Cultural Anthropology in a Globalizing World

358 Pages·2011·34.576 MB·English

by  Barbara D. Miller

Why Do You Need this New Edition?
If you’re wondering why you should buy this new edition of
Cultural Anthropology, here are 6 good reasons!
1. Every chapter now contains a box called Anthropology Works
that provides compelling examples of how knowledge and
methods in cultural anthropology can prevent or solve social
problems. Examples include Paul Farmer’s work in providing
health care in Haiti, Laura Tabac’s applied research on men’s
risky sexual practices in New York City, and Australian Aboriginal
women’s collaboration with an anthropologist to document and
preserve their cultural heritage.
2. Updates throughout the book provide currency and accuracy
and strengthen student engagement—for example, how people
in the United States and Canada now get most of their health
information from the Internet (C hapter 5 ), a new section on
homelessness (C hapter 6 ), the emergence of Textese (C hapter 9 ),
and discussion of oil-related environmental disasters (C hapter 13 ).
3 . A revised map in C hapter 13 shows South Sudan—the newest
country in the world.
4. Several new Key Concepts respond to important current
issues: food security, asexuality, social justice, sectarian confl ict,
corporate social responsibility, and Textese.
5. Many new photographs have been carefully chosen to enliven
the textual material and prompt discussion. Photographs
arranged in pairs or trios, with linked captions, offer students
inspiration for thoughtful mini-essays.
6. MyAnthroLibrary offers a selection of brief, current articles on
engaging topics that will enrich each chapter and lead to exciting
class discussions.
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THIRD EDITION
CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY
IN A GLOBALIZING WORLD
BARBARA MILLER
George Washington University
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Miller, Barbara D.
Cultural anthropology in a globalizing world/Barbara D. Miller. — 3rd ed.
p. cm.
ISBN-13: 978-0-205-78636-7
ISBN-10: 0-205-78636-7
1. Ethnology. 2. Globalization—Social aspects. I. Title.
GN316.M49 2012
306—dc23
2011040214
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Student ISBN-13: 978-0-205-786367
ISBN-10: 0-205-786367
Exam ISBN-13: 978-0-205-846245
ISBN-10: 0-205-846246
A la carte I SBN-13: 978-0-205-796724
ISBN-10: 0-205-796729
CONTENTS
brief
1
ANTHROPOLOGY AND THE STUDY OF CULTURE 3
2
RESEARCHING CULTURE 27
3
ECONOMIC SYSTEMS 47
4
REPRODUCTION AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT 71
5
DISEASE, ILLNESS, AND HEALING 95
6
KINSHIP AND DOMESTIC LIFE 117
7
SOCIAL GROUPS AND SOCIAL STRATIFICATION 139
8
POLITICAL AND LEGAL SYSTEMS 159
9
COMMUNICATION 181
10
RELIGION 203
11
EXPRESSIVE CULTURE 229
12
PEOPLE ON THE MOVE 251
13
PEOPLE DEFINING DEVELOPMENT 271
v
CONTENTS
PREFACE xv Doing Fieldwork in Cultural Anthropology 29
ABOUT THE AUTHOR xxi Beginning the Fieldwork Process 29
◼ ANTHROPOLOGY WORKS What’s for Breakfast
in California? 30
1
CULTURAMA The Trobriand Islanders of Papua
New Guinea 32
Working in the Field 33
ANTHROPOLOGY AND Fieldwork Techniques 35
THE STUDY OF CULTURE 3 ◼ EYE ON THE ENVIRONMENT Inuit Place Names
and Landscape Knowledge 39
The Big Questions 3
Recording Culture 40
Introducing Anthropology 4
Data Analysis 41
Biological or Physical Anthropology 5
Urgent Issues in Cultural Anthropology Research 41
Archaeology 5
Ethics and Collaborative Research 41
◼ ANTHROPOLOGY WORKS Orangutan Research Leads
Safety in the Field 43
to Orangutan Advocacy 6
The Big Questions R evisited 44
Linguistic Anthropology 7
Key Concepts 45 Suggested Readings 45
Cultural Anthropology 8
Applied Anthropology: Separate Field or Cross-Cutting
Focus? 8 3
Introducing Cultural Anthropology 8
A Brief History of Cultural Anthropology 9
The Concept of Culture 11 ECONOMIC
◼ EVERYDAY ANTHROPOLOGY Latina Power in the SYSTEMS 47
Kitchen 14
The Big Questions 47
Multiple Cultural Worlds 17
CULTURAMA San Peoples of Southern Africa 19 Modes of Livelihood 48
Distinctive Features of Cultural Anthropology 20 Foraging 48
Three Theoretical Debates in Cultural Anthropology 22 ◼ EVERYDAY ANTHROPOLOGY The Importance
of Dogs 50
Cultural Anthropology and Careers 23
Horticulture 51
Majoring in Anthropology 23
Pastoralism 54
Graduate Study in Anthropology 23
Agriculture 54
Living an Anthropological Life 23
Industrialism and the Information Age 57
The Big Questions R evisited 24
Modes of Consumption and Exchange 57
Key Concepts 24 Suggested Readings 25
Modes of Consumption 58
Modes of Exchange 61
2
◼ ANTHROPOLOGY WORKS Evaluating Indian Gaming 64
Globalization and Changing Economies 65
Sugar, Salt, and Steel Tools in the Amazon 65
RESEARCHING
Alternative Food Movements in Europe and North
CULTURE 27
America 66
The Big Questions 27 Continuities and Resistance: The Enduring Potlatch 66
Changing Research Methods 28 CULTURAMA The Kwakwa k a ´wakw of Canada 67
From the Armchair to the Field 28 The Big Questions R evisited 68
Participant Observation 28 Key Concepts 68 Suggested Readings 69
vi
4 Diseases of Development 108
Medical Pluralism 109
CULTURAMA The Sherpa of Nepal 110
REPRODUCTION AND HUMAN ◼ ANTHROPOLOGY WORKS Delivering Health Care in
DEVELOPMENT 71 Rural Haiti 112
Applied Medical Anthropology 112
The Big Questions 71 The Big Questions R evisited 114
Modes of Reproduction 72 Key Concepts 114 Suggested Readings 115
The Foraging Mode of Reproduction 72
The Agricultural Mode of Reproduction 72
6
The Industrial/Informatic Mode of Reproduction 73
C ULTURAMA The Old Order Amish of the United States
and Canada 74
KINSHIP
Culture and Fertility 75
AND DOMESTIC LIFE 117
Sexual Intercourse 75
◼ ANTHROPOLOGY WORKS Studying Sexual Behavior The Big Questions 117
among MSM in New York City 76
How Cultures Create Kinship 118
Fertility Decision Making 77
Studying Kinship: From Formal Analysis to Kinship
Fertility Control 79
in Action 119
Infanticide 80
Descent 120
Personality and the Life Cycle 81
◼ EVERYDAY ANTHROPOLOGY What’s in a Name? 122
Birth, Infancy, and Childhood 81 Sharing 122
Socialization During Childhood 83
C ULTURAMA The Minangkabau of Indonesia 124
Adolescence and Identity 83
Marriage 125
◼ CRITICAL THINKING Cultural Relativism and Female
Households and Domestic Life 130
Genital Cutting 86
The Household: Variations on a Theme 130
Adulthood 88
Intrahousehold Dynamics 130
The Big Questions R evisited 92
◼ ANTHROPOLOGY WORKS Preventing Wife Abuse
Key Concepts 92 Suggested Readings 93
in Rural Kentucky 132
Changing Kinship and Household Dynamics 133
5 Change in Descent 133
Change in Marriage 133
Changing Households 134
DISEASE, ILLNESS, The Big Questions R evisited 136
AND HEALING 95 Key Concepts 136 Suggested Readings 137
The Big Questions 95
7
Ethnomedicine 96
Defining and Classifying Health Problems 96
Ethno-Etiologies 99
SOCIAL GROUPS AND SOCIAL
Healing Ways 99
STRATIFICATION 139
◼ EYE ON THE ENVIRONMENT Local Botanical Knowledge
and Child Health in the Bolivian Amazon 102 The Big Questions 139
Three Theoretical Approaches 103 Social Groups 140
The Ecological/Epidemiological Approach 104 Friendship 141
The Interpretivist Approach 105
◼ EVERYDAY ANTHROPOLOGY Making Friends 142
Critical Medical Anthropology 105
Clubs and Fraternities/Sororities 143
Globalization and Change 108 Countercultural Groups 144
New Infectious Diseases 108 Cooperatives 146
CONTENTS vii
Social Stratification 147 Nonverbal Language and Embodied Communication 184
Achieved Status: Class 148 ◼ ANTHROPOLOGY WORKS Narrating Troubles 185
Ascribed Status: “Race,” Ethnicity, Gender, and Caste 148 Communicating with Media and Information
CULTURAMA The Roma of Eastern Europe 151 Technology 187
Civil Society 153 Language, Diversity, and Inequality 189
Civil Society for the State: The Chinese Women’s Language and Culture: Two Theories 189
Movement 154 Critical Discourse Analysis: Gender and “Race” 190
Activist Groups: CO-MADRES 154
Language Change 192
New Social Movements and the New Social Media 154
The Origins and History of Language 192
◼ ANTHROPOLOGY WORKS Forensic Anthropology
Historical Linguistics 193
for the Maya of Guatemala 155
Writing Systems 194
The Big Questions R evisited 156
Colonialism, Nationalism, and Globalization 195
Key Concepts 156 Suggested Readings 157
Endangered Languages and Language Revitalization 197
CULTURAMA The Saami of Sápmi, or Lapland 198
8
◼ CRITICAL THINKING Should Dying Languages Be
Revived? 199
The Big Questions R evisited 200
POLITICAL AND LEGAL Key Concepts 201 Suggested Readings 201
SYSTEMS 159
The Big Questions 159
Politics, Political Organization, and Leadership 160 10
Bands 161
Tribes 162
Chiefdoms 163 RELIGION 203
States 164
The Big Questions 203
Social Order and Social Conflict 165
Religion in Comparative Perspective 204
Norms and Laws 166
What Is Religion? 204
Systems of Social Control 167
Varieties of Religious Beliefs 205
◼ CRITICAL THINKING Yanomami: The “Fierce People”? 170
◼ EYE ON THE ENVIRONMENT Eagle Protection, National
Social Conflict and Violence 170
Parks, and the Preservation of Hopi Culture 206
◼ ANTHROPOLOGY WORKS Anthropology and
Ritual Practices 209
Community Activism in Papua New Guinea 174
◼ ANTHROPOLOGY WORKS Aboriginal Women’s Culture
Change in Political and Legal Systems 175
and Sacred Site Protection 210
Emerging Nations and Transnational Nations 175
Religious Specialists 212
Democratization 175
World Religions and Local Variations 213
CULTURAMA The Kurds of the Middle East 176
Hinduism 214
The United Nations and International Peacekeeping 177
Buddhism 215
The Big Questions R evisited 178
Judaism 217
Key Concepts 178 Suggested Readings 179
Christianity 219
Islam 220
C ULTURAMA Hui Muslims of Xi’an, China 221
9
African Religions 222
Directions of Religious Change 224
Revitalization Movements 224
COMMUNICATION 181
Contested Sacred Sites 225
The Big Questions 181 Religious Freedom as a Human Right 225
The Big Questions R evisited 226
The Varieties of Human Communication 182
Key Concepts 226 Suggested Readings 227
Language and Verbal Communication 182
viii CONTENTS
Migration Policies and Programs in a Globalizing
11
World 265
Protecting Migrants’ Health 265
Inclusion and Exclusion 265
EXPRESSIVE
◼ ANTHROPOLOGY WORKS Mapping African
CULTURE 229
Pastoralists’ Movements for Risk Assessment and Service
Delivery 266
The Big Questions 229
Migration and Human Rights 267
Art and Culture 230
The Big Questions R evisited 268
What Is Art? 230
Key Concepts 268 Suggested Readings 269
◼ CRITICAL THINKING Probing the Categories
of Art 231
Studying Art in Society 232 13
Performance Arts 234
Architecture and Decorative Arts 236
Play, Leisure, and Culture 238 PEOPLE DEFINING
Games and Sports as a Cultural Microcosm 239 DEVELOPMENT 271
Leisure Travel 240
The Big Questions 271
CULTURAMA The Gullah of South Carolina 242
Defining Development and Approaches to It 272
Change in Expressive Culture 243
Two Processes of Cultural Change 273
Colonialism and Syncretism 243
Theories and Models of Development 273
Tourism’s Complex Effects 244
◼ ANTHROPOLOGY WORKS The Saami, Snowmobiles,
◼ ANTHROPOLOGY WORKS A Strategy on Cultural and Social Impact Analysis 274
Heritage for the World Bank 246
Institutional Approaches to Development 276
The Big Questions R evisited 248 The Development Project 278
Key Concepts 248 Suggested Readings 249 CULTURAMA Peyizan Yo of Haiti 279
Development, Indigenous People, and Women 281
12
Indigenous People and Development 282
Women and Development 285
Urgent Issues in Development 287
PEOPLE ON THE
◼ EYE ON THE ENVIRONMENT Oil, Environmental
MOVE 251
Degradation, and Human Rights in the Niger
Delta 288
The Big Questions 251
Life Projects and Human Rights 289
Categories of Migration 252
Cultural Heritage and Development: Linking the Past
Categories Based on Spatial Boundaries 252 and Present to the Future 290
◼ CRITICAL THINKING Haitian Cane Cutters in the Cultural Anthropology and the Future 291
Dominican Republic: Structure or Agency? 254 The Big Questions R evisited 292
Categories Based on Reason for Moving 254
Key Concepts 293 Suggested Readings 293
C ULTURAMA The Maya of Guatemala 258
The New Immigrants to the United States
and Canada 259
PHOTO CREDITS 295
The New Immigrants from Latin America and the
GLOSSARY 297
Caribbean 260
The New Immigrants from Asia 262 REFERENCES 303
The New Immigrants from the Former Soviet Union 264 INDEX 315
CONTENTS ix