When, in 1935, Margaret Mead was asked by a member of the interdisciplinary committee of the Social Science Research Council to prepare a survey of several cultures for publication, she ended up creating a model for future ethnological survey texts, as well as furthering the understanding of cultural relativism in anthropological studies. The result of her work, "Cooperation and Competition Among Primitive Peoples," is fascinating. The essays do not purport to be source materials on the peoples being studied, but rather have been assembled as "interpretative" statements, meant to provide a background for planning future research in this field in our own society.
In many respects, this volume is a pioneer effort in anthropological literature. It remains firmly part of the genre of cooperative research, or "interdisciplinary research," though at the time of its original publication that phrase had yet to be coined. Additionally, this work is more theoretical in nature than a faithful anthropological record, as all the essays were written in New York City, on a low budget, and without fieldwork. The significance of these studies lies in the fact that "Cooperation and Competition Among Primitive Peoples" was the first attempt to think about the very complex problems of cultural character and social structure, coupled with a meticulous execution of comparative study. This work will be of great interest to anthropologists, cultural theorists, and students of interdisciplinary research.
The distinguished contributors include: Margaret Mead, the editor of this volume, who authored "The Arapesh of New Guinea," "The Manus of the Admiralty Islands," and "The Samoans"; Jeannette Mirsky, who contributed "The Eskimo of Greenland" and "The Dakota"; Ruth Landes, who wrote "The Ojibwa of Canada"; May Mandelbaum Edel, author of "The Bachiga of East Africa"; Irving Goldman, who contributed "The Ifugao of the Philippine Islands," "The Kwakiutl of Vancouver Island," "The Zuni of New Mexico," and "The Bathonga of South Africa"; Buell Quain, who penned "The Iriquois"; and Bernard Mishkin, author of "The Maori of New Zealand."
Margaret Mead (1901-1978) was associated with the American Museum of Natural History in New York for over fifty years, becoming Curator of Ethnology in 1964. She taught at Columbia University and the New School for Social Research as well as a number of other universities, and served as president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Anthropological Association. Among her many books is "Continuities in Cultural Evolution," available from Transaction Publishers.

Prominent sociologist Charles Lemert compellingly argues that race is the central feature of modern culture; this was true for the twentieth century and it will be true for the twenty-first. If we want to understand how the world works, Lemert explains, we must understand the centrality of race in our lives and in the foundation of our society. We must also be able to face up to what we've done to one another in the name of race.

This study explores the diverse struggles of incorporation pursued by immigrants from the Dominican Republic to New York City. This work chronicles the lives of Dominicans in New York City and their difficulties to incorporate themselves into American politics.

Cybertypes looks at the impact of the web and its discourses upon our ideas about race, and vice versa. Examining internet advertising, role-playing games, chat rooms, cyberpunk fiction from Neuromancer to The Matrix and web design, Nakamura traces the real-life consequences that follow when we attempt to push issues of race and identity on-line.

Series Information:
Critical Social Thought

Teachers in low-income communities face serious impediments to effective teaching and learning. Through a unique blend of research and field experience, this book seeks to overcome the lack of communication and mutal understanding between teachers and students in urban schools. June Gordon provides nine case studies with insights as to how educators in urban settings may begin to understand the complexity of their students' lives, engaging those same students in the process of this discovery. Beyond the Classroom Walls provides inspiration and assistance to urban educators, concerned community members, or parents wishing to transform the way they view their community and the profession of teaching.

From Hunting to Drinking reveals the devastating effects that alcohol has had over a period of 30 years on Mornington Island, off the North Queensland Coast, Australia. David McKnight explores how drinking now affects all reaches of community life and reviews the history of drinking in Australia as well as its causes and asks why the situation has been allowed to continue, exploring the vested interest that the authorities have in the sale of alcohol on the island.

David Mcknight assesses the effects that alcohol has had on a small aboriginal community. He explores why drinking has become the main social activity, leading to high levels of illness, suicide and homicide.

Through a richly detailed examination of the practices of spinning yarn from the fleece of llamas and alpacas, Earth, Water, Fleece and Fabric explores the relationship that herders of the present and of the past have maintained with their herd animals in the Andes. Dransart juxtaposes an ethnography of an Aymara herding community, based on more than ten years fieldwork in Isluga in the Chilean highlands, with archaeological material from excavations in the Atacama desert.
Impeccably researched, this book is the first systematic study to set the material culture of pastoral communities against an understanding of the long-term effects of herding practices.

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eBook available with sample pages: 0203219732

This wide-ranging anthology of classic and newly-commissioned essays brings together the major theories of multiculturalism from a multiplicity of philosophical perspectives. Although the postmodern critique of 'grand theory' prepared the way for multiculturalism, this same critique has also threatened to leave current research on race, gender, sex, ethnicity, and class without unity or direction. By challenging the impasses of the postmodern critique, this collection serves to explore the very possibility of a grounding work in multiculturalism and diversity without resorting to the foundationalism of traditional philosophy. Essays span the major positions, including Post-Hegelian Theories of Recognition, Post-Marxism, Postcolonialism and Ethnicity, Liberalism, Analytic and Continental Feminism, Pragmatism, Critical Race Theory, and Theories of Corporeality and Sexuality.It's contributors include: Nancy Fraser, Iris Marion Young, Lawrence Blum, Howard McGary, Robert Bernasconi, Lucius Outlaw, and Leonard Harris, among others. "Theorizing Multiculturalism" is ideal for students and researchers in social and political philosophy, social theory, cultural studies, American studies, ethnic studies, gender studies, and political theory.

Contents:
Preface: Dark Days - September 11, 2001 Part I: The Beginnings of a Millennium: 1990s 1. The Coming of My Last Born - April 8, 1998 The Eclipse of Society, 1901-2001 2. Blood and Skin - 1999 Whose We? - Dark Thoughts of the Universal Self, 1998 3. A Call in the Morning - 1988 The Rights and Justices of the Multicultural Panic, 1990s Part II: The Last New Century: 1890s 4. Calling out Father by Calling up His Mother - About 1941 The Coloured Woman's Office: Anna Julia Cooper, 1892 5. Get On Home! - About 1949 Bad Dreams of Big Business: Charlotte Perkins Gilman, 1898 6. All Kinds of People Getting Off - 1954 The Colour Line: W.E.B. Du Bois, 1903 Part III: Between, Before, and Beyond/1873-2020 7. When Good People Do Evil - 1989 The Queer Passing of Analytic Things: Nella Larsen, 1929 8. What Would Jesus Have Done? - 1965 The Race of Time: Deconstruction, Du Bois, & Reconstruction, 1935-1873 9. Dreaming in the Dark - November 26, 1997 Justice in the Colonizer's Nightmare: Muhammad, Malcolm, & Necessary Drag, 1965-2020 10. A Call in the Night - February 11, 2000 The Gospel According to Matt: Suicide and the Good of Society, 2000 Acknowledgements Endnotes Endmatter, including index

Teachers in low-income communities face serious impediments to effective teaching and learning. Through a unique blend of research and field experience, this book seeks to overcome the lack of communication and mutal understanding between teachers and students in urban schools. June Gordon provides nine case studies with insights as to how educators in urban settings may begin to understand the complexity of their students' lives, engaging those same students in the process of this discovery. Beyond the Classroom Walls provides inspiration and assistance to urban educators, concerned community members, or parents wishing to transform the way they view their community and the profession of teaching.

Cybertypes looks at the impact of the web and its discourses upon our ideas about race, and vice versa. Examining internet advertising, role-playing games, chat rooms, cyberpunk fiction from Neuromancer to The Matrix and web design, Nakamura traces the real-life consequences that follow when we attempt to push issues of race and identity on-line.

"A Place To Be Navajo" is the only book-length ethnographic account of a revolutionary Indigenous self-determination movement that began in 1966 with the Rough Rock Demonstration School. Called "Dine Bi'olta', " The People's School, in recognition of its status as the first American Indian community-controlled school, Rough Rock was the first to teach in the Native language and to produce a body of quality children's literature by and about Navajo people. These innovations have positioned the school as a leader in American Indian and bilingual/bicultural education and have enabled school participants to wield considerable influence on national policy. This book is a critical life history of this singular school and community.
McCarty's account grows out of 20 years of ethnographic work by the author with the "Dine" (Navajo) community of Rough Rock. The story is told primarily through written text, but also through the striking black-and-white images of photographer Fred Bia, a member of the Rough Rock community. Unlike most accounts of Indigenous schooling, this study involves the active participation of Navajo community members. Their oral testimony and that of other leaders in Indigenous/Navajo education frame and texture the account.
Informed by critical theories of education, this book is not just the story of a single school and community. It is also an inquiry into the larger struggle for self-determination by Indigenous and other minoritized communities, raising issues of identity, voice, and community empowerment. "A Place To Be Navajo" asks whether school can be a place where children learn, question, and grow in an environment that values and builds upon who they are. The author argues that the questions Rough Rock raises, and the responses they summon, implicate us all.

A significant work by one of anthropology's most important scholars, this book provides an introduction to the Chiapas Mayan community of Mexico, better known for their role in the Zapatista Rebellion. June Nash updates the status of this centuries-old confrontation as well as presenting a fascinating examination of how the Chiapas, as a governing entity, are entering into the New World Order.
Using the Chiapas as a case study of the effects and possibilities of globalization Nash views the Zapatista Rebellion as one expression of the Maya's attempts to remain true to their culture in the face of the extraordinary changes taking place in Mexico today. At issue here are the competing influences of Western modernity and the cultural traditions of the Chiapas-ideas about governing, identity, cultural traditions, and communal obligations are all at stake.
Based on over 40 years studying the Chiapas, Nash argues that this famous indigenous tribe has much to tell us about autonomy, nationality and globalization. Within a global economy, the Chiapas challenge for autonomy can be seen as a model for redefining ethnic group relations and the development process within Mexico, the hemisphere and our global society.

Stereotypes of Mexican American women and the lack of their representation in research literature contribute to misrepresentations of Mexican American culture and their invisibility. In this qualitative study, Mexican American women were interviewed and their life histories examined using an ethnographic and hermeneutical phenomenological approach.

The study of human reproductive ecology represents an important new development in human evolutionary biology. Its focus is on the physiology of human reproduction and evidence of adaptation, and hence the action of natural selection, in that domain. But at the same time the study of human reproductive ecology provides an important perspective on the historical process of human evolution, a lens through which we may view the forces that have shaped us as a species. In the end, all actions of natural selection can be reduced to variation in the reproductive success of individuals.

Peter Ellison is one of the pioneers in the fast growing area of reproductive ecology. He has collected for this volume the research of thirty-one of the most active and influential scientists in the field. Thanks to recent noninvasive techniques, these contributors can present direct empirical data on the effect of a broad array of ecological, behavioral, and constitutional variables on the reproductive processes of humans as well as wild primates. Because biological evolution is cumulative, however, organisms in the present must be viewed as products of the selective forces of past environments. The study of adaptation thus often involves inferences about formative ecological relationships that may no longer exist, or not in the same form. Making such inferences depends on carefully weighing a broad range of evidence drawn from studies of contemporary ecological variation, comparative studies of related taxonomies, and paleontological and genetic evidence of evolutionary history. The result of this inquiry sheds light not only on the functional aspects of an organism's contemporary biology but also on its evolutionary history and the selective forces that have shaped it through time.

Encompassing a range of viewpoints--controversy along with consensus--this far-ranging collection offers an indispensable guide for courses in biological anthropology, human biology, and primatology, along with demography, medicine, social anthropology, and public health.

The Kets of Central Siberia are perhaps the most enigmatic of Siberia's aboriginal tribes. Numbering barely 1100 souls at the end of the 20th century and living in several small villages on the middle reaches of the Yenisei, the Kets have retained much of their ancient culture, as well as their unique language. Genetic studies of the Ket hint at an ancient affininty with Tibetans, Burmese, and other peoples of South East Asia not shared by any other Siberian people. The Ket language, which is unrelated to any other living Siberian tongue, also appears to be a relic of a bygone linguistic landscape of Inner Asia. Linguists have attempted to link Ket with North Caucasian, Sino-Tibetan, Burushashi, Basque and Na Dene. None of these links have been proved to the satisfaction of linguists, and the research continues. Despite a growing interest in all aspects of Yeniseian studies, most information on the Kets and their extinct relatives, the Yughs, Kotts, Assans, Arins and Pumpokols, has hitherto remained inaccessible to the English-speaking scholar. This book offers encyclopaedic English-language description of existing sources of information on Yeniseian peoples and languages and inclu

A significant work by one of anthropology's most important scholars, this book provides an introduction to the Chiapas Mayan community of Mexico, better known for their role in the Zapatista Rebellion. June Nash updates the status of this centuries-old confrontation as well as presenting a fascinating examination of how the Chiapas, as a governing entity, are entering into the New World Order.
Using the Chiapas as a case study of the effects and possibilities of globalization Nash views the Zapatista Rebellion as one expression of the Maya's attempts to remain true to their culture in the face of the extraordinary changes taking place in Mexico today. At issue here are the competing influences of Western modernity and the cultural traditions of the Chiapas-ideas about governing, identity, cultural traditions, and communal obligations are all at stake.
Based on over 40 years studying the Chiapas, Nash argues that this famous indigenous tribe has much to tell us about autonomy, nationality and globalization. Within a global economy, the Chiapas challenge for autonomy can be seen as a model for redefining ethnic group relations and the development process within Mexico, the hemisphere and our global society.

eBook available with sample pages: 0203906705

The subject of the present volume, in essence is the hand and hand's extensions. We cannot insist too strongly that in the evolution of life the "decisive moment" arrived when a living being - who became man - adopted the erect attitude, thus freeing his hands, and when the industrious activity was inauguarted which this freedom made possible. In the use of the hand as an instrument, we have the manifestation of an important physical progress and the promise of further progress.

""Doing Fieldwork" warrants our attention because its message, bolstered by the editor's new introduction, is that the 1930's heralded a paradigm shift in anthropology, and further that this shift in fact addressed the same contenious issues raised in today's so-called crisis of representation." -- Hispanic American Historical Review "A candid, detailed window into the fieldwork and analytical thinking of two of our most influential anthropologists. A gem for students of method and theory in ethnography."-Susan C. M. Scrimshaw, University of Illinois at Chicago
"This lively exchange of letters reveals how, by batting hunches and hypotheses back and forth, often agreeing, sometimes disagreeing, Redfield and Tax developed and sharpened theories (always grounded in ethnographic data) relating to such themes as worldview, race relations, caste vs. class, and acculturation. The book provides fascinating insights into the differences between the fieldwork experience in pre- and post-World War II years. It is essential reading for anyone interested in the history of social science." -George M. Foster, University of California, Berkeley
Prior to the 1930s the highlands of Guatemala were largely undescribed, except in travelogues. Just two decades later, the highlands had become one of the most anthropologically well-investigated areas of the world. This is largely due to the research that Robert Redfield and Sol Tax carried out between 1934 and 1941. Separately and together, Redfield and Tax anticipated and guided anthropological investigations of people living in peasant and urban communities in other areas of the world. Their work helped to define the major outlines of research in the 1970s, and since then much writing about the region has been formulated in critical response to the Redfield-Tax program.
Not coincidentally, since the mid-1970s anthropology has been caught up in a wave of self-doubt about the status of fieldwork and the authority of ethnographic description. This critical stance has often cast ethnography as a creative, literary enterprise. This volume presents a timely view of the process of ethnography as carried out by two of its early practitioners. Containing a wealth of ethnographic detail, the book reveals how Redfield and Tax developed and tested ethnological hypotheses, and it allows us to follow the development of their major theoretical statements. The result is an exceptionally clear picture of the process of ethnography. Redfield and Tax emerge as rigorous and sensitive observers of social life whose observations bear importantly on contemporary understandings of the ethnology of Guatemala and the enterprise of anthropology. This book will be of interest to students of method and theory in ethnography, Latin Americanists, and other professionals interested in the history of idea.
Robert A. Rubinstein has conducted fieldwork in Yucatan, Mexico, in Belize, in rural Egypt, and in the United States. He is editor, with Mary LeCron Foster, of Peace and War: Cross-Cultural Perspectives (also available from Transaction).

Examines the issues facing indigenous peoples and ethnic minorities, including their role in the nation's constitutional and legal developments, and makes a number of recommendations which would satisfy their demands without compromising the sovereignty of the state.

This unique work challenges the assumption that dictionaries act as objective records of our language, and instead argues that the English dictionary is a fundamentally ethnocentric work. Using theoretical, historical and empirical analyses, Phil Benson shows how English dictionaries have filtered knowledge through predominantly Anglo-American perspectives. The book includes a major case study of the most recent edition of the Oxford English Dictionary and its treatment of China.

eBook available with sample pages: 0203205715

Written by Jorge Gracia, one of the most influential thinkers of Hispanic/Latino descent, this volume provides a superb introduction to the philosophical, social, and political elements of Hispanic/Latino identity.

The book explores central historical and current debates surrounding Hispanic/Latino culture, thought, and identity in the United States, Spain, and Latin American countries. Gracia's interdisciplinary approach is systematic and he uses philosophical analysis along with the history of philosophy to clarify and illustrate his provocative theses.

This engaging and enlightening work is an indispensable tool for anyone interested in Hispanic/Latino studies, social policy, and the history of thought and culture.

This translation of a major work in Mexican anthropology argues that Mesoamerican civilization is an ongoing and undeniable force in contemporary Mexican life.

For Guillermo Bonfil Batalla, the remaining Indian communities, the "de-Indianized" rural mestizo communities, and vast sectors of the poor urban population constitute the Mexico profundo. Their lives and ways of understanding the world continue to be rooted in Mesoamerican civilization. An ancient agricultural complex provides their food supply, and work is understood as a way of maintaining a harmonious relationship with the natural world. Health is related to human conduct, and community service is often part of each individual's life obligation. Time is circular, and humans fulfill their own cycle in relation to other cycles of the universe.

Since the Conquest, Bonfil argues, the peoples of the Mexico profundo have been dominated by an "imaginary Mexico" imposed by the West. It is imaginary not because it does not exist, but because it denies the cultural reality lived daily by most Mexicans.

Within the Mexico profundo there exists an enormous body of accumulated knowledge, as well as successful patterns for living together and adapting to the natural world. To face the future successfully, argues Bonfil, Mexico must build on these strengths of Mesoamerican civilization, "one of the few original civilizations that humanity has created throughout all its history."