cultural anthropology textbooks

[peterson]

Dear Jim,

Funny you should ask.  I have two weeks to figure out how and what to teach in
the intro course here at Miami.  It's called "Peoples of the World" which
seems to imply something different than the "Intor to Cultural Anth" courses
I've taught for the past eight years.

In the past I've used Schultz and Lavenda's "Cultural Anthropology" which
included sections on cognition, schema, metaphor, and framing quite aside from
the chapter on language (which includes Hockett's design features of language,
the divisions of linguistics and the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis).  Each edition
since the second seems to decrease the linguistic-related material, though.
For example, the text now only covers six "key" design features instead of all
of them.

Mark

Mark Allen Peterson
Asst Prof of Anthropology and International Studies
152 Upham Hall
Miami University
Oxford, OH  45056
tel: 513 529-5018
fax: 513 529-8396
e-mail: petersm2 at muohio.edu

>===== Original Message From Jim Wilce <jim.wilce at nau.edu> =====
>Dear linguistic anthropologists,
>
>Several years ago Charles Briggs distributed to the SLA an excellent
>report on the state of linguistic anthropology within the broader
>discipline. Among the many things he pointed out is the ongoing
>frustration of having no cultural anthropology textbooks (or general
>anthropology intro texts) that represent any of the cutting edge work
>of linguistic anthropology. In fact, I think we all agree, they tend
>to represent our discipline as it was decades ago.
>
>I am simply curious about your sense of the state of such textbooks,
>what we might do about it, and what those of you who teach intro
>cultural courses do within current constraints. Maybe not so simple,
>but I am curious.
>
>Very best,
>
>Jim
>--
>Jim Wilce, Associate Professor of Anthropology
>Northern Arizona University
>PO Box 15200
>Flagstaff AZ 86011-5200
>Office phone: 928-523-2729
>email: jim.wilce at nau.edu
>Home page: http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~jmw22
>
>New! You can now order Jim's 2003 edited volume, Social and Cultural
>Lives of Immune Systems, from Routledge. See
>http://www.routledge-ny.com/books.cfm?isbn=0415310040.