Sharing Our Worlds: An Introduction to Cultural and Social Anthropology

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.

Table of Contents:
List of Figures and MapsList of PhotographsAcknowledgementsIntroductionSeeing the WorldDisgusting, Forbidden and UnthinkableGifts, Exchange and ReciprocityThe Ritual RoundSociety: A Set of SymbolsBeauty and Bounty, Treasure and TrophiesCosmology I: Religion, Magic and MythologyCosmology II: Witchcraft, Shamanism and SyncretismLaw, Order and Social ControlThe Art of PoliticsFamily, Kinship and MarriageEconomics and the EnvironmentFilmographyIndex of Authors and Film-MakersIndex of Peoples and PlacesGeneral IndexWorld Map

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.

Review :
"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