Cultural Anthropology: The Human Challenge - Softcover

Haviland, William A.; Prins, Harald E. L.; Walrath, Dana; McBride, Bunny

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0495095613 ISBN 13: 9780495095613

Publisher: Cengage Learning, 2007

Synopsis

Explore the most fascinating, creative, dangerous, and complex species alive today: you and your neighbors in the global village. With compelling photos, engaging examples, and select studies by anthropologists in far-flung places, the authors of CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY: The Human Challenge provide a holistic view of anthropology to help you make sense of today's world. With this text you will discover the different ways humans face the challenge of existence, the connection between biology and culture in the shaping of human beliefs and behavior, and the impact of globalization on peoples and cultures around the world.

About this title

About the Author:

William A. Haviland is professor emeritus at the University of Vermont, where he founded the Department of Anthropology and taught for 32 years. He holds a PhD in anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania. He has carried out original research in archaeology in Guatemala and Vermont; ethnography in Maine and Vermont; and physical anthropology in Guatemala. This work has been the basis of numerous publications in national and international books and journals, as well as in media intended for the general public. His books include The Original Vermonters, coauthored with Marjorie Power, and a technical monograph on ancient Maya settlement. He also served as consultant for the award-winning telecourse Faces of Culture, and he is co-editor of the series Tikal Reports, published by the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. Besides teaching and writing, Dr. Haviland has lectured to many professional and nonprofessional audiences in Canada, Mexico, Lesotho, South Africa, and Spain, as well as in the United States. He served as expert witness for the Missisquoi Abenaki of Vermont in an important court case over aboriginal fishing rights. Dr. Haviland was named University Scholar by the Graduate School of the University of Vermont in 1990; received a Certificate of Appreciation from the Sovereign Republic of the Abenaki Nation of Missisquoi, St. Francis/Sokoki Band in 1996; and was given a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Center for Research on Vermont in 2006. Now retired from teaching, he continues his research, writing, and lecturing from the coast of Maine. He serves as a trustee for the Abbe Museum in Bar Harbor, focused on Maine's Native American history, culture, art, and archaeology. His most recent books are At the Place of the Lobsters and Crabs (2009) and Canoe Indians of Down East Maine (2012).

Review:

"The writing style...is extremely student friendly and accessible. It is actually enjoyable to read, which is rather rare for textbooks. It is completely attuned to the needs of an undergraduate student population."

"The greatest strength of CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY: THE HUMAN CHALLENGE is its success in addressing complex concepts in a manner that is memorable and easy to comprehend. Another strength is in the choice of examples; most all of them engage the reader and elicit furthering investigation. Finally, the book's photographs and other images provide a visual element that reinforces significant issues in anthropology."

The authors do a good job of providing "interesting specific examples and ethnographic accounts to give the chapter context and help illustrate sometimes abstract information..."

About this edition

• Publisher: Cengage Learning
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0495095613
• ISBN 13: 9780495095613
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 456