Social and Cultural Anthropology: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) [Paperback]

Peter Just (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0192853465 | ISBN-13: 978-0192853462 | Publication Date: June 15, 2000

"If you want to know what anthropology is, look at what anthropologists do," write the authors of Social and Cultural Anthropology: A Very Short Introduction. This engaging overview of the field combines an accessible account of some of the discipline's guiding principles and methodology with abundant examples and illustrations of anthropologists at work.
Peter Just and John Monaghan begin by discussing anthropology's most important contributions to modern thought: its investigation of culture as a distinctively human characteristic, its doctrine of cultural relativism, and its methodology of fieldwork and ethnography. Drawing on examples from their own fieldwork in Indonesia and Mesoamerica, they examine specific ways in which social and cultural anthropology have advanced our understanding of human society and culture. Including an assessment of anthropology's present position, and a look forward to its likely future, Social and Cultural Anthropology will make fascinating reading for anyone curious about this social science.

About the Series: Combining authority with wit, accessibility, and style, Very Short Introductions offer an introduction to some of life's most interesting topics. Written by experts for the newcomer, they demonstrate the finest contemporary thinking about the central problems and issues in hundreds of key topics, from philosophy to Freud, quantum theory to Islam.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"I cannot imagine a better short introduction to anthropology... it is firmly anchored in the traditional concerns of fieldwork and participant observation."--Kent V. Flannery, University of Michigan

"The most original introduction to anthropological thinking I have seen... The reader is made to experience anthropology as it is practiced, as a process that begins in the field of observations and continues on as an explanatory, interpretive, theoretical, and finally disciplinary activity-- anthropology as it is done rather than talked about. The writing is notably lucid, simple, and unpretentious. The book gives the reader a sense of unique achievements of anthroplogy amopng the social disciplines, and of its position as evolving and never finished business."--Igor Kopytoff, University of Pennsylvania

About the Author

Peter Just has done extensive research among the Dou Donggo of Sumbawa Island in Indonesia. His research interests include dispute settlement and law, kinship and social organization, and religion ritual. He is the author of Dou Donggo Justice: Conflict and Morality in an Indonesian Society, and is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Williams College.
Over the last twenty years John Monaghan has carried out a number of ethnographic research projects among the indigenous people of Mexico and Guatemala. His most recent book on the subject is The Covenants With Earth and Rain: Exchange, Sacrifice, and Revelation in Mixtec Sociality. He is currently a professor at Vanderbilt University.

Product Details

• Paperback: 168 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (June 15, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0192853465
• ISBN-13: 978-0192853462
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,441 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Get a first impression of the field, April 5, 2001

By 

"kucki68" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Social and Cultural Anthropology: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) (Paperback)

This is a great little book to get a first impression of anthropology. The two authors present different historical developments and schools of thought. I had not know anything about this academic field before, but this book made me want to read more. Especially helpful with that were the examples that pertained to the authors' own fieldwork in Mexico and Indonesia. Reading about bee larvas and onion soup just makes the ideas presented more "real".

31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not Mired In Postmodern Rhetoric, September 5, 2002

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Joe J. Kern (Tokyo, Japan) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Social and Cultural Anthropology: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) (Paperback)

This is the first Anthropology introduction I have read that doesn't get bogged down in postmodern academic speak. It was very clear and interesting, with good examples.

This was the first VSI I read and it made me fall in love with the series.

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Very Smart Introduction, June 18, 2005

By 

Peter Reeve (Thousand Oaks, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Social and Cultural Anthropology: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) (Paperback)

I wanted my 100th review for Amazon to be for something I could wholeheartedly recommend, and this is it.

The authors manage, within severe space restrictions, to convey the essential features of their discipline, an outline of its history and development, and an indication of the philosophical and moral issues that it raises.

Monaghan's work with the Mixtec of Central America and Just's work with the Dou Donggo of Indonesia are used as sources for the anecdotal details that are used throughout the book to illustrate aspects of anthropology. This is very much a description of anthropology as a practical endeavor, a hands-on discipline whose theories are firmly grounded in the everyday lives of human beings.

Broader theoretical contexts, such as are found in Marxism or Structuralism, are touched on but no more. Those are the things you go on to read about after your appetite has been whetted by an excellent introduction such as this.