Libros de Antropología, página 40 de 482

El propósito de este libro es reafirmar la prioridad de la búsqueda de las leyes en la ciencia del hombre; y la clave de su argumento es que el principio básico de la evolución sociocultural, conocido ya desde el arranque mismo de la antropologia, es el determinismo tecnoecologico y tecnoeconomico: tecnologias similares aplicadas a medios similares tienden a dar origen a una organizacion del trabajo similar, y esta a su vez a agrupamientos sociales de tipo similar, que justifican y coordinan sus actividades recurriendo a sistemas similares de valores y creencias. Una estrategia de investigacion adecuada a este principio tendra, pues, que conceder prioridad al estudio de las condiciones materiales de la vida sociocultural. En defensa de esta estrategia, que llama materialismo cultural, Marvin Harris hace una historia critica -no un inventario, ni un compendio- del desarrollo de las teorias antropologicas de la cultura, con animo de probar que los antropologos no han aplicado nunca de un modo consecuente el principio del determinismo tecnoecologico y tecnoeconomico, a pesar de lo cual han contribuido poderosamente a desacreditar esa opcion que ellos nunca eligieron. Tal relegacion de la estrategia del materialismo cultural es el resultado no de un programa razonable de investigacion orientado de distinto modo, sino de las presiones encubiertas del medio sociocultural en el que la antropologia ha conseguido verse reconocida como disciplina independiente. Marvin Harris, profesor de antropologia en la Columbia University, es bien conocido en los medios academicos por sus articulos y libros. Realizo trabajos de campo en Brasil, Ecuador y Mozambique.

Neil Campbell, Alasdair Kean, Alasdair KeanThis much-needed update of American Cultural Studies has been updated throughout to take into account the developments of the last seven years and provides an introduction to the central themes in modern American culture and explores how these themes can be interpreted. Chapters in the book discuss the various aspects of American cultural life such as religion, gender and sexuality, and regionalism, and updates and revisions include: * topics will be given more historical context to help students who are new to the subject * boxed-case studies * a glossary that will help students who are new to the subject as key terms will be defined * further-reading lists will be update * a heavily revised first chapter, rewritten to bring in a historical perspective * more thorough discussion on globalization and Americanization As its previous edition did before, American Cultural Studies, second edition will become a staple text on the reading lists of American studies students.

In The Antiquity of Nations, Anthony Smith provides a fresh interpretation of the character of modern nations. Departing from conventional wisdom, he argues the case for a deeper understanding of their character, based on an ethno-symbolic analysis of the myths, memories, symbols and traditions of pre-modern ethnic communities. Building on his earlier work, the author seeks to balance the undeniable novel components of the nation with its ancient, rooted and persistent attributes. In the first part, the author provides a sustained critique of the theories of some of the main exponents of modernism, the current orthodoxy in the study of nations and nationalism, tracing its origins to the Eurocentric and evolutionist assumptions of classical sociology. Part Two backs up this challenge through an exploration of key historical and sociological issues. These include the possibility of finding nations' in antiquity, the impact of war on ethnicity at various periods of history, the long-term routes to nationhood and their modern consequences, the nature and functions of golden ages, and the impact of Romanticism on nationalism. The result is a more rounded and penetrating understanding of one of the most complex phenomena in the modern world. The Antiquity of Nations will be essential reading for all scholars of nationalism and for all students taking courses on nationalism and ethnicity.

A la seva vàlua com a científic de renom mundial, Jordi Sabater Pi uneix una gran sensibilitat i capacitat artística. El traç de la natura reuneix una part important dels seus dibuixos, que avui cons

Mary Jane Lenz, Clara Sue KidwellA curator at the National Museum of the American Indian since its inception in 1989, Lenz discusses the roles that dolls have played in Native American cultures, and explores their significance today. Her account is illustrated with color photographs of dolls in the collection, black-and-white photographs of makers and users of dolls, and paintings and drawings. Revised, augmented, and updated, with all new photographs, from The Stuff of Dreams: Native American Dolls (1986).

In China the weather has changed Decades of reform have been shadowed by a changing meteorological normal seasonal dust storms and spectacular episodes of air pollution have reworked physical and political relations between land and air in China and downwind Continent in Dust offers an anthropology of strange weather focusing on intersections among statecraft landscape atmosphere and society Traveling from state engineering programs that attempt to choreograph the movement of mobile dunes in the interior to newly reconfigured bodies and airspaces in Beijing and beyond this book explores contemporary China as a weather system in the making what would it mean to understand the rise of China literally as the country itself rises into the air

Masterful and ambitious If you want to understand the power of population genetics in revealing the complex and diverse story of humanity read this book Tom HighamThe international bestseller and new Bible of population genetics the science transforming our understanding of the past We are living through a revolution in knowledge Over the past twenty years genetics has shed light on the history of humanity in unprecedented ways It enables us to study an individual s genome compare it with populations worldwide and understand its place in human history Here Llus Quintana Murci one of the scientists at the forefront of this research reveals how population genetics is transforming our understanding of who we are Thanks to numerous discoveries we now know how Homo sapiens spread around the world from their exit from Africa approximately 60 000 years ago to the recent settlement of the remote lands of Polynesia within the last millennia Population genetics has also shown that humans mixed with now extinct species including Neanderthals enabling them to adapt to new environments and survive diseases These cutting edge genetic findings will shape our future too offering the key to medicine tailored to individuals But the greatest revelation of population

Political strategies for tackling climate change and other long problems that span generationsClimate change and its consequences unfold over many generations Past emissions affect our climate today just as our actions shape the climate of tomorrow while the effects of global warming will last thousands of years Yet the priorities of the present dominate our climate policy and the politics surrounding it Even the social science that attempts to frame the problem does not theorize time effectively In this pathbreaking book Thomas Hale examines the politics of climate change and other long problems He shows why we find it hard to act before a problem s effects are felt why our future interests carry little weight in current debates and why our institutions struggle to balance durability and adaptability With long term goals in mind he outlines strategies for tilting the politics and policies of climate change toward better outcomes Globalization widened political problems across national boundaries and changed our understanding of politics and governance Hale argues that we must make a similar shift to understand the lengthening of problems across time He describes tools and strategies that can under certain conditions allow policymakers to antic

Why software isn t perfect as seen through the stories of software developers at a run of the mill tech company Contrary to much of the popular discourse not all technology is seamless and awesome some of it is simply good enough In Middle Tech Paula Bialski offers an ethnographic study of software developers at a non flashy non start up corporate tech company Their stories reveal why software isn t perfect and how developers communicate care and compromise to make software work or at least work until the next update Exploring the culture of good enoughness at a technology firm she calls MiddleTech Bialski shows how doing good enough work is a collectively negotiated resistance to the organizational ideology found in corporate software settings The truth Bialski reminds us is that technology breaks due to human related issues staff cutbacks cause media platforms to crash in car GPS systems cause catastrophic incidents and chatbots can be weird Developers must often labor to patch and repair legacy systems rather than dream up killer apps Bialski presents a less sensationalist more empirical portrait of technology work than the frequently told Silicon Valley narratives of disruption and innovation She finds that software engineers at MiddleTech