Architectural Anthropology

(Hardback)

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Description

We are now witnessing a renewal of the anthropological study of the perception and interpretation of landscape as social process, and how space is culturally construed, gendered, envisioned, and most decisively, physically built. While the subdiscipline of Environment-Behavior Studies covers the study of human behavior and the environment, including both the unbuilt and built, Architectural Anthropology focuses solely on human constructive or building behavior. Architectural Anthropology appears as a complex, many-sided field. With the help of insights from architecture and other disciplines that have an impact on the field, the contributors to this study seek to develop new methods that can better serve to understand, describe, and represent the worldviews embodied in the different built environments of all societies.

Reviews

This book is a commendable effor to build bridges in several directions- between the possible contributions of both biological and social anthropology to our understanding of the built enviornment, and also between the Spanish-speaking and the English-speaking academics in this field.-The Journal of The Royal Anthropological Institute
This is a seminal work ushering in a new field of inquiry. More specifically, it finds its exceptional value in arguing that research into the relationship between culture and the construction of the built environment can be classified under the rubric of architectural anthropology...This book's anthropological perspective enables us to consider architecture as part of transactional processes. And, because it raises more questions than it answers, it will prompt further explorations. The contributors do not claim to have reached definitive conclusions, nor do they even agree with one another on the nature of the subject, and this is bound to perpetuate a healthy and informative dialogue.-Technology and Culture
"This book is a commendable effor to build bridges in several directions- between the possible contributions of both biological and social anthropology to our understanding of the built enviornment, and also between the Spanish-speaking and the English-speaking academics in this field."-The Journal of The Royal Anthropological Institute
"This is a seminal work ushering in a new field of inquiry. More specifically, it finds its exceptional value in arguing that research into the relationship between culture and the construction of the built environment can be classified under the rubric of architectural anthropology...This book's anthropological perspective enables us to consider architecture as part of transactional processes. And, because it raises more questions than it answers, it will prompt further explorations. The contributors do not claim to have reached definitive conclusions, nor do they even agree with one another on the nature of the subject, and this is bound to perpetuate a healthy and informative dialogue."-Technology and Culture

Author Bio

MARI-JOSE AMERLINCK is Professor and Researcher, Department of Studies in Regional Culture, University of Guadalajara, Mexico.