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The Ceremonial Animal
A New Portrait of Anthropology

Wendy James

Foreword by Michael Lambek

Price: £36.00 (paper)
ISBN-13: 978-0-19-926334-9
Publication date: 25 November 2004
408 pages, 27 halftones, 234x156 mm

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Description

A new portrait of the discipline by a senior anthropologist
Written in an engaging and lively style
Neatly bridges earlier American cultural and British social approaches

Adapting Wittgenstein's concept of the human species as 'a ceremonial animal', Wendy James writes vividly and readably. Her new overview advocates a clear line of argument: that the concept of social form is a primary key to anthropology and the human sciences as a whole. Weaving memorable ethnographic examples into her text, James brings together carefully selected historical sources as well as references to current ideas in neighbouring disciplines such as archaeology, paleoanthropology, genetics, art and material culture, ethnomusicology, urban and development studies, politics, economics, psychology, and religious studies. She shows the relevance of anthropology to pressing world issues such as migration, humanitarian politics, the new reproductive technologies, and religious fundamentalism.

Wendy James's engaging style will appeal to specialist and non-specialist alike. The Foreword is written by Michael J. Lambek, Professor of Anthropology, University

Readership: Teachers, second and third year undergraduates, and graduate students of anthropology and neighbouring fields in the sciences and humanities, interdisciplinary courses, including cultural studies; the non-specialist reader.

Contents

FOREWORD

By Michael J. Lambek, Professor of Anthropology, University of Toronto

THE QUEST FOR PATTERN

1. Key Questions in Anthropology

2. Dialogues with Grand Theory

SHAPE AND RHYTHM IN SOCIAL FORMS

3. Species, Space, and Time

4. Daughters of the Dance

5. On Ritual and Social Memoey

LANGUAGE AND THE MAKING OF PERSONS

6. Language and Social Engagement

7. The Dialectics of Gender and Generation

8. Human Bodies, Social Persons, and Selves

PRACTICE AND POLITICS IN THE CEREMONIAL ARENA

9. Place, Home, and Habitus

10. Work, Wealth, and Exchange

11. Theatres of Power, War, and Peace

LARGE-SCALE MODERN FORMS

12. The New Spaces: Cities and Popular Culture

13. The Modern Person and 'The Market'

14. States, 'Nations', and the Struggles of the People

CONCLUDING ESSAY

15. Anthropology as a Human Science: Conversations with History and Religion

Notes

Select Bibliography

Authors, editors, and contributors

Wendy James, Professor of Social Anthropology, Oxford University
Foreword by Michael Lambek, Professor of Anthropology, University of Toronto

Links to web resources and related information

More in the same subject area:
Social & cultural anthropology
Cultural studies
Religious rites & ceremonies
Political structure & processes
Human geography
Social & political philosophy
Sociolinguistics
Social institutions
Economic history

The specification in this catalogue, including without limitation price, format, extent, number of illustrations, and month of publication, was as accurate as possible at the time the catalogue was compiled. Occasionally, due to the nature of some contractual restrictions, we are unable to ship a specific product to a particular territory. Jacket images are provisional and liable to change before publication.

The Ceremonial AnimalA New Portrait of Anthropology

The Ceremonial Animal
A New Portrait of Anthropology