Assault on Paradise [Paperback]

Conrad Kottak (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 22, 2005 | ISBN-10: 0073530867 | ISBN-13: 978-0073530864 | Edition: 4

Assault on Paradise is a highly readable, instructive, and entertaining ethnography for use as a supplement in introductory anthropology courses. The text chronicles the rapid social and economic change in Arembepe, a Brazilian coastal fishing village, where the author has conducted anthropological fieldwork from 1962 to the present. This revision brings the research up to date, covering events that have occurred in this community through the present and focusing primarily on the impact of globalization, technology, and mass media. The ethnography can be used on its own, or in conjunction with any introductory anthropology text, but works particularly well with Mirror for Humanity: A Concise Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, Fourth Edition (2005), also by Conrad Kottak.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Conrad Phillip Kottak (A.B. Columbia, 1963; Ph.D. Columbia, 1966) is the Julian H. Steward Collegiate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Michigan, where he has taught since 1968. He served as Anthropology Department chair from 1996 to 2006. In 1991 he was honored for his teaching by the University and the state of Michigan. In 1992 he received an excellence in teaching award from the College of Literature, Sciences, and the Arts of the University of Michigan. In 1999 the America Anthropological Association awarded Professor Kottak the AAA/Mayfield Award for Excellence in the Undergraduate Teaching of Anthropology.

Professor Kottak has done ethnographic fieldwork in cultural anthropology in Brazil (since 1962), Madagascar (since 1966), and the United States. Conrad Kottak's articles have appeared in academic journals including American Anthropologist, Journal of Anthropological Research, American Ethnologist, Ethnology, Human Organization, and Luso-Brazilian Review. He has also written for more popular journals, including Transaction/SOCIETY, Natural History, Psychology Today, and General Anthropology.

In recent research projects, Kottak and his colleagues have investigated the emergence of ecological awareness in Brazil, the social context of deforestation in Madagascar, and popular participation in economic development planning in northeastern Brazil.

Recently, Kottak was inducted to The National Academy of Sciences. This is a private organization of scientists and engineers dedicated to the furtherance of science and its use for the general welfare.

Product Details

• Paperback: 264 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages; 4 edition (July 22, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0073530867
• ISBN-13: 978-0073530864
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #136,752 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Kottaks Humanity expressed in the text, August 3, 2000

By 

Luis Andre Gazitua "gazi" (Miami, Fl. United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Assault on Paradise (Paperback)

I really enjoyed Assault on Paradise, because of the author's honesty in telling the story of the ecological degradation and the social benefits of the changing of Arembepe. Kottak presents himself as a man, not some untouchable holier than though scholar.

Assault on Paradise explores the social and ecological changes of the fishing village of Arembepe, Bahia Brazil. Paying attention to the changes in Arembepe values toward attitudes of work, economic inequality, and division of labor, fishing, tourism, and manufacturing labor. It explains social networks, the nature of family life, friendships, and work groups. The main forces that brought about change were the introduction of new technologies, the motorization of the fishing industry, industrial pollution, the growth of Arembepe due to a paved highway, the ippi invasion and tourism.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Social Change in a Brazilian Village, December 15, 2000

By 

Lissa (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Assault on Paradise (Paperback)

Conrad Kottack visited the little town of Arembepe, Brazil three separate times: in the 1960s, in the 1970s and the 1980s. As a cultural anthropologist, he diligently documented all of the changed that occurred in that village on each occasion he had to visit. When the three visits are all added together, it's easy to see the way that increased industrialization has impacted even the most remote areas of the world. If you're at all interested in international development, anthropology, or other cultures, I would highly recommend this book.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book / Entertaining read, February 6, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Assault on Paradise (Paperback)

Thank you, Mr. Kottak, for such an entertaining read! This book is intelligent and the writing is beautifully clear. There are very few social scientific accounts that have been able to trace social change through decades of direct participant observation. I found this account both insightful and engrossing. I'm sure you will appreciate this work.