Questions of AnthropologyRita Astuti, Jonathan Parry, Charles Stafford Berg, 2007 M07 1 - 288 pages Anthropology today seems to shy away from the big, comparative questions that ordinary people in many societies find compelling. Questions of Anthropology brings these issues back to the centre of anthropological concerns.Individual essays explore birth, death and sexuality, puzzles about the relationship between science and religion, questions about the nature of ritual, work, political leadership and genocide, and our personal fears and desires, from the quest to control the future and to find one's 'true' identity to the fear of being alone. Each essay starts with a question posed by individual ethnographic experience and then goes on to frame this question in a broader, comparative context. Written in an engaging and accessible style, Questions of Anthropology presents an exciting introduction to the purpose and value of Anthropology today. |
Contents
1 WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE ALONE? | 1 |
2 HOW DO WE KNOW WHO WE ARE? | 28 |
3 WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN NEXT? | 55 |
4 WHY EXACTLY IS THE WORLD AS IT IS? | 77 |
5 HOW DOES RITUAL MATTER? | 104 |
6 WHAT MAKES PEOPLE WORK? | 137 |
7 WHAT KIND OF SEX MAKES PEOPLE HAPPY? | 167 |
8 HOW DO WOMEN GIVE BIRTH? | 197 |
9 WHAT HAPPENS AFTER DEATH? | 227 |
10 HOW DOES GENOCIDE HAPPEN? | 249 |
11 WHY ARE SOME PEOPLE POWERFUL? | 281 |
12 HOW DO WE KNOW WHAT IS TRUE? | 307 |
AFTERWORD QUESTIONS OF ZAFIMANIRY ANTHROPOLOGY | 337 |
CONTRIBUTORS | 365 |
INDEX | 366 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
adopted adult Adventists Amazonian ancestors Andean Ankanjovola anthropology argued Astuti Aymara Bible Biblicist Bicolano Bloch brother Cambridge University Press Cannell Christian church cognitive context contrast cultural dead death Detmold discussion economic essay ethnographic Evans-Pritchard example experience fact fieldwork Fijian fundamentalists gender genocide groups Gypsies happen Huaorani human human sexuality ideas ideology Inka kalou kind kinship Korpatsch labour Lambek Langkawi living London longhouse Madagascar Mahajanga Malagasy Manggarai marriage married Maurice Bloch means Merina Mika Mormon myth mythopraxis narrative nature Nazi Ndramandikavavy Ndramaro Nussbaum one’s origin gods Oxford patrilineal people’s person political questions Ravalomanana recognised relations relationship religion religious Rosenbergs sacrifice Sakalava sega sense sexual siansa siblings sister social Social Anthropology societies spirit story suggests symbolic temple ritual theory things tiko tradition tukuna understand unmarried women vazaha Vezo village wife woman yaqona Zafimaniry Zhang