UNIT 1. Anthropological Perspectives

1. Doing Fieldwork Among the Yanomamo, Napoleon A. Chagnon, from Yanomamo: The Fierce People, Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1992

Although an anthropologist’s first field experience may involve culture shock, Napoleon Chagnon reports that the long process of participant observation may transform personal hardship and frustration into confident understanding of exotic cultural patterns.

2. Doctor, Lawyer, Indian Chief, Richard Kurin, Natural History, November 1980

In transforming an anthropologist into one of their own, villagers of Punjab say, “You never really know who a man is until you know who his grandfather and his ancestors were.” In this way, Richard Kurin finds, selecting a village for fieldwork is a matter of mutual acceptance and mutual economic benefit.

3. Eating Christmas in the Kalahari, Richard Borshay Lee, Natural History, December 1969

Anthropologist Richard Borshay Lee gives an account of the misunderstanding and confusion that often accompanies cross-cultural experience. In this case he violated a basic principle of the !Kung Bushmen’s social relations—food sharing.

4. Coping with Culture Clash, Anver Versi, African Business, May 2002

The inability to understand someone else’s business culture has cost multinationals so much that many have now put culture awareness at the top of their management agenda. Africa is probably where the culture clash stakes are the highest.

5. Battle of the Bones, Robson Bonnichsen and Alan L. Schneider, The Sciences, July/August 2000

Recent archaeological findings have led to revolutionary new theories about the first Americans—and to a tug-of-war between scientists and contemporary Native Americans.

UNIT 2. Culture and Communication

6. In Click Languages, an Echo of the Tongues of the Ancients, Nicholas Wade, New York Times, March 18, 2003

The existence of click sounds in human languages may seem odd, but they may provide a clue to the origin and spread of the human mother tongue.

7. Why Don’t You Say What You Mean?, Deborah Tannen, New York Times Magazine, August 28, 1994

As fundamental elements in human communication, directness is not necessarily logical or effective, and indirectness is not necessarily manipulative or insecure. Each has its place in the broader scheme of things, depending upon the culture and the relationship between the speakers.

8. “I Can’t Even Open My Mouth”, Deborah Tannen, from I Only Say This Because I Love You, Random House, 2001

Since family members have a long, shared history, what they say in conversation—the message—echoes with meanings from the past—the metamessage. The metamessage may not be spoken, but its meaning may be gleaned from every aspect of context: the way something is said, who is saying it, or the very fact that it is said at all.

9. Cowardice, R. Danielle Egan, Collateral Language, New York University Press, 2002

If the world is to become a safer place, the language of public discourse must address the real motivations behind violent acts. Only then may we effectively and constructively address the problems of the world.

10. Shakespeare in the Bush, Laura Bohannan, Natural History, August/September 1966

It is often claimed that great literature has cross-cultural significance. In this article, Laura Bohannan describes the difficulties she encountered and the lessons she learned as she attempted to relate the story of Hamlet to the Tiv of West Africa in their own language.

UNIT 3. The Organization of Society and Culture

11. Understanding Eskimo Science, Richard Nelson, Audubon, September/October 1993

The traditional hunters’ insights into the world of nature may be different, but they are as extensive and profound as that of modern science.

12. Without the Forest, There Is No Life, Jana Fortier, The World & I, September 2002

Among the most unusual people in Nepal are the Raute, the last surviving hunter-gatherers of the Himalayas. Fortier describes his encounters with the nomadic Raute as they resist increasing pressure to assimilate.

13. Mystique of the Masai, Ettagale Blauer, The World & I, March 1987

Living in the midst of tourist traffic and straddling two nations that are struggling to modernize, the Masai have retained their traditional culture longer than virtually any other group in East Africa.

14. Too Many Bananas, Not Enough Pineapples, and No Watermelon at All: Three Object Lessons in Living With Reciprocity, David Counts, from The Humbled Anthropologist: Tales From the Pacific, Wadsworth Publishing, 1990

Among the lessons to be learned regarding reciprocity is that one may not demand a gift or refuse it. Yet, even without a system of record-keeping or money being involved, there is a long-term balance of mutual benefit.

15. Prehistory of Warfare, Steven A. LeBlanc, Archaeology, May/June 2003

Rather than deny the prevalence of warfare in our past, says the author, anthropology would be better served by asking “why do people go to war?” and “why do they stop fighting?”

16. The Founding Indian Fathers, Jack Weatherford, Indian Givers, The Ballantine Publishing Group, 1988

According to current American mythology, the United States government derives from European precedents and Americans gave civilization to the Indians. Actually, Native Americans played a major role in the writing of the U.S. Constitution and in the creation of the political institutions that really are uniquely American.

UNIT 4. Other Families, Other Ways

17. When Brothers Share a Wife, Melvyn C. Goldstein, Natural History, March 1987

While the custom of fraternal polyandry relegated many Tibetan women to spinsterhood, this unusual marriage form promoted personal security and economic well-being for its participants.

18. The Visit, Clifford Geertz, The New York Review of Books, October 18, 2001

Anthropologists have long contended that the functions of marriage include the creation of the nuclear family, the continuation of the extended family over time, and the binding of otherwise separate kinship groups into a unified social network. But what happens in the institution of marriage does not even exist, even in the ritualistic sense? The Na of China show us.

19. How Many Fathers Are Best for a Child?, Meredith F. Small, Discover, April 2003

The ways in which people view biological paternity says a lot about the power relationships between men and women, the kinds of families they form, and how the human species evolved.

20. Death Without Weeping, Nancy Scheper-Hughes, Natural History, October 1989

In the shantytowns of Brazil, the seeming indifference of mothers who allow some of their children to die is a survival strategy geared to circumstances in which only a few may live.

21. Our Babies, Ourselves, Meredith F. Small, Natural History, October 1997

Cross-cultural research in child development shows that parents readily accept their society’s prevailing ideology on how babies should be treated, usually because it makes sense in their environmental or social circumstances.

22. Arranging a Marriage in India, Philip R. DeVita, from Stumbling Toward Truth: Anthroplogists at Work, Waveland Press, 2000

Arranging a marriage in India is far too serious a business for the young and inexperienced. Instead, the parents make decisions on the basis of the families’ social position, reputation, and ability to get along.

23. Dowry Deaths in India: ‘Let Only Your Corpse Come Out of That House’, Paul Mandelbaum, Commonweal, October 8, 1999

Dowry deaths occur when brides are harassed—sometimes murdered—over the gifts and cash they bring to their new marriage. Although the custom of dowry is rooted in marriage traditions that seem to have been corrupted, a full understanding must take into account the current state of India’s caste system and economy.

UNIT 5. Gender and Status

24. A World Full of Women, Martha C. Ward, A World Full of Women, Third Edition

Even though some jobs may be “women’s work” and others are defined as “men’s work,” such tasks are not the same in every group. Moreover, the relative power of men versus women has to do with who has the ability to distribute, exchange, and control valuable goods and services to people outside the domestic unit.

25. The Berdache Tradition, Walter L. Williams, from The Meaning of Difference, McGraw–Hill, 2000

Not all societies agree with the Western cultural view that all humans are either women or men. In fact, many Native American cultures recognize an alternative role called the “berdache,” a morphological male who has a nonmasculine character. This is just one way for a society to recognize and assimilate some atypical individuals without imposing a change on them or stigmatizing them as deviant.

26. A Woman’s Curse?, Meredith F. Small, The Sciences, January/February 1999

An anthropologist’s study of the ritual of seclusion surrounding women’s menstrual cycles has some rather profound implications regarding human evolution, certain cultural practices, and women’s health.

27. Where Fat Is a Mark of Beauty, Ann M. Simmons, Los Angeles Times, September 30, 1998

In a rite of passage, some Nigerian girls spend months gaining weight and learning customs in a “fattening room.” A woman’s rotundity is seen as a sign of good health, prosperity, and feminine beauty.

28. The Initiation of a Maasai Warrior, Tepilit Ole Saitoti, from The Worlds of a Maasai Warrior, Random House, 1986

In virtually every society, certain rites or ceremonies are used to signify adulthood. This article describes the Maasai circumcision ceremony that initiates an individual into adulthood.

UNIT 6. Religion, Belief, and Ritual

29. It Takes a Village Healer, Matthew Steinglass, Lingua Franca, April 2001

Unlike modern doctors, African healers take a “holistic” approach, treating the patient’s spiritual and physical well-being at the same time. Western biomedicine cannot therefore be imposed, but must be made consistent with indigenous African medical culture.

30. The Secrets of Haiti’s Living Dead, Gino Del Guercio, Harvard Magazine, January/February 1986

In seeking scientific documentation of the existence of zombies, anthropologist Wade Davis found himself looking beyond the stereotypes and mysteries of voodoo and directly into a cohesive system of social control in rural Haiti.

31. Body Ritual Among the Nacirema, Horace Miner, American Anthropologist, June 1956

The rituals, beliefs, and taboos of the Nacirema provide us with a test case of the objectivity of ethnographic description and show us the extremes to which human behavior can go.

32. Baseball Magic, George Gmelch, McGraw-Hill/Dushkin, September 2000

Professional baseball players, like Trobriand Islanders, often resort to magic, in situations of change and uncertainty. As irrational as it may seem, magic creates confidence, competence, and control in the practitioner.

UNIT 7. Sociocultural Change: The Impact of the West

33. The Arrow of Disease, Jared Diamond, Discover, October 1992

The most deadly weapon colonial Europeans carried to other continents was their germs. The most intriguing question to answer here is why the flow of disease did not move in the opposite direction.

34. “Drought Follows the Plow”, Brian Fagan, from Floods, Famines, & Emperors, Basic Books, 1999

The African herders’ lifestyle remained viable for thousands of years because they used effective strategies for coping with drought. Today, claims the author, Western-style political and economic institutions have brought repeated crises and famines, marginalized millions of people, and killed thousands.

35. The Price of Progress, John Bodley, from Victims of Progress, Mayfield, 1998

As traditional cultures are sacrificed to the process of modernization, tribal peoples not only lose the security, autonomy, and quality of life they once had, but they also become powerless, second-class citizens who are discriminated against and exploited by the dominant society.

36. Alcohol in the Western World: A History, Bert L. Vallee, Scientific American, June 1998

The role of alcohol in Western civilization has changed dramatically during the past millennium. Our current medical interpretation of alcohol as primarily an agent of disease comes after a more complex historical relationship.

37. A Pacific Haze: Alcohol and Drugs in Oceania, Mac Marshall, from Contemporary Pacific Societies: Studies in Development and Change, Prentice Hall, 1993

The relatively benign use of psychoactive drugs, such as betel and kava in the Pacific Islands, is deeply rooted in cultural traditions and patterns of social interaction. Today, as a result of new drugs and disruptive social and economic changes introduced from the outside, haze hangs over Oceania.

38. A Plunge Into the Present, Ron Suskind, New York Times Magazine, December 2, 2001

Just 25 years before this article was written, the Ibatan lived in near total isolation from the world. Now, they have running water, Christianity, satellite TV, and their own variation on the global divide between the haves and have nots.

39. When Will America Be Discovered?, Jack Weatherford, Indian Givers, The Ballantine Publishing Group, 1988

Little do they know it, but in the 500 years since Columbus’s voyage to America, the people of the world have benefitted greatly from Native Americans. Even so, the world may have lost even more than it has gained.

40. The Last Americans, Jared Diamond, Harper’s, June 2003

The world today is suffering from the same problems as the ancient Maya, although on a much larger scale: increased pollution, environmental degradation, and potential economic collapse. The difference so far, says Jared Diamond, is “that we know their fate, and they did not. Perhaps we can learn.”

41. Vital Interests, Natalia Rachel Singer, Collateral Language, New York University Press, 2002

One of the lessons to be learned from a visit to the site of the World Trade Center is that America is paying dearly for its global economic dominance.