Cultural Anthropology, 8th edition
Title overview
REVEL for Cultural Anthropology presents a balanced introduction to the world’s cultures, focusing on how they interact and change. Author Barbara Miller provides many points where readers can interact with the material, and encourages students to think critically about other cultures as well as their own. Featuring the latest research and statistics throughout, REVEL for the eighth edition has been updated with contemporary examples of anthropology in action, addressing recent newsworthy events such as the Ebola epidemic.
Learn more about REVEL.
• A Reimagined Way to Learn and StudySuperior assignability and tracking tools that help educators make sure students are completing their reading and understanding core concepts
Fully digital and highly engaging, REVEL™ gives students everything they need for the course – all in one fluid, integrated learning experience. Highlighting, note taking, and a glossary let students read and study however they like. Educators can add notes for students, too, including reminders or study tips.
• Interactives and Videos
Integrated within the narrative, interactives and videos empower students to engage with concepts and take an active role in learning. REVEL's unique presentation of media as an intrinsic part of course content brings the hallmark features of Pearson's bestselling titles to life. REVEL's media interactives have been designed to be completed quickly, and its videos are brief, so students stay focused and on task.
• Quizzing
Located throughout REVEL, quizzing affords students opportunities to check their understanding at regular intervals before moving on.
• Integrated Writing Tools
REVEL’s writing functionality (available in select products) enables educators to introduce writing – among the best ways to foster and assess critical thinking – into the course without significantly impacting their grading burden. Self-paced Journaling Prompts throughout the narrative encourage students to express their thoughts without breaking stride in their reading. Assignable Shared Writing Activities direct students to share written responses with classmates, fostering peer discussion. And Essays integrated directly within REVEL allow instructors to assign the precise writing tasks they need for the course.
• A Fully Mobile Learning Experience
REVEL enables students to read and interact with course material on the devices they use, anywhere and anytime. Responsive design allows students to access REVEL on their tablet devices and smart phones, with content displayed clearly in both portrait and landscape view.
• Assignment Calendar
REVEL allows educators to indicate precisely which readings must be completed on which dates. This clear, detailed schedule helps students stay on task by eliminating any ambiguity as to which material will be covered during each class. And when students know what is expected of them, they're better motivated to keep up.
• Performance Dashboard
REVEL lets educators monitor class assignment completion as well as individual student achievement. It offers actionable information that helps educators intersect with their students in meaningful ways, such as points earned on quizzes and tests and time on task. Of particular note, the trending column reveals whether students' grades are improving or declining – which helps educators identify students who might need help to stay on track.
Engaging features that bring concepts to life
• Brief Anthro Connections features at the beginning of each chapter direct students’ attention towards an aspect of culture that relates to recent current events, helping students to see the relevance of anthropology to contemporary issues around the world.
• Culturama features provide an enticing glimpse into a particular cultural group. These one-page profiles include a pair of photos and an annotated map to help students visualize the material presented.
• Anthropology Works features help students recognize the practical applications of anthropological knowledge in tackling contemporary social problems. Topics include Paul Farmer’s work in providing health care in Haiti, Laura Tabac’s applied research on men’s risky sexual practices in New York City, and Australian Aboriginal women’s collaboration with an anthropologist to document and preserve their cultural heritage.
• Eye on the Environment features present exciting examples from around the world that enable students to see how culture and the environment interact.
Content that helps students learn actively
• Think Like an Anthropologist features prompt students to reflect and think critically about what they’re learning. Some of these boxes present cultural examples that connect to everyone’s lives. Others introduce a problem and show how it has been studied or analyzed from different anthropological perspectives.
• Thinking Outside the Box questions encourage students to go beyond what they read in the text, prompting them to relate issues covered in the course to their own cultural experiences. Located at the end of each chapter, these thought-provoking questions promote class discussion or can serve as a basis for a class project.
Tools that help students retain what they’ve learned
• NEW! Learning Objectives listed at the beginning of each chapter and below the three major chapter headings help students focus on what matters most as they read. Learning Objectives Revisited at the end of each chapter provide a helpful review of the key points related to each Learning Objective.
• A carefully curated and designed map program complements the text. Detailed captions help students to make connections between the map and information regarding resources, population, and language.
• A robust in-text glossary helps students keep up with important terminology. Definitions of key concepts are provided where the concept is first mentioned and defined. A paginated list of key concepts appears at the end of each chapter. And a closing glossary contains a complete list of key concepts together with definitions.
New key concepts and contemporary examples ensure relevance
• NEW! Each chapter contains updated material including examples from the latest research, current population statistics, and new and revised key concepts.
• NEW! Chapter 1 covers the relevance of cultural anthropology in addressing the Ebola epidemic.
• NEW! Chapter 2 includes coverage of drumming among nonhuman primates.
• NEW! Chapter 3 features a new key concept, “computational anthropology,” discussion of “diffraction” in commodity studies, an updated Culturama feature on the Trobriand Island, and discussion of sexual harassment of women in the field by colleagues.
• NEW! Chapter 4 includes coverage of the ethnographic study of sanitation workers in New York City, two new key concepts, “division of labor” and “subjective well-being,” and an updated Culturama feature on the Andaman Island peoples.
• NEW! Chapter 5 features a discussion of hyperconsumerism, a new key concept, “mobile money,” and an example of the effects of global consumer demand on a small Pacific island where phosphate mining has increased and the indigenous population has been displaced.
• NEW! Chapter 6 offers an update on the increased flexibility of China’s One Child Policy, discussion of commercial birth surrogacy as a recent aspect of reproduction that is linked to global and local social inequality, a new key concept, “heteronormativity,” and an updated Culturama feature on the Amish.
• NEW! Chapter 7 includes discussion of zoonotic diseases as a sub-type of infectious diseases and coverage of a new key concept, “stigma.”
• NEW! Chapter 8 includes material on touch as a way of communicating kinship in Central India.
• NEW! Chapter 9 offers material on emerging social inequality within “racial” categories in South Africa based on life histories and an updated Culturama feature on the Roma.
• NEW! Chapter 10 includes revised statistics about incarceration as well as an updated Culturama feature on the Kurdish people.
• NEW! Chapter 11 has been streamlined to provide a more concise learning experience.
• NEW! Chapter 12 offers new material about the Ngarrindjeri Wurruwarrin and their land claims in Australia. It also includes a revised definition of “revitalization movements,” the chapter’s key concept.
• NEW! Chapter 13 offers fresh material on the role of art in post-conflict situations.
• NEW! Chapter 14 features updated migration statistics throughout.
• NEW! Chapter 15 offers updated statistics on indigenous peoples as well as material on careers in international development—and how students can best pursue such careers.
Dynamic content matched to the way today's students read, think, and learn
• A Reimagined Way to Learn and Study
Fully digital and highly engaging, REVEL™ gives students everything they need for the course – all in one fluid, integrated learning experience. Highlighting, note taking, and a glossary let students read and study however they like. Educators can add notes for students, too, including reminders or study tips.
• Interactives and Videos
Integrated within the narrative, interactives and videos empower students to engage with concepts and take an active role in learning. REVEL's unique presentation of media as an intrinsic part of course content brings the hallmark features of Pearson's bestselling titles to life. REVEL's media interactives have been designed to be completed quickly, and its videos are brief, so students stay focused and on task.
• Quizzing
Located throughout REVEL, quizzing affords students opportunities to check their understanding at regular intervals before moving on.
• Integrated Writing Tools
REVEL’s writing functionality (available in select products) enables educators to introduce writing – among the best ways to foster and assess critical thinking – into the course without significantly impacting their grading burden. Self-paced Journaling Prompts throughout the narrative encourage students to express their thoughts without breaking stride in their reading. Assignable Shared Writing Activities direct students to share written responses with classmates, fostering peer discussion. And Essays integrated directly within REVEL allow instructors to assign the precise writing tasks they need for the course.
• A Fully Mobile Learning Experience
REVEL enables students to read and interact with course material on the devices they use, anywhere and anytime. Responsive design allows students to access REVEL on their tablet devices and smart phones, with content displayed clearly in both portrait and landscape view.
Superior assignability and tracking tools that help educators make sure students are completing their reading and understanding core concepts
• Assignment Calendar
REVEL allows educators to indicate precisely which readings must be completed on which dates. This clear, detailed schedule helps students stay on task by eliminating any ambiguity as to which material will be covered during each class. And when students know what is expected of them, they're better motivated to keep up.
• Performance Dashboard
REVEL lets educators monitor class assignment completion as well as individual student achievement. It offers actionable information that helps educators intersect with their students in meaningful ways, such as points earned on quizzes and tests and time on task. Of particular note, the trending column reveals whether students' grades are improving or declining – which helps educators identify students who might need help to stay on track.
Tools that help students retain what they’ve learned
• Learning Objectives listed at the beginning of each chapter and below the three major chapter headings help students focus on what matters most as they read. Learning Objectives Revisited at the end of each chapter provide a helpful review of the key points related to each Learning Objective.New key concepts and contemporary examples ensure relevance
• Each chapter contains updated material including examples from the latest research, current population statistics, and new and revised key concepts.
• Chapter 1 covers the relevance of cultural anthropology in addressing the Ebola epidemic.
• Chapter 2 includes coverage of drumming among nonhuman primates.
• Chapter 3 features a new key concept, “computational anthropology,” discussion of “diffraction” in commodity studies, an updated Culturama feature on the Trobriand Island, and discussion of sexual harassment of women in the field by colleagues.
• Chapter 4 includes coverage of the ethnographic study of sanitation workers in New York City, two new key concepts, “division of labor” and “subjective well-being,” and an updated Culturama feature on the Andaman Island peoples.
• Chapter 5 features a discussion of hyperconsumerism, a new key concept, “mobile money,” and an example of the effects of global consumer demand on a small Pacific island where phosphate mining has increased and the indigenous population has been displaced.
• Chapter 6 offers an update on the increased flexibility of China’s One Child Policy, discussion of commercial birth surrogacy as a recent aspect of reproduction that is linked to global and local social inequality, a new key concept, “heteronormativity,” and an updated Culturama feature on the Amish.
• Chapter 7 includes discussion of zoonotic diseases as a sub-type of infectious diseases and coverage of a new key concept, “stigma.”
• Chapter 8 includes material on touch as a way of communicating kinship in Central India.
• Chapter 9 offers material on emerging social inequality within “racial” categories in South Africa based on life histories and an updated Culturama feature on the Roma.
• Chapter 10 includes revised statistics about incarceration as well as an updated Culturama feature on the Kurdish people.
• Chapter 11 has been streamlined to provide a more concise learning experience.
• Chapter 12 offers new material about the Ngarrindjeri Wurruwarrin and their land claims in Australia. It also includes a revised definition of “revitalization movements,” the chapter’s key concept.
• Chapter 13 offers fresh material on the role of art in post-conflict situations.
• Chapter 14 features updated migration statistics throughout.
• Chapter 15 offers updated statistics on indigenous peoples as well as material on careers in international development–and how students can best pursue such careers.
Table of contents
1. Anthropology and the Study of Culture
2. The Evolution of Humanity and Culture
3. Researching Culture
4. Making a Living
5. Consumption and Exchange
6. Reproduction and Human Development
7. Disease, Illness, and Healing
8. Kinship and Domestic Life
9. Social Groups and Social Stratification
10. Power, Politics, and Social Order
11. Communication
12. Religion
13. Expressive Culture
14. People on the Move
15. People Defining Development
Author bios
Barbara D. Miller is Professor of Anthropology and International Affairs in the Elliott School of International Affairs of the George Washington University in Washington, DC. She is Director of the Elliott School's Institute for Global and International Studies as well as Director of two of its affiliated research groups, the Culture in Global Affairs Program and the Global Gender Program. Before coming to GW in 1994, she taught at Syracuse University, the University of Rochester, SUNY Cortland, Ithaca College, Cornell University, and the University of Pittsburgh. For over 30 years, Barbara's research has focused on gender-based inequalities in India, especially the nutritional and medical neglect of daughters in northern regions of the country, and sex-selective abortion. She has also conducted research on culture and rural development in Bangladesh, on low-income household dynamics in Jamaica, and on Hindu adolescents in Pittsburgh. Her current interests include continued research on gender inequalities in health in South Asia and the role of cultural anthropology in informing policy, especially as related to women, children, and other disadvantaged groups. She teaches courses on introductory cultural anthropology, medical anthropology, development anthropology, culture and population, health and development in South Asia, migration and mental health, and global gender policy.
Barbara has published many journal articles and book chapters and several books including The Endangered Sex: Neglect of Female Children in Rural North India, Second Edition (Oxford University Press 1997), an edited volume, Sex and Gender Hierarchies (Cambridge University Press 1993), and a co-edited volume with Alf Hiltebeitel, Hair: Its Power and Meaning in Asian Cultures (SUNY Press 1998). In addition to Cultural Anthropology, Eighth Edition, she is the author of Cultural Anthropology in a Globalizing World, Third Edition (Pearson 2012) and the lead author of a four-field textbook entitled Anthropology, Second Edition (Pearson 2008).
She launched a blog in 2009 called anthropologyworks where she and other contributors present informed opinion pieces about important social issues, a weekly feature covering anthropology in the mainstream media, and other features. Since its beginning, the blog has had 120,000 visits from people in nearly every country of the world. You can follow her, along with over 5,000 other people worldwide, via Twitter @anthroworks and Facebook. In 2010, she launched a second blog called globalgendercurrent, which highlights new research and debates about global women's issues as informed by grounded research and cutting-edge policy questions. She is also Tweeting and Facebooking about global gender issues.