Synopses & Reviews
Learn anthropology within a strong active learning environment when you open Robbins' unique Fifth Edition. This brief, cost-effective text presents a variety of questions focused on the most important issues anthropologists study in first of-of-its-kind, problem-based format. You'll find yourself thinking critically about today's world as you read engaging Chapter Openers, complete integrated exercises, and review unique Case Studies in Doing Anthropology at the end of each chapter, now with new locator maps for your convenience. Robbins's text presents a variety of questions focused on the most important issues anthropologists study in a unique, problem-based format. Within the book's engaging narrative, you'll learn how to analyze your own culture as a basis for understanding the cultures of others. Presentations organized around problems rather than topics, creating a natural discussion of traditional concerns, such as kinship, caste, gender roles, and religion. Meaningful questions integrated throughout further guide you in exploring these subjects.
Review
"The writing style is both direct and engaging and, in my opinion, is one of the major strengths of the book. The author has the ability to explain complex concepts, theories, and theoretical debates in simple language without jeopardizing rigor."
Review
"The greatest strength of this book is the "problem-based approach" which introduces students to the field of anthropology through consideration of human questions of enduring significance. This approach demonstrates the relevance of anthropological concepts while engaging students in higher order thinking and intellectual development."
Synopsis
Learn anthropology within a strong active learning environment when you open Robbins' unique Fifth Edition. This brief, cost-effective text presents a variety of questions focused on the most important issues anthropologists study in first of-of-its-kind, problem-based format. You'll find yourself thinking critically about today's world as you read engaging Chapter Openers, complete integrated exercises, and review unique Case Studies in Doing Anthropology at the end of each chapter, now with new locator maps for your convenience. Robbins's text presents a variety of questions focused on the most important issues anthropologists study in a unique, problem-based format. Within the book's engaging narrative, you'll learn how to analyze your own culture as a basis for understanding the cultures of others. Presentations organized around problems rather than topics, creating a natural discussion of traditional concerns, such as kinship, caste, gender roles, and religion. Meaningful questions integrated throughout further guide you in exploring these subjects.
Synopsis
CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY: A PROBLEM-BASED APPROACH provides a fresh look at cultural anthropology while challenging students to engage in active learning and critical thinking. With an engaging narrative, author Richard Robbins teaches students to recognize their own cultures as a basis for understanding the cultures of others. This briefer book is organized around problems rather than topics, creating a natural and integrated discussion of such traditional concerns as kinship, caste, gender roles, and religion. These subjects are explored within the context of meaningful questions, such as: How can people begin to understand beliefs and behaviors that are different from their own?, How do societies give meaning to and justify collective violence?, Why are some societies more industrially advanced than others? What can anthropology tell us about attempts to link intelligence and class?, and more.
About the Author
Richard H. Robbins is SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor of anthropology at the State University of New York at Plattsburgh. His teaching interests include courses on global problems, utopian societies, comparative religion, and activist anthropology. He has conducted research among indigenous peoples of Canada and fishing communities in Northeastern New Brunswick. His recent books include GLOBAL PROBLEMS AND THE CULTURE OF CAPITALISM (fourth edition), DARWIN AND THE BIBLE: THE CULTURAL CONFRONTATION (with Mark Cohen), and GLOBALIZATION AND THE ENVIRONMENT (with Gary Kroll). Professor Robbins is the recipient of the 2005 American Anthropological Association/McGraw Hill award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching.
Table of Contents
Preface. Acknowledgments. 1. Culture and Meaning. 2. The Meaning of Progress and Development. 3. Globalization , Neoliberalism and the Nation-State. 4. The Social and Cultural Construction of Reality. 5. Patterns of Family Relations. 6. The Cultural Construction of Identity. 7. The Cultural Construction of Social Hierarchy. 8. The Cultural Construction of Violent Conflict. Glossary. Bibliography. Index.