History and Theory in Anthropology

Alan Barnard
Cambridge University Press
Edition: 1st Edition, 2000-06-15
EAN 9780521774321, ISBN10: 0521774322

Paperback, 256 pages, 22.6 x 15.2 x 1.5 cm
Language: English

Anthropology is a discipline very conscious of its history, and Alan Barnard has written a clear, balanced and judicious textbook that surveys the historical contexts of the great debates and traces the genealogies of theories and schools of thought. It also considers the problems involved in assessing these theories. The book covers the precursors of anthropology; evolutionism in all its guises; diffusionism and culture area theories, functionalism and structural-functionalism; action-centred theories; processual and Marxist perspectives; the many faces of relativism, structuralism and post-structuralism; and recent interpretive and postmodernist viewpoints.

'... valuable key reading for first year anthropology undergraduates ...' JRAI