Sharing Our Worlds: An Introduction to Cultural and Social Anthropology

by Joy Hendry, Rachel Perkins

Overview

Sharing Our Worlds offers the perfect introduction to cultural and social anthropology for anyone approaching the subject for the first time. Hendry introduces classic theoretical ideas of the key founders of cultural and social anthropology, placing them in their historical and geographical context. Carefully structured so that one chapter builds on the next, Sharing Our Worlds covers the core topics in an even-handed and illuminating manner, introducing the reader to divergent views on all the most basic subjects-food, hygiene, gift-exchange, rites of passage, symbolism, religion, politics, and the environment-and raising awareness of the emotional value people place on those views. Covering a wide array of countries, it brings the subject of cultural and social anthropology right into the neighborhood of the reader, wherever they are in the world.

Written in a refreshingly accessible style, Sharing Our Worlds offers a compelling introduction to an enigmatic and exciting subject, drawing out its relevance and value for the complex multicultural world in which we live.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780814737101
Publisher:	New York University Press
Publication date:	04/01/2008
Edition description:	Second Edition
Pages:	328
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Joy Hendry is Professor Emerita of Oxford Brookes University, a Senior Member of St. Antony’s College, Oxford University, and an Honorary Fellow of Edinburgh University. She is the author of many books, including Wrapping Culture: Politeness, Presentation and Power in Japan and Other Societies.

Table of Contents

List of Figures and Maps
List of Photographs
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Seeing the World
Disgusting, Forbidden and Unthinkable
Gifts, Exchange and Reciprocity
The Ritual Round
Society: A Set of Symbols
Beauty and Bounty, Treasure and Trophies
Cosmology I: Religion, Magic and Mythology
Cosmology II: Witchcraft, Shamanism and Syncretism
Law, Order and Social Control
The Art of Politics
Family, Kinship and Marriage
Economics and the Environment
Filmography
Index of Authors and Film-Makers
Index of Peoples and Places
General Index
World Map

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“A thoroughgoing introduction for the intelligent reader—written in a highly accessible style, with plenty of excellent examples and clear, sound argumentation. Hendry has done an outstanding job of laying out her vision of the important theoretical positions in cultural and social anthropology, while also telling us about their weaknesses. Her book is not merely a copy of earlier efforts of a similar sort but represents some careful, productive, and highly intelligent rethinking of the priorities.”
-Michael Herzfeld ,Harvard University

Editorial Reviews

A thoroughgoing introduction for the intelligent reader—written in a highly accessible style, with plenty of excellent examples and clear, sound argumentation. Hendry has done an outstanding job of laying out her vision of the important theoretical positions in cultural and social anthropology, while also telling us about their weaknesses. Her book is not merely a copy of earlier efforts of a similar sort but represents some careful, productive, and highly intelligent rethinking of the priorities.”
-Michael Herzfeld ,Harvard University

From the Publisher