Anthropology Books

Although the post-colonial situation has attracted considerable interest over recent years, one important colonial power - Portugal - has not been given any attention. This book is the first to explore notions of ethnicity, "race", culture, and nation in...

The line between what is regarded by people as "traditional" and "modern" is constantly being altered by new configurations of power. These essays examine the ways in which such changes are both communicated and created through cultural performances in...

Sports, and in particular the Olympic Games, are enjoying a rapid increase in interest among social scientists worldwide, who see them as important "public events." This volume offers the first analysis of the Winter Olympic Games, primarily based on the...

This book focuses on the popular fiction of Weimar Germany and explores the relationship between women, the texts they read, and the society in which they lived. A complex picture emerges that shows women talking center stage, not only in the fiction but...

Most studies of modern religious change have viewed it as a process of secularization in which the advance of science and technology discredits religious beliefs and destroys religious institutions. Yet religion has stubbornly failed to expire in the...

Ritual is one of the most discussed cultural practices, yet its treatment in anthropological terms has been seriously limited, characterized by a host of narrow conceptual distinctions. One major reason for this situation has been the prevalence of...

What is Europe? Who is European? What do Europe and European identity mean in the twenty-first century? This collection of sixteen essays seeks to answer these questions by focusing on Europe as it is seen through its own eyes and through the eyes of...

We understand the world to be a weave, a skein of spirit, that is how we see its ways and recognise its flows. We walk the threads and know the places and times they cross. As is the world, so we are woven.Palaeolithic Voyages is an FKR role-playing game...

Details the textual and performative history of the South Asian festival of Indra and its role in the development of classical Hinduism.The Festival of Indra details the textual and performative history of an important South Asian festival and its role...

The Time of Anthropology provides a series of compelling anthropological case studies that explore the different temporalities at play in the scientific discourses, governmental techniques and policy practices through which modern life is shaped...

An examination of private narratives of loss in wartime and publicly legitimized forms of grieving. Drawing on sources such as diaries, poetry and weblogs and using gender as an analytic category, the book looks at men's and women's experiences of war...

Party conferences are central to the life of political parties. They contribute to setting policy agendas, developing policy options, legitimizing policy choices, building party cohesion, motivating activists and publicizing party activities to the wider...

What is the place of pluralism in the context of a dominant religion? How does the perception of religion as "tradition" and "culture" affect pluralism? Why do minorities' demands for recognition often transform into exclusion? Through her ethnography of...

How does evolutionary psychology shape our understanding of human mating behaviour? In A Treatise on Lust and Illusion, the author explores the complex interplay between biology, psychology, and social norms to reveal the hidden strategies and mysteries...

First Published in 2000. This is a collection of twelve short stories from Libya that Fagih edited during the seventies and eighties, initially published in a London magazine called Azure. Penned by prominent Libyan writers, these stories shed light on...

First Published in 2005, but published originally in 1938 on the eve of the Second World War, this work focuses on the last member of a distinguished group of genros, or elder statesmen, who participated in the wars of the Meiji restoration and in 1889...

First published in 1991. Gulf Crisis begins with a psychological look at Saddem Hussein and his decisions surrounding the invasion into Kuwait before the start of the Gulf War in May 1990. Ghazi Algosaibi was the Cabinet Minister of Saudi Arabia during...

First Published in 1994. False Inheritance discusses the policies and actions of the successive administrations which have governed Israel since the formation of the state in 1948. Largely historical in its approach, it has long been the author's...

First Published in 1987. Japan's surrender on 15 August 1945 was an unprecedented event in Japanese history. The shift from the life of hunger to the life of saturation that took place between 1945 and 1980 has brought about a great change in life style...

First published in 2001. The North East of Brazil is renowned for its rich and vibrant popular culture. The region's festivals, music, poetry and popular religious rituals have attracted increasing interest from around he world in recent decades, and the...

This volume examines the biocultural dimensions of obesity from an anthropological perspective in an effort to broaden understanding of a growing public health concern. The United States of America currently has the highest rates of obesity among...

The Taihang Mountains lay on the border between Shansi and Hopei in China and originally published in 1972, this edited anthology collates family histories as told by the people who lived there. This title will be of interest to students of Asian studies...

Originally published in 1957, analyses the rituals celebrated by groups of kinsmen on the occasion of births, marriages and deaths within the age villages of the Nyakyusa. the connection between the form of the rituals and the kinship structure is...

Originally published in 1959, this book includes detailed accounts of Nyakyusa traditions of origin,  osmology and moral values, often in direct quotations from informants, while part of the book is devoted to a description of Christian missions,...

Originally published in 1934, and inevitably a product of the time in which it was published this book nevertheless remains an important volume in African sociology and psychology. Topics such as race, economics, family and kinship, tribal organization,...

Originally published in 1973, this book reconstructs the political and economic organization and the social life of the Tio kingdom at the end of the 19th century by means of a critical synthesis of documentary and ethnographic data. Based on a detailed...

Originally published in 1964 these papers discuss the recovery and critical interpretation of oral traditions and written documents, problems of dating and analysis of material from archaeological sites, the use of linguistic evidence, and methods of...

Originally published in 1964 this book made available for the first time David Tait's writings on the Konkomba with whom he lived and worked for 5 years. Including some previously unpublished material, this volume discusses the political system of the...

Originally published in 1961, this book analyses economic changes in Africa and the restructuring of social relations to which this hs led. there are also detailed studies of the character of social changes in individual communities. There is a...

Originally published in 1948 and then updated in 1961 outlines the religious and social background of the Zulus and discusses the rise of the Independent Church Movement. It examines the organization and inner workings of the different Churches, their...

Originally published in 1960, this is a details study of the successive forms of government in the Hausa chiefdom of Zaria in Northern Nigeria. It presents a comparative analysis of the political organization and development of Zaria under successive...

Originally published in 1965, this is a study of Christian secessionist sects in the southern Province of Nyasaland (Malawi). It discusses the nature and context of sectarianism in Africa and analyses the developemnt of the sects, their ritual and...

Originally published in 1975 this book analyses the factors making for success and failure in agricultural development among black Zimbabweans during the 20th century. A detailed analysis is given of 2 tribal trust lands, including government policies...

Originally published in 1949, this is the first of 2 volumes studying the Bantu tribes inhabiting the westernmost part of Kenya. The book analyses family, lineage and clan structure, kinship relations and the various rituals connected with every stage of...

In this study of the Ndembu of Zambia, ritual is examined under two aspects: as a regulator of social relations over time and as a system of symbols. Social life is thereby given direction and meaning. An extended case-study of a series of ritual...

Originally published in 1964, this is a detailed ethnographic record and sympathetic study of Ambo beliefs and activities. The significance of the clan and the matrilineage are discussed and the organization of the village and chiefdom analysed...

Originally published in 1931 this book was the first detailed ethnographic study of the Bavenda people. It pays particular attention to the double system of kinship groups which is unusual among the Bantu peoples. Richly illustrated with over 60 black...

When originally published in 1979, this was the first comprehensive study of the Jakhanke in any language. Despite the 19th ambience of jihad, the Jakhanke maintined their tradition of consistent pacifism and political neutrality which is unique in...

Originally published in 1960, this book is a study of religion among the Tlhaping, a rural Bantu society who were the first among the Tswana tribes to come into contact with Europeans. The religious organization of the Tlhaping has been viewed within the...

Originally published in 1954, this book is a pentrating study of Nupe religion and the increasing influence that Islam has had on indigenous forms of worship. The practise of witchcraft, forms of ritual, Gods and faith in medicine are all examined as an...

Originally published in 1942 this now classic book is a study of the Nupe of Northern Nigeria. The economic and political complexity of their kingdom evoked comparisons with the civilization of Byzantium. The detailed description and analysis of their...

The 18 papers in this volume, originally published in 1969 in English and French, with summaries in the other language, define and analyze in their wider social contexts the fundamental ideas and procedures to be found in African traditional systems of...

Originally published in 1953, this book discusses the Sukuma people who represent the largest ethnic group in Tanzania. It is devoted mainly to the resources, use, problems and systems of tenure of the territory of Sukumaland, but also contains an...

When first published in 1933, this monograph shed new light on the life of the Valenge women of Portuguese East Africa. It discusses their social organisations, family relationships, education, tribal customs, and contains detailed information concerning...

Originally published in 1958 this book presents a straight-forward and vivid picture of Adamawa Province in Nigeria. It discusses the varying fortunes of the territory, the life of its people, the efforts of its explorers and the achievements of the...

Originally published in 1970, this book explores the role of concepts of disease in the social life of the Safwa of Tanzania, particularly through beliefs concerning witchcraft and sorcery. Examining Safwa ideas about the cuasation of disease and death...

Originally published in 1969, this is a study of the Congolese community of Kinsangani (formerly Stanleyville), as it was in 1952-3 under Belgian administration. It pays particular attention to the tribal heterogeneity of the community, and to the...

Originally published in 1953, this study examines the effect of social change on African domestic organization and marriage. Changes to African social organization due to increased contact with the West are analyzed and accounts given as to how these...