The Dictionary of Anthropology (Paperback)

by Thomas Barfield (Editor)
Key Phrases: fraternal interest groups, jural rules, indirect dowry, United States, North America, New Guinea (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal
Edited by Barfield (chair, anthropology, Boston Univ.), who called on some 125 anthropologists to provide both historical and contemporary definitions of anthropological terms, this dictionary is yet another in a recent spate of anthropology reference tools. Coverage is broad, touching on key concepts, theories, methodologies, and ethnographic and thematic research, though definitions for any religious traditions are lacking. While entries vary in length and depth, many short entries are enhanced with cross references, and there is a cumulative bibliography. With more than 500 entries, including 42 biographies, this dictionary invites comparison with the Encyclopedia of Social and Cultural Anthropology (LJ 2/1/97), which has 231 subject entries, 238 short and five long biographies, and a 600-term glossary. The encyclopedia, whose entries are expansive, provides meatier discussions and, with the inclusion of the glossary, serves as a dictionary as well. It emphasizes and treats some concepts somewhat differently, covering major religious traditions, geographical areas, and regional anthropological traditions, while entries for such subjects as poverty and social Darwinism are found only in the dictionary. The encyclopedia has far more biographies, but the treatments in the dictionary are fairly substantial. Both provide minimal coverage of archaeology and biological and linguistic anthropology. A bargain at $29.95, the dictionary is a handy ready-reference source and should be particularly useful to students. If one needs only one source for basic information, however, the encyclopedia is the better choice.AJoyce L. Ogburn, Old Dominion Univ., Norfolk, VA
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
"A bargain, the dictionary is a handy ready-reference source and should be particularly useful to students" Joyce Ogburn, Old Dominion University

"The Barfield work will probably be of greatest value to people in related fields or to beginning teachers of anthropology who may need a quick fix on central ideas or people." Philip K. Bock, University of New Mexico

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 640 pages
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell; 1 edition (January 13, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1577180577
• ISBN-13: 978-1577180579
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #751,632 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Rebuttal, September 29, 2006

By	Anonymous - See all my reviews

I have found this book to be extremely helpful in my graduate studies in anthropology (M.A., Ph.D. at Michigan State University). I don't know what the reviewer means by calling this book an "[...] attempt to legitimize anthropology." Those of us practicing anthropology (not to mention all those that have practiced it in the last 100 years or so), know that anthropology is very "legitimate" and essential to the future of the social sciences within the modern academy. No general reference book is perfect, but I highly recommend this as a refresher for general anthropological concepts.

12 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Dictionary of Anghropology, July 9, 2000

By	Sjamsir Sjarif (Santa Cruz, CA USA) - See all my reviews

I have this book since I purchased in April 1999 and has been a very handy resource for me whenever I need it. This dictionary has been very helpful for me to pinpoint terminologies which sometimes left vauge in my mind since I left the department of anthropologies during my graduate studies quite a long time ago. As a reference book I don't use it every day but it's always a part of my collection and ready whenever I need it.

This morning I discovered that something is missing in this book. All dictionaries I have alway started from A to Z. Whatever happened to this book, by accident or by design, this dictionary doesn't have any word started with letter X, Y and Z. It has only words from A to W which reminds me to a brand name of Rootbeer A&W.

I checked the page number on the last word of letter W. It is page 501. Then on page 502 it starts with Bibliografy and ends on page 626, a long 124 pages of A to Z author's name.

My question to the Editor Thomas Barfield and/or the Publisher Blackwell Publisher, Ltd is what's happening to the words starting with X, Y, and Z?

8 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Don't bother, January 31, 2002

By A Customer

This dictionary is just another long-winded, pretentious, unreadable, high-brow attempt to legitimize anthropology. The authors of each definition are more concerned with impressing their peers than giving the average person clear insight to cultural anthropology. If you are struggling through a cultural anthropology class, and are looking for a dictionary with clear definitions, forget this book.