Anthropological Conversations: Talking Culture across Disciplines

(Hardback)

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Cultural anthropologists can be an intellectually adventurous crowd: openeven eagerto building bridges across disciplines in the name of understanding human behavior and the human experience more broadly. In this first-of-its-kind book, Caroline Brettell explores the cross-disciplinary conversations that have engaged cultural anthropologists both past and present. Brettell highlights a handful of conversations between the discipline of anthropology on the one hand and history, geography, literature, biology, psychology and demography on the other. She also pinpoints how these exchanges address three enduring issues of anthropological concern: the temporal and the spatial dimensions of human experience; the scientific and the humanistic dimensions of the anthropological enterprise; and the individual and the group/population as units of analysis in research. Anthropological Conversations offers detailed accounts of particular ethnographic methodologies and findings (and the theoretical trends informing them) as a means of grasping the big-picture issues. Brettell clearly shows that, by engaging with other fields, cultural anthropologists have been able to think more deeply about what they mean by culture; through this book, she invites readers to continue the conversation.

Reviews

Brettell has made an extremely valuable contribution to the literatures on thinking anthropologically and across disciplines. Six chapters devoted to 'conversations' between anthropology and history, geography, literature, biology, psychology, and demographics give readers a survey of the various topics and approaches that have crossed those lines and key scholars involved in such projects. The writing is clear and accessible, suitable for all audiences, and the content includes both historical and contemporary examples. . . .The book will be useful for anthropological readers in a variety of contexts (e.g., methods, disciplinary history, general philosophy of the field) and also very useful for non-anthropologists to get a sense of and appreciation for ways that anthropological approaches and works might be relevant to their own fields and for encouraging further conversations across disciplinary lines. Summing Up: Highly recommended. For all general and academic audiences. * CHOICE *
Ambitious and incredibly broad I know of no other book which addresses so many of anthropologys cross-disciplinary engagements while tackling many of the big questions that have concerned anthropologists over the last century. Brettells approach is immensely valuable and distinctive for its coverage of the ways that anthropology has engaged with numerous disciplines and the ways that these engagements have evolved and taken shape in both historical and current contexts. She does an exceptional job of bringing in recent and cutting-edge research (as well as classical studies) that tells the reader what is happening in anthropology today. -- Carolyn Schwarz, Goucher College
A thoughtful, insightful, wonderful review of the interdisciplinary possibilities anthropologists share with neighboring disciplines. We should all take its core message to heart: In addressing broad intellectual questions, anthropologists work best when they work with others. Full of provocative ideas to ponder late into the night. -- Robert Borofsky, Hawaii Pacific University, Hawai'i Pacific University
No discipline is an island, and Caroline Brettells superb overview of anthropologys past and present shows how much of its vitality has always depended on exploring its borderlands. For all who want breadth and depth in their understanding of the debates which have moved anthropology forward, it is a smart strategy to devote some time to looking sideways. I know of no better guide to the territory than this book. -- Ulf Hannerz, Stockholm University
Accessible, compelling, and enjoyable. Anthropological Conversations interrogates the interdisciplinary boundaries of contemporary anthropology through insightful essays on writing, space and place, history, landscape and the environment. Brettell challenges readers to explore the intersections of disciplines and the way that intellectual encounters have enriched the field. The book also highlights the importance of considering influence in multidirectional ways. -- Setha Low, The Graduate Center, City University of New York

Author Bio

Caroline B. Brettell is University Distinguished Professor of Anthropology and Ruth Collins Altshuler Director of the Dedman College Interdisciplinary Institute at Southern Methodist University. Her numerous publications include Gender in Cross-Cultural Perspective 6E (co-edited with Carolyn Sargent); Crossing Borders/Constructing Boundaries; and Anthropology and Migration. She has served as president of the Social Science History Association as well as the Society for the Anthropology of Europe and on various review panels for the National Science Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the National Institutes of Health, among others.