Anthropology: A Beginner's Guide

Description

Anthropologists Joy Hendry and Simon Underdown offer the first introductory guide to explore both the biological and social approaches to the study of humanity, from the roots of the Homo genus, to the traits that all humans share, to the vast range of our sacred rituals. Henry and Underdown bring anthropology to life with case studies, explaining why witchcraft was so feared in seventeenth-century England but is embraced in contemporary Sudan, as well as what our relationship with mobile phones (and the bathroom) tells us about ourselves. Covering key study topics, including hierarchy, social identity, rites of passage, and the impact of globalization, this is the essential first step to understanding anthropology - for students and people working in the globalized world, alike.

Joy Hendry is Professor of Social Anthropology at Oxford Brookes University and is author of the university-level textbook Sharing Our Worlds, now in its second edition. Her fieldwork has been in Japan.

-- A wonderfully accessible introduction, with a clear focus on the needs of students first coming to the field. Dr Faye Healey-Clough Anthropology lecturer, Gloucestershire College, UK