On Being Different: Diversity and Multiculturalism in the North American Mainstream [Paperback]

Conrad Kottak (Author), Kathryn Kozaitis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 18, 2003 | ISBN-10: 0072417161 | ISBN-13: 978-0072417166 | Edition: 2nd

On Being Different provides an up-to-date, comprehensive, and interdisciplinary account of diversity and multiculturalism in the United States and Canada. Kottak and Kozaitis clarify essential issues, themes, and topics in the study of diversity, including ethnicity, religion, gender, and sexual orientation. The book also presents an original theory of multiculturalism, showing how human agency and culture work to organize and change society. The authors use rich and varied ethnographic examples, from North America and abroad, to help students apply the material to their own lives, and thus gain a better understanding of diversity and multiculturalism.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Conrad Phillip Kottak (A.B. Columbia, 1963; Ph.D. Columbia, 1966) is Professor and Chair of Anthropology at the University of Michigan, where he has taught since 1968. 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 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 current 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. .

Kathryn A. Kozaitis is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Georgia State University, and holds an adjunct appointment in the Department of Anthropology at Emory University. She received her Ph.D. in Social Work and Anthropology at the University of Michigan in 1993. Her key interests. are in the relationship between global transformations and local adaptations, particularly in the processes by which economically, politically, and socially subordinated collectivities in a postcolonial. world use culture to construct community, identity, and meaning. Professor Kozaitis has conducted ethnographic research on sociocultural change and adaptation among Gypsies in Athens, Greece, and on ethnicity and aging among Greek immigrants in Chicago, Illinois. . .

Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages; 2nd edition (September 18, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0072417161
• ISBN-13: 978-0072417166
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,091,341 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Adequate For Basic Information, But Little Else, September 17, 2010

By 

Jeff Richardson (Tulsa, OK) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: On Being Different: Diversity and Multiculturalism in the North American Mainstream (Paperback)

I use this text as part of a cultural diversity university course and considering the course requirements, it was an adequate book. The writing is done well enough, but could have been more objective in nature. There are a few bright moments in some chapters, but overall the text is void of anything really spectacular. At best, I can describe this textbook as something that's just "there" with ambivalence being my most vivid recollection of having read through it all. If you need it for a course, by all means buy it. If not, you're better off looking elsewhere for a more balanced and objective text.

4.0 out of 5 stars good information, December 19, 2011

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Tom in pittsburgh - See all my reviews

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This review is from: On Being Different: Diversity and Multiculturalism in the North American Mainstream (Paperback)

So far this book has been useful in the online class I am taking. I purchased this book at a great price and it came in very ggod shape for what I needed it for.

4.0 out of 5 stars EXCELLENT, June 6, 2011

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Lourdes Barrera "Lady Boss" (Miami, Fl) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: On Being Different: Diversity and Multiculturalism in the North American Mainstream (Paperback)

very good book, easy to understand. I bought this book for one of my class and this book has helped me a lot with the study guide material.