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CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY: A PROBLEM-BASED
APPROACH provides a fresh look at cultural anthopology while
challenging students to engage
in active learning and critical thinking
With an engaing narrative, author Richard Robbins teaches
students to recognize their own cultures as a basis for understanding
the cultures of others
This briefer book is organized around problems rather than
topics, creating a natural and integrated discussion of such
traditional concerns as kinship, caste, gender roles, and religion
These subjects are explored within the context of meaningful
questions, such as:
- How can people begin to understand beliefs and behaviors
that are different from their own?
- How do societies give meaning to and justify collective
violence?
- Why are some societies more industrially advanced than
others?
- What can anthropology tell us about attempts to link
intelligence and class?
- and more
Learn anthropology within a strong active learning environment when you open Robbins' unique Fifth Edition. This brief, cost-effective text presents a variety of questions focused on the most important issues anthropologists study in first of-of-its-kind, problem-based format. You'll find yourself thinking critically about today's world as you read engaging Chapter Openers, complete integrated exercises, and review unique Case Studies in Doing Anthropology at the end of each chapter, now with new locator maps for your convenience.
Robbins's text presents a variety of questions focused on the most important issues anthropologists study in a unique, problem-based format. Within the book's engaging narrative, you'll learn how to analyze your own culture as a basis for understanding the cultures of others. Presentations organized around problems rather than topics, creating a natural discussion of traditional concerns, such as kinship, caste, gender roles, and religion. Meaningful questions integrated throughout further guide you in exploring these subjects.
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About The Author
Richard H. Robbins
Richard H. Robbins is SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor of anthropology at the State University of New York at Plattsburgh. His teaching interests include courses on global problems, utopian societies, comparative religion, and activist anthropology. He has conducted research among indigenous peoples of Canada and fishing communities in Northeastern New Brunswick. His recent books include GLOBAL PROBLEMS AND THE CULTURE OF CAPITALISM (4th edition), DARWIN AND THE BIBLE: THE CULTURAL CONFRONTATION (with Mark Cohen), and GLOBALIZATION AND THE ENVIRONMENT (with Gary Kroll). Professor Robbins is the recipient of the 2005 American Anthropological Association/McGraw Hill award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching.
- Other works / and WebSites by Richard H. Robbins
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Preface
Acknowledgments
1. Culture and Meaning
- PROBLEM 1: How can people begin to understand beliefs and behaviors that are different from their own?
- Question 1.1
- Why Do Human Beings Differ in Their Beliefs and Behaviors?
- Question 1.2
- How Do People Judge the Beliefs and Behaviors of Others?
- Question 1.3
- Is It Possible to See the World Through the Eyes of Others?
- Question 1.4
- How Can the Meanings That Others Find in Experience Be Interpreted and Described?
- Question 1.5
- What Can Learning About Other Peoples Tell Americans About Themselves?
2. The Meaning of Progress and Development
- PROBLEM 2: How do we explain the transformation of human societies over the past 10,000 years from small-scale, nomadic bands of hunters and gatherers, to large-scale, urban-industrial states?
- Question 2.1
- Why Did Hunter-Gather Societies Switch to Sedentary Agriculture?
- Question 2.2
- Why Are Some Societies More Industrially Advanced Than Others?
- Question 2.3
- Why Don't Poor Countries Modernize and Develop in the Same Way as Wealthy Countries?
- Question 2.4
- How Do Modern Standards of Health and Medical Treatment Compare with Those of Traditional Societies?
- Question 2.5
- Why are Simplier Societies Disappearing?
3. Globalization, Neoliberalism and the Nation-State
- PROBLEM 3: How do we explain emergence of the modern nation-state and the methods through which persons come to believe that they own their allegiance to their country?
- Question 3.1
- Why Did Human Beings Organize into Large-Scale State Organizations?
- Question 3.2
- Why did the Nation-State Come to Exist and What Functions Does it Perform?
- Question 3.3
- How is The State Constructed and Maintained and How Does it Succeed in Binding Together Often Disparate and Conflicting Groups?
- Question 3.4
- How is The State to Survive in an Increasingly Globalized World?
4. The Social and Cultural Construction of Reality
- PROBLEM 4: Why do people believe different things, and why are they so certain that their view of the world is correct, and others are wrong?
- Question 4.1
- How Does Language Affect the Meanings People Assign to Experience?
- Question 4.2
- How Does Symbolic Action Reinforce a Particular View of the World?
- Question 4.3
- How Do People Come to Believe What They Do, and How Do They Continue to Hold to Their Beliefs Even if They Seem Contradictory or Ambiguous?
- Question 4.4
- How Does the Way We Live Affect Our Beliefs and Rituals?
- Question 4.5
- How Can People Reorder Their View of the World if It Becomes Unsatisfactory?
5. Patterns of Family Relations
- PROBLEM 5: What [do] we need to know before we can understand the dynamics of family life in other societies?
- Question 5.1
- What Is The Composition of The Typical Family Group?
- Question 5.2
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How are Families Formed, and The Ideal Family Type Maintained?
- Question 5.3
- What Are the Roles of Sexuality, Love, and Wealth?
- Question 5.4
- What Threatens to Disrupt the Family Unit?
6. The Cultural Construction of Identity
- PROBLEM 6: How do people determine who they are, and how do they communicate who they think they are to others?
- Question 6.1
- How Does the Concept of Personhood Vary from Society to Society?
- Question 6.2
- How Do Societies Distinguish Individuals from One Another?
- Question 6.3
- How Do Individuals Learn Who They Are?
- Question 6.4
- How Do Individuals Communicate Their Identities to One Another?
- Question 6.5
- How Do Individuals Defend Their Identities When They Are Threatened?
7. The Cultural Construction of Social Hierarchy
- PROBLEM 7: Why are modern societies characterized by social, political, and economic inequalities?
- Question 7.1
- How Do Societies Rank People in Social Hierarchies?
- Question 7.2
- Why Do Societies Construct Social Hierarchies?
- Question 7.3
- How Do People Come to Accept Social Hierarchies as Natural?
- Question 7.4
- How Do People Living in Poverty Adapt to Their Condition?
- Question 7.5
- Can a Nonstratified Community Exist Within a Large Society?
8. The Cultural Construction of Violent Conflict
- PROBLEM 8: How do societies give meaning to and justify collective violence?
- Question 8.1
- How Do Societies Create a Bias in Favor of Collective Violence?
- Question 8.2
- How Do Societies Create a Bias Against Violent Conflict?
- Question 8.3
- What Are the Economic, Political, or Social Differences Between Peaceful and Violent Societies?
- Question 8.4
- What Are the Effects of War on Society?
- Question 8.5
- How Is It Possible to Justify the Construction of Weapons of Mass Destruction?
Glossary
Bibliography
Index
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Features
- Key research problems on 'culture and meaning,' 'the idea ofprogress,' 'globalization,' 'neoliberalism','the social and cultural construction of reality,' 'family relations,' 'identity,' 'social hierarchy,' and 'conflict' are discussed using a participatory, active-learning approach
- Robbins includes integrated student exercises and simulations that can be used for written assignments, class discussions, or group work
- Numerous comparisons of world cultures with American culture encourage students to recognize their own cultural perspectives
- The Book Companion Website includes password-protected, downloadable classroom resources for instructors, as well as review questions and quizzes for students
- Key research problems dealing with beliefs, behaviors, family relations, and social constructions include critical thinking questions and open every chapter
- Integrated students exercises allow you to work individually or in a group to critically evaluate and discuss the pros and cons of cultural beliefs and behaviors seen in the world around you
- Numerous comparisons of world cultures with American culture encourage you to recognize your own cultural perspectives
- The Book Companion Website includes review questions and chapter-by-chapter quizzing
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- This text uses a problem-based approach that presents
a variety of questions to students
- A unique chapter on the construction of the nation-state
examines what the nation-state has to do with the cost of a Twinkie
and
the concept of race, while also discussing the role of education
and
violence in the maintenance of the nation-state
- Material is included on such topics as human rights and
cultural relativism, the dangers faced by anthropologists in
the field,
and the notion of romantic love
- Robbins includes exercises and simulations that can be
used for written assignments, class discussions, or group work
- Numerous comparisons of world cultures with American
culture encourage students to recognize their own cultural perspectives
- References to unique web sites and chapter specific interactive
exercises are included throughout
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New to the 2009 Edition
- New chapter on Globalization, neoliberalism and the nation-state, Chapter 3, that presents material on the pros and cons of a globalized world
- Chapter 2 includes more material on the impact of change on indigenous peoples, while Chapter 4 includes a new case study on anthropology and a career in political consulting
- End-of-Chapter case studies in applied anthropology will be fewer and richer (including maps), for a more in-depth look at researching a problem
- This edition is accompanied by rich online resources, such as a Companion Website with interactive exercises and quizzing. You can also purchase access to the Anthropology Resource Center, a dynamic tool for understanding core concepts in anthropology using video clips, interactive exercises, the latest news, and essays on key research being done around the world. To purchase access to the Anthropology Resource Center, visit www.ichapters.com
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- Text Assignments are Listed by Day
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