural anthropology to cover, that is, aspects of kinship and marriage, religion, political organization, and gender lives. Part 2 of the book essentially explores the new arenas of cultural representation and change that represent newer sub-disciplines within cultural anthropology or that point to new avenues of anthropological inquiry in a global world. If an instructor was interested in the more conventional anthropology textbook format, they can use Part 1 of the book with the option of including the theoretical development and thematic specializations in the field from Part 2 or replacing the Part 1 first chapter with it. Alternatively, if an instructor wished to provide an overview of the fast-growing specializations within cultural anthropology, such as anthropology of performance, media anthropology, environmental anthropology and public anthropology, they could include Part 2 of the book.

The content is accurate from classic definitions of culture to cutting-edge discussions on anthropocene. It is typically in the images of non-white smaller subsistence communities, laborers in commodity chain and or informal economy, and gender plurality and religious rituals related illustrations that anthropological textbooks reek of ethnocentric, unethical and exotic white portrayals of other cultural lifeways. This textbook is free of all such problematic and exotifying images of "other" cultures, which really helps students see the universality of the discussions on spiritual well-being, non-industrial food production, non-Christian beliefs and gendered subjectivities, to name a few.

Part 2 of the book uses anthropocene as a point of departure to discuss ethnographic studies in environmental anthropology, applying political economy approach to sustainable development in First World countries, the importance of public anthropology, and also provides teasers into new avenues of anthropological inquiry, such as media anthropology and multi-species ethnography. While these features make the content up-to-date, they do not make the text obsolete. Rather, they create a model for incorporating updates in a straightforward process by adding ethnographic examples to the burgeoning fields of cultural anthropology discussed.

The most attractive aspect of the book is that it is written with introductory readers in mind. My students have never had a problem understanding information in the assigned chapters, nor do they find reading burdensome because of the textbook's accessible prose. All chapters begin with clearly stated learning objectives. The text opens with teaser questions on the topic followed by personal anecdotes and experiences from the field, such as the author's reflection on people's perceptions of their racial and ethnic heritage in school based on appearance in the chapter, Race and Ethnicity, to begin a discussion on the social construction of race, which ease the reader into deconstructing the concepts that will be covered. Section headings are also in line with the conversational pattern of the prose and key terms are dispersed at adequate intervals to allow for easy cognitive processing.

This being an Open Educational Resource, the chapters and sections within are parsable. The terminology in each chapter, however, is kept consistent with the basic premise of analyzing each aspect of culture holistically. This can be seen in the discussion on syncretism in the chapter, Globalization. The textbook framework moving between key terms in bold to section headings containing ethnographic examples and conceptual discussions allows instructors to create definition-based objective questions as well as subjective discussion questions from each chapter.

This Open Educational Resource can be edited within chapters or as a selection of chapters. I found it very easy to mix and match chapters in Parts 1 and 2 of the book based on my Introduction to Cultural Anthropology course weekly themes. The textbook does not assume that the reader will have arrived at a chapter after reviewing a previous one and eases readers with overlapping but not replicative content, such as on theoretical approaches between chapter, The Culture Concept and chapter, The History of Anthropological Ideas, on subsistence covered in the chapter, Economics, in the chapter, Culture and Sustainability: Environmental Anthropology in the Anthropocene from a sustainability angle, on a discussion of "Ritual as Performance" in the chapter, Performance with a focus on performance in ritual, rather than the types of rituals, as enumerated in the chapter, Religion, etc.

As an Open Educational Resource, it is an advantage for instructors that there is not much self-referencing in the textbook and the chapters can be modified and rearranged. That said, the textbook moves in a logical manner with Part 1 beginning with an introduction to the field and sub-fields of the discipline and the concept of culture to verbal, non-verbal communication to economic behavior and political institutions to forms of social identity (family, gender, race, ethnicity) with a discussion on globalization providing a closing statement on the changing nature of culture and setting a logical framework to move from the classically small-group case studies that anthropology is famous for towards the macro-level, global issues that can be deconstructed from an anthropological lens, such as development, environmental disasters and medical pluralism, the focus of chapters in Part 2. Part 2 also elaborates on themes in Part 1 in a clear fashion with a focus on introduction to and case studies from the growing sub-fields in cultural anthropology, such as media anthropology, public anthropology and environmental anthropology.

I adopted this textbook on the Blackboard Learning Management System and then again on Canvas. I have had students access it outside United States with erratic internet and they have not encountered any issues with the display. I have used the textbook with large classes where students on the autism spectrum and those receiving learning and physical disabilities assistance have used it without noting any distracting features or images. The textbook was also cleared by the instructional design team and online course quality standards review team at my University.

The text contains no grammatical errors.

Typically, an inherent bias in textbook discussions on non-American and non-Western cultural ways, be it in the domain of marriage, subsistence, religious expression or other is that they insensitively include National Geographic style glossy, colored images of non-white faces and bodies. There is not a single instance of insensitive or offensive photography in this textbook. Moreover, pictures like a diverse group working at Starbucks in the discussion on coffee commodity chain in the chapter, Subsistence and of a Trump impersonator at a pro-Trump Rally in the discussion on how transnational identities and religion impact perceptions of American politics in the chapter, Religion make the cultural content more inclusive and relatable.

Power is a concept that has been officially defined in the chapter, Political Anthropology, but used in every chapter to highlight its relevance in economic relations, matriarchal/patriarchal systems, and other aspects of cultural life. In future revisions of the textbook, I would like to see a more formal undertaking of the concept of power and representation in defining culture and in cultural continuity. It would be great to see power established as a point of departure for understanding all aspects of culture early on in the textbook (the chapter, The Culture Concept would be a good place) and revisited in relation to each chapter topic. Thus, power can be a keyword repeated in individual chapter glossary, but with an emphasis on labor relations in one chapter and on racism in another. Also, the chapter on Health and Medicine can be moved to Part 1, as it has been discussed holistically in relation to faith, communal healing, culture bound syndromes and other cultural behaviors.

Reviewed by Sharon Methvin, Instructor, Mt. Hood Community College on 7/27/22

A key strength of this source is its comprehensive coverage of the key concepts found in Cultural Anthropology. And, each concept is highlighted in the text for ease of finding it by the students as well as listed in the Glossary at the end of... read more

A key strength of this source is its comprehensive coverage of the key concepts found in Cultural Anthropology. And, each concept is highlighted in the text for ease of finding it by the students as well as listed in the Glossary at the end of each Chapter.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

Sources are listed and material is well supported. I would like to have seen additional direct quotes of the movers and shakers that students might know of.

Content coverage is mostly our basic content found in all anthropology texts. I would like to have seen more current examples that students could better relate to.

Clearly written and readable. There is some evidence of different writing approaches between the chapters and authors.

Consistency rating: 3

There is some evidence of different writing approaches between the chapters and authors. I love the coffee shop framework of the first two chapters and then it is gone. Others begin with a story while others a basic introduction. I would also like to see the integration of media be consistent in all chapters.

Modularity rating: 3

The third section seems to be a hodgepodge of areas that lack internal coherence. And, there are far too many sections for a quarter into course.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

See comment above. The first two sections have better organization in my opinion, especially the first section. I like the inclusion of the discussion questions and glossary for each chapter.

Interface rating: 4

I like the inclusion of the discussion questions and glossary for each chapter. Some of the photos lack clarity and interest.

Readable and I did not see any errors that jumped out at me.

I would like to see more global examples and more current ones that grab the student's attention.

The strength of this text is its comprehensive coverage of the major anthropological concepts in a clear and concise manner and a in a readable style that the students can easily understand.

Reviewed by Erin Gould, Assistant Professor, Johnson County Community College on 5/26/22

In terms of comprehensiveness, I think the book does a great job of covering a lot of the areas that I want covered in an introductory text. Some of the ideas are covered in multiple chapters (including things like culture, kinship and family),... read more

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

In terms of comprehensiveness, I think the book does a great job of covering a lot of the areas that I want covered in an introductory text. Some of the ideas are covered in multiple chapters (including things like culture, kinship and family), which can help reinforce topics but can also become slightly repetitive. The only topic that I discuss while consulting other textbooks is the topic of economic class and inequality. While there is an Economic Anthropology section, the way that contemporary understandings of class are discussed is not as robust as I want for my students. Class is inherently one of the topics that is overlooked in the United States (with the exception of political rhetoric during election times), and due to this, the topic is something I want to make sure that students engage with on a deeper level. The glossaries for each chapter are great resources for students, and I like the fact that all the words in the glossaries are bolded in the actual text.

I think the accuracy is high due to the great diversity of authors that write each individual chapter in the text. For each topic, there is a scholar or multiple, whose expertise lies within the area, that describe the history and development of different concepts, which really brings out the best information to give students. It is clear through stories and scholar highlights in each chapter that those interviewed, writing, and editing the chapters of the textbook care about giving up to date information to our students.

I think that the textbook does a great job of including people's scholarly journeys and other highlights that the text will stay relevant for a longer period of time, but I also think these are things that can be updated more easily than the bulk of the text itself. The chapters are organized in a way that the beginning highlights some of the development and foundation of each concept before diving deeper into case studies that are supposed to speak more to students. These case studies could be kept for a long period of time, but this is the area that it may be important for editors and authors to update with new case studies to keep up with student interests and contemporary times.

To provide context to my answer in this section, I'd like to note that I've taught with this text for three years at this point. I think the text does a great job of outlining material that needs to be covered in a way that is appropriate and clear. The only comment I usually get from students is that the textbook chapters are long, but this comment is also made about my shorter readings that I assign in complement to the longer textbook chapters. With clarity never being an issue with any comments I receive from students, I have to assume that all parties are able to understand the content given in the textbook!

I think the text is consistent in that the chapters are organized in the same way, with the history/foundation content or introductory stories, followed by deeper dives into content, followed by case studies and samples from scholarly research, and ends with the glossary of highlighted terms. There are also always questions for students to go through to keep thinking about the content/review their comprehension. Due to the fact that each chapter is written by a different author or authors, there is some overlap or explanations of frameworks that occur to make sure students understand the author(s)'s perspectives on content.

The modularity of the text is great, as they make an effort to have many headings and subheadings within each chapter that can be used to delineate what sections students should pay closer attention to. The text itself has some repetitive chapters (Chapters 1 & 2--Introduction to Anthropology AND What is Culture?; Chapters 8 & 10--Family and Marriage AND Gender and Sexuality), but I keep one chapter assigned and one for optional reading in case students are more interested in the topic. Also, due to the way the information is displayed on the website, the textbook can be used for individual chapters as you see fit as an instructor. There are 19 chapters, so it covers a lot of content that you are free to assign as you see necessary for your class's content, and each chapter can be downloaded or read online (and a link can be given for each chapter you assign).

The content of the book looks like it is organized so that if you needed to use only Part 1 chapters for your introductory Cultural Anthropology class, everything would be there for you, including introduction to anthropology (generally), what is culture, race and ethnicity, gender and sexuality, globalization, etc. So Part 2 chapters focus on more content that may or may not be usually included in an introductory class, including things like sustainability, performance, history of anthropological ideas, public anthropology, health and medicine, and so on. I find that, due to the extra benefits of a test bank and lecture slides, this could be a good approach for an instructor who does not have a lot of time to organize the class content before starting the semester. However, I do actually use many chapters from Part 2 instead of some chapters from Part 1 because I feel that they fit better with my idea of what content I want to expose my students to.

The interface for the text is pretty basic, but that also means that there are not many glitches/issues with accessing material or with formatting of charts and images. They do a good job of including different images and charts, as is pertinent, and there are times where they also embed links to different videos. From other reviews on the book (on this website), people noted that some of these video links don't work. However, I may not be using all the videos included in the book, but the ones that I do use have been working for the last three years of using the book. But, if another reviewer mentioned this, I would also make sure to try links within the chapters that you assign to make sure that students will have access to those if you assign those elements within the text.

Grammatical Errors rating: 4

No texts are ever perfect, but my experience with this text has been pretty good. I find that sometimes the extra content or some random sentences in the text need to be updated with their editing, but nothing egregious or anything that students would have trouble understanding due to grammatical structures.

As a textbook for Cultural Anthropology, if this text received less than a 5, it would be quite surprising. Due to the many different authors of each chapter/content area, there are a lot of different case studies brought up from around the world. In my classes, students have commented that even though I don't cover all of them in class, they get a good picture of a lot of different ideas of what anthropology can be from the case studies from around the world. I also like that the examples in the text are not just from places that people would call "exotic," as this would just deepen the erroneous understanding that most people have about anthropology already. For instance, in the chapter on Gender and Sexuality, the authors actually bring in an example about gendered language and stereotypes brought up during the 2016 United States Presidential Election, demonstrating how our biases/understandings of gender and use of gendered language can be seen in our everyday interactions and EVEN within politics--while many of us may be able to acknowledge that, many of my students have been surprised to see how these everyday situations can show enculturated understandings of the concepts we learn about in class.

I thoroughly enjoy using this text in the classroom, and I enjoy being able to support other anthropologists who have put together great scholars to provide open access information for students. My students are always happy to use this textbook. While the text provides a basic foundation for learning, it is placed on the instructor to create activities and classroom discussions of the content, but do note that each chapter provides further discussion questions/review questions near to the end of each chapter. The test banks and the instructor slide bonus materials have been invaluable to the continued use of this textbook, even if at this point, my lecture slides diverge significantly from those provided. I find that the text gives a good foundation for students that instructors can easily supplement with other materials to get main points across.

Reviewed by Laura Elder, Associate Professor & Chair of Global Studies, Saint Mary's College on 12/10/21

The text covers all areas appropriately and in depth. My only quibble is that I hope in future iterations the authors will include more interviews with practitioners (as they did in section on "why anthropology is important" pp. 18-24 and in the... read more

The text covers all areas appropriately and in depth. My only quibble is that I hope in future iterations the authors will include more interviews with practitioners (as they did in section on "why anthropology is important" pp. 18-24 and in the "practicing anthropology" interview on pp. 417-418. Another text that I have used (Race: Are we so different? Goodman, Moses & Jones) includes interviews throughout and students found them very engaging. I expect that students will appreciate similar interview sections in the various topical areas such as language, gender, health, etc. of this text.

The content is accurate and unbiased.

Some of the case studies dealing with current issues (such as Globalization in Application: The Syrian Situation Today (courtesy of Laurie King) pg. 325-326 need to be updated. In addition, some of the hyperlinks (such as http://www.pbs.org/thelinguists/Endangered-Languages/Hear-Them-Spoken.html) are either broken or link to material which is no longer accessible (such as the McDonald's menu items hyperlinked on pg. 308). Of course in future iterations the authors can easily update these links.

Despite the multiple authorial voices, the text is lucid and accessible. One drawback is that there is repetition between sections (as for example between "the culture concept" and "doing fieldwork"). However, as noted below, because of the ease in "remixing" these sections to suite individual course needs this does not pose a problem.

The text is internally consistent in terms of terminology and framework.

I particularly appreciate the text's modularity which provides flexibility in mixing and blending between sections in the interests of providing most effective coverage of topics with a limited time frame. For example, I tend to cover subsistence and ecology together in order to disrupt students' biases in favor of technological approaches to sustainability. Blending the "culture & sustainability" and "subsistence" sections and subsections was quickly accomplished and provides excellent coverage.

The organization of the text is clear and logical.

In the PDF version of the text some of the pages have large gaps between text and images but this problem does not occur when reading online. Graphics and images are clear and legible.

I did not find any grammatical errors in the text.

The book is highly relevant and culturally inclusive (including case studies and perspectives from many marginalized groups globally).

I look forward to using this and future updated editions.

Reviewed by Luis F. B. Plascencia, Adjunct Instructor, University of Texas at Arlington on 6/18/21

The text does a good job of introducing the field of cultural anthropology, though not the four-fields of anthropology. Chapter one does introduce the four fields, but the presentation is limited. This is understandable, due to the fact that it... read more

The text does a good job of introducing the field of cultural anthropology, though not the four-fields of anthropology. Chapter one does introduce the four fields, but the presentation is limited. This is understandable, due to the fact that it would take more than one chapter to present each of the three remaining fields (i.e., archaeology, biological anthropology, and linguistic anthropology) and the methodologies and conceptual frameworks in each one. Although the individual glossaries in the individual chapters in Part One allow for the chapters to be used independently, this leads to much duplication. The citation of sources in individual chapters also duplicates the listing of sources across chapters.

There is no Index in the book. But since it appears that the anthology is constructed to be read as independent chapters, then an index would not have the value that it would have if it was a single book.

Content Accuracy rating: 3

There are some minor issues that can be easily corrected. One issue is the listing of the editors as authors. Perspectives is an anthology not a co-authored book, but the title page does not include the terms “Editors,” as is the normal practice in the publishing of academic books. Related to this, the listing of editors did not include “and” after the second editor—the standard form in academic books.

Overall, the copy-editing of the text is good. However, there are some issues that the editors overlooked such as some references not cited correctly; some important terms are presented, but they are not defined/explained, and others. There is significant repetition within Part I. Basic ideas/concepts are repeated in the first twelve chapters. Again, if the chapters are supposed to stand-alone, then this would be expected. But if the editors intend for the text to be read as a whole, the reader is confronted with much repetition. If the latter is the aim, then it would make sense to combine the chapter glossaries into a single glossary at the end of the book, as well as combine all of the references into a single Works Cited section at the end of the work.

There are also some concepts that are not accurately defined. One example is the concept of “intersex” that is introduced in Ch. 9. The text defines the concept as “individuals with ambiguous genitals” (p. 247). This is an incomplete definition. First, like the construct of “race,” “intersex” is a social construct, and reflects multiple elements. Intersex is a general term for multiple biological variations that appear in humans, some appear at birth, others can surface at puberty. An intersex person may or may not have ambiguous genitals, they may possess variation in the presence of “sex” chromosomes (i.e., XX-female, XY-male, XX-male, XY-female, XXY, XYY, XXX, etc.), or persons can have different levels of androgen and/or testosterone production, and degrees of insensitivity to these. This means that a new-born human can be categorized as having ‘normal’ genitalia, be categorized as a “girl” or a “boy,” but have a complex chromosome or hormone make-up that is not apparent to the parents or medical staff. There is also the relatively-rare condition where a human, for example, is born with “normal” female genitalia, but at puberty may develop male characteristics. Such persons are also commonly categorized as intersex.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 3

The content of some of the chapters can be framed as “up-to-date,” however, a good number of the chapters in Part I contain terminology and concepts that are not current within the field of social anthropology, or at least not commonly deployed today such as: “informants,” “traditional,” “emic” v. “etic,” and others. There is also some presentation of “cultural” groups as homogeneous, unvaried communities. Much of social anthropology has moved to recognizing that labels such as “the Navajo” (or the Diné), “Americans,” “traditional Chinese,” “undocumented,” etc., represent incomplete and somewhat misleading statements. The presence of some of these issues complicate easy revisions of the entire book.

Clarity rating: 4

The prose of most of the chapters is accessible to undergraduate students. Most concepts introduced are highlighted, and presented in the individual chapter glossaries. However, as noted in the other answers, structural and conceptual issues need more careful discussion.

Since the textbook is an anthology, the text represents the multiple views of authors. There are some areas that the editors could have discussed with the contributors and presented more consistently in the anthology, or more directly addressed in the Introduction. The most important of these is the central concept of “culture.” For example: Ch. 1 defines “culture” as “a set of beliefs, practices, and symbols that are learned and shared. Together, they form an all-encompassing, integrated whole that binds people together and shapes their worldview and lifeways” (p.17). And in Ch. 4, the reader is informed that “culture” is “An integrated system of mental elements (beliefs, values, worldview, attitudes, norms), the behavior motivated by those mental elements, and the material items created by those behaviors” (p. 71). Students that are asked to read several of the chapters in Part One may struggle to understand the concept of "culture," given multiple definitions encountered. Some of the concepts in both definitions have been under debate among anthropologists for a good number of years. The assertion that “culture” is an “all-encompassing, integrated whole” or “an integrated system of mental elements” are not constructs that I have heard at the annual meetings of the American Anthropological Association (AAA) for a good number of years. They are constructs I would not use in an Introduction to Cultural/Social Anthropology courses.

The editors also could have standardized the presentation of endnotes and references/citations. Some chapter have both, and the endnotes contain full citations. Full citations should have been integrated into the References/Works Cited, rather than duplicate the same information. And more than one style is used in the chapter bibliographies. Within The Chicago Manual of Style (CMS), in social science books, the endnotes are used to present an idea/observation that would distract the reader if included in the text; or the place where the author wishes to guide the reader to other important works. Generally the form used is the CMS author-date format (e.g., See Foucault 1982; Bourdieu 1988). The Works Cited would have the full citation of each.

There are a small number of chapters that I could integrate in my Introduction to Anthropology course. The course has a four-field focus. The notable chapters are Chapter Four on Language, and Chapter 13 on the History of Anthropological Ideas.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 3

The organization follows a common pattern among introductory books. The limit of this, however, is that by segmenting social actions in a particular community, as “family and marriage,” “religion,” “economics,” etcetera, it inadvertently argues against the proposition that cultural anthropology is “holistic.” The presentation reinforces the view that one can easily segment the lives of individuals and communities. In our lives, for example, we know that how we view political actors or statements may be shaped by our religious background, our racio-ethnic position, our economic class, our sexual orientation, etc. The areas of our daily lives are not easily segmented into clean categories, and most individuals have multiple identifications. An individual can be a parent, a spouse, a university professor, a brother, a Sunday school teacher, a volunteer in a political campaign, a feminist, etc.

With the use of Adobe Acrobat Pro, the chapters can be easily selected into individual chapters.

The only grammatical error I encountered is found on p. 355: “are are”.

Cultural Relevance rating: 3

Something that stood out for me was the absence of citations of the important work of established Chicano/Mexican/Latina/o anthropologist. Carlos Vélez-Ibáñes, Martha Menchaca, Robert Álvarez, Diego Vigil, and others were overlooked. Thought the text did mention Leo Chávez in two pages, Patricia Zavella was noted in three endnotes, but not in the text; Renato Rosaldo was mentioned in two pages; Lynn Stephen was noted in one page; and Arturo Escobar appeared in one endnote. The very limited inclusion of established Latina/o anthropologist suggests that the contributors may not have been aware of their substantial contributions.

At the University of Texas at Arlington, the anthropology program does not have an Introduction to Cultural/Social anthropology, but it does have the Introduction to Anthropology course aimed at non-anthropology majors, and the focus of the course is the four fields in anthropology. This limits the integration of the anthology reviewed. Secondly, the anthology contains only two contributions from established anthropologists: Laura Nader (Ch. 13) and Robert Borofsky (Ch. 19). The inclusion of other prominent anthropologist in current discussions, such as Achille Mbembe, Didier Fassin, and others, would aid in drawing interest in the anthology.

Reviewed by Toni Tileva, Professorial Lecturer, American University on 4/26/21, updated 4/30/21

The chapters are written in a sophisticated way and cover a wide variety of topics. Because the authors are different, students are exposed to a variety of approaches. Each chapter includes a glossary and bibliography. The chapter on language is... read more

The chapters are written in a sophisticated way and cover a wide variety of topics. Because the authors are different, students are exposed to a variety of approaches. Each chapter includes a glossary and bibliography. The chapter on language is especially well-written, as is the globalization one. Good coverage of methods in anthropology as well.

I did not notice any inaccuracies or biases.

Perspectives is in its second edition, updated in 2020. Contemporary topics such as Globalization, Media Anthropology, Public Anthropology, and Environmental Anthropology are especially salient.

Terms are explained well in the text and also defined in a glossary at the end of each chapter. This text manages to cover so much in a very succinct and accessible way.

The chapters meet the learning objectives outlined.

I assign chapters along with other articles, so it works perfectly not only assigned in whole but also broken down. I even assign parts of certain chapters--it has worked so well.

The trajectory/story arc makes logical sense, so I would say this is well designed.

The text contains a variety of photos, diagrams, and links to external content.

I did not notice any grammatical errors in any of the chapters.

This text really does offer a variety of perspectives. It is written in a non-didactic way and encourages critical thinking quite naturally and seamlessly.

I have looked at a number of anthro textbooks (open source and not) and this is by far the best one I have encountered. Really well-done, AAA and authors. In fact, I am using in my class!

Reviewed by Jennifer Haynes-Clark, Adjunct Professor, Rogue Community College on 1/7/21

The textbook offer a holistic approach to the broad field of cultural anthropology which includes an overview of special topics that should be included in any introductory course, as well as a focus on issues that are especially relevant to... read more

The textbook offer a holistic approach to the broad field of cultural anthropology which includes an overview of special topics that should be included in any introductory course, as well as a focus on issues that are especially relevant to contemporary anthropological study such as globalization, sustainability, climate change, the role of media, the influence of culture on identity and applied anthropology.

I did not notice any inaccuracies or errors in the chapters that I reviewed. Because this text is an edited volume, a collection of chapters written by different authors, a wide variety of perspectives contributes to an approach that is as unbiased as possible.

Unique as an introductory textbook, many chapters present topics are particularly cutting edge in the field of cultural anthropology and would be of great interest to today's student searching for relevancy in the subject matter. One such topic would include the section on applied anthropology and the use of media in anthropology to advocate for young people's interests in hip hop in Peru. The use of such methodology as photovoice and other participant-driven methods demonstrates to students that anthropology offers a fresh, dynamic, and even empowering approach to understanding cultural diversity.

Each chapter included highlighted key terms, a glossary, and fascinating case studies and photographs that illustrate the concepts using examples from practicing anthropologists.

There is consistency in the way the chapters are organized, each chapter beginning with a list of Learning Objectives which are included as subtitles of sections throughout the chapter. Each section contains relevant key terms that highlighted and defined in a glossary at the end of each chapter. Main concepts are illustrated through case studies describing the work of practicing anthropologists.

The text can be easily divided into smaller sections that could be rearranged by an instructor based on individual curriculum. For example, there are many examples of applied anthropology throughout the text that illustrate the relevance of anthropological study in addressing social issues that stem from climate change, health issues, and the global impacts of neoliberalism.

The textbook is organized in a logical way, beginning with foundational concepts, methodology, and theory, and then moving on to areas of special study within the larger field of cultural anthropology.

I did not notice any significant interface or navigation issues. All images headings, links, images and text seem clear and formatted correctly.

I did not notice any grammatical issues in the chapters that I reviewed.

As this is a cultural anthropology textbook, the aim of this book is to present cultural diversity with exceptional sensitivity to inclusion in terms of race, ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic status, belief, ability, and other backgrounds. I feel this text provides a wide variety of examples of diversity, acknowledging the importance of broad representation in pursuit of an unbiased approach to cross-cultural understanding.

I would recommend this textbook for all students who are interested in social science and its growing relevance in understanding a rapidly changing world. This book highlights the relevance of the anthropological perspective in resolving many of the complications that we are experiencing in our complex social lives. A greater understanding of cultural diversity and giving voice to a multitude of perspectives is a source of empowerment that I believe students will especially appreciate. This textbook is useful in its flexible organization, its variety of perspectives and its helpful resources for instructors.

Reviewed by Hilary Morland, Instructor, Community College of Aurora on 8/12/20

This text is an edited volume of chapters written by different authors. It covers the history, theoretical framework, and methodology of anthropology and includes individual chapters on important topics and concepts in contemporary cultural... read more

This text is an edited volume of chapters written by different authors. It covers the history, theoretical framework, and methodology of anthropology and includes individual chapters on important topics and concepts in contemporary cultural anthropology.

There is a Table of Contents for the entire book. Each chapter includes its own glossary and bibliography. However, there is no index or search function and it might be difficult to locate a particular topic by chapter or page number.

The range of topics within cultural anthropology is immense and it would be nearly impossible to produce a textbook that covers EVERYTHING.

I would like to see a chapter about human evolution; while this subject falls within the purview of biological anthropology, one could argue that students must understand the evolutionary history of humans as a species in order to fully understand the significance of contemporary human cultural variation. I also would like to see one or more chapters explore classic ethnographies about indigenous cultures that no longer exist as they did when they were documented by anthropologists. Often, these peoples are mentioned to illustrate a concept but I believe there would be value to students at the introductory level in studying lost and changing cultures in depth.

I did not notice any errors in content or obvious sources of bias. Anthropologists by definition attempt to be unbiased in their presentations.

Perspectives is in its second edition, updated in 2020. The textbook is designed to be a living document that can be used in part or in whole and easily updated. The editors have included a Teaching & Learning Resources section, and invite instructors to contribute to the collection.

Perspectives includes chapters on contemporary topics such as Globalization, Media Anthropology, Public Anthropology, and Environmental Anthropology and the Anthropocene. Presumably, the events of 2020 will merit revision and updating of some chapters (e.g., race and ethnicity, medical anthropology, globalization) and/or the addition of brand new chapters discussing the anthropological perspective on these events.

Accessibility is one of the most attractive features of Perspectives. This is not a typical anthropology textbook, crammed with dense text, sidebars, boxes, diagrams, and charts. One of the major strengths of this textbook is the writing style. Although each chapter has a different author, the style is remarkably consistent across chapters. Each chapter is written in a highly engaging style. Each author weaves their own personal and professional experiences into their academic treatment of the topic. Terms are explained well in the text and also defined in a glossary at the end of each chapter. Photos, occasional diagrams, links to external content, and mini-bios of the author are used to enhance the presentation of the material. There is so much here for students to relate to in the material and in the authors' experiences of being anthropologists. Each chapter is enjoyable and easy to read.

There is consistency across chapters. The focus of each chapter is to discuss cultural variation among contemporary human groups using examples and case studies from the anthropological literature. Each author discusses the history of anthropological studies on the main topic, defines important terminology, and explains relevant concepts. Each chapter includes a set of Learning Objectives at the start and a list of Discussion Questions, glossary of terms, and bibliography at the end. There is some overlap of discussion about basic concepts across chapters, particularly in the opening section, and this repetition should reinforce important concepts for students.

The list of chapters and content should align well with any syllabus for a typical introductory cultural anthropology class. It would be equally effective to use the entire book or to pick and choose individual chapters according to the particular emphasis of the syllabus.

The textbook landing page is well organized with a list of chapter titles and authors clearly presented. Chapters are numbered once downloaded, and page numbers and/or subheadings would allow parts of chapters to be assigned for reading.

There are a variety of options for accessing the material. Students can download individual chapters or the entire book or read the material directly online through a browser. There are options for pdf format or for print format.

There is an excellent set of teaching and learning resources available for download, including an instructor’s manual with questions, activities, reading, films, and other resources, powerpoint presentations, and test bank (available only to instructors).

The topics in the text are presented in a logical, clear fashion. There are chapters on the history, methodology, and theoretical framework of anthropology and chapters on various topics of interest within the field.

The text contains a variety of photos, diagrams, and links to external content. I did not experience any interface issues.

N/A. Anthropology is by definition the study of different races, ethnicities, identities, cultures, and backgrounds and the concept of cultural relativism (defined in the text as “the idea that we should seek to understand another person’s beliefs and behaviors from the perspective of their own culture and not our own”) is the cornerstone of our field.

I would highly recommend Perspectives: An Open Invitation to Cultural Anthropology for any introductory course on any college campus. Perspectives is designed to facilitate effective teaching of introductory cultural anthropology, whether remote or face to face. The material is well organized and accessible, and presented in an engaging, interesting, easy to read manner. Helpful instructor resources are provided on the website. Adopting Perspectives in an introductory cultural anthropology class would surely enrich the experience of both student and instructor.

Reviewed by Nikki Manning, Instructor of Anthropology/Archaeology, TRAILS on 11/29/19

I particularly appreciate the highlighted terms within the text and the glossary associated with each chapter. This is a useful tool for those with a verbal/linguistic style of learning and I have found for newcomers to a particular subject. While... read more

I particularly appreciate the highlighted terms within the text and the glossary associated with each chapter. This is a useful tool for those with a verbal/linguistic style of learning and I have found for newcomers to a particular subject. While I am not a big fan of traditional testing that employs the use of defining terms or multiple choice, it does make the student creation of a study guide more simplistic. I would like to see the discussion questions at the end of chapters be a bit broader in scope in order to help students form a more comprehensive understanding of the chapter.

I appreciate that the introductory chapter brings forward many of the original thinkers and practitioners of Anthropology right in the very beginning. It provides a foundation of early/classic anthropological readings for any student so inclined to delve a bit deeper than the textbook. I particularly appreciate that anthropology, as described in the introduction, is a discipline that transcends the science/humanities divide.

There are two topics that I would like to see included that I cover a great deal in my class discussions – Human Migration and Cultural Heritage and its Conservation. Not only is migration not a new human behavior but it is a complex human behavior in terms of motivation, patterns, politics, economics, and cultural diversity. It is also a current topic of anthropological concern and relevance. Chapter 14 on “Performance” (not a fan of the title) touches on intangible heritage without necessarily calling it that but teaching anthropology students early about the concept of cultural heritage – a very difficult term to truly and completely define – and getting them to start thinking in that direction is imperative. Why discuss culture if we don’t think of it in terms of heritage that should be understood, respected, and protected?

While the introduction does explain that in most academic settings the field of Anthropology has a four subfield approach and even touches on some specialization within Anthropology, it is very heavily reliant on ethnographic research and methods as examples, leaving out physical anthropology and forensics, and archaeology. I realize this is a book about cultural anthropology specifically but would like to see a little more about the other subfields at least in the Introduction.

While I am not an expert of details in terms of all examples used in the text, I do not find any glaring inaccuracies or errors in the general anthropological text. I have a few bias concerns. For example, the section in Chapter 7 (Political Anthropology) on the U.S. Prison System pushes the boundary between presenting information and promoting opinion. While I do not disagree with the argument presented, this seems to be more appropriate for a journal article or a type of “text box” call-out (as I refer to in the “Relevance Longevity” review section below).

On a positive note, Chapter 5 (Subsistence) is one of the chapters (along with the chapters on Culture and Sustainability and Media Anthropology) that provides content that can be most relevant to current times and events while still reaching back in time to explain the different modes of subsistence and how those have evolved over time and how globalization has impacted subsistence.

Unfortunately, some sections throughout the text (for example: some references to Donald Trump) read more like current events articles than academic textbook, especially an introductory text. Other language usage hinders the texts longevity as well. “Over the past [two] years” and “recently” are two examples. The discussion in the political anthropology chapter about ISIS and the formation of state is fascinating. It is not often that a current generation has the ability to see something like this taking shape before their very eyes but perhaps restructuring the format a bit would be helpful. For example, the reference to Abu Bakral-Baghdadi is extremely relevant to the topic but he has been killed since the text was written. The suggestion is to make it less “current events” and more “just the facts.”

I like the “Text Boxes” in the Gender & Sexuality chapter (Chapter 10) because it employs a means of incorporating very current information as examples but they are easily interchangeable and updatable without having to affect the main body of the text other than to perhaps change the Text Box number in the text. As an aside, the “Text Boxes” are more reader-friendly and break up the main body of the text to keep it from being to monotonous.

The language and tone of the text is academic without overuse of technical jargon. The necessary anthropological terms that would be unfamiliar to beginner students are highlighted within the text and the glossary associated with each chapter. Learning objectives are a plus.

Understandably, the byproduct of an edited volume, there are some framework inconsistencies that could be addressed. The learning objectives, glossaries, discussion questions, video and hyperlink call-outs, and special text boxes, all contribute to a smooth consistency throughout. However, two of the chapters have activities which give students the opportunity to “hit the ground running” as young anthropologists by not just reading about anthropology but by doing it. Chapter 4 (Language) incorporates the “Try This” activities and Chapter 10 (Gender & Sexuality) has a list of Activities to choose from at the end of the chapter. It would be interesting to see more of this in other chapters.

As an open and dissected text, the modularity is great. I would definitely use many of these chapters in a course of mine.

While some repetition in terms and glossary are a good way to reinforce concepts, there is a little bit of disjointedness from having multiple authors cover some of the same topics within the text that makes it less reinforcement and more overly repetitious. For example, Chapters 2 and 3 discuss “armchair” and “off the veranda” ethnographic methods when it is really only needed in Chapter 3 about field methods in Anthropology. Chapter 1 also uses the same example from Chapter 2 to discuss the four field approach and holism.

The incorporation of links to videos and other readings is very useful.

There are a few errors in chapter organization between the Table of Contents, the digital chapter sections, and the PDF version of the text. This involves the chapters Health and Medicine, Anthropology in Practice, Media Anthropology, and Public Anthropology.

I had a very difficult time reading the Public Anthropology chapter. The plethora of bold type-face is extremely distracting although it is meant to help make some points clearer. I also take issue with the author encouraging the students to skip and skim using the bold type. While this is an invaluable skill later in college and particularly graduate school, I would not encourage my freshman or sophomore students to engage in this practice with an introductory textbook.

Interview sections in the teaching resources appendix are awesome! More of these would be welcome. Students in an introductory Anthropology course are often in the process of deciding if Anthropology is for them and being able to make life and career applications are important. Maybe there could be one of these for each chapter, an interview with someone who specializes in that chapter’s topic.

I did not notice any glaring grammatical issues.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

The chapter of Anthropology in Practice encourages students to check their bias at the door by at least acknowledging that it exists and affects the research. This is very important – perhaps include a brief discussion on this in the introductory chapters, as well. I appreciate that ethics conversations are important and present along with subjectivity and objectivity, cultural relativism, and activism presented as a debate for students to think about. In the first chapter, there is a section on plasticity that has a few references that are questionable. First, “After all, Navajo means people and many groups think they are superior to others” and second, a reference to the “Islamic scarf.” I am not entirely sure what is attempting to be conveyed there but it could be misconstrued as offensive when I suspect it is much more a sentence structure issue. (That section on plasticity has multiple sentence structure issues.) In Chapter 2, in trying to explain the pitfalls of ethnocentrism, talking about “going native” as an actual anthropological term and not part of our anthropological dark past basically perpetuates the concept of “Other” and could be avoided.

I would definitely use this book, especially certain chapters of it, in my classes and would recommend it to others. I am actually looking forward to using it and appreciated the opportunity to review it.

Reviewed by Jessica Park, Professor , College of Marin on 4/6/19

Overall the content is quite comprehensive. Introductory courses like cultural anthropology are taught as a survey course, covering a lot of material at a basic level. As such, these classes are quite broad. Perspectives does an excellent job of... read more

Overall the content is quite comprehensive. Introductory courses like cultural anthropology are taught as a survey course, covering a lot of material at a basic level. As such, these classes are quite broad. Perspectives does an excellent job of covering the content offered in most cultural anthropology courses. Many of the chapters present the standard topics found in most cultural anthropology textbooks, however Perspectives adds content not often found in many cultural anthropology texts (culture/sustainability, seeing like an anthropologist, media and public anthropology). This makes Perspectives more comprehensive than most cultural anthropology textbooks out there today and provides great flexibility in what chapters, topics and content the instructor wants to use. This is an excellent textbook.

Perspectives provides very accurate content within the topics/institutions presented in each chapter as well as the overall methods and perspectives used to study humans through an "anthropological" lens. 

Perspectives presents a very current outlook of cultural anthropology, especially with the recent nature of the additional interactive links/material. Though this text provides many formative and historical examples, I think the contemporary examples of anthropological work are valuable to the students as it exemplifies how anthropological concepts can be used to study our world today. And, as most of the academic content in each chapter is similar to other cultural anthropology textbooks, I think the basic content of this textbook will remain relevant for many years. However, some of the current examples and interactive material could loose relevance over time. Maybe newer culturally relevant examples could replace the older examples when the authors update the textbook. Overall, this is a very strong text and I can see using it in my courses for many years.

I found Perspectives to be a very clear and approachable text. The language style use by the authors is appropriate to students at an undergraduate level. The discipline/topical terms are all clearly identified (bolded) and defined, followed by a chapter glossary at the end of each chapter. I also think that the additional interactive content, links to maps, videos etc., not only enhances the experience of this text but helps to provide clarification and concrete examples of material discussed in each chapter. 

I found the each chapter to be quite consistent. Even though a different individual authors each chapter, the language style and approach to the material are very similar to each other. It reads like a text that has a single author, but benefits from the perspectives and knowledge of several different academics', each who have relevant experience in the topic they author. Also, the consistency in the layout and organization makes this a very accessible text to read and navigate.

I found the modularity of the text to be quite good. I found a copy of this text at http://perspectives.americananthro.org. This site allowed me to access and download each chapter individually. This creates a lot of flexibility in which chapters can be assigned to students. Moreover it increases the usefulness of the text for me because it can easily be incorporated into course management systems like Canvas (or others) which is a great feature for anyone who teaches online. I LOVE this aspect. As for the chapters, each is well divided into readable sections of content via headings. As a text, I believe that Perspectives is flexible enough to allow instructors to tailor the book to their courses and content.

The book has excellent organization, structure and flow. The first thing I noticed is that the chapter content is similar to o other cultural anthropology textbooks I have used and is organized in a similar fashion. Each chapter starts with a set of learning objectives followed by clear subject headings throughout the text making the material very easy to follow. Like most texts, the important terms for each topic are bolded and defined throughout the chapter. Finally the chapters wrap up with an overall conclusion, discussion and chapter glossary of all of the important terms from the chapter. Mimicking the traditional structure of a book chapter makes the transition to reading this in an online format much easier. As I have stated the content is similar to that of most introductory cultural anthropology books. As such it allows for a lot of flexibility in coverage of topics. Also I was able to find a version of the text at http://perspectives.americananthro.org that allowed me to access each chapter individually. This would increase the flexibility of use for this textbook and again, is great for the modularity aspect of this text.

I reviewed the PDF version of Perspectives. I prefer the PDF because it retains an original textbook style formatting and seems more stable across multiple devices (like computers and mobile devices) than other online formats. I did not encounter any navigational issues. The text and each chapter is very well organized and extremely consistent in its layout. The regularity in the lay out makes it very easy for the reader to navigate each chapter. The photos were clear and well placed. I REALLY loved interactive links interspersed throughout the text. These links make for a much more interactive and dynamic experience that I think students will love.

The book is very well edited. I found no grammatical errors.

Cultural anthropology is a comprehensive discipline that covers many aspects of humans and our life-ways. Some topics such as race and gender may push some individuals out of their comfort zones, but I believe this is an important aspect of college and learning about the diversity in what it means to be human. Anthropologists aim to be both culturally relativistic and holistic in their approach to studying humans. I think perspectives does an excellent job of applying these concepts. No aspect of this text is insensitive or offensive. The authors were comprehensive and inclusive in their use of cultural examples and language.

This is an excellent textbook. I had a lot of fun exploring each chapter and I am very excited to use this text in my classes!

Reviewed by Jason James, Associate Professor, University of Mary Washington on 6/19/18

The text as a whole is very comprehensive, as are the individual chapters. With one exception the text covers all of the topics I include in my introductory course in cultural anthropology. The one topic missing in my view is social class and... read more

The text as a whole is very comprehensive, as are the individual chapters. With one exception the text covers all of the topics I include in my introductory course in cultural anthropology. The one topic missing in my view is social class and the cultural dimensions of inequality, particularly the concepts of cultural and social capital as well as resistance. Anthropological approaches influenced my Marx and Marxist thinking could receive more attention. Chapters on language, politics, and economics do address the issue to some extent, but my ideal text would include a more extensive treatment of this topic.

I find the text to be quite accurate on the whole. I found very few mischaracterizations of ideas or situations. In a couple of instances very brief reference was made to an interpretation that is highly speculative. This is a bit dangerous in my view given that many students in introductory courses may be skeptical of anthropology's validity. In a case like this it is better to leave a very questionable point out, or to provide more information about the issue to allow students and instructors to discuss the matter in more detail.

The text does a nice job overall of using both "classic" anthropological ideas and examples/case studies as well as very recent examples. The inclusion of examples with which students will likely be familiar is very important to demonstrating the relevance of cultural anthropology to issues students are likely to see as close to "home." At the same time, such examples can easily become less relevant in a fairly short time. Although it is a decidedly important area of interest and one most students would be aware of, Donald Trump's presidency received a bit too much attention. And although Islamic State is a very important example for political anthropology, the extent of that treatment is a bit out of proportion in comparison to other chapters' case studies.

By and large the chapters are very clearly written and seem to be "pitched" at the right level. Some parts of the first three introductory chapters (anthropology, culture, research methods) struck me as a bit too elementary, but all of the topical chapters were clearly written.

The text is reasonably consistent, especially considering that each chapter was written by different authors, often multiple ones. The use of multiple authors makes it unavoidable that as a whole it is not as consistent as a book by a single author would be, but again, the consistency is very good given that fact. The consistent format is helpful.

I could imagine assigning individual chapters of the text, so I would rate the modularity as good. With some exceptions, individual chapters and sections are of reasonable length. The chapter on gender in particular struck me as quite long — perhaps finding a way to create two chapters would have been helpful. Given that the text lends itself to possibly assigning individual chapters, it would be helpful if it were offered not just with the entire text as a pdf file, but also as individual chapters, or on a site where students could select individual chapters to read.

The overall organization works well. The one thing that struck me as less than ideal was the degree of overlap between the first three chapters. This is understandably challenging: the discipline, its central concept, and its methods are all very closely intertwined, so it is challenging to separate those topics from one another and discuss them effectively in distinct chapters without too much overlap. That said, I could imagine my students finding some of the material/chapters repetitive. Repetition is not always bad, and the editors note that the overlap can be used to highlight the centrality of holism, but I think some additional editing to reduce some of the overlap in the early chapters would be welcome.

The interface is generally user-friendly. I appreciate the inclusion of live links to videos and other materials. As noted above, the single pdf file that I used is a bit cumbersome if one is doing anything other than reading all of the chapters in order.

I did not identify any significant problems with grammar.

The variety of examples is impressive. This is no doubt one advantage of having many authors. The nature of the examples and commentary in some cases make the chapters less than ideal in my view. This may depend on the student population with which one works. In my view cultural anthropology meshes closely with what broadly counts as a "liberal" perspective, and it certainly does so in my case. In many parts of this text that connection is also evident. That said, I work to balance that with the awareness that many students find it easy to dismiss the findings and perspectives of the discipline as simply "liberal opinion." Here too the number and nature of references to Donald Trump certainly make the text timely, and I welcome that, in part because I support engaged anthropology. At the same time, in my particular case the need to be strategic in order to not alienate too many students is also important.

I appreciate the work of the editors and authors to make a strong open source introductory text in cultural anthropology available.

Reviewed by Víctor M Torres-Vélez, Assistant Professor, Hostos Community College, CUNY on 5/21/18

Content wise the book is comprehensive and it addresses each one of the major themes/topics that an introductory cultural anthropology course needs to cover. The order of the topics follows a logical progression, from the simple to the complex,... read more

Content wise the book is comprehensive and it addresses each one of the major themes/topics that an introductory cultural anthropology course needs to cover. The order of the topics follows a logical progression, from the simple to the complex, that allows a proper introduction to anthropology’s key ideas.

The review was done on the PDF version of the book, which is my preferred reading format for students and myself. I prefer PDFs because they retain all the formatting layout of the original printed versions, which allows for proper page citations and referencing of passages when discussing it. The chapters layout on, Perspectives: An Open Invitation to Cultural Anthropology, indeed reproduces what you will expected in a printed version. However, the PDF version was lacking a Table of Content, and an effective index and or global glossary. In order to view the table of content you have to go the online version of the book, a rather unnecessary step. Although there is not a global glossary, individual chapters have, after the conclusion, useful chapter glossaries and discussion questions.

This book is meant as an introduction to cultural anthropology and as such is a survey of the key concepts and debates that makes up the discipline across time. The book is accurate on its representation of the multiplicity of approaches the discipline is known for.

Both the overall structure of the book as well as the organization of each individual chapter makes this book relevant, up-to-date and easily modifiable. This is particularly true of the well organized chapter structure. From the outset you have clearly stated learning objectives. Each chapter is highly modular, broken down in smaller sections with clear headings. Key concepts are in bold. Well placed images further expand on concepts discussed. At the end of each chapter succinct conclusions accompanied by discussion questions and a chapter glossary just make of this book a joy to read for the students.

Even when the book is a collaboration of multiple authors, I found remarkably consistent the writing style. Particularly how clear and clean the prose was. The editors did a great job in keeping the writing consistent across the board.

Anthropology is a discipline with a multiplicity of approaches, theoretical and otherwise. Emphasis on what is relevant when addressing a topic vary greatly depending on the viewpoint. However, what makes this text interesting is how the editors made sure the structure of the chapters remained consistent regardless of the disciplinary approach.

While some of the chapters could have use a little more modularity, the majority of the chapter are modular, well structure and clear.

Both the overall structure of the book as well as the organization of each individual chapter makes this book relevant, up-to-date and easily modifiable. This is particularly true of the well organized chapter structure. Content wise the book is comprehensive and it addresses each one of the major themes/topics that an introductory cultural anthropology course needs to cover. The order of the topics follows a logical progression, from the simple to the complex, that allows a proper introduction to anthropology’s key ideas.

On the PDF version, other than lacking a table of content and a global glossary, the book is flawless in its typesetting, layout, and overall organizational structure.

Superbly written.

I cannot wait to use parts of this book in many of my classes.

This book was a pleasure to review.

Reviewed by David Beriss, Associate Professor of Anthropology, University of New Orleans on 5/21/18

All basic cultural anthropology texts strive to be comprehensive. This is hard to do, given that our discipline aspires to be a science of humanity itself – to be comprehensive is to cover holistically nearly every aspect of human life (or at... read more

All basic cultural anthropology texts strive to be comprehensive. This is hard to do, given that our discipline aspires to be a science of humanity itself – to be comprehensive is to cover holistically nearly every aspect of human life (or at least, all aspects that relate to society and culture). That is hard to do in one book, especially if there is only one author. As a collection of individual essays, this book succeeds in ways other cannot. Each individual essay is the work of an anthropologist with expertise in that specific area, so that each chapter is mostly comprehensive in its own terms. The book covers all the areas that standard textbooks cover (culture, language, kinship, gender, economics, etc.). It goes beyond those areas, however, with chapters on sustainability, performance, media, medicine, and public anthropology. And it has some excellent interviews and resources that can liven up the readings for students. It is a remarkable resource that I will draw on in upcoming classes.

Each chapter has an individual author and each other seems to have done their best to provide an accurate set of insights into the history, theories, and methods of the particular part of anthropology they study. That said, there is always room for other anthropologists to disagree, to assert alternative ideas, or contradictory evidence. Within the usual framework of our discipline, this is a very accurate representation of cultural anthropology.

This is a very up-to-date representation of cultural anthropology as of early 2018. Many of the chapters should remain relevant for quite some time. It might be helpful in the long run to add or change some of the interviews, as new anthropologists with interesting insights become available. Also, some of the links to videos in various chapters already appear to be broken. They may still be available with some searching, but that is a bit of an issue.

The chapters are mostly written in a style that should be easily accessible to undergraduates. Jargon and technical terms are explained and each chapter has a list of keywords and definitions, which is very helpful.

The format of each chapter is the same, with learning objectives, the text, highlighted terms and concepts, questions for study, a glossary, a an author bio, bibliography (often very helpful!), notes.

This book is designed so that an instructor can easily assign individual chapters without needing the entire book. This is a great feature for teaching.That said, I would not recommend breaking up the chapters into smaller sections.

The flow of the book replicates the style of most cultural anthropology textbooks, except for the extra material (interviews, etc.) at the end.

I used the Apple Ibook reader and it seems fine.

The grammar and editing were excellent.

This is a cultural anthropology introductory textbook. It covers quite a lot of ground in terms of different cultures, social structures, etc. People may be offended when confronted with the full range of human thinking, activity, etc. This is the kind of book people need to read if they want to learn about humanity and think critically about their own culture and society. If they are not prepared to be shaken out of their own insensitivity, they should not read this book.

I am quite happy to have read this and look forward to incorporating parts of it in my next intro cultural anthropology class.

Reviewed by Alcira Forero-Pena, Adjunct Assistant Professor, LaGuardia Community College of The City University of New York on 2/1/18

Very few times I have come across a more comprehensive textbook. The 18 chapters cover major topics in Cultural Anthropology ranging from a very critical introduction by Laura Nader on what this discipline has historically been about, its... read more

Very few times I have come across a more comprehensive textbook. The 18 chapters cover major topics in Cultural Anthropology ranging from a very critical introduction by Laura Nader on what this discipline has historically been about, its uniqueness within the social sciences to a thought provoking chapter on Public Anthropology by the distinguished scholar Robert Borofsky. Every chapter includes useful sections such as the Learning Objectives at the beginning and the Discussion Questions at the end. Besides, for every theme the students will find excellent material in the form of photography as well as links to websites with scholarly and other sources where both students and instructors would be able to expand or go deeper into a subject. The use of notes is also pertinent and to the point.

Other key feature present in each chapter is a variety of case studies that would support the students' understanding of anthropological concepts, theories, the historical and social context, and the role of the ethnographer or anthropologist within and outside academia. Also, there is no scarcity of websites for students to get hold of documentaries, other audio-visual and written material to facilitate their grasp of the subject. The Glossary at the end of each chapter also contributes to make this textbook a very user friendly one.

I would hardly find a more comprehensive presentation and discussion of all the subjects included in the textbook. Another illustration of my point is Chapter 10 on the complexity of sexuality and gender coordinated by Carol Mukhopadhyay, which in my opinion goes beyond undergraduate level so the instructor has plenty of possible entries to these subjects.

I am adopting the textbook with no reservations whatsoever and I am glad that my students in the Community College I am teaching will not have to pay for it

From the chapters I read I found accurate presentation and discussion of themes backed by Notes and Bibliography to credit the sources.

One of the qualities I found in the textbook is the treatment and inclusion of the "classic" works in Cultural Anthropology as well as a wide array of works by contemporary practitioners and authors. I can see how the textbook will stand the test of time.

By and large, the language used by the authors is clear and they provide explanations and illustrations to make their point(s) clear.

Every chapter of the textbook is consistent with an overall pattern that I am sure the editors where very careful about.

Perhaps the second edition should work to achieve better modularity. Taken into account that each of the 18 chapters is written by different author(s), I can explain why some sections (blocks) could be better organized.

There is a logic presentation of each chapter with a general introduction to the subject followed by the intricacies, both conceptual and ethnographic of the theme. I really appreciate the inclusion of case studies with very interesting and current perspective.

I did not find a particular problem related to interface issues. The images are clear and well chosen and the display of links to websites or other sources is correct.

I did not find any grammatical error in the several chapters that I reviewed.

One of the main reasons that drew me to the textbook is the cultural relevance of the theoretical, methodological, and ethical aspects of the material presented. I will be very happy with the exposure my students will have to main tenets of Cultural Anthropology with careful and inclusive choices of language and illustrations of concepts and case studies that incorporate up to date material.

I am going to adopt the textbook and I would like to keep in touch because, after all, it is in the actual experience that we learn and appreciate a textbook.

Table of Contents

• Introduction to Anthropology
• The Culture Concept
• Doing Fieldwork: Methods in Cultural Anthropology
• Subsistence
• Political Anthropology: A Cross-Cultural Comparison
• Family and Marriage
• Race and Ethnicity
• Gender and Sexuality
• Globalization
• The History of Anthropological Ideas
• Culture and Sustainability: Environmental Anthropology in the Anthropocene
• Performance
• Media Anthropology: Meaning, Embodiment, Infrastructure, and Activism
• Health and Medicine
• Seeing Likme an Anthropologist: Anthropology in Practice
• Public Anthropology
• Image Credits

Ancillary Material

About the book.

We are delighted to bring to you this novel textbook, a collection of chapters on the essential topics in cultural anthropology. Different from other introductory textbooks, this book is an edited volume with each chapter written by a different author. Each author has written from their experiences working as an anthropologist and that personal touch makes for an accessible introduction to cultural anthropology.

Our approach to cultural anthropology is holistic. We see the interconnectedness of cultural practices and, in all of the chapters, we emphasize the comparison of cultures and the ways of life of different peoples. We start with Laura Nader’s observation that cultural differences need not be seen as a problem. In our complicated world of increasing migration, nationalism, and climate challenges, cultural diversity might actually be the source of conflict resolution and new approaches to ensuring a healthier world. Indeed, as Katie Nelson reminds us, anthropology exposes the familiarity in the ideas and practices of others that seem bizarre. Robert Borofsky advocates for anthropology’s ability to empower people and facilitate good. Borofsky calls on anthropologists to engage with a wider public to bring our incredible stories and important insights to helping resolve the most critical issues we face in the world today. This book brings Nader, Nelson, Borofsky, and many others together to demonstrate that our anthropological understandings can help all of us to improve the lives of people the world over. We need you, as students, to see the possibilities. As instructors, we want to help you easily share anthropological knowledge and understanding. We want all readers to be inspired by the intensely personal writings of the anthropologists who contribute to this volume. 

About the Contributors

Nina Brown , Community College of Baltimore County

Thomas Mcllwraith , University of Guelph

Laura Tubelle de González , San Diego Miramar College

Contribute to this Page

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3 Doing Fieldwork: Methods in Cultural Anthropology

Katie nelson, inver hills community college [email protected] http://kanelson.com/.

Learning Objectives

Discuss what is unique about ethnographic fieldwork and how it emerged as a key strategy in anthropology.

Explain how traditional approaches to ethnographic fieldwork contrast with contemporary approaches.

Identify some of the contemporary ethnographic fieldwork techniques and perspectives.

Discuss some of the ethical considerations in doing anthropological fieldwork.

Summarize how anthropologists transform their fieldwork data into a story that communicates meaning.

FINDING THE FIELD

My first experience with fieldwork as a student anthropologist took place in a small indigenous community in northeastern Brazil studying the Jenipapo-Kanindé of Lagoa Encantada (Enchanted Lake). I had planned to conduct an independent research project on land tenure among members of the indigenous tribe and had gotten permission to spend several months with the community. My Brazilian host family arranged for a relative to drive me to the rural community on the back of his motorcycle. After several hours navigating a series of bumpy roads in blazing equatorial heat, I was relieved to arrive at the edge of the reservation. He cut the motor and I removed my heavy backpack from my tired, sweaty back. Upon hearing us arrive, first children and then adults slowly and shyly began to approach us. I greeted the curious onlookers and briefly explained who I was. As a group of children ran to fetch the cacique (the chief/political leader), I began to explain my research agenda to several of the men who had gathered. I mentioned that I was interested in learning about how the tribe negotiated land use rights without any private land ownership. After hearing me use the colloquial term “ índio ” (Indian), a man who turned out to be the cacique’s cousin came forward and said to me, “Well, your work is going to be difficult because there are no Indians here; we are only Brazilians.” Then, abruptly, another man angrily replied to him, stating firmly that, in fact, they were Indians because the community was on an Indian reservation and the Brazilian government had recognized them as an indigenous tribe. A few women then entered the rapid-fire discussion. I took a step back, surprised by the intensity of my first interaction in the community. The debate subsided once the cacique arrived, but it left a strong impression in my mind. Eventually, I discarded my original research plan to focus instead on this disagreement within the community about who they were and were not. In anthropology, this type of conflict in beliefs is known as contested identity .

I soon learned that many among the Jenipapo-Kanindé did not embrace the Indian identity label. The tribe members were all monolingual Portuguese-speakers who long ago had lost their original language and many of their traditions. Beginning in the 1980s, several local researchers had conducted studies in the community and had concluded that the community had indigenous origins. Those researchers lobbied on the community’s behalf for official state and federal status as an indigenous reservation, and in 1997 the Funai ( Fundação Nacional do Índio or National Foundation for the Indian) visited the community and agreed to officially demarcate the land as an indigenous reservation.

More than 20 years later, the community is still waiting for that demarcation. Some in the community embraced indigenous status because it came with a number of benefits. The state (Ceará), using partial funding from Funai, built a new road to improve access to the community. The government also constructed an elementary school and a common well and installed new electric lines. Despite those gains, some members of the community did not embrace indigenous status because being considered Indian had a pejorative connotation in Brazil. Many felt that the label stigmatized them by associating them with a poor and marginalized class of Brazilians. Others resisted the label because of long-standing family and inter-personal conflicts in the community.

Fieldwork is the most important method by which cultural anthropologists gather data to answer their research questions. While interacting on a daily basis with a group of people, cultural anthropologists document their observations and perceptions and adjust the focus of their research as needed. They typically spend a few months to a few years living among the people they are studying.

The “field” can be anywhere the people are—a village in highland Papua New Guinea or a supermarket in downtown Minneapolis. Just as marine biologists spend time in the ocean to learn about the behavior of marine animals and geologists travel to a mountain range to observe rock formations, anthropologists go to places where people are.

Doing Anthropology In this short film, Stefan Helmreich, Erica James, and Heather Paxson, three members of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Anthropology Department, talk about their current work and the process of doing fieldwork .

Making the Strange Familiar and the Familiar Strange

The cultural anthropologist’s goal during fieldwork is to describe a group of people to others in a way that makes strange or unusual features of the culture seem familiar and familiar traits seem extraordinary. The point is to help people think in new ways about aspects of their own culture by comparing them with other cultures. The research anthropologist Margaret Mead describes in her monograph Coming of Age in Samoa (1928) is a famous example of this. In 1925, Mead went to American Samoa, where she conducted ethnographic research on adolescent girls and their experiences with sexuality and growing up. Mead’s mentor, anthropologist Franz Boas, was a strong proponent of cultural determinism, the idea that one’s cultural upbringing and social environment, rather than one’s biology, primarily determine behavior. Boas encouraged Mead to travel to Samoa to study adolescent behavior there and to compare their culture and behavior with that of adolescents in the United States to lend support to his hypothesis. In the foreword of Coming of Age in Samoa , Boas described what he saw as the key insight of her research: “The results of her painstaking investigation confirm the suspicion long held by anthropologists that much of what we ascribe to human nature is no more than a reaction to the restraints put upon us by our civilization.” [1]

Mead studied 25 young women in three villages in Samoa and found that the stress, anxiety, and turmoil of American adolescence were not found among Samoan youth. Rather, young women in Samoa experienced a smooth transition to adulthood with relatively little stress or difficulty. She documented instances of socially accepted sexual experimentation, lack of sexual jealousy and rape, and a general sense of casualness that marked Samoan adolescence. Coming of Age in Samoa quickly became popular, launching Mead’s career as one of the most well-known anthropologists in the United States and perhaps the world. The book encouraged American readers to reconsider their own cultural assumptions about what adolescence in the United States should be like, particularly in terms of the sexual repression and turmoil that seemed to characterize the teenage experience in mid-twentieth century America. Through her analysis of the differences between Samoan and American society, Mead also persuasively called for changes in education and parenting for U.S. children and adolescents.

Another classic example of a style of anthropological writing that attempted to make the familiar strange and encouraged readers to consider their own cultures in a different way is Horace Miner’s Body Ritual among the Nacirema (1956). The essay described oral hygiene practices of the Nacirema (“American” spelled backward) in a way that, to cultural insiders, sounded extreme, exaggerated, and out of context. He presented the Nacirema as if they were a little-known cultural group with strange, exotic practices. Miner wrote the essay during an era in which anthropologists were just beginning to expand their focus beyond small-scale traditional societies far from home to large-scale post-industrial societies such as the United States. He wrote the essay primarily as a satire of how anthropologists often wrote about “the Other” in ways that made other cultures seem exotic and glossed over features that the Other had in common with the anthropologist’s culture. The essay also challenged U.S. readers in general and anthropologists in particular to think differently about their own cultures and re-examine their cultural assumptions about what is “normal.”

Emic and Etic Perspectives

When anthropologists conduct fieldwork, they gather data. An important tool for gathering anthropological data is ethnography —the in-depth study of everyday practices and lives of a people. Ethnography produces a detailed description of the studied group at a particular time and location, also known as a “ thick description ,” a term coined by anthropologist Clifford Geertz in his 1973 book The Interpretation of Cultures to describe this type of research and writing. A thick description explains not only the behavior or cultural event in question but also the context in which it occurs and anthropological interpretations of it. Such descriptions help readers better understand the internal logic of why people in a culture behave as they do and why the behaviors are meaningful to them. This is important because understanding the attitudes, perspectives, and motivations of cultural insiders is at the heart of anthropology.

Ethnographers gather data from many different sources. One source is the anthropologist’s own observations and thoughts. Ethnographers keep field notebooks that document their ideas and reflections as well as what they do and observe when participating in activities with the people they are studying, a research technique known as participant observation . Other sources of data include informal conversations and more-formal interviews that are recorded and transcribed. They also collect documents such as letters, photographs, artifacts, public records, books, and reports.

Different types of data produce different kinds of ethnographic descriptions, which also vary in terms of perspective—from the perspective of the studied culture ( emic ) or from the perspective of the observer ( etic ). Emic perspectives refer to descriptions of behaviors and beliefs in terms that are meaningful to people who belong to a specific culture, e.g., how people perceive and categorize their culture and experiences, why people believe they do what they do, how they imagine and explain things. To uncover emic perspectives, ethnographers talk to people, observe what they do, and participate in their daily activities with them. Emic perspectives are essential for anthropologists’ efforts to obtain a detailed understanding of a culture and to avoid interpreting others through their own cultural beliefs.

Etic perspectives refer to explanations for behavior by an outside observer in ways that are meaningful to the observer. For an anthropologist, etic descriptions typically arise from conversations between the ethnographer and the anthropological community. These explanations tend to be based in science and are informed by historical, political, and economic studies and other types of research. The etic approach acknowledges that members of a culture are unlikely to view the things they do as noteworthy or unusual. They cannot easily stand back and view their own behavior objectively or from another perspective. For example, you may have never thought twice about the way you brush your teeth and the practice of going to the dentist or how you experienced your teenage years. For you, these parts of your culture are so normal and “natural” you probably would never consider questioning them. An emic lens gives us an alternative perspective that is essential when constructing a comprehensive view of a people.

Most often, ethnographers include both emic and etic perspectives in their research and writing. They first uncover a studied people’s understanding of what they do and why and then develop additional explanations for the behavior based on anthropological theory and analysis. Both perspectives are important, and it can be challenging to move back and forth between the two. Nevertheless, that is exactly what good ethnographers must do.

TRADITIONAL ETHNOGRAPHIC APPROACHES

Early armchair anthropology.

Before ethnography was a fully developed research method, anthropologists in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries used techniques that were much less reliable to gather data about people throughout the world. From the comfort of their homes and library armchairs, early scholars collected others’ travel accounts and used them to come to conclusions about far-flung cultures and peoples. The reports typically came from missionaries, colonists, adventurers, and business travelers and were often incomplete, inaccurate, and/or misleading, exaggerated or omitted important information, and romanticized the culture.

Early scholars such as Wilhelm Schmidt and Sir E. B. Tylor sifted through artifacts and stories brought back by travelers or missionaries and selected the ones that best fit their frequently pre-conceived ideas about the peoples involved. By relying on this flawed data, they often drew inaccurate or even racist conclusions. They had no way of knowing how accurate the information was and no way to understand the full context in which it was gathered.

The work of Sir James Frazer (1854–1941) provides a good example of the problems associated with such anthropological endeavors. Frazer was a Scottish social anthropologist who was interested in myths and religions around the world. He read historical documents and religious texts found in libraries and book collections. He also sent questionnaires to missionaries and colonists in various parts of the world asking them about the people with whom they were in contact. He then used the information to draw sweeping conclusions about human belief systems. In his most famous book, The Golden Bough , he described similarities and differences in magical and religious practices around the world and concluded that human beliefs progressed through three stages: from primitive magic to religion and from religion to science. This theory implied that some people were less evolved and more primitive than others. Of course, contemporary anthropologists do not view any people as less evolved than another. Instead, anthropologists today seek to uncover the historical, political, and cultural reasons behind peoples’ behaviors rather than assuming that one culture or society is more advanced than another.

The main problem with Frazer’s conclusion can be traced back to the fact that he did not do any research himself and none of the information he relied on was collected by an anthropologist. He never spent time with the people he was researching. He never observed the religious ceremonies he wrote about and certainly never participated in them. Had he done so, he might have been able to appreciate that all human groups at the time (and now) were equally pragmatic, thoughtful, intelligent, logical, and “evolved.” He might also have appreciated the fact that how and why the information is gathered affects the quality of the information. For instance, if a colonial administrator offered to pay people for their stories, some of the storytellers might have exaggerated or even made up stories for financial gain. If a Christian missionary asked recently converted parishioners to describe their religious practices, they likely would have omitted non-Christian practices and beliefs to avoid disapproval and maintain their positions in the church. A male traveler who attempted to document rite-of-passage traditions in a culture that prohibited men from asking such questions of women would generate data that could erroneously suggest that women did not participate in such activities. All of these examples illustrate the pitfalls of armchair anthropology.

Off the Veranda

Fortunately, the reign of armchair anthropology was brief. Around the turn of the twentieth century, anthropologists trained in the natural sciences began to reimagine what a science of humanity should look like and how social scientists ought to go about studying cultural groups. Some of those anthropologists insisted that one should at least spend significant time actually observing and talking to the people studied. Early ethnographers such as Franz Boas and Alfred Cort Haddon typically traveled to the remote locations where the people in question lived and spent a few weeks to a few months there. They sought out a local Western host who was familiar with the people and the area (such as a colonial official, missionary, or businessman) and found accommodations through them. Although they did at times venture into the community without a guide, they generally did not spend significant time with the local people. Thus, their observations were primarily conducted from the relative comfort and safety of a porch—from their verandas .

Polish anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski’s (1884–1942) pioneering method of participant observation fundamentally changed the relationship between ethnographers and the people under study. In 1914, he traveled to the Trobriand Islands and ended up spending nearly four years conducting fieldwork among the people there. In the process, he developed a rigorous set of detailed ethnographic techniques he viewed as best-suited to gathering accurate and comprehensive ethnographic data. One of the hallmarks of his method was that it required the researcher to get off the veranda to interact with and even live among the natives. In a well-known book about his research, Argonauts of the Western Pacific (1922), Malinowski described his research techniques and the role they played in his analysis of the Kula ceremony, an exchange of coral armbands and trinkets among members of the social elite. He concluded that the ceremonies were at the center of Trobriand life and represented the culmination of an elaborate multi-year venture called the Kula Ring that involved dangerous expeditions and careful planning. Ultimately, the key to his discovering the importance of the ceremony was that he not only observed the Kula Ring but also participated in it. This technique of participant observation is central to anthropological research today. Malinowski did more than just observe people from afar; he actively interacted with them and participated in their daily activities. And unlike early anthropologists who worked through translators, Malinowski learned the native language, which allowed him to immerse himself in the culture. He carefully documented all of his observations and thoughts. Malinowski’s techniques are now central components of ethnographic fieldwork.

Salvage Ethnography

Despite Malinowski’s tremendous contributions to ethnography and anthropology generally, he was nevertheless a man of his time. A common view in the first half of the twentieth century was that many “primitive” cultures were quickly disappearing and features of those cultures needed to be preserved (salvaged) before they were lost. Anthropologists such as Malinowski, Franz Boas, and many of their students sought to document, photograph, and otherwise preserve cultural traditions in “dying” cultures in groups such as Native Americans and other traditional societies experiencing rapid change due to modernization, dislocation, and contact with outside groups. They also collected cultural artifacts, removing property from the communities and placing it in museums and private collections.

Others who were not formally trained in the sciences or in anthropology also participated in salvage activities. For instance, in his “documentary” film Nanook of the North (1922), Robery Flaherty filmed the life of an Inuit man named Nanook and his family in the Canadian Arctic. In an effort to preserve on film what many believed was a traditional way of life soon to be lost, Flaherty took considerable artistic license to represent the culture as he imagined it was in the past, including staging certain scenes and asking the Inuit men to use spears instead of rifles to make the film seem more “authentic.”

Photographers and artists have likewise attempted to capture and preserve traditional indigenous life in paintings and photographs. Renowned painter George Catlin (1796–1872), for example, is known to have embellished scenes or painted them in ways that glossed over the difficult reality that native people in the nineteenth century were actively persecuted by the government, displaced from their lands, and forced into unsustainable lifestyles that led to starvation and warfare. Photographer Edward S. Curtis (1868–1952) has been criticized for reinforcing romanticized images of “authentic” native scenes. In particular, he is accused of having perpetuated the problematic idea of the noble savage and, in the process, distracted attention from the serious social, political, and economic problems faced by native people. [2]

Today, anthropologists recognize that human cultures constantly change as people respond to social, political, economic, and other external and internal influences—that there is no moment when a culture is more authentic or more primitive. They acknowledge that culture is fluid and cannot be treated as isolated in time and space. Just as we should not portray people as primitive vestiges of an earlier stage of human development, we also should not romanticize a culture or idealize another’s suffering as more authentic or natural.

In the throes of salvage ethnography, anthropologists in the first half of the twentieth century actively documented anything and everything they could about the cultures they viewed as endangered. They collected artifacts, excavated ancient sites, wrote dictionaries of non-literate languages, and documented cultural traditions, stories, and beliefs. In the United States, those efforts developed into what is known today as the four-field approach or simply as general anthropology. This approach integrates multiple scientific and humanistic perspectives into a single comprehensive discipline composed of cultural, archaeological, biological/physical, and linguistic anthropology.

A hallmark of the four-field approach is its holistic perspective: anthropologists are interested in studying everything that makes us human. Thus, they use multiple approaches to understanding humans throughout time and throughout the world. They also acknowledge that to understand people fully one cannot look solely at biology, culture, history, or language; rather, all of those things must be considered. The interrelationships between the four subfields of anthropology are important for many anthropologists today.

Linguistic anthropologists Edward Sapir and Benjamin Whorf, for instance, examined interrelationships between culture, language, and cognition. They argued that the language one speaks plays a critical role in determining how one thinks, particularly in terms of understanding time, space, and matter. They proposed that people who speak different languages view the world differently as a result. In a well-known example, Whorf contrasted the Hopi and English languages. Because verbs in Hopi contained no future or past tenses, Whorf argued that Hopi-speakers understand time in a fundamentally different way than English-speakers. An observation by an English-speaker would focus on the difference in time while an observation by a Hopi-speaker would focus on validity. [3]

In another example, Peter Gordon spent many years living among the Pirahã tribe of Brazil learning their language and culture. He noted that the Pirahã have only three words for numbers: one, two, and many. He also observed that they found it difficult to remember quantities and numbers beyond three even after learning the Portuguese words for such numbers. [4]

Pirahã Numerical Terms

In this short film, linguist Daniel Everett illustrates Pirahã numerical terms .

Although some scholars have criticized Whorf and Gordon’s conclusions as overly deterministic, their work certainly illustrates the presence of a relationship between language and thought and between cultural and biological influences. Words may not force people to think a particular way, but they can influence our thought processes and how we view the world around us. The holistic perspective of anthropology helps us to appreciate that our culture, language, and physical and cognitive capacities for language are interrelated in complex ways.

ETHNOGRAPHY TODAY

Anthropology’s distinctive research strategy.

Ethnography is cultural anthropology’s distinctive research strategy. It was originally developed by anthropologists to study small-scale, relatively isolated cultural groups. Typically, those groups had relatively simple economies and technologies and limited access to larger, more technologically advanced societies. Early ethnographers sought to understand the entirety of a particular culture. They spent months to years living in the community, and in that time, they documented in great detail every dimension of people’s lives, including their language, subsistence strategies, political systems, formation of families and marriages, and religious beliefs. This was important because it helped researchers appreciate the interconnectedness of all dimensions of social life. The key to the success of this ethnographic approach was not only to spend considerable time observing people in their home settings engaged in day-to-day activities but also to participate in those activities. Participation informed an emic perspective of the culture, something that had been missing in earlier social science research.

Because of how useful the ethnographic research strategy is in developing an emic perspective, it has been adopted by many other disciplines including sociology, education, psychology, and political science. Education researchers, for example, use ethnography to study children in classrooms to identify their learning strategies and how they understand and make sense of learning experiences. Sociologists use ethnography to study emerging social movements and how participants in such movements stay motivated and connected despite their sometimes-conflicting goals.

New Sites for Ethnographic Fieldwork

Like the cultures and peoples studied, anthropology and ethnography are evolving. Field sites for ethnographic research are no longer exclusively located in far-flung, isolated, non-industrialized societies. Increasingly, anthropologists are conducting ethnographic research in complex, technologically advanced societies such as the United States and in urban environments elsewhere in the world. For instance, my doctoral research took place in the United States. I studied identity formation among undocumented Mexican immigrant college students in Minnesota. Because some of my informants were living in Mexico when my fieldwork ended, I also traveled to Veracruz, Mexico, and spent time conducting research there. Often, anthropologists who study migration, diasporas , and people in motion must conduct research in multiple locations. This is known as multi-sited ethnography.

Anthropologists use ethnography to study people wherever they are and however they interact with others. Think of the many ways you ordinarily interact with your friends, family, professors, and boss. Is it all face-to-face communication or do you sometimes use text messages to chat with your friends? Do you also sometimes email your professor to ask for clarification on an assignment and then call your boss to discuss your schedule? Do you share funny videos with others on Facebook and then later make a Skype video call to a relative? These new technological “sites” of human interaction are fascinating to many ethnographers and have expanded the definition of fieldwork.

Problem-Oriented Research

In the early years, ethnographers were interested in exploring the entirety of a culture. Taking an inductive approach, they generally were not concerned about arriving with a relatively narrow predefined research topic. Instead, the goal was to explore the people, their culture, and their homelands and what had previously been written about them. The focus of the study was allowed to emerge gradually during their time in the field. Often, this approach to ethnography resulted in rather general ethnographic descriptions.

Today, anthropologists are increasingly taking a more deductive approach to ethnographic research. Rather than arriving at the field site with only general ideas about the goals of the study, they tend to select a particular problem before arriving and then let that problem guide their research. In my case, I was interested in how undocumented Mexican immigrant youth in Minnesota formed a sense of identity while living in a society that used a variety of dehumanizing labels such as illegal and alien to refer to them. That was my research “problem,” and it oriented and guided my study from beginning to end. I did not document every dimension of my informants’ lives; instead, I focused on the things most closely related to my research problem.

Quantitative Methods

Increasingly, cultural anthropologists are using quantitative research methods to complement qualitative approaches. Qualitative research in anthropology aims to comprehensively describe human behavior and the contexts in which it occurs while quantitative research seeks patterns in numerical data that can explain aspects of human behavior. Quantitative patterns can be gleaned from statistical analyses, maps, charts, graphs, and textual descriptions. Surveys are a common quantitative technique that usually involves closed-ended questions in which respondents select their responses from a list of pre-defined choices such as their degree of agreement or disagreement, multiple-choice answers, and rankings of items. While surveys usually lack the sort of contextual detail associated with qualitative research, they tend to be relatively easy to code numerically and, as a result, can be easier to analyze than qualitative data. Surveys are also useful for gathering specific data points within a large population, something that is challenging to do with many qualitative techniques.

Anthropological nutritional analysis is an area of research that commonly relies on collecting quantitative data. Nutritional anthropologists explore how factors such as culture, the environment, and economic and political systems interplay to impact human health and nutrition. They may count the calories people consume and expend, document patterns of food consumption, measure body weight and body mass, and test for the presence of parasite infections or nutritional deficiencies. In her ethnography Dancing Skeletons: Life and Death in West Africa (1993), Katherine Dettwyler described how she conducted nutritional research in Mali, which involved weighing, measuring, and testing her research subjects to collect a variety of quantitative data to help her understand the causes and consequences of child malnutrition.

Mixed Methods

In recent years, anthropologists have begun to combine ethnography with other types of research methods. These mixed-method approaches integrate qualitative and quantitative evidence to provide a more comprehensive analysis. For instance, anthropologists can combine ethnographic data with questionnaires, statistical data, and a media analysis. Anthropologist Leo Chavez used mixed methods to conduct the research for his book The Latino Threat: Constructing Immigrants, Citizens, and the Nation (2008). He started with a problem: how has citizenship been discussed as an identity marker in the mainstream media in the United States, especially among those labeled as Latinos. He then looked for a variety of types of data and relied on ethnographic case studies and on quantitative data from surveys and questionnaires. Chavez also analyzed a series of visual images from photographs, magazine covers, and cartoons that depicted Latinos to explore how they are represented in the American mainstream.

Mixed methods can be particularly useful when conducting problem-oriented research on complex, technologically advanced societies such as the United States. Detailed statistical and quantitative data are often available for those types of societies. Additionally, the general population is usually literate and somewhat comfortable with the idea of filling out a questionnaire.

ETHNOGRAPHIC TECHNIQUES AND PERSPECTIVES

Cultural relativism and ethnocentrism.

The guiding philosophy of modern anthropology is cultural relativism —the idea that we should seek to understand another person’s beliefs and behaviors from the perspective of their culture rather than our own. Anthropologists do not judge other cultures based on their values nor view other cultural ways of doing things as inferior. Instead, anthropologists seek to understand people’s beliefs within the system they have for explaining things.

Cultural relativism is an important methodological consideration when conducting research. In the field, anthropologists must temporarily suspend their own value, moral, and esthetic judgments and seek to understand and respect the values, morals, and esthetics of the other culture on their terms. This can be a challenging task, particularly when a culture is significantly different from the one in which they were raised.

During my first field experience in Brazil, I learned firsthand how challenging cultural relativism could be. Preferences for physical proximity and comfort talking about one’s body are among the first differences likely to be noticed by U.S. visitors to Brazil. Compared to Americans, Brazilians generally are much more comfortable standing close, touching, holding hands, and even smelling one another and often discuss each other’s bodies. Children and adults commonly refer to each other using playful nicknames that refer to their body size, body shape, or skin color. Neighbors and even strangers frequently stopped me on the street to comment on the color of my skin (It concerned some as being overly pale or pink—Was I ill? Was I sunburned?), the texture of my hair (How did I get it so smooth? Did I straighten my hair?), and my body size and shape (“You have a nice bust, but if you lost a little weight around the middle you would be even more attractive!”).

During my first few months in Brazil, I had to remind myself constantly that these comments were not rude, disrespectful, or inappropriate as I would have perceived them to be in the United States. On the contrary, it was one of the ways that people showed affection toward me. From a culturally relativistic perspective, the comments demonstrated that they cared about me, were concerned with my well-being, and wanted me to be part of the community. Had I not taken a culturally relativistic view at the outset and instead judged the actions based on my cultural perspective, I would have been continually frustrated and likely would have confused and offended people in the community. And offending your informants and the rest of the community certainly is not conducive to completing high-quality ethnography! Had I not fully understood the importance of body contact and physical proximity in communication in Brazil, I would have missed an important component of the culture.

Another perspective that has been rejected by anthropologists is ethnocentrism —the tendency to view one’s own culture as most important and correct and as a stick by which to measure all other cultures. People who are ethnocentric view their own cultures as central and normal and reject all other cultures as inferior and morally suspect. As it turns out, many people and cultures are ethnocentric to some degree; ethnocentrism is a common human experience. Why do we respond the way we do? Why do we behave the way we do? Why do we believe what we believe? Most people find these kinds of questions difficult to answer. Often the answer is simply “because that is how it is done.” They believe what they believe because that is what one normally believes and doing things any other way seems wrong.

Ethnocentrism is not a useful perspective in contexts in which people from different cultural backgrounds come into close contact with one another, as is the case in many cities and communities throughout the world. People increasingly find that they must adopt culturally relativistic perspectives in governing communities and as a guide for their interactions with members of the community. For anthropologists in the field, cultural relativism is especially important. We must set aside our innate ethnocentrisms and let cultural relativism guide our inquiries and interactions with others so that our observations are not biased. Cultural relativism is at the core of the discipline of anthropology.

Objectivity and Activist Anthropology

Despite the importance of cultural relativism, it is not always possible and at times is inappropriate to maintain complete objectivity in the field. Researchers may encounter cultural practices that are an affront to strongly held moral values or that violate the human rights of a segment of a population. In other cases, they may be conducting research in part to advocate for a particular issue or for the rights of a marginalized group.

Take, for example, the practice of female genital cutting (FGC), also known as female genital mutilation (FGM), a practice that is common in various regions of the world, especially in parts of Africa and the Middle East. Such practices involving modification of female genitals for non-medical and cultural reasons range from clitoridectomy (partial or full removal of the clitoris) to infibulation, which involves removal of the clitoris and the inner and outer labia and suturing to narrow the vaginal opening, leaving only a small hole for the passage of urine and menstrual fluid  Anthropologists working in regions where such practices are common often understandably have a strong negative opinion, viewing the practice as unnecessary medically and posing a risk of serious infection, infertility, and complications from childbirth. They may also be opposed to it because they feel that it violates the right of women to experience sexual pleasure, something they likely view as a fundamental human right. Should the anthropologist intervene to prevent girls and women from being subjected to this practice?

Anthropologist Janice Boddy studied FGC/FGM in rural northern Sudan and sought to explain it from a culturally relativistic perspective. She found that the practice persists, in part, because it is believed to preserve a woman’s chastity and curb her sexual desire, making her less likely to have affairs once she is married. Boddy’s research showed how the practice makes sense in the context of a culture in which a woman’s sexual conduct is a symbol of her family’s honor, which is important culturally. [5]

Boddy’s relativistic explanation helps make the practice comprehensible and allows cultural outsiders to understand how it is internally culturally coherent. But the question remains. Once anthropologists understand why people practice FGC/FGM, should they accept it? Because they uncover the cultural meaning of a practice, must they maintain a neutral stance or should they fight a practice viewed as an injustice? How does an anthropologist know what is right?

Unfortunately, answers to these questions are rarely simple, and anthropologists as a group do not always agree on an appropriate professional stance and responsibility. Nevertheless, examining practices such as FGC/FGM can help us understand the debate over objectivity versus “activism” in anthropology more clearly. Some anthropologists feel that striving for objectivity in ethnography is paramount. That even if objectivity cannot be completely achieved, anthropologists’ ethnography should be free from as much subjective opinion as possible. Others take the opposite stance and produce anthropological research and writing as a means of fighting for equality and justice for disempowered or voiceless groups. The debate over how much (if any) activism is acceptable is ongoing. What is clear is that anthropologists are continuing to grapple with the contentious relationship between objectivity and activism in ethnographic research.

Science and Humanism

Anthropologists have described their field as the most humanistic of the sciences and the most scientific of the humanities. Early anthropologists fought to legitimize anthropology as a robust scientific field of study. To do so, they borrowed methods and techniques from the physical sciences and applied them to anthropological inquiry. Indeed, anthropology today is categorized as a social science in most academic institutions in the United States alongside sociology, psychology, economics, and political science. However, in recent decades, many cultural anthropologists have distanced themselves from science-oriented research and embraced more-humanistic approaches, including symbolic and interpretive perspectives. Interpretive anthropology treats culture as a body of “texts” rather than attempting to test a hypothesis based on deductive or inductive reasoning. The texts present a particular picture from a particular subjective point of view. Interpretive anthropologists believe that it is not necessary (or even possible) to objectively interrogate a text. Rather, they study the texts to untangle the various webs of meaning embedded in them. Consequently, interpretive anthropologists include the context of their interpretations, their own perspectives and, importantly, how the research participants view themselves and the meanings they attribute to their lives.

Anthropologists are unlikely to conclude that a single approach is best. Instead, anthropologists can apply any and all of the approaches that best suit their particular problem. Anthropology is unique among academic disciplines for the diversity of approaches used to conduct research and for the broad range of orientations that fall under its umbrella.

Science in Anthropology For a discussion of science in anthropology, see the following article published by the American Anthropological Association: AAA Responds to Public Controversy Over Science in Anthropology .

Observation and Participant Observation

Of the various techniques and tools used to conduct ethnographic research, observation in general and participant observation in particular are among the most important. Ethnographers are trained to pay attention to everything happening around them when in the field—from routine daily activities such as cooking dinner to major events such as an annual religious celebration. They observe how people interact with each other, how the environment affects people, and how people affect the environment. It is essential for anthropologists to rigorously document their observations, usually by writing field notes and recording their feelings and perceptions in a personal journal or diary.

As previously mentioned, participant observation involves ethnographers observing while they participate in activities with their informants. This technique is important because it allows the researcher to better understand why people do what they do from an emic perspective. Malinowski noted that participant observation is an important tool by which “to grasp the native’s point of view, his relation to life, to realize his vision of his world.” [6]

To conduct participant observation, ethnographers must live with or spend considerable time with their informants to establish a strong rapport with them. Rapport is a sense of trust and a comfortable working relationship in which the informant and the ethnographer are at ease with each other and agreeable to working together.

Participant observation was an important part of my own research. In 2003, I spent six months living in two Mayan villages in highland Chiapas, Mexico. I was conducting ethnographic research on behalf of the Science Museum of Minnesota to document changes in huipil textile designs. Huipiles (pronounced “we-peel-ayes”) are a type of hand-woven blouse that Mayan women in the region weave and wear, and every town has its own style and designs. At a large city market, one can easily identify the town each weaver is from by the colors and designs of her huipiles . For hundreds of years, huipil designs changed very little. Then, starting around 1960, the designs and colors of huipiles in some of the towns began to change rapidly. I was interested in learning why some towns’ designs were changing more rapidly than other towns’ were and in collecting examples of huipiles to supplement the museum’s existing collection.

I spent time in two towns, Zinacantán and San Andrés Larráinzar. Zinacantán was located near the main city, San Cristóbal de las Casas. It received many tourists each year and had regularly established bus and van routes that locals used to travel to San Cristóbal to buy food and other goods. Some of the men in the town had worked in the United States and returned with money to build or improve their family homes and businesses. Other families were supported by remittances from relatives working in the United States or in other parts of Mexico. San Andrés, on the other hand, was relatively isolated and much further from San Cristóbal. Most families there relied on subsistence farming or intermittent agricultural labor and had limited access to tourism or to outside communities. San Andrés was also the site of a major indigenous revolt in the mid-1990s that resulted in greater autonomy, recognition, and rights for indigenous groups throughout Mexico. Politically and socially, it was a progressive community in many ways but remained conservative in others.

I first asked people in Zinacantán why their huipil designs, motifs, and colors seemed to change almost every year. Many women said that they did not know. Others stated that weaving was easy and could be boring so they liked to make changes to keep the huipiles interesting and to keep weaving from getting dull. When I asked people in San Andrés what they thought about what the women in Zinacantán had said, the San Andrés women replied that “Yes, perhaps they do get bored easily. But we in San Andrés are superior weavers and we don’t need to change our designs.” Neither response seemed like the full story behind the difference.

Though I spent hundreds of hours observing women preparing to weave, weaving, and selling their textiles to tourists, I did not truly understand what the women were telling me until I tried weaving myself. When I watched them, the process seemed so easy and simple. They attached strings of thread vertically to two ends of the back-strap looms. When weaving, they increased and decreased the tension on the vertical threads by leaning backward and forward with the back strap and teased individual threads horizontally through the vertical threads to create the desired pattern. After each thread was placed, they pushed it down with great force using a smooth, flat wooden trowel. They did the entire process with great ease and fluidity. When I only watched and did not participate, I could believe the Zinacantán women when they told me weaving was easy.

When I began to weave, it took me several days simply to learn how to sit correctly with a back-strap loom and achieve the appropriate tension. I failed repeatedly at setting up the loom with vertically strung threads and never got close to being able to create a design. Thus, I learned through participant observation that weaving is an exceptionally difficult task. Even expert weavers who had decades of experience sometimes made mistakes as half-finished weavings and rejected textiles littered many homes. Although the women appeared to be able to multi-task while weaving (stoking the fire, calling after small children, cooking food), weaving still required a great deal of concentration to do well.

Through participant observation, I was able to recognize that other factors likely drove the changes in their textiles. I ultimately concluded that the rate of change in huipil design in Zinacantán was likely related to the pace of cultural change broadly in the community resulting from interactions between its residents and tourists and relatively frequent travel to a more-urban environment. Participant observation was an important tool in my research and is central to most ethnographic studies today.

Conversations and Interviews

Another primary technique for gathering ethnographic data is simply talking with people—from casual, unstructured conversations about ordinary topics to formal scheduled interviews about a particular topic. An important element for successful conversations and interviews is establishing rapport with informants. Sometimes, engaging in conversation is part of establishing that rapport. Ethnographers frequently use multiple forms of conversation and interviewing for a single research project based on their particular needs. They sometimes record the conversations and interviews with an audio recording device but more often they simply engage in the conversation and then later write down everything they recall about it. Conversations and interviews are an essential part of most ethnographic research designs because spoken communication is central to humans’ experiences.

Gathering Life Histories

Collecting a personal narrative of someone’s life is a valuable ethnographic technique and is often combined with other techniques. Life histories provide the context in which culture is experienced and created by individuals and describe how individuals have reacted, responded, and contributed to changes that occurred during their lives. They also help anthropologists be more aware of what makes life meaningful to an individual and to focus on the particulars of individual lives, on the tenor of their experiences and the patterns that are important to them. Researchers often include life histories in their ethnographic texts as a way of intimately connecting the reader to the lives of the informants.

The Genealogical Method

The genealogical (kinship) method has a long tradition in ethnography. Developed in the early years of anthropological research to document the family systems of tribal groups, it is still used today to discover connections of kinship , descent, marriage, and the overall social system. Because kinship and genealogy are so important in many nonindustrial societies, the technique is used to collect data on important relationships that form the foundation of the society and to trace social relationships more broadly in communities.

When used by anthropologists, the genealogical method involves using symbols and diagrams to document relationships. Circles represent women and girls, triangles represent men and boys, and squares represent ambiguous or unknown gender. Equal signs between individuals represent their union or marriage and vertical lines descending from a union represent parent-child relationships. The death of an individual and the termination of a marriage are denoted by diagonal lines drawn across the shapes and equal signs. Kinship charts are diagramed from the perspective of one person who is called the Ego, and all of the relationships in the chart are based on how the others are related to the Ego. Individuals in a chart are sometimes identified by numbers or names, and an accompanying list provides more-detailed information.

Key Informants

Within any culture or subculture, there are always particular individuals who are more knowledgeable about the culture than others and who may have more-detailed or privileged knowledge. Anthropologists conducting ethnographic research in the field often seek out such cultural specialists to gain a greater understanding of certain issues and to answer questions they otherwise could not answer. When an anthropologist establishes a rapport with these individuals and begins to rely more on them for information than on others, the cultural specialists are referred to as key informants or key cultural consultants.

Key informants can be exceptional assets in the field, allowing the ethnographer to uncover the meanings of behaviors and practices the researcher cannot otherwise understand. Key informants can also help researchers by directly observing others and reporting those observations to the researchers, especially in situations in which the researcher is not allowed to be present or when the researcher’s presence could alter the participants’ behavior. In addition, ethnographers can check information they obtained from other informants, contextualize it, and review it for accuracy. Having a key informant in the field is like having a research ally. The relationship can grow and become enormously fruitful.

A famous example of the central role that key informants can play in an ethnographer’s research is a man named Doc in William Foote Whyte’s Street Corner Society (1943) . In the late 1930s, Whyte studied social relations between street gangs and “corner boys” in a Boston urban slum inhabited by first- and second-generation Italian immigrants. A social worker introduced Whyte to Doc and the two hit it off. Doc proved instrumental to the success of Whyte’s research. He introduced Whyte to his family and social group and vouched for him in the tight-knit community, providing access that Whyte could not have gained otherwise.

Field Notes

Field notes are indispensable when conducting ethnographic research. Although making such notes is time-consuming, they form the primary record of one’s observations. Generally speaking, ethnographers write two kinds of notes: field notes and personal reflections. Field notes are detailed descriptions of everything the ethnographer observes and experiences. They include specific details about what happened at the field site, the ethnographer’s sensory impressions, and specific words and phrases used by the people observed. They also frequently include the content of conversations the ethnographer had and things the ethnographer overheard others say. Ethnographers also sometimes include their personal reflections on the experience of writing field notes. Often, brief notes are jotted down in a notebook while the anthropologist is observing and participating in activities. Later, they expand on those quick notes to make more formal field notes, which may be organized and typed into a report. It is common for ethnographers to spend several hours a day writing and organizing field notes.

Ethnographers often also keep a personal journal or diary that may include information about their emotions and personal experiences while conducting research. These personal reflections can be as important as the field notes. Ethnography is not an objective science. Everything researchers do and experience in the field is filtered through their personal life experiences. Two ethnographers may experience a situation in the field in different ways and understand the experience differently. For this reason, it is important for researchers to be aware of their reactions to situations and be mindful of how their life experiences affect their perceptions. In fact, this sort of reflexive insight can turn out to be a useful data source and analytical tool that improves the researcher’s understanding.

The work of anthropologist Renato Rosaldo provides a useful example of how anthropologists can use their emotional responses to fieldwork situations to advance their research. In 1981, Rosaldo and his wife, Michelle, were conducting research among the Ilongots of Northern Luzon in the Philippines. Rosaldo was studying men in the community who engaged in emotional rampages in which they violently murdered others by cutting off their heads. Although the practice had been banned by the time Rosaldo arrived, a longing to continue headhunting remained in the cultural psyche of the community.

Whenever Rosaldo asked a man why he engaged in headhunting, the answer was that rage and grief caused him to kill others. At the beginning of his fieldwork, Rosaldo felt that the response was overly simplistic and assumed that there had to be more to it than that. He was frustrated because he could not uncover a deeper understanding of the phenomenon. Then, on October 11, 1981, Rosaldo’s wife was walking along a ravine when she tripped, lost her footing, and fell 65 feet to her death, leaving Rosaldo a grieving single father. In his essay “Grief and a Headhunter’s Rage,” Rosaldo later wrote that it was his own struggle with rage as he grieved for his wife that helped him truly grasp what the Ilongot men meant when they described their grief and rage.

Only a week before completing the initial draft of an earlier version of this introduction, I rediscovered my journal entry, written some six weeks after Michelle’s death, in which I made a vow to myself about how I would return to writing anthropology, if I ever did so, by writing Grief and a Headhunter’s Rage . . . My journal went on to reflect more broadly on death, rage, and headhunting by speaking of my wish for the Ilongot solution; they are much more in touch with reality than Christians. So, I need a place to carry my anger – and can we say a solution of the imagination is better than theirs? And can we condemn them when we napalm villages? Is our rationale so much sounder than theirs? All this was written in despair and rage. [7]

Only through the very personal and emotionally devastating experience of losing his wife was Rosaldo able to understand the emic perspective of the headhunters. The result was an influential and insightful ethnographic account.

ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS

Ethical guidelines.

From the earliest days of anthropology as a discipline, concern about the ethical treatment of people who take part in studies has been an important consideration. Ethical matters are central to any research project and anthropologists take their ethical responsibilities particularly seriously. As discussed throughout this chapter, anthropologists are oriented toward developing empathy for their informants and understanding their cultures and experiences from an emic perspective. Many also have a sense of personal responsibility for the well-being of the local people with whom they work in the field.

The American Anthropological Association has developed a Code of Ethics that all anthropologists should follow in their work. Among the many ethical responsibilities outlined in the code, doing no harm, obtaining informed consent, maintaining subjects’ anonymity, and making the results of the research accessible are especially important responsibilities.

First and foremost, anthropologists must ensure that their involvement with a community does not harm or embarrass their informants. Researchers must carefully consider any potential harm associated with the research, including legal, emotional, political, economic, social, and cultural dimensions, and take steps to insulate their informants from such harm. Since it is not always possible to anticipate every potential repercussion at the outset, anthropologists also must continually monitor their work to ensure that their research design and methods minimize any risk.

Regrettably, the proscription to do no harm is a deceptively complex requirement. Despite their best efforts, anthropologists have run into ethical problems in the field. Work by Napoleon Chagnon among an isolated indigenous tribe of the Amazon, the Yonomami, is a well-known example of ethical problems in anthropological research. In his groundbreaking ethnography Yanomamö: The Fierce People (1968), Chagnon portrayed the Yanomami as an intensely violent and antagonistic people. The ethnography was well received initially. However, not long after its publication, controversy erupted. Anthropologists and other scholars have accused Chagnon of encouraging the violence he documented, staging fights and scenes for documentary films and fabricating data.

Today, Do No Harm is a central ethical value in anthropology. However, it can be difficult to predict every challenge one may encounter in the field or after the work is published. Anthropologists must continually reevaluate their research and writing to ensure that it does not harm the informants or their communities. Before fieldwork begins, researchers from universities, colleges, and institutions usually must submit their research agendas to an institutional review board (IRB). IRBs review research plans to ensure that the proposed studies will not harm human subjects. In many cases, the IRB is aware of the unique challenges and promise of anthropological research and can guide the researcher in eliminating or mitigating potential ethical problems.

Obtain Informed Consent

In addition to taking care to do no harm, anthropologists must obtain informed consent from all of their informants before conducting any research. Informed consent is the informant’s agreement to take part in the study. Originally developed in the context of medical and psychological research, this ethical guideline is also relevant to anthropology. Informants must be aware of who the anthropologist is and the research topic, who is financially and otherwise supporting the research, how the research will be used, and who will have access to it. Finally, their participation must be optional and not coerced. They should be able to stop participating at any time and be aware of and comfortable with any risks associated with their participation.

In medical and psychological research settings in the United States, researchers typically obtain informed consent by asking prospective participants to sign a document that outlines the research and the risks involved in their participation, acknowledging that they agree to take part. In some anthropological contexts, however, this type of informed consent may not be appropriate. People may not trust the state, bureaucratic processes, or authority, for example. Asking them to sign a formal legal-looking document may intimidate them. Likewise, informed consent cannot be obtained with a signed document if many in the community cannot read. The anthropologist must determine the most appropriate way to obtain informed consent in the context of the particular research setting.

Maintain Anonymity and Privacy

Another important ethical consideration for anthropologists in the field is ensuring the anonymity and privacy of informants who need such protection. When I did research among undocumented Mexican immigrant college students, I recognized that my informants’ legal status put them at considerable risk. I took care to use pseudonyms for all of the informants, even when writing field notes. In my writing, I changed the names of the informants’ relatives, friends, schools, and work places to protect them from being identified. Maintaining privacy and anonymity is an important way for anthropologists to ensure that their involvement does no harm.

Make Results Accessible

Finally, anthropologists must always make their final research results accessible to their informants and to other researchers. For informants, a written report in the researcher’s native language may not be the best way to convey the results. Reports can be translated or the results can be converted into a more accessible format. Examples of creative ways in which anthropologists have made their results available include establishing accessible databases for their research data, contributing to existing databases, producing films that portray the results, and developing texts or recommendations that provide tangible assistance to the informants’ communities. Though it is not always easy to make research results accessible in culturally appropriate ways, it is essential that others have the opportunity to review and benefit from the research, especially those who participated in its creation.

WRITING ETHNOGRAPHY

Analysis and interpretation of research findings.

Once all or most of the fieldwork is complete, ethnographers analyze their data and research findings before beginning to write. There are many techniques for data analysis from which to choose based on the strategy and goals of the research. Regardless of the particular technique, data analysis involves a systematic interpretation of what the researcher thinks the data mean. The ethnographer reviews all of the data collected, synthesizes findings from the review, and integrates those findings with prior studies on the topic. Once the analysis is complete, the ethnographer is ready to write an account of the fieldwork.

Ethnographic Authority

In recent years, anthropologists have expressed concern about how ethnographies should be written in terms of ethnographic authority: how ethnographers present themselves and their informants in text. In a nonfiction text, the author is a mediator between readers and the topic and the text is written to help readers understand an unfamiliar topic. In an ethnography, the topic is people, and people naturally vary in terms of their thoughts, opinions, beliefs, and perspectives. That is, they have individual voices. In the past, anthropologists commonly wrote ethnographic accounts as if they possessed the ultimate most complete scientific knowledge on the topic. Subsequently, anthropologists began to challenge that writing style, particularly when it did not include the voices of their informants in the text and analysis. Some of this criticism originated with feminist anthropologists who noted that women’s experiences and perspectives frequently were omitted and misrepresented in this style of writing. Others believed that this style of writing reinforced existing global power dynamics and privileges afforded to Western anthropologists’ voices as most important.

Polyvocality

In response to criticisms about ethnographic authority, anthropologists have begun to include polyvocality. A polyvocal text is one in which more than one person’s voice is presented, and its use can range from ensuring that informants’ perspectives are presented in the text while still writing in the researcher’s voice to including informants’ actual words rather than paraphrasing them and co-authoring the ethnography with an informant. A good example of polyvocality is anthropologist Ruth Behar’s book Translated Woman: Crossing the Border with Esperanza’s Story (1993). Behar’s book documents the life story of a Mexican street peddler, Esperanza Hernández, and their unique friendship. Large sections of the book are in Esperanza’s own words and discuss issues that are important to her. Behar also includes pieces of her own life story and an anthropological analysis of Esperanza’s story.

By using polyvocality, researchers can avoid writing from the perspective of the ultimate ethnographic authority. A polyvocal style also allows readers to be more involved in the text since they have the opportunity to form their own opinions about the ethnographic data and perhaps even critique the author’s analysis. It also encourages anthropologists to be more transparent when presenting their methods and data.

Reflexivity

Reflexivity is another relatively new approach to ethnographic research and writing. Beginning in the 1960s, social science researchers began to think more carefully about the effects of their life experiences, status, and roles on their research and analyses. They began to insert themselves into their texts, including information about their personal experiences, thoughts, and life stories and to analyze in the accounts how those characteristics affected their research and analysis.

Adoption of reflexivity is perhaps the most significant change in how ethnography is researched and written in the past 50 years. It calls on anthropologists to acknowledge that they are part of the world they study and thus can never truly be objective. Reflexivity has also contributed to anthropologists’ appreciation of the unequal power dynamics of research and the effects those dynamics can have on the results. Reflexivity reminds the ethnographer that there are multiple ways to interpret any given cultural scenario. By acknowledging how their backgrounds affect their interpretations, anthropologists can begin to remove themselves from the throne of ethnographic authority and allow other, less-empowered voices to be heard.

Discussion Questions

What is unique about ethnographic fieldwork and how did it emerge as a key strategy in anthropology?

How do traditional approaches to ethnographic fieldwork contrast with contemporary approaches?

What are some of the contemporary ethnographic fieldwork techniques and perspectives and why are they important to anthropology?

What are some of the ethical considerations in doing anthropological fieldwork and why are they important?

How do anthropologists transform their fieldwork data into a story that communicates meaning? How are reflexivity and polyvocality changing the way anthropologists communicate their work?

Contested identity: a dispute within a group about the collective identity or identities of the group. Cultural relativism : the idea that we should seek to understand another person’s beliefs and behaviors from the perspective of their own culture and not our own. Culture : a set of beliefs, practices, and symbols that are learned and shared. Together, they form an all-encompassing, integrated whole that binds people together and shapes their worldview and lifeways. Deductive : reasoning from the general to the specific; the inverse of inductive reasoning. Deductive research is more common in the natural sciences than in anthropology. In a deductive approach, the researcher creates a hypothesis and then designs a study to prove or disprove the hypothesis. The results of deductive research can be generalizable to other settings. Diaspora: the scattering of a group of people who have left their original homeland and now live in various locations. Examples of people living in the diaspora are Salvadorian immigrants in the United States and Europe, Somalian refugees in various countries, and Jewish people living around the world. Emic: a description of the studied culture from the perspective of a member of the culture or insider. Ethnocentrism: the tendency to view one’s own culture as most important and correct and as the stick by which to measure all other cultures. Ethnography: the in-depth study of the everyday practices and lives of a people. Etic: a description of the studied culture from the perspective of an observer or outsider. Indigenous: people who have continually lived in a particular location for a long period of time (prior to the arrival of others) or who have historical ties to a location and who are culturally distinct from the dominant population surrounding them. Other terms used to refer to indigenous people are aboriginal, native, original, first nation, and first people. Some examples of indigenous people are Native Americans of North America, Australian Aborigines, and the Berber (or Amazigh) of North Africa. Inductive: a type of reasoning that uses specific information to draw general conclusions. In an inductive approach, the researcher seeks to collect evidence without trying to definitively prove or disprove a hypothesis. The researcher usually first spends time in the field to become familiar with the people before identifying a hypothesis or research question. Inductive research usually is not generalizable to other settings. Key Informants: individuals who are more knowledgeable about their culture than others and who are particularly helpful to the anthropologist. Kinship: blood ties, common ancestry, and social relationships that form families within human groups. Land tenure: how property rights to land are allocated within societies, including how permissions are granted to access, use, control, and transfer land. Noble savage : an inaccurate way of portraying indigenous groups or minority cultures as innocent, childlike, or uncorrupted by the negative characteristics of “civilization.” Participant observation: a type of observation in which the anthropologist observes while participating in the same activities in which her informants are engaged. Qualitative : anthropological research designed to gain an in-depth, contextualized understanding of human behavior. Quantitative : anthropological research that uses statistical, mathematical, and/or numerical data to study human behavior. Remittances: money that migrants laboring outside of the region or country send back to their hometowns and families. In Mexico, remittances make up a substantial share of the total income of some towns’ populations. Thick description: a term coined by anthropologist Clifford Geertz in his 1973 book The Interpretation of Cultures to describe a detailed description of the studied group that not only explains the behavior or cultural event in question but also the context in which it occurs and anthropological interpretations of it. Undocumented: the preferred term for immigrants who live in a country without formal authorization from the state. Undocumented refers to the fact that these people lack the official documents that would legally permit them to reside in the country. Other terms such as illegal immigrant and illegal alien are often used to refer to this population. Anthropologists consider those terms to be discriminatory and dehumanizing. The word undocumented acknowledges the human dignity and cultural and political ties immigrants have developed in their country of residence despite their inability to establish formal residence permissions.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

She received her B.A. in anthropology and Latin American studies from Macalester College, her M.A. in anthropology from the University of California, Santa Barbara, an M.A. in education and instructional technology from the University of Saint Thomas, and her Ph.D. from CIESAS Occidente (Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Socia l –Center for Research and Higher Education in Social Anthropology), based in Guadalajara, Mexico.

Katie views teaching and learning as central to her practice as an anthropologist and as mutually reinforcing elements of her professional life. She is the former chair of the Teaching Anthropology Interest Group (2016–2018) of the General Anthropology Division of the American Anthropological Association and currently serves as the online content editor for the Teaching and Learning Anthropology Journal . She has contributed to several open access textbook projects, both as an author and an editor, and views the affordability of quality learning materials as an important piece of the equity and inclusion puzzle in higher education. [8]

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Behar, Ruth. Translated Woman: Crossing the Border with Esperanza’s Story . Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 1993.

Boddy, Janice. Civilizing Women: British Crusades in Colonial Sudan . Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2007.

Chagnon, Napoleon. Yanomamö: The Fierce People . New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1968.

Chavez, Leo. The Latino Threat: Constructing Immigrants, Citizens and the Nation . Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2008.

Dettwyler, Katherine A. Dancing Skeletons: Life and Death in West Africa . Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press, 2014

Frazer, James. The Golden Bough: A Study in Comparative Religion . London: Macmillian Press, 1894.

Geertz, Clifford. The Interpretation of Cultures: Selected Essays . New York: Basic Books, 1973.

Gordon, Peter. “Numerical Cognition without Words: Evidence from Amazonia.” Science 306 no. 5695 (2004): 496–499.

Malinowski, Bronislaw. Argonauts of the Western Pacific: An Account of Native Enterprise and Adventure in the Archipelagoes of Melanesian New Guinea . London: Kegan Paul 1922.

Mead, Margaret. Coming of Age in Samoa: A Psychological Study of Primitive Youth for Western Civilization . New York: William Morrow and Company, 1928.

Miner, Horace. “Body Ritual Among the Nacirema.” American Anthropologist 58 no. 3 (1956): 503-507.

Nelson, Katherine. 2015. Between Citizenship and Alienage: Flexible Identity Among Informally Authorized Mexican College Students in Minnesota , USA. PhD diss., CIESAS Occidente (Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social – Institute for Research and Higher Education in Social Anthropology).

Rosaldo, Renato. “Grief and a Headhunter’s Rage” in Violence in War and Peace, edited by Nancy Scheper-Hughes and Philippe I. Bourgois, 150-156.  Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2004.

Scheper-Hughes, Nancy. Saints, Scholars, Schizophrenics: Mental Illness in Rural Ireland . Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press, 1979.

Whorf, Benjamin Lee. “Science and Linguistics.” MIT Technology Review : 42 (1940): 229–248.

Whyte, William Foote. Street Corner Society: The Social Structure of an Italian Slum . Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993[1943].

• Franz Boas, “Foreward,” in Coming of Age in Samoa by Margaret Mead (New York: William Morrow, 1928). ↵
• Examples of Curtis’ photography can be found in Edward Curtis, The North American Indian: The Photographic Images (New York: Aperture, 2005). ↵
• Benjamin Lee Whorf, “Science and Linguistics,” MIT Technology Review 42 (1940): 229–248. ↵
• Peter Gordon, “Numerical Cognition Without Words: Evidence from Amazonia,” Science 306 no. 5695 (2004): 496-499. ↵
• Janice Bodd, Civilizing Women: British Crusades in Colonial Sudan (Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press, 2007). ↵
• Bronislaw Malinowski, Argonauts of the Western Pacific: An Account of Native Enterprise and Adventure in the Archipelagoes of Melanesian New Guinea (London: Kegan Paul, 1922), 25. ↵
• Renato Rosaldo, “Grief and a Headhunter’s Rage,” in Violence in War and Peace , ed. Nancy Scheper-Hughes and Philippe I. Bourgois (Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2004), 171. ↵
• See: http://perspectives.americananthro.org/ and https://textbooks.opensuny.org/global-perspectives-on-gender/ ↵

People who have continually lived in a particular location for a long period of time (prior to the arrival of others) or who have historical ties to a location and who are culturally distinct from the dominant population surrounding them.

How property rights to land are allocated within societies, including how permissions are granted to access, use, control, and transfer land.

A dispute within a group about the collective identity or identities of the group.

The in-depth study of the everyday practices and lives of a people.

A term coined by anthropologist Clifford Geertz to describe a detailed description of the studied group that not only explains the behavior or cultural event in question but also the context in which it occurs and anthropological interpretations of it.

A type of observation in which the anthropologist observes while participating in the same activities in which her informants are engaged.

A description of the studied culture from the perspective of a member of the culture or insider.

A description of the studied culture from the perspective of an observer or outsider.

An inaccurate way of portraying indigenous groups or minority cultures as innocent, childlike, or uncorrupted by the negative characteristics of “civilization.”

The preferred term for immigrants who live in a country without formal authorization from the state

The scattering of a group of people who have left their original homeland and now live in various locations.

A type of reasoning that uses specific information to draw general conclusions. In an inductive approach, the researcher seeks to collect evidence without trying to definitively prove or disprove a hypothesis

Reasoning from the general to the specific; the inverse of inductive reasoning.

Anthropological research designed to gain an in-depth, contextualized understanding of human behavior.

Anthropological research that uses statistical, mathematical, and/or numerical data to study human behavior.

The idea that we should seek to understand another person’s beliefs and behaviors from the perspective of their own culture and not our own.

The tendency to view one’s own culture as most important and correct and as the stick by which to measure all other cultures.

Money that migrants laboring outside of the region or country send back to their hometowns and families. In Mexico, remittances make up a substantial share of the total income of some towns’ populations.

Blood ties, common ancestry, and social relationships that form families within human groups.

Individuals who are more knowledgeable about their culture than others and who are particularly helpful to the anthropologist.

Perspectives: An Open Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, 2nd Edition Copyright © 2020 by American Anthropological Association is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

• DOI: 10.59825/jhss.2024.2.2.83
• Corpus ID: 269941329

Research on the Inheritance and Innovation Path of Minority Culture from the Perspective of Rural Revitalization: A Case Study of Nanhua Yi Embroidery Culture

• Runxiang Pu , Guangqiang Luo
• Published in Yixin Publisher 30 April 2024
• Art, History, Sociology
• Yixin Publisher

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